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2801 | British. The Americans captured Kaskaskia on July 4 and then secured Vincennes, although Vincennes was recaptured by Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit. In early 1779, the Americans counterattacked by undertaking a risky winter march, and they secured the surrender of the British at Vincennes, taking Hamilton prisoner. On May 25, 1780, the British launched an expedition into Kentucky as part of a wider operation to clear resistance from Quebec to the Gulf coast. The expedition met with only limited success, though hundreds of settlers were killed or captured. The Americans responded with a major offensive along the Mad | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2802 | River in August which met with some success, but it did little to abate the Indian raids on the frontier. French militia attempted to capture Detroit, but it ended in disaster when Miami Indians ambushed and defeated the gathered troops on November 5. The war in the west had become a stalemate; the Americans did not have the manpower to simultaneously defeat the hostile Indian tribes and occupy their land. The British turned their attention to conquering the South in 1778, after Loyalists in London assured them of a strong Loyalist base there. A southern campaign also had the advantage | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2803 | of keeping the Royal Navy closer to the Caribbean, where it would be needed to defend lucrative colonies against the Franco-Spanish fleets. On December 29, 1778, an expeditionary corps from New York captured Savannah, and British troops then moved inland to recruit Loyalist support. There was a promising initial turnout in early 1779, but then a large Loyalist militia was defeated at Kettle Creek on February 14 and they had to recognize their dependence upon the British. The British, however, defeated Patriot militia at Brier Creek on March 3, and then launched an abortive assault on Charleston, South Carolina. The | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2804 | operation became notorious for its high degree of looting by British troops, enraging both Loyalists and Patriot colonists. In October, a combined Franco-American effort failed to recapture Savannah. In May 1780, Henry Clinton captured Charleston, taking over 5,000 prisoners and effectively destroying the Continental Army in the south. Organized American resistance in the region collapsed when Banastre Tarleton defeated the withdrawing Americans at Waxhaws on May 29. Clinton returned to New York, leaving Charles Cornwallis in command in Charleston to oversee the southern war effort. Far fewer Loyalists than expected joined him. In the interim, the war was carried on | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2805 | by Patriot militias who effectively suppressed Loyalists by winning victories in Fairfield County, Lincolnton, Huck's Defeat, Stanly County, and Lancaster County. Congress appointed Horatio Gates, victor at Saratoga, to lead the American effort in the south. He suffered a major defeat at Camden on August 16, 1780, setting the stage for Cornwallis to invade North Carolina. The British attempted to subjugate the countryside, and Patriot militia continued to fight against them, so Cornwallis dispatched troops to raise Loyalist forces to cover his left flank as he moved north. This wing of Cornwallis' army was virtually destroyed on October 7, irreversibly | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2806 | breaking Loyalist support in the Carolinas. Cornwallis subsequently aborted his advance and retreated back into South Carolina. In the interim, Washington replaced Gates with his trusted subordinate, Nathanael Greene. Greene was unable to confront the British directly, so he dispatched a force under Daniel Morgan to recruit additional troops. Morgan then defeated the cream of the British army under Tarleton on January 17, 1781 at Cowpens. Cornwallis was criticized for having detached a substantial part of his army without adequate support, but he advanced into North Carolina despite the setbacks, gambling that he would receive substantial Loyalist support there. Greene | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2807 | evaded combat with Cornwallis, instead wearing his army down through a protracted war of attrition. By March, Greene's army had increased in size enough that he felt confident in facing Cornwallis. The two armies engaged at Guilford Courthouse on March 15; Greene was beaten, but Cornwallis' army suffered irreplaceable casualties. Compounding this, far fewer Loyalists were joining than the British had previously expected. Cornwallis' casualties were such that he was compelled to retreat to Wilmington for reinforcement, leaving the Patriots in control of the interior of the Carolinas and Georgia. Greene then proceeded to reclaim the South. The American troops | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2808 | suffered a reversal at Hobkirk's Hill on April 25; nonetheless, they continued to dislodge strategic British posts in the area, capturing Fort Watson and Fort Motte. Augusta was the last major British outpost in the South outside of Charleston and Savannah, but the Americans reclaimed possession of it on June 6. A British force clashed with American troops at Eutaw Springs on September 8 in a final effort to stop Greene, but the British casualties were so high that they withdrew to Charleston. Minor skirmishes continued in the Carolinas until the end of the war, and British troops were effectively | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2809 | confined to Charleston and Savannah for the remainder of the conflict. Cornwallis had discovered that the majority of American supplies in the Carolinas were passing through Virginia, and he had written to both Lord Germain and Clinton detailing his intentions to invade. Cornwallis believed that a successful campaign there would cut supplies to Greene's army and precipitate a collapse of American resistance in the South. Clinton strongly opposed the plan, favoring a campaign farther north in the Chesapeake Bay region. Lord Germain wrote to Cornwallis to approve his plan and neglected to include Clinton in the decision-making, even though Clinton | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2810 | was Cornwallis' superior officer, and Cornwallis then decided to move into Virginia without informing Clinton. Clinton, however, had failed to construct a coherent strategy for British operations in 1781, owing to his difficult relationship with his naval counterpart Marriot Arbuthnot. Following the calamitous operations at Newport and Savannah, French planners realized that closer cooperation with the Americans was required to achieve success. The French fleet led by the Comte de Grasse had received discretionary orders from Paris to assist joint efforts in the north if naval support was needed. Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau discussed their options. Washington pushed | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2811 | for an attack on New York, while Rochambeau preferred a strike in Virginia where the British were less well-established and thus easier to defeat. Franco-American movements around New York caused Clinton a great deal of anxiety, fearing an attack on the city. His instructions were vague to Cornwallis during this time, rarely forming explicit orders. However, Clinton did instruct Cornwallis to establish a fortified naval base and to transfer troops to the north to defend New York. Cornwallis dug in at Yorktown and awaited the Royal Navy. Washington still favored an assault on New York, but he acquiesced to the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2812 | French when they opted to send their fleet to their preferred target of Yorktown. In August, the combined Franco-American army moved south to coordinate with de Grasse in defeating Cornwallis. The British lacked sufficient naval resources to effectively counter the French, but they dispatched a fleet under Thomas Graves to assist Cornwallis and attempt to gain naval dominance. On September 5, the French fleet decisively defeated Graves, giving the French control of the seas around Yorktown and cutting off Cornwallis from reinforcements and relief. Despite the continued urging of his subordinates, Cornwallis made no attempt to break out and engage | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2813 | the Franco-American army before it had established siege works, expecting that reinforcements would arrive from New York, and the Franco-American army laid siege to Yorktown on September 28. Cornwallis continued to think that relief was imminent from Clinton, and he abandoned his outer defenses which were immediately occupied by American troops—serving to hasten his subsequent defeat. The British then failed in an attempt to break out of the siege across the river at Gloucester Point when a storm hit. Cornwallis and his subordinates were under increasing bombardment and facing dwindling supplies; they agreed that their situation was untenable and negotiated | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2814 | a surrender on October 17, 1781, and 7,685 soldiers became prisoners of the Americans. The same day as the surrender, 6,000 troops under Clinton had departed New York, sailing to relieve Yorktown. On 25 November 1781, news arrived in London of the surrender at Yorktown. The Whig opposition gained traction in Parliament, and a motion was proposed on December 12 to end the war which was defeated by only one vote. On 27 February 1782, the House voted against further war in America by 19 votes. Lord Germain was dismissed and a vote of no confidence was passed against North. