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The American Revolutionary War Portal

The American Revolutionary War began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies on the North American continent, and ended in a global war between several European great powers. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution and intellectual American Enlightenment, whereby the colonists rejected the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them without representation. In 1775, revolutionaries gained control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up an alliance called the Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. Petitions to the king to intervene with the parliament on their behalf resulted in Congress being declared traitors and the states in rebellion the following year. The Americans responded by formally declaring their independence as a new nation, the United States of America, claiming sovereignty and rejecting any allegiance to the British monarchy. In 1777 the Continentals captured a British army, leading to France entering the war on the side of the Americans in early 1778, and evening the military strength with Britain. Spain and the Dutch Republic – French allies – also went to war with Britain over the next two years.

Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside (where 90% of the population lived) largely eluded them due to their relatively small land army. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in the Chesapeake leading to the surrender of a second British army at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

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An 1875 print depicting Ethan Allen demanding the fort

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga was one of the earliest offensive military engagements by the American colonists in the American Revolutionary War. On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led 83 volunteer militiamen in a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. The fort was held by a small garrison, just 48 men under the command of William Delaplace, which surrendered without firing a shot. The Americans followed up their success by also capturing nearby Fort Crown Point. Arnold then led 50 men on a raid on Fort Saint-Jean, north of Lake Champlain, in which they captured the only large warship on the lake.

This action made communications between parts of the British colonial and military establishment more difficult, and set the stage for the colonists' invasion of Quebec in September 1775.

