In working on my GUNS OF THE TAWANTINSUYA thread, I have been trying to work out how the American Revolution would proceed under the following conditions...
1) slavery was abolished by the English Parliament in 1690.
2) As a result, there are great changes in the population makeup and social structure of the South. Plantation agriculture never spreads outside of Virginia, and even there it only survives in a much reduced form, using indentured servants and a sort of share-cropping system for labor. As a result there is no "leisure class" to produce statesmen of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and others.
Some of these future OTL Southerner leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, are never born, and others, like George Washington, never become wealthy or famous. While the South does produce some great leaders for the Revolution, they are not "statesmen" but leaders of the "rough and ready" stripe, like Daniel Morgan and George Rogers Clark.
This is what I have so far...basically I have gotten into 1778...and I would like to ask opinions on it, and solicit suggestions as to where to go from here.
A.D. 1775-1780--The American Revolution. A year by year summary of major events of
the Revolution follows.
--1775: In April, the British commander at Boston, General Thomas Gage, receives
intelligence that the colonists are massing arms and ammunition at Concord,
Massachusetts. An expedition is sent out to destroy these stores, but meets with
resistence. Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill—beginning of American
Revolution. Later that year, Boston is placed under siege by a colonial army. This army,
however, lacking artillery, has no means to force the British to abandon the town, and an
uneasy stalemate results. The Continental Congress, when it meets in May 1775, selects
Artemas Ward to be the commander-in-chief of the newly christened Continental Army.
Later that same month, Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading colonial
militia, capture Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain in upper New York, and with it,
over 70 pieces of heavy artillery. Artemas Ward sends Henry Knox to Ticonderoga, with
orders to bring this artillery to Boston. In June, another American army, under the
command of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, is ordered to invade Canada and
capture Montreal, which is accomplished in early November. Benedict Arnold attempts
to convince General Artemas Ward, to allow him to lead a supporting expedition which
will approach Quebec through the Maine wilderness, but is refused. Instead, in what
turns out to be one of the few good decisions Ward will make while commander-in-chief,
Arnold is sent with more troops to support Montgomery’s drive up the St. Lawrence.
Arnold’s force of 1,500 men arrives at Montreal in fairly good condition (in OTL, the trek
through the Maine wilderness cost Arnold almost half of his force, and the remainder
were almost dead when they arrived outside of Quebec), and unites with that of
Montgomery shortly after the latter captures said city. The combined force then marches
up the St. Lawrence and arrives before Quebec in early December. Under cover of a
snowstorm, the Americans assault the British works protecting the city on December 31,
and with their extra manpower, manage to defeat the British garrison and capture the city.
Both Montgomery and Arnold are severely wounded...Montgomery will succumb to his
wounds a week later, and Arnold will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. But
Canada, with the exception of the British bases in Nova Scotia...is now under American
control.
--1776: In January, Henry Knox arrives in Boston with fifty cannon, which had been
dragged by sled in the dead of winter over 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga. Also in this
month, Brigadier General David Wooster is sent to take command at Quebec, relieving
the wounded Benedict Arnold. Arnold is promoted to Brigadier General and ordered to
take command at Montreal while he recuperates from his wounds.
In March, the cannon from Ticonderoga are positioned atop Dorchester Heights,
overlooking Boston. The Americans now have cannon...but no powder for them...but the
British don’t know this, and they evacuate Boston. General Gage sails with his army to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they await reinforcements. Those reinforcements, when they
arrive, will be accompanied by Gage’s replacement as commander...Lord Howe.
In May, General John Burgoyne arrives from England with 4,000 troops outside Quebec.
American General Wooster, although heavily outnumbered, enjoys the advantages of
Quebec’s strong fortifications, and Burgoyne does not launch an immediate assault, but
instead, begins siege operations. In late June, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, having
been reinforced at Montreal and now in command of over 2,000 men, launches a surprise
attack on Burgoyne’s army outside Quebec. General Wooster sallies forth with a
supporting attack, and the overconfident Burgoyne is decisively defeated and driven away
from his lines of supply on the St. Lawrence, with American forces and French Canadian
militia in pursuit. Among those killed in the engagement are two British Colonels,
Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, who are killed while trying to rally their broken regiments
for a counterattack.
