Huzzah

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  • The morning of September 25, 1775 the planned huzzahs ring through the air and Ethan Allen and Major John Brown execute their plan to capture Montreal taking it by surprise while also managing to capture Guy Carelton. In the time after the fall of Montreal Allen and Brown set about on what was originally their mission of recruiting locals to aid in the fight against the British and waited for the siege of Fort Saint John to finish so they could proceed on to capture Quebec. In October after hearing of Montreal’s capture Fort Saint John surrendered ending the siege and allowing Montgomery to move on first to Montreal and then to Quebec, he also wrote congress asking them to send a delegation to discuss the province joining them. They were not the only ones on their way to Quebec.

    General Benedict Arnold had left Massachusetts on his way to take Quebec himself, but when he arrived on November 14 almost half his men had either deserted or died on their way north and the rest were starving and underequipped to take the city. They waited for the arrival of the forces and supplies from Montreal that they would need to capture Quebec. Montgomery arrived on November 17 and spent the next few days planning the attack with Arnold on the city. The morning on November 20 would see the start of the attack as they moved into the city under the cover of darkness moving through the lower town towards the upper town where they scaled the walls and finally took the city.


    This is my first attempt at a timeline so I was unsure of how long this would end up being so I think it came out a little shorter than I had originally intended it to be.
     
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  • Montgomery prepared the defenses of Quebec for the expected assault from the British and also built boats on Lake Champlain to help with the movement of men and supplies up the Hudson River Valley. Arnold was sent to Montreal to disrupt the rumored military activity between British and Indians that was happening. On May 5, 1776 the ships that they had been expecting arrived. When they assaulted the city the failed to capture it and their attempt to live of the land was frustrated when their foraging parties sent out mostly failed to return those that did reported fighting off an American attack, so after a couple months they abandoned their assault on Quebec and sailed to New York to rejoin General Howe after his capture of the city. There was other activity across the colonies in the south Patriot and Loyalist militias fought each other. The Governor of Virginia Lord Dunmore had removed the powder supply and was subsequently forced to flee to the Bahamas. March 3, 1776 saw Captain Samuel Nicholas led the landing and shortly after they captured Fort Montagu and shortly after parley with Lieutenant Burke he pressed on and occupied Nassau having barely fired a shot. In early 1776 Johnathan Eddy attempted to raise interest in supporting action in Nova Scotia but returned to Nova Scotia empty handed.
     
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  • The Continental Congress was debating on if they should declare independence, they also raised armies, directed strategy, appointed diplomats, and made formal treaties. In 1776 the 13 delegations from colonies already joined in the revolution were joined by delegations from Quebec and the Bahamas. They believed foreign powers would hesitate to make alliances with them if they were still colonies of the British Empire. Congress approved a resolution of independence and crafted a formal explanation of the decision, The United Stated Declaration of Independence, which they approved on July 4. While Congress was busy declaring war the British were making moves. General Howe arrived on the shores of Staten Island with 10,000 men on July 2 then he waited for more troops to come. In August they moved 22,000 troops to Long Island on August 27 they laid siege to the fortifications on Brooklynn Heights but Washington led a nighttime retreat to Manhattan Island. In September Howe sent a message to Congress to attempt to negotiate and though they doubted it would work they also thought an outright rejection would be viewed as hostile so they sent a committee to Staten Island the conference came to nothing. There also occurred a spectacular, and outrageously lucky, event occurred off Governors Island around midnight on September 6. A small submersible designed by David Bushnell which he had been working on for years was put in the water and conducted its only successful attempt on an actual target, though some accounts don’t even give it credit for that since records of the event and the craft itself are spotty at best. Sargent Ezra Lee piloted the craft out and made it to his target, though he struggled due to the complicated nature of the Turtle and the very limited air supply, he managed to attach the explosive device he called a torpedo to his target. That night he achieved something that would not be done for a long time after that. Sargent Ezra Lee was the first man to use a submersible to sink a ship the HMS Eagle the flagship of the blockade on the harbor, though it would have no impact on the blockade.
     
