American Revolutionary War Campaigns

There were 16 campaigns in the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War streamer is scarlet with a white center stripe with golden yellow inscription. Scarlet is the color of the mother country and the white stripe symbolizes the virgin land of the new country separated from its former sovereign by force of arms. The following inscriptions are on the revolutionary war streamers:

Lexington

Lexington, 19 April 1775. Opening hostilities of the Revolutionary War occurred at Lexington, Massachusetts and Concord, Massachusetts on 19 April 1775, when a column of British troops that had moved out of Boston to seize rebel military stores at Concord was assailed by Minutemen. The Massachusetts militia immediately placed the British in Boston under siege.

Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga, 10 May 1775. At the same time as Lexington, steps were taken to send an expedition against British-held Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, a strategic post well-supplied with artillery and military stores much needed by the American forces investing Boston. Early on 10 May, a New England force of some 80 men led by Cols. Ethan Allen of Vermont and Benedict Arnold of Connecticut surprised the British garrison of about 40 men, which surrendered without a fight. Following this success, Allen seized Crown Point, New York on 12 May and Arnold temporarily occupied St. John, Quebec, a fort across the Canadian border, on 16 May. Subsequently, a large part of the 100 cannon and substantial military stores captured at Ticonderoga were laboriously hauled overland to Boston under the direction of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, of Washington's artillery, to supply the army besieging the city.

Boston

Boston, 17 June 1775 - 17 March 1776. On the night of 16 - 17 June 1775, about 1,200 men of the Colonial force besieging Boston moved on to the Charlestown peninsula (or "neck") overlooking the city and threw up entrenchments on Breed's Hill. The British garrison reacted promptly to this threat. On 17 June, 2,200 troops under Maj. Gen. William Howe were ferried across to the peninsula and stormed the American positions on Breed's Hill. In the ensuing battle, incorrectly named after Bunker Hill which stands nearby, the British drove the Colonials from the peninsula after three assaults, but at a cost of about 1,000 in killed and wounded as compared with American losses of approximately 400 killed and wounded. Some 3,030 patriots took part in the fighting at one time or another. This proved to be the only major engagement of the prolonged siege of Boston. Gen. George Washington took formal command of the besieging army on 3 July 1775 and devoted the next several months to building up the American force and trying to solve its severe logistical difficulties. By March 1776 Washington had an army of 14,000 men. On 4 March, he moved suddenly to install artillery on Dorchester Heights and, a short time later, on Nook's Hill, positions that dominated Boston from the south. The British commander, Howe, now recognized the serious difficulty of his position. He evacuated the city by 17 March and on 26 March sailed with about 9,000 men for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Quebec

Quebec, 28 August 1775 - July 1776. In June 1775, the Continental Congress, influenced by reports that the British commander in Canada was recruiting a force in preparation for an invasion of New York and by hopes that Canada, largely inhabited by French speakers, might become a 14th colony in support of the revolution, authorized seizure of any vital points in Canada needed to guarantee the security of the colonies. Consequently, a two-pronged invasion of Canada was launched in the early fall of 1775. Colonel Benedict Arnold, starting from Cambridge, Massachusetts, with about 1,100 men, went by water and land through the Maine wilderness on a march up the Kennebec River and down the Chaudière River, arriving before Quebec on 8 November with only 650 men. There he had to await the arrival of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had taken over command of a force of about 2,000 men organized at Fort Ticonderoga by Major General Philip Schuyler for an advance up the historic Lake Champlain-St. Lawrence River route. Beginning on 17 September, Montgomery laid siege to the British fort at St. Johns, which fell on 2 November, opening up the way to American occupation of Montreal on 13 November. Finally, Montgomery joined Arnold near Quebec on 3 December, but with only 300 men, the rest of his force staying behind to garrison St. Johns and Montreal, Quebec. With enlistments of most of the volunteer troops expiring at the end of the year, the two commanders decided to undertake a desperate night attack on Quebec on 30-31 December 1775. A composite British garrison repelled the assault, killing or wounding about 100 Americans and taking over 400 prisoners. Montgomery was among those killed. In spite of these severe losses, the Americans continued to besiege the city until the spring of 1776, when the reinforced British garrison drove the Colonials, who had already begun a retreat, back to the head of Lake Champlain.