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The following are images from various __-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1This 1774 mezzotint depicts Patriots tarring and feathering Loyalist John Malcolm (from American Revolution)
Image 2Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 Treaty of Paris (John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, W.T. Franklin). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed (from American Revolution)
Image 3Bicentennial logo (from American Revolution)
Image 4The surrender of General Burgoyne's army at Saratoga (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 5In this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley, Samuel Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights. (from American Revolution)
Image 6Infantry of the Continental Army. (from Continental Army)
Image 7Last page of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War. (from American Revolution)
Image 8Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton commanded the British Legion in the Southern colonies. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 9Thayendanegea, a Mohawk military and political leader, was the most prominent indigenous leader opposing the Patriot forces. (from American Revolution)
Image 101778 drawing showing a Stockbridge Mahican Indian, Patriot soldier, of the Stockbridge Militia, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, from the Revolutionary War diary of Hessian officer, Johann Von Ewald (from Continental Army)
Image 11The Franco-American squadron closely engages the pair of British frigates on September 23, 1779. (from Continental Navy)
Image 121781 drawing of American soldiers from the Yorktown campaign showing a black infantryman, on the far left, from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, one of the regiments in the Continental Army having the largest majority of black patriot soldiers. An estimated 4% of the Continental Army was black (see African Americans in the Revolutionary War). (from Continental Army)
Image 13Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776 (from American Revolution)
Image 14Continental Army Plaza, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (from Continental Army)
Image 15Grenadier of the 40th Regiment of Foot in 1767 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 16In 1772, the Sons of Liberty burned HMS Gaspee—a British customs schooner—in Narragansett Bay (from American Revolution)
Image 17Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a former Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline beginning at Valley Forge in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans. (from American Revolution)
Image 18Sir Henry Clinton, British Commander, 1778–1782 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 19An early 20th century representation of Loyalists fleeing to British Canada (from American Revolution)
Image 20British bayonet charges were effective; events at Princeton were highlighted in this Trumbull painting. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 21The American Revolution was part of the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions, an 18th and 19th century revolutionary wave in the Atlantic World (from American Revolution)
Image 22The defeat of the floating batteries at the Great Siege of Gibraltar (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 23John Adams took an active role in the formation of the navy and the drafting of suitable operational regulations. Painting by John Trumbull, c. 1792–93. (from Continental Navy)
Image 24Continental ship Columbus with captured British brig Lord Lifford, 1776 (from Continental Navy)
Image 25Join, or Die, a political cartoon attributed to Benjamin Franklin was used to encourage the Thirteen Colonies to unite against British rule (from American Revolution)
Image 26Eastern North America in 1775. The Province of Quebec, the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast, and the Indian Reserve as defined by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The border between the red and pink areas represents the 1763 "Proclamation line", while the orange area represents the Spanish claim. (from American Revolution)
Image 27The siege of Yorktown ended with the surrender of a second British army, marking effective British defeat. (from American Revolution)
Image 28Emanuel Leutze's 1851 depiction of Washington Crossing the Delaware (from American Revolution)
Image 29An African-American soldier (left) of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history (from American Revolution)
Image 30Alonzo Chappel's representation of the 1776 Staten Island Peace Conference (from American Revolution)
Image 31The official Navy officer uniform of 1776 had red lapels and a red waistcoat. The unofficial uniform of 1777, worn by many officers, had white lapels and a white waistcoat, and in addition non-regulation epaulets. (from Continental Navy)
Image 32Letter III of John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle (from American Revolution)
Image 33Louis XVI King of France and Navarre (from American Revolution)
Image 34Press gang at work in British ports, from a British caricature of 1780 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 35The death of General Johann de Kalb at the Battle of Camden (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 36
Flogging punished men in both armies, navies; here a Royal warship
(from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 37Alliance at sail (from Continental Navy)
Image 38A memorial to Prince Estabrook in Lexington, Massachusetts. Estabrook, who was wounded in the Battle of Lexington and Concord was the first Black casualty of the Revolutionary War. (from American Revolution)
Image 39New borders drawn by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (from American Revolution)
Image 40Johannes Adam Simon Oertel, Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., ca. 1859 (from American Revolution)
Image 41Hessian troops hired out to the British by their German sovereigns (from American Revolution)
Image 42Statue of Robert Morris at Independence National Historical Park (from American Revolution)
Image 43The surrender of General Cornwallis's army at Yorktown (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 44British assault on Battle of Bunker Hill (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 45A portrait of Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (from American Revolution)
Image 46Continental frigates Hancock and Boston capturing British frigate Fox, June 7, 1777 (from Continental Navy)
Image 47Seal of the Board of War and Ordnance (from Continental Army)
Image 48Abraham Whipple painting by Edward Savage (from Continental Navy)
Image 49John Paul Jones, the Continental Navy's first seaman to be appointed the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Oil painting by George Bagby Matthews, c. 1890. (from Continental Navy)
Image 50The British fleet in the lower bay (Harpers Magazine, 1876) depicts the British fleet amassing off the shores of Staten Island in New York Harbor in the summer of 1776 (from American Revolution)
Image 51Portrait of George III by Johann Heinrich von Hurter, 1781 (Royal Collection) (from American Revolution)
Image 52Sir William Howe, British Commander, 1775–1778 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 53Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy (1940) (from American Revolution)
Image 54George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775. (from Continental Army)
Image 55British regulars and Canadian militia repulse American assault on Quebec. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 56A 1774 etching from The London Magazine depicts Prime Minister Lord North, author of the Boston Port Act, forcing the Intolerable Acts down the throat of America, whose arms are restrained by Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and a tattered "Boston Petition" lays trampled on the ground beside her. Lord Sandwich pins down her feet and peers up her robes; behind them, Mother Britannia weeps while France and Spain look on (from American Revolution)
Image 57This postage stamp, which was created at the time of the bicentennial, honors Salem Poor, who was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the Battle of Bunker Hill. (from American Revolution)
Image 58John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the Committee of Five presenting its draft for approval by Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, June 28, 1776 (from American Revolution)
Image 59Military Governors and Staff Officers in British North America and West Indies 1778 and 1784 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 60Joseph Brant led Native Americans and Loyalists in the North. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 61Notice of the Stamp Act 1765 in a colonial newspaper (from American Revolution)
Image 62Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1778-1782 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 63Mercy Otis Warren published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule (from American Revolution)
Image 64Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanded Hessian forces in North America. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War)
Image 65Aide-de-camp, General Washington, Major-general Artemas Ward. (from Continental Army)
Image 66The 1773 Boston Tea Party has become a mainstay of American patriotic lore (from American Revolution)

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The 64th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was created as the 2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment of Foot in 1756, and redesignated as the 64th Regiment of Foot in 1758. In the American War of Independence the regiment was first station in Boston when it was besieged in 1775, and fought in major actions of the New York and New Jersey campaign of 1776-77 and the Philadelphia campaign of 1777-78. It was sent into the Southern theater in late 1779, participating in the Siege of Charleston; one of its units was surrendered at the [1781 Siege of Yorktown.

Although the 64th Foot fought in many of the major conflicts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (including the Seven Years' War, Napoleonic Wars, Anglo-Persian War, and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it was normally in the more minor theatres of these conflicts. The regiment took a county title as the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782. Following the Cardwell Reforms the regiment amalgamated with the 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot to become The Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) in 1881. In the new regiment the 64th Foot became the 1st Battalion due to its seniority over the 98th Foot.

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Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) Credit: Emanuel Leutze

On the night of December 25–26, 1776, George Washington led a force of 2,400 across the Delaware River which surprised and captured the Hessian force located at Trenton, New Jersey

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Griffith Rutherford (c. 1721 – 10 August 1805) was an officer in the American Revolutionary War, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of Tennessee. Originally from Ireland, Rutherford immigrated to Philadelphia at the age of 18 with his parents, both of whom died during the voyage. After working on a relative's farm for a period of time, he moved to Rowan County, North Carolina in 1753, where he married Elizabeth Graham. An active member of his community, Rutherford served in multiple municipal occupations such as the local sheriff and tax collector. He was also a representative of Rowan County at the North Carolina General Assembly in 1766.

