Content deleted Content added
→British northern strategy fails: correcting (I believe) which British commander retreated to Quebec on August 22, 1777 |
|||
Line 1:
{{Short description|1775–1783 American war of independence from Great Britain}}
{{About|military actions primarily|origins and aftermath|American Revolution}}
{{See also|Timeline of the American Revolution}}
{{Pp-vandalism|expiry=indefinite|small=yes}}
<!--
Please do not make any major edits to the lead, as it was agreed upon by consensus on the talk page. Please discuss if you wish to change it.
-->
{{Use American English|date=June 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = American Revolutionary War
| partof = the [[American Revolution]], the [[Anglo-French War (1778–1783)|Anglo-French War between 1778 and 1783]], the [[Spain and the American Revolutionary War|Anglo-Spanish War between 1779 and 1783]], and the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]]
| image = {{Multiple image
| perrow = 1/2/2
| total_width = 300
| border=infobox
| image1= Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg
| image2= Battle of Guilford Courthouse 15 March 1781.jpg
| image3= Battle of Trenton by Charles McBarron.jpg
| image4= BattleofLongisland.jpg
| image5= The Battle of Bunker's Hill Bridgeman Images.jpg
| footer_align = left
| footer = Clockwise from top left: ''[[Surrender of Lord Cornwallis]]'' after the [[siege of Yorktown]], [[Battle of Trenton]], [[The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775|The Death of General Warren]] at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]], [[Battle of Long Island]], and the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]]
}}
| image_size =
| date = April 19, 1775{{snds}}September 3, 1783{{Efn|A cease-fire in North America was proclaimed by Congress<ref>{{cite web | url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc1783.asp | title=Avalon Project - British-American Diplomcay : Proclamation Declaring the Cesssation of Arms; April 11, 1783 | access-date=March 28, 2014 | archive-date=November 17, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117131910/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc1783.asp | url-status=live }}</ref> on April 11, 1783, under a cease-fire agreement between Great Britain and France on January 20, 1783. The final peace treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, and ratified on January 14, 1784, in the U.S., with final ratification exchanged in Europe on May 12, 1784. Hostilities in India continued until July 1783.}}<br />({{Age in years, months and days|1775|04|19|1783|09|03}})<br />Ratification effective: May 12, 1784
| place = [[Eastern United States|Eastern North America]], [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]], the [[Caribbean]]
| result = <!--DO NOT ALTER WITHOUT CONSENSUS -->
American and allied victory
* Signing of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] in 1776.
* [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] would not recognize American independence until signing the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]].
* [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Peace of Paris]]
* End of the [[First British Empire]]<ref name="4I7tG">[[#simms|Simms 2009]], pp. 615–618</ref>
| territory = Great Britain cedes generally, all mainland territories east of the [[Mississippi River]], south of the [[Great Lakes]], and north of [[the Floridas]] to the [[United States]].
* Great Britain cedes [[Tobago]] and [[Senegal]] to [[France]].
* Great Britain cedes [[Invasion of Minorca (1781)|Minorca]], [[West Florida]], and [[East Florida]] to [[Spain]].
<!--PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT CONSENSUS-->| combatant1 = '''[[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]]:'''<br>{{flagcountry|Thirteen Colonies}} (1775)<br>{{Flagdeco|Thirteen Colonies}}{{Flagdeco|United States|1776}} [[United Colonies]] (1775–1776)<br>{{Unbulleted list
|{{Flagdeco|United States|1776}}{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[United States]] (from 1776){{efn|Including the United Colonies period from 1776 to 1781 and the [[Confederation period]] from 1781 to 1783.}}
{{Collapsible list|bullets=on
|[[New Hampshire in the American Revolution|New Hampshire]]|[[Massachusetts in the American Revolution|Massachusetts]]|[[Rhode Island in the American Revolution|Rhode Island]]|[[Connecticut in the American Revolution|Connecticut]]|[[New York in the American Revolution|New York]]|[[New Jersey in the American Revolution|New Jersey]]|[[Pennsylvania in the American Revolution|Pennsylvania]]|[[Delaware in the American Revolution|Delaware]]|[[Maryland in the American Revolution|Maryland]]|[[Virginia in the American Revolution|Virginia]]|[[North Carolina in the American Revolution|North Carolina]]|[[South Carolina in the American Revolution|South Carolina]]|[[Georgia in the American Revolution|Georgia]]}}<br>{{Flagcountry|Kingdom of France}}
<br>{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Spain|1760}} [[History of Spain (1700–1808)|Spain]]<br>{{Flagcountry|Dutch Republic}}
}}
| combatant1a =
'''Combatants'''
{{Unbulleted list
|[[File:CONGRESSOWN.jpg|15px]] Br. Canadien, Cong. rgts.{{Efn|Two independent "COR" Regiments, the Congress's Own Regiments, were recruited among British Canadiens. The [[1st Canadian Regiment]] formed by [[James Livingston (American Revolution)|James Livingston]] of [[Chambly, Quebec]];<ref name="h5WNR">[[#smith1907|Smith 1907, p. 86]]</ref> and the [[2nd Canadian Regiment]] formed by [[Moses Hazen]] of [[Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu]], Quebec.<ref name="kRctn">[[#everest1977|Everest 1977, p. 38]]</ref>}}
|[[File:Pavillon royal de France.svg|border|15px]] Br. Canadien mil., Fr. led{{Efn|[[Augustin de La Balme]] independently [[Augustin de La Balme#American Revolution|marched on Detroit]] under a [[Flag of France#Kingdom of France|French flag]] with British Canadien militia recruited from western Quebec ([[Illinois County, Virginia]]) at the county seat of [[Kaskaskia, Illinois|Kaskaskia]], [[Cahokia, Illinois|Cahokia]], and [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]].<ref name="kbqqr">[[#seineke1981|Seineke 1981, p. 36, fn]]</ref>}}}}
{{Collapsible list<!-- removed for consistency, until this works correctly when nested: |bullets=on -->
|titlestyle=background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;font-size:100%;
|framestyle=border:none; padding:0; <!--Hides borders and improves row spacing-->
|title=[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]<ref name="bell">[[#jareditors2025|Bell 2015]], Essay</ref>
|[[Oneida people|Oneida]]|[[Tuscarora people|Tuscarora]]|[[Catawba people|Catawba]]|[[Lenape]]|[[Chickasaw]]|[[Choctaw]]|[[Mohicans|Mohican]]|[[Mi'kmaq]]{{Efn|(until 1779)}}|[[Abenaki]]|[[Cheraw]]|[[Pedee people|Pedee]]|[[Lumbee]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/02/indian-patriots-from-eastern-massachusetts-six-perspectives/|title=Indian Patriots from Eastern Massachusetts: Six Perspectives|first=Daniel J.|last=Tortora|date=February 4, 2015|website=Journal of the American Revolution|access-date=February 2, 2023|archive-date=February 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202214238/https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/02/indian-patriots-from-eastern-massachusetts-six-perspectives/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
<!--DO NOT CHANGE WITHOUT CONSENSUS-->| combatant2 = {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
*[[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]]<!--Agreed by consensus, do not revert-->
*[[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]]
*[[Nova Scotia]]
*[[West Florida]]
*[[East Florida]]
| combatant2a = '''Combatants'''<br>{{Unbulleted list
|{{Collapsible list|bullets=on
|titlestyle=background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;font-size:100%;
|title={{flagicon|Hesse}}{{Efn|Sixty-five percent of Britain's German auxiliaries employed in North America were from [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]] (16,000) and [[Hesse-Hanau]] (2,422), flying this same flag.<ref>[[#axelrod2014|Axelrod 2014]], p. 66</ref>}} {{flagicon|Brunswick|pre1814}}{{Efn|Twenty percent of Britain's German auxiliaries employed in North America were from [[Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]] (5,723),<ref>[[#eelking1893|Eelking 1893]], p. 66</ref> flying this flag.<ref>{{cite web |title=Duchy of Brunswick until 1918 (Germany) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de-bs814.html |website=www.crwflags.com |publisher=[[Flags of the World (website)|Flags of the World]] |access-date=5 February 2024}}</ref>}} [[Germans in the American Revolution#Allies of Great Britain|German mercenaries/auxiliaries]]<ref name="atwood1,23">[[#atwood2002|Atwood 2002]], pp. 1, 23</ref>{{Efn|The British hired over 30,000 professional soldiers from various German states who served in North America from 1775 to 1782.<ref>[[#lowell84|Lowell 1884]], pp. 14–15</ref> Commentators and historians often refer to them as mercenaries or auxiliaries, terms that are sometimes used interchangeably.<ref name="atwood1,23" />}}<!--There was a consensus to use both terms, per neutrality.-->
|[[File:Wappen-HK (1736-1804).svg|17px]] [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]]|[[File:Wappen-HK (1736-1804).svg|17px]] [[Hesse-Hanau]]|[[File:Coat of Arms of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont.svg|19px]] [[Waldeck (state)|Waldeck]]<!--black, yellow and red colors not officially used by the military until 1814: see https://www.fotw.info/flags/de-wp_hi.html-->|[[File:Coat of Arms of Brunswick-Lüneburg.svg|19px]] [[Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Brunswick]]|[[File:Wappen Brandenburg-Ansbach.svg|19px|link=]] [[Ansbach-Bayreuth|Ansbach]]|[[File:Blason Principaut%C3%A9 d%27Anhalt-Zerbst (XVIIIe si%C3%A8cle).svg|19px|link=]] [[Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst|Anhalt-Zerbst]] |{{Flagcountry|Electorate of Hanover}}
}}
{{Collapsible list|bullets=on
|titlestyle=background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;font-size:100%;
|title=[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]<ref name="bell" />
|[[Onondaga people|Onondaga]]|[[Mohawk people|Mohawk]]
|[[Cayuga people|Cayuga]]|[[Seneca people|Seneca]]|[[Mi'kmaq]]{{Efn|(from 1779)}}|[[Cherokee]]|[[Odawa]]|[[Muscogee]]|[[Susquehannock]]|[[Shawnee]]}}
}}
| commander1 = <!--MAJOR LEADERS ONLY. DO NOT ADD/REMOVE WITHOUT CONSENSUS -->{{Unbulleted list
|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Peyton Randolph]]
|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[John Hancock]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Benjamin Franklin]]}}
----
{{Unbulleted list|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[George Washington]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Horatio Gates]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Nathanael Greene]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Henry Knox]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]]|{{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Benedict Arnold]]{{Turncoat}}{{Efn|name=Arnold|Arnold served on the American side from 1775 to 1780; after defecting, he served on the British side from 1780 to 1783.}}|{{flagicon image |George Rogers Clark Flag.svg}} [[George Rogers Clark]]| {{Flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} {{Flagdeco|United States|1777}} [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of France}} [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]]|{{Flagdeco|Spain|1748}} [[Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Viscount of Galveston|Bernardo de Gálvez]]|[[List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War|''full list...'']]}}
| commander2 = <!--MAJOR LEADERS ONLY. DO NOT ADD/REMOVE WITHOUT CONSENSUS-->{{Unbulleted list
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[George III]]|{{Flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Frederick North, Lord North|Lord North]]|{{Flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne|Lord Shelburne]]}}
----
{{Unbulleted list|{{Flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville|Lord George Germain]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Thomas Gage]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|William Howe]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Henry Clinton]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[John Burgoyne]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Charles Cornwallis]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Benedict Arnold]]{{Efn|name=Arnold}}|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Henry Hamilton (colonial administrator)|Henry Hamilton]]|{{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [[Banastre Tarleton]]|[[List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War|''full list...'']]}}
| strength1 = {{Unbulleted list
|'''United States:'''{{Bulleted list
|[[Continental Army|Army]] and [[Militia (United States)|militia]]:{{Bulleted list|40,000 (average)<ref name="duncan371">[[#duncan1931|Duncan, L. 1931]], p. 371</ref>{{Efn|The total in active duty service for the American Cause during the American Revolutionary War numbered 200,000.<ref name="6bqxv">[[#lanning2009|Lanning 2009]], pp. 195–196</ref>}}}}
|[[Continental Navy|Navy]]:{{Bulleted list|53 [[Frigate#Age of sail|frigates]] and [[Sloop-of-war|sloops]]<ref name="Greene" />{{Efn|5,000 sailors (peak),<ref name="Greene">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], p. 328</ref> manning privateers, an additional 55,000 total sailors<ref name="usmm">[[#usmm2012|U.S. Merchant Marine 2012]], "Privateers and Mariners"</ref>}}}}
|[[Continental Marines|Marines]]: 2,131 (peak)<ref>[[#simmons2003|Simmons 2003]]</ref>
|'''[[List of United States state navies in the American Revolutionary War|State navies]]:'''{{Bulleted list|106 ships (total)<ref>[[#paullin|Paullin 1906]], pp. 315–316</ref>}}}}
|'''France:'''{{Bulleted list
|[[French Royal Army|Army]]: 10,800{{Efn|In 1780, General [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]] landed in Rhode Island with an independent command of about 6000 troops,<ref>[[#keiley1912|Keiley 1912, "Rochambeau"]]</ref> and in 1781 Admiral [[François Joseph Paul de Grasse|de Grasse]] landed nearly 4000 troops who were detached to Lafayette's Continental Army surrounding British General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] in Virginia at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]].<ref>[[#rochDAB|"Rochambeau", ''Dictionary of American Biography'']]</ref> An additional 750 French troops participated with the Spanish assault on [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]].<ref name="beerman181">[[#beerman1979|Beerman 1979, p. 181]]</ref>}}
|[[French Royal Navy|Navy]]: 2 fleets;{{efn|For five months in 1778 from July to November, the French deployed a fleet to assist American operations off of New York, [[Rhode Island]] and [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] commanded by Admiral [[Charles Henri Hector d'Estaing|d'Estaing]], with little result.<ref>[[#estaingEB1911|Britannica 1911, "C. H. Estaing"]]</ref> In September 1781, Admiral [[François Joseph Paul de Grasse|de Grasse]] left the West Indies to defeat the British fleet off Virginia at the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]], then offloaded 3,000 troops and siege cannon to support Washington's [[siege of Yorktown]].<ref name="miTsf">[[#degrasseEB2021|"F. J. P. de Grasse", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']]</ref>}} escorts<ref name="dull110">[[#dull1987|Dull 1987]], p. 110</ref>}}
| '''Spain:'''
|[[Spanish Army|Army]]: 12,000{{efn|Governor [[Bernardo de Gálvez]] deployed 500 Spanish regulars in his New Orleans-based attacks on British-held locations west of the Mississippi River in [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish Luisiana]].<ref>[[#gayarre1867|Gayarré 1867, pp. 125–126]]</ref> In later engagements, Galvez had 800 regulars from New Orleans to assault [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], reinforced by infantry from regiments of Jose de Ezpeleta from Havana. In the assault on Pensacola, the Spanish Army contingents from Havana exceeded 9,000.<ref>[[#beerman1979|Beerman 1979, pp. 177–179]]</ref> For the final days of the siege at Pensacola siege, Admiral Jose Solano's fleet landed 1,600 crack infantry veterans from that of [[Siege of Gibraltar|Gibraltar]].<ref name="beerman181" />}}
|[[Spanish Navy|Navy]]: 1 fleet;{{efn|Admiral Jose Solano's fleet arrived from the Mediterranean Sea to support the Spanish conquest of English Pensacola, West Florida.<ref name="beerman181" />}} escorts
|'''Native Americans:''' Unknown
}}
| strength2 = {{Unbulleted list
|'''Great Britain:'''{{Bulleted list
|[[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|Army]]:{{Bulleted list
|48,000 (average), most in North America{{Efn|British 121,000 (global 1781)<ref>[[#rinaldi|Rinaldi]], "British Army 1775–1783"</ref> "Of 7,500 men in the Gibraltar garrison in September (including 400 in hospital), some 3,430 were always on duty".<ref>[[#chartrand63|Chartrand 2006]], p. 63</ref>}}}}
|[[Royal Navy#1707–1815|Navy]]:{{Bulleted list
|Task-force fleets & blockading squadrons{{Efn|Royal Navy 94 [[Ship of the line|ships-of-the-line]] global, 104 [[Frigate#Age of sail|frigates]] global,<ref name="winfield">[[#winfield2007|Winfield 2007]]</ref> 37 [[Sloop-of-war|sloops]] global,<ref name="winfield" />
171,000 sailors<ref name="macksey6,176">[[#mackesy93|Mackesy 1993]] [1964], pp. 6, 176</ref>}}}}}}
|'''[[Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution|Loyalist troops]]:'''{{Bulleted list
|25,000 (total)<ref name="savas41">[[#savas2006|Savas & Dameron 2006]], p. xli</ref>{{Efn|Contains a detailed listing of American, French, British, German, and Loyalist regiments; indicates when they were raised, the main battles, and what happened to them. Also includes the main warships on both sides, and all the important battles.}}}}
|'''[[Hessian (soldier)|German troops]]:'''{{Bulleted list |29,875 (total)<ref name="Knesebeck">[[#ernst|Knesebeck 2017]] [1845], p. 9</ref>}}
|'''Native Americans:'''{{Bulleted list|13,000<ref name="Greene p. 393" />}}}}
| casualties1 = {{Unbulleted list
|'''United States:'''{{Bulleted list
|178,800–223,800 total dead
|6,800 killed
|6,100 wounded
|17,000 dead from disease<ref name="oLlYw">[[#burrows2008a|Burrows 2008a]], "Patriots or Terrorists"</ref>
|25,000–70,000 war dead<ref name="FFKG4">[[#peckham74|Peckham (ed.) 1974]]</ref>
|130,000 dead from smallpox<ref name="2D11O">[[#clodfelter2017|Clodfelter 2017]], pp. 133–134</ref>}}
|'''France:'''{{Bulleted list
|2,112 killed– East Coast<ref name="ApKKb">[[#CITEREFRignault2004|Rignault 2004]], pp. 20, 53</ref>{{Efn|1=Beyond the 2112 deaths recorded by the French Government fighting for U.S. independence, additional men died fighting Britain in a war waged by France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic from 1778 to 1784, "overseas" from the American Revolution as posited by a British scholar{{specify|date=July 2022}} in his "War of the American Revolution".<ref name="yt8Dp">[[#clodfelter2017|Clodfelter 2017]], pp. 75, 135</ref>}}}}
|'''Spain:'''{{Bulleted list
|371 killed – W. Florida<ref name="gZqKm">[[#otfinoski|Otfinoski 2008]], p. 16</ref>
|4,000 dead – prisoners<ref name="QEJS2">[[#roy2006|Archuleta 2006]], p. 69</ref>}}
|'''Native Americans:''' Unknown
}}
| casualties2 = {{Unbulleted list
|'''Great Britain:'''{{Bulleted list
|8,500 killed<ref name="3kb8Q">[[#clodfelter2017|Clodfelter 2017]], p. 134</ref>{{Efn|Clodfelter reports that the total deaths among the British and their allies numbered 15,000 killed in battle or died of wounds. These included estimates of 3,000 Germans, 3,000 Loyalists and Canadians, 3,000 lost at sea, and 500 Native Americans killed in battle or died of wounds.<ref name="2D11O" />}}}}
|'''Germans:'''{{Bulleted list
|7,774 total dead
|1,800 killed
|4,888 deserted<ref name="duncan371" />}}
|'''[[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]]:'''{{Bulleted list
|7,000 total dead
|1,700 killed
|5,300 dead from disease<ref name="SlCBl">[[#burrows2008b|Burrows 2008b]], ''Forgotten Patriots''</ref>}}
|'''Native Americans:'''{{Bulleted list
|500 total dead<ref name="2D11O" />}}
}}
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War}}
}}
The '''American Revolutionary War''' (
In 1763, after the [[British Empire]] gained dominance in North America following its victory over the French in the [[Seven Years' War]], tensions and disputes began escalating between the British and the Thirteen Colonies, especially following passage of [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp]] and [[Townshend Acts]]. The British Army responded by seeking to occupy [[Boston]] militarily, leading to the [[Boston Massacre]] on March 5, 1770. In mid-1774, with tensions escalating even further between the British Army and the colonies, the British Parliament imposed the [[Intolerable Acts]], an attempt to disarm Americans, leading to the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]] in April 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. In June 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]] voted to incorporate colonial-based Patriot militias into a central military, the Continental Army, and unanimously appointed Washington its commander-in-chief. Two months later, in August 1775, the British Parliament declared the colonies to be in a [[Proclamation of Rebellion|state of rebellion]]. In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress formalized the war, passing the [[Lee Resolution]] on July 2, and, two days later, unanimously adopting the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], on July 4.
In March 1776, in an early win for the newly-formed Continental Army under Washington's command, following a [[Siege of Boston|successful siege]] of Boston, the Continental Army successfully drove the British Army out of Boston. British commander in chief [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|William Howe]] responded by launching the [[New York and New Jersey campaign]], which resulted in Howe's capture of New York City in November. Washington responded by [[George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|clandestinely crossing]] the [[Delaware River]] and winning small but significant victories at [[Battle of Trenton|Trenton]] and [[Battle of Princeton|Princeton]].
In the summer of 1777, as Howe was poised to [[Philadelphia campaign|capture Philadelphia]], the Continental Congress fled to [[Baltimore]]. In October 1777, a separate northern British force under the command of [[John Burgoyne]] was forced to surrender at [[Battles of Saratoga|Saratoga]] in an American victory that proved crucial in convincing France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable possibility. France signed a [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (France–United States)|commercial agreement]] with the rebels, followed by a [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]] in February 1778. In 1779, the [[Sullivan Expedition]] undertook a [[scorched earth]] campaign against the Iroquois who were largely allied with the British. Indian raids on the American frontier, however, continued to be a problem. Also, in 1779, Spain allied with France against Great Britain in the [[Treaty of Aranjuez (1779)|Treaty of Aranjuez]], though Spain did not formally ally with the Americans.
Howe's replacement [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Henry Clinton]] intended to take the war against the Americans into the [[Southern Colonies]]. Despite some initial success, British General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] was besieged by a Franco-American army in [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|Yorktown, Virginia]] in September and October 1781. The French navy cut off Cornwallis's escape and he was forced to surrender in October. The British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, but fighting largely ceased in North America. In the Treaty of Paris, ratified on September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States, bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. The [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaties of Versailles]] resolved Great Britain's conflicts with [[Anglo-French War (1778–1783)|France]] and [[Spain and the American Revolutionary War|Spain]], and forced Great Britain to cede [[Tobago]], [[Senegal]], and small territories in [[India]] to France, and [[Invasion of Minorca (1781)|Menorca]], [[West Florida]], and [[East Florida]] to Spain.<ref>Lawrence S. Kaplan, "The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge", ''International History Review,'' Sept 1983, Vol. 5 Issue 3, pp 431–442</ref><ref name="9w1sv">[[#wallaceray2015|Wallace 2015]], "American Revolution"</ref>
==Prelude to war==
{{Main|American Revolution}}
{{Further|American Enlightenment|Colonial history of the United States|Thirteen Colonies}}
[[File:NorthAmerica1762-83.png|thumb|alt=MAP of the 1763 Treaty of Paris claims in North America by the British and Spanish. The British claim east of the Mississippi River, including the Floridas ceded by Spain, and the previous French North America along the St. Lawrence River, west through the Great Lakes, and southerly along the east bank of the Mississippi River. Spanish claims added French cessions from French Louisiana east to the Mississippi River.|Map showing the territorial gains of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] following the [[French and Indian War]] with lands held by the British prior to 1763 (in red), land gained by Britain in 1763 (in pink), and lands ceded to the [[History of Spain (1700–1808)|Kingdom of Spain]] in secret during 1762 (in light yellow).]]
