Portraits of War

The Battle of Princeton (1782)
by James Peale

QUICK FACTS

Within nine months, the Americans exhaust their supply of gunpowder. Not able to manufacture it in sufficient quantities, they rely on imports — mainly from the Caribbean.

CONTENTS

Battles

British Commanders-in-Chief in North America

Lieutenant General Jeffrey Amherst, 1758—63
Major General Thomas Gage, 1763—75
Lieutenant General William Howe, 1775—78
Lieutenant General Henry Clinton, 1778—82
General Guy Carleton, 1782—83

Continental Army Commander-in-Chief

General George Washington, 1775—83

Perspectives

Lafayette’s years in America had given him the most glorious career it was possible for a youth of his disposition to imagine. He had fought for a noble cause, and won the love of a nation. George Washington sent him admiring and heart-sore letters after the marquis returned to France; the state of Virginia presented a bust of him to the city of Paris; the island of Nantucket sent him a 500-pound cheese. Lafayette cherished the love he had earned overseas, and never let the French forget it. When his first two children were born, he named the boy George Washington and the girl Virginia. At his Paris household, his family spoke English, and his messenger was dressed as an American Indian.

— Richard Brookhiser

Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution (2003)