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  • After taking some time to consolidate his position in New York General Howe sent a detachment out to capture Newport, Rhode Island and sent Cornwallis out to chase down Washington and finally he also sent a force up the Hudson in preparation for the expected attempt to retake Quebec the next year. The only one of these campaigns to succeed was the attack on Newport though the assault up the Hudson was very close to succeeding. General Charles Lee who had been left in charge of the forces north of the city was retreating in the face of the assault until forces from Quebec under General John Sullivan, who had been sent north to bolster the defense of Quebec earlier in the year, and the smaller forces under General Arnold, who had been campaigning around Lake Ontario, arrived to drive the British back. Sullivan took command of those forces staying and Arnold took command of the forces continuing on to General Washington. Cornwallis also failed but set up camps across New Jersey before finally setting up winter quarters leading the area to become a refuge of loyalists and a recruiting ground for provincial militia. Jonathan Eddy who had finally managed to scrape together a small force from Massachusetts and a few native allies started his attempt to bring down the loyalist government in Nova Scotia. On November 12, 1776 after several days siege Eddy assaulted Fort Cumberland one of the Maliseet warriors managed to sneak in and open the gates allowing them to take the fort. Following his victory he once again tried to gain more support from Congress or Massachusetts to further exploit the opportunity he had created though it was slow to come and so was the local support that had so far been suppressed by the local British forces.
     
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  • Early in 1777 France recognized America and Declared war on Britain. They were set on more than just gaining American independence they had aims in India and the Caribbean as well as taking some revenge and weakening their enemy the British. Not long after the French declaration the Spanish got involved too with their own declaration of war and their own aims for the war. They wanted to reclaim islands in the Mediterranean especially Gibraltar they also hoped to make gains in the Caribbean as well as a general weakening of Britain. French and Spanish involvement in the war forced a shift in focus for the British from the north to the south so that their navy would be in a better position to defend their possessions in the Caribbean. First landing in Savanah, Georgia they quickly beat back the Patriot militias in Georgia and headed into South Carolina where they once again brushed aside the local militia and repeated the same thing in North Carolina. Their roll came to a stop in Virginia where they were stopped by a Congressional Army under General Nathanael Greene. The Patriots took most of the year to push the British out of Virginia and North Carolina where they were joined by several French units. Spanish forces marched out of New Orleans to capture the ports of Mobile, Baton Rouge, and Pensacola with the help of their native allies and some Patriot militia. Spain and France would capture several Islands and would seem to hold naval supremacy for most of the war.
     
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  • Johnathan Eddy was joined in 1777 By Mosses Hazen and the 2nd Canadian Regiment but even together they made little headway in Nova Scotia for the year. The Royal Navy presence in the area was largely not challenged by the entry of France and Spain into the war or the continuing small contributions of the Continental Navy most of the work for the Patriots at sea being done by privateers in the Caribbean. Benedict Arnold was sent to clear the area from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico of opposition spent most of the year taking Detroit having to fend of several attacks from natives before capturing it and moving south where Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Spanish militia were already engaging the hostile natives and their ever shrinking number of British allies. Though the campaigns in the west started off with good relations with some native tribes trouble distinguishing friend from foe led to hostilities between them. This unfortunately led to the massacre of a peaceful settlement of Lenape who had previously passed information to the militia at Fort Pitt because the missionaries administering the settlement favored the cause moved there by the British and their allies. Blame for the massacre fell on Arnold and Congress already looking for a reason to get rid of him recalled him for a trial though he was cleared by tribunal since it was carried out by Pennsylvania militia seeking revenge for raids into Pennsylvania (he was eventually sent south to fight under Greene). Several soldiers were captured afterwards and were brutally tortured and then burned at the stake. South of the Ohio was less active most of the action there was from the Spanish march along the cost. Congress spent time since the Declaration of Independence drafting an official form of government, The Articles of Confederation, which barely changed the structure between the Congress of the Confederation and the Continental Congress ceding most of the power to the states leaving an extremely weak central government though it would not be fully ratified still for several years.
     
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  • 1778 saw the Patriots push the British back in South Carolina eventually forcing a division of their forces half retreating to Charleston and the other half retreating back to Georgia. In May Charleston was surrounded on land and the French were keeping British fleet from resupplying or evacuating the surrounded troops. The assault on the city brought about heavy casualties on both sides including Nathaniel Greene who was in commanding the Continental army. Benedict Arnold assumed command of the army while Greene recovered from his injury. Looking to make up for the loss of troops Arnold offered freedom to those slaves who would fight. This caused a lot of rumblings and almost divided the army until Arnold who had briefly trained those who he had offered freedom and with them and northern units marched and defeated a series of isolated British units and started marching south again. The rest of the army rejoined and by September they had cornered the retreating British in Savanah where they were joined by French ships and a number of troops from their Caribbean colonies. Late September saw their first attempt to take Savanah fail due to poor communication a second failed attempt again due to poor communication so Arnold meet with French commanders to formulate a better strategy. The meeting bore fruit as the third attempt was successful and left the only British positons in North America in Florida, Halifax, Newport, and New York and the surrounding areas where General Howe had made an attempt to take Philadelphia but barely made it out of New Jersey before he was turned back and Washington repeated the success of crossing the Delaware and capturing a few positions. Plans were made to campaign into Florida and to try and take Bermuda in 1779 but they faced opposition from those who felt the time was right to retake New York.
     