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2815 | The Rockingham Whigs came to power and opened negotiations for peace. Rockingham died and was succeeded by the Earl of Shelburne. Despite their defeat, the British still had 30,000 troops garrisoned in New York, Charleston, and Savannah. Henry Clinton was recalled and was replaced by Guy Carleton who was under orders to suspend offensive operations. After hostilities with the Dutch began in late 1780, Britain had moved quickly, enforcing a blockade across the North Sea. Within weeks, the British had captured 200 Dutch merchantmen, and 300 more were holed up in foreign ports, though political turmoil within the Republic and | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2816 | peace negotiations by both sides helped keep conflict to a minimum. The majority of the Dutch public favored a military alliance with France against Britain; however, the Dutch Stadtholder impeded these efforts, hoping to secure an early peace. To restore diminishing trade a Dutch squadron under Johan Zoutman escorted a fleet of some 70 merchantmen from the Texel. Zoutman's ships were intercepted by Sir Hyde Parker, who engaged Zoutman at Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781. Though the contest was tactically inconclusive, the Dutch fleet did not leave harbor again during the war, and their merchant fleet remained crippled. On | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2817 | 6 January 1781, a French attempt to capture Jersey to neutralize British privateering failed. Frustrated in their attempts to capture Gibraltar, a Franco-Spanish force of 14,000 men under the Duc de Mahon invaded Minorca on 19 August. After a long siege of St. Philip's, the British garrison under James Murray surrendered on 5 February 1782, securing a primary war goal for the Spanish. At Gibraltar, a major Franco-Spanish assault on 13 September 1782 was repulsed with heavy casualties. On 20 October 1782, following a successful resupply of Gibraltar, British ships under Richard Howe successfully refused battle to the Franco-Spanish fleet | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2818 | under Luis de Córdova, denying Córdova dominance at sea. On 7 February 1783, after 1,322 days of siege, the Franco-Spanish army withdrew, decisively defeated. Sint Eustatius, a key supply port for the Patriots, was sacked by British forces under George Rodney on 3 February 1781, who plundered the island's wealth. Few operations were conducted against the Dutch, although several Dutch colonies were captured by the British in 1781. After the fall of Mobile to Spanish troops under Bernardo de Gálvez, an attempt to capture Pensacola was thwarted due to a hurricane. Emboldened by the disaster, John Campbell, British commander at | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2819 | Pensacola, decided to recapture Mobile. Campbell's expeditionary force of around 700 men was defeated on 7 January 1781. After re-grouping at Havana, Gálvez set out for Pensacola on 13 February. Arriving on 9 March, siege operations did not begin until 24 March, owing to difficulties in bringing the ships into the bay. After a 45-day siege, Gálvez decisively defeated the garrison, securing the conquest of West Florida. In May, Spanish troops captured the Bahamas, although the British bloodlessly recaptured the islands the following year on 18 April. In the West Indies, on 29–30 April 1781, a Royal Navy squadron under | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2820 | Samuel Hood was narrowly defeated by the French, led by the Comte de Grasse, who continued seizing British territories: Tobago fell on 2 June; Demerara and Essequibo on 22 January 1782; St. Kitts and Nevis on 12 February, despite a British naval victory on 25 January; and Montserrat on 22 February. In 1782, the primary strategic goal of the French and Spanish was the capture of Jamaica, whose sugar exports were more valuable to the British than the Thirteen Colonies combined. On 7 April 1782, de Grasse departed Martinique to rendezvous with Franco-Spanish troops at Saint Domingue and invade Jamaica | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2821 | from the north. The British under Hood and George Rodney pursued and decisively defeated the French off Dominica between 9–12 April. The Franco-Spanish plan to conquer Jamaica was in ruins, and the balance of naval power in the Caribbean shifted to the Royal Navy. In Guatemala, Matías de Gálvez led Spanish troops in an effort to dislocate British settlements along the Gulf of Honduras. Gálvez captured Roatán on 16 March 1782, and then quickly took Black River. Following the decisive naval victory at the Saintes, Archibald Campbell, the Royal governor of Jamaica, authorized Edward Despard to re-take Black River, which | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2822 | he did on 22 August. However, with peace talks opening, and Franco-Spanish resources committed to the siege of Gibraltar, no further offensive operations took place. Following Dutch entry into the conflict, East India Company troops under Hector Munro captured the Dutch port of Negapatam after a three-week siege on 11 October 1781. Soon after, British Admiral Edward Hughes captured Trincomalee after a brief engagement on 11 January 1782. In March 1781, French Admiral Bailli de Suffren was dispatched to India to assist colonial efforts. Suffren arrived off the Indian coast in February 1782, where he clashed with a British fleet | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2823 | under Hughes, winning a narrow tactical victory. After landing troops at Porto Novo to assist Mysore, Suffren's fleet clashed with Hughes again Providien on 12 April. There was no clear victor, though Hughes' fleet came off worse, and he withdrew to the British-held port of Trincomalee. Hyder Ali wished for the French to capture Negapatam to establish naval dominance over the British, and this task fell to Suffren. Suffren's fleet clashed with Hughes again off Negapatam on 6 July. Suffren withdrew to Cuddalore, strategically defeated, and the British remained in control of Negapatam. Intending to find a more suitable port | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2824 | than Cuddalore, Suffren captured Trincomalee on 1 September, and successfully engaged Hughes two days later. Meanwhile, Ali's troops loosely blockaded Vellore as the East India Company regrouped. Company troops under Sir Eyre Coote led a counter-offensive, defeating Ali at Porto Novo on 1 July 1781, Pollilur on 27 August, and Sholinghur on 27 September, expelling the Mysorean troops from the Carnatic. On 18 February 1782, Tipu Sultan defeated John Braithwaite near Tanjore, taking his entire 1,800-strong force prisoner. The war had, by this point, reached an uneasy stalemate. On 7 December 1782, Hyder Ali died, and the rule of Mysore | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2825 | passed to his son, Tipu Sultan. Sultan advanced along the west coast, laying siege to Mangalore on 20 May 1783. Meanwhile, on the east coast, an army under James Stuart besieged the French-held port of Cuddalore on 9 June 1783. On 20 June, key British naval support for the siege was neutralized when Suffren defeated Hughes' fleet off Cuddalore, and though narrow, the victory gave Suffren the opportunity to displace British holdings in India. On 25 June, the Franco-Mysorean defenders made repeated sorties against British lines, though all assaults failed. On 30 June, news arrived of a preliminary peace between | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2826 | the belligerent powers, and the siege was effectively over when the French abandoned the siege. Mangalore remained under siege, and capitulated to Sultan on 30 January 1784. Little fighting took place thereafter, and Mysore and Britain made peace on 11 March. Following the surrender at Yorktown, the Whig party came to power in Britain and began opening negotiations for a cessation of hostilities. While peace negotiations were being undertaken, British troops in America were restricted from launching further offensives. Prime Minister the Earl of Shelburne was reluctant to accept American independence as a prerequisite for peace, as the British were | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2827 | aware that the French economy was nearly bankrupt, and reinforcements sent to the West Indies could potentially reverse the situation there. He preferred that the colonies accept Dominion status within the Empire, though a similar offer had been rejected by the Americans in 1778. Negotiations soon began in Paris. The Americans initially demanded that Quebec be ceded to them as spoils of war, a proposal that was dropped when Shelburne accepted American demands for recognition of independence. On April 19, 1782, the Dutch formally recognized the United States as a sovereign power, enhancing American leverage at the negotiations. Spain initially | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2828 | impeded the negotiations, refusing to enter into peace talks until Gibraltar had been captured. The Comte de Vergennes proposed that American territory be confined to the east of the Appalachians; Britain would have sovereignty over the area north of the Ohio River, below which an Indian barrier state would be established under Spanish control. The United States fiercely opposed the proposal. The Americans skirted their allies, recognizing that more favorable terms would be found in London. They negotiated directly with Shelburne, who hoped to make Britain a valuable trading partner of America at the expense of France. To this end, | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2829 | Shelburne offered to cede all the land east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida, and south of Quebec, while also allowing American fishermen access to the rich Newfoundland fishery. Shelburne was hoping to facilitate the growth of the American population, creating lucrative markets that Britain could exploit at no administrative cost to London. As Vergennes commented, "the English buy peace rather than make it". Throughout the negotiations, Britain never consulted her American Indian allies, forcing them to reluctantly accept the treaty. However, the subsequent tension erupted into conflicts between the Indians and the young United States, the largest being | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2830 | the Northwest Indian War. Britain continued trying to create an Indian buffer state in the American Midwest as late as 1814 during the War of 1812. Britain negotiated separate treaties with Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic. Gibraltar proved to be a stumbling block in the peace talks; Spain offered to relinquish their conquests in West Florida, Menorca, and the Bahamas in exchange for Gibraltar, terms which Shelburne steadfastly refused. Shelburne instead offered to cede East Florida, West Florida, and Menorca if Spain would relinquish the claim on Gibraltar, terms which were reluctantly accepted. However, in the long-term, the new | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2831 | territorial gains were of little value to Spain. France's only net gains were the island of Tobago in the Caribbean and Senegal in Africa, after agreeing to return all other colonial conquests to British sovereignty. Britain returned Dutch Caribbean territories to Dutch sovereignty, in exchange for free trade rights in the Dutch East Indies and control of the Indian port of Negapatnam. Preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris on 30 November 1782, while preliminaries between Britain, Spain, France, and the Netherlands continued until September 1783. The United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris on January | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2832 | 14, 1784. Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the other parties involved, the first reaching France in March 1784. British ratification occurred on April 9, 1784, and the ratified versions were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784. The war formally concluded on September 3, 1783. The last British troops departed New York City on November 25, 1783, marking the end of British rule in the new United States. The total loss of life throughout the conflict is largely unknown. As was typical in wars of the era, diseases such as smallpox claimed more lives than battle. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2833 | Between 1775 and 1782, a smallpox epidemic broke out throughout North America, killing 40 people in Boston alone. Historian Joseph Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have his troops inoculated against the disease was one of his most important decisions. Between 25,000 and 70,000 American Patriots died during active military service. Of these, approximately 6,800 were killed in battle, while at least 17,000 died from disease. The majority of the latter died while prisoners of war of the British, mostly in the prison ships in New York Harbor. If the upper limit of 70,000 is accepted as the total net | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2834 | loss for the Patriots, it would make the conflict proportionally deadlier than the American Civil War. Uncertainty arises due to the difficulties in accurately calculating the number of those who succumbed to disease, as it is estimated at least 10,000 died in 1776 alone. The number of Patriots seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000. The French suffered approximately 7,000 total dead throughout the conflict; of those, 2,112 were killed in combat in the American theaters of war. The Dutch suffered around 500 total killed, owing to the minor scale of their conflict | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2835 | with Britain. British returns in 1783 listed 43,633 rank and file deaths across the British Armed Forces. A table from 1781 puts total British Army deaths at 9,372 soldiers killed in battle across the Americas; 6,046 in North America (1775–1779), and 3,326 in the West Indies (1778–1780). In 1784, a British lieutenant compiled a detailed list of 205 British officers killed in action during the war, encompassing Europe, the Caribbean and the East Indies. Extrapolations based upon this list puts British Army losses in the area of at least 4,000 killed or died of wounds. Approximately 7,774 Germans died in | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2836 | British service in addition to 4,888 deserters; of the former, it is estimated 1,800 were killed in combat. Around 171,000 sailors served in the Royal Navy during the war; approximately a quarter of whom had been pressed into service. Around 1,240 were killed in battle, while an estimated 18,500 died from disease (1776–1780). The greatest killer at sea was scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. It was not until 1795 that scurvy was eradicated from the Royal Navy after the Admiralty declared lemon juice and sugar were to be issued among the standard daily rations of sailors. Around | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2837 | 42,000 sailors deserted during the war. The impact on merchant shipping was substantial; an estimated 3,386 merchant ships were seized by enemy forces during the war; of those, 2,283 were taken by American privateers alone. At the start of the war, the economy of the colonies was flourishing, and the free white population enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world. The Royal Navy enforced a naval blockade during the war to financially cripple the colonies, however, this proved unsuccessful; 90% of the population worked in farming, not in coastal trade, and, as such, the American economy proved resilient | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2838 | enough to withstand the blockade. Congress had immense difficulties throughout the conflict to efficiently finance the war effort. As the circulation of hard currency declined, the Americans had to rely on loans from American merchants and bankers, France, Spain and the Netherlands, saddling the young nation with crippling