1. War Revolution And Crisis - Part 1
2. War Revolutionehr

Johnny Tremain is drawn into the Revolutionary War, and becomes a patriot fighting to free the colonies from England. Along the way he learns about life and about himself. Director: Robert Stevenson Stars: Hal Stalmaster, Luana Patten, Jeff York, Sebastian Cabot Votes: 1,571.

Many countries besides Great Britain and the United States took part in the Revolutionary War during the American Revolution.

Some served as belligerents (a nation or person lawfully engaged in war) while others were allies or mercenaries.

Each side had its own specific reason for joining the war. For some, such as the French and the Spanish, it was revenge for the Seven Years’ War, which the British had won, while for others, like the Native-Americans or the Kingdom of Mysore, it was to overthrow imperialist rulers in their own country.

• On December 27, 2020 at 7 p.m. Emerging Revolutionary War historian Mark Maloy will sit down and talk with experts on the Ten Crucial Days campaign of 1776-1777 for the last “Rev War Revelry” for 2020.
• T he American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence, was a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North American from 1775 to 1783. The war was the end result of the political American Revolution, where the colonists overthrew British rule.
• Original Revolutionary War Period Items. A pivotal event in world history, the American Revolutionary War was fought from 1775 to 1783 and involved the ships and armies of the American colonies, the British Empire, and the Kingdom of France.

“The Belligerent Plenipo’s”, cartoon by Thomas Colley, published in London, circa 1782. Cartoon depicts America, on the right, represented by a native, celebrating her new acquisition, half of the English king’s crown, while her allies, the King of France, a Dutchman, and a Spaniard complain that they have not received compensation for their support in Revolutionary War, represented by injuries resulting in missing body parts which lay at the feet of King George III on the left. Ireland, represented by an angelic figure floating in the clouds, demands its own constitutional freedom.

Each side joined the war effort at different times too. Some hesitated and only joined after a number of years into the war, while others were eager to, or even obliged to, get involved early.

The following is a list of belligerents, allies and mercenaries involved in the Revolutionary War:

Great Britain:

In 1763, Great Britain issued a series of new taxes and laws in the colonies to help generate badly needed revenue. Britain was deeply in debt due to the cost of the French and Indian War (aka the Seven Years’ War) and needed to find ways to pay it off.

These new taxes didn’t go over well and resulted in protests and riots among the colonists. Great Britain attempted to stop the revolution by trying to regain control and restore order in the colonies through an increased military presence there but struggled to contain the growing rebellion.

On August 2, 1775, the British government issued the Proclamation of Rebellion, which declared that the American colonies were in an “open and avowed rebellion” and ordered officials of the British Empire to “use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion.”

On October 27, 1775, the British government expanded on the proclamation with King George’s speech to Parliament in which he indicated that he intended to deal with the rebellion with armed force and asked for “friendly offers of foreign assistance” to suppress the rebellion.

The proclamation furthered damaged relations between the colonists and the British government and made it clear that the king was not interested in finding a way to resolve the dispute peacefully, which prompted the colonists to declare independence from Great Britain.

The 13 British Colonies:

After the British government began enacting various new taxes in the 13 British colonies in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, it was met with a lot of resistance by the colonists because they resented the government for meddling in colonial affairs.

The Gadsden Flag was the first Marine flag and was flown by the Continental navy during the Revolutionary War

The colonists began boycotting, protesting and even rioting over these news laws. The government responded by increasing its military presence in the colonies, which only escalated the conflict.

The conflict came to a head in April of 1775 when the colonists and the British troops engaged in the first battles of the Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord. In response, King George III issued the Proclamation of Rebellion in August.

After the Proclamation of Rebellion was issued and King George vowed to fight the rebellion with force, the colonists decided to cut all political ties with Great Britain.

The Continental Congress officially declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. Shortly after, they sent a group of commissioners, led by Benjamin Franklin, overseas to negotiate an alliance with France.

The Declaration was drafted and passed in order to allow for recognition of the United States by friendly foreign governments, such as France, who refused to consider the possibility of an alliance without it.

France:

France joined the Revolutionary War in 1778. The French government decided to get involved in the war because it had lost the Seven Years’ War to the British in 1763 and wanted to regain the land it lost in North America during that war.

Royal Standard of the King of France from 1638 to 1790

France had begun considering an alliance with the colonists after they declared their independence in July of 1776 but started to rethink the decision after receiving news of General George Washington’s defeats in New York in August of 1776.

France finally decided in favor of an alliance after receiving news of the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga in December of 1777.

In 1778, the French joined the Revolutionary War as an ally to the American colonists and signed a Treaty of Alliance and a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Benjamin Franklin on February 6, 1778, officially pledging their assistance in the war effort.

The treaty also contained a clause forbidding either country from making a separate peace deal with the British and also contained a secret clause that allowed Spain, or other European countries, to enter into the alliance.

The resulting global battles between France and Great Britain later came to be known as the Anglo-French War, which took place between 1778-1783, and was directly linked to the American Revolutionary War, although it took place outside of North America.