Charleston

Charleston, 28-29 June 1776 and 29 March-12 May 1780. The two engagements at Charleston, South Carolina, are reflected on a single streamer. The first campaign blunted the British threat in the southern theater for three years, and the second, while a defeat for the Americans, did not result in a cessation of hostilities in the south. Guerrillas began to harry British posts and lines of communications, and the American grass roots strength began once again to assert itself and to deny the British the fruits of military victory won in the field.

Long Island

Long Island, 26-29 August 1776. After the British evacuation of Boston, Washington immediately moved his army, less the militia, to New York, in anticipation of a British invasion of that strategically important city. During July and August 1776, General Howe, supported by a British fleet under his brother, Adm. Lord Howe, landed an army of 32,000 British and Hessian regulars unopposed on Staten Island. But by late August, Washington had assembled a force of over 20,000 virtually untrained Continentals and militia, and built a system of defenses on and around Manhattan Island. About half of these Colonial troops were disposed in fortifications on Brooklyn Heights and forward positions at the western end of Long Island under command of Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam. From 22 - 25 August, General Howe landed about 20,000 men on Long Island and, in the evening of the 26th, directed a wide flanking movement around the American left, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Sullivan. On the morning of the 27th, Howe fell upon the rear of Sullivan's forces and, despite a valiant defense by the Continentals on the right under Brig. Gen. William Alexander, the whole American front crumpled. Remnants of the forward American forces fled back to entrenchments on Brooklyn Heights and two nights later were evacuated to Manhattan in a skillful withdrawal unobserved by the British. Estimates place American losses at 300-400 killed and wounded and 700-1,200 taken prisoners. General Howe listed his losses as 367.

Trenton

Trenton, 26 December 1776. The British followed up their success on Long Island with a series of landings on Manhattan Island which compelled Washington to retire northward to avoid entrapment. When Fort Washington and Fort Lee on opposing sides of the Hudson above Manhattan were lost in mid-November 1776, Washington retreated across New Jersey with General Howe in close pursuit, escaping finally over the Delaware into Pennsylvania with about 3,000 men. Howe then went into winter quarters in New York City, leaving garrisons at Newport, R. I., and in several New Jersey towns. In December 1776, Washington determined to make a surprise attack on the British garrison in Trenton, a 1,400-man Hessian force, in the hope that a striking victory would lift the badly flagging American morale. Reinforcements had raised Washington's army to about 7,000 and on Christmas night (25-26 December) he ferried about 2,400 men of this force across the ice-choked Delaware River. At 0800 hours, they converged on Trenton, New Jersey in two columns, achieving complete surprise. After only an hour and a half of fighting, the Hessians surrendered. Some 400 of the garrison escaped southward to Bordentown, New Jersey, when two other American columns failed to get across the Delaware in time to intercept them. About 30 were killed and 918 captured. American losses were only 4 dead and a like number wounded.

