CHAPTER 4
Section 4
WINNING THE WAR
Mr. Clifford
US 1
Main Idea
& Why It Matters Now
Main Idea
Strategic victories in the South and at Yorktown
enabled the Americans to defeat the British.
Why it Matters Now
o The American defeat of the British established the
United States as an independent nation
KEY TERMS
Yorktown
Friedrich von Steuben
Marquis de Lafayette
Charles Cornwallis
Treaty of Paris
Egalitarianism
Analyzing Causes,
Recognizing Effects
British move their operations to the South
(Claim early victories in South Carolina)
Washington orders Nathaniel Greene to go after
Cornwallis
Cornwallis retreats from the Carolinas to Yorktown
American & French troops converge on Yorktown
British forced to surrender. WAR IS OVER
European Allies Shift the Balance
Friedrich von Steuben: Prussian captain & drillmaster
volunteered his services to Washington at Valley Forge.
Steuben taught the colonial soldiers to: stand at
attention, execute field maneuvers, fire & reload
quickly, & wield bayonets. The Continental Army was
becoming an effective fighting force.
Lafayette & the French
Marquis de Lafayette: brave, 20 year old French
aristocrat. Lafayette cared passionately about the
American cause and wanted to help the Continental
Army any way he could. Lafayette joined Washington’s
staff at Valley Forge. He would lobby for French
reinforcements in France in 1779, and eventually led a
command in Virginia in the last years of the war.
France needed time to organize forces and send them
to America.
The British Move South
After Saratoga, the British changed their military strategy.
In the summer of 1778 Britain began to shift their operations to the South.
Britain hoped to rally Loyalists in the South & reclaim their former
colonies.
Britain would then slowly fight their way back north.
Early British Success in the South
By 1780, the British captured: (Savannah, Georgia & Charlestown,
South Carolina)
General Charles Cornwallis commanded the British troops in the
south.
Britain proclaimed that: any slave who joined the British forces
would be set free after the war. Thousands of African Americans
escaped slavery to join the British Army .
British Reverses in 1781
Washington ordered Nathaniel Greene to march south and to harass
Cornwallis.
Daniel Morgan, with 600 soldiers, was ordered to march into South
Carolina. Morgan and his men led the British on a grueling chase
through rough countryside.
At Cowpens, South Carolina, Morgan’s army would defeat the
British.
British Reverses in 1781
continued
Cornwallis decided to chase Greene’s army north into Virginia.
Cornwallis led his army of 7,200 onto a peninsula between the James
& York river in a town called Yorktown.
Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, and them
move north to meet British General Henry Clinton’s army in New
York.
CORNWALLIS’S BELIEVED THAT THE BRITISH NAVY
WOULD CONTINUE TO SUPPLY HIS TROOPS IN THE
VIRGINIA COAST.
The British Surrender at
Yorktown
In 1780, a French army of 6,000 landed in Rhode
Island. They had stationed one fleet there and another
in the West Indies. Marquis de Lafayette suggested
that the two French armies join forces with the French
fleets to attack Cornwallis at Yorktown.
The Americans and French, led by French General
Rochambeau closed in on Cornwallis. The French
fleet blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and
cut off British supply lines.
Victory at Yorktown
The siege at Yorktown lasted 1 month. On October 17, 1781
Continental troops outnumbered 2 to 1.
Cornwallis’s army was surrounded. The French fleets cut off British
supply ships on the east and the Continental/French troops
surrounded Cornwallis’s troops.
Cornwallis finally surrendered: October 19th Washington accepted
the surrender of the British.
Seeking Peace
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay went to Paris in 1782
to begin peace talks.
The American diplomats refused to begin peace talks until Britain
recognized American independence.
Once Britain agreed to full independence the talks officially opened.
Seeking Peace continued
In 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which
confirmed US independence and set the boundaries
for the new nation.
US now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida
border.
34,000 British troops and thousands of Loyalists
packed their belongings and left the United States in
November 1783.
The War Becomes a Symbol of
Liberty
- Former British subjects now possessed a new identity
as free Americans, loyal to a new ideal. The American
Revolution would inspire the world as both a
democratic revolution and a war for independence.
The Impact of American
Society
During the war, class distinctions between the rich
and poor begun to vanish.
Egalitarianism: a belief in the equality of
all people – which fostered a new
attitude: the idea that ability, effort, and
virtue, NOT WEALTH OR FAMILY;
defined a person’s worth.
The Impact of American Society
continued
Egalitarianism: 1780’s applied only to white males.
Most
African Americans were still enslaved and free African Americans
faced discrimination and poverty. The Declaration of
Independence spurred the opposition to slavery. Abolitionist
movements spread through the Northern and Middle colonies
and by 1804 many states had taken steps to outlaw slavery.
- The women of the revolution had shown that they were capable
of serving their nation as more than just wives and mothers.
These women helped create a foundation for future changes in
their status – both in family and society