The French and Indian War, part of the wider global conflict known as the [[Seven Years' War]], ended with the [[Peace of Paris (1763)|1763 Peace of Paris]], which expelled [[French colonial empire|France]] from their possessions in [[New France]].<ref name="wtW8l">[[#calloway2007|Calloway 2007]], p. 4</ref> The [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] was designed to refocus colonial expansion north into [[Nova Scotia]] and south into [[Florida]], with the [[Mississippi River]] as the dividing line between British and [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] possessions in America. Settlement was tightly restricted beyond the 1763 limits, and claims west of this line, including by [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] and [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]], were rescinded.{{Sfn|Lass|1980|p=3}} With the exception of Virginia and others deprived of rights to western lands, the [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies|colonial legislatures]] agreed on the boundaries but disagreed on where to set them. Many settlers resented the restrictions entirely, and enforcement required permanent garrisons along the frontier, which led to increasingly bitter disputes over who should pay for them.<ref name="pb2Zp">[[#calloway2007|Calloway 2007]], p. 12</ref>
===Taxation and legislation===
{{Further|Boston Tea Party|Pine Tree Riot}}
The huge debt incurred by the Seven Years' War and demands from British taxpayers for cuts in government expenditure meant [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]] expected the colonies to fund their own defense.<ref name="pb2Zp" /> The 1763 to 1765 [[Grenville ministry]] instructed the [[History of the Royal Navy (after 1707)|Royal Navy]] to cease trading smuggled goods and enforce customs duties levied in American ports.<ref name="pb2Zp" /> The most important was the 1733 [[Molasses Act]]; routinely ignored before 1763, it had a significant economic impact since 85% of New England rum exports were manufactured from imported molasses. These measures were followed by the [[Sugar Act]] and [[Stamp Act (1765)|Stamp Act]], which imposed additional taxes on the colonies to pay for defending the western frontier.<ref name="4R8zt">[[#watsonclark|Watson and Clark 1960]], pp. 183–184</ref> The taxes proved highly burdensome, particularly for the poorer classes, and quickly became a source of discontent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kay |first=Marvin L. Michael |date=April 1969 |title=The Payment of Provincial and Local Taxes in North Carolina, 1748–1771 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918676 |journal=[[The William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=218–240 |doi=10.2307/1918676 |jstor=1918676 |access-date=1 September 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In July 1765, the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]] formed the [[First Rockingham ministry]], which repealed the Stamp Act and reduced tax on foreign molasses to help the New England economy, but re-asserted Parliamentary authority in the [[Declaratory Act]].<ref name="Leqka">[[#watsonclark|Watson and Clark 1960]], pp. 116, 187</ref>
However, this did little to end the discontent; in 1768, a riot started in Boston when the authorities seized the sloop ''[[HMS Liberty (1768)|Liberty]]'' on suspicion of smuggling.<ref name="sImY5">[[#morgan2012|Morgan 2012]], p. 40</ref> Tensions escalated in March 1770 when British troops fired on rock-throwing civilians, killing five in what became known as the [[Boston Massacre]].<ref name="kIDxS">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], p. 23</ref> The Massacre coincided with the partial repeal of the [[Townshend Acts]] by the Tory-based [[North Ministry]]. North insisted on retaining duty on tea to enshrine Parliament's right to tax the colonies; the amount was minor, but ignored the fact it was that very principle Americans found objectionable.<ref name="HdjZT">[[#morgan2012|Morgan 2012]], p. 52</ref>
In April 1772, colonialists staged the first American tax revolt against British royal authority in [[Weare, New Hampshire]], later referred to as the [[Pine Tree Riot]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Weare NH Historical Society |url=http://wearehistoricalsociety.org/pineriot.php |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=wearehistoricalsociety.org}}</ref> This would inspire the design of the [[Pine Tree Flag]]. Tensions escalated following the destruction of a customs vessel in the June 1772 [[Gaspee Affair]], then came to a head in 1773. A [[Crisis of 1772|banking crisis]] led to the near-collapse of the [[East India Company]], which dominated the British economy; to support it, Parliament passed the [[Tea Act]], giving it a trading monopoly in the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. Since most American tea was smuggled by the Dutch, the act was opposed by those who managed the illegal trade, while being seen as another attempt to impose the principle of taxation by Parliament.<ref name="oTpsv">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], pp. 155–156</ref> In December 1773, a group called the [[Sons of Liberty]] disguised as [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]]s dumped crates of tea into [[Boston Harbor]], an event later known as the [[Boston Tea Party]]. The British Parliament responded by passing the so-called [[Intolerable Acts]], aimed specifically at Massachusetts, although many colonists and members of the Whig opposition considered them a threat to liberty in general. This increased sympathy for the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] cause locally, in the British Parliament, and in the London press.<ref name="t3NFX">[[#ammerman|Ammerman 1974]], p. 15</ref>
===Break with the British Crown===
{{Further|Battles of Lexington and Concord|First Continental Congress}}
Throughout the 18th century, the [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies#Assembly|elected lower houses]] in the colonial legislatures gradually wrested power from their governors.<ref name="0pRKw">[[#olsen1992|Olsen 1992]], pp. 543–544</ref> Dominated by smaller landowners and merchants, these assemblies now established ad-hoc provincial legislatures, effectively replacing royal control. With the exception of [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]], twelve colonies sent representatives to the [[First Continental Congress]] to agree on a unified response to the crisis.<ref name="0j3B4">[[#ferling2003|Ferling 2003]], p. 112</ref> Many of the delegates feared that a boycott would result in war and sent a [[Petition to the King]] calling for the repeal of the Intolerable Acts.<ref name="BkMNP">[[#ferling2015|Ferling 2015]], p. 102</ref> After some debate, on September 17, 1774, Congress endorsed the Massachusetts [[Suffolk Resolves]] and on October 20 passed the [[Continental Association]], which instituted [[economic sanctions]] and a boycott of goods against Britain.<ref name="yBXBu">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], p. 199</ref>
While denying its authority over internal American affairs, a faction led by [[James Duane]] and future [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] [[Joseph Galloway]] insisted Congress recognize Parliament's right to regulate colonial trade.<ref name="yBXBu" />{{Efn|"Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council: ... they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, ...: But, ... we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of the British parliament, as are bonafide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation internal or external, [without the consent of American subjects]." quoted from the Declarations and Resolves of the First Continental Congress October 14, 1774.}} Expecting concessions by the North administration, Congress authorized the colonial legislatures to enforce the boycott; this succeeded in reducing British imports by 97% from 1774 to 1775.<ref name="RVpda">[[#kramnick82|Paine, Kramnick (Ed.) 1982]], p. 21</ref> However, on February 9 Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in rebellion and instituted a blockade of the colony.<ref name="X94UC">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 62–64</ref> In July, the [[Restraining Acts 1775|Restraining Acts]] limited colonial trade with the [[British West Indies]] and Britain and barred New England ships from the [[History of Newfoundland and Labrador#Fishing|Newfoundland cod fisheries]]. The tension led to a scramble for control of militia stores, which each assembly was legally obliged to maintain for defense.<ref name="JNwEc">[[#axelrod2009|Axelrod 2009]], p. 83</ref> On April 19, a British attempt to secure the Concord arsenal culminated in the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], which began the Revolutionary War.<ref name="Ng1sv">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], p. 76</ref>
===Political reactions===
{{Main|Olive Branch Petition}}
[[File:Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg|thumb|alt=The artist's recreation of the Declaration signing with portraits of the entire Second Congress, as though all members were present. The Committee of Five are standing centered together presenting a parchment on the table.|The [[Committee of Five]], who were charged with drafting the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], including (from left to right): [[John Adams]] (chair), [[Roger Sherman]], [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert Livingston]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] (the Declaration's principal author), and [[Benjamin Franklin]]]]
After the Patriot victory at Concord, moderates in Congress led by [[John Dickinson]] drafted the [[Olive Branch Petition]], offering to accept royal authority in return for George III mediating in the dispute.<ref name="nessy25">[[#nessy|O'Shaughnessy 2013]], p. 25</ref> However, since the petition was immediately followed by the [[Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms]], Colonial Secretary [[William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth|Lord Dartmouth]] viewed the offer as insincere and refused to present the petition to the king.<ref name="NXP0A">[[#brown41|Brown 1941]], pp. 29–31</ref> Although constitutionally correct, since the monarch could not oppose his own government, it disappointed those Americans who hoped he would mediate in the dispute, while the hostility of his language annoyed even Loyalist members of Congress.<ref name="nessy25" /> Combined with the [[Proclamation of Rebellion]], issued on August 23 in response to the [[Battle of Bunker Hill|Battle at Bunker Hill]], it ended hopes of a peaceful settlement.<ref name="ketchum211">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014a]], p. 211</ref>
Backed by the Whigs, Parliament initially rejected the imposition of coercive measures by 170 votes, fearing an aggressive policy would drive the Americans towards independence.<ref name="maier25">[[#maier1998|Maier 1998]], p. 25</ref> However, by the end of 1774 the collapse of British authority meant both Lord North and George III were convinced war was inevitable.<ref name="fFVBS">[[#ferling2003|Ferling 2003]], pp. 123–124</ref> After Boston, Gage halted operations and awaited reinforcements; the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] approved the recruitment of new regiments, while allowing Catholics to enlist for the first time.<ref name="lecky162-165">[[#lecky3|Lecky 1892]], vol. 3, pp. 162–165</ref> Britain also signed a series of treaties with German states to supply [[Hessian (soldier)|additional troops]].<ref name="davenport132-144">[[#davenport1917|Davenport 1917]], pp. 132–144</ref> Within a year, it had an army of over 32,000 men in America, the largest ever sent outside Europe at the time.<ref name="smith21-23">[[#smithD2012|Smith, D. 2012]], pp. 21–23</ref> The employment of German soldiers against people viewed as British citizens was opposed by many in Parliament and by the colonial assemblies; combined with the lack of activity by Gage, opposition to the use of foreign troops allowed the Patriots to take control of the legislatures.<ref name="miller410">[[#miller1959|Miller, J. 1959]], pp. 410–412</ref>
===Declaration of Independence===
{{Main|United States Declaration of Independence}}
Support for independence was boosted by [[Thomas Paine]]'s pamphlet ''[[Common Sense (pamphlet)|Common Sense]]'', which was published on January 10, 1776, and argued for American self-government and was widely reprinted.<ref name="maier33-34">[[#maier1998|Maier 1998]], pp. 33–34</ref> To draft the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], the [[Second Continental Congress]] appointed the [[Committee of Five]]: [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Roger Sherman]], and [[Robert Livingston (chancellor)|Robert Livingston]].<ref name="mccullough119">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], pp. 119–122</ref> The declaration was written almost exclusively by Jefferson.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/independence-dechousehistory.htm "The Declaration House Through Time"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326034059/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/independence-dechousehistory.htm |date=March 26, 2023 }}, National Park Services</ref>
Identifying inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies as "one people", the declaration simultaneously dissolved political links with Britain, while including a long list of alleged violations of "English rights" committed by [[George III]]. This is also one of the first times that the colonies were referred to as "United States", rather than the more common [[United Colonies]].<ref name="ferling112">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 112, 118</ref> On July 2, Congress voted for independence and published the declaration on July 4.<ref name="R0xyC">[[#maier1998|Maier 1998]], pp. 160–161</ref>
At this point, the revolution ceased to be an internal dispute over trade and tax policies between the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain, becoming a civil war, with each state represented in Congress engaged in a struggle with Britain. The conflict was also a civil war between American Patriots and American Loyalists.<ref name="IE7Bq">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], p. 2</ref> Patriots generally supported independence from Britain and a new national union in Congress, while Loyalists remained aligned with British rule. Estimates of numbers vary, one suggestion being the population as a whole was split evenly between committed Patriots, committed Loyalists, and those who were indifferent.<ref name="DEcPu">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], p. 3</ref> Others calculate the split as 40% Patriot, 40% neutral, 20% Loyalist, but with considerable regional variations.<ref name="Greene p. 235">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], p. 235</ref>
At the onset of the war, the Second Continental Congress realized defeating Britain required foreign alliances and intelligence-gathering. The [[Committee of Secret Correspondence]] was formed for "the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain and other parts of the world".{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}} From 1775 to 1776, the committee shared information and built alliances through secret correspondence, as well as employing secret agents in Europe to gather intelligence, conduct undercover operations, analyze foreign publications, and initiate Patriot propaganda campaigns.<ref name="cia2007">[[#amintelrev|CIA 2007]], "Intelligence Until WWII"</ref> Paine served as secretary, while Benjamin Franklin and [[Silas Deane]], sent to France, Britain's longtime rival, to recruit military engineers,<ref>[[#clary2007|Clary, 2007]], pp. 86–87</ref> were instrumental in securing French aid in Paris.<ref name="rose43">[[#alexrose|Rose A. 2014]] [2006], p. 43</ref>
==War breaks out==
{{main|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War|Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War}}
{{see also|Western theater of the American Revolutionary War}}
{{further|Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War}}
===Early engagements===
{{Further|Battles of Lexington and Concord|Shot heard round the world}}
[[File:Canadian militiamen and British soldiers repulse the American assault at Sault-au-Matelot.jpg|thumb|alt=Snow-covered street fighting of British and Tory Provincials repulsing an American assault|The British repulse a [[Continental Army]] attack at the [[Battle of Quebec (1775)|Battle of Quebec]] in December 1775]]
[[File:Battle_of_Sullivans_Island.jpg|thumb|alt=Continental Sergeant [[William Jasper]] of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, on a parapet raising the fort's South Carolina Revolutionary flag with its white crescent moon.|Sergeant [[William Jasper]] of the [[2nd South Carolina Regiment]] raises the fort's flag at the [[Battle of Sullivan's Island]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], in June 1776]]
On April 14, 1775, Sir [[Thomas Gage]], [[Commander-in-Chief, North America]] and [[List of colonial governors of Massachusetts|Governor of Massachusetts]], received orders to take action against the Patriots. He decided to destroy militia ordnance stored at [[Concord, Massachusetts]], and capture [[John Hancock]] and [[Samuel Adams]], who were considered the principal instigators of the rebellion. The operation was to begin around midnight on April 19, in the hope of completing it before the American Patriots could respond.<ref name="oSWXd">[[#ferling2007|Ferling, 2007]], p. 29</ref><ref name="icqWN">Fischer, p. 85</ref> However, [[Paul Revere]] learned of the plan and notified Captain [[John Parker (captain)|Parker]], commander of the [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]] militia, who prepared to resist.<ref name="Q5xrq">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 129–19{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> The first action of the war, commonly referred to as the [[shot heard round the world]], was a brief skirmish at Lexington, followed by the full-scale Battles of Lexington and Concord. British troops suffered around 300 casualties before withdrawing to [[Boston]], which was then [[Siege of Boston|besieged]] by the militia.<ref name="Hyy3u">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014a]], pp. 18, 54</ref>
In May 1775, 4,500 British reinforcements arrived under Generals [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|William Howe]], [[John Burgoyne]], and [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Sir Henry Clinton]].<ref name="lSvP0">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014a]], pp. 2–9</ref> On June 17, they seized the [[Charlestown Peninsula]] at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]], a frontal assault in which they suffered over 1,000 casualties.<ref name="TZZpb">[[#higginbotham1983|Higginbotham 1983]] [1971], pp. 75–77</ref> Dismayed at the costly attack which had gained them little,<ref name="jP5Oe">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014a]], pp. 183, 198–209</ref> Gage appealed to London for a larger army,<ref name="ktPiL">[[#rankin|Rankin 1987]], p. 63</ref> but instead was replaced as commander by Howe.<ref name="TZZpb" />
On June 14, 1775, Congress took control of Patriot forces outside Boston, and Congressional leader John Adams nominated Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly formed [[Continental Army]].<ref name="nXlAp">[[#chernow2010|Chernow, 2010]], p. 186</ref> On June 16, Hancock officially proclaimed him "General and Commander in Chief of the army of the United Colonies."<ref name="Nx1rV">[[#chernow2010|Chernow, 2010]], p. 187</ref> He assumed command on July 3, preferring to [[Fortification of Dorchester Heights|fortify Dorchester Heights]] outside Boston rather than assaulting it.<ref name="CH6Xw">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], p. 53</ref> In early March 1776, Colonel [[Henry Knox]] arrived with [[Noble train of artillery|heavy artillery]] acquired in the [[Capture of Fort Ticonderoga]].<ref name="rFWWw">[[#Frothingham|Frothingham 1903]], pp. 100–101</ref> Under cover of darkness, on March 5, Washington placed these on Dorchester Heights,<ref name="E7Y0J">[[#ferling2003|Ferling 2003]], p. 183</ref> from where they could fire on the town and British ships in Boston Harbor. Fearing another Bunker Hill, Howe evacuated the city on [[Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)|March 17]] without further loss and sailed to [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]], while Washington moved south to New York City.<ref name="IDjnL">[[#alden1969|Alden 1969]], pp. 188–190</ref>
Beginning in August 1775, [[Privateer#United States|American privateers]] raided towns in Nova Scotia, including [[Raid on St. John (1775)|Saint John]], [[Raid on Charlottetown (1775)|Charlottetown]], and [[Raid on Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (1775)|Yarmouth]]. In 1776, [[John Paul Jones]] and [[Jonathan Eddy]] attacked [[Raid on Canso (1776)|Canso]] and [[Battle of Fort Cumberland|Fort Cumberland]] respectively. British officials in [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]] began negotiating with the [[Iroquois#American Revolution|Iroquois]] for their support,<ref name="QwMwp">[[#smith1907Ja|Smith, J. 1907]] vol. 1, p. 293</ref> while US envoys urged them to remain neutral.<ref name="yGdMY">[[#glatthaar|Glatthaar 2007]], pp. 91, 93</ref> Aware of Native American leanings toward the British and fearing an Anglo-Indian attack from Canada, Congress authorized a second invasion in April 1775.<ref name="eWWH5">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], pp. 504–505</ref> After the defeat at the [[Battle of Quebec (1775)|Battle of Quebec]] on December 31,<ref name="Jfxzh">[[#randall'mhq|Randall 1990]], pp. 38–39</ref> the Americans maintained a loose blockade of the city until they retreated on May 6, 1776.<ref name="yYbsM">[[#lanctot|Lanctot 1967]], pp. 141–246</ref> A second defeat at [[Battle of Trois-Rivières|Trois-Rivières]] on June 8 ended operations in Quebec.<ref name="qYcQ0">[[#stanley|Stanley 2006]], pp. 127–128</ref>
British pursuit was initially blocked by American naval vessels on [[Lake Champlain]] until victory at [[Battle of Valcour Island|Valcour Island]] on October 11 forced the Americans to withdraw to [[Fort Ticonderoga]], while in December an uprising in Nova Scotia sponsored by Massachusetts was defeated at [[Battle of Fort Cumberland (1776)|Fort Cumberland]].<ref name="84Tbw">[[#smithJ1907a|Smith, J. 1907]] vol. 1, p. 242</ref> These failures impacted public support for the Patriot cause,<ref name="MCw6s">[[#watsonclark|Watson and Clark 1960]], p. 203</ref> and aggressive anti-Loyalist policies in the [[New England colonies]] alienated the Canadians.<ref name="ZFLSb">[[#lefkowitz2007|Lefkowitz 2007]], pp. 264–265</ref>
In Virginia, [[Dunmore's Proclamation]] on November 7, 1775, promised freedom to any [[Slavery in the colonial United States|slaves]] who fled their Patriot masters and agreed to fight for the Crown.<ref name="A8wFb">[[#levy2007|Levy 2007]], p. 74</ref> British forces were defeated at [[Battle of Great Bridge|Great Bridge]] on December 9 and took refuge on British ships anchored near Norfolk. When the [[Third Virginia Convention]] refused to disband its militia or accept martial law, [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]] ordered the [[Burning of Norfolk]] on January 1, 1776.<ref name="1FC9n">Russell 2000, p. 73</ref>
The [[siege of Savage's Old Fields]] began on November 19 in [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]] between Loyalist and Patriot militias,<ref name="CdDYP">[[#mccrady1775|McCrady 1901]], p. 89</ref> and the Loyalists were subsequently driven out of the colony in the [[Snow Campaign]].<ref name="3Ehts">[[#landrum1897|Landrum 1897]], pp. 80–81</ref> Loyalists were recruited in [[Province of North Carolina|North Carolina]] to reassert British rule in the South, but they were decisively defeated in the [[Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge]].<ref name="ZWeHt">[[#wilson2005|Wilson 2005]], p. 33</ref> A British expedition sent to reconquer [[South Carolina in the American Revolution|South Carolina]] launched an attack on Charleston in the [[Battle of Sullivan's Island]] on June 28, 1776,<ref name="efEyN">[[#hibbert|Hibbert 2008]], p. 106</ref> but it failed.<ref name="LWF70">[[#bicheno14|Bicheno 2014]], pp. 154, 158</ref>
A shortage of gunpowder led Congress to authorize a naval expedition against [[the Bahamas]] to secure ordnance stored there.<ref name="field104">[[#field|Field 1898]], p. 104</ref> On March 3, 1776, an American squadron under the command of Esek Hopkins landed at the east end of [[Raid of Nassau|Nassau]] and encountered minimal resistance at [[Fort Montagu]]. Hopkins' troops then marched on [[Old Fort of Nassau|Fort Nassau]]. Hopkins had promised governor [[Montfort Browne]] and the civilian inhabitants that their lives and property would not be in any danger if they offered no resistance; they complied. Hopkins captured large stores of powder and other munitions that was so great he had to impress an extra ship in the harbor to transport the supplies back home, when he departed on March 17.<ref name="field117-118">[[#field|Field 1898]], pp. 114–118</ref> A month later, after a [[Battle of Block Island|brief skirmish]] with {{HMS|Glasgow|1757|6}}, they returned to [[New London, Connecticut]], the base for American naval operations.<ref name="I4JgD">[[#field|Field 1898]], pp. 120–125</ref>
===British New York counter-offensive===
{{Main|New York and New Jersey campaign}}
{{Further|Battle of Fort Washington|Battle of Long Island}}
[[File:Forcing a Passage of the Hudson.jpg|thumb|alt=Sailing ships on the Hudson River from afar, the scene emphases the two tall bluffs overlooking either side of the Hudson Narrows.|The British used [[the Narrows]], connecting [[Upper New York Bay|Upper]] and [[Lower New York Bay]], to isolate [[Fort Washington (Manhattan)|Fort Washington]] in the [[Battle of Fort Washington]] in November 1776.]]
After regrouping at [[History of Halifax (former city)#The American Revolution|Halifax]] in Nova Scotia,<ref name="86AtO">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 78–76</ref> Howe set sail for [[New York (state)|New York]] in June 1776 and began landing troops on [[Staten Island]] near the entrance to [[New York Harbor]] on July 2. The Americans rejected Howe's informal attempt to negotiate peace on July 30;<ref name="fu3mC">[[#ketchum73|Ketchum 2014]] [1973], p. 104</ref> Washington knew that an attack on the city was imminent and realized that he needed advance information to deal with disciplined British regular troops.
On August 12, 1776, Patriot [[Thomas Knowlton]] was ordered to form an elite group for reconnaissance and secret missions. [[Knowlton's Rangers]], which included [[Nathan Hale]], became the Army's first intelligence unit.<ref name="mgY85">[[#johnston1897|Johnston 1897]], p. 61</ref>{{Efn|To learn when and where the attack would occur Washington asked for a volunteer among the Rangers to spy on activity behind enemy lines in [[Brooklyn]]. Young [[Nathan Hale]] stepped forward, but he was only able to provide Washington with nominal intelligence at that time.<ref name="FLQKA">[[#burke75|Burke 1975]], p. 134</ref> On September 21, Hale was recognized in a [[New York City]] tavern, and was apprehended with maps and sketches of British fortifications and troop positions in his pockets. Howe ordered that he be summarily hung as a spy without trial the next day.<ref name="lFweM">[[#baker2014|Baker 2014]], Chap. 11</ref>}} When Washington was driven off [[Long Island]], he soon realized that he would need to professionalize military intelligence. With aid from [[Benjamin Tallmadge]], Washington launched the six-man [[Culper Ring|Culper spy ring]].<ref name="Baker 2014, Chap.12">[[#baker2014|Baker 2014]], Chap. 12</ref>{{Efn|Tallmadge's cover name became John Bolton, and he was the architect of the spy ring.<ref name="Baker 2014, Chap.12" />}} The efforts of Washington and the Culper Spy Ring substantially increased the effective allocation and deployment of Continental regiments in the field.<ref name="Baker 2014, Chap.12" /> Throughout the war, Washington spent more than 10 percent of his total military funds on [[Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War|military intelligence]].<ref name="w8uDs">[[#cia|CIA 2011, Historical Document]]</ref>
Washington split the Continental Army into positions on [[Manhattan#American Revolution and the early United States|Manhattan]] and across the [[East River]] in western Long Island.<ref name="QzdDu">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 89, 381</ref> On August 27 at the [[Battle of Long Island]], Howe outflanked Washington and forced him back to [[Brooklyn Heights#Early settlement|Brooklyn Heights]], but he did not attempt to encircle Washington's forces.<ref name="04huq">[[#adams63|Adams 1963]] [1895–96], p. 657</ref> Through the night of August 28, Knox bombarded the British. Knowing they were up against overwhelming odds, Washington ordered the assembly of a war council on August 29; all agreed to retreat to Manhattan. Washington quickly had his troops assembled and ferried them across the East River to Manhattan on flat-bottomed [[Bateau|freight boats]] without any losses in men or ordnance, leaving General [[Thomas Mifflin]]'s regiments as a rearguard.<ref name="2BFMO">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], pp. 184–186</ref>
Howe met with a delegation from the Second Continental Congress at the September [[Staten Island Peace Conference]], but it failed to conclude peace, largely because the British delegates only had the authority to offer pardons and could not recognize independence.<ref name="4FsKF">[[#mcguire2011|McGuire 2011]], pp. 165–166</ref> On September 15, Howe seized control of New York City when the British [[Landing at Kip's Bay|landed at Kip's Bay]] and unsuccessfully engaged the Americans at the [[Battle of Harlem Heights]] the following day.<ref name="5YPyI">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 102–107</ref> On October 18, Howe failed to encircle the Americans at the [[Battle of Pell's Point]], and the Americans withdrew. Howe declined to close with Washington's army on October 28 at the [[Battle of White Plains]] and instead attacked a hill that was of no strategic value.<ref name="baDUW">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 102–111</ref>
Washington's retreat isolated his remaining forces and the British captured [[Battle of Fort Washington|Fort Washington]] on November 16. The British victory there amounted to Washington's most disastrous defeat with the loss of 3,000 prisoners.<ref name="iikrS">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014]] [1973], pp. 111, 130</ref> The remaining American regiments on Long Island fell back four days later.<ref name="ImjPu">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 109–125</ref> General [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Henry Clinton]] wanted to pursue Washington's disorganized army, but he was first required to commit 6,000 troops to capture [[History of Rhode Island#Revolutionary era, 1775–1790|Newport, Rhode Island]], to secure the Loyalist port.<ref name="uekYy">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], p. 122</ref>{{Efn|The American prisoners were subsequently sent to the [[Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War#Prison Ships|infamous prison ships]] in the [[East River]], where more American soldiers and sailors died of disease and neglect than died in every battle of the war combined.<ref name="YCPdp">[[#lowenthal2009|Lowenthal 2009]], pp. 61, 131</ref>}} General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Charles Cornwallis]] pursued Washington, but Howe ordered him to halt.<ref name="1TXji">[[#tucker2002|Tucker 2002]], pp. 22–23</ref>
The outlook following the defeat at Fort Washington appeared bleak for the American cause. The reduced Continental Army had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 men and was reduced further when enlistments expired at the end of the year.<ref name="U9aPa">[[#schecter|Schecter 2003]], pp. 266–267</ref> Popular support wavered, and morale declined. On December 20, 1776, the Continental Congress abandoned the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia and moved to [[Baltimore]], where it remained until February 27, 1777.<ref name="SpAkV">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 138–142</ref> Loyalist activity surged in the wake of the American defeat, especially in [[History of New York (state)#New York in the American Revolution|New York state]].<ref name="kPQRy">[[#morris1965|Morris, R.B. Morris 1983 (1965)]], p. 139</ref>
In London, news of the victorious Long Island campaign was well received with festivities held in the capital. Public support reached a peak.<ref name="sCNCR">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], p. 195</ref> Strategic deficiencies among Patriot forces were evident: Washington divided a numerically weaker army in the face of a stronger one, his inexperienced staff misread the military situation, and American troops fled in the face of enemy fire. The successes led to predictions that the British could win within a year.<ref name="bCOlv">[[#adams63|Adams 1963]] [1895–96], pp. 650–670</ref> The British established winter quarters in the New York City area and anticipated renewed campaigning the following spring.<ref name="w14iW">[[#schecter|Schecter 2003]], pp. 259–263</ref>
===Patriot resurgence===
{{Further|George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|Battle of Trenton|Battle of Princeton}}
[[File:Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851.jpg|thumb|alt=Washington standing up in a freight boat crossing a windy river filled with winter chunks of ice.|''[[Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851 paintings)|Washington Crossing the Delaware]]'', an iconic 1851 [[Emanuel Leutze]] portrait depicting [[George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|Washington's covert crossing of the Delaware River on December 25–26, 1776]]]]
[[File:James Monroe (1758-1831).jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[James Monroe]], the last U.S. president to fight in the Revolutionary War as a [[Continental Army]] officer, took part in the [[George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|crossing of the Delaware River]] and the [[Battle of Trenton]] alongside [[George Washington]]]]
On the night of December 25–26, 1776, Washington [[George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|crossed the Delaware River]], leading a column of Continental Army troops from today's [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]], to today's [[Mercer County, New Jersey]], in a logistically challenging and dangerous operation.