Princeton

Princeton, 3 January 1777. After the successful coup at Trenton, Washington recrossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania with his Hessian prisoners. But he reoccupied Trenton on 30 - 31 December 1776, and collected there a force of 5,200 men, about half militia. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Charles Cornwallis, British commander in New Jersey, who was in New York at the time of the attack on Trenton, returned gathering troops as he came. He entered Trenton with some 6,000 British regulars on 2 January and faced Washington's forces, which had withdrawn southward behind Assunpink Creek. The Americans were in a most precarious position with their backs to the Delaware. Fortunately, Cornwallis delayed his attack until the following morning. This gave Washington's men an opportunity to steal off quietly by a side road during the night of 2 - 3 January, leaving their campfires burning brightly. They slipped southward and eastward undetected around the enemy's flank and by morning of the 3rd had arrived at Princeton, where they encountered a column of British regulars led by Col. Charles Mawhood just leaving the town to join Cornwallis. Mahwood's force consisted of only single battalion of aroung 400 men. But despite being heavily outnumbered, Mahwood routed two American brigades in succession, and was only driven from the field when Washington arrived to rally the panicking Americans bringing up a fresh brigade, and giving the Americans, with 4,600 men, an 11 to 1 numerical advantage. Mawhood's force retired in good order toward Trenton and New Brunswick, having lost some 86 men in the unequal fight, while Washington moved on north, having taken 40-50 casualties, to Morristown, New Jersey, where thickly wooded hills provided protection against a British attack. Here he established his winter headquarters on the flank of the British line of communications, compelling General Howe to withdraw his forces in New Jersey back to New Brunswick, New Jersey and points eastward. Some 323 other British troops surrendered to Washington's force in and around Princeton without a fight.

aratoga

Saratoga, 30 July - 17 October 1777. British over-all strategy in 1777 had two major objectives: (1) to split New England from the rest of the American states by a drive from Canada down the Hudson to Albany that would link up with another British force advancing north from New York City; and (2) to seize Philadelphia, seat of the Revolutionary government. The campaign in upper New York began in June 1777 with a two-pronged British drive from Canada. Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne's force of about 7,500, accompanied by some 400 Indians, pushed down Lake Champlain and compelled 2,500 Continentals and militia under Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair to evacuate Ticonderoga on 27 June. Other American forces in the area under the over-all command of General Schuyler retired southward, but were able to slow the progress of the heavily laden British in the rugged terrain. The other prong of the British invading force consisted of some 700 regulars and Tories, and a band of 1,000 Indians, under command of Col. Barry St. Leger. This force moved east from Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario into the Mohawk Valley with the objective of joining with Burgoyne at Albany. Leger laid siege to Fort Stanwix guarding the head of the Mohawk Valley on 2 August, but had to give up his campaign in mid-August when a relief force of 950 Continentals under Arnold scattered his Indian allies by means of a clever ruse. Meanwhile, Burgoyne continued his advance toward Albany, although his force was further weakened by the near annihilation on 17 August of a foraging detachment dispatched to capture stores at Bennington, Vt., protected by 2,600 militia under Brig. Gen. John Stark. On 13 - 14 September Burgoyne crossed the Hudson at Saratoga (now Schuylerville, New York) and faced an American force of about 7,000 under Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates, who on 19 August had replaced General Schuyler as over-all commander of the northern army. On 19 September, Burgoyne, determined to reach Albany by winter, moved to attack Bemis Heights, where Gates' force barred the route southward in strongly entrenched positions. A major engagement occurred at Freeman's Farm, just forward of the main positions. The Americans yielded the field but inflicted twice as many casualties (600) as they suffered and held on to the Heights. For more than two weeks Burgoyne remained inactive while Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, now commanding troops in New York City, made an ineffectual effort to send relief forces up the Hudson. Finally, on 7 October, Burgoyne ventured out of his lines toward the American left with 1,650 troops and was repulsed in a sharp fight known as the Battle of Bemis Heights. On 9 October, he retired to a position near Saratoga, where he was soon virtually surrounded by an American force now grown to nearly 15,000 men. Here, on 17 October, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army of about 5,000 men and large military stores.

Brandywine

Brandywine, 11 September 1777. The campaign to seize Philadelphia, the second major phase of British strategy in 1777, began in late July. Some 15,000 troops under Howe's command sailed from New York on 23 July and landed at Head of Elk (now Elkton), Maryland, a month later (25 August). Washington, with about 11,000 men, took up a defensive position blocking the way to Philadelphia at Chadd's Ford on the eastern side of Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania. Howe attacked on 11 September, sending Cornwallis across the creek in a wide-sweeping flanking movement around the American right, while his Hessian troops demonstrated opposite Chadd's Ford. Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene's troops staved off Cornwallis' threatened envelopment of Washington's whole force, and the Americans fell back to Chester, Pennsylvania in a hard-pressed but orderly retreat. Patriot losses in this engagement totaled about 1,200 killed, wounded, and prisoners. British casualties were 576.

