War · 19 April 1775 – 3 September 1783
American Revolutionary War
After the Seven Years' War, Britain's attempts to tax its Thirteen Colonies and tighten control met growing resistance, and in April 1775 fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The Continental Congress appointed George Washington to command, and on 4 July 1776 it declared independence.
Britain took New York and Philadelphia but could not destroy Washington's army, and in 1777 a British army surrendered at Saratoga. The victory helped bring France into the war in 1778, followed by Spain in 1779 and, from 1780, war between Britain and the Dutch Republic, turning a colonial rebellion into a wider war fought from the Caribbean to Gibraltar. British forces then turned south, taking Savannah and Charleston, until Charles Cornwallis was trapped at Yorktown in 1781 by American and French armies and a French fleet. His surrender led Britain to seek peace, and the Treaty of Paris of 1783 recognised the independence of the United States.
- Dates
- 19 April 1775 – 3 September 1783
- Casualties
- An estimated 25,000 American soldiers died (about 6,800 in battle and some 17,000 from disease), and British military deaths are estimated at about 43,600, besides some 7,800 German auxiliaries and 7,000 Loyalists.
The sides
United States and allies
- United States of America 1776–1783
- Kingdom of France 1778–1783
- Spanish Empire 1779–1783
- Dutch Republic 1780–1783 · part of Dutch Republic and Dutch Colonial Empire
Great Britain
- British Empire 1775–1783
- Electorate of Hanover 1775–1783
Timeline of the American Revolutionary War
- Lexington and Concord: the first shots of the war
British troops marched from Boston to seize militia weapons stored at Concord. At Lexington they met a small company of colonial militia, and shots were fired; at Concord the troops were driven back, and on their return to Boston thousands of militiamen fired on them from cover along the road. The clashes turned political protest into armed rebellion, and militia from across New England soon surrounded British-held Boston.
- Battle of Bunker Hill: costly British victory at Boston
During the siege of Boston, colonial forces fortified heights on the Charlestown peninsula overlooking the town. British troops made frontal assaults and took the position on the third attempt, after the defenders ran short of ammunition, but suffered heavy casualties. The battle showed that colonial militia could stand against British regulars. That month Congress had appointed George Washington commander of the new Continental Army.
- American assault on Quebec fails
Hoping to bring Canada into the rebellion, American forces invaded in 1775 and took Montreal. On the last night of the year, in a snowstorm, Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold attacked the walled city of Quebec. Montgomery was killed, Arnold wounded and hundreds of Americans captured. The failure ended hopes of adding Canada to the revolt, and American forces withdrew in 1776.
- British forces evacuate Boston
Over the winter, cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga were hauled overland to Boston, and in March Washington placed them on Dorchester Heights, commanding the town and harbour. Unable to hold Boston, the British commander William Howe evacuated his army by sea to Halifax on 17 March. It was an early American success, though Howe would return in force that summer to attack New York.
- Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence
On 2 July the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted for independence, and on 4 July it adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted chiefly by Thomas Jefferson. It listed grievances against King George III and declared the colonies to be free and independent states. The war became a fight for a new nation rather than for colonists' rights within the British Empire.
- Battle of Long Island: Howe defeats Washington
Howe landed a large army on Long Island and outflanked Washington's defences on 27 August, inflicting a heavy defeat. Washington evacuated his army across the East River to Manhattan by night, but over the following weeks the British drove him out of New York, which they took and held for the rest of the war. The Continental Army retreated across New Jersey, shrinking as enlistments expired.
- Battle of Trenton: Washington crosses the Delaware
With his army dwindling, Washington crossed the icy Delaware River on Christmas night and at daybreak on 26 December surprised the Hessian garrison at Trenton, capturing most of it. A week later, on 3 January 1777, he won again at Princeton. The small victories revived the Patriot cause, encouraged soldiers to re-enlist and forced the British to pull back from much of New Jersey.
- Battle of Brandywine opens the road to Philadelphia
In 1777 Howe sailed his army to Chesapeake Bay to attack the rebel capital, Philadelphia. At Brandywine Creek on 11 September he outflanked and defeated Washington, and British troops occupied Philadelphia on 26 September; Congress had already fled. Washington's army survived a defeat at Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge, while Howe's move left no support for a British army advancing from Canada.
- Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga
General John Burgoyne led a British army south from Canada along Lake Champlain to cut New England off from the other colonies. American forces under Horatio Gates, with Benedict Arnold, blocked him near Saratoga in two battles in September and October. Surrounded and short of supplies, Burgoyne surrendered his whole army on 17 October. The victory persuaded France that the rebellion could succeed.
- France signs treaties of commerce and alliance with the United States
Benjamin Franklin and his fellow commissioners in Paris concluded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance with France on 6 February 1778. France recognised American independence and entered the war against Britain, sending money, troops and, above all, a navy. Britain now had to defend its Caribbean islands, India and the home waters as well as fighting in America.
- Battle of Monmouth: the Continental Army holds its own
Facing a French fleet, the British abandoned Philadelphia and marched back to New York. Washington's army, retrained over the winter at Valley Forge, caught the rearguard at Monmouth Court House in New Jersey on 28 June. The hard-fought battle was inconclusive and the British reached New York, but the Continental Army showed it could now meet British regulars in open battle.
