Historical Background
American Revolution
Background to the Revolution
Although the thirteen American colonies were governed as separate entities, they all had some form of representation and the majority of white adult males were able to qualify to vote, either by owning or leasing property. While the governors of the colonies were usually appointed by England, they generally followed the wishes of the local assemblies.
George Grenville became prime minister in 1763, succeeding his brother-in-law, William Pitt, who had led England to victory in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). While the war had greatly increased England’s territory, it had been ruinously expensive and Grenville planned to pay for it by increasing the miniscule taxes paid by the American colonies. The Sugar Act (1764) was introduced to clamp down on rampant smuggling by lowering the duty on molasses while actually enforcing collection of the duty. The other main tax was the Stamp Act (1765), where every document required a stamp to be legal, which was common practice in England.
The various colonial assemblies had been gradually increasing their power, so they instinctively resisted the British government’s policy. Furthermore, they were already bitter about the government’s decision to forbid settlement on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains in order to prevent another Indian uprising like Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1766). People throughout the colonies organized Sons of Liberty groups, which attacked stamp distributors and royal officials, hoping to terrorize them into resigning. After many officials’ houses were burned to the ground, the act was repealed, bringing down Grenville’s government in July 1765.
His successor, Lord Rockingham, was himself succeeded a year later by Lord Chatham (formerly William Pitt). Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Chatham, had thought that indirect taxation was less offensive, but new customs duties on glass, lead, paper and tea provoked a fierce torrent of riots. The situation escalated until a small unit of soldiers facing a mob panicked and fired, killing five in Boston on March 5, 1770. The incident became known as the Boston Massacre and the storm of protest led to the repeal of Townshend’s acts.
The Boston Tea Party
Lord North became prime minister in January 1770 and while he was a loyal leader of the king’s supporters, he lacked the vision needed to implement an effective policy. A tax on tea had been kept to remind the colonists who was in charge, so smuggling was still rampant. When an overly diligent naval commander ran his schooner aground near Providence, Rhode Island while searching for smugglers, locals took revenge by removing the crew and burning the ship. Since the American boycott of British tea in favor of smuggled Dutch tea weakened the East India Company’s profits. Lord North decided to permit the company to sell tea even cheaper than smuggled tea. However, the company’s first ship in Boston was stormed by men dressed as Mohawks, who threw the tea overboard on December 16, 1773, and demonstrators in the other port cities also destroyed shipments of tea.
The reaction in England was equally united. Since Britain protected the colonies, it had the right to tax them. Lieutenant General Thomas Gage was given command of the troops in the colonies and was told to enforce the law. The five acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party and related incidents in other cities became known as the Intolerable Acts. The first act was the closure of Boston’s port until the East India Company was recompensed for its tea. The Massachusetts Government Act gave the governor the power to appoint and remove officials, taking it away from the assembly. The Imperial Administration of Justice Act decreed that royal officials accused of serious crime would be tried in England, not the colony. The Quartering Act forced civil authorities to provide quarters and supplies for troops. Actually, the fifth act, The Quebec Act, accepted Canadians’ Catholicism and had nothing to do with the American colonies, but it became grouped with the other four because it was passed around the same time.
In response to the Intolerable Acts, twelve colonies (Georgia had chosen not to participate) sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 21, 1774. It was unable to agree on any specific action, but a majority of delegates refused to give Parliament the right to tax the colonies and they agreed to a ban on the importation of goods from Britain. Most important, the fifty-six delegates had worked together for two months and had arranged for a Second Continental Congress to be held on May 10, 1775.
Gage soon realized that his four thousand troops were not enough to cow the radicals, and asked for reinforcements, while the Intolerable Acts should be revoked to gain time. Instead, he was ordered to provoke a reaction by arresting several members of Congress. He modified the plan to send seven hundred men to seize weapons stored in Concord and Worcester, Massachusetts. The radicals had already formed groups of minutemen (men who agreed to be ready for battle within a minute’s notice) and arranged a system to spread news throughout all of the towns.