In June 1776, a British force under Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker attempts to
sieze Charleston, South Carolina. Patriot forces fighting in a fort made of sand and
palmetto logs on Sullivan’s Island, commanded by Brigadier General William Moultrie,
withstand the bombardment of the British fleet, which withdraws. Also in this month,
incited by royal agents, the Cherokee attack all along the Southern frontier. These
attacks, and Patriot counterattacks against the Cherokee, will continue for the next ten
months.
In July, the American Declaration of Independence is signed at Philadelphia. This
document is authored primarily by John Adams and edited by Benjamin Franklin and
several others. Adams, being a lawyer, cites English law and custom...particularly the
Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, and similar legislation passed during the English Civil
War and the Glorious Revolution in the previous century, to make a case that Parliament
and the King are violating the rights of the citizens of the colonies, who therefore have no
choice but to sever their political bonds with Britain and declare independence, just as
Parliament itself rose up against the King during the English Civil War. There is no
mention of “inalienable rights,” and the concept that “all men are created equal” (with
which Adams personally disagrees) is not expressed in the document. Meanwhile, later
that month, Burgoyne’s army is brought to battle in the wilderness about 40 miles west of
Quebec. After a very sanguine struggle, his force is once again defeated. Burgoyne, his
supplies running low and his army being driven ever further away from his base,
surrenders his army on July 31.
In mid-August, the main British Army, heavily reinforced with British troops and Hessian
mercenaries, sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, under Lord Howe and arrives outside New
York City. The British occupy Long Island and New York City virtually unopposed, as
Continental commander-in-chief General Artemas Ward, having failed to recognize the
vital strategic importance of the place, had not moved his army from the Boston area to
defend it.
In early September, the British strike inland from their new base at New York City, and
moving rapidly across central New Jersey in a lightning campaign, they cross the
Delaware River and by the end of that month are at the gates of Philadelphia. The
Continental Congress hastily evacuates to York, Pennsylvania (where, shortly after their
arrival, they learn of the great victory won by Arnold in Canada, and promote him to
Major General).
On October 2, the British march into Philadelphia. The Continental Army, belatedly
brought south by General Ward, arrives in the vicinity a few days later, and is severely
mauled by the greatly superior British force (which numbers over 30,000 against less than
20,000 for the Americans) at the Battle of Norristown, Pennsylvania on October 12.
More by luck than anything else, Ward manages to get away with the bulk of his mangled
army and retreat toward York, Pennsylvania, arriving there before the end of October.
The British, with winter rapidly approaching, decide the campaigning season is over and
go into winter quarters in various hamlets surrounding Philadelphia. The American
rebels, Lord Howe reasons, are beaten. He can mop up the remains...later.
In early November, the Continental Congress removes Artemas Ward as
commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, replacing him with the hero of the
Canadian campaign...Benedict Arnold. Arnold is, however, still in Canada, and it will be
a while before he can get to Pennsylvania to assume command. In the interim, command
of the Continental Army is given to an officer who had been one of few bright spots in
the army’s recent debacle outside Philadelphia...Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene.
Greene is promoted to Major General. He will spend the next month reorganizing and
refitting his shattered army outside York.
In December, Benjamin Franklin is appointed as America’s ambassador to the court of
King Louis XVI of France. On December 25, newly promoted Major General Nathaniel
Greene leads the Continental Army...now consisting of less than 5,000 men, the rest
having deserted in the interim following the defeat at Norristown...on a daring raid
against the winter camp of a brigade of Hessian mercenaries who are encamped near
Chester, Pennsylvania. The Hessians are completely surprised, and after a brisk fight,
surrender to the Americans. General Howe sends out a force in pursuit of the Americans.
However, Greene mauls their advance guard near Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December
31, and the British retreat back to their camps near Philadelphia.
--1777: On January 2, Major General Greene returns triumphantly to York with this
prisoners and captured stores. On January 5, Major General Benedict Arnold arrives in
Philadelphia, where he accepts his promotion to Lieutenant General and assumes
command of the Continental Army. Arnold inherits a very desperate situation. Despite
the morale boost given by the recent victories under Greene, which has finally slowed the
rate of desertion in the army, the army is still melting away as cold, hunger, and sickness
kill off the remaining loyal troops in their miserable camps outside York. The only hope
the army has is that some of it will be left when the Spring thaws come.
