Term
| What were Americans Weaknesses? |
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Definition
The Continental Army was always short of men. General Washington
never had more than 20,000 troops at one time and place. Many soldiers enlisted for six months
or a year. Just when they were learning how to fight, they would pick up their muskets and go
home to tend to their farms and families.
Few Americans were trained for battle. Some could shoot well enough from behind a tree.
But when facing a mass of well-disciplined redcoats, they were likely to turn and run.
The army was plagued by shortages. Guns and gunpowder were so scarce.Food shortages forced soldiers to beg for handouts. Uniforms were scarce as well. In winter, one could track shoeless soldiers by
their bloody footprints in the snow |
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Term
| What were Americans Strengths? |
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Definition
people like Joseph Martin, who willingly gave their lives to defend their liberty and their homes.The Americans also received help from overseas. Motivated by their old hatred of the
English, the French secretly aided the rebels. During the first two years of the war, 90 percent of
the Americans‘ gunpowder came from Europe, mostly from France. George Washington was more
than an experienced military leader. He was also a man who inspired courage and confidence.
In the dark days to come, it was Washington who would keep the ragtag Continental army
together |
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Term
| What were British Strengths? |
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Definition
a professional army of 50,000 troops, British forces greatly
outnumbered the Continental Army. In addition, George III hired 30,000 mercenaries. These
hired soldiers were known as Hessians because they came from a part of Germany called
Hesse-Cassel. The British were also able to recruit many Loyalists, African Americans, and
Native Americans into their forces.British and Hessian troops were well trained in European military tactics. They excelled in
large battles fought by a mass of troops on open ground. They also had far more experience
than Americans at firing artillery. The British forces were also well supplied. Compared to the pitifully equipped Continental
Army, they seldom lacked for food, uniforms, weapons, or ammunition. |
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Term
| What were British Weaknesses? |
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Definition
the
distance between Britain and America. Sending troops and supplies across the Atlantic was
slow and costly. News of battles arrived in England long after they had occurred, making
planning difficult.A second problem was that King George and his ministers were never able to convince the
British people that defeating the rebels was vital to Britain‘s future. There were no Joseph
Martins in England volunteering to fight the Americans. The longer the war dragged on, the less
happy British taxpayers were about paying its heavy costs.A third problem was poor leadership. Lord George Germain, the man chosen to run the war,
had no real sense of how to defeat the rebels. How could he? He had never set foot in America.
Nor did it occur to him to go see for himself what his army was up against. |
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Term
| What happened in Trenton? |
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Definition
Washington‘s army crossed the ice-choked
Delaware River in small boats. On the New Jersey shore, Washington gave his men the
password for the long night march ahead: ―Victory or Death.‖
As the Americans made their way toward Trenton, a driving snow chilled them to the bone.
Ice and rocks cut through their worn-out shoes. One officer reported to Washington that the
troops‘ guns were too wet to fire. ―Use the bayonets,‖ the general replied. ―The town must be
taken.‖
When the Americans reached Trenton, they found the Hessians happily sleeping off their
Christmas feasts. Caught completely by surprise, the mercenaries surrendered. Washington
took 868 prisoners without losing a single man. A week later, the Americans captured another
300 British troops at Princeton, New Jersey. |
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Term
| What was the New British Strategy? |
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Definition
His new plan was to
divide the rebels by taking control of New York‘s Hudson River Valley. Control of this waterway
would allow the British to cut New England off from the rest of the states. Without men and
supplies from New England, the Continental Army would surely collapse. To carry out this plan, General John Burgoyne left Canada in June 1777, with about 8,000
British soldiers and Indian warriors. He planned to move this army south to Albany, New York.
There he would meet up with General Howe, who was supposed to march his army north from
New York City. |
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Term
| What were the problems with the New British Strategy? |
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Definition
There were two big problems with Burgoyne‘s plan. The first
was that what looked like an easy invasion route on a map was anything but easy. The route
Burgoyne chose from Canada to Albany took his army through more than 20 miles of tangled
wilderness. His army had to build bridges, chop down countless trees, and lay out miles of log
roads through swamps as it crept toward Albany.