Meanwhile, the Hessians were involved in numerous clashes with small bands of Patriots and were often aroused by false alarms at night in the weeks before the actual [[Battle of Trenton]]. By Christmas they were tired, while a heavy snowstorm led their commander, Colonel [[Johann Rall]], to assume no significant attack would occur.<ref>[[#stryker1898|Stryker, 1898]], p. 122</ref> At daybreak on the 26th, the American Patriots surprised and overwhelmed Rall and his troops, who lost over 20 killed including Rall,<ref>[[#fischer2006|Fischer, 2006]], pp. 248, 255</ref> while 900 prisoners, German cannons and supplies were captured.<ref name="QceAB">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 206–208, 254</ref>
The Battle of Trenton restored the American army's morale, reinvigorated the Patriot cause,<ref name="mjfFg">[[#wood1995|Wood 1995]], pp. 72–74</ref> and dispelled their fear of what they regarded as Hessian "mercenaries".<ref name="yIUgZ">[[#mauch2003|Mauch 2003]], p. 416</ref> A British attempt to retake Trenton was repulsed at [[Battle of the Assunpink Creek|Assunpink Creek]] on January 2;<ref name="GGEem">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], p. 307</ref> during the night, Washington outmaneuvered Cornwallis, then defeated his rearguard in the [[Battle of Princeton]] the following day. The two victories helped convince the French that the Americans were worthy military allies.<ref name="G2skh">[[#mccullough2005|McCullough 2005]], p. 290</ref>
After his success at Princeton, Washington entered winter quarters at [[Morristown, New Jersey#Eighteenth century|Morristown, New Jersey]], where he remained until May<ref name="sZDyW">[[#lengel2005|Lengel 2005]], p. 208</ref> and received Congressional direction to inoculate all Patriot troops against [[smallpox]].<ref name="4ru2u">[[#washington1932|Washington 1932]], "Writings" v. 7, pp. 38, 130–131</ref>{{efn|The mandate came by way of Benjamin Rush, chair of the Medical Committee. Congress had directed that all troops who had not previously survived smallpox infection be inoculated. In explaining himself to state governors, Washington lamented that he had lost "an army" to smallpox in 1776 by the "Natural way" of immunity.<ref name="fsQm0">[[#washington1932|Washington 1932]], "Writings" v. 7, pp. 131, 130</ref>}} With the exception of a [[Forage War|minor skirmishing]] between the two armies which continued until March,<ref name="T0TSz">[[#fischer2004|Fischer, D. 2004]], pp. 345–358</ref> Howe made no attempt to attack the Americans.<ref name="MdrQi">[[#lecky4|Lecky 1891]] Vol. 4, p. 57</ref>
===British northern strategy fails===
{{Further|Saratoga campaign|Philadelphia campaign|Valley Forge}}
[[File:Burgoyne's March on Albany, 1777.svg|thumb|[[Saratoga campaign]] maneuvers and (inset) the [[Battles of Saratoga]] in September and October 1777]]
The 1776 campaign demonstrated that regaining [[New England]] would be a prolonged affair, which led to a change in British strategy to isolating the north by taking control of the [[Hudson River]], allowing them to focus on the south where Loyalist support was believed to be substantial.<ref name="RnTHY">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 79–80</ref> In December 1776, Howe wrote to the Colonial Secretary [[George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville|Lord Germain]], proposing a limited offensive against Philadelphia, while a second force moved down the Hudson from Canada.<ref name="FD6xX">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 81–82</ref> Burgoyne supplied several alternatives, all of which gave him responsibility for the offensive, with Howe remaining on the defensive. The option selected required him to lead the main force south from [[Montreal]] down the Hudson Valley, while a detachment under [[Barry St. Leger]] moved east from Lake Ontario. The two would meet at [[History of Albany, New York (1664–1784)#1744−American Revolution|Albany]], leaving Howe to decide whether to join them.<ref name="qw8y4">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], p. 84</ref> Reasonable in principle, this did not account for the logistical difficulties involved and Burgoyne erroneously assumed Howe would remain on the defensive; Germain's failure to make this clear meant he opted to attack [[Philadelphia campaign|Philadelphia]] instead.<ref name="UlroQ">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 85–86</ref>
With a mixed force of British regulars, professional German soldiers and Canadian militia Burgoyne set out on June 14, 1777, and [[Siege of Fort Ticonderoga (1777)|captured Fort Ticonderoga]] on July 5. As General [[Horatio Gates]] retreated, his troops blocked roads, destroyed bridges, dammed streams, and stripped the area of food.<ref name="KjViH">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 244–249</ref> This slowed Burgoyne's progress and forced him to send out large foraging expeditions; one of more than 700 British troops were captured at the [[Battle of Bennington]] on August 16.<ref name="BNFDD">[[#gabriel2012|Gabriel 2012]], p. x</ref> St Leger moved east and besieged [[Siege of Fort Stanwix|Fort Stanwix]]; despite defeating an American relief force at the [[Battle of Oriskany]] on August 6, St. Leger was abandoned by his Indian allies and withdrew to Quebec on August 22.<ref name="SzR6M">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], p. 332</ref> Now isolated and outnumbered by Gates, Burgoyne continued onto Albany rather than retreating to Fort Ticonderoga, reaching [[Saratoga, New York|Saratoga]] on September 13. He asked Clinton for support while constructing defenses around the town.<ref name="VbMeB">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 337–339</ref>
Morale among his troops rapidly declined, and an unsuccessful attempt to break past Gates at the [[Battles of Saratoga#First Saratoga|Battle of Freeman Farms]] on September 19 resulted in 600 British casualties.<ref name="xIkVK">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 368–369</ref> When Clinton advised he could not reach them, Burgoyne's subordinates advised retreat; a [[reconnaissance in force]] on October 7 was repulsed by Gates at the [[Battles of Saratoga#Second Saratoga|Battle of Bemis Heights]], forcing them back into Saratoga with heavy losses. By October 11, all hope of British escape had vanished; persistent rain reduced the camp to a "squalid hell" and supplies were dangerously low.<ref name="MRVwq">[[#ferling2007|Ferling, 2007]], pp. 238–239</ref> Burgoyne capitulated on October 17; around 6,222 soldiers, including German forces commanded by General [[Friedrich Adolf Riedesel]], surrendered their arms before being taken to Boston, where they were to be transported to England.<ref name="G36uo">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 421–424</ref>
After securing additional supplies, Howe made another attempt on Philadelphia by landing his troops in [[Chesapeake Bay]] on August 24.<ref name="V3zgZ">[[#stedman1|Stedman 1794, Vol. 1]], pp. 317–319</ref> He now compounded failure to support Burgoyne by missing repeated opportunities to destroy his opponent: despite defeating Washington at the [[Battle of Brandywine]] on September 11, he then allowed him to withdraw in good order.<ref name="lgid0">[[#adams1911|Adams 1911]], p. 43</ref> After dispersing an American detachment at [[Battle of Paoli|Paoli]] on September 20, Cornwallis occupied Philadelphia on September 26, with the main force of 9,000 under Howe based just to the north at [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]].<ref name="IMKqn">[[#ward1952|Ward, C. 1952]], pp. 361–362</ref> Washington [[Battle of Germantown|attacked them]] on October 4, but was repulsed.<ref name="LEStg">[[#taffe|Taaffe 2003]], pp. 95–100</ref>
To prevent Howe's forces in Philadelphia being resupplied by sea, the Patriots erected [[Fort Mifflin]] and nearby [[Fort Mercer]] on the east and west banks of the Delaware respectively, and placed [[Cheval de frise|obstacles]] in the river south of the city. This was supported by a small flotilla of [[Continental Navy]] ships on the Delaware, supplemented by the [[Pennsylvania State Navy]], commanded by [[John Hazelwood]]. An attempt by the Royal Navy to take the forts in the October 20 to 22 [[Battle of Red Bank]] failed;<ref name="75GN3">[[#daughan2011|Daughan, 2011]], pp. 148–155</ref><ref name="mcgeorge5">[[#mcgeorge1905|McGeorge, 1905]], pp. 4–8</ref> a second attack captured Fort Mifflin on November 16, while Fort Mercer was abandoned two days later when Cornwallis breached the walls.<ref name="OKOhj">[[#cadwalader1901|Cadwalader 1901]], p. 20</ref> His supply lines secured, Howe tried to tempt Washington into giving battle, but after inconclusive skirmishing at the [[Battle of White Marsh]] from December 5 to 8, he withdrew to Philadelphia for the winter.<ref name="Hlf4h">[[#cadwalader1901|Cadwalader 1901]], p. 22</ref>
On December 19, the Americans followed suit and entered winter quarters at [[Valley Forge]]. As Washington's domestic opponents contrasted his lack of battlefield success with Gates' victory at Saratoga,<ref name="fsEEE">[[#cadwalader1901|Cadwalader 1901]], pp. 22, 27</ref> foreign observers such as Frederick the Great were equally impressed with Washington's command at Germantown, which demonstrated resilience and determination.<ref name="KFJ3w">[[#fiske1891|Fiske 1891]], p. 332</ref> Over the winter, poor conditions, supply problems and low morale resulted in 2,000 deaths, with another 3,000 unfit for duty due to lack of shoes.<ref name="USnEK">[[#chernow2010|Chernow 2010 (2011)]], pp. 327–328</ref> However, Baron [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]] took the opportunity to introduce [[Prussian Army]] drill and infantry tactics to "model companies" in each Continental Army regiment, who then instructed their home units.<ref name="NPYXp">[[#lockhart|Lockhart 2008]], p.?{{page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref> Despite Valley Forge being only twenty miles away, Howe made no effort to attack their camp, an action some critics argue could have ended the war.<ref name="A Concluding Commentary">[[#risch1981|Risch, 1981]], pp. 322, 417–418</ref>
===Foreign intervention===
{{Main|France in the American Revolutionary War|Spain and the American Revolutionary War|Carlisle Peace Commission}}
[[File:The action between the Serapis, capt. Pearson, the Countess of Scarborough, and Paul Jones’s Squadron. R.Paton - K325.jpg|thumb|alt=From the left, in the background three sailing warships at sea, one clearly flying a British naval ensign; in the center-right foreground, three sailing warships, two of them firing broadsides with gun smoke starting to cover them up. There was no US flag on the American ship, so the British said John Paul Jones was a pirate.|The [[Battle of Flamborough Head]] with U.S. warships in European waters with access to [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]], [[Kingdom of France|French]], and [[History of Spain (1700–1808)|Spanish]] ports]]
Like his predecessors, French foreign minister [[Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes|Vergennes]] considered the 1763 Peace a national humiliation and viewed the war as an opportunity to weaken Britain. He initially avoided open conflict, but allowed American ships to take on cargoes in French ports, a technical violation of neutrality.<ref name="RQia1">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], p. 117</ref> Vergennes persuaded [[Louis XVI]] to secretly fund a [[Roderigue Hortalez and Company|government front company]] to purchase munitions for the Patriots, carried in neutral Dutch ships and imported through [[Sint Eustatius]] in the Caribbean.<ref name="7Emll">[[#jones2002|Jones 2002]], pp. 5–6</ref>
Many Americans opposed a French alliance, fearing to "exchange one tyranny for another", but this changed after a series of military setbacks in early 1776. As France had nothing to gain from the colonies reconciling with Britain, Congress had three choices: making peace on British terms, continuing the struggle on their own, or proclaiming independence, guaranteed by France. Although the Declaration of Independence had wide public support, over 20% of Congressmen voted against an alliance with France.<ref name="m8HfD">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 117–119</ref> Congress agreed to the treaty with reluctance and as the war moved in their favor increasingly lost interest in it.<ref name="Jh722">[[#chambers1999|Chambers 1999]]</ref>
Silas Deane was sent to [[Paris]] to begin negotiations with Vergennes, whose key objectives were replacing Britain as the United States' primary commercial and military partner while securing the [[French West Indies]] from American expansion.<ref name="AxPnm">[[#chambers2004|Chambers 2004]]</ref> These islands were extremely valuable; in 1772, the value of sugar and coffee produced by [[Saint-Domingue]] on its own exceeded that of all American exports combined.<ref name="XpW61">[[#eclov2013|Eclov 2013]] pp. 23–24</ref> Talks progressed slowly until October 1777, when British defeat at Saratoga and their apparent willingness to negotiate peace convinced Vergennes only a permanent alliance could prevent the "disaster" of Anglo-American rapprochement. Assurances of formal French support allowed Congress to reject the Carlisle Peace Commission and insist on nothing short of complete independence.<ref name="LV00I">[[#stockley2001|Stockley 2001]], pp. 11–14</ref>
On February 6, 1778, France and the United States signed the [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (France–United States)|Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] regulating trade between the two countries, followed by a defensive military alliance against Britain, the [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]]. In return for French guarantees of American independence, Congress undertook to defend their interests in the West Indies, while both sides agreed not to make a separate peace; conflict over these provisions would lead to the 1798 to 1800 [[Quasi-War]].<ref name="Jh722" /> [[Charles III of Spain]] was invited to join on the same terms but refused, largely due to concerns over the impact of the Revolution on Spanish colonies in the Americas. Spain had complained on multiple occasions about encroachment by American settlers into [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Louisiana]], a problem that could only get worse once the United States replaced Britain.<ref name="cLbUe">{{Cite web |last=Renouf |first=Stephen |title=Spain in the American Revolution |url=https://members.sar.org/media/uploads/pages/309/TJx3jcf0O6up.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://members.sar.org/media/uploads/pages/309/TJx3jcf0O6up.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=7 December 2020 |website=Spain Society; SAR |publisher=sar.org}}</ref>
[[File:Entree de l escadre francaise en baie de Newport 1778 Ozanne.jpg|thumb|right|alt=From the left, a coastal town set in the background of a harbor; in the foreground center-right in the approach to the harbor and curving into the right background, a line of French warships, one firing a broadside at the town.|French Admiral [[Charles Henri Hector d'Estaing|d'Estaing]]'s joint expedition with [[John Sullivan (general)|Sullivan]] at the [[Battle of Rhode Island]] in August 1778]]
Although Spain ultimately made important contributions to American success, in the [[Treaty of Aranjuez (1779)|Treaty of Aranjuez]], Charles agreed only to support [[Anglo-French War (1778–1783)|France's war with Britain]] outside America, in return for help in recovering [[Gibraltar]], [[Menorca]] and [[Spanish Florida]].<ref name="1WkNc">[[#davenport1917|Davenport 1917]], pp. 145–146</ref> The terms were confidential since several conflicted with American aims; for example, the French claimed exclusive control of the Newfoundland cod fisheries, a non-negotiable for colonies like Massachusetts.<ref name="Zpiql">[[#davenport1917|Davenport 1917]], p. 146</ref> One less well-known impact of this agreement was the abiding American distrust of 'foreign entanglements'; the U.S. would not sign another treaty with France until their [[NATO]] agreement of 1949.<ref name="Jh722" /> This was because the US had agreed not to make peace without France, while Aranjuez committed France to keep fighting until Spain recovered Gibraltar, effectively making it a condition of U.S. independence without the knowledge of Congress.<ref name="Sj8Yw">[[#weeks2013|Weeks 2013]], p. 27</ref>
To encourage French participation in the struggle for independence, the U.S. representative in Paris, Silas Deane promised promotion and command positions to any French officer who joined the Continental Army. Such as [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette]], whom Congress via Dean appointed a major general,<ref>[[#chernow2010|Chernow, 2010]], p. 298</ref><ref>[[#horn1989|Horn, 1989]], pp. 24–25, 30</ref> on July 31, 1777.<ref>[[#axelrod2009|Axelrod, 2009]], pp. 234–235</ref>
When the war started, Britain tried to borrow the Dutch-based [[Scots Brigade]] for service in America, but pro-Patriot sentiment led the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] to refuse.<ref name="REc39">[[#edler|Edler 2001]] [1911], pp. 28–32</ref> Although the Republic was no longer a major power, prior to 1774 they still dominated the European carrying trade, and Dutch merchants made large profits shipping French-supplied munitions to the Patriots. This ended when Britain [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War|declared war]] in December 1780, a conflict that proved disastrous to the Dutch economy.<ref name="2mejD">[[#scott1988|Scott 1988]], pp. 572–573</ref>
The British government failed to take into account the strength of the American merchant marine and support from European countries, which allowed the colonies to import munitions and continue trading with relative impunity. While well aware of this, the North administration delayed placing the Royal Navy on a war footing for cost reasons; this prevented the institution of an effective blockade.<ref name="vh541">[[#syrett1998|Syrett 1998]], p. 2</ref> Traditional British policy was to employ European land-based allies to divert the opposition; in 1778, they were diplomatically isolated and faced war on multiple fronts.<ref name="30Yfr">[[#syrett1998|Syrett 1998]], pp. 18–19</ref>
Meanwhile, George III had given up on subduing America while Britain had a European war to fight.<ref name="BNJcV">[[#ferling2013|Ferling 2007]], p. 294</ref> He did not welcome war with France, but he held the [[Annus Mirabilis of 1759|British victories over France]] in the Seven Years' War as a reason to believe in ultimate victory over France.<ref name="0Xa9K">[[#syrett1998|Syrett 1998]], p. 17</ref> Britain subsequently changed its focus into the Caribbean theater,<ref name="bdwF7">[[#syrett1998|Syrett 1998]], p. 18</ref> and diverted major military resources away from America.<ref name="uPqly">[[#higginbotham1983|Higginbotham 1983]] [1971], pp. 175–188</ref>
===Stalemate in the North===
{{Main|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga|Western theater of the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Battle of Springfield NJ 1780.jpg|thumb|alt=A close up of Continental infantry fighting in a street; a company on line firing to the left off the painting; in the center the officer; right foreground a drummer boy and behind him a soldier reloading a musket.|[[Continental Army|Continentals]] repulsing the British at the [[Battle of Springfield]] in June 1780; "Give 'em Watts, boys!"]]
At the end of 1777, Howe resigned and was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton on May 24, 1778; with French entry into the war, he was ordered to consolidate his forces in New York.<ref name="uPqly" /> On June 18, the British departed Philadelphia with the reinvigorated Americans in pursuit; the [[Battle of Monmouth]] on June 28 was inconclusive but boosted Patriot morale. That midnight, the newly installed Clinton continued his retreat to New York.<ref name="ru2b1">[[#chernow2010|Chernow 2010 (2011)]], p. 343</ref> A French naval force under Admiral [[Charles Henri Hector d'Estaing]] was sent to assist Washington; deciding New York was too formidable a target, in August they launched a combined attack on Newport, with General [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]] commanding land forces.<ref name="2fC9I">[[#morrissey1997|Morrissey 2004]], pp. 77–78</ref> The resulting [[Battle of Rhode Island]] was indecisive; badly damaged by a storm, the French withdrew to avoid risking their ships.<ref name="hGItT">[[#daughan2011|Daughan 2011]] [2008], pp. 174–176</ref>
Further activity was limited to British raids on [[Battle of Chestnut Neck|Chestnut Neck]] and [[The Affair at Little Egg Harbor|Little Egg Harbor]] in October.<ref name="aNa6z">[[#goos|Goos]]</ref> In July 1779, the Americans captured British positions at [[Battle of Stony Point|Stony Point]] and [[Battle of Paulus Hook|Paulus Hook]].<ref name="g7TYG">[[#hazard54|Hazard 1829]], p. 54</ref> Clinton unsuccessfully tried to tempt Washington into a decisive engagement by sending General [[William Tryon]] to [[Tryon's raid|raid Connecticut]].<ref name="Tk2S6">[[#nelson1999|Nelson 1999]], p. 170</ref> In July, a large American naval operation, the [[Penobscot Expedition]], attempted to retake [[District of Maine|Maine]] but was defeated.<ref name="rBeAQ">[[#bicheno14|Bicheno 2014]], p. 149</ref>
Persistent [[Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga#Frontier war|Iroquois raids]] in New York and Pennsylvania led to the punitive [[Sullivan Expedition]] from July to September 1779. Involving more than 4,000 patriot soldiers, the [[scorched earth]] campaign destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages and 160,000 bushels (4,000 mts) of [[maize]], leaving the Iroquois destitute and destroying the Iroquois confederacy as an independent power on the American frontier. However, 5,000 Iroquois fled to Canada, where, supplied and supported by the British, they continued their raids.<ref name="mffSI">[[#fischer2008|Fischer, J. 2008]], p. 86</ref><ref name="Soodalter">{{cite web |last1=Soodalter |first1=Ron |title=Massacre & Retribution: The 1779-1780 Sullivan Expedition |url=https://www.historynet.com/massacre-retribution-the-1779-80-sullivan-expedition/ |website=History Net |date=July 8, 2011 |access-date=8 May 2024}}</ref><ref name="National Park Service">{{cite web |title=The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779 |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-clinton-sullivan-campaign-of-1779.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=8 April 2024}}</ref>
During the winter of 1779–1780, the Continental Army suffered greater hardships than at Valley Forge.<ref name="qGXr7">[[#tolson|Tolson 2008]], "Washington's Savvy Won the Day"</ref> Morale was poor, public support fell away, the [[Continental dollar]] was virtually worthless, the army was plagued with supply problems, desertion was common, and mutinies occurred in the [[Pennsylvania Line Mutiny|Pennsylvania Line]] and [[Pompton Mutiny|New Jersey Line]] regiments over the conditions.<ref name="Q0VqJ">[[#chandler|Chandler 2017]], pp. 363–380</ref>
In June 1780, Clinton sent 6,000 men under [[Wilhelm von Knyphausen]] to retake New Jersey, but they were halted by local militia at the [[Battle of Connecticut Farms]]; although the Americans withdrew, Knyphausen felt he was not strong enough to engage Washington's main force and retreated.<ref name="cUzlf">[[#fleming|Fleming 2005]] [1973], pp. 174–175</ref> A second attempt two weeks later ended in a British defeat at the [[Battle of Springfield (1780)|Battle of Springfield]], effectively ending their ambitions in New Jersey.<ref name="RoM95">[[#fleming|Fleming 2005]] [1973], pp. 232, 302</ref> In July, Washington appointed [[Benedict Arnold]] commander of [[West Point]]; his attempt to betray the fort to the British failed due to incompetent planning, and the plot was revealed when his British contact [[John André]] was captured and executed.<ref name="cmndD">[[#palmer2010|Palmer 2010]], pp. 340–342</ref> Arnold escaped to New York and switched sides, an action justified in a pamphlet addressed "[[To the Inhabitants of America]]"; the Patriots condemned his betrayal, while he found himself almost as unpopular with the British.<ref name="oKXqF">[[#palmer2010|Palmer 2010]], pp. 376–377</ref>
===War in the South===
{{Main|Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Sullivans-island-1050x777.jpg|thumb|alt=A birds-eye view over the British lines of artillery besieging the port of Charleston in the center-background, and landing some shots at the docks.|The British [[siege of Charleston]] in May 1780]]
[[File:Cowpens.jpg|thumb|alt=A close-up of a cavalry melee on large horses with sabers and pistols drawn; Three redcoats center-right are engaging two Patriots in blue along with an African-American in a brown linen shirt and white pants, with his pistol drawn and leveled at a redcoat.|The [[Continental Army]] routs the [[British Legion (American Revolutionary War)|British Legion]] at the [[Battle of Cowpens]] in [[Cowpens, South Carolina]], in January 1781]]
The Southern Strategy was developed by Lord Germain, based on input from London-based Loyalists, including Joseph Galloway. They argued that it made no sense to fight the Patriots in the north where they were strongest, while the New England economy was reliant on trade with Britain. On the other hand, duties on tobacco made the South far more profitable for Britain, while local support meant securing it required small numbers of regular troops. Victory would leave a truncated United States facing British possessions to the south, north, and west; with the [[East Coast of the United States|Atlantic seaboard]] controlled by the [[Royal Navy]], Congress would be forced to agree to terms. However, assumptions about the level of Loyalist support proved wildly optimistic.<ref name="WmAJ5">[[#pearson1993|Pearson 1993]], pp. 16–19</ref>
Germain ordered [[Augustine Prévost]], the British commander in [[East Florida]], to advance into [[Georgia in the American Revolution#Return of the British Army|Georgia]] in December 1778. [[Archibald Campbell (British Army officer, born 1739)|Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell]], an experienced officer, [[Capture of Savannah|captured Savannah]] on December 29, 1778. He recruited a Loyalist militia of nearly 1,100, many of whom allegedly joined only after Campbell threatened to confiscate their property.<ref name="oVXIX">[[#wilson2005|Wilson 2005]], p. 87</ref> Poor motivation and training made them unreliable troops, as demonstrated in their defeat by Patriot militia at the [[Battle of Kettle Creek]] on February 14, 1779, although this was offset by British victory at [[Battle of Brier Creek|Brier Creek]] on March 3.<ref name="eTiqi">[[#morrill|Morrill 1993]], pp. 46–50</ref>
In June 1779, Prévost launched an abortive assault on Charleston, before retreating to Savannah, an operation notorious for widespread looting by British troops that enraged both Loyalists and Patriots. In October, a joint French and American operation under d'Estaing and General [[Benjamin Lincoln]] failed to [[Siege of Savannah|recapture Savannah]].<ref name="yBaSD">[[#wilson2005|Wilson 2005]], p. 112</ref> Prévost was replaced by Lord Cornwallis, who assumed responsibility for Germain's strategy; he soon realized estimates of Loyalist support were considerably over-stated, and he needed far more regular forces.<ref name="fDcs9">[[#pearson1993|Pearson 1993]], pp. 22–23</ref>
Reinforced by Clinton, Cornwallis's troops captured Charleston in May 1780, inflicting the most serious Patriot defeat of the war; over 5,000 prisoners were taken and the Continental Army in the south effectively destroyed. On May 29, Lieutenant-Colonel [[Banastre Tarleton]]'s mainly Loyalist force routed a Continental Army force nearly three times its size under Colonel Abraham Buford at the [[Battle of Waxhaws]]. The battle is controversial for allegations of a massacre, which were later used as a recruiting tool by the Patriots.<ref name="9sQwG">[[#piecuch2004|Piecuch 2004]], pp. 4–8</ref>
Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis to oversee the south; despite their success, the two men left barely on speaking terms.<ref name="zCa8T">[[#borick2003|Borick 2003]], pp. 127–128</ref> The Southern strategy depended on local support, but this was undermined by a series of coercive measures. Previously, captured Patriots were sent home after swearing not to take up arms against the king; they were now required to fight their former comrades, while the confiscation of Patriot-owned plantations led formerly neutral "[[grandee]]s" to side with them.<ref name="UE0Rz">[[#gordon|Gordon and Keegan 2007]], pp. 101–102</ref> Skirmishes at [[Battle of Williamson's Plantation|Williamson's Plantation]], Cedar Springs, [[Battle of Rocky Mount|Rocky Mount]], and [[Battle of Hanging Rock|Hanging Rock]] signaled widespread resistance to the new oaths throughout South Carolina.<ref name="eJXda">[[#gordon|Gordon and Keegan 2007]], pp. 88–92</ref>
In July 1780, Congress appointed Gates commander in the south; he was defeated at the [[Battle of Camden]] on August 16, leaving Cornwallis free to enter North Carolina.<ref name="CR0we">[[#rankin|Rankin 2011]] [1996], p.</ref> Despite battlefield success, the British could not control the countryside and Patriot attacks continued; before moving north, Cornwallis sent Loyalist militia under Major [[Patrick Ferguson]] to cover his left flank, leaving their forces too far apart to provide mutual support.<ref name="P43ob">[[#buchanan97|Buchanan 1997]], p. 202</ref> In early October, Ferguson was defeated at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]], dispersing organized Loyalist resistance in the region.<ref name="6Dbvn">[[#Ferling2007|Ferling, 2007]], pp. 459–461</ref> Despite this, Cornwallis continued into North Carolina hoping for Loyalist support, while Washington replaced Gates with General [[Nathanael Greene]] in December 1780.<ref name="MsfX6">[[#buchanan97|Buchanan 1997]], p. 275</ref>
Greene divided his army, leading his main force southeast pursued by Cornwallis; a detachment was sent southwest under [[Daniel Morgan]], who defeated Tarleton's [[British Legion (American Revolution)|British Legion]] at [[Battle of Cowpens|Cowpens]] on January 17, 1781, nearly eliminating it as a fighting force.<ref name="Y8Aqz">[[#golway2005|Golway 2005]], pp. 238–242</ref> The Patriots now held the initiative in the south, with the exception of a [[Raid of Richmond|raid on Richmond]] led by Benedict Arnold in January 1781.<ref name="kFdPt">[[#peterson1975|Peterson 1975]] [1970], pp. 234–238</ref> Greene led Cornwallis on a series of countermarches around North Carolina; by early March, the British were exhausted and short of supplies and Greene felt strong enough to fight the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]] on March 15. Although victorious, Cornwallis suffered heavy casualties and retreated to [[Wilmington, North Carolina#Revolutionary era|Wilmington, North Carolina]], seeking supplies and reinforcements.<ref name="NcMDc">[[#buchanan97|Buchanan 1997]], p. 241</ref>
The Patriots now controlled most of the Carolinas and Georgia outside the coastal areas; after a minor reversal at the [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill]], they recaptured [[Siege of Fort Watson|Fort Watson]] and [[Siege of Fort Motte|Fort Motte]] on April 15.<ref name="Sfu2K">[[#fgreene1913|Greene, F. 1913]], pp. 234–237</ref> On June 6, Brigadier General [[Andrew Pickens (congressman)|Andrew Pickens]] captured [[Siege of Augusta|Augusta]], leaving the British in Georgia confined to Charleston and Savannah.<ref name="ei9uo">[[#reynolds2012|Reynolds 2012]], pp. 255–277</ref> The assumption Loyalists would do most of the fighting left the British short of troops and battlefield victories came at the cost of losses they could not replace. Despite halting Greene's advance at the [[Battle of Eutaw Springs]] on September 8, Cornwallis withdrew to Charleston with little to show for his campaign.<ref name="Mn9U7">[[#pancake1985|Pancake 1985]], p. 221</ref>
===Western campaign===
{{main|Western theater of the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Vincennes 1779.jpg|thumb|alt=At left center, Virginia militia Colonel George Rogers Clark with buckskinned uniformed militia lined up behind him; at right center, red-coated British Quebec Governor Hamilton surrendering with ranks of white-uniformed Tory militia behind receding into the background; a drummer boy in the foreground; a line of British Indian allies lined up on the right receding into the background.|[[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]] Governor Henry Hamilton surrenders to Colonel George Rogers Clark at Vincennes in July 1779]]
From the beginning of the war, [[Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Viscount of Galveston|Bernardo de Gálvez]], the [[List of colonial governors of Louisiana|Governor of Spanish Louisiana]], allowed the Americans to import supplies and munitions into [[History of New Orleans#Spanish interregnum|New Orleans]], then ship them to [[History of Pittsburgh#Gateway to the West (1763–1799)|Pittsburgh]].<ref name="sDaXP">[[#narrett2015|Narrett 2015]], p. 81</ref> This provided an alternative transportation route for the Continental Army, bypassing the British blockade of the Atlantic Coast.<ref name="T3jCI">[[#chavez|Chavez 2002]], p. 108</ref>
In February 1778, an expedition of militia to destroy British military supplies in settlements along the [[Cuyahoga River]] was halted by adverse weather.<ref name="zrHvB">[[#nester2004|Nester 2004]], p. 194</ref> Later in the year, a [[Illinois campaign|second campaign]] was undertaken to seize the [[Illinois Country]] from the British. Virginia militia, ''[[Canadien]]'' settlers, and Indian allies commanded by Colonel [[George Rogers Clark]] captured [[Kaskaskia, Illinois|Kaskaskia]] on July 4 and then secured [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]], though Vincennes was recaptured by Quebec Governor [[Henry Hamilton (colonial administrator)|Henry Hamilton]]. The Spanish-aligned fur trader [[Francis Vigo]], an American sympathizer, alerted Clark to the threat posed to his control of the west by Hamilton's position and in early 1779, the Virginians counter-attacked in the [[siege of Fort Vincennes]] and took Hamilton prisoner.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Joshua |date=2015-02-17 |title=George Rogers Clark at Vincennes: "You May Expect No Mercy" |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/02/you-may-expect-no-mercy-george-rogers-clark-at-vincennes/ |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=Journal of the American Revolution |language=en-US}}</ref> Clark secured western [[Quebec Act|British Quebec]] as the American [[Northwest Territory]] in the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] as the Revolutionary War came to an end.<ref name="A5cfw">[[#harrison2001|Harrison 2001]], pp. 58–60</ref>
When Spain joined France's war against Britain in the Anglo-French War in 1779, their treaty specifically excluded Spanish military action in North America. Later that year, however, Gálvez initiated offensive operations against British outposts.<ref name="lGgZh">[[#chavez|Chávez 2002]], p. 170</ref> First, he cleared British garrisons in [[History of Baton Rouge, Louisiana#1763–1779: British period|Baton Rouge]], [[History of Louisiana#Spanish interregnum (1763–1803)|Louisiana]], [[Fort Bute]], and [[History of Natchez, Mississippi#Colonial history (1716–1783)|Natchez]], [[History of Mississippi#European colonial period|Mississippi]], and captured five forts.<ref name="zQHJI">[[#carlos|Don Jaun Carlos I 1979]], speech</ref> In doing so, Gálvez opened navigation on the Mississippi River north to the American settlement in Pittsburgh.<ref name="ipFTR">[[#Deane2018|Deane 2018]], "Spanish New Orleans helped America"</ref>
On May 25, 1780, British Colonel Henry Bird [[Bird's invasion of Kentucky|invaded Kentucky]] as part of a wider operation to clear American resistance from [[Quebec]] to the [[Gulf Coast of the United States|Gulf Coast]]. Their advance on New Orleans was repelled by Spanish Governor Gálvez's offensive on [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]]. Simultaneous British attacks were repulsed on [[Battle of St. Louis|St. Louis]] by the Spanish Lieutenant Governor [[Fernando de Leyba|de Leyba]], and on the [[Illinois County, Virginia|Virginia County courthouse]] in [[Cahokia, Illinois]], by Lieutenant Colonel Clark. The British initiative under Bird from Detroit was ended at the rumored approach of Clark.{{Efn|Bird's expedition numbered 150 British soldiers, several hundred Loyalists, and 700 Shawnee, Wyandot, and Ottawa auxiliaries. The force skirted into the eastern regions of Patriot-conquered western Quebec that had been annexed as [[Illinois County, Virginia]]. His target was Virginia militia stationed at [[Fort-on-Shore|Lexington]]. As they approached downriver on the [[Ohio River]], rumor among the natives spread that the feared Colonel Clark had discovered their approach. Bird's natives and Loyalists abandoned their mission 90 miles upriver to loot settlements at the [[Licking River (Kentucky)#History|Licking River]]. At the surrender of Ruddles Station, safe passage to families was promised, but 200 were massacred by Indian raiders. Grenier maintains that "The slaughter the Indians and rangers perpetrated was unprecedented".}} The scale of violence in the [[Licking River (Kentucky)#History|Licking River Valley]], was extreme "even for frontier standards." It led to [[English people|English]] and [[Germans|German]] settlements, who joined Clark's militia when the British and their hired German soldiers withdrew to the [[Great Lakes]].<ref name="XfL5Q">[[#grenier|Grenier 2005]], p. 159</ref> The Americans responded with a major offensive along the [[Mad River (Ohio)|Mad River]] in August which met with some success in the [[Battle of Piqua]] but did not end Indian raids.<ref name="nolLI">[[#nelson1999|Nelson 1999]], p. 118</ref>
French soldier [[Augustin de La Balme]] led a Canadian militia in an attempt to capture [[Detroit]], but they dispersed when [[Miami tribe|Miami natives]] led by [[Little Turtle]] attacked the encamped settlers on November 5.<ref name="nGyQz">[[#gaff|Gaff 2004]], p. 85</ref>{{Efn|Most Native Americans living in the area remembered the French better than any of the British they had met. Despite the British military nearby, the [[Miami people#United States and Tribal Divide|Miami people]] sought to avoid fighting with either Virginian Clark or Frenchman La Balme. On La Balme's horseback advance on Detroit, he paused two weeks to ruin a local French trader and loot surrounding Miami towns. La Balme might have treated them as allies, but he pushed [[Little Turtle]] into warrior leadership, converting most Miami tribes into British military allies, and launching the military career of one of the most successful opponents of westward settlement over the next 30 years.<ref name="h260W">[[#hogeland2017|Hogeland 2017]], pp. 88–89</ref>}} The war in the west stalemated with the British garrison sitting in Detroit and the Virginians expanding westward settlements north of the Ohio River in the face of British-allied Indian resistance.<ref name="b02bR">[[#skaggs1977|Skaggs 1977]], p. 132</ref>
In 1781, Galvez and Pollock [[Gulf Coast campaign|campaigned east along the Gulf Coast]] to secure West Florida, including British-held Mobile and Pensacola.<ref name="COArV">[[#raab|Raab 2007]], p. 135</ref> The Spanish operations impaired the British supply of armaments to British Indian allies, which effectively suspended a military alliance to attack settlers between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains.<ref name="wwErI">[[#o'brien2008|O'Brien 2008]], p. 124</ref>{{Efn|Governor Bernardo de Gálvez is only one of eight men made honorary US citizens for his service in the American Cause. see Bridget Bowman (29 December 2014). "Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid's Very Good Year". Roll Call. The Economist Group. Retrieved April 25, 2020.}}
In 1782, large scale retaliations between settlers and Native Americans in the region included the [[Gnadenhutten massacre]] and the [[Crawford expedition]]. The 1782 [[Battle of Blue Licks]] was one of the last major engagements of the war. News of the treaty between Great Britain and the United States arrived late that year. By this time, about 7% of [[Kentucky]] settlers had been killed in battles against Native Americans, contrasted with 1% of the population killed in the Thirteen Colonies. Lingering resentments led to [[Northwest Indian War#Course of the war|continued fighting in the west]] after the war officially ended.