Germantown

Germantown, 4 October 1777. After their victory at Brandywine, the British forces under Howe maneuvered in the vicinity of Philadelphia for two weeks, virtually annihilating a rear guard force under Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne at Paoli on 21 September 1777, before moving unopposed into the city on 26 September. Howe established his main encampment in nearby Germantown, stationing some 9,000 men there. Washington promptly attempted a coordinated attack against this garrison on the night of 3 - 4 October. Columns were to move into Germantown from four different directions and begin the assault at dawn. Two of the columns, both made up of militia, never appeared to take part in the attack, but in the early phases of the fighting the columns under Greene and Divan achieved considerable success. However, a dense early morning fog which resulted in some American troops firing on each other while it permitted the better disciplined British to re-form for a counterattack, and a shortage of ammunition contributed to the still not fully explained retreat of the Americans, beginning about 0900. Howe pursued the Colonials a few miles as they fell back in disorder, but he did not exploit his victory. American losses were 673 killed and wounded and about 400 taken prisoner. British losses were approximately 521 killed and wounded.

Monmouth

Monmouth, 28 June 1778. After conclusion of the Franco-American Alliance (6 February 1778) British forces in America had to give consideration to the new threat created by the powerful French fleet. General Clinton, who relieved Howe as British commander in America on 8 May 1778, decided to shift the main body of his troops from Philadelphia to a point nearer the coast where it would be easier to maintain close communications with the British Fleet. Consequently, he ordered evacuation of the 10,000-man garrison in Philadelphia on 18 June. As these troops set out through New Jersey toward New York, Washington broke camp at his winter headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and began pursuit of Clinton with an army of about 13,500 men. Advance elements under Maj. Gen. Charles Lee launched the initial attack on the British column as it marched out of Monmouth Courthouse (now Freehold, New Jersey, on 28 June, an extremely hot day. For reasons not entirely clear Lee did not follow up early advantages gained, and when British reinforcements arrived on the scene he ordered a retreat. This encouraged Clinton to attack with his main force. Washington relieved Lee and assumed personal direction of the battle, which continued until dark without either side retiring from the field. But, during the night, the British slipped away to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, from where their fleet took them to New York City. The British reported losses of 65 killed, 155 wounded, and 64 missing; the Americans listed 69 killed, 161 wounded, and 130 missing. General Lee was subsequently court-martialed and suspended from service for disobedience and misbehavior. Washington's army moved northward, crossed the Hudson, and occupied positions at White Plains, New York

avannah

Savannah, 29 December 1778 and 16 September-10 October 1779. The fighting at Savannah, Georgia, on these two occasions is represented by a single streamer. In the first battle, a British expeditionary force that had landed on the Savannah River below the town overwhelmed and outmaneuvered the American defending force under General Robert Howe, and Savannah was captured. The following year D'Estaing's French fleet returned from the West Indies to the southern coast and began to debark troops at Beaulieu, Georgia, 14 miles south of Savannah, with the intention of attacking the British at Savannah. A combined force of 1,500 Americans under General Lincoln and more than 5,000 Frenchmen from D'Estaing's fleet laid siege to Savannah, which was defended by about 3,200 British regulars. D'Estaing's fears for the safety of the French fleet led to an early Franco-American attack on the entrenched British, which was repulsed with 828 casualties. British losses were 103.