To make matters worse, Burgoyne didn‘t travel light. His army was slowed by more than 600
wagons, 30 of them filled with his personal baggage. Even in the wilderness, ―Gentleman
Johnny‖ Burgoyne sipped champagne with his supper.
The second problem with Burgoyne‘s plan was that General Howe had his own ideas about
how to win the war. Instead of marching to Albany, Howe headed for Philadelphia, the rebels‘
capital. There he hoped to lure Washington into another major battle. Howe hoped it would be
the last one. |
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Term
| What happened at Saratoga? |
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Definition
A Battle were Although the rebels outnumbered his
army, Burgoyne ordered an attack. Again and again the rebels beat back Burgoyne‘s troops. On
October 17, 1777, Gentleman Johnny accepted defeat.Burgoyne‘s surrender marked a turning point in the war. Before the victory at Saratoga, the
American cause had looked hopeless to most of the world. Now the Americans had shown they
could stand up to a British army and win.
Not long after this victory, France came into the war as an ally of the United States. The
French government sent money, weapons, troops, and warships to the Americans. Spain also
entered the war against Britain. The American cause no longer looked quite so hopeless |
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Term
| What happened at Vally Forge? |
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Definition
To distract his men from their misery, Washington put Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a
volunteer from Prussia, in charge of training. The Prussian‘s method, wrote Martin, was
―continual drill.‖ It worked wonders. ―The army grows stronger every day,‖ wrote one officer.
―There is a spirit of discipline among the troops that is better than numbers.‖
Another foreign volunteer, the Marquis de Lafayette, also helped raise the troops‘ spirits.
Although he was one of the richest men in France, Lafayette chose to share the hardships of
Valley Forge. He even used his own money to buy the men warm clothing. ―The patient fortitude
[courage] of the officers and soldiers,‖ Lafayette wrote, ―was a continual miracle.‖
When at last spring arrived, Washington received news that the British were about to
abandon Philadelphia. The time had come to put his newly trained army to the test. |
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Term
| What happened at Monmouth? |
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Definition
In Clinton‘s view, taking over Philadelphia had
gained the British nothing. He ordered his army to retreat to New York City, where the Royal
Navy could keep it supplied by sea.
Now it was Washington‘s turn to chase an army across New Jersey. On June 28, 1778, he
caught up with the retreating British near Monmouth, New Jersey. In the battle that followed,
Washington was everywhere, constantly rallying his men to stand and fight. ―Cheering them by
his voice and example,‖ wrote Lafayette, ―never had I beheld [seen] so superb a man.‖
Late that night, the British slipped across the Hudson River to safety in New York City.
Washington camped with his army nearby. It was pleasing, he wrote, ―that after two years
maneuvering…both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from.‖ Neither army
knew it yet, but the war in the North was over. |
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Term
| What happened at Yorktown? |
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Definition
By the time Cornwallis was settling into Yorktown, France had sent
nearly 5,000 troops to join Washington‘s army in New York. In August, Washington learned that
another 3,000 troops were scheduled to arrive soon in 29 French warships.
Washington used this information to set a trap for Cornwallis. Secretly, he moved his army
south to Virginia. When they arrived, they joined the French and surrounded Yorktown on land
with more than 16,000 troops.
Meanwhile, the French warships showed up just in time to seal off the entrance to
Chesapeake Bay. Their appearance was a crucial help to the Americans. Now Cornwallis was
cut off from the British navy and any hope of rescue by sea.The trap was sprung on October 6, 1781. Joseph Martin watched as a flag was raised to
signal American and French gunners to open fire on Yorktown. ―I confess I felt a secret pride
swell in my heart,‖ he wrote, ―when I saw the ‗star-spangled banner‘ waving majestically.‖ The
shelling went on for days, until ―most of the guns in the enemy‘s works were silenced.s With Yorktown exploding around him, at first Cornwallis clung to the
hope that the British navy would come to his rescue. When no ships arrived, he finally agreed to
surrender. |
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