March 1777: With the approach of Spring, Patriot recruits begin trickling into the
Continental Army’s encampments outside York. The British, too, begin making ready
for the new campaigning season. Parliament was shocked by the loss of Canada and the
surrender of Burgoyne’s army the previous year, and has made the recapture of Canada a
major priority. General Sir Henry Clinton has been given command of an army of
10,000 men...mostly German mercenaries...which is being readied in English ports for a
new attack on the province. This will deprive Sir William Howe of much needed
reinforcements for his campaign in Pennsylvania.
In May 1777, the Cherokee sue for peace with the Patriots. A treaty is signed in which
the Cherokee give up all of their lands east of the Apalachian Mountains. The British
Army of General Sir Henry Clinton arrives outside Quebec. The local American
commander, Major General David Wooster, despite being greatly outnumbered, once
again puts up a stout defense, and a major British assault on Quebec’s fortifications is
beaten back with heavy losses. Clinton orders siege operations to begin. Meanwhile in
Pennsylvania, General Howe, who has learned that he will not be getting the
reinforcements he feels he needs for the upcoming campaign, decides to proceed anyway.
However, he does so in a half-hearted fashion, and this gives the American
commander-in-chief, Benedict Arnold, time to prepare to meet him. Arnold, by this
time, has an army of 12,000 men ready to meet the British attack. He orders all bridges
across the Susquehanna River burned, with the exception of one which is located in
highly favorable defensive terrain between the towns of Lancaster and York, and has his
men build strong earthwork fortifcations defending the approaches to this bridge. If
Howe attacks, Arnold will have all the advantage.
June 1777: In Canada, the siege of Quebec continues. Meanwhile, on June 5, General Sir
William Howe’s British Army, almost 20,000 strong (Howe’s original 30,000 man force
has been not only whittled down by losses in battle, but also by disease, and the need to
leave garrisons at New York, Philadelphia, and throughout New Jersey), approaches the
fortifications held by the Continental Army west of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Surveying
the strong defensive positions, Howe might have been given pause, but, remembering the
poor performance of the American army at Norristown the previous year, he holds the
fighting qualities of these “colonial rabble,” as he calls them, in contempt, and he orders
an assault for the next day. On the morning of June 6, the British march out in perfect
formation, drums and fifes mockingly playing “Yankee Doodle,” and are met with
withering fire from the American fortifications. Thus begins the fight that will become
known as the Battle of Arnold’s Bridge. The British make no less than five assaults that
day, all of them beaten back with horrendous losses. When the smoke clears, almost
6,000 British and Hessian soldiers lie dead or wounded on the fields in front of the
American lines, while less than 1,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in the
fight. Lord Howe orders a retreat back toward Philadelphia for the next morning.
Benedict Arnold, however, has his own plans, and orders a night assault on the British
camp. While the American assault is disorganized, as any night assault by inexperienced
troops must be, the very fact that they would try such a thing, combined with the shock of
the huge losses suffered earlier that day, causes panic to break out in the British ranks.
Thousands of seasoned redcoats and professional German mercenaries, many men casting
away their muskets to lighten their load, are soon fleeing, as fast as their legs can carry
them, east toward Philadelphia and safety. It is, quite possibly, the worst military defeat
in British history. Arnold orders pursuit, but his jubilent but hungry and ragged troops
stop to pillage the British camp, and Arnold cannot restore order in his own ranks until
mid-morning the next day. By this time, his scouts report that Lord Howe has restored
order to his own army, which is now retreating in good order toward Philadelphia.
Arnold orders his army to follow. Another battle is fought near Chester, Pennsylvania on
June 12, when Arnold’s advance guard catches up with Howe’s rear guard, but the
Americans are repulsed, and Howe makes it back to Philadelphia with the bulk of his
army still intact. Arnold retires to Lancaster, where he gives his army a desperately
needed reorganization and gathers more recruits. The two armies sit out the rest of the
month in relative inactivity.
July 1777: In Canada, the siege of Quebec continues. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania,
Benedict Arnold’s army has received a flood of recruits since news of the victory at
Arnold’s Bridge got out. By mid July, he is in command of a force almost 30,000 strong,
and growing daily. Most of these are inexperienced militia, of course, but when Lord
Howe learns, via his spies, that Arnold is possessed of such a force, he makes the
decision to abandon Philadelphia. The British Army crosses the Delaware River into
New Jersey on July 28.
