THE+WAR


 * At the war begins...**

In late April 1775, Gen. Gage sent British troops to seize colonial military supplies and arrest opposition leaders in the towns of Lexington and Concord, west of Boston.The military clashes there and along the British retreat route began what became the Revolutionary War. News of the fighting spread quickly: The Second Continental Congress took charge of the makeshift Massachusetts force and appointed Virginian [|George Washington]to command this "Continental Army." After the Battle of [|Bunker Hill], Washington began a rigorous program to discipline the American army.



The year 1776 started badly for the rebels. In June and July, the British began assembling one of the largest naval and military forces ever seen in North America at New York. Meanwhile, the Congress at Philadelphia approved [|the Declaration of Independence], which was read publicly to Washington's troops in New York.

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//"Yankee Doodle"// is a well-known Anglo-American song the origin of which dates back to the [|Seven Years' War]. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today.

//Yankee Doodle went to town,// //A-Riding on a pony;// //He stuck a feather in his hat,// //And called it macaroni.// //Yankee Doodle, keep it up,// //Yankee Doodle dandy;// //Mind the music and the step,// //And with the girls be handy!// //Father and I went down to camp// //Along with Captain Gooding// //And there we saw the men and boys// //As thick as hasty pudding.// //Yankee Doodle, keep it up// //Yankee Doodle dandy// //Mind the music and the step// //And with the girls be handy// //There was Captain Washington// //Upon a slapping stallion// //A-giving orders to his men// //I guess there was a million.// //Yankee Doodle, keep it up// //Yankee Doodle dandy// //Mind the music and the step// //And with the girls be hand.//

In 1777, Britain tried to isolate radical New England from the other colonies by sending a force under Gen. John Burgoyne down from Canada to the Hudson River. Troops under Gen. Howe sailed from New York toward Philadelphia, by way of the Chesapeake Bay. They captured Philadelphia, but by then Howe was unable to reinforce Burgoyne, who surrendered his much-diminished army to Continental soldiers and local militiamen at [|Saratoga], N.Y., in October. After that victory, the French negotiated an alliance with the Continental Congress.

The year 1778 brought a major change in British strategy. Following France's entry into the war, Britain decided to concentrate on holding the southern colonies. The British scored a major victory with the capture of Charleston, S.C., and its 5,500 defenders in May 1780. Instead of discouraging patriot resistance, the fall of Charleston stirred it up and led to the formation of irregular militia bands to make hit-and-run attacks against the occupiers. The British had enough soldiers to move through the Carolinas and establish forts, but not enough to protect their loyalist supporters or establish effective control. As soon as the British army moved on, loyalists were at the mercy of their pro-independence neighbors. In June 1780, Gen. Charles, Earl Cornwallis, took command of British forces. Cornwallis occupied and fortified Yorktown. A small Continental and militia force under the Marquis de Lafayette kept Cornwallis's army occupied until Washington could concentrate his forces in Virginia. The British sent a fleet under Admiral Graves from New York to relieve Cornwallis, but the French fleet engaged it at the Naval Battle of the Capes.Graves returned to New York with his damaged fleet, leaving Cornwallis trapped at Yorktown. At the end of September, the allied forces began the siege of Yorktown and Cornwallis had no choice but to order his subordinate Brig. Gen. Charles O'Hara to surrender his army of 8,000 to Washington on October 19, 1781.

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//The Surrender at Yorktown// Yorktown was a great victory for Franco-American arms, but it was not conclusive. The British still occupied New York City, Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah, and there was no immediate prospect of the Americans taking these cities. However, the British were hard pressed by years of war, and the government in London saw that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace Cornwallis's army. The British government entered into peace negotiations, with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay representing the United States.

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