- British capture Savannah and turn the war south
Stalemated in the north, Britain adopted a 'southern strategy', counting on Loyalist support in Georgia and the Carolinas. A seaborne expedition captured Savannah, Georgia, on 29 December 1778. A Franco-American attempt to retake the city in 1779 failed. From here British forces would push into South Carolina, but the war in the south became a brutal civil conflict between Patriots and Loyalists.
- Spain joins the war and besieges Gibraltar
Spain allied with France by the Treaty of Aranjuez in 1779, hoping to recover Gibraltar and Minorca from Britain, though it did not ally formally with the United States. On 24 June Spanish and later French forces began the Great Siege of Gibraltar, which lasted more than three and a half years. Spanish forces also campaigned against the British along the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi.
- Charleston surrenders: Britain's greatest victory of the war
A British army under Henry Clinton besieged Charleston, South Carolina, in spring 1780. In May the American commander Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the city and an army of several thousand men, the largest American loss of the war. Clinton returned to New York, leaving Charles Cornwallis to conquer the Carolinas. The fall of Charleston left South Carolina open to British occupation, and Loyalist and Patriot militias fought a bitter guerrilla war across the backcountry.
- Battle of Camden: Cornwallis routs Gates
Horatio Gates, the victor of Saratoga, led a new southern army into South Carolina. At Camden on 16 August Cornwallis attacked and routed it; the militia fled and Gates retreated far to the north. For a time British control of South Carolina seemed secure. But Patriot militia defeated a Loyalist force at Kings Mountain in October, and the new commander Nathanael Greene rebuilt the southern army.
- Britain declares war on the Dutch Republic
Dutch merchants had traded with the Americans and supplied France, and the Republic was about to join Russia's League of Armed Neutrality. In December 1780 Britain declared war, beginning the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. The Royal Navy seized Dutch ships and colonies, but the war added one more naval opponent to Britain's list as it fought France and Spain around the world.
- Battle of Cowpens: Morgan defeats Tarleton
Nathanael Greene divided his army, sending Daniel Morgan into western South Carolina. At the Cowpens on 17 January Morgan placed militia in front of his Continentals, and when Banastre Tarleton's British force advanced it was drawn in and enveloped. Most of Tarleton's men were killed or captured. The defeat cost Cornwallis much of his light infantry and drew him into a long chase after Greene.
- Battle of Guilford Court House: a costly British victory
Cornwallis caught up with Greene at Guilford Court House in North Carolina on 15 March. The British held the field, but lost about a quarter of their force, and Greene withdrew his army intact. Too weak to hold the Carolinas, Cornwallis marched north into Virginia, hoping to cut off supplies to the south, while Greene recovered most of South Carolina and Georgia.
- Battle of the Chesapeake: French fleet cuts off Cornwallis
Cornwallis fortified Yorktown on Chesapeake Bay, expecting supply and rescue by sea. A French fleet under the Comte de Grasse arrived from the Caribbean, and on 5 September off the Virginia Capes it fought a British fleet under Thomas Graves, which then returned to New York. With the French controlling the bay, Cornwallis was trapped as Washington and Rochambeau marched south with their armies.
- Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
From 28 September an American army under Washington and a French army under Rochambeau besieged Yorktown, digging trenches ever closer and bombarding the town. With no help coming by sea, Cornwallis surrendered on 19 October; more than 7,000 British soldiers were taken prisoner. It was the last major land battle of the war in America, and it broke Britain's will to continue the fight for the colonies.
- Lord North's government resigns
News of Yorktown shook Parliament. In March 1782 the House of Commons passed a motion against continuing offensive war in America, and on 20 March the Prime Minister, Lord North, who had led the government through the war, resigned. The new ministry opened peace negotiations with the American commissioners in Paris while still fighting France and Spain. King George III, who had wanted to fight on, accepted that the war in America was lost.
- Battle of the Saintes: Rodney defeats de Grasse
France and Spain planned to invade Britain's colony of Jamaica. In fighting from 9 to 12 April near the Îles des Saintes, between Guadeloupe and Dominica, a British fleet under Admiral George Rodney broke the French line, captured four ships of the line and took de Grasse prisoner. The invasion was abandoned, and the victory strengthened Britain's hand in the peace talks.
- Grand assault on Gibraltar fails
After three years of siege, France and Spain launched a great attack on Gibraltar on 13 September 1782, using specially built floating batteries. The British garrison, which included Hanoverian troops, set them ablaze with red-hot shot, and the assault ended in a costly failure. Gibraltar stayed British, and the siege was lifted in February 1783. A British fleet under Lord Howe resupplied the Rock in October 1782.
- Preliminary peace articles signed in Paris
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay negotiated directly with Britain and signed preliminary articles on 30 November 1782. Britain accepted American independence and boundaries, and the articles dealt with fishing rights off Newfoundland, prewar debts, Loyalist property and the evacuation of British forces. France signed its own preliminary articles with Britain in January 1783. The Americans negotiated separately from France, despite their alliance, securing generous terms.
- Treaty of Paris recognises the United States
The formal peace between Britain and the United States was signed in Paris on 3 September 1783, alongside Britain's treaties with France and Spain. Britain recognised the independence of the United States, whose territory reached west to the Mississippi. Spain recovered Florida and Minorca, while Britain kept Gibraltar. British troops left New York that November. Ratifications were exchanged in 1784, completing the peace.
Related
Other wars of the time
- Seven Years' War 17 May 1756 – 15 February 1763
- Napoleonic Wars 18 May 1803 – 20 November 1815