Rutherford's first military experience was during the French and Indian War, when he served as a Captain of a local militia in 1760. He continued serving in the provincial militia until the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, when he was commissioned into the Continental Army as a Colonel. Following his appointment to Brigadier General of the "Salisbury District" by the Fourth Provincial Congress of April and May 1776, Rutherford accumulated a force of 2,400 men and participated in several conflicts with the Cherokee Indians in western North and South Carolina and Georgia. He then spent most of the war checking local Loyalist activities; in June 1780, his activities were partially responsible for the Loyalist defeat in the Battle of Ramsour's Mill. Rutherford was also involved in the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the British. He was later exchanged in 1781. He partook in further campaigns after his release, including a second attack on the Cherokee.

Following the war, Rutherford continued to serve as a senator in North Carolina's state senate, a duty which he had first undertaken in 1779, until 1786. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1783 and became an advocate of the Antifederalist movement. He moved to Sumner County, Tennessee in 1792 and was appointed President of the Legislative Council of Tennessee in 1794. He died in Sumner County on August 15, 1805 at the age of 84. Counties in North Carolina and Tennessee bear his name.

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Major topics

American Revolutionary War

Origins of the American Revolution

Philosophy	American Enlightenment John Locke Colonial history Liberalism Republicanism Freedom of religion Rights of Englishmen Common Sense Spirit of '76 "All men are created equal" "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" "Consent of the governed"
Royalists	Pitt–Newcastle ministry Bute ministry Grenville ministry First Rockingham ministry Chatham ministry Grafton ministry North ministry Second Rockingham ministry Shelburne ministry Fox–North coalition Loyalists Black Loyalist
Related British Acts of Parliament	Navigation Iron Molasses Royal Proclamation of 1763 Sugar Currency Quartering Stamp Declaratory Townshend Tea Quebec Intolerable Conciliatory Resolution Restraining Proclamation of Rebellion Prohibitory
Colonials	Stamp Act Congress Declaration of Rights and Grievances Virginia Association Sons of Liberty Patriots Black Patriots Committees of correspondence Committees of safety Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania Massachusetts Circular Letter First Continental Congress Continental Association Minutemen Provincial Congress Second Continental Congress Olive Branch Petition Committee of Secret Correspondence Lee Resolution Declaration of Independence Articles of Confederation Confederation Congress
Events	French and Indian War Treaty of Paris (1763) Boston Massacre Crisis of 1772 Gaspee Affair Hutchinson Letters Affair Boston Tea Party Powder Alarm

Combatants
Campaigns
Theaters
Battles
Events
Colonies

Combatants

Thirteen Colonies	Continental Congress Army Navy Marines
Kingdom of Great Britain	Parliament British Army Royal Navy German auxiliaries
Colonial allies	France army navy Hortalez et Cie

Campaigns and
theaters

Major battles

Other events

Related conflicts

Involvement (by
colony or location)

Rebel colonies	Connecticut Delaware Georgia Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Virginia
Loyal colonies	East Florida Nova Scotia Quebec West Florida

Leaders

British

Military	Arbuthnot Brant Burgoyne Campbell Carleton Clinton Cornwallis Fraser Gage Graves Richard Howe William Howe Knyphausen Rodney
Civilian	King George III Amherst Barrington Germain North Rockingham Sandwich Shelburne

Colonial

Military	Washington Alexander Allen Arnold Barry Claghorn Clark Duportail Gates Greene Hamilton Hopkins Jones de Kalb Knox Lafayette Charles Lee Lincoln Mercer Montgomery Nicholson Putnam Rodney St. Clair Schuyler von Steuben Sullivan Ward Wayne
Civilian	John Adams Samuel Adams Carroll Dickinson Franklin Hancock Hanson Henry Huntington Jay Jefferson Laurens Richard Henry Lee McKean Morris Revere Rush Witherspoon

Colonial allies

French	Louis XVI Beaumarchais d'Estaing de Grasse de Guichen Luzerne de Rochambeau Suffren Vergennes

Aftermath
Society of the Cincinnati Treaty of Paris (1783) Ratification Day (1784) Constitutional Convention The Federalist Papers Constitution Bill of Rights Shays' Rebellion Jay Treaty

Related topics

Military	Prisoners The Turtle
Political	Founding Fathers Diplomacy Liberty Tree Yankee Doodle
Other topics	Timeline of the American Revolution African Americans in the Revolutionary War Women in the American Revolution Financial costs of the war Libertas Americana

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