===British defeat===
{{Main|Yorktown campaign}}
[[File:BattleOfVirginiaCapes.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Two lines of warships at sea sailing with full sails downwind away from the viewer and firing broadsides at one another; in the center foreground receding into the left background, six of the French fleet; in the right foreground receding to the center four of the British fleet.|A [[French Navy]] fleet (left) engages the [[Royal Navy|British]] in the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]] on September 5, 1781]]
[[File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|thumb|alt=Center foreground a British officer on the left standing surrenders to a mounted Continental officer; far left foreground receding into the center background, a British line of infantry then mounted cavalry, with a large white flag of surrender; far right foreground receding into the center background, a Continental line of infantry, then mounted cavalry, with a large US flag of the Army.|British general [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Cornwallis]] surrenders at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in October 1781]]
Clinton spent most of 1781 based in New York City; he failed to construct a coherent operational strategy, partly due to his difficult relationship with Admiral [[Marriot Arbuthnot]].<ref name="ap5wX">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], p. 444</ref> In [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], Cornwallis independently developed an aggressive plan for a campaign in Virginia, which he hoped would isolate Greene's army in the [[Carolinas]] and cause the collapse of Patriot resistance in the [[Southern United States|South]]. This strategy was approved by Lord Germain in London, but neither informed Clinton.<ref name="mnb58">[[#ketchum2014b|Ketchum 2014b]], pp. 423, 520</ref>
Washington and [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]] discussed their options: Washington wanted to attack the British in New York, and Rochambeau wanted to attack them in [[Virginia]], where Cornwallis's forces were less established.<ref name="xzQbp">[[#ketchum2014b|Ketchum 2014b]], p. 139</ref> Washington eventually gave way, and Lafayette took a combined Franco-American force into Virginia.<ref name="bsnMy">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 526–529</ref> Clinton misinterpreted his movements as preparations for an attack on New York and instructed Cornwallis to establish a fortified sea base, where the Royal Navy could evacuate British troops to help defend New York.<ref name="b3QwE">[[#grainger2005|Grainger 2005]], pp. 43–44</ref>
When Lafayette entered Virginia, Cornwallis complied with Clinton's orders and withdrew to [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]], where he constructed strong defenses and awaited evacuation.<ref name="SkAo5">[[#taylor2016|Taylor 2016]], pp. 293–295</ref> An agreement by the [[Spanish Navy]] to defend the French West Indies allowed Admiral [[François Joseph Paul de Grasse]] to relocate to the Atlantic seaboard, a move Arbuthnot did not anticipate.<ref name="ap5wX" /> This provided Lafayette naval support, while the failure of previous combined operations at [[Newport News, Virginia|Newport]] and [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] meant their coordination was planned more carefully.<ref name="6XKWu">[[#dull1975|Dull 2015]] [1975], pp. 247–248</ref> Despite repeated urging from his subordinates, Cornwallis made no attempt to engage Lafayette before he could establish siege lines.<ref name="jzAf8">[[#ketchum2014b|Ketchum 2014b]], p. 205</ref> Expecting to be withdrawn within a few days, he also abandoned the outer defenses, which were promptly occupied by the besiegers and hastened British defeat.<ref name="4QJnx">[[#lengel2005|Lengel 2005]], p. 337</ref>
On August 31, a Royal Navy fleet under [[Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves|Thomas Graves]] left New York for Yorktown.<ref name="xdltf">[[#middleton2014|Middleton 2014]], pp. 29–43</ref> After landing troops and munitions for the besiegers on August 30, de Grasse remained in Chesapeake Bay and intercepted him on September 5; although the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]] was indecisive in terms of losses, Graves was forced to retreat, leaving Cornwallis isolated.<ref name="pTsmW">[[#black1992|Black 1992]], p. 110</ref> An attempted breakout over [[York River (Virginia)|York River]] at [[Gloucester County, Virginia#Gloucester County formation and divisions|Gloucester Point]] failed due to bad weather.<ref name="0d9W7">[[#dale2005|Dale 2005]], pp. 36–37</ref> Under heavy bombardment with dwindling supplies, on October 16 Cornwallis sent emissaries to General Washington to negotiate surrender; after twelve hours of negotiations, the terms of surrender were finalized the following day.<ref name="g66wL">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 534–535</ref> Responsibility for defeat was the subject of fierce public debate between Cornwallis, Clinton, and Germain. Clinton ultimately took most of the blame and spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity.<ref name="irWjD">[[#middleton2014|Middleton 2014]], pp. 370–372</ref>
Subsequent to Yorktown, American forces were assigned to supervise the armistice between Washington and Clinton made to facilitate British departure following the January 1782 law of Parliament forbidding any further British offensive action in North America. British-American negotiations in Paris led to signed preliminary agreements in November 1782, which acknowledged U.S. independence. The enacted [[United States Congress|Congressional]] war objective, a British withdrawal from North America and cession of these regions to the U.S., was completed in stages in East Coast cities.<ref name="OtLkf">[[#ferling2003|Ferling 2003]], pp. 378–379</ref>
In the U.S. South, Generals Greene and Wayne observed the British removing their troops from Charleston on December 14, 1782.<ref name="FF82B">[[#fiske1902|Fiske 1902]], p. 516</ref> Loyalist provincial militias of whites and free Blacks and Loyalists with slaves were transported to Nova Scotia and the British West Indies.{{efn|In Nova Scotia, a province that had been a Massachusetts county in the 1600s, British settlement of freed black Loyalists from the American Revolutionary War secured its Canadian claim there. Britain continued its last "Bourbon War" with the French and Spanish primarily amidst their mutually conflicting territorial claims adjacent the Caribbean Sea, including Jamaica, adjacent the Mediterranean Sea including [[Siege of Gibraltar|Gibraltar]] and Isla Mallorca, and adjacent the Indian Ocean during the [[Second Mysore War]].}} Native American allies of the British and some freed Blacks were left to escape unaided through the American lines.
On April 9, 1783, Washington issued orders that "all acts of hostility" were to cease immediately. That same day, by arrangement with Washington, Carleton issued a similar order to British troops.<ref name="zaInj">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], p. 553</ref> As directed by a Congressional resolution of May 26, 1783, all non-commissioned officers and enlisted were furloughed "to their homes" until the "definitive treaty of peace", when they would be automatically discharged. The U.S. armies were directly disbanded in the field as of Washington's General Orders on June 2, 1783.<ref name="clMCt">[[#armour1941|Armour 1941]], p. 350</ref> Once the Treaty of Paris was signed with Britain on September 3, 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.<ref name="OtLkf" /> The last British occupation of New York City ended on November 25, 1783, with the departure of Clinton's replacement, General Sir [[Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester|Guy Carleton]].<ref name="Xx5DW">[[#fleming2006|Fleming 2006]], p. 312</ref>
==Strategy and commanders==
[[File:USMA01 Major Campaigns of the American Revolutionary War.jpg|thumb|alt=West Point Military Academy MAP of America east of the Mississippi River. Campaigns noted in New England; in the middle colonies with three British (red sailing ship) naval victories; in the South with two British naval victories, and in Virginia with one French (blue sailing ship) naval victory. A Timeline bar graph below shows almost all British (red bar) victories on the left in the first half of the war, and almost all US (blue bar) victories on the right in the second half of the war.|A map of principal campaigns in the American Revolutionary War<ref name="BTKUJ">[[#arwcampaigns|USMA History Dept., Map: "American Revolution Principal Campaigns"]]</ref> with British movements in red and American movements in blue; the timeline shows the British won most battles in the war's first half, but Americans won the most in the second.]]
To win their insurrection, Washington and the Continental Army needed to outlast the British will to fight. To restore [[British America]], the British had to defeat the Continental Army quickly and compel the Second Continental Congress to retract its claim to self-governance.<ref name="I7Xou">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], pp. 1–2</ref> Historian Terry M. Mays of [[The Citadel]] identifies three separate types of warfare during the Revolutionary War. The first was a colonial conflict in which objections to imperial trade regulation were as significant as taxation policy. The second was a civil war between American Patriots, American Loyalists, and those who preferred to remain neutral. Particularly in the south, many battles were fought between Patriots and Loyalists with no British involvement, leading to divisions that continued after independence was achieved.<ref name="StQAE">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], pp. 2–3</ref>
The third element was a global war between France, [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]], the [[Dutch Republic]], and Britain, with America serving as one of several different war theaters.<ref name="StQAE" /> After entering the Revolutionary War in 1778, France provided the Americans money, weapons, soldiers, and naval assistance, while French troops fought under U.S. command in North America. While Spain did not formally join the war in America, they provided access to the Mississippi River and captured British possessions on the [[Gulf of Mexico]] that denied bases to the Royal Navy, [[Invasion of Minorca (1781)|retook Menorca]] and [[Great Siege of Gibraltar|besieged Gibraltar]] in Europe.<ref name="ONzWM">[[#davenport1917|Davenport 1917]], p. 168</ref> Although the Dutch Republic was no longer a major power prior to 1774, they still dominated the European carrying trade, and Dutch merchants made large profits by shipping French-supplied munitions to the Patriots. This ended when Britain declared war in December 1780, and the conflict proved disastrous to the Dutch economy.<ref name="72JXk">[[#Scott|Scott 1988]], pp. 572–573</ref>
===American strategy===
The Second Continental Congress stood to benefit if the Revolution evolved into a protracted war. Colonial state populations were largely prosperous and depended on local production for food and supplies rather than on imports from Britain. The thirteen colonies were spread across most of North American Atlantic seaboard, stretching 1,000 miles. Most colonial farms were remote from the seaports, and control of four or five major ports did not give Britain control over American inland areas. Each state had established internal distribution systems.<ref name="lNS5K">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], pp. 36–39</ref> Motivation was also a major asset: each colonial capital had its [[Early American publishers and printers|own newspapers and printers]], and the Patriots enjoyed more popular support than the Loyalists. Britain hoped that the Loyalists would do much of the fighting, but found that the Loyalists did not engage as significantly as they had hoped.<ref name="6bqxv" />
====Continental Army====
{{Main|Continental Army}}
{{See also|Militia (United States)#American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)|Minutemen}}
[[File:George Washington, 1776.jpg|thumb|A 1776 portrait of [[George Washington|Washington]] by [[Charles Willson Peale]], now housed in the [[Brooklyn Museum]]|alt=Formal painting of General George Washington, standing in uniform, as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army]]
When the Revolutionary War began, the Second Continental Congress lacked a professional army or navy. However, each of the colonies had a long-established system of local militia, which were combat-tested in support of British regulars in the French and Indian War. The colonial state legislatures independently funded and controlled their local militias.<ref name="lNS5K"/>
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 and lacked the training and discipline of more experienced soldiers. Local county militias were reluctant to travel far from home and were unavailable for extended operations.<ref name="JOPiQ">[[#black2001|Black 2001]] [1991], p. 59</ref> To compensate for this, the Continental Congress established a regular force known as the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, which proved to be the origin of the modern [[United States Army]], and appointed Washington as its commander-in-chief. However, it suffered significantly from the lack of an effective training program and from largely inexperienced officers.<ref name="4DbAi">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 286–287</ref> Each state legislature appointed officers for both county and state militias and their regimental Continental line officers; although Washington was required to accept Congressional appointments, he was permitted to choose and command his own generals, such as Greene; his chief of artillery, Knox; and [[Alexander Hamilton]], the chief of staff.<ref name="pSJBj">[[#higginbotham1987|Higginbotham 1987]], Chap. 3</ref> One of Washington's most successful general officer recruits was Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff who wrote the [[Revolutionary War Drill Manual]].<ref name="4DbAi" /> The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress and Washington used both his regulars and state militias throughout the war; when properly employed, the combination allowed them to overwhelm smaller British forces, as they did in battles at Concord, Boston, Bennington, and Saratoga. Both sides used partisan warfare, but the state militias effectively suppressed Loyalist activity when British regulars were not in the area.<ref name="JOPiQ" />{{Efn|Three branches of the United States Military trace their roots to the American Revolutionary War; the Army comes from the [[Continental Army]]; the Navy comes from the [[Continental Navy]], appointing [[Esek Hopkins]] as the Navy's first commander.<ref name="63K4s">[[#miller1997|Miller 1997]], pp. 11–12, 16</ref> The Marine Corps links to the [[Continental Marines]], created by Congress on November 10, 1775.<ref name="ztc3C">[[#smithD2012|Smith, D. 2012]], pp. iv, 459</ref>}}
Washington designed the overall military strategy in cooperation with Congress, established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs, personally recruited his senior officer corps, and kept the states focused on a common goal.<ref name="l3gHY">[[#lengel2005|Lengel 2005]], pp. 365–371</ref> Washington initially employed the inexperienced officers and untrained troops in [[Fabian strategy|Fabian strategies]] rather than risk frontal assaults against Britain's professional forces.<ref name="UxzJ5">[[#ellis2004|Ellis 2004]], pp. 92–109</ref> Over the course of the war, Washington lost more battles than he won, but he never surrendered his troops and maintained a fighting force in the face of British field armies.<ref name="oBjRC">[[#alexrose|Rose, A. 2014]] [2006], pp. 258–261</ref>
By prevailing European standards, the armies in America were relatively small, limited by lack of supplies and logistics. The British were constrained by the logistical difficulty of transporting troops across the Atlantic and their dependence on local supplies. Washington never directly commanded more than 17,000 men,<ref name="6Djag">[[#boatner74|Boatner 1974]], p. 264</ref> and the combined Franco-American army in the decisive American victory at [[Battle of Yorktown|Yorktown]] was only about 19,000.<ref name="mtUen">[[#duffy1987|Duffy 2005]] [1987], p. 13</ref> At the beginning of 1776, Patriot forces consisted of 20,000 men, with two-thirds in the Continental Army and the other third in the state militias. About 250,000 American men served as regulars or as militia for the revolutionary cause during the war, but there were never more than 90,000 men under arms at any time.<ref name="0HyhO">[[#crocker|Crocker 2006]], p. 51</ref>
On the whole, American officers never equaled their British opponents in tactics and maneuvers, and they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes at Boston (1776), Saratoga (1777), and [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] (1781) were won by trapping the British far from base with a greater number of troops.<ref name="pSJBj" /> After 1778, Washington's army was transformed into a more disciplined and effective force, mostly as a product of [[Baron von Steuben]]'s military training.<ref name="4DbAi" /> Immediately after the Continental Army emerged from Valley Forge in June 1778, it proved its ability to match the military capabilities of the British at the Battle of Monmouth, including a Black [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]] regiment fending off a British bayonet attack and then counter charging the British for the first time as part of Washington's army.<ref name="kgNGc">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 294–295</ref> After the Battle of Monmouth, Washington came to realize that saving entire towns was not necessary, but preserving his army and keeping the revolutionary spirit alive was more important. Washington informed [[Henry Laurens]], then president of the Second Continental Congress,{{Efn|Laurens was president of the Second Continental Congress at this time.<ref name="6CNkb">Jillson and Wilson, 1994, p. 77</ref>}} "that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the field, will avail them little."<ref name="76ZOZ">[[#chernow2010|Chernow, 2010]], p. 344</ref>
Although the Continental Congress was responsible for the war effort and provided supplies to the troops, Washington took it upon himself to pressure Congress and the state legislatures to provide the essentials of war; there was never nearly enough.<ref name="CX4G4">[[#carp1990|Carp 1990]], p. 220</ref> Congress evolved in its committee oversight and established the Board of War, which included members of the military.<ref name="rBEkF">[[#harwell2011|Freeman and Harwell (ed.)]], p. 42</ref> Because the Board of War was also a committee ensnared with its own internal procedures, Congress also created the post of [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]], appointing Major General Benjamin Lincoln to the position in February 1781. Washington worked closely with Lincoln to coordinate civilian and military authorities and took charge of training and supplying the army.<ref name="t1m52">[[#bell2005|Bell 2005]], pp. 3–4"</ref><ref name="4DbAi" />
====Continental Navy====
{{Main|Continental Navy|Continental Marines}} {{see also|Privateer#American_Revolutionary_War|Whaleboat War}} {{Further|Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:First_Recognition_of_the_American_Flag_by_a_Foreign_Government.jpg|thumb|alt= Sail warships at sea with full sail; in the center middle ground, the US ship; in the background, four French warships in a haze giving it a cannon salute with gunpowder; small boats also in the water in the middle ground.|[[USS Ranger (1777)|USS ''Ranger'']] commanded by Captain [[John Paul Jones]]]]
During the first summer of the war, Washington began outfitting schooners and other small seagoing vessels to prey on ships supplying the British in Boston.<ref name="N26y3">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], p. 360</ref> The Second Continental Congress established the Continental Navy on October 13, 1775, and appointed [[Esek Hopkins]] as its first commander;<ref name="ofLtd">[[#miller1997|Miller 1997]] [1977], pp. 11–12, 16</ref> for most of the war, the Continental Navy included only a handful of small frigates and sloops, supported by privateers.<ref name="o5APS">[[#higginbotham1987|Higginbotham 1987]] [1971], pp. 331–346</ref> On November 10, 1775, Congress authorized the creation of the [[Continental Marines]], which ultimately evolved into the [[United States Marine Corps]].<ref name="ztc3C" />
John Paul Jones became the first American naval hero when he captured [[HMS Drake (1777)|HMS ''Drake'']] on April 24, 1778, the first victory for any American military vessel in British waters.<ref name="L9ds0">[[#higginbotham1983|Higginbotham 1983]] [1971], pp. 331–346</ref> The last such victory was by the frigate [[USS Alliance (1778)|USS ''Alliance'']], commanded by Captain [[John Barry (naval officer)|John Barry]]. On March 10, 1783, the ''Alliance'' outgunned HMS ''Sybil'' in a 45-minute duel while escorting Spanish gold from Havana to the Congress in Philadelphia.<ref name="unG7V">[[#thomas2017|Thomas 2017]], "Last Naval Battle"</ref> After Yorktown, all US Navy ships were sold or given away; it was the first time in America's history that it had no fighting forces on the high seas.<ref name="jC7za">[[#daughan2011|Daughan 2011]] [2008], p. 240</ref>
Congress primarily commissioned privateers to reduce costs and to take advantage of the large proportion of colonial sailors found in the British Empire. In total, they included 1,700 ships that successfully captured 2,283 enemy ships to damage the British effort and to enrich themselves with the proceeds from the sale of cargo and the ship itself.<ref name="OVxVT">, "Privateers"</ref>{{Efn|In what was known as the [[Whaleboat War]], American privateers mainly from [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[Brooklyn]], and [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]] attacked and robbed British merchant ships and raided and robbed coastal communities of [[Long Island]] reputed to have Loyalist sympathies.<ref name="dqbl5">[[#philbrick2016|Philbrick 2016]], p. 237</ref>}} About 55,000 sailors served aboard American privateers during the war.<ref name="usmm" />
===France===
{{Main|France in the American Revolution}}
{{Further|History of the French Navy#Louis XVI|Military history of France#Ancien Régime}}
At the beginning of the war, the Americans had no major international allies, since most nation-states waited to see how the conflict unfolded. Over time, the Continental Army established its military credibility. 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 support of powerful European nations, including France, Spain, and the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War#Background|Dutch Republic]]; the Dutch moved from covertly supplying the Americans with weapons and supplies to overtly supporting them.<ref name="zaqGl">[[#trevelyan1912a|Trevelyan 1912a]], p. 249</ref>
The decisive American victory at Saratoga convinced [[France in the American Revolutionary War|France]], which was already a long-time rival of Britain, to offer the Americans the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The two nations also agreed to a defensive Treaty of Alliance to protect their trade and also guaranteed American independence from Britain. To engage the United States as a French ally militarily, the treaty was conditioned on Britain initiating a war on France to stop it from trading with the U.S. Spain and the Dutch Republic were invited to join by both France and the United States in the treaty, but neither was responsive to the request.<ref name="yOYGS">[[#morgan2012|Morgan 2012]] [1956], pp. 82–83</ref>
On June 13, 1778, France declared war on Great Britain, and it invoked the French military alliance with the U.S., which ensured additional U.S. private support for French possessions in the [[Caribbean]].{{Efn|King George III feared that the war's prospects would make it unlikely he could reclaim the North American colonies.<ref name="JuC0w">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], p. 447</ref> During the later years of the Revolution, the British were drawn into numerous other conflicts about the globe.<ref name="OqppY">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], pp. 405–448</ref>}} Washington worked closely with the soldiers and navy that France would send to America, primarily through Lafayette on his staff. French assistance made critical contributions required to defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.<ref name="fNRxX">[[#davis75|Davis 1975]], pp. 203, 303, 391</ref>{{Efn|The final elements for US victory over Britain and US independence was assured by direct military intervention from France, as well as ongoing French supply and commercial trade over the final three years of the war.<ref name="jPPnA">[[#higginbotham1983|Higginbotham 1983]] [1971], pp. 188–198</ref>}}
===British strategy===
{{Further|Seven Years' War}}
The British military had considerable experience fighting in North America.<ref name="cdOwo">[[#cave2004|Cave 2004]], pp. 21–22</ref> However, in previous conflicts they benefited from local logistics and support from the colonial militia. In the American Revolutionary War, reinforcements had to come from Europe, and maintaining large armies over such distances was extremely complex; ships could take three months to cross the Atlantic, and orders from London were often outdated by the time they arrived.<ref name="HZaQ9">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], pp. 298, 306</ref>
Prior to the conflict, the colonies were largely autonomous economic and political entities, with no centralized area of ultimate strategic importance.<ref name="Jvdgy">[[#rosssman2016|Rossman 2016]], p. 2</ref> This meant that, unlike Europe where the fall of a capital city often ended wars, that in America continued even after the loss of major settlements such as Philadelphia, the seat of Congress, New York, and Charleston.<ref name="WTNUb">[[#curtis1926|Curtis 1926]], pp. 148–149</ref> British power was reliant on the Royal Navy, whose dominance allowed them to resupply their own expeditionary forces while preventing access to enemy ports. However, the majority of the American population was agrarian, rather than urban; supported by the French navy and blockade runners based in the [[Dutch Caribbean]], their economy was able to survive.<ref name="Pole 2004">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], pp. 42, 48</ref>
[[Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford|Lord North]], Prime Minister since 1770, delegated control of the war in North America to [[Lord George Germain]] and the [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Earl of Sandwich]], who was [[First Lord of the Admiralty|head of the Royal Navy]] from 1771 to 1782. Defeat at Saratoga in 1777 made it clear the revolt would not be easily suppressed, especially after the Franco-American alliance of February 1778. With Spain also expected to join the conflict, the Royal Navy needed to prioritize either the war in America or in Europe; Germain advocated the former, Sandwich the latter.<ref name="Zfq4g">[[#syrett1998|Syrett 1998]], pp. 18–22</ref>
North initially backed the Southern strategy attempting to exploit divisions between the mercantile north and slave-owning south, but after the defeat of Yorktown, he was forced to accept that this policy had failed.<ref name="6mBg1">[[#hibbert|Hibbert 2008]], p. 333</ref> It was clear the war was lost, although the Royal Navy forced the French to relocate their fleet to the Caribbean in November 1781 and resumed a close blockade of American trade.<ref name="EiC1K">[[#davisengerman2006|Davis, L. and Engerman 2006]], p. 64</ref> The resulting economic damage and rising inflation meant the US was now eager to end the war, while France was unable to provide further loans; Congress could no longer pay its soldiers.<ref name="q5EIL">[[#Rappleye2010|Rappleye 2010]], pp. 300–313</ref>
The geographical size of the colonies and limited manpower meant the British could not simultaneously conduct military operations and occupy territory without local support. Debate persists over whether their defeat was inevitable; one British statesman described it as "like trying to conquer a map".<ref name="arzue">[[#curtis1926|Curtis 1926]], p. 148</ref> While [[John E. Ferling|Ferling]] argues Patriot victory was nothing short of a miracle,<ref name="holEy">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 562–577</ref> [[Joseph Ellis|Ellis]] suggests the odds always favored the Americans, especially after Howe squandered the chance of a decisive British success in 1776, an "opportunity that would never come again".<ref name="MqYnj">[[#ellis2013|Ellis 2013]], p. xi</ref> The US military history speculates the additional commitment of 10,000 fresh troops in 1780 would have placed British victory "within the realm of possibility".<ref name="Ma3JT">[[#stewartR|Stewart, R. 2005]], vol. 4, p. 103</ref>
====British Army====
{{Main|British Army during the American Revolutionary War}}
{{See also|Loyalist (American Revolution)#Military service}}
[[File:Thomas Gage John Singleton Copley.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Portrait of the British commander-in-chief, Sir Thomas Gage in dress uniform.|Sir [[Thomas Gage]], [[British Army]] Commander from 1763 to 1775]]
The expulsion of France from North America in 1763 led to a drastic reduction in British troop levels in the colonies; in 1775, there were only 8,500 regular soldiers among a civilian population of 2.8 million.<ref name="0qbek">[[#clode1869a|Clode 1869]], Vol. 1, p. 268</ref> The bulk of military resources in the Americas were focused on defending sugar islands in the Caribbean; [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]] alone generated more revenue than all thirteen American colonies combined.<ref name="FJWrp">[[#billias1969|Billias 1969]], p. 83</ref> With the end of the Seven Years' War, the permanent army in Britain was also cut back, which resulted in administrative difficulties when the war began a decade later.<ref name="Y118y">[[#clayton2014|Clayton 2014]], p. 65</ref>
Over the course of the war, there were four separate British commanders-in-chief. The first was Thomas Gage, appointed in 1763, whose initial focus was establishing British rule in former French areas of Canada. Many in London blamed the revolt on his failure to take firm action earlier, and he was relieved after the heavy losses incurred at the Battle of Bunker Hill.<ref name="cosou">[[#nessy|O'Shaunessy 2013]], p. 86</ref> His replacement was Sir William Howe, a member of the Whig faction in Parliament who opposed the policy of coercion advocated by Lord North; Cornwallis, who later surrendered at Yorktown, was one of many senior officers who initially refused to serve in North America.<ref name="CZWL2">[[#ketchum97|Ketchum 1997]], p. 76</ref>
The 1775 campaign showed the British overestimated the capabilities of their own troops and underestimated the colonial militia, requiring a reassessment of tactics and strategy,<ref name="pWpln">[[#ketchum2014a|Ketchum 2014a]], p. 208</ref> and allowing the Patriots to take the initiative.<ref name="57mVs">[[#miller1959|Miller 1959]], pp. 410–412</ref> Howe's responsibility is still debated; despite receiving large numbers of reinforcements, Bunker Hill seems to have permanently affected his self-confidence and lack of tactical flexibility meant he often failed to follow up opportunities.<ref name="r4hyC">[[#fleming2006|Fleming 2006]], p. 44</ref> Many of his decisions were attributed to supply problems, such as his failure to pursue Washington's beaten army.<ref name="MlUcq">[[#daviesk1972|Davies, K. 1972]], vol. 12 – 1776, 5:93, Howe to Germain, June 7 and July 7, 1776</ref> Having lost the confidence of his subordinates, he was recalled after Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga.<ref name="UkMe5">[[#nessy|O'Shaunessy 2013]], p. 216</ref>
Following the failure of the Carlisle Commission, British policy changed from treating the Patriots as subjects who needed to be reconciled to enemies who had to be defeated.<ref name="o6DjZ">[[#hibbert2000|Hibbert 2000]], pp. 160–161</ref> In 1778, Howe was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton.<ref name="eA9wm">[[#nessy|O'Shaunessy 2013]], p.</ref> Regarded as an expert on tactics and strategy,<ref name="UkMe5" /> like his predecessors Clinton was handicapped by chronic supply issues.<ref name="BZg2c">[[#daviesk1972|Davies, K. 1972]], vol. 15 – 1778, 5:96, Clinton to Germain, September 15, 1778</ref> In addition, Clinton's strategy was compromised by conflict with political superiors in London and his colleagues in North America, especially Admiral [[Mariot Arbuthnot]], replaced in early 1781 by Rodney.<ref name="ap5wX" /> He was neither notified nor consulted when Germain approved Cornwallis's invasion of the south in 1781 and delayed sending him reinforcements believing the bulk of Washington's army was still outside New York City.<ref name="mWJRm">[[#ketchum2014b|Ketchum 2014b]], pp. 208–210</ref> After the surrender at Yorktown, Clinton was relieved by Carleton, whose major task was to oversee the evacuation of Loyalists and British troops from Savannah, Charleston, and New York City.<ref name="YZsHH">[[#cashin|Cashin 2005]], "Revolutionary War in Georgia"</ref>
====German troops====
{{Main|Hessian (soldier)}}
[[File:Surrender of the Hessian Troops to General Washington, after The Battle of Trenton. December 1776. Copy of lithograph, 1 - NARA - 532880.tif|thumb|alt=Hessian troops surrender after Battle of Trenton, December 1776 |[[Hessian (soldier)|Hessian]] troops surrender after [[George Washington|Washington]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Trenton]] in December 1776]]
During the 18th century, states commonly [[Soldatenhandel|hired foreign soldiers]], including Britain.<ref name="jSAGZ">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], p. 115</ref> When it became clear additional troops were needed to suppress the revolt in America, it was decided to employ [[Germans in the American Revolution#Allies of Great Britain|professional German soldiers]]. There were several reasons for this, including public sympathy for the Patriot cause, a historical reluctance to expand the British army and the time needed to recruit and train new regiments.<ref name="cCTlC">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], p. 117</ref> Many smaller states in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] had a long tradition of renting their armies to the highest bidder. The most important was [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]], known as "the Mercenary State".<ref name="NNZE8">[[#showalter2007|Showalter 2007]], "Best armies money could buy"</ref>
The first supply agreements were signed by the North administration in late 1775; 30,000 Germans served in the American War.<ref name="btSGH">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], pp. 111–112</ref> Often generically referred to as "Hessians", they included men from many other states, including [[Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg|Hanover]] and Brunswick.<ref name="srbv4">[[#fetter1980|Fetter 1980]], p. 508</ref> Sir Henry Clinton recommended recruiting Russian troops whom he rated very highly, having seen them in action against the [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)|Ottomans]]; however, negotiations with [[Catherine the Great]] made little progress.<ref name="IqLsU">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], pp. 118–119</ref>
Unlike previous wars their use led to intense political debate in Britain, France, and even Germany, where [[Frederick the Great]] refused to provide passage through his territories for troops hired for the American war.<ref name="schmidt208-209">[[#schmidt1958|Schmidt 1958]], pp. 208–209</ref> In March 1776, the agreements were challenged in Parliament by Whigs who objected to "coercion" in general, and the use of foreign soldiers to subdue "British subjects".<ref name="vyLv6">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], pp. 121, 141–142</ref> The debates were covered in detail by American newspapers; in May 1776 they received copies of the treaties themselves, provided by British sympathizers and smuggled into North America from London.<ref name="tIwST">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], pp. 143–144</ref>
The prospect of foreign German soldiers being used in the colonies bolstered support for independence, more so than taxation and other acts combined; the King was accused of declaring war on his own subjects, leading to the idea there were now two separate governments.<ref name="ImWYT">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], pp. 136–143</ref><ref name="juHEN">[[#oshaughnessy2004|O'Saughnessy, 2004]], p. 20</ref> By apparently showing Britain was determined to go to war, it made hopes of reconciliation seem naive and hopeless, while the employment of what was regarded as "foreign mercenaries" became one of the charges levelled against George III in the Declaration of Independence.<ref name="schmidt208-209" /> The Hessian reputation within Germany for brutality also increased support for the Patriot cause among German American immigrants.<ref name="taPBr">[[#baer2015|Baer 2015]], p. 142</ref>
The presence of over 150,000 [[German Americans]] meant both sides felt the German soldiers might be persuaded to desert; one reason Clinton suggested employing Russians was that he felt they were less likely to defect. When the first German troops arrived on Staten Island in August 1776, Congress approved the printing of handbills, promising land and citizenship to any willing to join the Patriot cause. The British launched a counter-campaign claiming deserters could be executed.<ref name="mauch415">[[#mauch2003|Mauch 2003]], p. 415</ref> Desertion among the Germans occurred throughout the war, with the highest rate of desertion occurring between the surrender at Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris.<ref name="Nf6u9">[[#atwood2002|Atwood, 2002]], p. 194</ref> German regiments were central to the British war effort; of the estimated 30,000 sent to America, some 13,000 became casualties.<ref name="bnmql">[[#lowell84|Lowell 1884]], pp. 20–21, 282–283</ref>
==Revolution as civil war==
===Loyalists===
{{Main|Loyalist (American Revolution)}}
{{See also|American Legion (Great Britain)|Prince of Wales' American Regiment}}
[[File:KingsMountain DeathOfFerguson Chappel.jpg|thumb|alt=A wounded British officer falls from his horse after being struck by gunfire; another British officer to his rights puts his hands forwards to support the wounded rider; troops skirmish in the background; men lie dead at the riders feet.|American [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] routed [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]] in 1780, raising Patriot morale.]]