In August 1777, British and Loyalist agents stir up an uprising among the Iroquois which
causes much damage in upstate New York. It also prevents a Patriot relief column,
which had been gathering at Fort Ticonderoga, from moving north into Canada to the
relief of Major General Wooster’s besieged force at Quebec. As a result, Wooster is
forced to surrender Quebec later that month. However, the Americans still control
Montreal. On August 3, Benedict Arnold rides, at the head of the Continental Army, into
Philadelphia. The Continental Congress returns to Philadelphia to York on August 20.
By that time Lord Howe, having abandoned New Jersey except for a few outposts
guarding the approaches to New York, has returned to his base at New York City, where
he sends a message to London desperately requesting reinforcement.
In September 1777, General Sir Henry Clinton advances south from Quebec toward
Montreal with 6,000 men (leaving a garrison of 2,000 at Quebec...the remainder of his
original 10,000 men force were lost during the siege of Quebec). The American
commander at Montreal, Philip Schuyler, finding himself heavily outnumbered, abandons
the city and retreats to Fort Ticonderoga. Clinton goes into winter quarters at Montreal
and Quebec by the end of September, ending this year’s fighting in the far north. The
American occupation of Canada is at an end. Meanwhile, General Benedict Arnold leads
his army into New Jersey. He approaches New York, but decides an assault on the
British defenses would be impractical. Instead, he contents himself with attacking the
British outposts in New Jersey, which he captures before the end of September. All of
New Jersey is back in American hands.
In October 1777, the Continental Army, which is not strong enough to attack the British
base at New York, goes into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. The British
Army at New York, not capable of attacking the Americans, does the same. In upper
New York, the combined American forces at Fort Ticonderoga (Schuyler’s force from
Montreal and the remains of the Quebec relief column) go out on a devastating raid
against the villages of the Iroquois. Under the command of Schuyler, the Americans
burn every village, destroy all stored crops and livestock, and kill every warrior they can
find. By the time this raid ends in early December, the power of the Iroquois is forever
broken, and the pitiful remnants are fleeing to the safety of British Canada.
In November 1777, King Louis XVI of France signs a treaty of alliance with the United
States of America. French arms, uniforms, gunpowder, and other supplies are soon
pouring into the colonies, and a French expeditionary force is being readied. General Sir
Henry Clinton is named British Governor of Canada.
--1778: In early January, General Howe is removed as commander of the British forces at
New York, and replaced by General Charles Cornwallis. Cornwallis is an aggressive
commander, and his promotion will mark a change in British strategy. Arriving with the
orders promoting him to command at New York are reinforcements of 15,000 men,
giving him an effective force of almost 30,000. Cornwallis plans to take the bulk of this
army to attack and secure the Southern colonies, which are seen as an easy target due to
their smaller populations and perceived loyalist leanings. Meanwhile, at Morristown, the
coming of winter has seen the militia go home, and the American Continental army
dwindle to less than 10,000 men.
On February 23, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at the American winter
encampment at Morristown, New Jersey. Von Steuben is an experienced Prussian
military officer, and has been recruited by Benjamin Franklin to provide professional
training to the Continental Army...something which, up to now, it has lacked. As the
Prussian Army is widely regarded as the best in the world, his services are gratefully
accepted by General Arnold, and over the next several months, under Von Steuben’s
tutelage, the Continental Army is transformed into a professional, disciplined fighting
force.
In March, Lord Cornwallis takes ship with 20,000 men and sails for Savannah, Georgia.
The British fleet arrives there on March 20, and the British army disembarks. The city
surrenders with little resistance. Lord Cornwallis orders his army to march overland to
Charleston, South Carolina, which he plans to invest by land while the fleet bombards it
by sea.
On April 5, the British army arrives outside Charleston, South Carolina, the fleet having
arrived off the harbor on April 1. The town is placed under siege.
On June 23, General Benjamin Lincoln, commander of the American forces at
Charleston, South Carolina, surrenders the town to the British.
In July, Colonel George Rogers Clark leads an expedition from Virginia into the Illinois
Country (the region north of the Ohio River and south of the Great Lakes, which is
claimed by Virginia but had been assigned to Canada in one of the Acts of Parliament
which sparked the Revolution). He captures the town of Kaskaskia on July 4, and the
important post at Vincennes shortly afterward.