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  • Anticipating an assault on New York and seeing the end of the war coming General Clinton who had taken overall command of the war effort launched an attack on Philadelphia to try and capture congress and maybe Washington himself to try and increase their at the negotiations. Instead of attacking overland where they would face the majority of the Continental Army and make a crossing on a river he didn’t really have the equipment for he sailed out of the harbor and up Delaware Bay. Washington hurries from New Jersey to try to defend Philadelphia but failures in command mostly made by Charles Lee allowed them to be outflanked forced to retreat and allow Philadelphia to be captured. But Clinton didn’t stay there long after a couple of weeks he was marching back to New York being constantly harassed as he did. Trying to defeat a large part of the forces in New York outside of their defenses Washington devised a plan to engage the rear guard while he attacked the venerable baggage train and the main column but once again Lee failed in his assignment and was breaking in the face of a counter attack until Washington showed up and reorganized the defense and held forcing the British back on their way towards New York. The Americans harried the British and managed to cut them off and pin them against the sea and the French made sure they would not escape at sea. Their surrender opened the way to New York and soon Washington was marching towards the city and waited as the French moved to blockade the harbor Admiral d’Estaing refused to enter fearing his ships would not easily be able to move around easily in the harbor. Not knowing that the French wouldn’t enter the harbor the British evacuated the city under the cover of night and sailed on to Halifax. After the evacuation the Americans moved into the city almost uncontested but some loyalists did fight and mostly died causing some destruction and one fire that did some damage to the city. General Sullivan was given some men and was sent to take Newport then after that to reinforce the Halifax siege was largely floundering without enough men or cannons to really take the city.

    Negotiations had started in early 1779 and mostly achieved nothing with France and Spain looking to get more from Britain than what they had taken by force. One of their first victories had been Majorca soon after they had joined the war in 1777 and then began their blockade of Gibraltar which was very porous allowing the garrison to be resupplied by sea several times through the years. The French in the Caribbean captured Dominica, Saint Vincent, and Grenada while losing Saint Luca while in India their allies mostly came to a draw with the Brithish. Spanish conquests were more mundane. They captured West Florida in 1777 but were delayed in taking East Florida till 1779 taking Saint Augustine which was just being invested by a small mostly militia force of Americans lead by Nathanael Greene who after losing out on their big prize of Florida moved by ship to take Bermuda which had seen a previous attempt aborted shortly after land fall. British and Spanish both failed to make any gains in Central America with British gains being wiped out by disease. The British failed to keep France and Spain off Jamaica but did succeed in driving them off then failed in their attempt to take Havana. As negotiations continued to drag on the Americans took possession of Prince Edward Island and had their own invasion attempt of Newfoundland fail because they couldn’t get troops to the shore. Seeing the negotiations drag the American delegates threatened to make their own peace with Britain, Spain wasn’t happy with the threat but came off some of their more onerous demands since they saw they were already in possession of all they were going to get brought France around to more reasonable demands bringing the war to an end when they all signed the peace treaty in 1780. The peace settled most of the terms as keeping what everyone had conquered America gained everything east of the Mississippi and north of the Floridas despite French and Spanish attempts to create an indian buffer state and south of the Hudson Bay Territory, excluding Newfoundland though did gain access to the fishing grounds, and also gained Bahamas and Bermuda.
     
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  • After the treaty was signed the states began their attempt to make the Articles of Confederation work as the governing body of the United States. The army and the navy were both largely disbanded because they feared the presence of a standing army and the weakness of the articles prevented them from paying for it. The central government lacked the ability to tax so to raise money they needed to request money from the states and they were unwilling or even unable to pay. Most of the states had accumulated some amount of war debt and after the war some of them struggled to pay of what they had accrued during the war some people called for Congress to assume these debts but the southern states who had been able to pay theirs off argued against it since they didn’t want to be subsidizing the northern states. The states also argued over navigational rights and were divided about economic policies which lead to a struggling economy because France, Britain, and Spain had enacted policies that kept Americans out of their colonial ports. Manufactures struggled to produce now that British goods were once again available in the United States. The currency was over printed and with inflation became worthless. Attempts to try and fix the issues in congress ran into the problem that it had to be unanimous to pass and the states could not agree on almost anything evidenced when Thomas Jefferson’s clause in the Land Ordnance of 1784 included a clause that would prevent slavery from being present in new western states by 1800, the clause was almost struck but enough state delegations were divided that it failed to receive the votes to be struck from the ordinance though it would be surpassed in 1787 by the Northwest Ordinance they would be some of the few success of the Confederation Congress. The dysfunction started calls for a national convention to fix the articles though that convention eventually morphed into the constitutional convention. This would create a stronger central with more to it than just congress though it would be a struggle to agree to what it would say and what powers would go to which government.

