with the fighting at lexington and concord, the american revolution had begun. the american victory...

10th Grade United States HistoryUnit Five: The

American Revolution

• With the fighting at Lexington and Concord, the American Revolution had begun.

• The American victory was badly flawed by a lack of discipline and leadership, but it inflamed the spirit of rebellion and proved to the colonists that the mighty British army was hardly invincible.

• King George III and the conservative majority in Parliament—refusing to see in Lexington and Concord a demonstration of the colonists’ will and ability to fight, persisted in their belief that force of arms would bring a quick end to the rebellion.

Unit 4: The American Revolution—Note Packet 5-1

• Reporting to King George’s Secretary of State for War (Lord Barrington) on April 22, 1775, General Thomas Gage dismissed Lexington and Concord as nothing more than “an affair that happened here on the 19th.”

• Gage failed to grasp that “the affair” did not just happen in Massachusetts.

• By 10 A.M. on the 19th, just after the first American fell at Lexington, Committee of Safety couriers were riding for all points north and south.

• Within hours, news of the battle had reached New York, Philadelphia, and most points in between.

• Within days, it had penetrated to Virginia and the rest of the southland.


• The twin battles were a NATIONAL AFFAIR in the most profound sense: Their impact carried throughout the nation even as it created our nation.


• Soon after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, colonial militia forces from all over New England converged on _______ (home of the British headquarters in America) and laid ______ to the city.

• April 1775: _______ armed Patriots surrounded Boston, bottling up the main British force of _____ troops.

• The commander-in-chief of British forces in America, General _____________, failed to recognize how poorly _________ and _________ the American forces were.


Boston

siege10,000

6,000

Thomas Gage

organizedequipped

• May 1775: In bad need of ___________ and _______, leaders of Connecticut approved a plan to capture _______________ in northwestern New York.

• The capture of this British-held fort, strategically positioned at the point where Lake ______ drains into Lake _________, (Ticonderoga is an Iroquois word meaning “between two waters”) would give the Americans control of the main route into ______ as well as much needed ________ and ________.


ammunition artillery

Fort Ticonderoga

GeorgeChamplain

Canadacannons supplies

• The assignment of capturing “Fort Ti” was given to Vermont landowner __________, leader of the militia outfit known as “The ___________________.”

• At 6’4” (a giant in those days)--Hard drinking, hard swearing, irreverent, as well as fearless and intrepid—Ethan Allen was the stuff frontier legends are made of.


Ethan Allen

Green Mountain Boys

• The mission called for utmost stealth—just before dawn on May 10, 200-300 volunteers waited for boats that would carry them to within half a mile of the fort.

• After considerable delay, only 2 boats materialized—not wanting to lose the element of surprise by waiting for more boats, Allen and 83 of his Green Mountain Boys jammed themselves into the leaky vessels, crossing 2 miles over Lake Champlain in a fierce squall.

• With his typical courage and resolve, Allen insisted that the storm was a stroke of good luck because it muffled their noise and made them virtually invisible to the enemy.


Unit 4: The American Revolution—N.P. 5-1

• Ethan Allen and his small band of fighters charged the fort.

• A sentry spotted them, leveled his musket, pulled the trigger, and the powder flashed in the pan—the gun had misfired.

• One of Allen’s officers was stuck with the bayonet of another sentry who was knocked out with the flat of Allen’s sword.

• Allen rushed up a staircase and was met by a half-naked Lt. Feltham, who, holding his pants partially up with one hand, asked Allen, “By what authority do you intrude on the property of the king?”

• It was the kind of question Ethan Allen relished. “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” bellowed Allen, brandishing his sword over his head.


Allen then went on to demand the fort “and all of the effects of George III.”


• As the fort’s commandant complied, Allen found that the mission was not quite as desperate and dangerous as they had assumed.

• The fort was garrisoned by a mere 48 soldiers—may of them invalids (disabled soldiers assigned to light duty).

• The capture of Fort Ticonderoga led to the subsequent capture of the nearby British post of ____________.

• Together, the capture of the forts netted the patriot cause 78 ________ pieces, six ________, three __________, a wealth of ____________, and other war material that would soon be put to use at Boston.

• Despite these early triumphs, anyone who looked at the situation from an objective point of view would have put money on the British and not the Patriots to gain the ultimate victory.

Crown Point

artillery mortars howitzerscannonballs


WEAKNESSES OF THE AMERICAN PATRIOTS1. Patriot forces lacked _______ and _____________• Against Britain’s armies of well-trained and seasoned

regulars, the patriot forces seemed outmatched. • The Continental Army and the colonial militias lacked

trained artillerists, military engineers, cavalrymen, and men with military administrative experience.

• However, a significant number of colonial army officers were veterans of the French and Indian War and other Indian conflicts.

