BATTLE OF LEXINGTON was fought on April 19, 1775 in Massachusetts, 16 miles north-west of
Boston. The British General Thomas Gage sent over 800 elite British troops (Regulars) under
Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Major John Pitcairn to destroy military supplies at Concord,
Massachusetts. Warned by Paul Revere, 70 minutemen under Captain John Parker confronted a group
of about 240 Redcoat soldiers led by Pitcairn on the green in Lexington. A skirmish followed in which
8 Americans were killed, 10 wounded. One redcoat was wounded.
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL was fought June 17, 1775 on Charlestown Peninsula, across the
Charles River from Boston, Massachusetts. The major action actually occurred at Breed’s Hill, just
southeast of Bunker Hill. General William Howe led 2,250 British troops against about 2,200
Americans under Colonel William Prescott. The Americans fought off two assaults by the Regulars
before running out of ammunition in the third British attack and retreating. Howe succeeded at
breaking the siege of Boston; however the win was of little value and Howe suffered many casualties:
271 dead and 783 wounded. 140 Americans were killed and 271 were wounded. The Patriots learned
they could stand against the best British Regulars.
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND was fought in Brooklyn, New York on August 27-28, 1776. General
William Howe landed 32,000 British troops and Hessian troops at the entrance of New York Harbor.
General Washington had 19,000 poorly trained men. Howe launched a 3-pronged attack against the
American troops in Brooklyn, the extreme western end of Long Island. The Americans were beaten
severely, losing 2,000 men killed or captured. The British losses were under 400. The crushing defeat
opened Manhattan to easy invasion and forced Washington to abandon New York City.
BATTLE OF TRENTON was fought on December 26, 1776 in New Jersey. General Washington was
aware that the British had gone into winter quarters and were not expecting any battles. So, he led
2,400 Patriots across the Delaware River and surprised the 1,500 Hessian soldiers led by Colonel
Johann Rall. 900 were captured. The Americans suffered 4 wounded. This victory along with the
victory at Princeton on January 3, 1777, led to the recovery of western New Jersey and greatly raised
Patriot morale.
BATTLE OF BENNINGTON was fought in New York near Vermont on August 16, 1777. General
John Stark led 2,600 untrained militia in the defeat of 1,400 British and Hessian troops sent by General
John Burgoyne to capture supplies in Bennington, Vermont. The Patriots suffered 80 casualties. The
Lobsterbacks had 700 men captured and 200 dead or wounded. The victory exposed the left side of
Burgoyne’s army which was moving from Canada down the Hudson River Valley.
BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE was fought on September 11, 1777 in Pennsylvania, 25 miles
southwest of Philadelphia. The redcoat General William Howe, moving from New York against
Philadelphia, sent 15,000 men against General George Washington and his army of 11,000. While
Howe attacked the center of the American defensive line, Lord Cornwallis attacked the Patriots from
the side. Washington was not prepared for Cornwallis’s attack. The Patriots were forced to retreat and
suffered more than 1,000 casualties. The British suffered about 600 casualties. The victory assured the
British would take over Philadelphia.
BATTLE OF SARATOGA was fought October 7, 1777, in New York about 9 miles southwest of
Saratoga Springs. General John Burgoyne was moving down the Hudson Valley toward Albany, New
York, and was confronted by more than 7,000 American troops under the command of General Horatio
Gates. When the fighting ended, Burgoyne counted 700 casualties, but Gates only had 150. Burgoyne
retreated to Saratoga where he and his army of 5,000 surrendered to Gates on October 17, 1777. The
American victory ended British plans to cut New England off from the rest of the colonies and brought
France into the war on the side of the Americans.
BATTLE OF MONMOUTH was fought near Monmouth Court House on June 28, 1778, during the
American Revolutionary War. It pitted the Continental Army, commanded by General George
Washington, against the British Army in North America, commanded by General Sir Henry Clinton.
The battle was not a decisive victory for either side, but Washington’s troops benefited from military
training received from German officer Baron Von Steuben. They stood up to the British in an open
battle, and fought the British to a draw. The battle demonstrated that Washington’s army was better
trained and more professional than it had been in the past.
BATTLE OF VINCENNES was fought in what is now Indiana on February 23-24, 1779. Vincennes
was originally captured by George Rogers Clark and 200 Patriots in the summer of 1778. The British
took it back later. After a difficult march, Clark and 130 men attacked the village and the fort. The
British commander henry Hamilton and his 100 men surrendered on the second day of the attack.
Because of this victory, Clark was able to secure control of most of the Northwest territory for the
Americans.
BATTLE OF SAVANNAH was fought October 9, 1779 in Georgia. The British had control of the
city, so the French Admiral Jean d’Estaing sailed his navy to Savannah and landed 3,500 troops along
with 1,500 Americans led by General Benjamin Lincoln. The Americans and French bombed the city
that was being held by General Augustine Prevost and about 2,400 British troops. The French and
Americans tried to take the city by storm and were pushed back. French and American casualties were
approximately 800. The British only had 155 casualties. The British victory enabled them to attack
South Carolina in force.
BATTLE OF KING’S MOUNTAIN was fought in South Carolina about 30 miles west of Charlotte
on October 7, 1780. 900 militia from North Carolina and Virginia pursued and cornered Major Patrick
Ferguson and a party of about 1,100 Loyalists. Fighting from tree to tree, the Patriots cut Ferguson’s
forces to pieces, killing 225, wounding 163, and taking more than 700 prisoners. The Americans lost
only 28 killed and 63 wounded. Lord Cornwallis and his British troops were forced to retreat to
Camden, South Carolina and to begin a defensive strategy.
BATTLE OF COWPENS was fought in South Carolina at “Hannah’s Cowpens” near the Broad River
on January 17, 1781. General Greene sent Daniel Morgan with about 1,000 Southern Patriot troops to
the southwest. Lord Cornwallis sent Banastre Tarleton with 1,100 troops after Morgan. Morgan was
able to lure Tarleton’s troops into a trap that beat the British. Tarleton lost 110 killed, 229 wounded,
and 600 captured. Morgan only had12 killed and 60 wounded. The defeat greatly weakened
Cornwallis’s prospect of overrunning North Carolina.
BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURTHOUSE was fought in North Carolina on March 15, 1781. The
Patriot leader General Greene crossed the Dan River into North Carolina. At Guilford, Lord Cornwallis
attached the Americans with about 2,400 troops and forced the Patriots to withdraw. The British had 93
men killed and 413 wounded. American losses were 78 killed and 183 wounded. Cornwallis was not
able to continue to fight battles with such heavy losses, so he began to march his men to Yorktown,
Virginia, while the Patriots began to recover the South.
BATTLE OF YORKTOWN occurred in Virginia September 28 – October 19, 1781. Lord Cornwallis
had taken over the city with 7,000 British troops. Washington was able to surround Yorktown with his
American troops. The French brought its Navy up to the docks of Yorktown so that the British could
not escape by water. The French and the Americans bombed the British for days. Finally, on October
19, Cornwallis and his 7,000 British troops surrendered. This ended the Revolutionary War. American
and French casualties numbered 72 killed and 180 wounded. The British casualties totaled 156 killed
and 326 wounded.