AMERICAN REVOLUTION, THE (1775-1781), known also as the American War of Independence. This war, by which the United States definitely separated themselves from the Brit ish connection, began with the affair of Lexington in Massachu setts, on April 29, 1775, and was virtually ended by the capitula tion of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., on Oct. 19, 1781. In this article the progress of the war itself is alone considered, its political side being treated under UNITED STATES : History. From a military standpoint as well as politically it was a conspicuous and instructive conflict. It was conspicuous as being the most famous struggle in history where colonial dependencies defeated their mighty parent state, though the powerful aid of France, Spain and Holland must never be forgotten. It was instructive as presenting exceptional conditions and consequent errors in the attempt to break down the revolt. The reasons for Great Britain's failure appear in the progress of the war, which assumed two distinct stages : operations in the north, followed by operations in the south. In point of time and energy military activity was about equally divided between these two fields. As the naval operations in connection with the war have a European interest as well, they are dealt with in a separate section.
The home government extended its precautions and prepara tions. General (Sir) William Howe, who succeeded Gage in the chief command in October, and Gens. (Sir) Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne were sent out at once with reinforcements. Corn wallis followed later. These f our generals were identified with the conduct of the principal operations on the side of the British. The force at Boston was increased. The American Congress at Philadelphia, acting for the 13 colonies, voted general defensive measures, called out troops and appointed George Washington of Virginia commander-in-chief. Before he reached the camp forming around Boston, a second and more important collision took place. On June occurred the battle of Bunker Hill (q.v.), in which, although victorious, the British suffered heavily, losing one-third of their force in storming the hastily constructed lines of the "rebels." In moral effect the battle proved anything but a defeat to the Americans, who now drew a cordon of works around Boston, hemming Howe's army in a con tracted, and, as it proved, untenable, position. On July 3, Wash ington took command of the American army at Cambridge and proceeded with what is known as the "siege of Boston," which was marked by no special incident, and closed with the American seizure of Dorchester Heights and the evacuation of the town by the British on March 17, 1776, Howe sailing away to Halifax, Nova Scotia. While the main interest centred at this point, the year 1775 was marked by two enterprises elsewhere. Fort Ticon deroga, the key to the passage of Lakes George and Champlain to Canada, was surprised and taken on May 1 o by a small band under Col. Ethan Allen, while Col. Benedict Arnold headed an expedition through the Maine woods to effect the capture of Quebec, where Sir Guy Carleton commanded. Arnold joined Gen. Richard Montgomery, who was already near the city, and the combined force assaulted Quebec on Dec. 31, only to meet with complete defeat. Montgomery was killed and many of his men taken prisoners. Demonstrations against Canada were soon discontinued, Arnold drawing off the remnant of his army in May 1776.
The events of 1775, though partly favourable to America, were but a prelude to the real struggle to come. For the campaign of 1776 both sides made extensive preparations. To the home gov ernment the purely military problem, although assuming larger dimensions and more difficulties, still seemed to admit of a simple solution, namely, to strike hard where the rebellion was most active and capable of the longest resistance. Defeated there, it would quickly dissipate in all quarters. As much more than one half of the population and resources of the colonists lay north of Chesapeake Bay—New England alone having an estimated popu lation of over 700,000 persons—it was only a question as to what point in this area should be made the future base of operations. Largely upon the representations of Howe, Burgoyne and others, it was determined to shift the field from Boston to New York city, from there to hold the line of the Hudson river in co-opera tion with a force to move down from Canada under Carleton and Burgoyne, and thus effectually to isolate New England.