2. Patriot forces lacked __________ and ______• Paper money was worthless and the Continental Congress

had no power to tax

training organization

moneyequipment


3. ________ opposed the patriots• Patriots not only had to fight against the forces of King

George from Great Britain, they also had to face enemies within their own villages and towns that had lived amongst them for years.– Loyalists (def): Also known as “______”—American

colonists who remained loyal to King George III.4. Patriots had few ________, little ___________, and no

______• The British, on the other hand, were well supplied and

held various forts and outposts in America and her navy was the most powerful in the world, with the ability to move soldiers quickly up and down the coast

Loyalists

Tories

cannons gunpowderNavy


STRENGHTS OF THE AMERICAN PATRIOTS1. Patriots fought for a __________________________.• They were fighting for their own freedom—they were fighting to

defend their homes, their farms, their land, and their shops. • They knew they were fighting for not only their own liberty, but

that of their children and their children’s children. • The British, on the other hand, were fighting with harshly

treated soldiers who often felt little loyalty to their government or their leaders and had very little sense of purpose.

• After all, what were they fighting for?..... To keep others from being free?.... To deny their brethren the same rights and privileges that they felt they themselves deserved?

2. Many patriots (especially from the ranks of the ______) owned _____and were excellent marksmen.

cause that they believed in

riflesmilitia

3. Patriots received _______ ____ (eventually).

4. Patriots had the “___________” __________ of fighting under familiar conditions of climate and terrain.

• This climate and terrain was decidedly unfavorable to British methods of conducting warfare.

• There was one other asset in the Americans’ favor…

• Whereas British military leadership was fragmented and often inept, the American forces (with rare exception) looked to a single man for leadership.

5. Leadership of _______ ___________


foreign aid

home-fieldadvantage

GeorgeWashington

• George Washington was not a profound military genius (as shown in the French and Indian War), but he had a reasonably sound grasp of military strategy and tactics.

• More importantly, he possessed the powerful character of a leader and commanded great loyalty and confidence.

• May 1775: The _________ __________________ met in Philadelphia (representing every colony but _________.


The 342 delegates to the Second Continental Congress included (among others): John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

SecondContinental Congress

Georgia

• June 15, 1775: George Washington was chosen by the Second Continental Congress to be the Commander-in-Chief of the _______________.


Continental Army


• May 25, 1775: Britain’s General Gage was reinforced with fresh troops from Britain, as well as three additional generals to assist him: ______________ (Gentleman Johnny) , ____________, and _______ ________.

• General Gage greeted the arrivals and quickly assigned Howe to crush the American army in a single blow.

• Howe and Clinton were to conduct amphibious landings and secure the high ground and destroy the American flanks in a pincers movement.

• The only flaw in this plan was that the Americans knew about it.

• The local Committee of Safety had a well-developed network of spies.

John BurgoyneWilliam Howe Henry

Clinton

• The Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety ordered General _____________ to fortify __________, which overlooked Boston Harbor.– Ward instead sent General _____________ and Colonel

_______________ (both veterans of the French and Indian War) to occupy nearby ___________—a tactical error because it was lower and more vulnerable.

• 1,200 Americans dug furiously into Breed’s Hill. They had only 11 barrels of gunpowder.

• Gage and Howe had 2,500 troops ready to attack. • They were supported by land-based artillery and by the cannon

fire of the 68-gun ship of the line Somerset, two floating artillery batteries, the frigate Glasgow, the armed transport Symmetry, a pair of gunboats, and two sloops of war, Falcon and Lively.


Artemis Ward Bunker Hill

Israel PutnamWilliam Prescott

Breed’s Hill


• June 17, 1775: The British began a _____ bombardment on Breed’s Hill and launched an ____________ attack with 2,500 men under General Howe.

naval

amphibious

• With battle flags flying high, the drummers tapping out the beat, and with supreme confidence (not only in their own ability, but the inferiority of the Americans), the superior British force twice attempted to take the hill—and twice they were driven back.

• After two unsuccessful attempts, the British finally took Breed’s Hill, but only after the American patriots ran out of _____________.


ammunition

• It was in their retreat that the Americans suffered the most casualties—450 (140 dead).

• But the British, technically the winners, had the most to mourn. Of the 2,400 British troops engaged in combat, there were over 1,000 casualties—a devastating casualty rate of 42%--the heaviest loss the British would suffer during the war.

• Against any enemy, these losses would have been staggering—but this happened to the elite troops of Europe at the hands of a ragtag army of “peasants” that the British had significantly outnumbered and vastly outgunned.

• Although it was misnamed, the __________________ was the first major battle of the American Revolution.


Battle of Bunker Hill


• The Second Continental Congress made a final attempt to stop the revolution by sending to King George III and Parliament the “___________ ________”—declaring continued loyalty to the king and a final appeal for him to repeal the Intolerable Acts. – September 1775: King

George III ________ the Olive Branch Petition.

Olive Branch

rejected

Petition

• By December 1775, _______ and _____________ militia forces defeated the forces of the royal governor of Virginia and destroyed his base at ________.

• January 1776: General _________________, with cannons taken from ______________, ended the siege of Boston, forcing the British to evacuate and re-establish their headquarters at _______, ______ ______.–General _____________, replacing Gage, took

over command of British forces in America.


Virginia North Carolina

NorfolkGeorge Washington

Ft. Ticonderoga

Halifax NovaScotia

William Howe

with the fighting at lexington and concord, the american revolution had begun. the american victory...

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