Wealthy Loyalists convinced the British government that most of the colonists were sympathetic toward the Crown;<ref name="6cWCe">[[#ritcheson|Ritcheson 1973]], p. 6</ref> consequently, British military planners relied on recruiting Loyalists, but had trouble recruiting sufficient numbers as the Patriots had widespread support.<ref name="JOPiQ" />{{Efn|On militia see Boatner 1974, p. 707;<br />Weigley 1973, ch. 2}} Approximately 25,000 Loyalists fought for the British throughout the war.<ref name="savas41" /> Although Loyalists constituted about twenty percent of the colonial population,<ref name="Greene p. 235" /> they were concentrated in distinct communities. Many of them lived among large plantation owners in the [[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater region]] and [[South Carolina in the American Revolution#Early conflicts|South Carolina]].<ref name="Greene p. 235" />
When the British began probing the backcountry in 1777–1778, they were faced with a major problem: any significant level of organized Loyalist activity required a continued presence of British regulars.<ref name="Gu69t">[[#black2001|Black 2001]] [1991], p. 12</ref> The available manpower that the British had in America was insufficient to protect Loyalist territory and counter American offensives.<ref name="xeYC7">[[#black2001|Black 2001]] [1991], pp. 13–14</ref> The Loyalist militias in the South were constantly defeated by neighboring Patriot militia. The Patriot victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain irreversibly impaired Loyalist militia capability in the South.<ref name="NcMDc" />
When the early war policy was administered by Howe, the Crown's need to maintain Loyalist support prevented it from using the traditional revolt suppression methods.<ref name="m4e3v">[[#black2001|Black 2001]] [1991], p. 14</ref> The British cause suffered when their troops ransacked local homes during an aborted attack on Charleston in 1779 that enraged both Patriots and Loyalists.<ref name="yBaSD" /> After Congress rejected the [[Carlisle Peace Commission]] in 1778 and Westminster turned to "hard war" during Clinton's command, neutral colonists in the Carolinas often allied with the Patriots.<ref name="dh9oI">[[#black|Black 2001]] [1991], pp. 14–16 [16], 35, 38</ref> Conversely, Loyalists gained support when Patriots intimidated suspected Tories by destroying property or [[tarring and feathering]].<ref name="4VC7B">[[#Calhoon1973|Calhoon 1973]], p. {{Page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref>
A Loyalist militia unit—the [[British Legion (American Revolutionary War)|British Legion]]—provided some of the best troops in British service.<!-- Add citation for Babits 1998? --><ref name="b5poP">[[#buchanan97|Buchanan 1997]], p. 327</ref> It was commanded by Tarleton and gained a fearsome reputation in the colonies for "brutality and needless slaughter".<ref name="rankin">[[#bass|Bass 1957]], pp. 548–550</ref>{{better source needed|reason=see talk The Green Dragoon|date=May 2023}}
{{Clear}}
===Women===
{{Main|Women in the American Revolution}}
[[File:Nancy Morgan Hart.gif|thumb|alt=Scene of Nancy Morgan Hart on the left with musket raised and child hiding behind her skirts, and behind; on the right two Loyalist soldiers are lying on the floor, and three are raising their hands defensively in alarm.|[[Nancy Hart]] single-handedly captured six [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] soldiers who barged into her home intending to ransack it.]]
Women played various roles during the Revolutionary War; they often accompanied their husbands when permitted. For example, throughout the war [[Martha Washington]] was known to visit and provide aid to her husband George at various American camps.<ref name="NsXgO">[[#chernow2010|Chernow, 2010]], p. 215</ref> Women often accompanied armies as [[camp follower]]s to sell goods and perform necessary tasks in hospitals and camps, and numbered in the thousands during the war.<ref name="s5toN">[[#dunkerly|Dunkerly 2014]], "Camp Followers"</ref>
Women also assumed military roles: some dressed as men to directly support combat, fight, or act as spies on both sides.<ref name="HUZJR">[[#howat2017|Howat 2017]], "Women Spies"</ref> Anna Maria Lane joined her husband in the Army. The Virginia General Assembly later cited her bravery: she fought while dressed as a man and "performed extraordinary military services, and received a severe wound at the battle of Germantown ... with the courage of a soldier".<ref name="F5oSv">[[#womens2009|Historical Essay 2009]]</ref> On April 26, 1777, [[Sybil Ludington]] is said to have ridden to alert militia forces to the British's approach; she has been called the "female Paul Revere".<ref name="om7F0">[[#hunt2015|Hunt 2015]], pp. 188–222</ref> Whether the ride occurred is questioned.<ref name=Hunt>{{Cite journal|last=Hunt|first=Paula D.|date=June 2015|title=Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere: The Making of a Revolutionary War Heroine |journal=[[The New England Quarterly]]|volume=88|issue=2|pages=187–222|doi=10.1162/TNEQ_a_00452|s2cid=57569643|issn=0028-4866|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Tucker>{{cite news |title= Did the Midnight Ride of Sibyl Ludington Ever Happen? |last= Tucker |first= Abigail |date= March 2022 |access-date= July 6, 2022 |url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/did-midnight-ride-sibyl-ludington-ever-happen-180979557/ |work= [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}</ref><ref name= Lewis>{{cite web |url= https://www.thoughtco.com/sybil-ludington-biography-3530671 |title= Sybil Ludington, Possible Female Paul Revere |publisher= [[ThoughtCo]] |date= August 15, 2019 |access-date= July 6, 2022 |last= Lewis |first= Jone Johnson}}</ref><ref name=Eschner>{{cite news |url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/was-there-really-teenage-female-paul-revere-180962993/ |work= [[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |title= Was There Really a Teenage, Female Paul Revere? |last= Eschner |first= Kat |date= April 26, 2017 |access-date= July 6, 2022}}</ref> A few others [[List of wartime cross-dressers|disguised themselves as men]]. [[Deborah Sampson]] fought until her gender was discovered and she was discharged as a result; [[Sally St. Clair]] was killed in action.<ref name="F5oSv" />
===African Americans===
{{Main|African Americans in the Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Soldiers at the siege of Yorktown (1781), by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger (cropped1).png|thumb|alt=A scene of four uniformed soldiers of the Continental 1st Rhode Island Regiment. On the left, a black and a white soldier formally at "Attention" with Brown Bess muskets; on the right, a downcast white soldier walking back into formation with an officer barking at him holding a cat-o-nine tails for flogging.|[[Continental Army]] soldiers, including one from the [[1st Rhode Island Regiment]] on the left]]
When war began, the population of the Thirteen Colonies included an estimated 500,000 slaves, predominantly used as labor on [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|Southern plantations]].<ref name="517PM">[[#nash2012|Nash 2012]], p. 251</ref> In November 1775, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation that promised freedom to any Patriot-owned slaves willing to bear arms. Although the announcement helped to fill a temporary manpower shortage, white Loyalist prejudice meant recruits were eventually redirected to non-combatant roles. The Loyalists' motive was to deprive Patriot [[Planter class|planters]] of labor rather than to end slavery; Loyalist-owned slaves were returned.<ref name="CJ6XK">[[#nash2005|Nash, 2005]], pp. 167–168</ref>
The 1779 [[Philipsburg Proclamation]] issued by Clinton extended the offer of freedom to Patriot-owned slaves throughout the colonies. It persuaded entire families to escape to British lines, many of which were employed growing food for the army by removing the requirement for military service. While Clinton organized the [[Black Pioneers]], he also ensured fugitive slaves were returned to Loyalist owners with orders that they were not to be punished.<ref name="DKDsq">[[#blackcancol|Canada' Digital Collections]] "Black Loyalists"</ref> As the war progressed, service as regular soldiers in British units became increasingly common; Black Loyalists formed two regiments of the Charleston garrison in 1783.<ref name="bfNHp">[[#bibko2016|Bibko, 2016]], pp. 68–69</ref>
Estimates of the numbers who served the British during the war vary from 25,000 to 50,000, excluding those who escaped during wartime. Thomas Jefferson estimated that Virginia may have lost 30,000 slaves to escapes.<ref name="zag2G">[[#bibko2016|Bibko, 2016]], p. 59</ref> In South Carolina, nearly 25,000 slaves (about 30 percent of the enslaved population) either fled, migrated, or died, which significantly disrupted the plantation economies both during and after the war.<ref name="yRG5O">[[#kolchin1994|Kolchin 1994]], p. 73</ref>
[[Black Patriot]]s were barred from the Continental Army until Washington convinced Congress in January 1778 that there was no other way to replace losses from disease and desertion. The [[1st Rhode Island Regiment]] formed in February included former slaves whose owners were compensated; however, only 140 of its 225 soldiers were Black and recruitment stopped in June 1788.<ref name="Ltvqf">[[#lanning2012|Lanning 2012]], p. 75</ref> Ultimately, around 5,000 African Americans served in the Continental Army and Navy in a variety of roles, while another 4,000 were employed in Patriot militia units, aboard privateers, or as teamsters, servants, and spies. After the war, a small minority received land grants or Congressional pensions; many others were returned to their masters post-war despite earlier promises of freedom.<ref name="aJJzP">[[#alexander2010|Alexander 2010]], p. 356</ref>
As a Patriot victory became increasingly likely, the treatment of Black Loyalists became a point of contention; after the surrender of Yorktown in 1781, Washington insisted all escapees be returned but Cornwallis refused. In 1782 and 1783, around 8,000 to 10,000 freed Blacks were evacuated by the British from Charleston, Savannah, and New York; some moved onto London, while 3,000 to 4,000 settled in Nova Scotia.<ref name="Bvc5o">[[#bibko2016|Bibko, 2016]], p. 61</ref> White Loyalists transported 15,000 enslaved Blacks to Jamaica and the [[Bahamas]]. The free Black Loyalists who migrated to the British West Indies included regular soldiers from Dunmore's [[Ethiopian Regiment]], and those from Charleston who helped garrison the [[Leeward Islands]].<ref name="bfNHp" />
===Native Americans===
{{Main|Category:Native American people in the American Revolution}}
[[File:Joseph Brant by William Berczy c1794-1797.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Portrait of British regular army Colonel Joseph Brant, [[Iroquois#American Revolution|Iroquois]] [[Mohawk people#American Revolutionary War|Mohawk]].|Colonel [[Joseph Brant]] of the British-led [[Iroquois#American Revolution|Iroquois]] [[Mohawk people#American Revolutionary War|Mohawks]] in the war]]
Most Native Americans east of the Mississippi River were affected by the war, and many tribes were divided over how to respond. A few tribes were friendly with the colonists, but most Natives opposed the union of the Colonies as a potential threat to their territory. Approximately 13,000 Natives fought on the British side, with the largest group coming from the [[Iroquois]] tribes who deployed around 1,500 men.<ref name="Greene p. 393">[[#jgreene2008|Greene & Pole 2008]], p. 393</ref>
Early in July 1776, [[Cherokee]] allies of Britain attacked the short-lived [[Washington District, North Carolina|Washington District]] of [[North Carolina Colony|North Carolina]]. Their defeat splintered both Cherokee settlements and people, and was directly responsible for the rise of the [[Chickamauga Cherokee]], who perpetuated the [[Cherokee–American wars]] against American settlers for decades after hostilities with Britain ended.<ref name="finger2001">[[#finger2001|Finger 2001]], pp. 43–64</ref>
[[Muscogee]] and [[Seminole]] allies of Britain fought against Americans in Georgia and South Carolina. In 1778, a force of 800 Muscogee destroyed American settlements along the [[Broad River (Georgia)|Broad River]] in Georgia. Muscogee warriors also joined [[Thomas Brown (loyalist)|Thomas Brown]]'s raids into South Carolina and assisted Britain during the siege of Savannah.<ref name="KPNF9">[[#wardH1999|Ward, H. 1999]], p. 198</ref> Many Native Americans were involved in the fight between Britain and Spain on the Gulf Coast and along the British side of the Mississippi River. Thousands of Muscogee, [[Chickasaw]], and [[Choctaw]] fought in major battles such as the [[Battle of Fort Charlotte]], the [[Battle of Mobile (1781)|Battle of Mobile]], and the [[siege of Pensacola]].<ref name="npQH7">[[#o'brien2008|O'Brien 2008]], pp. 123–126</ref>
The Iroquois Confederacy was shattered as a result of the American Revolutionary War. The [[Seneca people|Seneca]], [[Onondaga people|Onondaga]], and [[Cayuga people|Cayuga]] tribes sided with the British; members of the [[Mohawk people|Mohawks]] fought on both sides; and many [[Tuscarora people|Tuscarora]] and [[Oneida people|Oneida]] sided with the Americans. To retaliate against raids on American settlement by Loyalists and their Indian allies, the Continental Army dispatched the Sullivan Expedition throughout New York to debilitate the Iroquois tribes that had sided with the British. Mohawk leaders [[Joseph Louis Cook]] and [[Joseph Brant]] sided with the Americans and the British respectively, which further exacerbated the split.<ref name="Q9pmz">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 200–203</ref>
In the western theater, conflicts between settlers and Native Americans led to lingering distrust.<ref name="y9yCm">[[#reidD2017|Reid, D. 2017]], p.</ref> In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Great Britain ceded control of the disputed lands between the Great Lakes and the [[Ohio River]], but Native inhabitants were not a part of the peace negotiations.<ref name="lsicb">[[#carroll2001|Carroll 2001]], p. 24</ref> Tribes in the Northwest Territory joined as the [[Western Confederacy]] and allied with the British to resist American settlement, and their conflict continued after the Revolutionary War as the [[Northwest Indian War]].<ref name="BnzRx">[[#ferling2007|Ferling 2007]], pp. 354–355</ref>
==Peace negotiations==
{{Further|Treaty of Paris (1783)|l1=Treaty of Paris (1783)}}
[[File:Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of the four principal US ministers in Paris; left to right, John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and their secretary on the far right.|''[[Treaty of Paris (painting)|Treaty of Paris]]'' by [[Benjamin West]] portrays the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|American mission]] of (left–right): [[John Jay]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Henry Laurens]], and [[William Temple Franklin]]. The portrait was never completed because the British commissioners refused to pose. Laurens, pictured, was actually in London at the time it was painted.<ref name="Usbu7">[[#morris1965|Morris, R.B. Morris 1983]] [1965], pp. 435–436</ref>]]
[[File:Evacuation Day and Washington's Triumphal Entry.jpg|thumb|alt=A New York City street scene with a mounted George Washington riding at the head of a parade.|Washington enters New York City at [[Evacuation Day (New York)|British evacuation]], November 1783. [[St. Paul's Chapel]] is on left. The parade route in 1783 went from [[Bull's Head Tavern]] on [[Bowery]], then continued down [[Chatham Square|Chatham]], [[Pearl Street (Manhattan)|Pearl]], [[Wall Street|Wall]], and ended at Cape's Tavern on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]].]]
The terms presented by the [[Carlisle Peace Commission]] in 1778 included acceptance of the principle of self-government. Parliament would recognize Congress as the governing body, suspend any objectionable legislation, surrender its right to local colonial taxation, and discuss including American representatives in the House of Commons. In return, all property confiscated from Loyalists would be returned, British debts honored, and locally enforced martial law accepted. However, Congress demanded either immediate recognition of independence or the withdrawal of all British troops; they knew the commission were not authorized to accept these, bringing negotiations to a rapid end.<ref name="EVGwD">[[#whiteley1996|Whiteley 1996]], p. 175</ref>
On February 27, 1782, a Whig motion to end the offensive war in America was carried by 19 votes.<ref name="PpAUy">[[#namier1985|Namier and Brooke 1985]], p. 246</ref> North resigned, obliging the king to invite [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham|Lord Rockingham]] to form a government; a consistent supporter of the Patriot cause, he made a commitment to U.S. independence a condition of doing so. George III reluctantly accepted and the [[Second Rockingham ministry|new government]] took office on March 27, 1782; however, Rockingham died unexpectedly on July 1, and was replaced by [[Shelburne ministry|Lord Shelburne]] who acknowledged American independence.<ref name="6fSnW">[[#wardA1925|Ward and Prothero 1925]], p. 458</ref>
When Lord Rockingham was elevated to Prime Minister, Congress consolidated its diplomatic consuls in Europe into a peace delegation at Paris. The dean of the delegation was Benjamin Franklin. He had become a celebrity in the French Court, but he was also influential in the courts of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]]. Since the 1760s, Franklin had been an organizer of British American inter-colony cooperation, and then served as a colonial lobbyist to Parliament in London. John Adams had been consul to the Dutch Republic and was a prominent early New England Patriot. [[John Jay]] of New York had been consul to Spain and was a past president of the Continental Congress. As consul to the Dutch Republic, Henry Laurens had secured a preliminary agreement for a trade agreement. Although active in the preliminaries, he was not a signer of the conclusive treaty.<ref name="OtLkf" />
The Whig negotiators included long-time friend of Franklin [[David Hartley (the Younger)|David Hartley]], and [[Richard Oswald (merchant)|Richard Oswald]], who had negotiated Laurens' release from the Tower of London.<ref name="OtLkf" /> The Preliminary Peace signed on November 30 met four key Congressional demands: independence, territory up to the Mississippi, navigation rights into the Gulf of Mexico, and fishing rights in Newfoundland.<ref name="OtLkf" />
British strategy was to strengthen the U.S. sufficiently to prevent France from regaining a foothold in North America, and they had little interest in these proposals.<ref name="6HMUl">[[#Black2011|Black 2011]], pp. 117–118</ref> However, divisions between their opponents allowed them to negotiate separately with each to improve their overall position, starting with the American delegation in September 1782.<ref name="s8bf9">[[#Harvey2004|Harvey 2004]], pp. 531–532</ref> The French and Spanish sought to improve their position by creating the U.S. dependent on them for support against Britain, thus reversing the losses of 1763.<ref name="0XLAe">[[#cogliano2003|Cogliano 2003]], p. 85</ref> Both parties tried to negotiate a settlement with Britain excluding the Americans; France proposed setting the western boundary of the U.S. along the Appalachians, matching the British 1763 Proclamation Line. The Spanish suggested additional concessions in the vital Mississippi River Basin, but required the cession of [[Georgia in the American Revolution|Georgia]] in violation of the Franco-American alliance.<ref name="0XLAe" />
Facing difficulties with Spain over claims involving the Mississippi River, and from France who was still reluctant to agree to American independence until all her demands were met, John Jay told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them, cutting off France and Spain, and Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, in charge of the British negotiations, agreed.<ref name="iRKom">[[#morris1965|Morris, 1983]] [1965], pp. 221–323, 331–333</ref> Key agreements for the United States in obtaining peace included recognition of US independence; all of the territory east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida and south of Canada; and fishing rights in the [[Grand Banks]], off the coast of [[Newfoundland]] and in the [[Gulf of Saint Lawrence]]. The United States and Great Britain were each given perpetual access to the Mississippi River.<ref name="XAtfM">[[#dull1975|Dull 1987]] [1975], pp. 144–151</ref><ref name="dKEt7">[[#morris1965|Morris, 1983]] [1965], pp. 218–221</ref>
An Anglo-American Preliminary Peace was formally entered into in November 1782, and Congress endorsed the settlement on April 15, 1783. It announced the achievement of peace with independence, and the conclusive treaty was signed on September 2, 1783, in Paris, effective the following day when Britain signed its treaty with France. John Adams, who helped draft the treaty, claimed it represented "one of the most important political events that ever happened on the globe". Ratified respectively by Congress and Parliament, the final versions were exchanged in Paris the following spring.<ref name="9BwsN">[[#lskaplan1983|Kaplan, L. 1983]], "Treaty of Paris"</ref> On November 25, the last British troops remaining in the U.S. were [[Evacuation Day (New York)|evacuated from New York]] to Halifax.<ref name="Nuhdu">[[#ketchum2014b|Ketchum 2014b]], p. 287</ref>
==Aftermath==
{{Main|American Revolution}}
===Territory===
The expanse of territory that was now the U.S. included millions of sparsely settled acres south of the [[Great Lakes]] between the [[Appalachian Mountains]] and the [[Mississippi River]], much of which was part of Canada. The tentative colonial migration west became a flood during the war.<ref name="0xR4w">[[#herring2011|Herring 2011]] [2008], p. 41</ref>
Britain's extended post-war policy for the U.S. continued to try to establish an [[Indian barrier state]] below the Great Lakes as late as 1814 during the [[War of 1812]]. The formally acquired western American lands continued to be populated by Indigenous tribes that had mostly been British allies.<ref name="lsicb" /> In practice the British refused to abandon the forts on territory they formally transferred. Instead, they provisioned military allies for continuing frontier raids and sponsored the Northwest Indian War (1785–1795). British sponsorship of local warfare on the U.S. continued until the Anglo-American [[Jay Treaty]], authored by Hamilton, went into effect on February 29, 1796.<ref name="CrkMd">Benn 1993, p. 17</ref>{{Efn|For the thirteen years prior to the Anglo-American commercial [[Jay Treaty]] of 1796 under President [[George Washington]], the British maintained five forts in New York state: two forts at northern Lake Champlain, and three beginning at [[Fort Niagara]] stretching east along Lake Ontario. In the Northwest Territory, they garrisoned [[Fort Detroit]] and [[Fort Michilimackinac]].<ref name="1S547">[[#herring2011|Herring 2011]] [2008], p. 45</ref>}}
Of the European powers with American colonies adjacent to the newly created U.S., Spain was most threatened by American independence, and it was correspondingly the most hostile to it.{{Efn|There had been native-born Spanish (hidalgo) uprisings in several American colonies during the American Revolution, contesting mercantilist reforms of Carlos III that had removed privileges inherited from the Conquistadors among [[encomienda]]s, and they also challenged Jesuit dominance in the Catholic Church there. American ship captains were known to have smuggled banned copies of the Declaration of Independence into Spanish Caribbean ports, provoking Spanish colonial discontent.}} Its territory adjacent to the U.S. was relatively undefended, so Spanish policy developed a combination of initiatives. Spanish soft power diplomatically challenged the British territorial cession west to the Mississippi River and the previous northern boundaries of Spanish Florida.<ref name="ImmKb">[[#herring2011|Herring 2011]] [2008], p. 46</ref> It imposed a high tariff on American goods, then blocked American settler access to the port of New Orleans. At the same time, the Spanish also sponsored war within the U.S. by Indian proxies in its Southwest Territory ceded by France to Britain, then Britain to the Americans.<ref name="0xR4w" />
===Casualties and losses===
{{further|Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, NY.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A cemetery; grave stones in the foreground in staggered, irregular rows; behind them grass covered mounds of dead; an American flag in the background along a tree line.|Mass graves from the [[Battles of Saratoga]] in [[Salem, New York]]]]
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. Between 1775 and 1782, a [[1775–82 North American smallpox epidemic|smallpox epidemic]] throughout North America killed an estimated 130,000.<ref name="3kb8Q" />{{Efn|In addition to as many as 30% deaths in port cities, and especially high rates among the closely confined prisoner-of-war ships, scholars have reported large numbers lost among the Mexican population, and large percentage losses among the American Indian along trade routes, Atlantic to Pacific, Eskimo to Aztec.}} Historian [[Joseph Ellis]] suggests that Washington having his troops [[Variolation|inoculated]] against the disease was one of his most important decisions.<ref name="VcQK9">[[#ellis2004|Ellis 2004]], p. 87</ref>
Up to 70,000 American Patriots died during active military service.<ref name="gNorb">[[#peckham74|Peckham 1974]], p.</ref> 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 [[Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War|prison ships]] in New York Harbor.<ref name="hQzBc">[[#burrows2008b|Burrows 2008b]], p.{{Page needed|date=May 2021}}</ref>{{Efn|If the upper limit of 70,000 is accepted as the total net loss for the Patriots, it would make the conflict proportionally deadlier than the [[American Civil War]]. Uncertainty arises from 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.<ref name="duncan371" />}} The number of Patriots seriously wounded or disabled by the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000.<ref name="Xwtjh">[[#chambers1999|Chambers 1999]] p. 849</ref>
The French suffered 2,112 killed in combat in the United States.<ref name="TO8lQ">[[#CITEREFRignault2004|Dawson 2017]], "Frenchmen who died"</ref>{{Efn|Elsewhere around the world, the French lost another approximately 5,000 total dead in conflicts 1778–1784.<ref name="TO8lQ" />}} The Spanish lost 124 killed and 247 wounded in West Florida.<ref name="White 2010, Essay">[[#white2020|White 2010]], "Essay"</ref>{{Efn|During the same time period in the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]], the Dutch suffered around 500 total killed, owing to the minor scale of their conflict with Britain.<ref name="White 2010, Essay" />}}
A British report in 1781 puts their total Army deaths at 6,046 in North America (1775–1779).<ref name="3kb8Q" />{{Efn|British returns in 1783 listed 43,633 rank and file deaths across the [[British Armed Forces]].<ref name="VdGXi">[[#Burke1785|Burke 1785]], p.</ref> In the first three years of the Anglo-French War (1778), British list 9,372 soldiers killed in battle across the Americas; and 3,326 in the West Indies (1778–1780).<ref name="3kb8Q" /> In 1784, a British lieutenant compiled a detailed list of 205 British officers killed in action during British conflicts outside of North America, encompassing Europe, the Caribbean, and the East Indies.<ref name="g1sff">[[#inman|Inman 1903]], pp. 203–205</ref> Extrapolations based upon this list puts British Army losses in the area of at least 4,000 killed or died of wounds outside of its North American engagements.<ref name="duncan371" />}} Approximately 7,774 Germans died in British service in addition to 4,888 deserters; among those labeled German deserters, however, it is estimated that 1,800 were killed in combat.<ref name="duncan371" />{{Efn|Around 171,000 [[sailors]] served in the [[Royal Navy]] during British conflicts worldwide 1775–1784; approximately a quarter of whom had been [[impressment|pressed]] into service. Around 1,240 were killed in battle, while an estimated 18,500 died from disease (1776–1780).<ref name="ICbFh">[[#debret1781|Debret 1781]], p. 269</ref> The greatest killer at sea was [[scurvy]], a disease caused by [[vitamin C]] deficiency.<ref name="HKwDq">[[#scurvy|NIH GARD 2016]], "Scurvy"</ref> 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 [[grog]] rations of sailors.<ref name="xPtQE">[[#vale2013|Vale 2013]], p. 160</ref> Around 42,000 sailors [[desertion|deserted]] worldwide during the era.<ref name="macksey6,176" /> The impact on merchant shipping was substantial; 2,283 were taken by American privateers.<ref name="OVxVT" /> Worldwide 1775–1784, an estimated 3,386 British [[Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)|merchant ships]] were seized by enemy forces during the war among Americans, French, Spanish, and Dutch.<ref name="We1Cr">[[#conway|Conway 1995]], p. 191</ref>}}
===Legacy===
[[File:Commonsense.jpg|thumb|The U.S. motto ''[[Novus ordo seclorum]]'', meaning "A New Age Now Begins", is paraphrased from [[Thomas Paine]]'s ''[[Common Sense]]'', published January 10, 1776. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again", Paine wrote in it.<ref name="McDonald, Forrest pp. 6">McDonald, Forrest. ''Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution,'' pp. 6–7, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985. {{ISBN|0700602844}}.</ref>]]
The American Revolution set an example to overthrow both monarchy and colonial governments. The United States has the world's oldest written constitution, which was used as a model in other countries, sometimes word-for-word. The Revolution inspired revolutions in France, Haiti, Latin America, and elsewhere.<ref name="Xqvd2">[[#bailyn2007|Bailyn, 2007]], pp. 35, 134–149</ref>
Although the Revolution eliminated many forms of inequality, it did little to change the status of women, despite the role they played in winning independence. Most significantly, it failed to end slavery. While many were uneasy over the contradiction of demanding liberty for some, yet denying it to others, the dependence of southern states on slave labor made abolition too great a challenge. Between 1774 and 1780, many of the states banned the importation of slaves, but the institution itself continued.<ref name="0skc6">[[#morgan2012|Morgan, 2012]] [1956], pp. 96–97</ref> In 1782, Virginia passed a law permitting [[manumission]] and over the next eight years more than 10,000 slaves were given their freedom.<ref name="DggJY">[[#morgan2012|Morgan, 2012]] [1956], p. 97</ref> The number of abolitionist movements greatly increased, and by 1804 all the northern states had outlawed it.<ref name="wneY7">[[#wood1992|Wood, 1992]], pp. 3–8, 186–187</ref> However, slavery continued to be a serious social and political issue and caused divisions that would ultimately end in [[American Civil War|civil war]].