Upon this plan the new campaign opened in June, 1776. Howe, heavily reinforced from home, sailed on June i o from Halifax to New York and on July 5 encamped on Staten Island. Wash ington, anticipating this move, had already marched from Boston and fortified the city. His left flank was thrown across the East river beyond the village of Brooklyn, while his front and right on the harbour and North or Hudson river were open to a com bined naval and military attack. The position was untenable since the British absolutely dominated the waters about Manhat tan. Howe drove Washington out of New York, and forced the abandonment of the whole of Manhattan Island by three well directed movements upon the American left. On Aug. 22 he crossed the Narrows to the Long Island shore with 15,00o troops, increasing the number to 20,000 on the 25th, and on the 27th surprised the Americans, driving them into their Brooklyn works and inflicting a loss of about 1,40o men. Among the prisoners were Gens. J. Sullivan and W. Alexander. (See LONG ISLAND.) Howe has been criticized, rightly or wrongly, for failing to make full use of his victory. Washington skilfully evacuated his Brook lyn lines on the night of the 29th, and in a measure relieved the depression which the defeat had produced in his army. On Sept. 15, Howe crossed the East river above the city, captured 300 of the militia defending the lines and occupied the city. Washing ton had withdrawn his main army to the upper part of the island. A skirmish, fought the next day, opposite the west front of the present Columbia university, and known as the affair of Harlem Heights, cost the British a loss of 7o of their light infantry. Delaying until Oct. 12, Howe again moved forward by water into Westchester county, and marching toward White Plains forced another retreat on Washington. In the fight on Chatterton Hill at the Plains, on Oct. 28, an American brigade was defeated. Instead of pressing Washington further, Howe then returned to Manhattan Island, and, Nov. 16, captured Fort Washington with nearly 3,00o prisoners. This was the heaviest blow to the Americans throughout the war in the north. The British then pushed down through New Jersey with designs on Philadelphia. Washington, still retreating with a constantly diminishing force, suddenly turned upon Lieut.-Col. Rall's advanced corps of Hes sians at Trenton on Dec. 26, and captured nearly i,000 prisoners. This brilliant exploit was followed by another on Jan. 3, when Washington, again crossing the Delaware, outmarched Cornwallis at Trenton, and marching to his rear defeated three British regi ments and three companies of light cavalry at Princeton, New Jersey. Marching on to Morristown, Washington encamped there on the flank of the British advance in New Jersey, thus ending the first campaign fought on the new issue of American Independ ence, which had been declared on July 4, 1776.
While these closing successes inspirited the Americans, it was undeniable that the campaign had gone heavily against them. Having raised a permanent force for the war called the Conti nental Line, they awaited further operations of the enemy. Fol lowing up the occupation of New York, Howe proceeded in 1777 to capture Philadelphia. Complete success again crowned his movements. Taking his army by sea from New York to the head of the Chesapeake, he marched up into Pennsylvania, whither Washington had repaired to watch him, and on Sept. 26 entered the city. The Americans attempted to check the advance of the British at the river Brandywine, where an action occurred on the 11th resulting in their defeat (see BRANDYWINE) ; and on Oct. 4, Washington directed a well-planned attack upon the enemy's camp at Germantown on the outskirts of the city, but failed of success. (See GERMANTOWN.) Howe's victorious progress in Pennsylvania was neutralized by disasters farther north. Indeed his whole expedition to seize "the enemy's capital" was nothing less than an abandonment of an expedition from the north with which he was expected to co operate. Clinton, whom he left at New York, protested against this folly to the last. Lord George Germain in England was only in part to blame. Burgoyne marched from Canada in June 1777, with a strong expeditionary force, to occupy Albany and put him self in touch with Howe who was expected to come up the Hud son. Driving the Americans under Gen. Arthur St. Clair out of Ticonderoga, and making his way through the deep woods with difficulty, he reached the Hudson at Fort Edward on July 3o. Gen. Philip Schuyler, commanding the Americans in that quarter, retreated to Stillwater, 3om. above Albany, barricading the roads and impeding Burgoyne's progress. Unjustified dissatisfaction with his conduct led Congress to replace Philip Schuyler by Gen. Gates. On Aug. 13, Burgoyne despatched a force to Ben nington, Vt., under the German colonel Friedrich Baum, to cap ture stores and overawe the country. On the 16th Baum was attacked by Gen. John Stark with the militia from the sur rounding country, and was overwhelmed. Col. Breyman, marching to his relief, was also routed. The misfortune cost the British I,000 men. Equally unfortunate was the fate of an expedition sent under Col. Barry St. Leger to co-operate with Burgoyne by way of the Mohawk Valley. On Aug. 16 he was met at Oriskany by Gen. Nicholas Herkimer and forced to retreat. Despite these disasters Burgoyne pushed south to Stillwater, where he was defeated by Gates's improvised army of continentals and militia in two battles on Sept. 10 (Freeman's Farm) and Oct. 7 (Bemis's Height). On the 17th he was forced to surrender. (See SARA TOGA, BATTLES OF.) This disaster was followed by the alliance between America and France in 1778, and later by the addition of Spain and Holland to England's enemies—events of far-reaching importance.