Despite the emphasis on secrecy, the force that left during the night of April 18 was observed and the targeted towns were warned. The seventy-seven militiamen at Lexington had begun dispersing when someone fired from one of the houses. The British troops started shooting as the militia fled. The more populated Concord was taken without any resistance soon after but hundreds of militiamen had arrived and the British felt that it would be advisable to retreat. They were under fire the entire way back and they only survived because they were relieved by eight hundred men with cannon. British casualties were 273 against 95 American.
The Howards of Virginia (1940)
Directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott
A young backwoods surveyor marries the daughter of a rich family. When the American Revolution starts, both he and his sons join the rebels, while his brother-in-law supports the British. (please click here to read the review)
Johnny Tremain (1957)
Directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Hal Stalmaster and Luana Patten
An apprentice silversmith becomes involved with the Sons of Liberty and takes part in both the Boston Tea Party and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Gage found himself besieged in Boston as thousands of militia swarmed around the city and roughly fifteen thousand militiamen had gathered by mid May. While the British army was isolated in Boston, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen captured the massive fortress Ticonderoga, on the southern end of Lake Champlain, which controlled the entrance from Lake George. The token garrison of forty-two men surrendered without a fight but the main prize was the fort’s artillery.
The Second Continental Congress met on May 10 with most of the same members. The delegates had not considered open rebellion but a rebellion had clearly already begun, even though most delegates favored reconciliation, if it could be arranged on acceptable terms. George Washington, a delegate for Virginia, was elected commander-in-chief because his temporary rank of brigadier general during the Seven Years’ War made him the candidate with the most experience.
Breed’s Hill
Believing that Gage was incapable of ending the rebellion, Major Generals William Howe, Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne were sent to assist him. The reinforcements that came with them increased Gage’s force to 5,700 men, but the three generals failed to persuade him to take the offensive. The situation changed when a thousand militiamen began digging in on Breed’s Hill on the night of June 16. Since cannon placed on the hill could hit the city, the rebels had to be dislodged quickly, so Gage ordered Howe to lead two thousand redcoats in a direct assault on the hill.
On the afternoon of June 17, Howe marched his troops up the slopes of Breed’s Hill, expecting that the poorly armed farmers would run away at the sight of the redcoats. To Howe’s surprise, the disciplined British troops were twice forced to retreat with heavy losses. The third attempt succeeded only because the rebels had no more powder and retreated to Bunker Hill but the British casualties of over a thousand men was more than double the number of American casualties.
On August 23, King George III declared that the rebellion was a civil war, which ended any hopes of a peaceful reconciliation. Lord George Sackville Germain was appointed Secretary for America because of his iron resolve, and one of his first actions was to replace Gage with Howe. As the most junior of the three generals, Burgoyne realized that there was little chance of advancement and returned to England in early December.
Quebec
Given the might of the British empire, one might have expected that the rebellion would soon be crushed but by the end of the year, Boston was under siege and a rebel force was attacking Quebec. The rebels hoped that since Canada had been taken from the French at the end of the Seven Years War, the native Canadians would be allies against the British. However, Guy Carleton had proved to be a tolerant governor and while the Canadians may not have loved their British occupiers, they proved unwilling to rise up. Outnumbered more than two to one, Carleton failed to block the advancing rebels near Lake Champlain on November 3, and Montreal fell on November 12, so he retreated to Quebec. Lacking the artillery needed to force their way through Quebec’s thick walls, they attacked early in the morning on December 31 under the cover of a snowstorm but the garrison was ready and the rebels were shredded.
Realizing that reinforcements would be needed to crush the rebellion, the government was forced to rely on German mercenaries (29,000 in total) because it was impossible to recruit enough soldiers in England.
Colonel Henry Knox had managed the laborious feat of transporting all of the cannon from Ticonderoga to the rebel army at Boston by mid-February. When these cannon were placed on a hill overlooking Boston harbor, the admiral in charge of the British fleet decided not to test the American’s accuracy, so General Howe was forced to evacuate Boston on March 6. When the fleet reached Halifax there were no longer any British troops in any of the American colonies.
