Battles and Strategy
This early battle was technically a British victory because they took the hill, but the Patriots claimed a moral victory by inflicting heavy casualties on British soldiers.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
The Virginian chosen by the Second Continental Congress to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
George Washington
This nation was the United States' most important military ally and was a key reason Britain agreed to negotiate peace.
France.
A common nickname for British soldiers due to the color of their uniforms.
Redcoats
Colonists who supported Britain during the war were known by this name.
Loyalists
Washington’s surprise attack on Hessian forces after crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night, which boosted Patriot morale.
The Battle of Trenton
The author of the pamphlet Common Sense, which argued that colonies should not be ruled by a king.
Thomas Paine
The Treaty of Paris established this river as the new western boundary of the United States.
The Mississippi River.
Local citizen-soldiers who fought alongside the Continental Army, often protecting their own towns.
Militia
Many enslaved people chose to join this side during the war because they were promised freedom.
The British
The British strategy adopted later in the war that focused on invading the Southern colonies, expecting help from Loyalists.
The Southern Campaign
The British general who was forced to surrender at Yorktown, effectively ending the war.
General Charles Cornwallis.
Under the treaty terms, this European country regained control of Florida.
Spain.
A military tactic where an army surrounds a place to cut off supplies and force a surrender, used at Boston.
Siege
American independence helped inspire a revolution in this Caribbean colony (Saint-Domingue).
Haiti.
The final major battle of the war where General Cornwallis was trapped by American troops on land and the French navy at sea.
The Battle of Yorktown
The French general who marched his troops alongside Washington to help surround the British at Yorktown.
General Rochambeau
The treaty promised that this group of people would have their confiscated property returned to them.
Loyalists
The political belief that power should rest with the people and their representatives, not a monarch.
Republicanism
While women gained some respect for raising patriotic citizens, they still lacked this major political right after the war.
Voting.
A hit-and-run fighting tactic used effectively by Patriot fighters like Francis Marion to disrupt British supply lines in the South.
Guerrilla Warfare
The names of the three American negotiators who represented the United States at the Treaty of Paris talks.
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay.
This group was completely excluded from the treaty negotiations, despite living on the land that was given to the United States.
Native Americans.
The term for the forced removal of people from their land, a consequence suffered by many Native Americans after the war.
Displacement
The American Revolution set a "precedent," that other former colonies started to follow afterwards. What does "precedent" mean?
An example that others follow.