USH "Bang Em Up" Review Unit 3

• Most powerful navy

• Established government and credit (money)

• Loyal and disciplined army

• Extensive wealth

• Hessian mercenaries

• Experience monarch

• Had to transport supplies and troops across the Atlantic (costly)

• British leaders split on how to conquer the colonies

  • Parliament was out of touch with colonies and important officers weren’t competent

• Little/no help from other nations

• Did not know the land well

• Had a cause (for independence!)

• Their home turf

• Had support from foreign powers (French)

• Superior guns (long rifle vs brown bess)

• Only had to defend and push the British out

• No real government

  • (Congress did not have much except moral authority)

• No navy (French helped later)

• Dependent on states for troops and funds

• Army lacked discipline and supplies

  • gunpowder, guns, cannons, rations

Isolate colonies from the rest of the world and each other, then divide and conquer in 3 phases.

GW developed a Fabian strategy. Never gamble whole army on major battles, only fight small skirmishes. Outlast the British who had a costly supply line. Win by not losing

Attacked the source of rebellion, New England and mainly Massachusetts.

General Gage secretly marched on Concord in order to seize rumored rebel ammunitions. Minutemen responded via Revere’s Middlesex Alarm and started firing at each other in Lexington.

The British split up to look for the supplies in Concord, but it had already been moved. So they had to retreat to Boston under heavy fire. As more and more minutemen arrived, they put Boston under siege.

Ethan Allen’s “Green Mountain Boys” and Benedict Arnold’s volunteer militia secretly marched on the fort and demanded they surrender. The British complied and the colonists obtains supposedly 80 canons and a bunch of guns and ammo.

The position commanded Boston Harbor and would let the British break out of the siege.

The colonists repelled 2 out of 3 British assaults on the fort while being outnumbered with very limited ammo and equipment. While the colonists had to retreat in the end, they inflicted 228 losses on the British while only receiving 140 losses (Pyrrhic Victory). This raised morale since the war no longer seemed impossible.

Ethan Allen’s “Green Mountain Boys” attacked Montreal and Benedict Arnold tried to take the cities after they refused to support the revolutionary war. They eventually lost and got pushed back

Henry Knox drags (supposedly 79??? other sources say 59) to supposedly Roxbury Heights (other sources say Dorchester heights) to overlook Boston and force the British to retreat on their ships.

Attack the Middle Colonies to divide them and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.

After the British abandon Boston (Howe also replaces Gage), they need a new port in the middle colonies. New York was chosen since it has many loyalists and the Hudson River.

British land at Staten Island with 20,000 soldiers in total. GW fortified in Brooklyn Heights and planned to draw the British in and then bombard them with artillery set up by Knox near Brooklyn. But, Loyalists helped Clinton move 10,000 soldiers through the Jamaica Pass and flank GW.

GW retreats to Manhattan with the help of John Glover and the Marblehead Fishermen and some timely dense fog. They row the entire army across to Manhattan without being detected due to the weather.

A famous Patriot spy (he spied on the British) and was caught and hung. He says “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”

First submarine, but it really sucks

The continental army had enlistment problems already and many contracts were about to expire. Also to raise morale

3 days before the fighting at the Battle of Trenton (December 23, 1776)

He predicted they would be tired from partying. (Not really true, they were just exhausted from being on the lookout for an attack for weeks)

GW crossed the Delaware again with his army in 3 groups. The main force made it to Trenton but the other two didn’t. They caught the Hessians off guard and won within 2 hours with minimal causalties. Seized lots of equipment and rations.

(Hessians thought Washington would not sail in those bad conditions)

Emanuel Leutze

He paid for their salaries with his own savings. 1500 of them stayed and 3500 came from Pennsylvania (maybe Virginia).

GW had to retreat from Trenton after winning and Cornwallis recaptured it. GW is pinned against the Delaware and chooses to fight the British. He leaves behind some soldiers and canons to make it seem like they are digging in. Then he sneaks behind Cornwallis with reinforcements and catch him off guard.

Never to gamble with his full army in large battles. Instead only fight small skirmishes so he could never lose his entire army at once.

British attack Fort Bennington to seize weapons from the colonists. John Stark and his skilled NY woodsmen militia push back Burgoyne.

GW moves to defend Philadelphia but fails due to British canon bombardment and a flank attack by Howe (He was helped by loyalists again). Some cannons are seized by British at Brandywine creek. GW and his army are able to easily run away and evacuate Congress as they give up Philadelphia. He then is forced to camp at Valley Forge to protect them through the winter later on.

GW goes to attack British who are moving to Germantown after taking Philadelphia (Loyalists alert them again). GW almost wins because of their superior numbers, but loses since confusion leads to troops shooting at each other. British then regroup and fight back. (not a clear win or lose)

Blames it on bad luck and distorts the casualty count to keep morale high

2 of the 3 groups did not show up (Howe and Clinton were late). So Burgoyne gets cocky and tries to fight with his 6000 soldiers alone and loses badly to: Philip Schuyler, Horatio Gates, and Benedict Arnold

1. Demoralized the British army and parliament greatly, did not think the colonists were pushovers anymore

2. Incites the Franco-American Alliance, a turning point in the war

3. Gates gets really famous, so ppl start questioning GW and Arnold gets butt hurt

Mifflin Maneuver (In congress) and the Conway Cabal (among military)

Promises not to tax colonies and not screw with them. Colonists likely would not have agreed anyways since they were too deep into war.

