The Battle of Lexington and Concord

April 19, 1775

The British continued the 6 miles to Concord and the Americans retreated to the North Bridge just outside the town. While the main body of soldiers accomplished their mission of seizing the gunpowder, a small contingent of British troops skirmished again with the colonists, now numbering several hundred. 3 British soldiers and 2 Americans were killed in this battle. As they returned to Boston, the British were under constant assault from Massachusetts militiamen, who inflicted 273 casualties.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

"The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga"

May 11, 1775

Fort Ticonderoga lay on the shores of Lake Champlain. Called Fort Carillon by the French, it was renamed Ticonderoga by the British after it was captured in 1759. The fort was positioned to cut the colonies in half, and two Americans, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, were determined to capture the fort. Allen was approached by Connecticut citizens to lead his men known as the Green Mountain men to take the fort. Meanwhile Benedict Arnold had himself been appointed to the same task by the Massachusetts committee of safety. The two men argued over command, but this did not deter them from attacking the fort. On May 11th, all the men who could fit were loaded in boats and set off for the fort. The men defending the garrison of Ticonderoga were surprised in their beds. Allen called out to Lieutenant Joceyln Feltham, "Come out of there you dammed old rat!" When Feltham asked on whose authority, Allen stated," in the name of Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The fort, with its heavy artillery, fell without a shot being fired.

"The Battle of Bunker Hill"

June 17, 1775

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, two armies faced one another in Boston, the Army of New England, and the British Army. The New England Militia had surrounded Boston and the British army occupied it. Neither side had occupied Dorshester Heights or Bunker Hill which had clear strategic importance. In early June General Gage ordered the occupation of the Heights beginning June 16th. Word of Gages plans reached the Colonist and they decided to act first. On the evening of June 16th Colonel William Prescott on orders of General Artemas Ward led two Massachusetts regiments and his own artillery company plus a large work detail headed out of Cambridge and occupied Bunker Hill. There they decided to dig in and fortify Breed Hill. Through the night the American troops worked to created a fortified position. With first light the British ships at anchor in the harbor noticed the American forces on the hills and began firing. General Gage ordered an attack on the American forces. The attack was led by General Howe with a force of 2200 men. They embarked on twenty eight large barges, a formidable force of redcoats. They landed unopposed on Moultons point. Howe had a complicated plan for a two pronged attack. The plan complexity and disregard for the capabilities of the Americans were its undoing. The 23rd Regiment, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, headed for the redoubt. The Americans who had limited gunpowder held their fire until the British were within fifty feet, then they opened fire on the thick column of British soldiers before them. A British officer described it: "Our Light Infantry were served up in companies, and were devoured by musket fire." The British attack broke. Meanwhile the attack above on the railed fence by the Grenadiers ran into similar trouble. Once again the Americans held their fire until the British were close by. Two attacks of the Grenadiers were successfully turned back. However, the Americans were soon running out of ammunition. On the third attack the British succeeded in overrunning the redoubt. Most of the Americans succeeded in withdrawing. Thirty were caught in the redoubt and killed by the British. The Americans were forced to withdraw, Bunker Hill was in British hands, but 226 British soldiers died taking the Hill and 828 were wounded. The Americans lost 140 killed and 271 wounded.

"The Battle of Quebec"

December 31, 1775

In late June, Congress directed that action be taken against the British in Canada. Washington detailed the task to Benedict Arnold to attack Quebec. Arnold collected supplies and troops and, on September 11, set off. Arnold believed that he would be able to travel by river to Quebec in twenty days. Unfortunately, he underestimated the time and difficulty of getting to Quebec, and it took Arnold 45 days of arduous traveling to reach Quebec. Many of his men died or turned back along the way. By the end of October they had neared Quebec, but a storm kept them away until November 13th. Arnold's army was in no condition to attack, so they pulled away to recoup. They were joined by 300 men led by Richard Montgomery, General Schuyler's second in command who had just captured Montreal. On December 31, the American forces assaulted Quebec, with 600 men led by Arnold from the North and 300 men led by Montgomery from the South. The British were waiting between successive barriers. The Americans broke through the first line, but were stopped by the second. Arnold was wounded in the leg and carried from the battle field. Montgomery was killed by a bullet to the head, and the American assault failed. Six hundred men were captured and 60 died in the attempt to take Quebec.

"The Siege of Boston"

July 1775 March 1776

On June 15th, 1775, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to be the commander of the Continental Army. In the course of a few meetings in June, the Congress passed a series of resolutions that not only created the army-delineated ranks but included a 50 article code of military conduct. Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 2, two weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill. Washington's task was to convert the rag tag militia surrounding Boston into an army, while at the same time tightening the noose around the British troops occupying Boston. The siege had continued for many months when finally, in February 1776, with much of Boston Harbor frozen, Washington proposed a direct attack on the British forces in Boston. The Massachusetts committee on safety rejected Washington's plans, and instead proposed that the still unoccupied Dorchester Heights be seized. On the night of March 4th, after an extensive exchange of artillery, much of it coming from Fort Ticonderoga, American troops under the command of General Thomas seized the Heights. The Americans brought with them prefabricated fortifications. Thus the British awoke the morning of the March 5th to find American troops with artillery fortified in the Heights overlooking Boston. The British commander General Howe was then informed by his naval commander, Rear Admiral Molyneaux, that he would not be able to keep his ships in the harbor with American artillery on Dorchester Heights. Howe had two choices - attack the Americans or withdraw from Boston. After giving serious consideration to attacking, he decided to withdraw. By March 17th, the last of the British troops were loaded and, on the 27th, they sailed out of the harbor. Boston was now in American hands.