debts. Congress attempted to remedy this by printing vast amounts of paper money and bills of credit to raise revenue. The effect was disastrous; inflation skyrocketed, and the paper money became virtually worthless. The inflation spawned a popular phrase that anything of little value was "not worth a continental". By 1791, the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2839 | United States had accumulated a national debt of approximately $75.5 million. The United States finally solved its debt and currency problems in the 1790s, when Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton secured legislation by which the national government assumed all of the state debts, and, in addition, created a national bank and a funding system based on tariffs and bond issues that paid off the foreign debts. Britain spent around £80 million and ended with a national debt of £250 million, (£ in today's money), generating a yearly interest of £9.5 million annually. The debts piled upon that which it | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2840 | had already accumulated from the Seven Years' War. Due to wartime taxation upon the British populace, the tax for the average Briton amounted to approximately four shilling in every pound, or 20 percent. The French spent approximately 1.3 billion livres on aiding the Americans, accumulating a national debt of 3.315.1 billion livres by 1783 on war costs. Unlike Britain, which had a very efficient taxation system, the French tax system was highly unstable, eventually leading to a financial crisis in 1786. The debts contributed to a worsening fiscal crisis that ultimately begat the French Revolution at the end of the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2841 | century. The debt continued to spiral; on the eve of the French Revolution, the national debt had skyrocketed to 12 billion livres. Spain had nearly doubled her military spending during the war, from 454 million reales in 1778 to over 700 million in 1779. Spain more easily disposed of her debts unlike her French ally, partially due to the massive increase in silver mining in her American colonies; production increased approximately 600% in Mexico, and by 250% in Peru and Bolivia. The population of Great Britain and Ireland in 1780 was approximately 12.6 million, while the Thirteen Colonies held a | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2842 | population of some 2.8 million, including some 500,000 slaves. Theoretically, Britain had the advantage, however, many factors inhibited the procurement of a large army. In 1775, the standing British Army, exclusive of militia, comprised 45,123 men worldwide, made up of 38,254 infantry and 6,869 cavalry. The Army had approximately eighteen regiments of foot, some 8,500 men, stationed in North America. Standing armies had played a key role in the purge of the Long Parliament in 1648, the maintenance of a military dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell, and the overthrow of James II, and, as such, the Army had been deliberately kept | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2843 | small in peacetime to prevent abuses of power by the King. Despite this, eighteenth century armies were not easy guests, and were regarded with scorn and contempt by the press and public of the New and Old World alike, derided as enemies of liberty. An expression ran in the Navy; "A messmate before a shipmate, a shipmate before a stranger, a stranger before a dog, a dog before a soldier". Parliament suffered chronic difficulties in obtaining sufficient manpower, and found it impossible to fill the quotas they had set. The Army was a deeply unpopular profession, one contentious issue being | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2844 | pay. A Private infantryman was paid a wage of just 8d. per day, the same pay as for a New Model Army infantryman, 130 years earlier. The rate of pay in the army was insufficient to meet the rising costs of living, turning off potential recruits, as service was nominally for life. To entice people to enrol, Parliament offered a bounty of £1.10s for every recruit. As the war dragged on, Parliament became desperate for manpower; criminals were offered military service to escape legal penalties, and deserters were pardoned if they re-joined their units. After the defeat at Saratoga, Parliament | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2845 | doubled the bounty to £3, and increased it again the following year, to £3.3s, as well as expanding the age limit from 17–45 to 16–50 years of age. Impressment, essentially conscription by the "press gang", was a favored recruiting method, though it was unpopular with the public, leading many to enlist in local militias to avoid regular service. Attempts were made to draft such levies, much to the chagrin of the militia commanders. Competition between naval and army press gangs, and even between rival ships or regiments, frequently resulted in brawls between the gangs in order to secure recruits for | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2846 | their unit. Men would maim themselves to avoid the press gangs, while many deserted at the first opportunity. Pressed men were militarily unreliable; regiments with large numbers of such men were deployed to garrisons such as Gibraltar or the West Indies, purely to increase the difficulty in successfully deserting. By 1781, the Army numbered approximately 121,000 men globally, 48,000 of whom were stationed throughout the Americas. Of the 171,000 sailors who served in the Royal Navy throughout the conflict, around a quarter were pressed. This same proportion, approximately 42,000 men, deserted during the conflict. At its height, the Navy had | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2847 | 94 ships-of-the-line, 104 frigates and 37 sloops in service. In 1775, Britain unsuccessfully attempted to secure 20,000 mercenaries from Russia, and the use of the Scots Brigade from the Dutch Republic, such was the shortage of manpower. Parliament managed to negotiate treaties with the princes of German states for large sums of money, in exchange for mercenary troops. In total, 29,875 troops were hired for British service from six German states; Brunswick (5,723), Hesse-Kassel (16,992), Hesse-Hannau (2,422), Ansbach-Bayreuth (2,353), Waldeck-Pyrmont (1,225) and Anhalt-Zerbst (1,160). King George III, who also ruled Hanover as a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, was | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2848 | approached by Parliament to lend the government Hanoverian soldiers for service in the war. Hanover supplied 2,365 men in five battalions, however, the lease agreement permitted them to only be used in Europe. Without any major allies, the manpower shortage became critical when France and Spain entered the war, forcing a major diversion of military resources from the Americas. Recruiting adequate numbers of Loyalist militia in America proved difficult due to high Patriot activity. To bolster numbers, the British promised freedom and grants of land to slaves who fought for them. Approximately 25,000 Loyalists fought for the British throughout the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2849 | war, and provided some of the best troops in the British service; the British Legion, a mixed regiment of 250 dragoons and 200 infantry commanded by Banastre Tarleton, gained a fearsome reputation in the colonies, especially in the South. Britain had a difficult time appointing a determined senior military leadership in America. Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief of North America at the outbreak of the war, was criticized for being too lenient on the rebellious colonists. Jeffrey Amherst, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1778, refused a direct command in America, due to unwillingness to take sides in the war. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2850 | Admiral Augustus Keppel similarly opposed a command, stating; "I cannot draw the sword in such a cause". The Earl of Effingham resigned his commission when his regiment was posted to America, while William Howe and John Burgoyne were opposed to military solutions to the crisis. Howe and Henry Clinton both stated they were unwilling participants, and were only following orders. As was the case in many European armies, except the Prussian Army, officers in British service could purchase commissions to ascend the ranks. Despite repeated attempts by Parliament to suppress it, the practise was common in the Army. Values of | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2851 | commissions varied, but were usually in line with social and military prestige, for example, regiments such as the Guards commanded the highest prices. The lower ranks often regarded the treatment to high-ranking commissions by wealthier officers as "plums for [their] consumption". Wealthy individuals lacking any formal military education, or practical experience, often found their way into positions of high responsibility, diluting the effectiveness of a regiment. Though Royal authority had forbade the practise since 1711, it was still permitted for infants to hold commissions. Young boys, often orphans of deceased wealthy officers, were taken from their schooling and placed in | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2852 | positions of responsibility within regiments. Logistical organization of eighteenth century armies was chaotic at best, and the British Army was no exception. No logistical corps existed in the modern sense; while on campaign in foreign territories such as America, horses, wagons, and drivers were frequently requisitioned from the locals, often by impressment or by hire. No centrally organized medical corps existed. It was common for surgeons to have no formal medical education, and no diploma or entry examination was required. Nurses sometimes were apprentices to surgeons, but many were drafted from the women who followed the army. Army surgeons and | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2853 | doctors were poorly paid and were regarded as social inferiors to other officers. The heavy personal equipment and wool uniform of the regular infantrymen were wholly unsuitable for combat in America, and the outfit was especially ill-suited to comfort and agile movement. During the Battle of Monmouth in late June 1778, the temperature exceeded 100°F (37.8°C) and is said to have claimed more lives through heat stroke than through actual combat. The standard-issue firearm of the British Army was the Land Pattern Musket. Some officers preferred their troops to fire careful, measured shots (around two per minute), rather than rapid | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2854 | firing. A bayonet made firing difficult, as its cumbersome shape hampered ramming down the charge into the barrel. British troops had a tendency to fire impetuously, resulting in inaccurate fire, a trait for which John Burgoyne criticized them during the Saratoga campaign. Burgoyne instead encouraged bayonet charges to break up enemy formations, which was a preferred tactic in most European armies at the time. Every battalion in America had organized its own rifle company by the end of the war, although rifles were not formally issued to the army until the Baker Rifle in 1801. Flintlocks were heavily dependent on | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2855 | the weather; high winds could blow the gunpowder from the flash pan, while heavy rain could soak the paper cartridge, ruining the powder and rendering the musket unable to fire. Furthermore, flints used in British muskets were of notoriously poor quality; they could only be fired around six times before requiring resharpening, while American flints could fire sixty. This led to a common expression among the British: "Yankee flint was as good as a glass of grog". Provisioning troops and sailors proved to be an immense challenge, as the majority of food stores had to be shipped overseas from Britain. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2856 | The need to maintain Loyalist support prevented the Army from living off the land. Other factors also impeded this option; the countryside was too sparsely populated and the inhabitants were largely hostile or indifferent, the network of roads and bridges was poorly developed, and the area which the British controlled was so limited that foraging parties were frequently in danger of being ambushed. After France entered the war, the threat of the French navy increased the difficulty of transporting supplies to America. Food supplies were frequently in bad condition. The climate was also against the British in the southern colonies | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2857 | and the Caribbean, where the intense summer heat caused food supplies to sour and spoil. Life at sea was little better. Sailors and passengers were issued a daily food ration, largely consisting of hardtack and beer. The hardtack was often infested by weevils and was so tough that it earned the nicknames "molar breakers" and "worm castles", and it sometimes had to be broken up with cannon shot. Meat supplies often spoiled on long voyages. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables gave rise to scurvy, one of the biggest killers at sea. Discipline was harsh in the armed forces, | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2858 | and the lash was used to punish even trivial offences—and not used sparingly. For instance, two redcoats received 1,000 lashes each for robbery during the Saratoga campaign, while another received 800 lashes for striking a superior officer. Flogging was a common punishment in the Royal Navy and came to be associated with the stereotypical hardiness of sailors. Despite the harsh discipline, a distinct lack of self-discipline pervaded all ranks of the British forces. Soldiers had an intense passion for gambling, reaching such excesses that troops would often wager their own uniforms. Many drank heavily, and this was not exclusive to | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2859 | the lower ranks; William Howe was said to have seen many "crapulous mornings" while campaigning in New York. John Burgoyne drank heavily on a nightly basis towards the end of the Saratoga campaign. The two generals were also reported to have found solace with the wives of subordinate officers to ease the stressful burdens of command. During the Philadelphia campaign, British officers deeply offended local Quakers by entertaining their mistresses in the houses where they had been quartered. Some reports indicated that British troops were generally scrupulous in their treatment of non-combatants. This is in contrast to diaries of Hessian | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2860 | soldiers, who recorded their disapproval of British conduct towards the colonists, such as the destruction of property and the execution of prisoners. The presence of Hessian soldiers caused considerable anxiety among the colonists, both Patriot and Loyalist, who viewed them as brutal mercenaries. British soldiers were often contemptuous in their treatment of Hessian troops, despite orders from General Howe that "the English should treat the Germans as brothers". The order only began to have any real effect when the Hessians learned to speak a minimal degree of English, which was seen as a prerequisite for the British troops to accord | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2861 | them any respect. During peacetime, the Army's idleness led to it being riddled with corruption and inefficiency, resulting in many administrative difficulties once campaigning began. The British leadership soon discovered it had overestimated the capabilities of its own troops, while underestimating those of the colonists, causing a sudden re-think in British planning. The ineffective initial response of British military and civil officials to the onset of the rebellion had allowed the advantage to shift to the colonists, as British authorities rapidly lost control over every colony. A microcosm of these shortcomings were evident at the Battle of Bunker Hill. It | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2862 | took ten hours for the British leadership to respond following the sighting of the Americans on the Charlestown Peninsula, giving the colonists ample time to reinforce their defenses. Rather than opt for a simple flanking attack that would have rapidly succeeded with minimal loss, the British decided on repeated frontal attacks. The results were telling; the British suffered 1,054 casualties of a force of around 3,000 after repeated frontal assaults. The British leadership had nevertheless remained excessively optimistic, believing that just two regiments could suppress the rebellion in Massachusetts. Debate persists over whether a British defeat was a guaranteed outcome. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2863 | Ferling argues that the odds were so long, the defeat of Britain was nothing short of a miracle. Ellis, however, considers that the odds always favored the Americans, and questions whether a British victory by any margin was realistic. Ellis argues that the British squandered their only opportunities for a decisive success in 1777, and that the strategic decisions undertaken by William Howe underestimated the challenges posed by the Americans. Ellis concludes that, once Howe failed, the opportunity for a British victory "would never come again". Conversely, the United States Army's official textbook argues that, had Britain been able to | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2864 | commit 10,000 fresh troops to the war in 1780, a British victory was within the realms of possibility. Historians such as Ellis and Stewart have observed that, under William Howe's command, the British squandered several opportunities to achieve a decisive victory over the Americans. Throughout the New York and Philadelphia campaigns, Howe made several strategic errors, errors which cost the British opportunities for a complete victory. At Long Island, Howe failed to even attempt an encirclement of Washington, and actively restrained his subordinates from mounting an aggressive pursuit of the defeated American army. At White Plains, he refused to engage | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2865 | Washington's vulnerable army, and instead concentrated his efforts upon a hill which offered the British no strategic advantage. After securing control of New York, Howe dispatched Henry Clinton to capture Newport, a measure which Clinton was opposed to, on the grounds the troops assigned to his command could have been put to better use in pursuing Washington's retreating army. Despite the bleak outlook for the revolutionary cause and the surge of Loyalist activity in the wake of Washington's defeats, Howe made no attempt to mount an attack upon Washington while the Americans settled down into winter quarters, much to their | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2866 | surprise. During planning for the Saratoga campaign, Howe was left with the choice of committing his army to support Burgoyne, or capture Philadelphia, the revolutionary capital. Howe decided upon the latter, determining that Washington was of a greater threat. When Howe launched his campaign, he took his army upon a time-consuming route through the Chesapeake Bay, rather than the more sensible choices of overland through New Jersey, or by sea through the Delaware Bay. The move left him unable to assist Burgoyne even if it was required of him. The decision so angered Parliament, that Howe was accused by Tories | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2867 | on both sides of the Atlantic of treason. During the Philadelphia campaign, Howe failed to pursue and destroy the defeated Americans on two occasions; once after the Battle of Brandywine, and again after the Battle of Germantown. At the Battle of White Marsh, Howe failed to even attempt to exploit the vulnerable American rear, and then inexplicably ordered a retreat to Philadelphia after only minor skirmishes, astonishing both sides. While the Americans wintered only twenty miles away, Howe made no effort to attack their camp, which critics argue could have ended the war. Following the conclusion of the campaign, Howe | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2868 | resigned his commission, and was replaced by Henry Clinton on May 24, 1778. Contrary to Howe's more hostile critics, however, there were strategic factors at play which impeded aggressive action. Howe may have been dissuaded from pursuing aggressive manoeuvres due to the memory of the grievous losses the British suffered at Bunker Hill. During the major campaigns in New York and Philadelphia, Howe often wrote of the scarcity of adequate provisions, which hampered his ability to mount effective campaigns. Howe's tardiness in launching the New York campaign, and his reluctance to allow Cornwallis to vigorously pursue Washington's beaten army, have | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2869 | both been attributed to the paucity of available food supplies. During the winter of 1776–1777, Howe split his army into scattered cantonments. This decision dangerously exposed the individual forces to defeat in detail, as the distance between them was such that they could not mutually support each other. This strategic failure allowed the Americans to achieve victory at the Battle of Trenton, and the concurrent Battle of Princeton. While a major strategic error to divide an army in such a manner, the quantity of available food supplies in New York was so low that Howe had been compelled to take | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2870 | such a decision. The garrisons were widely spaced so their respective foraging parties would not interfere with each other's efforts. Howe's difficulties during the Philadelphia campaign were also greatly exacerbated by the poor quality and quantity of available provisions. In 1780, the primary British strategy hinged upon a Loyalist uprising in the south, for which Charles Cornwallis was chiefly responsible. After an encouraging success at Camden, Cornwallis was poised to invade North Carolina. However, any significant Loyalist support had been effectively destroyed at the Battle of Kings Mountain, and the British Legion, the cream of his army, had been decisively | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2871 | defeated at the Battle of Cowpens. Following both defeats, Cornwallis was fiercely criticized for detaching a significant portion of his army without adequate mutual support. Despite the defeats, Cornwallis chose to proceed into North Carolina, gambling his success upon a large Loyalist uprising which never materialized. As a result, subsequent engagements cost Cornwallis valuable troops he could not replace, as at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and the Americans steadily wore his army down in an exhaustive war of attrition. Cornwallis had thus left the Carolinas ripe for reconquest. The Americans had largely achieved this aim by the end of | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2872 | 1781, effectively confining the British to the coast, and undoing all the progress they had made in the previous year. In a last-ditch attempt to win the war in the South, Cornwallis resolved to invade Virginia, in order to cut off the American's supply base to the Carolinas. Henry Clinton, Cornwallis' superior, strongly opposed the plan, believing the decisive confrontations would take place between Washington in the North. London had approved Cornwallis plan, however they had failed to include Clinton in the decision-making, despite his seniority over Cornwallis, leading to a muddled strategic direction. Cornwallis then decided to invade Virginia | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2873 | without informing Clinton of his intentions. Clinton, however, had wholly failed to construct a coherent strategy for British campaigning that year, owing to his fractious relationship that he shared with Mariot Arbuthnot, his naval counterpart. As the Franco-American army approached Cornwallis at Yorktown, he made no attempt to sally out and engage before siege lines could be erected, despite the repeated urging of his subordinate officers. Expecting relief to soon arrive from Clinton, Cornwallis prematurely abandoned all of his outer defences, which were then promptly occupied by the besiegers, serving to hasten the British defeat. These factors contributed to the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2874 | eventual surrender of Cornwallis' entire army, and the end of major operations in North America. Like Howe before him, Clinton's efforts to campaign suffered from chronic supply issues. In 1778, Clinton wrote to Germain complaining of the lack of supplies, even after the arrival of a convoy from Ireland. That winter, the supply issue had deteriorated so badly, that Clinton expressed considerable anxiety over how the troops were going to be properly fed. Clinton was largely inactive in the North throughout 1779, launching few major campaigns. This inactivity was partially due to the shortage of food. By 1780, the situation | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2875 | had not improved. Clinton wrote a frustrated correspondence to Germain, voicing concern that a "fatal consequence will ensue" if matters did not improve. By October that year, Clinton again wrote to Germain, angered that the troops in New York had not received "an ounce" of that year's allotted stores from Britain. Suppressing a rebellion in America presented the British with major problems. The key issue was distance; it could take up to three months to cross the Atlantic, and orders from London were often outdated by the time that they arrived. The colonies had never