GW’s continental army has to camp there in order to protect Congress. Suffered a lot due to little supplies and rations, along with little support from Congress. 2000ish soldiers were killed by disease

Inspired by GW suffering along side them and refusing a hut until everyone else was out of tents. Wives came to assist soldiers by making food and clothing. Lafayette brought funds and French combat experience. Greene provided supplies near the end

THE CAUSE (spirit for independence)

Baron Von Steuben trained the army with Prussian discipline. He helped fuse their their spirit with discipline

General Clinton replaces Howe and leaves Philadelphia and goes back to NY

GW orders Lee to go flank at Monmouth Courthouse. But Lee doesn’t like GW too much and screws up on purpose. GW court martials him.

Minor details:

Tempe Wick hid her horse from British when they looted her house

Molly Pitcher (Real name Mary Ludwig Hayes) supplied water for canon crew and shot canons when a member got injured

Native groups mostly sided with the British since they seemed stronger. British sponsored raids in Cherry Valley, killed 32 people. GW went to punish the Natives and burned over 40 native settlements (really just made Natives more reliant on British cuz homeless).

Iroquois were neutral

They moved south in order to get access to the cash crops and thought there would be more loyalists to help them. (not true lol)

They needed a port in the South to land troops.

British took it easily with little resistance. Colonists regroup along with the French navy to try and retake it. They fail so badly that the French sail away in embarrassment to regroup.

One of the bloodiest battles of the war, 1000 french and colonists die total

John Paul Jones sails one warship along with some modified merchant ships to London and screws around to annoy them (goes down Thames river to scare them). Engages HMS Serapis, the ships pass by each other shooting canons. Then the ships get stuck together and they fight each other deck to deck

Bro says “I have not yet begun to fight” when the enemy asks if he surrenders, then kicks their asses and captures the Serapis

Colonists lost super bad against the British siege. General Lincoln eventually surrenders to British after 6 weeks of siege.

5400 surrender, 4 ship losts, and Fort Sumter

Buford gets wrecked by Tarleton’s Legion while going to support Charleston. The legion kills a bunch of people even tho they surrender. This pisses the colonists off a lot

13 year old Andrew Jackson (6th president).

told to shine boots, but spit on them instead, got a scar from a sword

Gates humiliated himself when he took Camden against warnings from his officers and then all his men got diarrhea in a swamp. They ran away from the army and Gates had to chase after them.

Hamilton says “But was there ever an instance of a General running away as Gates has done from his whole army?”

Greene was trusted greatly by GW and a great tactician. He was a Quaker, nick named “the fighting Quaker” because quakers usually didn’t fight.

good leader, but big ego and arrogant, liked expensive living.

Aaron Burr said “Utterly unprincipled and has no love of country or self-respect to guide him. He is not to be trusted anywhere but under the eye of a superior”

busy malding about lack of recongition and then marries a loyalist and then tries to betray at west point but fails

Important defensive position that blocks the British from going up the Hudson River. Arnold gains command of West Point and is going to sell it to the British, but his plans are found on the spy John Andre and he runs away to London.

Greene wants revenge against Tarleton’s legion and refuse to accept the British surrender Colonists win while being outnumbered 1,100 vs 1,400 (not sure if this is right, but they were def outnumbered)

Tarleton’s Legion gets overrun by Daniel Morgan and the British surrender.
Morgan says “Hold your head high … girls will kiss ya”
people were naked? or something lol

French navy led by DeGrasse block British navy from intervening, allowing GW to push British to the coast without fear of British navy support. Cornwallis tries to escape across the York River but failed bc of a storm. Yorktown is sieged for 13 days and Cornwallis surrenders

He sends his subordinate to do the surrender bc hes too embarrassed. His subordinate tries to surrender to DeGrasse (french guy) but is told to surrender to GW. GW then responds by sending his subordinate to receive the surrender.

Officers wants GW to become a king bc they are dissatisfied with Congress. But GW hears about this and straight up refuses. Then delivers a powerful speech about it. He was humble and said that he was only a steward in a larger experiment. He also expressed that decisions should be made by the people since that’s what they were fighting for in the first place. Anomaly in history

1. John Adams, John Jay, and Ben Franklin went to negotiate.

2. British were more scared of French and Spanish so they did not mind giving the colonists a lot that much.

3. New Prime Minister Rockingham was favorable to colonies.

4. British took long term view and wanted good relationships with US

5. French tried manipulating US to dislike British by making it seem like the British were giving them less land, and secure more land for themselves

6. John Jay outplayed them and gets the US a ton of land

1. US is recognized as independent country

2. Gets territory east of Mississippi and under Great Lakes

3. British concede fishing rights in waters off Canada

4. British remove troops “at all convenient speed”

5. Debts between individuals can be settled in court

6. Americans will “suggest” to congress to return loyalist properties to British (doesn’t happen lol)

7. US and Britain agree to share Mississippi river (no spanish tho)