1) slavery was abolished by the English Parliament in 1690.
2) As a result, there are great changes in the population makeup and social structure of the South. Plantation agriculture never spreads outside of Virginia, and even there it only survives in a much reduced form, using indentured servants and a sort of share-cropping system for labor. As a result there is no "leisure class" to produce statesmen of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and others.
Some of these future OTL Southerner leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, are never born, and others, like George Washington, never become wealthy or famous. While the South does produce some great leaders for the Revolution, they are not "statesmen" but leaders of the "rough and ready" stripe, like Daniel Morgan and George Rogers Clark.
This is what I have so far...basically I have gotten into 1778...and I would like to ask opinions on it, and solicit suggestions as to where to go from here.
A.D. 1775-1780--The American Revolution. A year by year summary of major events of
the Revolution follows.
--1775: In April, the British commander at Boston, General Thomas Gage, receives
intelligence that the colonists are massing arms and ammunition at Concord,
Massachusetts. An expedition is sent out to destroy these stores, but meets with
resistence. Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill—beginning of American
Revolution. Later that year, Boston is placed under siege by a colonial army. This army,
however, lacking artillery, has no means to force the British to abandon the town, and an
uneasy stalemate results. The Continental Congress, when it meets in May 1775, selects
Artemas Ward to be the commander-in-chief of the newly christened Continental Army.
Later that same month, Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading colonial
militia, capture Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain in upper New York, and with it,
over 70 pieces of heavy artillery. Artemas Ward sends Henry Knox to Ticonderoga, with
orders to bring this artillery to Boston. In June, another American army, under the
command of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, is ordered to invade Canada and
capture Montreal, which is accomplished in early November. Benedict Arnold attempts
to convince General Artemas Ward, to allow him to lead a supporting expedition which
will approach Quebec through the Maine wilderness, but is refused. Instead, in what
turns out to be one of the few good decisions Ward will make while commander-in-chief,
Arnold is sent with more troops to support Montgomery’s drive up the St. Lawrence.
Arnold’s force of 1,500 men arrives at Montreal in fairly good condition (in OTL, the trek
through the Maine wilderness cost Arnold almost half of his force, and the remainder
were almost dead when they arrived outside of Quebec), and unites with that of
Montgomery shortly after the latter captures said city. The combined force then marches
up the St. Lawrence and arrives before Quebec in early December. Under cover of a
snowstorm, the Americans assault the British works protecting the city on December 31,
and with their extra manpower, manage to defeat the British garrison and capture the city.
Both Montgomery and Arnold are severely wounded...Montgomery will succumb to his
wounds a week later, and Arnold will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. But
Canada, with the exception of the British bases in Nova Scotia...is now under American
control.
--1776: In January, Henry Knox arrives in Boston with fifty cannon, which had been
dragged by sled in the dead of winter over 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga. Also in this
month, Brigadier General David Wooster is sent to take command at Quebec, relieving
the wounded Benedict Arnold. Arnold is promoted to Brigadier General and ordered to
take command at Montreal while he recuperates from his wounds.
In March, the cannon from Ticonderoga are positioned atop Dorchester Heights,
overlooking Boston. The Americans now have cannon...but no powder for them...but the
British don’t know this, and they evacuate Boston. General Gage sails with his army to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they await reinforcements. Those reinforcements, when they
arrive, will be accompanied by Gage’s replacement as commander...Lord Howe.
In May, General John Burgoyne arrives from England with 4,000 troops outside Quebec.
American General Wooster, although heavily outnumbered, enjoys the advantages of
Quebec’s strong fortifications, and Burgoyne does not launch an immediate assault, but
instead, begins siege operations. In late June, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, having
been reinforced at Montreal and now in command of over 2,000 men, launches a surprise
attack on Burgoyne’s army outside Quebec. General Wooster sallies forth with a
supporting attack, and the overconfident Burgoyne is decisively defeated and driven away
from his lines of supply on the St. Lawrence, with American forces and French Canadian
militia in pursuit. Among those killed in the engagement are two British Colonels,
Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, who are killed while trying to rally their broken regiments
for a counterattack.
