1. The War is Won
Chapter 6, Lesson 4

2. Victory at Yorktown
The war had reached a critical point where both sides needed a victory to win the war.
Washington planned to attack Yorktown, Virginia, instead of New York City.
The Patriots hoped for help from the French.
In July 1780, French warships appeared in the waters off Newport, Rhode Island carrying more than 5,000 soldiers commanded by French general, Comte de Rochambeau (ROH-SHAM-BOH)
The promised French aid had finally arrived and were cheered for by the Americans.
Unfortunately, the French fleet was trapped at Newport shortly after by a British fleet.

3. Victory at Yorktown
In autumn of 1780, Washington camped North of New York City waiting for a second fleet of French ships.
This position allowed him to keep an eye on General Clinton’s army based in New York.
He had originally planned to attack Clinton once the second fleet of French ships arrived but it took more than a year for them to arrive from the West Indies which did not sail until the summer of 1781.
Comte de Rochambeau

4. Change in Plans
Washington followed reports of the fighting in the South during 1780 and 1781.
He knew Cornwallis was camped at Yorktown, Virginia and that Lafayette was keeping Cornwallis bottled up on that Peninsula.
In August of 1781, Washington learned that French naval commander Admiral François de Grasse was headed towards Chesapeake Bay instead of New York.
Washington makes a change in his plans and advances towards Yorktown rather than New York City.
He took steps to keep the new American strategy secret in order to keep Clinton thinking he would attack New York so he would not send reinforcements to assist Cornwallis.

5. Admiral François de Grasse

6. Change in Plans
General Rochambeau marched his troops from Newport to join General Washington in July.
Washington and Rochambeau then rushed south with their armies.
The secret was so well kept that even the soldiers did not know where they were going.
“We do not know the object of our march, and are in perfect ignorance whether we are going against New York, or … Virginia”
Washington’s troops marched 200 miles in 15 days and Clinton was completely unaware.
Lafayette’s troops, Washington’s troops and Rochambeau’s main American-French army, and Admiral De Grasse would meet at Yorktown.

7. The Siege of Yorktown
On September 5, Washington was relieved to hear that Admiral De Grasse’s ships were nearing Yorktown.
The plan worked and the British were confused.
14,000 American and French troops had trapped Cornwallis’ 7,500 British and Hessian troops and Yorktown.
De Grasse’s fleet prevented them from escaping by sea.
Clinton waited in New York unable to help Cornwallis.

8. Cornwallis’s Defeat
On October 9, the Americans and French began a tremendous bombardment.
British supplies began to run low and many soldiers were wounded or sick.
Cornwallis realizing the hopelessness of his situation surrenders on October 19.
The Patriots had won the battle of Yorktown.
The British handed over their weapons while marching between rows of French and American forces on either side.
“Yankee Doodle” and a children’s tune called “The World Turned Upside Down.”

9. Independence The fighting did not really end at Yorktown.
The British controlled Savannah, Charles Town, and New York while come clashes continued on land and sea.
The victory did finally convince the British that the war was too costly to pursue.
Both sides sent delegates to Paris to work out a treaty.
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay represented the United States.
The Americans approved the preliminary treaty in April 1783 with the Final treaty of Paris being signed on September 3, 1783.
By that point the British had also made peace with the French and Spanish.

10. Independence The Treaty of Paris was a triumph for the Americans.
Great Britain now recognized the United States as independent.
The United States at this point would extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi and from Canada down to Spanish controlled Florida.
The British withdrew all troops from American territory.
They gave the Americans the right to fish off the coast of Canada.
The United States in turn agreed that:
British merchants could collect debts owed to them by Americans.
Property taken from the Loyalist should be returned to them.

11. The Newburgh Conspiracy
After the British surrender, Washington maintained a strong army with headquarters at Newburgh, New York, planning to disband when the peace treaty was signed.
The period after the surrender was not easy amongst American soldiers as anger mounted when Congress refused to fund their pensions and failed to provide other pay.
Some officers began to circulate a letter in March of 1783 explaining that if their demands were not met, the army should refuse to disband.

12. The Newburgh Conspiracy
Washington was shocked by this as he knew it would lead to a revolt and destroy the newly formed nation.
He persuaded the angry officers to be patient with Congress urging them to their just demands:
“If, retiring from the field, they are to grow old in poverty… then I shall have learned what ingratitude is.”
Washington’s leadership ended the threat to the new nation, and Congress soon acted on the demands.

13. Washington’s Farewell
The British troops left New York in late November 1783.
With the war finally over, Washington could finally give up his command.
Washington gave his farewell at Fraunces’ Tavern in Manhattan.
“With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you.”
Nearly three weeks later, Washington formally resigns from the army at a meeting of the Second Continental Congress in Annapolis, Maryland.
The scene was described by a witness as,
“The spectators all wept, and there was hardly a member of congress who did no drop tears.”

14. Fraunces’s Tavern

15. Washington’s Farewell
Washington said,
“Having now finished the work assigned me I retire … and take my leave of all employments of public life.”
He returned to his home, Mount Vernon, in time for Christmas.
He planned to live quietly with his family.

16. Why the Americans Won
The Americans defeated the world’s strongest power but, how did they pull this off?
Fighting on their own land while British imported supplies and troops.
Blocking their access at sea greatly reduced their power.
The Patriots could control countryside locations with ambushes and surprise attacks.
Assistance from other Nations whether in providing troops or supplies and funding.
Perhaps the most important was the fact that the Americans had a people’s movement and their determination helped them win.

17. The Influence of the American Revolution
The ideas of the American Revolution inspired many other areas around the world.
It influenced the French Revolution
French rebels fought for “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”
They repeated the ideas of the American Declaration of Independence: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”
It’s ideas of revolution influenced the French-held island of Saint Domingue (Present-day Haiti)
Inspired by talk of freedom, enslaved Africans took up arms and were led by Toussaint-Louverture.
In 1804, it became the second nation in the Americas to attain independence from colonial rule.

18. Toussant-Louverture