A noteworthy movement, in 1778-79, was the expedition of George Rogers Clark, under the authority of the State of Virginia, against the British posts in the north-west. With a company of volunteers Clark captured Kaskaskia, the chief post in the Illi nois country, on July 4, 1778, and later secured the submission of Vincennes, which, however, was recaptured by Gen. Henry Hamil ton, the British commander at Detroit. In the spring of Clark raised another force, and recaptured Vincennes from Hamil ton. This expedition did much to free the frontier from Indian raids, gave the Americans a hold upon the north-west, of which their diplomats probably took advantage in the peace negotiations, and later, by giving the States a community of interest in the western lands, greatly promoted the idea of union.
In 1778 Sir Henry Clinton succeeded Howe in the chief com mand in America. With fewer resources than his predecessor, he could accomplish practically nothing in the north. In June, 1778, he evacuated Philadelphia, with the intention of concen trating his force at New York. Washington, who had passed the winter at Valley Forge, overtook him at Monmouth, N. J., and in an action on June 28 both armies suffered about equal loss. Thereafter (except in the winter of 1779, at Morristown) Wash ington made West Point on the Hudson the headquarters of his army, but Clinton avowed himself too weak to attack him there. In 1779 he attempted to draw Washington out of the highlands, with the result that in the manoeuvres he lost the garrison at Stony Point, 700 strong, the position being stormed by Wayne with the American light infantry on July 16. During the summer Gen. J. Sullivan marched with a large force against the Indians (all the Iroquois tribes except the Oneidas and part of the Tus caroras siding with the British during the war) and against the Loyalists of western New York, who had been committing great depredations along the frontier; and on Aug. 29 he inflicted a crushing defeat upon them at Newtown, on the site of the present Elmira. In addition several Indian villages and the crops of the Indians were destroyed in the lake region of western New York.
Meanwhile the co-operation of the French became active. In July Count Rochambeau arrived at Newport, R.I., occupied by the British from 1776 to the close of 1779. An unsuccessful attempt was made to drive them out in 1778 by the Americans assisted by the French admiral d'Estaing and a French corps. The year 178o is also marked by the treason of Gen. Benedict Arnold (q.v.), and the consequent execution of Major Andre. Minor battles and skirmishes occurred until in Aug. 1781 Wash ington undertook the project of a combined American-French attack on Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., the success of which was decisive of the war (see p. 8o1).
The prestige thus won by the British in the south in 1779 was immensely increased in the following year, when they victoriously swept up through South and North Carolina. Failing to achieve any advantage in the north in 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, under in structions from his government, himself headed a combined mili tary and naval expedition southward. He evacuated Newport, R.I. (Oct. 25), left New York in command of the German general Wilhelm von Knyphausen, and in December sailed with 8,50o men to join Prevost at Savannah. Cornwallis accompanied him, and later Lord Rawdon joined him with an additional force. Marching upon Charleston, Clinton cut off the city from relief, and after a brief siege compelled Lincoln to surrender on May 12. (See CHARLESTON.) The loss of this place and of the 5,00o troops included in the surrender was a serious blow to the American cause. The apparent submission of South Carolina followed. In June Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in corn mand, with instructions to reduce North Carolina also. Meanwhile an active and bitter partisan warfare opened. The British advance had been marked by more than the usual destruction of war; the Loyalists rose to arms; the Whig population scattered and with out much organization formed groups of riflemen and mounted troopers to harass the enemy. Little mercy was shown on either side. The dashing rider, Col. Banastre Tarleton, cut to pieces (April 14, 1780) a detachment of Lincoln's cavalry, and followed it up by practically destroying Buford's Virginia regiment near the North Carolina border. On the other hand, daring and skil ful leaders such as Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter kept the spirit of resistance alive by their sudden attacks and surprises of British outposts. Hanging Rock, Ninety-Six, Rocky Mount and other affairs brought their prowess and devotion into notice. By the month of Aug. 178o, with the main British force encamped near the North Carolina line, the field seemed clear for the next advance.