In June 1776, a British force under Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker attempts to
sieze Charleston, South Carolina. Patriot forces fighting in a fort made of sand and
palmetto logs on Sullivan’s Island, commanded by Brigadier General William Moultrie,
withstand the bombardment of the British fleet, which withdraws. Also in this month,
incited by royal agents, the Cherokee attack all along the Southern frontier. These
attacks, and Patriot counterattacks against the Cherokee, will continue for the next ten
months.
In July, the American Declaration of Independence is signed at Philadelphia. This
document is authored primarily by John Adams and edited by Benjamin Franklin and
several others. Adams, being a lawyer, cites English law and custom...particularly the
Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, and similar legislation passed during the English Civil
War and the Glorious Revolution in the previous century, to make a case that Parliament
and the King are violating the rights of the citizens of the colonies, who therefore have no
choice but to sever their political bonds with Britain and declare independence, just as
Parliament itself rose up against the King during the English Civil War. There is no
mention of “inalienable rights,” and the concept that “all men are created equal” (with
which Adams personally disagrees) is not expressed in the document. Meanwhile, later
that month, Burgoyne’s army is brought to battle in the wilderness about 40 miles west of
Quebec. After a very sanguine struggle, his force is once again defeated. Burgoyne, his
supplies running low and his army being driven ever further away from his base,
surrenders his army on July 31.
In mid-August, the main British Army, heavily reinforced with British troops and Hessian
mercenaries, sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, under Lord Howe and arrives outside New
York City. The British occupy Long Island and New York City virtually unopposed, as
Continental commander-in-chief General Artemas Ward, having failed to recognize the
vital strategic importance of the place, had not moved his army from the Boston area to
defend it.
In early September, the British strike inland from their new base at New York City, and
moving rapidly across central New Jersey in a lightning campaign, they cross the
Delaware River and by the end of that month are at the gates of Philadelphia. The
Continental Congress hastily evacuates to York, Pennsylvania (where, shortly after their
arrival, they learn of the great victory won by Arnold in Canada, and promote him to
Major General).
On October 2, the British march into Philadelphia. The Continental Army, belatedly
brought south by General Ward, arrives in the vicinity a few days later, and is severely
mauled by the greatly superior British force (which numbers over 30,000 against less than
20,000 for the Americans) at the Battle of Norristown, Pennsylvania on October 12.
More by luck than anything else, Ward manages to get away with the bulk of his mangled
army and retreat toward York, Pennsylvania, arriving there before the end of October.
The British, with winter rapidly approaching, decide the campaigning season is over and
go into winter quarters in various hamlets surrounding Philadelphia. The American
rebels, Lord Howe reasons, are beaten. He can mop up the remains...later.
In early November, the Continental Congress removes Artemas Ward as
commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, replacing him with the hero of the
Canadian campaign...Benedict Arnold. Arnold is, however, still in Canada, and it will be
a while before he can get to Pennsylvania to assume command. In the interim, command
of the Continental Army is given to an officer who had been one of few bright spots in
the army’s recent debacle outside Philadelphia...Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene.
Greene is promoted to Major General. He will spend the next month reorganizing and
refitting his shattered army outside York.
In December, Benjamin Franklin is appointed as America’s ambassador to the court of
King Louis XVI of France. On December 25, newly promoted Major General Nathaniel
Greene leads the Continental Army...now consisting of less than 5,000 men, the rest
having deserted in the interim following the defeat at Norristown...on a daring raid
against the winter camp of a brigade of Hessian mercenaries who are encamped near
Chester, Pennsylvania. The Hessians are completely surprised, and after a brisk fight,
surrender to the Americans. General Howe sends out a force in pursuit of the Americans.
However, Greene mauls their advance guard near Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December
31, and the British retreat back to their camps near Philadelphia.
--1777: On January 2, Major General Greene returns triumphantly to York with this
prisoners and captured stores. On January 5, Major General Benedict Arnold arrives in
Philadelphia, where he accepts his promotion to Lieutenant General and assumes
command of the Continental Army. Arnold inherits a very desperate situation. Despite
the morale boost given by the recent victories under Greene, which has finally slowed the
rate of desertion in the army, the army is still melting away as cold, hunger, and sickness
kill off the remaining loyal troops in their miserable camps outside York. The only hope
the army has is that some of it will be left when the Spring thaws come.
