Events
In May 1775, just a month after shots had been fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, this assembly established a Continental army and elected George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, but the delegates also drafted the Olive Branch Petition and sent it to King George III in hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution. The king refused to hear the petition and declared the American colonies in revolt.
What is the Second Continental Congress?
Also known as the Battle of Brooklyn, this took place in present-day Brooklyn. The British defeated the Continental Army and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war.
What is the Battle of Long Island?
A violent group that rose up against local and colonial leaders, not against the British for their resentment toward high taxes imposed by wealthy, upper-class leaders during 1764 to 1771 in North Carolina.
Who were the Regulators of North Carolina?
a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.
What is Common Sense?
The capture of this fort was the first offensive victory for American forces in the Revolutionary War. It secured the strategic passageway north to Canada and netted the patriots an important cache of artillery.
What is Fort Ticonderoga?
This was the third act of the four punitive measures enacted in Intolerable Acts in 1774. This act ensured a fair trial for British officials who were charged with capital offenses.
What is the Administration of Justice Act?
Fought to a draw on June 28, 1778, during the American Revolution.
Proved how much Washington’s army had improved under Baron Friedrich von Steuben
What is the Battle of Monmouth?
a spokesman for democracy, was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.
What is Militia?
Elusive and crafty, this American military officer outwitted British troops during the American Revolution. Also known as the "Swamp Fox"
Who is Francis Marion?
The American army made its headquarters for the winter of 1777-78 some twenty-five miles away from Philadelphia at this place. It was a naturally defensible plateau where the army could train and recoup from the year's battles, and the wet and cold winter weather, muddy and impassable roads, and scant supplies made major battles less likely.
What is Valley Forge?
Led by Benjamin Lincoln, a five thousand colonial army defending Charleston, Georgia, which had a significant strategic importance, surrendered to the British who outnumbered them more than two to one. It’s known as America’s worst defeat of the war.
What is the Siege of Charlston?
A Prussian military officer who played a leading role in the American Revolutionary War by reforming the Continental Army into a disciplined and professional fighting force. His contributions marked a significant improvement in the performance of U.S. troops.
Who was Baron Friedrich von Steuben?
American statesmen Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay negotiated this peace treaty with representatives of King George III of Great Britain. In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally recognized American independence and ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States, doubling the size of the new nation and paving the way for westward expansion.
What is the Treaty of Paris (1783)?
A Continental Army Colonel whose men transported heavy cannons that had been captured at Fort Ticonderoga 300 miles to the Continental Army camps outside Boston in fifty-six days with the help of oxen and ice sledges and arrived outside Boston on January 25, 1776.
Who is Henry Knox?
The siege of this place was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, and led to the surrender of General Cornwallis and the capture of both him and his army.
What is the Victory at Yorktown?
This famous battle was the result of the British intent to control the Hudson River, a crucial supply line for the Continental Army. Fought between September 19th and October 17th, 1777, the U.S. would win the battle—a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. As a consequence, France entered the war to weaken its rival.
What is the Battle of Saratoga?
An American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who is best known for his captures of Kaskaskia in 1778 and Vincennes in 1779 during the Illinois campaign, which greatly weakened British influence in the Northwest Territory (then part of the British Province of Quebec) and earned him the nickname of "Conqueror of the Old Northwest".
Who is George Rogers Clark?
This was the first major battle of the American Revolution, fought in Charlestown (now part of Boston) during the Siege of Boston. Although the British eventually won the battle, it was a Pyrrhic victory that lent considerable encouragement to the revolutionary cause. The American patriots were defeated at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but they proved they could hold their own against the superior British Army.
What is Bunker Hill?
He was one of the most respected generals of the Revolutionary War and a talented military strategist. As commander of the Southern Department of the Continental army, he led a brilliant campaign that ended the British occupation of the South. Although he never fought a battle in Georgia, his leadership was the catalyst that turned the tide toward American victory in the colony, freeing Georgia from British forces.
Who is Nathanael Greene?
This was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775.
What are Lexington and Concord?
One of the few major battles of the Revolutionary War waged entirely between fellow countrymen., It ended in American victory. The fierce firefight pitted Loyalist militia elements under the command of British major Patrick Ferguson against 900 patriots. The British effort to secure Loyalist support in the South was a failure. Thomas Jefferson called the battle "The turn of the tide of success."
What is the Battle of Kings Mountain?
He was one of George Washington's most accomplished field generals. His legacy today is quite different by being remembered as the most notorious traitor in American history, after a failed gambit to trade the vital American outpost at West Point for cash resulted in his defection to the British side.
His name remains synonymous with Treason.
Who is Benedict Arnold?
A Scottish-born American naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.
an American naval hero in the American Revolution, renowned for his victory over British ships of war off the east coast of England (September 23, 1779).
Who is John Paul Jones?
A rich French aristocrat who fought in the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, against the British in the American Revolution.
Working with Thomas Jefferson, he helped write the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizen, the first step toward a constitution for the Republic of France, helping launch the French Revolution.
Who is Marquis de Lafayette?