Lexington & Concord –British soldiers march into Massachusetts to arrest Patriot leaders and seize weapons –Colonist Militia meet them in battle –First shots of Revolutionary War were fired –“Shot Heard ‘Round the World” The Revolutionary War

2 nd Continental Congress –May, 1775 Representatives from colonies meet in Philadelphia –Created the Continental Army –Appointed George Washington supreme commander of army –Sent Olive Branch Petition to the king –King rejects their request for peace –Declaration of Independence The Revolutionary War

Patriots lose battles early in the war… –Battle of Bunker Hill British win, but lose more soldiers than the colonists –Battle of Long Island Colonists occupied New York until 1776, when the British defeated Washington and took control of New York The Revolutionary War

Washington’s victories –Trenton and Princeton, 1776 Washington on Christmas night, surprised the British and won important victories The Revolutionary War

–Saratoga 1777 The turning point in the war British strategy failed This American victory convinced the French to join the fight against the British The Revolutionary War

Major Test for Rebels –Winter at Valley Forge Washington and his army had to spend the winter of at Valley Forge Army suffered from lack of food, diseases, lack of warm clothing, desertion Yet Washington and his Army survived the winter The Revolutionary War

Valley Forge

The War moves South –After Saratoga, the war moved South The Revolutionary War

War in the South Americans received help from Spain British threatened to kill the locals if they refused to help Mountain people were neutral until the threat angered them and sided with the Patriots

War On the Seas –The British had a much stronger navy Privateers – Americans used to attack and capture British ships –In 1779, John Paul Jones led a new American navy to victory over British ships The Revolutionary War

The End of the War –After several more years of fighting, Washington and his armies had forced Britain’s main general, Cornwallis, into a corner in Yorktown, Virginia –Siege: The French blocked the British in by sea, while the Continental Army blocked them by land –In October 1781, Cornwallis and his army was forced to surrender to Washington The Revolutionary War

BRITISH SURRENDER YORKTOWN 1781

“The World Turned Upside Down” –Yorktown was the last major battle of the war –British still occupied important cities, but Yorktown was a major defeat for them –Americans and British sent delegates to Paris to work out a treaty –Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay represented the Americans –The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, officially ending the war and recognizing the United States as an independent nation The Revolutionary War