Strugglingtoward

SaratogaChapter 4, Section 3

TIMELINE

August, 1776: Battle of Long Island

September, 1776: British capture New York

December 26, 1776: Battle of Trenton

October 17, 1777: Battle of Saratoga

Winter 1777-78: Continental Army camps at Valley Forge

WAR STRATEGIES

• What are the strategies for winning the war on each side?– British?

• Use British Navy to control major ports & supply routes (rivers, bays, etc.)

• Use Navy to rapidly move troops, supplies between North & South

• Draw colonials into large-scale battles

• Use superior experience & training to defeat colonials

• USE MILITARY TO SPLIT, DIVIDE & ISOLATE NORTHERN & SOUTHERN COLONIES

Americans?• Use knowledge of terrain / environment to control

countryside• Use support / sympathy of population for information,

supply, etc.• Use variety of tactics (guerrilla war, small-scale battles,

etc.) to buy time to…• Build a Continental Army that has been adequately…

-Supplied-Trained-Experienced-Expanded in size (they need soldiers)

• Use Colonial militias to fight when it is advantageous to do so

THE MATCHUP

• How does either side match-up against the other?• Americans?

– Strengths? • Familiarity w/terrain• REASONABLY Good Leadership from officers• Cause: Independence

– Weaknesses?• Lack of experience & training• NO REAL NAVY - Lack of naval support• Shortage of supplies / equipment• No real gov’t. to rely on for $, support

THE MATCHUP

• The British?• Strengths?

– Strong, professional military (Army & Navy)– Strong, powerful gov’t. for support– Loyalist support– Native American support (ex. Mohawk Nation)

• Weaknesses?– Distance from Britain to America (time & distance for

troops & supplies)– Lack of knowledge of terrain– Inconsistent military leadership

Battle of New York• Fort Ticonderoga • British Army moves to the middle states

• Why?• 32,000 soldiers + mercenaries sail into the New

York Harbor

• Gen. Howe wanted humiliation and surrender• Could offer amnesty

• Continental Army had 23,000 men• LOST and had to retreat August 27th, 1776

http://www.americanrevolution.com/AmRevMap3.jpg

The contribution and sacrifice of the Maryland Line at the Battle of Long Island during the American

RevolutionOn August 27, 1776, some four hundred Maryland troops led a rear-guard action to check the British advance and protect the retreat of Washington's greatly outnumbered army. The Marylanders launched six counter attacks at the Cortelyou House. During the last attack, Cornwallis' troops were reinforced and the Marylanders were swept back to the Gowanus Canal. After the battle, 256 Marylanders were buried in a mass grave that is located a few blocks from the park. It is for this heroic action that Maryland became known as the Old Line State. “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose.”

–George Washington.http://www.sos.state.md.us/MMMC/vt3-md400.html

ONLY 9 men, including the leader of the MD forces, Mordecai Gist, survived.

Primary Documents of the Battle of Long Island

Letters of Sergeant Sands

Toll of the Battle

• ….By late fall Washington has been pushed across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.

• He had ONLY 8,000 troops left!• HE STARTED WITH 23,000!

The American Crisis

• Thomas Paine• Appealed to soldier’s patriotism, asked them

to keep fighting.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and women.”

Trenton and Princeton

•The Continental army needed a win ASAP!!

•Why??

•Trenton: Christmas 1776 - -Washington makes a strike

•Travels across the Delaware in rowboats!

•Captures over 1,000 Hessians!•No American KIA

•6 days later he wins at Princeton•How??•Another sneak attack

The tide is turning for the Patriots!

Looking back on it, what mistake did Howe make after Washington fled NY??

Trenton and PrincetonWashington begins to win:

Uses ruses and surprise attacks/Guerilla tactics

Trenton – captures 1000+ Hessians on Dec. 26,1776

Princeton – Defeat British forces near Princeton

THIS IS THE TURNING OF THE TIDE FOR THE PATRIOTS

NOTE: NJ campaign is to protect Philadelphia, site of the Continental Congress.

Howe makes strategic blunder of not destroying Washington’s forces after NY and dividing his forces to capture RI.

Battle of Trenton, Christmas 1776

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Philadelphia Falls• General Howe wanted to take Philadelphia

• He forced out Washington’s troops and Congress was also forced to flee

• More continental losses:• Brandywine• Germantown

• The British enjoy the winter in Philly!

MAJOR BATTLES,1776 - 1777• BATTLE DATE RESULT

– Long Island Aug., 1776 Brits. win; Americans evacuate NY

– Trenton Dec., 26, 1776 Amer. win

– Princeton Jan., 1777 Amer. win

– Brandywine Aug., 1777 Brits. win– Germantown Sept., 1777 Brits. Win– Philadelphia Aug./Sept., 1777 Captured by Brits– Saratoga* Oct., 17, 1777 Amer. win

SARATOGA• 1777: British appear to be winning the war:

– Brits. in control of New York– Brits. win battles near Philadelphia– Continental Army in desperate need of men, supplies– Continental Congress w/out a capital or enough $

• British plan to end the war:– Simple theory: Divide New England colonies from Middle

& Southern colonies, then conquer them.– How?

• Use two-pronged attack to cut NE from NY• Gen. Burgoyne & Brit. Army in Canada would advance south to

Hudson River.• Gen. Howe would advance from New York & meet Burgoyne’s

army– Result? Colonies would be divided ; revolution would end

BATTLE OF SARATOGA

Benedict Arnold vs. BurgoyneKEY IDEA: Control the water, Control the land

BRITISH OBJECTIVE: Divide the colonies

How??

REBEL STRATEGY: Delay the British link-up, using winter as an ally.

TURNING POINT: British defeat at Saratoga

RESULT: Delay the British and brings France in on side of the Americans!!

NOTE: Benedict Arnold latter betrays the cause, jealous and petulant

Franco- American AllianceFrance gives:

– Gunpowder– Munitions

***(90% of American gunpowder in first 2+ years comes from France!!)

France gets: • Ally in the New World

• A weakened Britain,

• Protection for her sugar colonies in the West Indies

• Possibly New France back as well

Americans get: • A wider war:

– France, Spain, Holland – fighting in North America, South

America, Asia, Caribbean, and on the high seas.

• Most of its supplies, training, and naval support

Winter at Valley Forge• Winter 1777-1778

• Terrible winter with few supplies.

• LOW POINT FOR THE AMERICANS.

• Troops that remain are committed and trained by Baron von Steuben.

• Inadequate:– Food– Supplies– Firewood– shelter

Washington’s description of Valley Forge

• “It may be said that no history can furnish an instance of an Army’s suffering uncommon hardships as ours has done. To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without shoes, by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet, and almost as often without provision as with. Marching through frost and snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter quarters within a day’s march of the enemy, without a hut to cover them until they could be built and submitting to it without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarcely be paralleled.”

• General George Washington

• What role did women and slaves play in the war?

• How was the war beneficial to them?

Terms

• Trenton

• Saratoga

• Valley Forge

• Inflation

• Profiteering