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Concord
Joseph Warren learned from a source inside the British high command that Redcoat troops would march that night on Concord. Warren dispatched two couriers, silversmith Paul Revere and tanner William Dawes, to alert residents of the news. The British continued to Concord after Lexington in search for arms. Howevr, the arms had already been relocated. -
Lexington
Some 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and came upon 77 militiamen gathered on the town green. The heavily outnumbered militiamen had just been ordered by their commander to disperse when a shot rang out. To this day, no one knows which side fired first. -
Bunker Hill
The British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. Although commonly referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting occurred on nearby Breed’s Hill. Even though the inexperienced colonial forces lost the battle they still inflicted significant casualties against the enemy. -
New York (Staten Island)
British General William Howe had landed 32,000 troops on Staten Island, including 9000 Hessian mercenaries. With these overpowering numbers, the British would certainly be able to crush the fledgling rebellion. -
Trenton
Washington defeated a formidable garrison of Hessian mercenaries before withdrawing. A week later he returned to Trenton to lure British forces south, then executed a daring night march to capture Princeton on January 3. The victories reasserted American control of much of New Jersey. -
Saratoga
British General John Burgoyne achieved a small, but costly victory over American forces led by Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. Though his troop strength had been weakened, Burgoyne again attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights. -
Philadelphia
The British had captured Philadelphia, following General George Washington’s defeats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds. British General William Howe had made Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, the focus of his campaign, but the Patriot government had deprived him of the decisive victory he hoped for by moving its operations to the more secure site of York one week before the city was taken. -
Saratoga
Burgoyne again attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights, but this time was defeated and forced to retreat. He surrendered ten days later, and the American victory convinced the French government to formally recognize the colonist’s cause and enter the war as their ally. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was the military camp in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–1778 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed over 2,500 American soldiers -
Philadelphia
After almost nine months of occupation, 15,000 British troops under General Sir Henry Clinton evacuate Philadelphia, the former U.S. capital. -
Yorktown
General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. Washington had completely encircled Cornwallis and Yorktown with the combined forces of Continental and French troops. -
Treaty of Paris
Negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, ended the revolutionary war and recognized American independence. The talks began in April 1782, after the American-French victory at Yorktown led to the toppling of Lord North’s Tory government and the naming of a Whig, Lord Rockingham, as prime minister and Lord Shelburne as foreign minister. -
Marquis De Lafayette
Was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought for the United States in the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.