Burgoyne arrived in Canada in May with eight thousand German and British troops to become Carleton’s second-in-command, and plan an invasion of the colonies from Canada. The Americans retreated to Ticonderoga, on the southern end of Lake Champlain, where they were protected by a small fleet. Carleton refused to do anything until his fleet was ready, which took all summer. When the two fleets met on October 11, most of the American ships were quickly destroyed. However, Carleton felt it was too late in the year to make an attempt on Ticonderoga, and his lines of communication were too long, so he retreated to Canada.
Independence
Tom Paine’s Common Sense, a pamphlet arguing in favor of independence, appeared on January 10 and sold 150,000 copies. It eventually sold a total of 500,000 copies and made a significant contribution to the rebels’ finances since he had signed over the copyright to Congress. His clear, forceful analysis of the relationship between England and the colonies enabled all of its readers to understand what was at stake. Suddenly, independence was being discussed throughout the colonies and the delegates to the Continental Congress seized on the change in mood to push for a formal declaration of independence. Written by Thomas Jefferson, a delegate from Virginia, the first draft was presented on June 28 and it was formally accepted on July 4.
Many people in England had little sympathy for the colonists’ claims of tyranny, since much of England was not represented in Parliament. At the same time, Jefferson’s declaration that all men are created equal seemed hard to take seriously given the roughly 400,000 black slaves in the colonies.
New York City Campaign
Howe had arrived in New York Harbor with nine thousand men and Clinton joined him there in mid-July after a failed attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina. Roughly a month later, a fleet appeared with 32,000 soldiers, the largest British army that had ever been fielded outside of England. Howe’s elder brother was in command of the fleet, and had been given authority to conduct peace negotiations, although the declaration of independence made peace unlikely. Washington’s army had dug in on Long Island, but the British found a weakly held pass in the American line and broke through on August 27. Although the rebel army managed to evacuate safely over the East River to Manhattan Island, a powerful naval bombardment forced them to abandon the city on September 15. The ease with which the Americans were driven out of New York City confirmed to the British that the rebellion would not last long. Attracted by an ice free port, Howe chose to seize Rhode Island, rather than pursue the weakened but intact American army, which finally found sanctuary on the other side of Delaware River. Believing the rebellion to be almost finished, the British troops settled into winter quarters.
Revolution (1985)
Directed by Hugh Hudson, starring Al Pacino and Donald Sutherland
A trapper becomes a reluctant patriot during the American Revolution. (please click here to read the review)
Washington launched an attack across the Delaware on Christmas Day that took the Hessian garrison at Trenton by surprise because its commander could not imagine that the starving remnants of the rebel army would cross the river during a horrible snowstorm. Two thirds of the garrison were killed or captured and Washington avoided the troops sent to deal with him by attacking Princeton before retreating back across the Delaware.
After a lengthy period of lobbying, Burgoyne was given command of an expedition from Canada to Albany, intended to divide the colonies in two. A smaller expedition invaded the Mohawk Valley as a diversion, and both forces were intended to reunite at Albany where the two rivers met. The Howe family was powerful in Parliament, and Germain was unwilling to offend them by directly ordering Howe to coordinate with Burgoyne. Believing that he was not obligated to assist Burgoyne, Howe decided to move against Philadelphia, hoping that the capture of the base of the Continental Congress would end the war. Enjoying the winter with his mistress, Howe emerged late from his hibernation, and did not sail for Philadelphia until July 23, arriving near the city on August 25.
The northern expedition started well when Ticonderoga was captured on July 5, but Burgoyne made the critical error of choosing a land route instead of following the traditional water route across Lake George. The rebels diverted every stream and cut down every tree to block the road, so the army had to literally carve its way southwards. Furthermore, Burgoyne lost fourteen percent of his army when an overconfident Hessian commander sent to obtain supplies at Bennington was beaten on August 16.
