The American Revolution
What you need to do . . .
• Understand the operational over-view of
the Revolution.
• Understand Washington’s strengths and
weaknesses.
• Understand the military policy of the
Revolutionary government
– Militia
– Continental Troops
– Von Steuben’s role
Reasons . . .
• Period of “Salutary Neglect” prior to 1763.
• British attempts to re-structure imperial
control after 1763.
• Difference in British and American visions
of America’s place in the Empire.
American View:
Imperial Government
Great
Britain
American
Colonies
British View:
Great
Britain
American
Colonies
Other
Colonies
Objectives
• Americans = Independence
• British = Suppression of the rebellion
Center(s) of Gravity ?
British Center of Gravity
National Political Will
American Center of Gravity
Washington’s
Political
Will
Congress
Army
Friction
Americans
• Training
• Leadership
• Civilian support
British
• Initial lack of resolve?
• Distance
• French entry into the war
• National will
• Political considerations
cause Washington to
defend New York.
• Howe is slow.
• Washington evacuates
New York. (< 3000 men)
• Valcour Island provides
hope.
• Washington’s winter
offensive.
• British fall back into
NYC and Newport.
Lessons learned . . .
Americans
• Washington could not
fight the way he
wanted.
British
• Americans were better
than they thought.
• Washington was good
q(or at least good enough).
Washington’s operational strategy . . .
Strategic Defense
• The Revolution continues as long as there is
an Army.
• Do not risk the Continental Army again to
defend a city.
• Be just aggressive enough to:
– Keep up American morale
– Cause the British to loose heart.
Washington opts to win by not loosing.
“We must take things as they are
and not as we wish them to be.”
BG Edmund Gaines, 1818
[ Means vs. Ends ]
British campaign plan . . .
• Using three converging forces:
– Capture Albany
– Destroy American forces
– Cut off and isolate New England
• Burgoyne moves south from
Quebec.
• St. Leger moves east from
Ft. Oswego.
• Howe was assumed to be moving
north from New York City.
• Washington unsuccessfully
defends Philadelphia.
• But . . .
St. Leger stopped at Ft. Stanwix,
Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga.
“Now is the winter of our discontent . . .”
(1777-1778)
• British hold New York City, Newport, and
Philadelphia.
• Americans in winter camp at Valley Forge.
– Frederick von Steuben become Inspector General
– Nathaniel Green become QM General
• France signs “Treaty of Alliance” with U.S.
(February 1778)
– 1779 Spain declares war on Britain,
– 1780 the Dutch declare war on Britain
Fredrick Wilhelm von Steuben
“My good republicans wanted everything in the English
style; our great and good allies everything in the French
mode; and when I presented a plate of sauerkraut dressed
in the Prussian style they all wanted to throw it out the
window. Nevertheless by the force of proving by
Goddams that my cookery was the best, I overcame the
prejudices of the former; but the second liked me as little
in the forests of America as they did on the plains of
Rossbach.”
von Steuben to Baron von der Glotz,
Prussian Ambassador in Paris
British view of the facts, 1778 . . .
•
•
•
•
•
War no longer confined to N. America.
Significant French threat in the Caribbean.
American colonies now a secondary theater.
No success in the Northern colonies.
Southern colonies offer a better chance:
– Southerners fear slave rebellion and Indians,
– Greater Loyalist support in the South.
• Dec. 1778, Savannah falls.
• May 1780, Charleston
surrenders.
• Tarleton destroys S.C.
force at the Waxhaws.
Now little resistance in
the South.
• 1779-80, horrible winter
at Morristown.
• Gates given command in
the South.
• Arnold’s treason.
The tide turns . . .
• July 1780, French force lands at Newport, RI.
• British occupation policies in the South alienate
neutral colonists -- guerrilla war.
• Green replaces Gates as commander in South.
• Americans fight but don’t win.
• British “win” but at great cost and can never destroy
Greene.
• Green leads them on a chase into Virginia
qqqqqqqqqq…and to Yorktown.
York River
Cornwallis established a secure position that
could easily be supported by the Royal Navy.
York River
First Parallel
York River
“Sapping Forward”
York River
Second Parallel
York River
York River
Creating a Breach
York River
Storming the Breach (nobody wants this to happen).
York River
Cornwallis surrenders 19 October 1781.
Yorktown . . . the stats.
U.S.
5,700 Continentals
3,100 Militia
7,000 French
2 French naval squadrons
British
8,000 Regulars and
Loyalists
The end game . . .
• Yorktown (1781) ends the fighting.
• British remain in NYC
• Treaty of Paris of 1783 officially ends war.
– We sign a separate peace with the British
– British recognize independence (on paper)
• Our most bloody war after the Civil War.
Army demobilized. What do we need it for ?
International legacy . . .
• American Revolution was ideological.
• The restraint that characterized Continental
warfare gave way in the Southern
campaign.
Washington’s legacy . . .
• Emphasis on conventional operations.
(The British model)
– Organization
– Training
– Logistics
•
•
•
•
Subordinate to civilian authority.
Personal leadership.
Effective political (people) skills.
Dedication, risk, and self-sacrifice.
After the Revolution
• Shey’s Rebellion
• Operations in Ohio
– Josiah Harmer Expedition (19–22 October 1790)
– Arthur St. Clair Expedition (4 November, 1791)
• 1st and 2nd Militia Acts, 1792
• Whiskey Rebellion
• Anthony Wayne Expedition (20 August, 1792)
– Legion of the United States
Legion of the United States
(Rifle)
(Rifle)
5,120
(Rifle)
(Rifle)
Von Steuben’s
“Blue Book”
William Duane
1810