    The Constitutional convention was full of a lot of the same divides that had plagued the articles but they all had come with the knowledge that they needed a stronger central government. James Madison was one of the first delegates to arrive and he spent the time waiting coming up with the plan that would be the basis for the eventual constitution. The Virginia plan gave a heavy weight to states with a larger population since they would have given a higher number of representatives to those states that would then chose representatives for another house of the legislature. This was seen by small states as a threat to them so they proposed a plan where all the states had equal representation. Neither side was happy with the others proposal and eventually a compromise was reached where one house was elected by state legislatures which would all have the same number of representatives and another house which would be directly elected by the people. The executive position was trouble for them to decide, some wanted a group of three executives, some wanted a single executive chosen by state governors, and some wanted an executive that served one 7 year term. Compromising from all choices it was eventually decided that it would be a single executive serving a 4 year term that could seek reelection and would hold the authority to appoint a number of positions in government. As the convention dragged on the delegates grew weary they drafted a committee of detail that gave a rough outline but the committee went beyond what they were supposed to do and added enumerated powers to what the federal government would have as opposed to what states would have. After some debate over that it was sent to a committee of style for the final polishing where they inserted a Bill of Rights which the delegation from Canada was especially in favor of. Finally they came to the end and had drafted the Constitution which some refused to sign, others had left earlier and never returned, and sent off to the states for ratification. Ratification would be slowly achieved, Rhode Island would not ratify until 1790, but in 1788 it had received a majority of states and George Washington would be elected the first president.
     
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  • Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789 in the temporary capital of New York to start his term as the first president of the United States. His term is largely marked by trying to pull together the widely different views and while holding together the fragile new nation. As with the situation in the French revolution many wanted to intervene in their conflict with Britain but many others wanted to intervene of the side of Britain Washington opposed involvement in the conflict believing America to be too weak and unstable to get involved in a European war and the performance of the limited US army in the Northwest Indian Wars would seem to back him up as they were destroyed and new regiments had to be raised. The defeat on the frontier lead to the creation of additional regiments under the command of Benedict Arnold and the passage of the Militia acts allowing the president to take command of them and requiring all able bodied men 18 to 45 to serve in them. The term would also see the federal government assume the war debts of the states in exchange for the new capital being located on the Potomac River. Assuming the debt was a part of Alexander Hamilton’s plan to help revive the ailing economy along with issuance of federal bonds and redeeming promissory notes from the Revolutionary War in his first report on credit in his second report he called for the creation of a national bank, congress also created the US Mint and Dollar regulating money, he also made a report on manufacturers calling for subsides, protective tariffs, and included a national plan for infrastructure. Many of his proposals were adopted except for the tariffs and the plan for federal funding of infrastructure projects. Though the proposals for the national project rejected New York charted a company to start building a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario and another to build one from the Hudson to Lake Champlain which also gained support from Canada, Benedict Arnold also tried to gather support for a canal across the Niagara Peninsula owing to his time campaigning in the west during the revolution and the indian wars. His term would also see the settlement of the disputed Florida territories and Spanish agreement to stop supporting Indians in US territory and the inclusion of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Vermont as states, Tennessee and Kentucky had stayed states to avoid becoming of federal territory and the resulting ban on slavery that would entail. He also saw the first use of the navy against the Barbary Pirates to avoid the payment of tributes to protect American shipping. Washington would refuse to run for a third term setting the precedent that would be followed for over 100 years.

    Washington would be followed by John Adams in a contested election that would also elect Adams chief opponent Thomas Jefferson as his vice president. Adams chose to keep most of the cabinet from Washington’s administration seeing it as important to the stability of the country though it would see Alexander Hamilton, who had tried to prevent his election wanting a more pliable candidate, exert more influence in the cabinet though Adams was still a very independent. Tensions with France rose after the US stopped paying their debts arguing, they owed it to a previous regime, the resulting French retaliation of attacking US shipping and the US attacking French ships in the Caribbean, and French representatives demanding bribes before negotiations could begin. Adams disappointed most people who were calling for war against France when he made peace with Napoleon. He would also sign acts that would become the Alien and Sedition Acts and direct taxes to pay for his increased navy and army in case of war with France. He would run for a second term but would lose to Thomas Jefferson.
     
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