Although the rebels were entrenched behind the Brandywine River, Washington was outflanked again on September 9 and Howe was able to occupy Philadelphia on September 26. A surprise attack on British troops at Germantown on October 4 ended in defeat for the Americans as the four separate columns became lost in the fog. Even though Howe had inflicted two defeats on the rebels, Washington’s army would simply retreat and would soon be ready to fight again. Most important, Howe had once again failed to recruit large numbers of loyalists. Realizing that the situation was beyond his ability, at least without more reinforcements, he requested to be relieved of his command.
Meanwhile, Burgoyne’s leisurely advance had given Major General Horatio Gates time to dig in at Bemis Heights and Howe’s choice of a sea route had enabled Washington to send him reinforcements. Gates believed it was better to remain behind the fortifications but Benedict Arnold was too aggressive to accept a stationary defense. Instead, he fought two battles at Freeman’s Farm, and while both battles were technically a draw, Gates could afford the losses and Burgoyne could not. When the Continentals (regular troops) survived two battles with the redcoats, so many militia reinforcements flowed in that Burgoyne’s army was surrounded, so he surrendered on October 18. The capture of a British army convinced the French government to sign a formal alliance with the rebels.
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert
A young couple loses their farm in the Mohawk Valley during an Indian raid at the beginning of the American Revolution. When the British and their Indian allies invade the valley, the community is forced to seek shelter in the local fort. (please click here to read the review)
The Devil’s Disciple (1959)
Directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
The black sheep of a family and parson get drawn into the American Revolution when General Johnny Burgoyne leads an army from Canada to split the colonies in two. They help delay Burgoyne’s advance long enough for reinforcements to gather at Saratoga. (please click here to read the review)
Divided Loyalties (1989)
Directed by Mario Azzopardi, starring Jack Lanjedijk and Paul Gross
When the Iroquois Confederacy is divided over whether to support the British or the American rebels, Joseph Brant leads the Mohawks to side with the British.
Despite the embarrassing defeat, the government kept control of Parliament but was unable to obtain the funds needed to pay for another army, while increasing numbers of people began to fear that the war would not be won soon, if at all.
Actually, the military situation did not favor Washington as much as it should have. When the rebel army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, most of the men simply went home, while the rest starved because Congress was unable to arrange for supplies to be sent to the camp. Fortunately, once again Howe refused to campaign during the winter. Since the British only controlled Philadelphia, Rhode Island and New York City, the rest of the colonies were becoming accustomed to their freedom.
The winter may have been more enjoyable for the British in warm and welcoming Philadelphia, but the men who had remained at Valley Forge had learned proper drill, which they would teach to new recruits.
Howe handed over command to Clinton on May 24. The French alliance meant that troops were sent to protect Britain’s Caribbean colonies, so Philadelphia was abandoned and the British returned to New York City. When the two armies clashed at Monmouth Courthouse on June 28, the Continentals’ training paid off and the British were forced to retreat.
The infant American navy had its first naval victory when John Paul Jones captured HMS Serapis. However, the majority of American warships and privateers focused on raiding British commerce in order to deny supplies to the enemy and strengthen the army. Aware that his army could not be risked in fruitless attempts to hold parts of the colonies, Clinton launched raids against ports to destroy privateers and their support networks.
John Paul Jones (1959)
Directed by John Farrow, starring Robert Stack and Bette Davis
Although Jones had won the young republic’s first naval victory during the American Revolution, he is not popular with the new government and leaves the United States to serve in the navy of Catherine, Empress of Russia. (please click here to read the review)
Although the war seemed to have reached a stalemate, a large element of Parliament supported the government based on economic, not patriotic, reasons. Forty-six MPs held supply contracts for the military or were relatives or partners of suppliers.