===Historiography===
The body of historical writings on the American Revolution cite many motivations for the Patriot revolt.<ref name="g6SJo">Paul David Nelson, "British Conduct of the American Revolutionary War: A Review of Interpretations." ''Journal of American History'' 65.3 (1978): 623–653. {{JSTOR|1901416}}</ref> American Patriots stressed the denial of their constitutional [[rights of Englishmen|rights as Englishmen]], especially "[[no taxation without representation]]." Contemporaries credit the [[American Enlightenment]] with laying the intellectual, moral, and ethical foundations for the American Revolution among the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]], who were influenced by the [[classical liberalism]] of [[John Locke]] and other Enlightenment writers and philosophers.
''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' has long been cited as a major influence on Revolutionary-era American thinking, but historians David Lundberg and [[Henry F. May]] contend that Locke's ''[[Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]'' was far more widely read.<ref>See David Lundberg and Henry F. May, "The Enlightened Reader in America", ''American Quarterly'', vol. 28, no. 2 (1976): 267.</ref> Historians since the 1960s have emphasized that the Patriot constitutional argument was made possible by the emergence of an American nationalism that united the Thirteen Colonies. In turn, that nationalism was rooted in a [[Republicanism in the United States|Republican value system]] that demanded consent of the governed and deeply opposed [[aristocracy|aristocratic]] control.<ref name="fcrPt">{{cite journal | last1 = Tyrrell | first1 = Ian | year = 1999 | title = Making Nations/Making States: American Historians in the Context of Empire | journal = Journal of American History | volume = 86 | issue = 3| pages = 1015–1044 | jstor=2568604| doi = 10.2307/2568604| issn = 0021-8723}}</ref> In Britain, on the other hand, republicanism was largely a fringe ideology since it challenged the aristocratic control of the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|British monarchy]] and political system. Political power was not controlled by an aristocracy or nobility in the 13 colonies; instead, the colonial political system was based on the winners of free elections, which were open at the time to the majority of white men. In analysis of the Revolution, historians in recent decades have often cited three motivations behind it:<ref name="ZBA7A">Robin Winks, ed. ''Historiography'' (1999) 5:95</ref>
* The [[Atlantic history]] view places the American story in a broader context, including subsequent revolutions in France and Haiti. It tends to reintegrate the historiographies of the American Revolution and the British Empire.<ref name="ZJ2KF">{{cite journal | last1 = Cogliano | first1 = Francis D. | year = 2010 | title = Revisiting the American Revolution | journal = History Compass | volume = 8 | issue = 8| pages = 951–963 | doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00705.x}}</ref><ref name="WWA5Z">Eliga H. Gould, Peter S. Onuf, eds. ''Empire and Nation: The American Revolution in the Atlantic World'' (2005)</ref><ref name="UTDV9">{{cite journal | last1 = Gould | first1 = Eliga H. | year = 1999 | title = A virtual nation: Greater Britain and the imperial legacy of the American Revolution | journal = American Historical Review | volume = 104 | issue = 2| pages = 476–489 | doi=10.2307/2650376| jstor = 2650376}}</ref>
* The "[[new social history]]" approach looks at community social structure to find cleavages that were magnified into colonial cleavages.
* The ideological approach that centers on republicanism in the United States.<ref name="Uo7j4">{{cite book|author1=David Kennedy|author2=Lizabeth Cohen|title=American Pageant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ6aBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA156|year=2015|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=156|isbn=978-1305537422}}</ref> Republicanism dictated there would be no royalty, aristocracy or national church but allowed for continuation of the British common law, which American lawyers and jurists understood and approved and used in their everyday practice. Historians have examined how the rising American legal profession adopted British common law to incorporate republicanism by selective revision of legal customs and by introducing more choices for courts.<ref name="dd44y">Ellen Holmes Pearson. "Revising Custom, Embracing Choice: Early American Legal Scholars and the Republicanization of the Common Law", in Gould and Onuf, eds. ''Empire and Nation: The American Revolution in the Atlantic World'' (2005) pp. 93–113</ref><ref name="5N3hK">[[Anton-Hermann Chroust]], ''Rise of the Legal Profession in America'' (1965) vol. 2.</ref>
===Revolutionary War commemoration stamps===
After the first [[Postage stamps and postal history of the United States|U.S. postage stamp]] was issued in 1849, the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Postal Service]] frequently issued commemorative stamps celebrating people and events of the Revolutionary War. The first such stamp was the [[Liberty Bell]] issue of 1926.<ref name="ULvJk">{{Cite book |last1=Houseman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhB5tAEACAAJ |title=Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers |last2=Kloetzel |publisher=Amos Media Company |year=2019 |isbn=978-0894875595 |quote=Stamps listed in chronological order}}</ref>
<gallery caption="Selected issues:" mode="packed" heights="120px">
File:150th Anniversary of the Liberty Bell, 1926 Issue-2c.jpg|upright=1|The [[Liberty Bell]] stamp, issued on the 150th anniversary of American independence in 1926
File:Saratoga 1777 Oriskany 1927 Issue-2c.jpg|upright=1|150th anniversary of the [[Battles of Saratoga]] stamp featuring [[John Burgoyne|Burgoyne]]'s surrender, issued in 1927
File:Washington at Prayer Valley Forge 1928 Issue-2c.jpg|upright=1|[[George Washington|Washington]] at prayer at [[Valley Forge]] stamp, issued in 1928
File:Yorktown 1931 Issue-2c.jpg|upright=1|150th anniversary of the [[siege of Yorktown]] stamp featuring [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]], [[George Washington|Washington]], and [[François Joseph Paul de Grasse|de Grasse]], issued in 1931
</gallery>
==See also==
{{Div col}}
* [[
* [[1776 in the United States]]: events, births, deaths, and other years
===Topics of the Revolution===
* [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)]]
* [[Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War]]
* [[Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War]]
* [[Flags of the American Revolution]]
* [[Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War]]
===Social history of the Revolution===
* [[Black Patriot]]
* [[Christianity in the United States#American Revolution]]
* [[The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution]]
* [[History of Poles in the United States#American Revolution]]
* [[List of clergy in the American Revolution]]
* [[List of Patriots (American Revolution)]]
* [[Quakers in the American Revolution]]
* [[Scotch-Irish Americans#American Revolution]]
===Others in the American Revolution===
* [[Nova Scotia in the American Revolution]]
* [[Watauga Association]]
===Lists of Revolutionary military===
* [[List of American Revolutionary War battles]]
* [[List of British Forces in the American Revolutionary War]]
* [[List of Continental Forces in the American Revolutionary War]]
* [[List of infantry weapons in the American Revolution]]
* [[List of United States militia units in the American Revolutionary War]]
===Legacy and related===
* [[American Revolution Statuary]]
* [[Commemoration of the American Revolution]]
* [[Founders Online]]
* [[Independence Day (United States)]]
* [[The Last Men of the Revolution]]
* [[List of plays and films about the American Revolution]]
* [[Museum of the American Revolution]]
* [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution]]
* [[List of wars of independence]]
* [[Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War]]
{{Div col end}}
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
{{reflist|group=N}}
==
:''Year dates enclosed in [brackets] denote year of original printing''
{{reflist|1=20em}}
==Bibliography==
{{Main|Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War}}
<!-- Deny Citation Bot-->
<!--works cited in the notes-->
{{Refbegin|30em}}
<!-- A -->
* {{Cite web |last=Abrams |first=Creighton W. |title=The Yorktown Campaign, October 1781 |url=https://armyhistory.org/the-yorktown-campaign-october-1781/ |access-date=May 20, 2020 |website=National Museum, United States Army, Army Historical Foundation |date=July 16, 2014 |ref=abrams }}
* {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Charles Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgALAAAAIAAJ |title=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society: Campaign of 1777 |publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society |year=1911 |volume=44 |ref=adams1911 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Charles Francis |url=https://archive.org/details/americanhistoric18951896jame/page/n7/mode/2up/search/mcclary |title=The American historical review |publisher=Kraus Reprints |___location=New York |year=1963 |editor-last=Jameson, J. Franklin |ref=adams63 |author-mask=2 |orig-year=1895–1896 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Alden |first=John R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gV0xAAAAQBAJ |title=A History of the American Revolution |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |year=1969 |isbn=978-0306803666 |ref=alden1969 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Alden |first=John R. |title=American Revolution, Seventeen Seventy Five to Seventeen Eighty-Three |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1976 |isbn=978-0061330117 |ref=alden1976}}
* {{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA356 |title=Encyclopedia of African American History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |isbn=978-1851097746 |page=356 |ref=alexander2010 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlpnDwAAQBAJ |title=The American Revolution: A World War |date=2018 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=978-1588346599 |editor-last=Allison |editor-first=David K |ref=Allison&Ferreiro2018 |editor2-last=Ferreiro |editor2-first=Larrie D. }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ammerman |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Eh2AAAAMAAJ |title=In the Common Cause: American Response to the Coercive Acts of 1774 |publisher=Norton |year=1974 |isbn=978-0813905259 |___location=New York |ref=ammerman }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Armour |first=Alexander W. |date=October 1941 |title=Revolutionary War Discharges |journal=William and Mary Quarterly |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=344–360 |doi=10.2307/1920145 |jstor=1920145 |ref=armour1941}}
* {{Cite book |last=Archuleta |first=Roy A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPE8yotFAT4C |title=Where We Come from |year=2006 |isbn=978-1424304721 |page=69 |publisher=Where We Come From, collect. |ref=roy2006 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Atwood |first=Rodney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GejQdlQrD-kC |title=The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0521526371 |ref=atwood2002 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Axelrod |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iBvtuSWgt_QC |title=The Real History of the American Revolution: A New Look at the Past |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. |year=2009 |isbn=978-1402768163 |ref=axelrod2009 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Axelrod |first=Alan |title=Mercenaries: A guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2014 |isbn=978-1608712489 |author-mask=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWQXBAAAQBAJ |ref=axelrod2014 }}
<!-- B -->
* {{Cite book |last=Babits |first=Lawrence E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUpBDwAAQBAJ&q=Tarleton |title=A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0807887660 |ref=babits }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bailyn |first=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pct726HjrHIC |title=To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-0307429780 |ref=bailyn2007 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Baer |first=Friederike |date=Winter 2015 |title=The Decision to Hire German Troops in the War of American Independence: Reactions in Britain and North America, 1774–1776 |journal=Early American Studies |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=111–150 |doi=10.1353/eam.2015.0003 |jstor=24474906 |ref=baer2015 |s2cid=143134975}}
* {{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Mark Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gB3CQAAQBAJ |title=Spies of Revolutionary Connecticut: From Benedict Arnold to Nathan Hale |date=2014 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-1626194076 |___location=Charleston, South Carolina |ref=baker2014 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bass |first=Robert D. |date=October 1957 |title=The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |publisher=North Carolina Office of Archives and History |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=548–550 |jstor=23517100 |ref=bass}}
* {{cite journal |last=Beerman |first=Eric |title="Yo Solo" Not "Solo": Juan Antoniao Riano |url=https://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25449/datastream/OBJ/view |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=October 1979 |publisher=Florida Historical Society |issn=0015-4113 |access-date=June 1, 2021 |ref=beerman1979 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Belcher |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/firstamericanciv01belcuoft/page/n6/mode/2up |title=The first American Civil War, first period 1775–1778 |publisher=London, MacMillan |year=1911 |volume=1 |ref=belcher1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bell |first=William Gardner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xwyykzbi4pUC&pg=PA3 |title=Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff, 1775–2005: Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Army's Senior Officer |year=2005 |publisher=Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0160873300 |ref=bell2005 }}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Bellot |first=LJ |title=Canada v Guadeloupe in Britain's old colonial empire: the Peace of Paris of 1763 |date=1960 |publisher=Rice Institute |url=https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/89064/RICE0099.pdf?sequence=1 |type=PhD |ref=bellot }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bemis |first1=Samuel Flagg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENgUAAAAIAAJ |title=The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy |last2=Ferrell |first2=Robert H. |publisher=Pageant Book Company |year=1958 |ref=bemis1958 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Benn |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bf66Rh7QuMcC |title=Historic Fort York, 1793–1993 |publisher=Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd. 1 |year=1993 |isbn=0920474799 |ref=benn1993 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Berkin |first=Carol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCES-ZwlN3MC |title=Revolutionary Mothers. Women in the Struggle for America's Independence |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2005 |isbn=1400041635 |___location=New York |ref=berkin2005 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bibko |first=Julia |year=2016 |title=The American Revolution and the Black Loyalist Exodus |url=http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/hashtaghistory/vol1/iss1/5 |journal=History: A Journal of Student Research |volume=1 |issue=1 |ref=bibko2016 |access-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-date=April 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412064945/https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/hashtaghistory/vol1/iss1/5/ |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bicheno |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xw2hAgAAQBAJ |title=Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolutionary War |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2014 |isbn=978-0007390915 |ref=bicheno14 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Billias |first=George Athan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0euvXS-AwD4C |title=George Washington's Opponents: British Generals and Admirals in the American Revolution |publisher=University of California |year=1969 |ref=billias1969 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=Parameters of British Naval Power, 1650–1850 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0859893855 |editor-last=Michael Duffy |___location=Exeter, UK |pages=95–120; here: 105 |chapter=Naval Power, Strategy and Foreign Policy, 1775–1791 |ref=black1992 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ysC9rOCxGhgC }}
* {{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owQaAQAAIAAJ |title=War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-0750928083 |ref=black2001 |author-mask=2 |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian) |orig-year=1991 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIst_CSWOqIC |title=Fighting for America: The Struggle for Mastery in North America, 1519–1871 |date=2011 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253005618 |ref=Black2011 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Boatner |first=Mark M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQN2AAAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of the American Revolution' |publisher=D. McKay Company |year=1974 |isbn=978-0679504405 |ref=boatner74 |orig-year=1966 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Borick |first=Carl P. |title=A Gallant Defense: the Siege of Charleston, 1780 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1570034879 |oclc=5051139 |ref=borick2003}}
* Britannica.com {{cite web |title= François Joseph Paul, count de Grasse |date= 2021 |url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Joseph-Paul-comte-de-Grasse-marquis-de-Grasse-Tilly |publisher= Britannica.com |page= Wikisourse |ref= degrasseEB2021 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Weldon A |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoYlAQAAMAAJ |title=Empire Or Independence A Study in the Failure Of Reconciliation 1774–1783 |publisher=Kennikat Press |year=1941 |ref=brown41 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Buchanan |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHh2AAAAMAAJ |title=The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=1997 |isbn=978-0471164029 |ref=buchanan97 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Burgoyne |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/orderlybookoflie00burg |title=Orderly book of Lieut. Gen. John Burgoyne, from his entry into the state of New York until his surrender at Saratoga, 16th Oct. 1777 |publisher=Albany, N.Y., J. Munsell |year=1860 |editor-last=O'Callaghan, E. B. |ref=burgoyne1860 |author-mask=2 |author-link=John Burgoyne }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5tNAAAAcAAJ |title=Annual Register: World Events, 1783 |publisher=Jay Dodsley |year=1785 |editor-last=Burke, Edmond |___location=London |ref=Burke1785 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Burrows |first=Edwin G. |author-link=Edwin G. Burrows |date=Fall 2008 |title=Patriots or Terrorists |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/patriots-or-terrorists |url-status=live |journal=American Heritage |series=58 |issue=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323233806/http://www.americanheritage.com/content/patriots-or-terrorists |archive-date=March 23, 2013 |access-date=November 29, 2014 |ref=burrows2008a }}
* {{Cite book |last=Burrows |first=Edwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpUs4J8XEXoC |title=Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War |publisher=Basic Books |___location=New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0786727049 |ref=burrows2008b |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Butterfield |first=Consul W. |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007936660 |title=History of George Rogers Clark's Conquest of the Illinois and the Wabash Towns 1778–1779 |publisher=Heer |year=1903 |___location=Columbus, Ohio |quote=online at Hathi Trust |ref=butterfield }}
<!-- C -->
* {{Cite book |last=Cadwalader |first=Richard McCall |url=https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniasoc00socigoog |title=Observance of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Anniversary of the Evacuation of Philadelphia by the British Army: Fort Washington and the Encampment of White Marsh, November 2, 1777 |publisher=Press of the New Era Printing Company |year=1901 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniasoc00socigoog/page/n26 20]–28 |ref=cadwalader1901 |access-date=January 7, 2016 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Calhoon |first=Robert McCluer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zy53AAAAMAAJ |title=The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1760–1781 |date=1973 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. |isbn=978-0801490088 |quote=The Founding of the American Republic Series |ref=Calhoon1973 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Calloway |first=Colin G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtxG369-VHQC&q=mercenaries |title=The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0195331271 |ref=calloway2007 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Cannon |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vL8CgAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Companion to British History |last2=Crowcroft |first2=Robert |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0199677832 |edition=2nd |ref=cannon2015 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Carp |first=E. Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DL66YCXMbZ8C |title=To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture, 1775–1783 |publisher=UNC Press Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0807842690 |ref=carp1990 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Francis M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiEkygEACAAJ |title=A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, 1783–1842 |publisher=U of Toronto Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0802083586 |ref=carroll2001 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Cashin |first=Edward J. |date=26 March 2005 |title=Revolutionary War in Georgia |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/revolutionary-war-georgia |access-date=21 September 2020 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |quote=Revolution & Early Republic, 1775–1800 |ref=cashin }}
* {{Cite book |last=Cave |first=Alfred A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiZoWyv77qQC&pg=PP1 |title=The French and Indian War |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0313321689 |___location=Westport, Connecticut; London |ref=cave2004 }}
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Chambers |editor-first=John Whiteclay II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O69xjgEACAAJ |title=The Oxford Companion to American Military History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0195071986 |ref=chambers1999 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Chandler |first=Jonathan |year=2017 |title=To become again our brethren': Desertion and community during the American Revolutionary War, 1775–83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEvdvQEACAAJ |journal=Historical Research |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=90 |issue=March 2017 |pages=363–380 |doi=10.1111/1468-2281.12183 |access-date=March 20, 2020 |ref=chandler |doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |last=Chávez |first=Thomas E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z96CAwAAQBAJ&q=ireland |title=Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift |publisher=UNM Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0826327956 |ref=chavez }}
* {{Cite book |last=Chartrand |first=René |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUQ8vgAACAAJ |title=Gibraltar 1779–1783: The Great Siege |publisher=Bloomsbury US |year=2006 |isbn=978-1841769776 |ref=chartrand63 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Chernow |first=Ron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3-rsrDiE5cC |title=Washington: A Life |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1594202667 |ref=chernow2010 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Clayton |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlDJAwAAQBAJ |title=The British Officer: Leading the Army from 1660 to the present |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1317864448 |ref=clayton2014 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Clode |first=Charles M. |url=https://archive.org/details/militaryforcesc02clodgoog/page/n4/mode/2up |title=The military forces of the crown; their administration and government |publisher=London, J. Murray |year=1869 |volume=1 |ref=clode1869a }}
* {{Cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=Micheal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNzCDgAAQBAJ |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 |publisher=McFarland |year=2017 |isbn=978-1476625850 |edition=4th |ref=clodfelter2017 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Conway |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ghkm8IxFCQIC |title=The British Isles and the War of American Independence |date=2002 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0199254552 |ref=conway }}
* {{Cite book |last=Cogliano |first=Francis D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QMAKWDQt1LAC |title=Revolutionary America, 1763–1815: A Political History |publisher=Francis and Taylor |year=2003 |isbn=978-1134678693 |ref=cogliano2003 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Corwin |first=Edward Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchpolicyamer00corwuoft |title=French policy and the American Alliance of 1778 |date=1916 |publisher=Princeton University Press |quote=online at Internet Archive |ref=corwin }}
* {{Cite book |last=Crocker |first=H.W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQNwDwAAQBAJ |title=Don't Tread On Me: A 400-year History of American at War, from Indian Fighting to Terrorist Hunting |publisher=Three Rivers Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-1400053643 |page=51 |ref=crocker }}
* {{Cite book |last=Curtis |first=Edward E. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89355/page/n165/mode/2up?q=The+failure+of+British+arms |title=The Organization of the British Army in the American Revolution, Conclusion |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1926 |ref=curtis1926 }}
<!-- D -->
* {{Cite book |last=Dale |first=Anderson |url=https://archive.org/details/battleofyorktown0000ande |title=The Battle of Yorktown |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2005 |isbn=978-0836853933 |___location=New York |ref=dale2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Daughan |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFmJ9HTq7QIC |title=If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy – from the Revolution to the War of 1812 |publisher=Basic Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-0465025145 |oclc=701015376 |ref=daughan2011 |orig-year=2008 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Davenport |first1=Frances G |url=https://archive.org/details/europeantreaties04daveuoft/page/144/mode/2up |title=European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies |last2=Paullin |first2=Charles O. |year=1917 |volume=IV |publisher=Washington, D.C. Carnegie Institution of Washington |ref=davenport1917 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000774193 |title=Documents of the American Revolution, 1779–1783 |series=Vol. 16 has title:Documents of the American Revolution, 1779–1780 |date=1972–1981 |publisher=Irish University Press |editor-last=Davies, K.G. |volume=12, 15, 17, 18 |___location=Shannon |isbn=978-0716520856 |oclc=836225 |quote=Colonial Office Series: Great Britain, America and Canada |ref=daviesk1972 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Lance E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AyeqDTmM7BIC |title=Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History since 1750 |last2=Engerman |first2=Stanley L |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1139458481 |ref=davisengerman2006 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Burke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pT92AAAAMAAJ |title=George Washington and the American Revolution |publisher=Random House |year=1975 |isbn=978-0394463889 |ref=davis75 }}
* Dictionary of American Biography {{Cite web |title=Jean Baptiste Donatien De Vimeur Rochambeau |date=1936 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2310004552/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=744d6016 |access-date=June 1, 2021 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |series=Gale in Context |ref=rochDAB }}
* {{Cite news |last=Deane |first=Mark |date=May 14, 2018 |title=That time when Spanish New Orleans helped America win independence |work=WGNO-ABC-TV |url=https://wgno.com/news-with-a-twist/nola-300-that-time-when-spanish-new-orleans-helped-america-win-independence/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518231257/https://wgno.com/news-with-a-twist/nola-300-that-time-when-spanish-new-orleans-helped-america-win-independence/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2020 |access-date=6 October 2020 |quote=Exhibit at the Cabildo Museum, 'Recovered Memories: Spain, New Orleans, and the Support for the American Revolution' |ref=Deane2018 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/parliamentaryre11parlgoog/page/n2/mode/2up |title=Parliamentary Register, House of Commons, Fifteenth Parliament of Great Britain |year=1781 |editor-last=Debrett, J. |volume=1 |publisher=Printed for J. Almon |ref=Debrett1781 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b750334&view=1up&seq=5 |title=The correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783 |year=1867 |editor-last=Donne, W. Bodham |volume=2 |publisher=J. Murray |quote=online at Hathi Trust |ref=donne }}
* {{Cite book |last=Duffy |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZiRAgAAQBAJ |title=The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 1715–1789 |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-1135794583 |ref=duffy1987 |orig-year=1987 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WF9BgAAQBAJ |title=The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy, 1774–1787 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0691069203 |___location=Princeton, NJ |oclc=1500030 |ref=dull1975 |orig-year=1975 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W86WS9Z0ycYC |title=A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0300038866 |ref=dull1987 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Louis Caspar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tj0JAAAAIAAJ |title=Medical Men in the American Revolution, 1775–1783 |publisher=Medical field service school |year=1931 |ref=duncan1931 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Dunkerly |first=Robert M. |date=April 2, 2014 |title=8 Fast Facts about Camp Followers |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/04/8-fast-facts-about-camp-followers/ |access-date=August 23, 2019 |publisher=Journal of the American Revolution |ref=dunkerly }}
<!-- E -->
* {{cite book|author=Eelking, Max von|title=The German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence, 1776–1783|url=https://archive.org/details/germanalliedtroo00eelk/page/n11/mode/2up|others=Translated from German by [[Joseph George Rosengarten|J. G. Rosengarten]]|year=1893|publisher=Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY.|lccn=72081186|ref=eelking1893}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Eclov |first=Jon Paul |title=Informal Alliance: Royal Navy And U.S. Navy Co-Operation Against Republican France During The Quasi-War And Wars Of The French Revolution |date=2013 |publisher=University of North Dakota |url=https://commons.und.edu/theses/1417 |type=PhD |ref=eclov2013 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Edler |first=Friedrich |url=https://archive.org/details/dutchrepublic00edlerich/page/n8/mode/2up |title=The Dutch Republic and The American Revolution |publisher=University Press of the Pacific |year=2001 |isbn=0898752698 |ref=edler |orig-year=1911 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Joseph J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y9Rko9sT3kC |title=His Excellency: George Washington |year=2004 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=978-1400032532 |ref=ellis2004 |author-link=Joseph Ellis }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Joseph J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4RqZJzho1QC |title=Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence |publisher=Random House |year=2013 |isbn=978-0307701220 |ref=ellis2013 |author-mask=2 }}
* Encyclopædia Britannica {{cite EB1911|wstitle= Estaing, Charles Hector, Comte d' |volume= 09 | page = 789 |short=x |ref=estaingEB1911}}
* {{Cite book |last=Everest |first=Allan Seymour |title= Moses Hazen and the Canadian Refugees in the American Revolution| publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1977|isbn=978-0815601296 |ref=everest1977}}
<!-- F -->
* {{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Albert Bernhardt |url=https://archive.org/details/germanelementinu00faus |title=The German element in the United States |publisher=Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co. |year=1909 |ref=faust1909 |author-link=Albert Bernhardt Faust }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferling |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/leapindark00ferl |title=A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0199728701 |ref=ferling2003 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferling |first=John E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyjjEsqlqo0C |title=Almost a Miracle |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0199758470 |ref=ferling2007 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferling |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P0fCBwAAQBAJ |title=Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing, US |year=2015 |isbn=978-1620401736 |ref=ferling2015 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Fernández y Fernández |first=Enrique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ND93AAAAMAAJ |title=Spain's Contribution to the independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift |date=2004 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0826327949 |ref=fernández1885 |orig-year=1885 }}
* {{cite book |last=Field |first=Edward |title=Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy During the American Revolution, 1775 to 1778: Master Mariner, politician, Brigadier General, Naval Officer, and Philanthropist |publisher=Preston & Rounds Company |year=1898 |url=https://archive.org/details/esekhopkinsco00fiel/page/n7/mode/2up |ref=field }}
* {{cite book |last=Finger |first=John |title-link=Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition |title=Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0253108722 |ref=finger2001}}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=David Hackett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oreq1YztDcQC |title=Washington's Crossing |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0195170344 |ref=fischer2004 |author-link=David Hackett Fischer }}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Joseph R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7ikGwAACAAJ |title=A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1570038372 |ref=fischer2008 }}
* {{cite book |last=Fiske |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCcQAAAAYAAJ |title=''The American Revolution: In Two Volumes'' |date=1891 |publisher=The Riverside Press |volume=1 |___location=Cambridge, MA |ref=fiske1891 |author-link=John Fiske (philosopher) }}
* {{cite book |last=Fiske |first=John |title=Harpers' Encyclopaedia of United States History |volume=9 |date=1902 |publisher=Harper & brothers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sJAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA516 |ref=fiske1902 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Thomas |title=New Jersey in the American Revolution |publisher=Rivergate Books, Rutgers University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0813536022 |editor-last=Barbara J. Mitnick |ref=fleming |orig-year=1973}}
* {{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Thomas |title=Washington's Secret War |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2006 |isbn=978-0060829629 |ref=fleming2006 |author-mask=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Fortescue |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GlKAAAAYAAJ&q=Bednore%201783&pg=PA489 |title=A history of the British army |year=1902 |volume=3 |ref=fortescue }}
* {{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Douglas Southall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hWBcg2iLooC |title=Washington |last2=Harwell |first2=Richard Barksdale |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2011 |isbn=978-1439105337 |quote=An abridgement in one volume by Richard Harwell of the seven-volume biography of George Washington |ref=harwell2011 }}
* {{cite book |last=French |first=Allen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYwGAQAAIAAJ |title=General Gage's Informers |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1932 |ref=french1932 }}
* {{cite book |last=Frothingham |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu9BAAAAIAAJ |title=History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill: also an Account of the Bunker Hill Monument |publisher=Little, Brown, & Company |year=1903 |via=Google Books ebook |ref=Frothingham }}
<!-- G -->
* {{cite book |last=Gabriel |first=Michael P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xpx2CQAAQBAJ&q=mercenaries |title=The Battle of Bennington: Soldiers and Civilians |publisher=The History Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1609495152 |ref=gabriel2012 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gaff |first=Alan D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEI11WSV3WcC&q=Augustin |title=Bayonets in the Wilderness. Anthony Waynes Legion in the Old Northwest |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0806135854 |___location=Norman |ref=gaff }}
* {{Cite archive |author1=George III, his Britannic Majesty |author2=Commissioners of the United States of America |item=Preliminary Articles of Peace |date=30 November 1782 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/prel1782.asp |access-date=6 October 2020 |collection=18th Century; British-American Diplomacy |institution=Yale Law School Avalon Project |ref=geoIII1782 |quote=Nine articles}}