Camden

Camden, 16 August 1780. An encounter between the main British/Hessian force in the Carolinia's, 2,200 troops under General Cornwallis, and a newly raised American force of 4,100 under Horatio Gates and Baron de Kalb, sent south to relieve the situation following the fall of Charleston. The American centre and left, made up of militia from Virginia and North Carolina, fled at the first impact of the British assault, leaving the Continental regulars on the right to fight on their own. Outflanked, and taken from the rear by cavalry under Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, the Continentals were overwhelmed and de Kalb killed. British losses were 312. American losses were 880 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 captured.

Cowpens

Cowpens, 17 January 1781. Cowpens, South Carolina, was the scene of a classic battle, which marked the beginning of the American campaign under General Greene, to drive the British from the south. In terms of duration and actual troops engaged, it was a larger battle than Princeton, and its results—the destruction of an important part of the British army in the south—were incalculable toward ending the war.

Guilford Court House

Guilford Court House, 15 March 1781. Guilford Court House, North Carolina, was the site of the culminating battle in General Greene's campaign against General Cornwallis. Despite having 4,400 troops, and being on the defensive, General Greene lost against the able Cornwallis and his 1,900 veteran soldiers in a hard fought engagement that cost the British 500 casualties, and the Americans 1,300. However, Greene could replace his heavier losses, while Cornwallis could not, causing him to retreat to the coast and from there to move to Virginia, where he ultimately became trapped at Yorktown.

Yorktown

Yorktown, 28 September - 19 October 1781. After 1778 the main theater of war shifted to the South as the British concentrated on trying to reestablish their control of that area. By 1781 they were convinced that this could not be accomplished while Virginia continued to serve as a base for American military operations. Hence, in January 1781, Clinton sent the American turncoat, Benedict Arnold, with 1,600 British troops to raid up the James River. By late May, the British had accumulated about 7,200 men in Virginia, including the remnants (1,500) of Cornwallis' force, which had come up from Wilmington, North Carolina. Cornwallis was given over-all command of British forces in Virginia and in late May and early June led them on raids deep into the state. At first, he was opposed only by a numerically greatly inferior force under the Marquis de Lafayette, but in mid-June the latter was reinforced by troops under Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne and Baron von Steuben, drillmaster and inspector general of the Continental Army. Cornwallis then turned back to the coast to establish a base at Yorktown from which he could maintain sea communications with Clinton in New York.

Meanwhile, Washington was tentatively preparing his northern army, recently reinforced by about 4,800 French troops under Lt. Gen. Jean B. de Rochambeau, for an attack on New York. However, he received confirmation on 14 August that Adm. Francois de Grasse's fleet had departed the French West Indies with 3,000 troops aboard and would be available for operations in the Chesapeake Bay area until mid-October. He therefore finally determined to go to Virginia with a substantial part of his army, including the French regulars under Rochambeau. He crossed the Hudson (20-26 August), made a feint in the direction of New York to hold Clinton in the city, and then struck southward across New Jersey and Pennsylvania to Maryland. In the meantime, De Grasse's fleet arrived off Yorktown on 30 August, debarked 3,000 French regulars to reinforce Lafayette, and on 5 September fought an indecisive naval engagement off the Virginia capes with a British fleet under Adm. Thomas Graves. After several days of maneuvering at sea, Graves retired temporarily to New York for repairs, leaving the French fleet in control of Chesapeake Bay. This permitted Washington and Rochambeau to embark their forces in Maryland and sail via the Chesapeake and the James River to a point near Williamsburg (14-24 September). From there an allied army numbering about 15,000--8,845 Americans and 7,800 French--moved forward on 28 September to begin siege operations against Yorktown. Finally, after a night attack on 16 October failed to recapture key defense points, Cornwallis requested an armistice (17 October).

Results

Cornwallis surrendered his entire command—about 8,000 men—on 19 October. In the siege the British lost 156 killed and 326 wounded; the Americans, 20 killed and 56 wounded; and the French, 52 killed and 134 wounded. British hopes for victory in America collapsed with Cornwallis' defeat. Lord North's ministry fell in March 1782 and the new cabinet opened direct negotiations with the American peace commissioners in Europe that resulted ultimately in ending the war.