At the same time, Washington refused to be drawn into battle until he was certain that he could win. More and more senior officers returned to England, believing that the war was lost, while the arrival of 3,800 fever ridden reinforcements on August 25 did little to improve the situation. Following the Gordon Riots and the constant threat of a French invasion, the British government was unable to send reinforcements. However, it was believed that countless loyalists were waiting in the Carolinas, and given the small number of reinforcements, loyalist recruits were desperately needed.
Leaving a garrison in New York, Clinton sailed for Charleston with 8,700 soldiers on December 26, 1779 and they landed on February 11. Although badly outnumbered, Major General Benjamin Lincoln decided to hold the city. After a lengthy siege and a heavy bombardment, Charleston surrendered on May 12. The capture of almost six thousand troops eliminated the main rebel army in the south, therefore Clinton felt that it was safe to return to New York City, leaving the mopping up to Cornwallis. Once South Carolina was calm, Cornwallis was to advance into North Carolina with Virginia his eventual goal. By that stage of the war, there were roughly 40,000 British troops in the colonies, including more than 10,000 loyalists.
Despite the French alliance, the British still controlled the ports and Washington’s army was in the interior, therefore supplies were few, which meant that recruits were few. Washington knew that he could not force the British garrison out of New York, so the war in the north entered a stalemate.
Horatio Gates proved that his role in the victory at Saratoga had not been critical when he led an army to destruction at Camden, South Carolina on August 16. Faulty intelligence had resulted in an encounter with a British army of equal size under Cornwallis. Since Gates had only worn out Continentals and raw militia to face British regulars and well-trained loyalists, it would have seemed prudent to retreat. Instead, he ordered an attack, the militia panicked and ran. The Continentals stood firm but were eventually outflanked and slaughtered. However, the number of partisans exploded and they soon drove Cornwallis crazy with raids. A powerful force of Loyalists under Colonel Patrick Ferguson was crushed at King’s Mountain on October 7, proving that the partisans controlled the countryside.
The Patriot (2000)
Directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger
A peaceful farmer, haunted by his savagery during the Seven Years’ War, wants to remain neutral during the American Revolution but the death of his son drives him to become a guerrilla. (please click here to read the review)
During the elections for parliament, the number of dependable supporters of the crown shrank to 302 out of a total of 552 MPs.
Resentful over his lack of promotion, Benedict Arnold had agreed to surrender the fortress at West Point to the British but he was forced to flee when he learned that the intermediary, Major John Andre, had been captured on September 23.
The Scarlet Coat (1955)
Directed by John Sturges, starring Cornel Wilde and Michael Wilding
An American officer pretends to desert to the British in order to learn the identity of a traitor in the army and discovers that the traitor is Benedict Arnold.
The war in the south began to take a turn for the worse for the British. Major General Nathanael Greene took command and worked with his officers and partisan leaders to plan a campaign to wear down the British.
As a cavalry commander, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton had been the partisan’s nightmare, but his limits as a commander were exposed on January 17 when he led his troops into a trap set by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan at Cowpens where four fifths of his men were killed or captured. When Cornwallis led an army to find and destroy the rebels, Greene led him on a chase that ended at Guilford Courthouse on March 15. Although the resulting battle ended with the British in control of the battlefield, their supply line had been stretched past the breaking point. Greene may have been forced to retreat but he would soon have more recruits and supplies, while Cornwallis’ exhausted men starved as they dragged themselves to Wilmington, North Carolina.
With the main British army absent from South Carolina, Greene orchestrated a campaign in cooperation with the partisans to snap up the series of outposts that had been constructed to control the area outside of Charleston.