"The Battle for New York"

July - August 1776

On July 3, 1776, British troops landed on Staten Island. Over a period of six weeks, British troop strength was increased so that it number over 32,000 by the end of August. Meanwhile, General Washington was preparing his men as well as he could under the circumstances. Washington was hampered by the British control of the sea, which allowed them to conceivably attack either Long Island or Manhattan. Washington decided to defend both vulnerable areas. On August 22, General Howe, the British commander, began transporting troops across the bay from Staten Island to Long Island. Washington decided to defend Brooklyn Heights by digging in around Brooklyn Village. Washington fortified the Heights of Guan, a range of hills 100 to 150 feet in height and covered by heavy brush and woods. The heights were broken by four passes. The furthest away was the Jamaica pass. Only five soldiers were detailed to defend the pass. On August 26th, Howe's troops quietly made their way to the Jamaica pass and seized the five American guards there. The British advanced behind American lines undetected until they reached the settlement of Bedford, where they opened fire. At that point, British troops rushed through the Bedford pass. Two hundred fifty American troops, under General Stirling, were surrounded on three sides. They fought bravely, but were soon overwhelmed. American troops were forced back into Brooklyn Heights. Cornwallis did not follow-up with an immediate attack on Brooklyn Heights. Washington's advisors recommended a withdrawal before British frigates could block the East River and any available means of escape. On the night of August 30th, Washington successfully withdrew his troops across the East River to Manhattan. Washington turned his attention to rebuilding his army. He was given instruction by the Continental Congress that allowed him to withdraw from New York. Washington began moving his supplies and wounded soldiers north from Manhattan. Meanwhile, Howe had decided not attack the heavily fortified Manhattan, but instead to outflank Washington and trap him. On September 13, Howe began to move his army across the East River to Kips Bay, there he hoped to cut Washington off. The landing was successful, and met only limited opposition. Washington's army, however, was able to successfully move North to Harlem Heights. The next day, a brief skirmish took place at Harlem Heights that became known as the Battle of Harlem. In this brief battle, several hundred British light infantry were badly mauled by Colonel Thomas Knowlton's Connecticut regiment. The Americans and the British began digging in. On October 12, Howe once again moved his army to the north to outflank Washington, this time at Throgs Neck. He landed there successfully, but his forces were bottled up on the Neck, which, depending on the tides, was sometimes an island. Washington decided to withdraw north to White Plains. The British slowly followed. It took Howe ten days to arrive in White Plains. There, on October 28th, the British troops captured Chattertons Hill, to the right of American lines. Washington soon withdrew to New Castle, and Howe did not follow.

"The Battle of Valcour Bay"