March 1777: With the approach of Spring, Patriot recruits begin trickling into the
Continental Army’s encampments outside York. The British, too, begin making ready
for the new campaigning season. Parliament was shocked by the loss of Canada and the
surrender of Burgoyne’s army the previous year, and has made the recapture of Canada a
major priority. General Sir Henry Clinton has been given command of an army of
10,000 men...mostly German mercenaries...which is being readied in English ports for a
new attack on the province. This will deprive Sir William Howe of much needed
reinforcements for his campaign in Pennsylvania.
In May 1777, the Cherokee sue for peace with the Patriots. A treaty is signed in which
the Cherokee give up all of their lands east of the Apalachian Mountains. The British
Army of General Sir Henry Clinton arrives outside Quebec. The local American
commander, Major General David Wooster, despite being greatly outnumbered, once
again puts up a stout defense, and a major British assault on Quebec’s fortifications is
beaten back with heavy losses. Clinton orders siege operations to begin. Meanwhile in
Pennsylvania, General Howe, who has learned that he will not be getting the
reinforcements he feels he needs for the upcoming campaign, decides to proceed anyway.
However, he does so in a half-hearted fashion, and this gives the American
commander-in-chief, Benedict Arnold, time to prepare to meet him. Arnold, by this
time, has an army of 12,000 men ready to meet the British attack. He orders all bridges
across the Susquehanna River burned, with the exception of one which is located in
highly favorable defensive terrain between the towns of Lancaster and York, and has his
men build strong earthwork fortifcations defending the approaches to this bridge. If
Howe attacks, Arnold will have all the advantage.
June 1777: In Canada, the siege of Quebec continues. Meanwhile, on June 5, General Sir
William Howe’s British Army, almost 20,000 strong (Howe’s original 30,000 man force
has been not only whittled down by losses in battle, but also by disease, and the need to
leave garrisons at New York, Philadelphia, and throughout New Jersey), approaches the
fortifications held by the Continental Army west of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Surveying
the strong defensive positions, Howe might have been given pause, but, remembering the
poor performance of the American army at Norristown the previous year, he holds the
fighting qualities of these “colonial rabble,” as he calls them, in contempt, and he orders
an assault for the next day. On the morning of June 6, the British march out in perfect
formation, drums and fifes mockingly playing “Yankee Doodle,” and are met with
withering fire from the American fortifications. Thus begins the fight that will become
known as the Battle of Arnold’s Bridge. The British make no less than five assaults that
day, all of them beaten back with horrendous losses. When the smoke clears, almost
6,000 British and Hessian soldiers lie dead or wounded on the fields in front of the
American lines, while less than 1,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in the
fight. Lord Howe orders a retreat back toward Philadelphia for the next morning.
Benedict Arnold, however, has his own plans, and orders a night assault on the British
camp. While the American assault is disorganized, as any night assault by inexperienced
troops must be, the very fact that they would try such a thing, combined with the shock of
the huge losses suffered earlier that day, causes panic to break out in the British ranks.
Thousands of seasoned redcoats and professional German mercenaries, many men casting
away their muskets to lighten their load, are soon fleeing, as fast as their legs can carry
them, east toward Philadelphia and safety. It is, quite possibly, the worst military defeat
in British history. Arnold orders pursuit, but his jubilent but hungry and ragged troops
stop to pillage the British camp, and Arnold cannot restore order in his own ranks until
mid-morning the next day. By this time, his scouts report that Lord Howe has restored
order to his own army, which is now retreating in good order toward Philadelphia.
Arnold orders his army to follow. Another battle is fought near Chester, Pennsylvania on
June 12, when Arnold’s advance guard catches up with Howe’s rear guard, but the
Americans are repulsed, and Howe makes it back to Philadelphia with the bulk of his
army still intact. Arnold retires to Lancaster, where he gives his army a desperately
needed reorganization and gathers more recruits. The two armies sit out the rest of the
month in relative inactivity.
July 1777: In Canada, the siege of Quebec continues. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania,
Benedict Arnold’s army has received a flood of recruits since news of the victory at
Arnold’s Bridge got out. By mid July, he is in command of a force almost 30,000 strong,
and growing daily. Most of these are inexperienced militia, of course, but when Lord
Howe learns, via his spies, that Arnold is possessed of such a force, he makes the
decision to abandon Philadelphia. The British Army crosses the Delaware River into
New Jersey on July 28.