* {{Cite book |last=Glattharr |first=Joseph T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XedxagDKH7EC |title=Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution |publisher=Hill & Wang |year=2007 |isbn=978-0809046003 |ref=glatthaar }}
* {{Cite book |last=Golway |first=Terry |title=Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution |date=2005 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company, LLC |isbn=0805070664 |ref=golway2005}}
* {{Cite web |last=Goos |first=Norman |title=A Very Large British Military Investment for Very Little Practical Profit |url=https://www.sar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Battle-at-Chestnut-Neck-by-Norman-Goos.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.sar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Battle-at-Chestnut-Neck-by-Norman-Goos.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=5 December 2020 |website=Sons of the American Revolution |ref=goos }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=John W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYqYDMxOcc4C |title=South Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History |last2=Keegan |first2=John |year=2007 |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-1570034800 |ref=gordon }}
* {{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mUO8ulaX2PsC |title=The Battle of Yorktown, 1781: A Reassessment |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1843831372 |ref=grainger2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Francis Vinton |url=https://archive.org/details/generalgreene00greeuoft/page/n8/mode/2up |title=General Greene |publisher=New York : D. Appleton & Co. |year=1913 |ref=fgreene1913 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Jack P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xK1NuzpAcH8C |title=A Companion to the American Revolution |last2=Pole |first2=J.R. |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |year=2008 |isbn=978-0470756447 |quote=Collection of essays focused on political and social history. |ref=jgreene2008 |orig-year=2000 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Grenier |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGCin1JJp8cC&q=bird |title=The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1139444705 |ref=grenier }}
* {{Cite map |last1=Gutman |first1=Alejandro |last2=Avanzati |first2=Beatriz |title=Native North American Languages Distribution |url=http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Northmap.html |publisher=A. Gutman & B. Avanzati |date=2013 |access-date=3 September 2020 |ref=gutman }}
<!-- H -->
* {{cite journal |last=Harrington |first=Hugh T. |date=January 2013 |title=The strange oddessy of George Merchant |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/01/the-strange-odyssey-of-george-merchant-rifleman/ |journal=Journal of the American Revolution |ref=harrington2018 }}
* {{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Lowell Hayes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKsQ7yKYkaoC&q=Henry+Hamilton |title=George Rogers Clark and the War in the West |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2001 |isbn=978-0813190143 |ref=harrison2001 }}
* {{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMWSDwAAQBAJ |title=A Few Bloody Noses: The American Revolutionary War |date=2004 |publisher=Robinson |isbn=978-1841199528 |ref=Harvey2004 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hazard |first=Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-003-105/mode/2up |title=Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania |publisher=W.F. Geddes |year=1829 |volume=4 |ref=hazard54 }}
* {{cite book |last=Herring |first=George C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fODT-qOVoiIC |title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0199765539 |quote=Oxford History of the United States Book 12 |ref=herring2011 |orig-year=2008 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hibbert |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShQAtAEACAAJ |title=George III: A Personal History |publisher=Basic Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-0465027248 |ref=hibbert2000 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hibbert |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwGSAwAAQBAJ |title=Redcoats and Rebels |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2008 |isbn=978-1844156993 |ref=hibbert |author-mask=2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Higginbotham |first=Don |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGYqAAAAYAAJ |title=The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763–1789 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |year=1983 |isbn=0930350448 |ref=higginbotham1983 |author-link=Don Higginbotham |orig-year=1971 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Higginbotham |first=Don |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzZD0Wh99HEC |title=George Washington and the American Military Tradition |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0820324005 |ref=higginbotham1987 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwKoMgAACAAJ |title=Diplomacy and Revolution: The Franco-American Alliance of 1778 |date=1981 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0813908649 |ref=hoffman }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hogeland |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-hQDQAAQBAJ |title=Autumn of the Black Snake |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2017 |isbn=978-0374107345 |___location=New York |ref=hogeland2017 }}
* {{cite book |last=Horn |first=Pierre L. |title=Marquis de Lafayette |author-link= |publisher=New York : Chelsea House Publishers |year=1989 |isbn=978-1555468132 |url=https://archive.org/details/marquisdelafayet0000horn |ref=horn1989 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Howat |first=Kenna |date=9 November 2017 |title=Revolutionary Spies: Women Spies of the American Revolution |url=https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/trend-tradition-magazine/spring-2017/fighting-common-soldier/ |access-date=23 August 2019 |website=National Women's History Museum |ref=howat2017 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hubbard |first=Robert Ernest |title=Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2017 |isbn=978-1476664538 |___location=Jefferson, North Carolina |ref=hubbard2017}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hunt |first=Paula D. |date=June 2015 |title=Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere: The Making of a Revolutionary War Heroine |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=88 |issue=2 |pages=187–222 |doi=10.1162/tneq_a_00452 |issn=0028-4866 |ref=hunt2015 |s2cid=57569643|doi-access=free }}
<!-- I -->
* {{Cite book |last=Ingrao |first=Charles W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdXBnelX89YC&q=%22mercenary+state%22 |title=The Hessian Mercenary State: Ideas, Institutions, and Reform Under Frederick II, 1760–1785 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0521533225 |ref=ingrao2003 }}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Inman |first=George |date=1903 |title=Losses of the Military and Naval Forces Engaged in the War of the American Revolution |url=https://archive.org/stream/pennsylvaniamaga27hist#page/176/mode/1up |magazine=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=XXVII |issue=1 |pages=176–205 |quote=open access online at Internet Archive |ref=inman }}
<!-- J -->
* {{Cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Kenneth T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rI_S-HgFdccC |title=Empire City: New York Through the Centuries |last2=Dunbar |first2=David S. |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0231109093 |ref=jackson2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last=James |first=James Alton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoUUngEACAAJ |title=The Life of George Rogers Clark |publisher=Literary Licensing |year=2013 |isbn=978-1494118921 |ref=james2013 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jasanoff |first=Maya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGKsn09oVwQC |title=Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1400075478 |ref=jasanoff2012 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_5ZDwAAQBAJ |title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4: October 1780 to February 1781 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0691184692 |editor-last=Julian P. Boyd |ref=jefferson1780 |author-link=Thomas Jefferson }}
* {{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Henry Phelps |url=https://archive.org/details/battleofharlemhe00john_0/page/n10/mode/2up |title=The Battle of Harlem Heights |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1897 |ref=johnston1897 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFyLOUrdGFwC&q=crucible+of+power |title=Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations to 1913 |publisher=Scholarly Resources Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0842029162 |page=5 |ref=jones2002 }}
<!-- K -->
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3SDQgfxsCIC |title=A Necessary Evil?: Slavery and the Debate Over the Constitution |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1995 |isbn=978-0945612339 |editor-last=Kaminski |editor-first=John P. |ref=kaminski1995 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence S. |date=September 1983 |title=The Treaty of Paris, 1783: A Historiographical Challenge |journal=International History Review |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |volume=5 |pages=431–442 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1983.9640322 |jstor=40105317 |ref=lskaplan1983 |number=3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Katcher |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ld2AAAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of British, Provincial, and German Army Units, 1775–1783 |date=1973 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0811705424 |ref=katcher }}
* {{cite CE1913|wstitle=Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau |volume= 13 |last= Keiley |first= Jarvis|ref=keiley1912 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wMaAQAAIAAJ |title=Jamestown, Quebec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings |last2=Smith |first2=Barbara Clark |date=2007 |publisher=Smithsonian |isbn=978-1588342416 |ref=kelly }}
* {{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Frances H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTSTAwAAQBAJ |title=The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook |publisher=Oxford UP |year=2014 |isbn=978-0199324224 |page=163 |ref=kennedy2014 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Richard M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWf2AwAAQBAJ |title=The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton |publisher=Henry Holt and Company (reprint of 1973) |year=2014 |isbn=978-1466879515 |ref=ketchum73 |author-link=Richard M. Ketchum |orig-year=1973 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Richard M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w00MBAAAQBAJ |title=Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War |publisher=Macmillan |year=1997 |isbn=978-0805046816 |ref=ketchum97 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Robert M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGf2AwAAQBAJ&q=frontal |title=Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2014 |isbn=978-1466879508 |ref=ketchum2014a |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Richard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CwEDBAAAQBAJ&q=6,000 |title=Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2014 |isbn=978-1466879539 |ref=ketchum2014b |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Kolchin |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3nMRwAACAAJ |title=American Slavery: 1619–1877 |publisher=New York: Hill and Wang |year=1994 |isbn=978-0809015542 |ref=kolchin1994 }}, p. 73
* {{Cite book |last=Knesebeck |first=Ernst von dem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNF3DgAAQBAJ&q=Hanover |title=Geschichte der kurhannoverschen Truppen: in Gibraltar, Menorca und Ostindien |publisher=Im Verlage der Helwingschen Hof-Buchhandlung |year=2017 |isbn=978-9925057382 |ref=ernst |orig-year=1845 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Kupperman |first=Karen Ordahl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIp7_e8KMJ0C |title=The Jamestown Project |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0674027022 |ref=kupperman }}
<!-- L -->
* {{Cite book |last1=Lanctot |first1=Gustave |title=Canada and the American Revolution 1774–1783 |translator-last=Cameron|translator-first= Margaret M|publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1967|oclc=70781264 |ref=lanctot}}
* {{Cite book |last=Landrum |first=John Belton O'Neall |url=https://archive.org/details/colonialandrevo00landgoog |title=Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina |publisher=Shannon |year=1897 |___location=Greenville, SC |oclc=187392639 |ref=landrum1897 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lanning |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GEs53wMr7EC&pg=PA193 |title=American Revolution 100: The Battles, People, and Events of the American War for Independence, Ranked by Their Significance |publisher=Sourcebooks |year=2009 |isbn=978-1402241703 |pages=195–196 |ref=lanning2009 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lanning |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQ-uPQAACAAJ |title=Defenders Of Liberty: African Americans in the Revolutionary War |publisher=Citadel Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1559725132 |ref=lanning2012 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lass |first=William |title=Minnesota's Boundary with Canada: Its Evolution Since 1783|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0873511537}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lecky |first=William Edward Hartpole |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofengland03leck/page/n6/mode/2up |title=A History of England in the Eighteenth Century |publisher=London: Longmans, Green |year=1892 |volume=3 |ref=lecky3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lecky |first=William Edward Hartpole |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3cUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA70 |title=A History of England |year=1891 |volume=4 |pages=70–78 |ref=lecky4 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lefkowitz |first=Arthur S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCcRAQAAMAAJ |title=Benedict Arnold's Army: The 1775 American Invasion of Canada during the Revolutionary War |publisher=Savas Beatie |year=2007 |isbn=978-1932714036 |ref=lefkowitz2007 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lengel |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yHTGAAAACAAJ |title=General George Washington |publisher=Random House Paperbacks |year=2005 |isbn=978-0812969504 |___location=New York |ref=lengel2005 |author-link=Edward G. Lengel }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lockhart |first=Paul Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iq8KX4VOgJEC |title=The Drillmaster at Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army |date=2010 |publisher=Harper Perennial |isbn=978-0061451645 |ref=lockhart }}
* {{Cite archive |author1=Louis XVI, his most Christian King |author2=Commissioners of the United States of America |item=Treaty of Alliance |date=6 February 1778|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fr1788-2.asp |collection=18th Century |institution=Yale Law School Avalon Project |ref=louisXVI1778b |quote=Thirteen articles}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lowell |first=Edward Jackson |url=https://archive.org/details/hessiansotherger00lowe/page/n4/mode/2up |title=The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war |publisher=Harper & Brothers. |year=1884 |___location=New York |ref=lowell84 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lowenthal |first=Larry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPEQAQAAMAAJ |title=Hell on the East River: British Prison Ships in the American Revolution |publisher=Purple Mountain Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0916346768 |ref=lowenthal2009 }}
<!-- M -->
* {{Cite book |last=Mackesy |first=Piers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKJ2AAAAMAAJ |title=The War for America: 1775–1783 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0803281929 |ref=mackesy93 |orig-year=1964 }}– Highly regarded examination of British strategy and leadership. An introduction by John W. Shy with his biographical sketch of Mackesy.
* {{Cite book |last=Mahan |first=Alfred Thayer |url=https://archive.org/details/seanpowerinf00maha/page/n6/mode/2up |title=The influence of sea power upon history, 1660–1783 |publisher=Boston : Little, Brown and Company |year=1890 |ref=mahan1890 |author-link=Alfred Thayer Mahan }}
* {{Cite book |last=Mahan |first=Alfred T. |url=https://archive.org/details/majoroperationso00maha |title=Major Operations of the Royal Navy, 1762–1783: Being Chapter XXXI in The Royal Navy. A History |publisher=Little, Brown |year=1898 |___location=Boston |oclc=46778589 |ref=mahan1898 |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Mahan |first=Alfred Thayer |url=https://archive.org/details/majoroperationso1913maha |title=The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=2020 |isbn=978-0486842103 |ref=mahan2020 |author-mask=2 |orig-year=1913 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Maier |first=Pauline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvsCEY5oI8sC |title=American scripture: making the Declaration of Independence |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-0679779087 |ref=maier1998 |author-link=Pauline Maier }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mauch |first=Christof |date=Winter 1998 |title=Images of America—Political Myths—Historiography: "Hessians" in the War of Independence |journal=Amerikastudien / American Studies |publisher=Universitätsverlag WINTER Gmbh |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=411–423 |jstor=41157873 |ref=mauch2003}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mays |first=Terry M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e35_DwAAQBAJ |title=Historical Dictionary of the American Revolution |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2016 |isbn=978-1538119723 |ref=mays2019 }}
* {{Cite book |last=McCrady |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsouthca00mccr |title=The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775–1780 |publisher=New York, The Macmillan Company; London, Macmillan & Co., ltd. |year=1901 |ref=mccrady1775 }}
* {{Cite book |last=McCullough |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uu1mC6zWNTwC |title=1776 |publisher=New York: Simon & Schuster |year=2005 |isbn=978-0743287708 |ref=mccullough2005 |author-link=David McCullough }}
* {{Cite book |last=McGeorge |first=Wallace |url=https://archive.org/details/battleofredbankr00mcge |title=The battle of Red Bank, resulting in the defeat of the Hessians and the destruction of the British frigate Augusta, Oct. 22 and 23, 1777 |publisher=Camden, New Jersey, Sinnickson Chew, printers |year=1905 |ref=mcgeorge1905 }}
* {{Cite book |last=McGuire |first=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsNi7Byog6kC&pg=PA166 |title=Stop the Revolution: America in the Summer of Independence and the Conference for Peace |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-0811745086 |ref=mcguire2011 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Middlekauff |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nya0ODz-B-cC |title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0199740925 |ref=middlekauff1982 |author-link=Robert Middlekauff |orig-year=1982 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Middleton |first=Richard |date=2014 |title=Naval Resources and the British Defeat at Yorktown, 1781 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00253359.2014.866373 |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=29–43 |doi=10.1080/00253359.2014.866373 |ref=middleton2014 |s2cid=154569534 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huu6xgEACAAJ |title=Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America: 1776–1818 (Documents 1–40) |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1931 |editor-last=Miller, Hunter |volume=II |ref=miller1931 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=John C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlmrAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA410 |title=Origins of the American Revolution |publisher=Stanford UP |year=1959 |isbn=978-0804705936 |ref=miller1959 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Barbara A. |date=Autumn 2012 |title=America's Spanish Savior: Bernardo de Gálvez |url=http://www.historynet.com/americas-spanish-savior-bernardo-de-galvez.htm |journal=MHQ (Military History Quarterly) |pages=98–104 |ref=mitchell2012 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Montero |first=Francisco Maria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHRmkdBONd0C |title=Historia de Gibraltar y de su campo |publisher=Imprenta de la Revista Médica |year=1860 |page=356 |language=es |ref=montero }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Edmund S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QC1dtQAACAAJ |title=The Birth of the Republic: 1763–1789 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0226923420 |edition=4th |quote=foreword by Joseph Ellis |ref=morgan2012 |orig-year=1956 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morley |first=Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iBrJz9XYzNgC&pg=PA154 |title=Irish Opinion and the American Revolution, 1760–1783 |publisher=Cambridge UP |year=2002 |isbn=978-1139434560 |ref=morley2002 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morrill |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXh2AAAAMAAJ |title=Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution |publisher=Nautical & Aviation Publishing |year=1993 |isbn=978-1877853210 |ref=morrill }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Richard B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sXbxwEACAAJ |title=The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence |year=1983 |isbn=978-1299106598 |ref=morris1965 |orig-year=1965 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUV2AAAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of American History |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1982 |isbn=978-0061816055 |editor-last=Morris |editor-first=Richard B. |edition=6th |quote=with Henry Steele Commager as chief consulting editor |ref=Morris1982 |editor2-last=Morris |editor2-first=Jeffrey B. }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morrissey |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eR9WvgAACAAJ |title=Yorktown 1781: The World Turned Upside Down |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=1997 |isbn=978-1855326880 |ref=morrissey1997 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Mulhall |first=Michael G. |url=https://archive.org/details/newdictionaryofs00webb |title=Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics |publisher=George Boutleddge and Sons, London |year=1884 |ref=mulhall |orig-year=1884 }}
<!-- N -->
* {{Cite book |last1=Namier |first1=Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Taw7DVGrbRcC&pg=RA1-PA246 |title=The House of Commons 1754–1790 |last2=Brooke |first2=John |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=1985 |isbn=978-04363-0420-0 |ref=namier1985 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Nash |first=Gary B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOURDAAAQBAJ |title=Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199746705 |editor-last=Gray |editor-first=Edward G. |pages=250–270 |chapter=Chapter: The African Americans Revolution |quote=Oxford Handbooks |ref=nash2012 |editor2-last=Kamensky |editor2-first=Jane }}
* {{Cite book |last=Nash |first=Gary |title=The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America |date=2005 |publisher=Viking Books |isbn=978-0670034208 |ref=nash2005}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Larry L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1KekDaaKKAC |title=A Man of Distinction among Them: Alexander McKee and the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754–1799 |publisher=Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0873387002 |ref=nelson1999 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Nester |first=William R. |title=The Frontier War for American Independence |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-0811700771 |ref=nester2004}}
<!-- O -->
* {{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Greg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGFmNPevedUC&pg=PA123 |title=Pre-removal Choctaw history: exploring new paths |year=2008 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0806139166 |ref=o'brien2008 |access-date=March 25, 2011 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Alison G |date=1992 |title=Eighteenth-Century Colonial Legislatures and Their Constituents |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=543–567 |doi=10.2307/2080046 |jstor=2080046 |ref=olsen1992}}
* {{Cite book |last=Otfinoski |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqAaRdNGCYIC |title=The New Republic |date=2008 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0761429388 |ref=otfinoski }}
* {{Cite journal |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew Jackson |date=Spring 2004 |title=If Others Will Not Be Active, I Must Drive": George III and the American Revolution |journal=Early American Studies |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–46 |doi=10.1353/eam.2007.0037 |jstor=23546502 |ref=oshaughnessy2004 |s2cid=143613757}}
* {{Cite book |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFc-UCp6ZQsC |title=The Men Who Lost America |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0300191073 |ref=nessy |author-mask=2 }}
<!-- P -->
* {{Cite book |last=Paine |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8xNAMDp9NasC |title=Common Sense |publisher=Penguin Classics |year=1982 |isbn=978-0140390162 |editor-last=Kramnick, Isaac |ref=kramnick82 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Pancake |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/thisdestructivew00panc |title=This Destructive War |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0817301910 |ref=pancake1985 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Dave Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zANrP6rOOJkC |title=George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2010 |isbn=978-1596981645 |ref=palmer2010 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Pares |first=Richard |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001314334 |title=War and Trade in the West Indies, 1739–1763 |date=1963 |publisher=F. Cass Press |quote=online at Hathi Trust |ref=pares |orig-year=1936 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Paterson |first=Thomas G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-alDgRk-IYC&pg=PA13 |title=American Foreign Relations, Volume 1: A History to 1920 |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2009 |isbn=978-0547225647 |pages=13–15 |ref=paterson2009 |display-authors=etal }}
* {{Cite book |last=Paullin |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/navyamericanrev01paulgoog |title=The navy of the American Revolution: its administration, its policy and its achievements Oscar |publisher=The Burrows Brothers Co |year=1906 |quote=paullin massachusetts navy. |ref=paullin }}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Pearson |first=Jesse T |title=The Failure of British Strategy during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, 1780–81 |publisher=Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a437052.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228062141/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a437052.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |year=2005 |type=Thesis |ref=pearson2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Peckham |first=Howard Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khuuQgAACAAJ |title=The Toll of Independence: Engagements & Battle Casualties of the American Revolution |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1974 |isbn=978-0226653181 |ref=peckham74 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=Merrill D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcOXEb0O4-UC |title=Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-0195019094 |ref=peterson1975 |orig-year=1970 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Philbrick |first=Nathaniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZ1iCgAAQBAJ |title=Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-0698153233 |ref=philbrick2016 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Piecuch |first=Jim |date=October 2004 |title=Massacre or Myth? Banastre Tarleton at the Waxhaws, May 29, 1780 |url=http://www.southerncampaign.org/newsletter/v1n2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.southerncampaign.org/newsletter/v1n2.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution |volume=1 |issue=2 |ref=piecuch2004 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Pybus |first=Cassandra |year=2005 |title=Jefferson's Faulty Math: The Question of Slave Defections in the American Revolution |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=243–264 |doi=10.2307/3491601 |jstor=3491601 |ref=pybus2005}}
<!-- R -->
* {{Cite book |last=Raab |first=James W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCc8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135 |title=Spain, Britain and the American Revolution in Florida, 1763–1783 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0786432134 |page=135 |publisher=McFarland |ref=raab }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Randall |first=Willard Sterne |date=Summer 1990 |title=Benedict Arnold at Quebec |url=http://www.aferguson.net/mhq/default.asp?year=1990&vol=2&issue=4 |journal=MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History |volume=2 |issue=40 |pages=38–39 |access-date=March 31, 2020 |ref=randall'mhq |archive-date=September 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923095400/http://www.aferguson.net/mhq/default.asp?year=1990&vol=2&issue=4 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rankin |first=Hugh F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJIqTB0B_7kC |title=Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those who Fought and Lived it |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-03068-03079 |ref=rankin }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rankin |first=Hugh F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GV_MCQAAQBAJ |title=The North Carolina Continentals |year=2011 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-1258093402 |editor-last=Memory F. Blackwelder |ref=rankin |author-mask=2 |orig-year=1996 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rappleye |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/robertm_rap_2010_00_1148 |title=Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution |date=2010 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1416570912 |ref=Rappleye2010 |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Reeve |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3k9_AgAAQBAJ |title=Strategy in the American War of Independence: A Global Approach |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=978-1134210398 |editor-last=Hagan |editor-first=Kenneth J. |chapter=British Naval Strategy: War on a Global Scale |ref=reeve |editor2-last=McMaster |editor2-first=Michael T. |editor3-last=Stoker |editor3-first=Donald }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Reid |first=Darren R. |date=June 19, 2017 |title=Anti-Indian Radicalisation in the Early American West, 1774–1795 |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2017/06/anti-indian-radicalisation-early-american-west-1774-1795 |journal=Journal of the American Revolution |ref=reidD2017 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Reid |first=John Phillip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4zyARfDVpUC |title=The Authority to Tax: Constitutional History of the American Revolution |date=1987 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0299112905 |ref=reidJ1987 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Renaut |first=Francis P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZQFAQAAIAAJ |title=Le Pacte de famille et l'Amérique: La politique coloniale franco-espagnole de 1760 à 1792 |year=1922 |___location=Paris |publisher=Leroux|ref=renaut1922 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=William R. Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2dK4A8bpxEYC&q=Augusta |title=Andrew Pickens: South Carolina Patriot in the Revolutionary War |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2012 |isbn=978-0786466948 |___location=Jefferson, NC |ref=reynolds2012 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Rignault |first1=Daniel P. |url=https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101659674-bk |title=The History of the French Military Medical Corps |translator-last=DeBakey |translator-first=Michael E. |publisher=Ministère de la défense, Service de santé des armées |year=2004 |id=NLM 101659674 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Rinaldi |first=Richard A. |title=The British Army 1775–1783 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/30059083/the-british-army-1775-1783-richard-a-rinaldi-orders-of-battle |access-date=September 23, 2013 |publisher=Yumpu |ref=rinaldi |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817011751/https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/30059083/the-british-army-1775-1783-richard-a-rinaldi-orders-of-battle |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite book |last=Risch |first=Erna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfpt2Wjzcw4C |title=Supplying Washington's Army |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |year=1981 |ref=risch1981 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ritcheson |first=Charles R. |year=1973 |title="Loyalist Influence" on British Policy Toward the United States After the American Revolution |journal=Eighteenth-Century Studies |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.2307/3031609 |jstor=3031609 |ref=ritcheson}}
* Robinson Library {{Cite web |title=Battle of Monmouth Courthouse |url=http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/unitedstates/1775/campaigns/monmouth.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213042627/http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/unitedstates/1775/campaigns/monmouth.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 13, 2012 |access-date=June 20, 2017 |website=Robinson Library |publisher=Self-published |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rose |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4lUeuo-UI8C |title=Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring |publisher=Bantam Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-0553392593 |ref=alexrose |orig-year=2006 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rose |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUWSAAAAQBAJ |title=Washington's War: From Independence To Iraq |publisher=Orion Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-1780227108 |ref=rose2013 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rossman |first=Vadim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3djDQAAQBAJ |title=Capital Cities: Varieties and Patterns of Development and Relocation |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1317562856 |ref=rosssman2016 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Russell |first=David Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DFy0eWaPxIC&pg=PA72 |title=The American Revolution in the Southern colonies |publisher=McFarland |year=2000 |isbn=978-0786407835 |___location=Jefferson, NC |oclc=248087936 |ref=russell }}
<!-- S -->
* {{Cite book |last1=Savas |first1=Theodore P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRRSfy7eVoIC |title=A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution |last2=Dameron |first2=J. David |publisher=Savas Beatie LLC |year=2006 |isbn=978-1611210118 |ref=savas2006 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Scheer |first1=George F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WC2vugAACAAJ |title=Rebels and Redcoats |last2=Rankin |first2=Hugh F. |publisher=New American library |year=1959 |asin=B000ZLZW9I |ref=scheer1959 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Schecter |first=Barnet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LRhOpZid40C |title=The Battle for New York: The city at the heart of the American Revolution |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0142003336 |ref=schecter }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=H. D. |date=1958 |title='The Hessian mercenaries: the career of a political cliche |journal=History |publisher=Wiley |volume=43 |issue=149 |pages=207–212 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1958.tb02208.x |jstor=24404012 |ref=schmidt1958}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Hamish M |date=1988 |title=Sir Joseph Yorke, Dutch Politics and the Origins of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=571–589 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00023499 |jstor=2639757 |s2cid=154619712 |ref=scott1988}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Hamish M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kndnAAAAMAAJ |title=British Foreign Policy in the Age of the American Revolution |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0198201953 |ref=scott1990 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Showalter |first=Dennis |year=2007 |title=Hessians: The Best Armies Money Could Buy |url=https://www.historynet.com/hessians-the-best-armies-money-could-buy.htm |access-date=October 3, 2020 |publisher=Military History Magazine/HistoryNet |ref=showalter2007 }}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Schwamenfeld |first=Steven W. |title="The Foundation of British Strength": National Identity and the British Common Soldier |publisher=Florida State University |url=https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu:176453/datastream/PDF/view |year=2007 |type=PHD |ref=schwamenfeld2007 }}
* {{cite book |last=Seineke |first=Kathrine Wagner |title=George Rogers Clark: Adventure in the Illinois and Selected Documents of the American Revolution at the Frontier Posts |publisher=Polyanthos |year=1981 |isbn=9992016531 |ref=seineke1981}}
* {{Cite book |last=Selby |first=John E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfCBYZs_jIMC |title=The Revolution in Virginia, 1775–1783 |publisher=Colonial Williamsburg |year=2007 |isbn=978-0879352332 |ref=selby2007 }}
* {{cite book|last=Simmons|first=Edwin Howard|author-link=Edwin H. Simmons|title=The United States Marines: A History|edition=4th|publisher=[[United States Naval Institute|Naval Institute Press]]|year=2003|___location=[[Annapolis, Maryland]]|isbn=1591147905|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmari0000simm_r8b9|ref=simmons2003}}