The threatening situation in the Carolinas alarmed Congress and Washington and measures were taken to protect the dis tressed section. Before Cornwallis could be brought to bay he was faced successively by four antagonists—Gens. Gates, Greene, Lafayette and Washington. They found in him the most capable and dangerous opponent of the war. Greene called him "the modern Hannibal." With Lincoln's surrender of nearly all the Continental soldiers in the south, a new force had to be supplied to meet the British veterans. Two thousand men, mainly the Maryland line, were hurried down from Washington's camp under Johann de Kalb ; Virginia and North Carolina put new men into the field, and the entire force was placed under command of Gen. Gates. Gates marched towards Camden, S.C., and on Aug. 16 encountered Cornwallis near that place. Each army by a night march attempted to surprise the other, but the British tactics prevailed, and Gates was utterly routed. The reputation he had won at Saratoga was ruined on the occasion by over-confidence and incompetence ; De Kalb was killed in the action. Gen. Greene, standing next to Washington as the ablest and most trusted officer of the Revolution, succeeded Gates. Cornwallis marched leisurely into North Carolina, but before meeting Greene some months later he suffered the loss of two detachments sent at intervals to dis perse various partisan corps of the Americans. On Oct. 7, 178o, a force of 1,1oo men under Major Patrick Ferguson was sur rounded at King's Mountain, S.C., near the North Carolina line, by bands of riflemen under Cols. Isaac Shelby, James Williams, William Campbell and others, and after a desperate fight on the wooded and rocky slopes, surrendered. Ferguson himself was killed. On Jan. 17, 1781, Gen. Daniel Morgan was attacked at Cowpens, south-west of King's Mountain, by Col, Tarleton with his legion. Both were leaders of repute, and a most stirring action occurred in which Morgan, with Col. William Washington leading his cavalry, practically destroyed Tarleton's corps. Despite the weakening his army suffered by these losses, Cornwallis, marched rapidly through North Carolina, giving Greene a hard chase nearly to the Virginia line. On March 15 the two armies met at Guilford court house (near the present Greensboro, N.C.) and a virtually drawn battle was fought. The British, by holding their ground with their accustomed tenacity when engaged with superior num bers, were tactically victors, but were further weakened by a loss of nearly 600 men. Greene, cautiously avoiding another Camden, retreated with his forces intact. With his small army, less than 2,000 strong, Cornwallis declined to follow Greene into the back country, and retiring to Hillsborough, N.C., raised the royal standard, offered protection to the inhabitants, and for the moment appeared to be master of Georgia and the two Carolinas. In a few weeks, however, he abandoned the heart of the State and marched to the coast at Wilmington, N.C., to recruit and refit his command.
At Wilmington the British general faced a serious problem, the solution of which upon his own responsibility unexpectedly led to the close of the war within seven months. Instead of remain ing in Carolina he determined to march into Virginia, justifying the move on the ground that until Virginia was reduced he could not firmly hold the more southern States he had just overrun. This decision was subsequently sharply criticized by Clinton as unmilitary, and as having been made contrary to his instructions. To Cornwallis he wrote in May : "Had you intimated the proba bility of your intention, I should certainly have endeavoured to stop you, as I did then as well as now consider such a move likely to be dangerous to our interests in the Southern Colonies." The danger lay in the suddenly changed situation in that direction ; as Gen. Greene, instead of following Cornwallis to the coast, boldly pushed down towards Camden and Charleston, S.C., with a view to drawing his antagonist after him to the points where he was the year before, as well as to driving back Lord Rawdon, whom Cornwallis had left in that field. In his main object, the recovery of the southern States, Greene succeeded by the close of the year ; but not without hard fighting and repeated reverses. "We fight, get beaten, and fight again," were his words. On April 25, 1781, he was surprised in his camp at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, by Lord Rawdon and defeated, both sides suffering about an equal loss. On May 22 he attempted to storm the strong British post at Ninety-Six but was repulsed; and finally on Sept. 8 he fought the last battle of the war in the lower southern States at Eutaw Springs, S.C. In the first part of the action Greene was successful after a desperate conflict ; in the pursuit, however, the Americans failed to dislodge the British from a stone house which they held, and their severe loss in both engage ments was over soo men. The British lost about 1,000, one-half of whom were prisoners. Better success attended the American partisan operations directed by Greene and conducted by Marion, Sumter, Andrew Pickens, Henry Lee and William Washington. They fell upon isolated British posts established to protect the Loyalist population, and generally captured or broke them up. Rawdon found himself unable with his diminishing force to cover the country beyond Charleston; and he fell back to that place, leaving the situation in the south as it had been in the early part of 1780. On the American side, Greene was hailed as the deliverer of that section.
(H. P. J.; C. H. VAN T.)