HIUS 221 3.4.16
-In all honesty, through much of the war, the Continental Army was often “kicked all over
the map” and saw a few battle victories.
-through a lot of the war, perhaps the worst and most crippling defeats occurred in
southern states. Why?
-african americans were tremendous contributors to espionage.
-Women were some of the unsung heroes of both sides of the war. Women were some
of the best spies that both sides had.
Discuss the inferiority of the American navy Vs. the mighty british navy. What was the
impact of the French navy into this conflict?
Disuss the roles of other contributing nations to this war.
France, Spain and the Dutch republic (Holland) all secretly provided supplies,
ammunition and weapons to the revolutionaries in early 1776. For the next couple of
years, they also went to war with Britain: Threatening an invasion of Great Britain and
severely resting British military strength with campaigns in Europe ***Spains
involvement culminated in the expulsion of british armies from West Florida, securing
the American southern flank.
For the first couple of years of this war, we did not even have an army. The British were
superior in many ways.
Alaska wasn’t bought until 1867 from Russia.
1775 Battle of Quebec. 1000 American vs 1200 British Troops
1777-1778 Valley forge in PA was the site of the military camp of the continental army
during the winder months. Discuss the hardships there.
What were some of the frustrations that Washington dealt with concerning his army?
Much of them needed training and forigen soliders such as Baron Von Steuben and
Marquis De Layfayette trained them.
Washington expierenced more defeats in this war than he did wins. Washingtons army
was pushed all over the map because he was always outnumbered and undersupplied
The War in the North:1776-1783
After Gen. George Washington forced the British out of Boston in the spring 1776,
neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas.
-The British, however, were massing forces around their naval base at Halifax, Nova
Scotia (Canada). They returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York.
Late in 1776 The british quickly seized NYC and nearly captured George Washington. NYC
became the destination for loyalist refugees but also a focial point of Washington’s
intelligence network.
The British also took NJ, pushing the contintal army into PA but in a surprise attack
on December 26 1776, Gen. George Washington crossed the Delaware river back
into NJ and defeated combined hessian and british armies at Trention and Princeton,
thereby regaining NJ.
Particularly during the Trenton Canpaign 2400 Patriots attacked 1500 hessians
and around 900 were captured.
The Trenton and Princeton victories gave an important boost to pro-independence
supportors at a time when morale was lagging.
Saratoga: 1777 as a part of a grand strategy to end the war, the British sent an invasion
force from Canada to seal off new England, which the british perieved as the primary
source of patriot agitators.