* {{Cite book |last=Simms |first=Brendan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izhwqC3W23UC |title=Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |year=2009 |isbn=978-0140289848 |ref=simms }}
* {{Cite book |last=Skaggs |first=David Curtis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1niaAAAAIAAJ |title=The Old Northwest in the American Revolution: An Anthology |publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin |year=1977 |isbn=978-0870201646 |ref=skaggs1977 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlMa-Krnxl8C&pg=PA21 |title=New York 1776: The Continentals' First Battle |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2012 |isbn=978-1782004431 |ref=smithD2012 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Justin Harvey |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Ls9BAAAAIAAJ |title=Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony: Canada and the American Revolution |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |year=1907 |volume=1 |___location=New York & London |ref=smithJ1907a }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Justin Harvey |url=https://archive.org/details/ourstruggleforf03smitgoog |title=Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony: Canada and the American Revolution |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |year=1907 |volume=1 |___location=New York & London |ref=smithJ1907b |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Franklin |first1=Benjamin |url=https://archive.org/details/diplomaticcorres01sparuoft/page/n7/mode/2up/search/Portugal |title=The diplomatic correspondence of the American Revolution |last2=Lee |first2=Arthur |last3=Adams |first3=John |publisher=Boston: Hale, Gray & Bowen |year=1829 |editor-last=Sparks |editor-first=Jared |volume=1 |ref=sparks1829 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=George |url=https://archive.org/details/canadainvaded17700stan |title=Canada Invaded 1775–1776 |publisher=Hakkert |year=1973 |isbn=978-0888665782 |___location=Toronto |oclc=4807930 |ref=stanley |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stedman |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010928733/page/n6/mode/2up |title=The history of the origin, progress, and termination of the American war |publisher=Dublin : Printed for Messrs. P. Wogan, P. Byrne, J. Moore, and W. Jones |year=1794 |volume=1 |ref=stedman1 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnat02stepuoft/page/64/mode/2up?q=Aruthnot |title=Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Macmillan |year=1885–1900 |editor-last=Stephen, Leslie |volume=2 |___location=New York |ref=stephen1885 |editor2-last=Lee, Sidney }}
* {{Cite book |url=http://history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch04.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214152829/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch04.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2007 |title=American Military History Volume 1 The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775–1917 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |year=2005 |isbn=0160723620 |editor-last=Stewart, Richard W. |volume=4 |___location=Washington, D.C. |ref=stewartR }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stockley |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHoaiPKTKvwC |title=Britain and France at the Birth of America: The European Powers and the Peace Negotiations of 1782–1783 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0859896153 |ref=stockley2001 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Bailey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAZAhYVJwlUC |title=The Genesis of the French Revolution: A Global Historical Interpretation |year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521445702 |ref=stone1994 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Syrett |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/royalnavyineurop00syre |title=The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-1570032387 |ref=syrett1998 |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last=Stryker |first=William Scudder |title=The Battles of Trenton and Princeton |volume= |author-link= |publisher=Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Company |year=1898 |url=https://archive.org/details/battlesoftrenton00stry/page/n9/mode/2up |ref=stryker1898 }}
<!-- T -->
* {{Cite book |last=Taafe |first=Stephen R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LlN2AAAAMAAJ |title=The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777–1778 |date=2003 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0700612673 |ref=taffe }}
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Alan |title=[[American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804]] |publisher=WW Norton & Company |year=2016 |isbn=978-0393253870 |ref=taylor2016 |author-link=Alan Taylor (historian) }}
* {{Cite book |last=Tellier |first=L.-N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC |title=Urban World History: an Economic and Geographical Perspective |___location=Quebec |publisher=PUQ |year=2009 |isbn=978-2760522091 |ref=tellier2009 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Molly |date=November 9, 2017 |title=The Last Naval Battle of the American Revolution |url=https://myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/article/184 |access-date=October 2, 2020 |publisher=Florida Frontiers Article, The Florida Historical Society |ref=thomas2017 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Tolson |first=Jay |date=27 June 2008 |title=How George Washington's Savvy Won the Day:Despite his share of errors, the commander in chief prevailed as a strategist and a politician |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/06/27/how-george-washingtons-savvy-won-the-day?context=amp |access-date=29 September 2020 |ref=tolson }}
* {{Cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=George Otto |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hw20mv&view=1up&seq=7 |title=George the Third and Charles Fox: the concluding part of The American revolution |date=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |quote=Archived online at HathiTrust.org |ref=trevelyan1912a |author-link=Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet }}
* {{Cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=George Otto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ggRIvlX3hAC |title=History of the American Revolution |date=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |volume=IV |ref=trevelyan1912b |author-mask=2 |author-link=Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet }}
* {{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZUx6QnUxxQC&pg=PA22 |title=Washington Crossing the Delaware |date=March 1, 2002 |publisher=Lorenz Educational Press |isbn=978-0787785642 |pages=22–23 |ref=tucker2002 }}
<!-- U -->
* {{Cite web |last=U.S. Census Bureau |date=September 1975 |title=Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970; Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics |url=https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1975/compendia/hist_stats_colonial-1970.html |quote=Bicentennial Edition |ref=uscb1975 }}
* {{Cite web |last=U.S. Central Intelligence Agency |date=5 December 2007 |title=An Overview of American Intelligence Until World War II |url=https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/overview-of-american-intelligence.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311225710/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/overview-of-american-intelligence.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2008 |website=US Central Intelligence Agency |quote=Featured Story Archive, Historical Document |ref=revamintel }}
* {{Cite archive |author1=U.S. Congress |author 2=Tribes Northwest of the Ohio River: Wyandots, Delawares, etc. |item=Treaty of Greenville 1795 |date=3 August 1795 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/greenvil.asp |collection=Document Collection: 18th Century, 1700–1799 |institution=Yale Law School Avalon Project |ref=USCon1795 |quote=Ten articles in the treaty, and fifteen tribal signatories for sixteen tribes.}}
* {{Cite archive |author=U.S. Military Academy History Department |item= Principal Campaigns of the War, 1775–1783 |item-url =https://www.westpoint.edu/sites/default/files/inline-images/academics/academic_departments/history/Am%20Rev/01ARPrincipalCampaigns.pdf |type =map |date = |series= Campaign Atlases of the United States Army |collection = The American Revolutionary War |collection-url= https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/atlases
|institution = United States Military Academy, History Department |___location = West Point, New York |accession=20 October 2020 |ref=arwcampaigns}}
<!-- V -->
* {{Cite journal |last=Vale |first=Brian |date=22 March 2013 |title=The Conquest of Scurvy in the Royal Navy 1793–1800: A Challenge to Current Orthodoxy |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00253359.2008.10657052 |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |volume=94, 2008 |issue=2 |pages=160–175 |doi=10.1080/00253359.2008.10657052 |ref=vale2013 |s2cid=162207993 |url-access=subscription }}
<!-- W -->
* {{Cite book |last=Walker |first=James W. St. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMY79c675JsC |title=The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783–1870 |year=1992 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0802074027 |ref=walker1992 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Willard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y192AAAAMAAJ |title=Traitorous Hero: The Life and Fortunes of Benedict Arnold |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1954 |isbn=978-1199083234 |___location=New York |ref=wallace54 |author-link=Willard M. Wallace }}
* {{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=Willard M. |last2=Ray |first2=Michael |author-mask=2 |date=21 September 2015 |title=American Revolution |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution |access-date=24 August 2020 |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |quote=American Revolution, (1775–83), insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. |ref=wallaceray2015 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Ward |first1=A.W. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107358/page/n503/mode/2up?q=Van+Tyne |title=Cambridge Modern History, vol.6 (18th Century) |last2=Prothero |first2=G.W. |publisher=University of Oxford, The University Press |year=1925 |quote=Digital Library of India Item 2015.107358 |ref=wardA1925 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ut5DCgAAQBAJ |title=The War of the Revolution (2 volumes) |publisher=Macmillan |___location=New York|orig-year=1952 |year=2010 |isbn=978-1616080808 |quote=History of land battles in North America |ref=ward1952 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Harry M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgqa4_OBcIkC&pg=PA198 |title=The war for independence and the transformation of American society |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-1857286564 |ref=wardH1999 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Washington |first=George |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293023046711&view=1up&seq=190&q1=small%20pox |title=The Writings of George Washington: from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |year=1932 |editor1-last=Fitzpatrick |editor1-first=John C. |volume=7 January 13, 1777 – April 30, 1777 |___location=Washington, D.C. |quote=George Washington Bicentennial Edition in 35 volumes |ref=washington1932 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Watson |first1=J. Steven |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22810670 |title=The Reign of George III, 1760–1815 |last2=Clark |first2=Sir George |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1960 |isbn=978-0198217138 |ref=watsonclark |access-date=August 24, 2017 |archive-date=May 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524163653/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22810670 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=William |title=The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations: Volume 1 |orig-year=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107536227 |year=2015 |ref=weeks2013}}
* {{Cite book |last=Weigley |first=Russell F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77wNLMJn8CEC |title=The American Way of War |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0253280299 |ref=weigley1977 }}
* {{Cite web |last=White |first=Matthew |year=2010 |title=Spanish casualties in The American Revolutionary war |url=http://necrometrics.com/wars18c.htm#AmRev |publisher=Necrometrics |ref=white2020 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Whiteley |first=Peter |title=Lord North: The Prime Minister Who Lost America |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |year=1996 |isbn=978-1852851453 |ref=whiteley1996}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=David K |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2GrR0Eyh-4C |title=The Southern Strategy: Britain's Conquest of South Carolina and Georgia, 1775–1780 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1570035739 |___location=Columbia, SC |oclc=232001108 |ref=wilson2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Winfield |first=Rif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJCCAwAAQBAJ |title=British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1714–1792 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-1844157006 |ref=winfield2007 }} (See also:[[British Warships in the Age of Sail]])
* {{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lGinKwz7l8C |title='The Radicalism of the American Revolution |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf, New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-0307758965 |ref=wood1992 |author-link=Gordon S. Wood }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxgcDgAAQBAJ |title=Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson |publisher=Penguin Press, New York |year=2017 |isbn=978-0735224711 |ref=wood2017 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wood |first=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ims9O7z2zc0C |title=Battles of the Revolutionary War, 1775–1781 |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0306806179 |ref=wood1995 |orig-year=1995 }}
<!-- Y -->
* {{Cite web |last=Yaniz |first=Jose I. |date=2009 |title=The Role of Spain in the American Revolution: An Unavoidable Mistake |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a519344.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924021946/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a519344.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=September 24, 2020 |publisher=Marine Corps University |ref=yaniz }}
<!-- Z -->
<!--Websites without authors-->
* {{Cite web |last=Franklin |first=Bruce H |access-date=30 November 2015 |title=Which Side Benefitted the Most from the Native Americans |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/11/which-side-benefited-the-most-from-the-native-americans/ |website=Journal of the American Revolution |date=November 30, 2015 |ref=jareditors2025 }}
* Canada's Digital Collections Program {{Cite web |title=The Philipsburg Proclamation |url=http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/revolution/philipsburg.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117055926/http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/revolution/philipsburg.htm |archive-date=November 17, 2007 |access-date=1 November 2020 |website=Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People |publisher=Canada's Digital Collections Program |ref=blackcancol |place=Industry Canada }}
* History.org {{Cite web |last=Aron |first=Paul |year=2020 |orig-year=2005 |title=Women's Service with the Revolutionary Army : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site |url=http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/nov08/women_revarmy.cfm |access-date=October 2, 2020 |publisher=The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation |ref=womens2009 |archive-date=August 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801064318/http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/nov08/women_revarmy.cfm |url-status=dead }}
* Maryland State House {{Cite web |year=2007 |title="The Road to Peace, A Chronology: 1779–1784 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdstatehouse/html/road_peace.html |access-date=June 3, 2020 |publisher=William L. Clements Library / The Maryland State House |ref=clements2007 }}
* The History Place {{Cite web |title=An Unlikely Victory 1777–1783 |url=https://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/revwar-77.htm |access-date=16 September 2020 |website=The History Place |quote=American Revolution timeline |ref=unlikelyvictory }}
* Totallyhistory.com {{Cite web |year=2012 |title=Red Coats |url=http://totallyhistory.com/red-coats/ |access-date=March 23, 2020 |publisher=Totallyhistory.com |ref=redcoats2012 }}
* U.S. Merchant Marine {{Cite web |year=2012 |title=Privateers and Mariners in the Revolutionary War |url=http://www.usmm.org/revolution.html |access-date=May 25, 2017 |publisher=U.S. Merchant Marine |ref=usmm2012 }}
* U.S. National Archives {{Cite web |year=1783 |title=Continental Congress: Remarks on the Provisional Peace Treaty |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0186#ARHN-01-03-02-0186-fn-0001 |access-date=July 15, 2020 |publisher=U.S. National Archives |ref=national }}
* Valley Forge National Historic Park {{Cite web |date=12 August 2019 |orig-year=2007 |title=Overview of History and Significance of Valley Forge |url=https://www.nps.gov/vafo/learn/historyculture/valley-forge-history-and-significance.htm |website=Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania |ref=vafo.nhp }}
* Yale Law School, Massachusetts Act {{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Great Britain : Parliament – The Massachusetts Government Act; May 20, 1774 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/mass_gov_act.asp |publisher=Yale Law School: The Avalon Project |ref=yale'mga }}
{{Refend}}
==Further reading==
<!-- Deny Citation Bot-->
{{Main|Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War|Bibliography of George Washington}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Allison, David, and Larrie D. Ferreiro, eds. ''The American Revolution: A World War'' (Smithsonian, 2018) [https://www.amazon.com/American-Revolution-World-War/dp/1588346331/ excerpt]
* Bobrick, Benson. ''Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution''. Penguin, 1998 (paperback reprint)
* [[H. W. Brands|Brands, H. W.]] ''Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution''. New York: Anchor Books 2022. {{ISBN|978-0-593-08256-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=British Army |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001658143 |title=Proceedings of a Board of general officers of the British army at New York, 1781 |series=New-York Historical Society. Collections. The John Watts de Peyster publication fund series, no. 49 |date=1916 |publisher=New York Historical Society |quote=The board of inquiry was convened by Sir Henry Clinton into Army accounts and expenditures |ref=none |orig-year=7 August 1781 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Burgoyne |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/stateofexpeditio00burg |title=A state of the expedition from Canada : as laid before the House of commons |publisher=London : Printed for J. Almon |year=1780 |ref=none |author-link=John Burgoyne }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Butterfield |first=Lyman H. |date=June 1950 |title=Psychological Warfare in 1776: The Jefferson-Franklin Plan to Cause Hessian Desertions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3143556 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |publisher=American Philosophical Society |volume=94 |pages=233–241 |jstor=3143556 |ref=none |number=3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Cate |first=Alan C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l24SiYu1AjgC |title=Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=0275987078 |ref=name }}
* {{Cite book |last=Caughey |first=John W. |title=Bernardo de Gálvez in Louisiana 1776–1783 |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |year=1998 |isbn=978-1565545175 |___location=Gretna |ref=none}}
* Chartrand, Rene. ''The French Army in the American War of Independence'' (1994). Short (48 pp), very well illustrated descriptions.
* {{Cite book |last1=Christie |first1=Ian R. |title=Empire or independence, 1760–1776 |last2=Labaree |first2=Benjamin W. |publisher=Phaidon Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0714816142 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Clarfield |first=Gerard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-OhkgEACAAJ |title=United States Diplomatic History: From Revolution to Empire |publisher=Prentice-Hall |year=1992 |isbn=978-0130292322 |___location=New Jersey |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Clode |first=Charles M. |url=https://archive.org/details/militaryforcesc00clodgoog/page/n7/mode/2up |title=The military forces of the crown; their administration and government |publisher=London, J. Murray |year=1869 |volume=2 |ref=none }}
* [[Henry Steele Commager|Commager, Henry Steele]] and [[Richard B. Morris]], eds. ''The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six': The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants''. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.234145 online]
* {{Cite journal |last=Davies |first=Wallace Evan |date=July 1939 |title=Privateering around Long Island during the Revolution |journal=New York History |publisher=Fenimore Art Museum |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=283–294 |jstor=23134696 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Downes |first=Randolph C. |url=https://www.amazon.com/Council-Fires-Upper-Ohio-Narrative/dp/B07GH35VCG |title=Council Fires on the Upper Ohio: A Narrative of Indian Affairs in the Upper Ohio Valley until 1795 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |orig-year=1940 |year=1969|isbn=0822952017 |___location=Pittsburgh |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Francis |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofroyalre02duncuoft |title=History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery |publisher=John Murray |___location=London|year=1879 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferling |first=John E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lifQ0G0m9WwC&q=lafayette |title=Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0195134094 |ref=none |author-link=John E. Ferling |orig-year=2000 }}
* {{cite book|last=Fleming|first=Thomas|title=The Perils of Peace |___location=New York|publisher=The Dial Press|year=1970|isbn=978-0061139116}}
* [[Eric Foner|Foner, Eric]], "Whose Revolution?: The history of the United States' founding from below" (review of [[Woody Holton]], ''Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution'', Simon & Schuster, 2021, 800 pp.), ''[[The Nation]]'', vol. 314, no. 8 (18–25 April 2022), pp. 32–37. Highlighted are the struggles and tragic fates of America's Indians and Black slaves. For example, "In 1779 [George] Washington dispatched a contingent of soldiers to upstate New York to burn Indian towns and crops and seize hostages 'of every age and sex.' The following year, while serving as governor of Virginia, [Thomas] Jefferson ordered troops under the command of [[George Rogers Clark]] to enter the [[Ohio Valley]] and bring about the expulsion or 'extermination' of local Indians." (pp. 34–35.)
* {{Cite book |last=Fortescue |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GlKAAAAYAAJ&q=Bednore%201783&pg=PA489 |title=A history of the British army |year=1902 |volume=3 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Fredriksen |first=John C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZIdNNZVDzgC |title=Revolutionary War Almanac Almanacs of American wars Facts on File library of American history. |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0816074686 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Freedman |first=Russell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ia5ivgAACAAJ |title=Washington at Valley Forge |date=2008 |publisher=Holiday House |isbn=978-0823420698 |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Fremont-Barnes|editor1-first=Gregory|editor2-last= Ryerson|editor2-first=Richard A|title=Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2006|isbn=978-1851094080}}
* {{cite book|last=Frey|first=Sylvia R|title=The British Soldier in America: A Social History of Military Life in the Revolutionary Period|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1982|isbn=978-0292780408}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-c7-udZhrvgC |title=Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0226101552 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Grant |first=John N. |year=1973 |title=Black Immigrants into Nova Scotia, 1776–1815 |journal=The Journal of Negro History |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=253–270 |doi=10.2307/2716777 |jstor=2716777 |ref=none |s2cid=150064269}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jensen |first=Merrill |title=The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution 1763–1776 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0872207059 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Henry Phelps |url=https://archive.org/details/yorktowncampaign00johnrich |title=The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781 |publisher=Harper & Bros |year=1881 |___location=New York |page=34 |oclc=426009 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hagist |first=Don N. |date=Winter 2011 |title=Unpublished Writings of Roger Lamb, Soldier of the American War of Independence |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |publisher=Society for Army Historical Research |volume=89 |issue=360 |pages=280–290 |jstor=44232931 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Rodger |date=January 1990 |title=The Hidden War: British Intelligence Operations during the American Revolution |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=115–138 |doi=10.2307/2938043 |jstor=2938043 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kepner |first=K. |date=February 1945 |title=A British View of the Siege of Charleston, 1776 |journal=The Journal of Southern History |publisher=Southern Historical Association |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=93–103 |doi=10.2307/2197961 |jstor=2197961 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Kilmeade |first1=Brian. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-8QE2uCbScC |title=George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution |last2=Yaeger |first2=Don |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0698137653 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMIDrggs8TsC&pg=PA184 |title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1576078129 |pages=184–185 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Kohn |first=George C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIzreCGlHxIC |title=Dictionary of Wars |edition=3rd |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1438129167 |ref=none }}
* Kwasny, Mark V. ''Washington's Partisan War, 1775–1783''. Kent, Ohio: 1996. {{ISBN|0873385462}}. Militia warfare.
* {{Cite book |last=Larabee |first=Leonard Woods |title=Conservatism in Early American History |orig-date=1959 |year=1973|publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0151547456 |quote=Great Seal Books |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lemaître |first=Georges Édouard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlxAFMQs4kYC&pg=PA229 |title=Beaumarchais |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1417985364 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/firstemancipator0000levy/page/74 |title=The First Emancipator: Slavery, Religion, and the Quiet Revolution of Robert Carter |publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks |year=2007 |isbn=978-0375761041 |page=[https://archive.org/details/firstemancipator0000levy/page/74 74] |ref=none }}
* Library of Congress {{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |title=Revolutionary War: Groping Toward Peace, 1781–1783 |url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/amrev/peace/ |access-date=24 August 2020 |website=Library of Congress |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Earnest Marsh |url=https://archive.org/details/reviewofhistoryo00lloyrich |title=A review of the history of infantry |publisher=New York: Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1908 |ref=none }}
* May, Robin. ''The British Army in North America 1775–1783'' (1993). Short (48pp), very well illustrated descriptions.
* {{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=Nick |title=Battle of Guilford Courthouse |url=http://www.mountvernon.org/digital-encyclopedia/article/battle-of-guilford-courthouse/ |access-date=January 26, 2017 |website=George Washington's Mount Vernon: Digital Encyclopedia |publisher=Mount Vernon Ladies' Association |ref=none }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Middleton |first=Richard |date=July 2013 |title=The Clinton–Cornwallis Controversy and Responsibility for the British Surrender at Yorktown |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-229X.12014 |journal=[[History (journal)|History]] |publisher=Wiley Publishers |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=370–389 |doi=10.1111/1468-229X.12014 |jstor=24429518 |ref=none |url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s9MFBAAAQBAJ |title=The War of American Independence, 1775–1783 |publisher=Pearson |___location=London|year=2014 |isbn=978-0582229426 |ref=none |author-mask=2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Ken |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKZFDwAAQBAJ&q=mercenaries |title=Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities During the War for Independence |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0801454943 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Nash, Gary B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tyzmAJfLKs8C&pg=PA64 |title=Atlas Of American History |last2=Carter Smith |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-1438130132 |page=64 |ref=none }}
* Neimeyer, Charles Patrick. ''America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army'' (1995) {{JSTOR|j.ctt9qg7q2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicolas |first=Paul Harris |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalrecor00harrgoog/page/n167 |title=Historical record of the Royal Marine Forces, Volume 2 |publisher=Thomas and William Boone |year=1845 |___location=London |quote=port praya suffren 1781. |ref=none }}
* {{Cite web |last=Ortiz |first=J.D. |title=General Bernardo Galvez in the American Revolution |url=http://www.thecajuns.com/galvezrw.htm |access-date=9 September 2020 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Perkins |first=James Breck |url=https://archive.org/details/franceinamerican00perk |title=France in the American Revolution |date=2009 |publisher=Cornell University Library |asin=B002HMBV52 |ref=none |orig-year=1911 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=008/llsl008.db&recNum=21 |title=A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875: Treaty of Alliance with France 1778, "Article II". |publisher=Library of Congress archives |year=1846 |editor-last=Peters |editor-first=Richard |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ramsay |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/universalhistor03ramsgoog/page/n4/mode/2up |title=Universal History Americanised: Or, An Historical View of the World, from the Earliest Records to the Year 1808 |publisher=Philadelphia : M. Carey & Son |year=1819 |volume=4 |ref=none |author-link=David Ramsay (historian) }}
* {{Cite book |last=Reich |first=Jerome R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALDbuNPu_IQC&q=Carlisle+Commission&pg=PA121 |title=British friends of the American Revolution |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=1997 |isbn=978-0765631435 |page=121 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ridpath |first=John Clark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8lKAAAAYAAJ |title=The new complete history of the United States of America |publisher=Jones Brothers |year=1915 |volume=6 |___location=Cincinnati |oclc=2140537 |ref=none }}
* Royal Navy Museum {{Cite web |title=Ships Biscuits – Royal Navy hardtack |url=http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheet_ship_biscuit.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031064002/http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheet_ship_biscuit.htm |archive-date=October 31, 2009 |access-date=January 14, 2010 |publisher=Royal Navy Museum |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Sawyer |first=C.W. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004848258&view=1up&seq=9 |title=Firearms in American History |publisher=C.W. Sawyer |year=1910 |___location=Boston |quote=online at Hathi Trust |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Schiff |first=Stacy |author-link=Stacy Schiff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vhpYe99Tn4C&pg=PT18 |title=A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America |publisher=Macmillan |year=2006 |isbn=978-1429907996 |page=5 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Scribner |first=Robert L. |title=Revolutionary Virginia, the Road to Independence |publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]] |year=1988 |isbn=978-0813907482 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Selig |first=Robert A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ngEmGQAACAAJ |title=Rochambeau in Connecticut, Tracing His Journey: Historic and Architectural Survey |publisher=Connecticut Historical Commission |year=1999 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Merril D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqxmCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA374 |title=The World of the American Revolution: A Daily Life Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2015 |isbn=978-1440830280 |page=374 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Southey |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeoflordnelson00sout_0/page/n2/mode/2up |title=The life of Lord Nelson |publisher=Henry Chapman Publishers |orig-year=1831 |year=1984|isbn=978-0665213304 |ref=none }}
* Stoker, Donald, Kenneth J. Hagan, and Michael T. McMaster, eds. ''Strategy in the American War of Independence: a global approach'' (Routledge, 2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-American-War-Independence-Approach/dp/0415695686/ excerpt].
* Symonds, Craig L. ''A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution'' (1989), newly drawn maps emphasizing the movement of military units
* {{Cite book |last=Trew |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxAAAAMAAJ |title=Rodney and the Breaking of the Line |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2006 |isbn=978-1844151431 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite web |last=Trickey |first=Erick |title=The Little-Remembered Ally Who Helped America Win the Revolution |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/little-remembered-ally-who-helped-america-win-revolution-180961782/ |access-date=April 28, 2020 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine January 13, 2017 |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Frederick Jackson |url=https://archive.org/details/frontierinameric1920turn |title=The frontier in American history |publisher=New York: H. Holt and company |year=1920 |ref=turner1920 |author-link=Frederick Jackson Turner }}
* {{Cite book |last=Volo |first=M. James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gw8grU4NcoC |title=Blue Water Patriots: The American Revolution Afloat |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0742561205 |ref=none }}
* U.S. Army, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071214152829/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch04.htm "The Winning of Independence, 1777–1783"] ''American Military History'' Volume I, 2005.
* U.S. National Park Service {{Cite web |date=April 25, 2013 |title=Springfield Armory |url=http://www.nps.gov/spar/historyculture/french-field_4pdr.htm |access-date=May 8, 2013 |publisher=Nps.gov |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Weir |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEXj4gHHARgC&pg=PA32 |title=The Encyclopedia of African American Military History |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-1615928316 |ref=none }}}
* {{Cite web |last=Zeller-Frederick |first=Andrew A. |date=18 April 2018 |title=The Hessians Who Escaped Washington's Trap at Trenton |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/04/the-hessians-who-escaped-washingtons-trap-at-trenton/ |website=Journal of the American Revolution |publisher=Bruce H. Franklin |quote=Citing William M. Dwyer and Edward J. Lowell, ''The Hessians: And the Other German Auxiliaries in the Revolutionary War'', 1970 |ref=none }}
* Zlatich, Marko; Copeland, Peter. ''General Washington's Army (1): 1775–78'' (1994). Short (48pp), very well illustrated descriptions.
* ——. ''General Washington's Army (2): 1779–83'' (1994). Short (48pp), very well illustrated descriptions.
{{Refend}}
== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wiktionary|American Revolutionary War}}
{{EB1911 poster|American War of Independence}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=2022-10-16|En-American_Revolutionary_War-article.ogg}}
* [https://westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/american-revolution "The American Revolutionary War"] at [[United States Military Academy]]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415155049/https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/american-revolution |date=April 15, 2023 }}.
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/revolution/home.html Library of Congress Guide to the American Revolution]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130508072510/http://www.history.army.mil/reference/revbib/revwar.htm Bibliographies of the War of American Independence] compiled by the [[United States Army Center of Military History]] (archived)
{{American Revolutionary War}}
{{Continental Army}}
{{American conflicts}}
{{British colonial campaigns}}
{{US history}}
{{United States topics}}
{{Portal bar|United States|Great Britain}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:American Revolutionary War| ]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1775]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1776]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1777]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1778]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1779]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1780]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1781]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1782]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1783]]
[[Category:Civil wars in the United States]]
[[Category:Rebellions against the British Empire]]
[[Category:Wars between the United Kingdom and the United States]]
[[Category:Wars of independence]]
| |||