been formally united prior to | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2876 | the conflict and there was no centralized area of ultimate strategic importance. Traditionally, the fall of a capital city often signalled the end of a conflict, yet the war continued unabated even after the fall of major settlements such as New York, Philadelphia (which was the Patriot capital), and Charleston. Britain's ability to project its power overseas lay chiefly in the power of the Royal Navy, allowing her to control major coastal settlements with relative ease and enforce a strong blockade of colonial ports. However, the overwhelming majority of the American population was agrarian, not urban. As a result, the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2877 | American economy proved resilient enough to withstand the blockade's effects. The need to maintain Loyalist support prevented the British from using the harsh methods of suppressing revolts that they had used in Scotland and Ireland. For example, British troops looted and pillaged the locals during an aborted attack on Charleston in 1779, enraging both Patriots and Loyalists. Neutral colonists were often driven into the ranks of the Patriots when brutal combat broke out between Tories and Whigs across the Carolinas in the later stages of the war. Conversely, Loyalists were often emboldened when Patriots resorted to intimidating suspected Tories, such | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2878 | as destroying property or tarring and feathering. The vastness of the American countryside and the limited manpower available meant that the British could never simultaneously defeat the Americans and occupy captured territory. One British statesman described the attempt as "like trying to conquer a map". Wealthy Loyalists wielded great influence in London and were successful in convincing the British that the majority view in the colonies was sympathetic toward the Crown. Consequently, British planners pinned the success of their strategies on popular uprisings of Loyalists. Historians have estimated that Loyalists made up only 15–20% of the population (vs. 40–45% Patriots) | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2879 | and that they continued to deceive themselves on their level of support as late as 1780. The British discovered that any significant level of organized Loyalist activity would require the continued presence of British regulars, which presented them with a major dilemma. The manpower that the British had available was insufficient to both protect Loyalist territory and counter American advances. The vulnerability of Loyalist militias was repeatedly demonstrated in the South, where they suffered strings of defeats to their Patriot neighbors. The most crucial juncture of this was at Kings Mountain, and the victory of the Patriot partisans irreversibly crippled | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2880 | Loyalist military capability in the South. Upon the entry of France and Spain into the conflict, the British were forced to severely limit the number of troops and warships that they sent to North America in order to defend other key territories and the British mainland. As a result, King George III abandoned any hope of subduing America militarily while he had a European war to contend with. The small size of Britain's army left them unable to concentrate their resources primarily in one theater as they had done in the Seven Years' War, leaving them at a critical disadvantage. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2881 | The British were compelled to disperse troops from the Americas to Europe and the East Indies, and these forces were unable to assist one other as a result, precariously exposing them to defeat. In North America, the immediate strategic focus of the French, Spanish, and British shifted to Jamaica, whose sugar exports were more valuable to the British than the economy of the Thirteen Colonies combined. Following the end of the war, Britain had lost some of her most populous colonies. However, the economic effects of the loss were negligible in the long-term, and she became a global superpower just | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2882 | 32 years after the end of the conflict. The Americans began the war with significant disadvantages compared to the British. They had no national government, no national army or navy, no financial system, no banks, no established credit, and no functioning government departments, such as a treasury. The Congress tried to handle administrative affairs through legislative committees, which proved inefficient. The state governments were themselves brand new and officials had no administrative experience. In peacetime the colonies relied heavily on ocean travel and shipping, but that was now shut down by the British blockade and the Americans had to rely | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2883 | on slow overland travel. However, the Americans had multiple advantages that in the long run outweighed the initial disadvantages they faced. The Americans had a large prosperous population that depended not on imports but on local production for food and most supplies, while the British were mostly shipped in from across the ocean. The British faced a vast territory far larger than Britain or France, located at a far distance from home ports. Most of the Americans lived on farms distant from the seaports—the British could capture any port but that did not give them control over the hinterland. They | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2884 | were on their home ground, had a smoothly functioning, well organized system of local and state governments, newspapers and printers, and internal lines of communications. They had a long-established system of local militia, previously used to combat the French and Native Americans, with companies and an officer corps that could form the basis of local militias, and provide a training ground for the national army created by Congress. Motivation was a major asset. The Patriots wanted to win; over 200,000 fought in the war; 25,000 died. The British expected the Loyalists to do much of the fighting, but they did | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2885 | much less than expected. The British also hired German mercenaries to do much of their fighting. At the onset of the war, the Americans had no major international allies. Battles such as the Battle of Bennington, the Battles of Saratoga and even defeats such as the Battle of Germantown proved decisive in gaining the attention and support of powerful European nations such as France and Spain, who moved from covertly supplying the Americans with weapons and supplies, to overtly supporting them militarily, moving the war to a global stage. The new Continental Army suffered significantly from a lack of an | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2886 | effective training regime, and largely inexperienced officers and sergeants. The inexperience of its officers was compensated for in part by a few senior officers. The Americans solved their training dilemma during their stint in Winter Quarters at Valley Forge, where they were relentlessly drilled and trained by General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a veteran of the famed Prussian General Staff. He taught the Continental Army the essentials of military discipline, drills, tactics and strategy, and wrote the Revolutionary War Drill Manual. When the Army emerged from Valley Forge, it proved its ability to equally match the British troops in battle | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2887 | when they fought a successful strategic action at the Battle of Monmouth. When the war began, the 13 colonies lacked a professional army or navy. Each colony sponsored local militia. Militiamen were lightly armed, had little training, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for only a few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to travel far from home and thus were unavailable for extended operations, and lacked the training and discipline of soldiers with more experience. If properly used, however, their numbers could help the Continental armies overwhelm smaller British forces, as at the battles | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2888 | of Concord, Bennington and Saratoga, and the siege of Boston. Both sides used partisan warfare but the Americans effectively suppressed Loyalist activity when British regulars were not in the area. Seeking to coordinate military efforts, the Continental Congress established a regular army on