Yorktown
Meanwhile, the French had occupied Rhode Island and were planning the next campaign with Washington. Supporting the rebellion was a heavy drain on the French treasury, so Washington was told that the campaign had to end the war or the rebels would have to continue fighting without French support. In July, Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte du Rochambeau’s five thousand troops linked up with Washington’s army. Since Clinton clearly had enough men to hold New York City even against their combined forces they shifted operations to the south, marching towards Yorktown, Virginia where Cornwallis was building a fort. A French fleet landed three thousand more troops before the main British fleet in North American waters arrived. After a bloody battle the British admiral was unwilling to pursue the French fleet, which then linked up with a smaller fleet at Yorktown. Outgunned by the enlarged fleet, the British fleet returned to New York. Cornwallis had not expected to face a combined American-French army of sixteen thousand men and lacked the extensive fortifications needed to hold out for long. The heavy artillery arrived on October 6 and the bombardment commenced three days later. A fleet gathered at New York City to transport Clinton and his army to relieve Cornwallis but did not leave until October 19. Unfortunately, Cornwallis had surrendered on October 17.
When the British government received the news, it was clear to everyone other than the king that the war was over. The British fleet retained its dominance of the seas but Britain lacked the resources to send yet another army to the colonies. The number of pro-government supporters in parliament continued to decline, so North had a weak majority. Despite the fall of Yorktown, the British still controlled New York City, Charleston and Savannah. Realizing that Clinton could not handle the negotiations with Washington, he was replaced by Carleton. When the opposition finally collected enough votes to pass their motion for peace, North’s resignation was accepted, and he was replaced by Lord Rockingham. King George finally announced in parliament the independence of the United States on December 2, 1782, although it only became official when the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783.
Roughly 80,000 of the 500,000 loyalists left the country to settle in England, Canada, Nova Scotia and the West Indies. Part of the reason why the revolution was so successful was that there was no single area where loyalists were the most numerous, although more blame lies with the British army which never really made an attempt to hold an area and re-establish royal control.
Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire, 1775-1783-Stanley Weintraub, Free Press, New York: 2005.
It examines the British viewpoint and gives little attention to the military part of the Revolution. The American defeat at Long Island in August 1776 receives several lines, as does the defeat and retreat from New York City. Although Weintraub never says so, this book is intended for people who are already familiar with the Revolution and want to hear more about the British side. Events in the colonies are presented primarily to show the reaction in England. While it is true that the chronology of the American Revolution is well-known, the book would have benefited from a few more details. Dates of battles in particular are absent far too often. The book contains an impressive number of political caricatures from the period.
Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes-Christopher Hibbert, Avon Books, New York City: 1990.
It does a good job of presenting the British approach to the war. While the numerous first hand accounts give the flavor of people’s speech and their attitude towards the situation, a more coherent examination of the strategies employed by the major commanders would have been helpful.
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789-Robert Middlekauff, Oxford University Press, New York: 1982.
As the title states, the book examines the period before the revolution, devoting many pages to discussions of the atmosphere in both England and the colonies, showing the gradual progression of the intellectual debate and the increase in violence against customs collectors. Middlekauff examines each colony and the relationship between its respective governor and assembly, which reflects impressive research but may appear to be too much background for those interested in an account of the American Revolution. Aside from a number of good maps, the author also provides chapters that discuss the lives of the soldiers, how they were recruited, led, supplied, and the quality of medical treatment; the fledgling navy, life for civilians.
Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution-A. J. Langguth, Touchstone, New York City: 1989.
Langguth begins in 1761, near the end of the Seven Years’ War, showing the growing conflict between the crown’s representatives and an increasing number of colonists who desired greater freedoms. The book is a straightforward chronological examination of the period 1761-1783 with each chapter looking at either an influential individual or a significant event. Brief yet excellent biographies of the main actors of each period are provided. It is a bit weak in some areas, particularly the Philadelphia and Saratoga campaigns, although he does a decent job with the New York campaign. Since the book is called the Patriots, the author is more interested in discussing the actions of the leading patriots and the intricacies of maneuverings in Congress, than the details of military campaigns. In fact, more time is spent discussing the farewell extravaganza held by the British officers for Howe than the battle at Brandywine. The southern campaign is essentially ignored, aside from brief mentions of Gates’ defeat at Camden and Morgan’s victory at Cowpens. The vicious partisan warfare is not even mentioned, but Arnold’s betrayal receives an entire chapter.
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