Essential Histories The American Revolution 1774–1783 Essential Histories The American Revolution 1774–1783 Daniel Marston NEW YORK AND LONDON This hardback edition is published by Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, by arrangement with Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford, England. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” For information, please address the publisher: Routledge (USA) 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 www.routledge-ny.com Routledge (UK) 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE www.routledge.co.uk First published 2002 under the title Essential Histories 45: The American Revolution 1774–1783 by Osprey Publishing Ltd., Elms Court, Chapel Way, Botley, Oxford OX2 9LP © 2003 Osprey Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 0-203-49287-0 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-57942-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-96837-2 (Print Edition) Contents Introduction v Chronology vii Background to war Colonial agitation 1 Warring sides Linear and irregular warfare 9 Outbreak Shot heard round the world 25 The fighting Colonial and world war 34 Portrait of a soldier Massachusetts professional 89 The world around war War on the homefront 92 Portrait of a civilian Boston loyalist 97 How the war ended Stalemate 100 Conclusion and consequences Influence of the American Revolution 107 Further reading 109 Index 113 Introduction The American Revolution is rooted in a fundamental disagreement about the nature of the relationship between Great Britain and her colonial holdings in North America. At the end of the Seven Years’ War, Britain, still feeling threatened by French and Spanish interests in North America, reconsidered her policies towards the Thirteen Colonies. Indifference was to give way to a more streamlined administrative policy and a greater military presence. Britain considered this necessary to safeguard both her own interests and those of her colonists, and expected that the colonies would contribute towards defraying the expenses for their own protection. Some of the colonists took a decidedly different view of the matter, considering the threat from European powers minimal and resenting an increase in military and financial focus that they viewed as intrusive and autocratic. European powers with interests in North America were monitoring the situation closely, particularly France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic. Their interest and involvement fanned the flames of a local insurrection into a world war. When tensions flared into open insurrection, the French were quick to provide first covert and later formal military and financial aid to the American rebels. In doing so, they intended to destabilize Britain’s position and advance their own interests in the area, hoping eventually to redress their recent territorial losses. Spain chose not to become directly involved, not wanting to appear as an advocate of liberty for colonial possessions in the Americas, and chose instead to ally herself with France, providing aid indirectly, also in the hope of regaining lost territory. The Dutch Republic was neutral, but benefited from the conflict by engaging in direct trade with the Thirteen Colonies, and eventually became directly involved when Great Britain declared war late in the conflict. vi King George III of England. (René Chartrand) Chronology 1775 19 April Skirmishes at Lexington and Concord 17 June Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill) 31 December Battle of Quebec 1776 28 June British attack on Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina 4 July Declaration of Independence issued 27 August Battle of Long Island, New York 28 October Battle of White Plains, New York 8 December British capture of Newport, Rhode Island 25–26 December American surprise Attack on Trenton, New Jersey 1777 3–4 January American attack on Princeton, New Jersey 16 August Battle of Bennington, Vermont 11 September Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania 19 September Battle of Freeman’s Farm, New York 4 October Battle of Germantown, Pennsylvania 7 October Battle of Bemis Heights, New York 1778 6 February Treaty of alliance signed between France and the United States (Thirteen Colonies) 28 June Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey July-August American siege of Newport, Rhode Island 7 September French seize island of Dominica, West Indies 29 December British seize Savannah, Georgia 1779 May British coastal raids, Virginia 8 May Spain declares war on Great Britain May-end of war Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar June-September Naval stand-off, English Channel July-August British defense of Castine, Massachusetts (Maine) 29–30 August Battle of Newtown, New York September-October American siege of Savannah, Georgia 1780 14 March Spanish seize Mobile, Florida (Alabama) February-May British siege of Charleston, South Carolina July French forces arrive in Newport, Rhode Island 16 August Battle of Camden, South Carolina viii 6 September Battle of Pollimore, India 7 October Battle of King’s Mountain, North Carolina 20 December Great Britain declares war on the Dutch Republic 1781 17 January Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina 3 February French seize St Eustatius, West Indies 15 March Battle of Guildford Court House, North Carolina 9 May Fall of Pensacola, Florida 1 July Battle of Porto Novo, India 6 July Battle of Greenspring Farm, Virginia 27 August Battle of Polilur, India 27 September Battle of Sholingur, India 30 September-19 October Franco-American siege and capture of Yorktown, Virginia November Fall of St Eustatius, St Martin, and St Bartholomew, West Indies 1782 February Fall of Minorca 13 February French seize St Kitts, West Indies 12 April Battle of the Saintes, West Indies 30 November First peace treaty signed in Paris 1783 13 June Battle of Cuddalore, India 3 September Peace of Paris signed Background to war Colonial agitation The end of the Seven Years’ War in North America sparked a dispute that would eventually lead to a rebellion among the Thirteen Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The principal disagreement concerned the placement of British regulars in North America and how the British government sought to pay for their upkeep. Britain had emerged victorious from the Seven Years’ War, but in so doing had amassed a considerable debt. Before the war, the British government had undertaken minimal contact with or interference in the internal affairs of the North American colonies, aside from passing Navigation Acts which required that exports from the colonies be transported in British ships. Tensions with the French increased as the 18th century progressed, prompting the British to consider the North American colonies from a more “imperial” perspective. The government began to examine ways that the colonies could be tied into a more efficient trading system with British colonies in the Caribbean and India. The North American theater of the Seven Years’ War (more commonly known as the French-Indian War) had provided the British government with some very negative impressions. Officials had encountered considerable difficulty in gathering supplies for the war effort, and problems with locally raised colonial militia had resulted in the deployment of British regulars to the area. There has been debate over the importance of provincial militia in the French-Indian War, but there is no doubt that colonial troops could not have won the war without the support of British regulars. Some provincial units fought well as irregular units, but others lacked the training and discipline necessary to wage a linear-style war. The discipline of the British regular was required in this theater as in all the others, and following the war’s end, the British government decided that a large contingent of British regulars should be stationed permanently in North America to offset French, Spanish, and Indian ambitions in the area. The British government settled upon a series of new taxes on the colonies as the best way to fund establishing troops in North America. The first of these was the Sugar Act of 1764. The second, the Stamp Act of 1765, charged a duty on newspapers and other official documents. This initiative provoked a negative reaction from the American colonists. Their principal grievance was that the