June 14, 1775, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress, and Washington used both his regulars and state militia throughout the war. Three current branches of the United States Military trace their institutional roots to the American Revolutionary War; the United States Army comes from the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2889 | Continental Army, formed by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775. The United States Navy recognizes October 13, 1775 as the date of its official establishment, the passage of the resolution of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia that created the Continental Navy. The United States Marine Corps links to the Continental Marines of the war, formed by a resolution of the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775. However, in 1783 both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded. At the beginning of 1776, Washington commanded 20,000 men, with two-thirds enlisted in the Continental Army and the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2890 | other third in the various state militias. About 250,000 men served as regulars or as militiamen for the Revolutionary cause in the eight years of the war, but there were never more than 90,000 men under arms at one time. About 55,000 sailors served aboard American privateers during the war. They used 1,700 ships, and they captured 2,283 enemy ships. John Paul Jones became the first great American naval hero, capturing HMS "Drake" on April 24, 1778, the first victory for any American military vessel in British waters. Armies were small by European standards of the era, largely attributable, on | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2891 | the American side, to limitations such as lack of powder and other logistical capabilities; and, on the British side, to the difficulty of transporting troops across the Atlantic, as well as the dependence on local supplies, which the Patriots tried to cut off. The largest force Washington commanded was certainly under 17,000, and may have been no more than 13,000 troops, and even the combined American and French forces at the siege of Yorktown amounted to only about 19,000. By comparison, Duffy notes that in an era when European rulers were generally revising their forces downward, in favor of a | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2892 | size that could be most effectively controlled (the very different perspective of mass conscript armies came later, during the French Revolutionary and then the Napoleonic Wars), the largest army that Frederick the Great ever led into battle was 65,000 men (at Prague in 1757), and at other times he commanded between 23,000 and 50,000 men, considering the latter the most effective number. General Washington assumed main five main roles during the war. First, he designed the overall strategy of the war, in cooperation with Congress. The goal was always independence. When France entered the war, he worked closely with the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2893 | soldiers it sent – they were decisive in the great victory at Yorktown in 1781. Second, he provided leadership of troops against the main British forces in 1775–77 and again in 1781. He lost many of his battles, but he never surrendered his army during the war, and he continued to fight the British relentlessly until the war's end. Washington worked hard to develop a successful espionage system to detect British locations and plans. In 1778, he formed the Culper Ring to spy on enemy movements in New York City. In 1780 it discovered Benedict Arnold was a traitor. The | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2894 | British put a low value on intelligence, and its operations were of poor quality until 1780, when it finally inserted some spies with Congress and with Washington's command. Even then, however, British commanders ignored or downplayed threats that were revealed. The most serious intelligence failure came in 1781 when top commanders were unaware that The American and French armies at both left the Northeast and marched down to Yorktown, where they outnumbered Cornwallis by more than 2 to 1. Third, he was charged selecting and guiding the generals. In June 1776, Congress made its first attempt at running the war | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2895 | effort with the committee known as "Board of War and Ordnance", succeeded by the Board of War in July 1777, a committee which eventually included members of the military. The command structure of the armed forces was a hodgepodge of Congressional appointees (and Congress sometimes made those appointments without Washington's input) with state-appointments filling the lower ranks. The results of his general staff were mixed, as some of his favorites never mastered the art of command, such as John Sullivan. Eventually, he found capable officers such as Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, Henry Knox (chief of artillery), and Alexander Hamilton (chief | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2896 | of staff). The American officers never equaled their opponents in tactics and maneuver, and they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes at Boston (1776), Saratoga (1777), and Yorktown (1781) came from trapping the British far from base with much larger numbers of troops. Fourth he took charge of training the army and providing supplies, from food to gunpowder to tents. He recruited regulars and assigned Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff, to train them. He transformed Washington's army into a disciplined and effective force. The war effort and getting supplies to | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2897 | the troops were under the purview of Congress, but Washington pressured the Congress to provide the essentials. There was never nearly enough. Washington's fifth and most important role in the war effort was the embodiment of armed resistance to the Crown, serving as the representative man of the Revolution. His long-term strategy was to maintain an army in the field at all times, and eventually this strategy worked. His enormous personal and political stature and his political skills kept Congress, the army, the French, the militias, and the states all pointed toward a common goal. Furthermore, he permanently established the | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2898 | principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs by voluntarily resigning his commission and disbanding his army when the war was won, rather than declaring himself monarch. He also helped to overcome the distrust of a standing army by his constant reiteration that well-disciplined professional soldiers counted for twice as much as poorly trained and led militias. African Americans—slave and free—served on both sides during the war. The British recruited slaves belonging to Patriot masters and promised freedom to those who served by act of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation. Because of manpower shortages, George Washington lifted the ban on black enlistment in | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2899 | the Continental Army in January 1776. Small all-black units were formed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; many slaves were promised freedom for serving. Some of the men promised freedom were sent back to their masters, after the war was over, out of political convenience. Another all-black unit came from Saint-Domingue with French colonial forces. At least 5,000 black soldiers fought for the Revolutionary cause. Tens of thousands of slaves escaped during the war and joined British lines; others simply moved off in the chaos. For instance, in South Carolina, nearly 25,000 slaves (30% of the enslaved population) fled, migrated or | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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2900 | died during the disruption of the war. This greatly disrupted plantation production during and after the war. When they withdrew their forces from Savannah and Charleston, the British also evacuated 10,000 slaves belonging to Loyalists. Altogether, the British evacuated nearly 20,000 blacks at the end of the war. More than 3,000 of them were freedmen and most of these were resettled in Nova Scotia; other blacks were sold in the West Indies. Most American Indians east of the Mississippi River were affected by the war, and many tribes were divided over the question of how to respond to the conflict. | "American Revolutionary War" | [
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