In August 1777, British and Loyalist agents stir up an uprising among the Iroquois which
causes much damage in upstate New York. It also prevents a Patriot relief column,
which had been gathering at Fort Ticonderoga, from moving north into Canada to the
relief of Major General Wooster’s besieged force at Quebec. As a result, Wooster is
forced to surrender Quebec later that month. However, the Americans still control
Montreal. On August 3, Benedict Arnold rides, at the head of the Continental Army, into
Philadelphia. The Continental Congress returns to Philadelphia to York on August 20.
By that time Lord Howe, having abandoned New Jersey except for a few outposts
guarding the approaches to New York, has returned to his base at New York City, where
he sends a message to London desperately requesting reinforcement.
In September 1777, General Sir Henry Clinton advances south from Quebec toward
Montreal with 6,000 men (leaving a garrison of 2,000 at Quebec...the remainder of his
original 10,000 men force were lost during the siege of Quebec). The American
commander at Montreal, Philip Schuyler, finding himself heavily outnumbered, abandons
the city and retreats to Fort Ticonderoga. Clinton goes into winter quarters at Montreal
and Quebec by the end of September, ending this year’s fighting in the far north. The
American occupation of Canada is at an end. Meanwhile, General Benedict Arnold leads
his army into New Jersey. He approaches New York, but decides an assault on the
British defenses would be impractical. Instead, he contents himself with attacking the
British outposts in New Jersey, which he captures before the end of September. All of
New Jersey is back in American hands.
In October 1777, the Continental Army, which is not strong enough to attack the British
base at New York, goes into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. The British
Army at New York, not capable of attacking the Americans, does the same. In upper
New York, the combined American forces at Fort Ticonderoga (Schuyler’s force from
Montreal and the remains of the Quebec relief column) go out on a devastating raid
against the villages of the Iroquois. Under the command of Schuyler, the Americans
burn every village, destroy all stored crops and livestock, and kill every warrior they can
find. By the time this raid ends in early December, the power of the Iroquois is forever
broken, and the pitiful remnants are fleeing to the safety of British Canada.
In November 1777, King Louis XVI of France signs a treaty of alliance with the United
States of America. French arms, uniforms, gunpowder, and other supplies are soon
pouring into the colonies, and a French expeditionary force is being readied. General Sir
Henry Clinton is named British Governor of Canada.
--1778: In early January, General Howe is removed as commander of the British forces at
New York, and replaced by General Charles Cornwallis. Cornwallis is an aggressive
commander, and his promotion will mark a change in British strategy. Arriving with the
orders promoting him to command at New York are reinforcements of 15,000 men,
giving him an effective force of almost 30,000. Cornwallis plans to take the bulk of this
army to attack and secure the Southern colonies, which are seen as an easy target due to
their smaller populations and perceived loyalist leanings. Meanwhile, at Morristown, the
coming of winter has seen the militia go home, and the American Continental army
dwindle to less than 10,000 men.
On February 23, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at the American winter
encampment at Morristown, New Jersey. Von Steuben is an experienced Prussian
military officer, and has been recruited by Benjamin Franklin to provide professional
training to the Continental Army...something which, up to now, it has lacked. As the
Prussian Army is widely regarded as the best in the world, his services are gratefully
accepted by General Arnold, and over the next several months, under Von Steuben’s
tutelage, the Continental Army is transformed into a professional, disciplined fighting
force.
In March, Lord Cornwallis takes ship with 20,000 men and sails for Savannah, Georgia.
The British fleet arrives there on March 20, and the British army disembarks. The city
surrenders with little resistance. Lord Cornwallis orders his army to march overland to
Charleston, South Carolina, which he plans to invest by land while the fleet bombards it
by sea.
On April 5, the British army arrives outside Charleston, South Carolina, the fleet having
arrived off the harbor on April 1. The town is placed under siege.
On June 23, General Benjamin Lincoln, commander of the American forces at
Charleston, South Carolina, surrenders the town to the British.
In July, Colonel George Rogers Clark leads an expedition from Virginia into the Illinois
Country (the region north of the Ohio River and south of the Great Lakes, which is
claimed by Virginia but had been assigned to Canada in one of the Acts of Parliament
which sparked the Revolution). He captures the town of Kaskaskia on July 4, and the
important post at Vincennes shortly afterward.