October 11, 1776

Ever since the failure of the American invasion of Canada, it had been the intention of Sir Guy Carleton, in accordance with the wishes of the ministry, to invade New York by way of Lake Champlain, and to secure the Mohawk valley and the upper waters of the Hudson. The summer of 1776 had been employed by Carleton in getting together a fleet with which to obtain control of the lake. It was an arduous task. Three large York vessels were sent over from England, and proceeded up the St. Lawrence as far as the rapids, where they were taken to pieces, carried overland to St. John's, and there put together again. Twenty gunboats and more than two hundred flat-bottomed transports were built at Montreal, and manned with 700 picked seamen and gunners; and upon this flotilla Carleton embarked his army of 12,000 men. To oppose the threatened invasion, Benedict Arnold had been working all the summer with desperate energy. In June the materials for his navy were growing in the forests of Vermont, while his carpenters with their tools, his sailmakers with their canvas, and his gunners with their guns had mostly to be brought from the coast towns of Connecticut and Massachusetts. By the end of September he had built a little fleet of three schooners, two sloops, three galleys, and eight gondolas, and fitted it out with seventy guns and such seamen and gunners as he could get together. With this flotilla he could not hope to prevent the advance of such an overwhelming force as that of the prepared enemy. The most he could do would be to worry and delay it, besides raising the spirits of the people by the example of an obstinate and furious resistance. To allow Carleton to reach Ticonderoga without opposition would be disheartening, whereas by delay and vexation he might hope to dampen the enthusiasm of the invader. With this end in view, Arnold proceeded down the lake far to the north of Crown Point, and taking up a strong position between Valcour Island and the western shore, so that both his wings were covered and he could be attacked only in front, he lay in wait for the enemy. James Wilkinson, who twenty years afterward became commander-in-chief of the American army, and survived the second war with England, was then at Ticonderoga, on Gates's staff. Though personally hostile to Arnold, he calls attention in his Memoirs to the remarkable skill exhibited in the disposition of the little fleet at Valcour Island, which was the same in principle as that by which Macdonough won his brilliant victory, not far from the same spot, in 1814. On the 11th of October, Sir Guy Carleton's squadron approached, and there ensued the first battle fought between an American and a British fleet. At sundown, after a desperate fight of seven hours' duration, the British withdrew out of range, intending to renew the struggle in the morning. Both fleets had suffered severely, but the Americans were so badly cut up that Carleton expected to force them to surrender the next day. But Arnold during the hazy night contrived to slip through the British line with all that was left of his crippled flotilla, and made away for Crown Point with all possible speed. Though he once had to stop to mend leaks, and once to take off the men and guns from two gondolas which were sinking, he nevertheless, by dint of sailing and kedging, got such a start that the enemy did not overtake him until the next day, when he was nearing Crown Point. While the rest of the fleet, by Arnold's orders, now crowded sail for their haven, he in his schooner sustained an ugly fight for four hours with the three largest British vessels, one of which mounted eighteen twelve pounders. His vessel was woefully cut up, and her deck covered with dead and dying men, when, having sufficiently delayed the enemy, he succeeded in running her aground in a small creek, where he set her on fire, and she perished gloriously, with her flag flying till the flames brought it down. Then marching through woodland paths to Crown Point, where his other vessels had now disembarked their men, he brought away his whole force in safety to Ticonderoga. When Carleton appeared before that celebrated fortress, finding it strongly defended, and doubting his ability to reduce it before the setting in of cold weather, he decided to take his army back to Canada, satisfied for the present with having gained control of Lake Champlain This sudden retreat of Carleton astonished both friend and foe. He was blamed for it by his generals, Burgoyne, Phillips, and Riedesel, as well as by the king; and when we see how easily the fortress was seized by Phillips in the following summer, we can hardly doubt that it was a grave mistake.

"Washingtons Retreat through New Jersey"

1776

The final act of the Battles of New York was the British capture of Fort Washington. The Hudson River was guarded by Fort Washington and Fort Lee, but the British managed to send ships past the forts without difficulty, thus limiting their usefulness. The commander on the scene, Colonel Nathaniel Greene, believed that he could hold the fort with the 3,000 men that he had. On November 27th, Howe struck the outer defenses of the fort. They were too far away from the fort itself, and the British broke through. After suffering heavy losses but acquitting themselves well, the fort surrendered. Two thousand seven hundred twenty-two American were captured. Howe soon took Fort Lee on the New Jersey side and pursued Washington's forces all the way down New Jersey. He did not catch up, however, and Washington was able to get away with his army more or less intact across the Delaware River.

"The Battle of Trenton"

December 26, 1776

On December 26th, Washington's Army crossed the Delaware and surprised the British at Trenton. The main attack was made by 2,400 troops under Washington on the Hessian Garrison. Washington's troops achieved total surprise and defeated the British forces. The American victory was the first of the war, and helped to restore American morale.

Despite Washington's defeats in New York, he was not willing to sit idly by while the British occupied all of New Jersey. The front lines of the British were occupied by Hessians troops who held positions along the Delaware River opposite Washington's troops in Pennsylvania. On Christmas Night, Washington surprised the British by leading a group of 2400 troops across the Delaware. At the same time, James Ewing was to seize the ferry just south of the city. Despite the ice floating down the river, Washington succeeded in crossing the river and leading his men and their artillery ashore. At a few minutes before 8:00, Washington and Ewing's troops converged on Trenton. The Americans set up artillery that commanded the streets of the city. As the Hessians who had been up late celebrating Christmas took to the streets, they were struck down. The British commander, Colonel Rall, was soon killed. Within an hour, the battle was over, 22 Hessians were dead, 98 were wounded and almost a thousand were being held prisoner. Only four Americans, however, were wounded. Washington returned with his triumphant forces to Pennsylvania. The next day, Colonel Caldwater who had failed to cross the river the day before, crossed the Delaware with his troops and occupied the empty town of Burlington. Two days later, Washington followed with his men. As the year ended, Washington had 5000 men and 40 howitzers in Trenton.

"The Battle of Princeton"

January 3, 1777

Gen. Howe responded to the fall of Trenton by sending 5,550 troops south from New York through Princeton toward Trenton. Gen. Cornwalis' troops arrived in Trenton late on the afternoon of the 2nd of January. Cornwalis found Gen. Washington's troops along the ridge of the Assunpink Creek, and decided to wait until the next day to attack. Overnight, Washington moved his troops out of Trenton and into Princeton to the north. There, his advance force met a British blocking force commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood. A desperate fight ensued in Princeton, in which the Americans almost lost. Washington's timely arrival on horseback, however, served to rally the Americans, and the Colonial army defeated Mawhood's troops, forcing them to retreat to Trenton. Both armies were spent, and Washington took his army into winter quarters in Morristown, while Cornwalis withdrew to New Brunswick.