Spain:

Spain joined the Revolutionary War in 1779. Spain got involved in the war because it had also lost the Seven Years’ War to Great Britain and hoped to regain the land it lost in North America.

Flag of the House of Bourbon in Spain from 1760 to 1785

Spain joined the Revolutionary War only as an ally to France, not the colonists. The King of Spain, King Charles III, wouldn’t sign a treaty of alliance with the United States, because he viewed encouraging political revolts as unwise, but did sign the Treaty of Aranjuez with France in April of 1779.

The Treaty of Aranjuez stated that France would help Spain capture Gibraltar, the Floridas and the island of Menorca and, in return, Spain would join France in their war against the British.

As a result, on June 21, 1779, Spain declared war on Great Britain, creating a de facto alliance with France and the United States.

Dutch Republic:

Great Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in 1780 to prevent it from joining an alliance, known as the League of Armed Neutrality, with other European countries.

Catherine the Great in Russia formed the League of Armed Neutrality, which was an alliance between European countries that remained neutral in the American Revolutionary War, in 1780.

The alliance was intended to protect neutral shipping against the British navy’s policy of searching neutral ships for French contraband.

Britain feared that the Dutch Republic would join the league, and that any British attempts to confiscate Dutch ships, which traded in the British North American colonies, would bring Britain into war with all members of the league, which at the time included Denmark, Sweden and Russia.

The Dutch Republic had planned to join the league in January of 1781, but Great Britain found out about it ahead of time and declared war on the Dutch Republic on December 20, 1780, thus making them ineligible to join.

The Dutch then signed a Treaty of of Amity and Commerce with the United States on October 8, 1782.

Mysore:

The Kingdom of Mysore joined the Revolutionary War in 1780. Mysore was a military state in India, located on the southwest coast of the Indian subcontinent, that was ruled by Muslim rulers Nawab Hyder Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan, who opposed British expansion into India.

Hyder Ali had an alliance with the French in India due to their shared common enemy: the British. When the French declared war on the British in 1778, the British tried to overthrow the French in India.

As a result, in 1780, the Kingdom of Mysore declared war on Britain, which later came to be known as the Second Anglo-Mysore war.

Hanover:

Hanover, was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany, and was ruled by King George III.

Hanover provided troops to Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, offering five battalions, which were sent to Gibraltar to replace English soldiers that had been sent to North America.

Hesse-Kassel:

Hesse-Kassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany. The ruler of Hesse-Kassel, Frederick II, leased 22,000 Hessian soldiers to his nephew, British monarch King George III, for use in the Revolutionary War, after George wrote to Frederick and offered a subsidy for his troops as well as a treaty of alliance and protection. The treaty was signed on January 15, 1776.

Hesse-Kassel offered a total of 12,500 troops, which included 15 regiments, each with five companies, four Grenadier Battalions, two Yager companies and some artillery units.

King George III promised only to employ these hessian soldiers in North America, not in the West Indies, which was considered undignified.

Hesse-Hanau:

The county of Hanau was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany. Hesse-Hanau signed a treaty with Great Britain on February 5, 1776 and offered 900 troops, which included one infantry regiment and some artillery.

Waldeck:

Waldeck was a state in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany. Waldeck signed a treaty with Great Britain on April 25, 1775 and offered 700 troops, equaling one regiment.

Brunswick:

Brunswick was a duchy (a territory ruled by a duke or duchess) in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany.

King George wrote to the Duke of Brunswick, Charles William Ferdinand, whose wife was Princess Augusta of Great Britain, and offered a subsidy for his troops as well as a treaty of alliance and protection.

Brunswick was the first German-speaking state to sign a treaty supporting Great Britain, which was signed on January 9, 1776.

Brunswick offered 4,000 soldiers, which included four infantry regiments, one grenadier battalion, one dragoon regiment and one light infantry battalion and required that all troops take an oath of service to King George III.

King George III promised only to employ Brunswick’s soldiers in North America, not in the West Indies, which was considered undignified.

Ansbach-Bayreuth:

Ansbach-Bayreuth was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Bavaria, that supplied 2,353 troops to British during the Revolutionary War.

Anhalt-Zerbst:

Anhalt-Zerbst was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now modern day Germany. In 1777, the Prince of Anhalth-Zerbst, Frederick Augustus, signed a treaty to provide Great Britain with 1,160 men.

Cherokee Tribe:

The Cherokee, a southern tribe who lived in the Carolinas and Georgia, sided with the British in the Revolutionary War hoping they would stop Americans from settling on their land as they had done with the Proclamation of 1763.

Creek Tribe:

The Creek, a south-eastern tribe who lived in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina, never officially allied themselves with any one side in the war and instead participated in limited engagements.

Choctaw Tribe:

The Choctaw, a southern tribe who lived in the lower Mississippi region, sided with the British in the Revolutionary War hoping they would stop Americans from settling on their land.

Chicaksaw Tribe:

The Chickasaw, a southern tribe who lived in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War hoping they would stop Americans from settling on their land.

Catawba Tribe:

The Catawaba, a tribe who lived along the border of South Carolina and North Carolina, sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War in 1775 after the British failed to enforce provisions of the 1763 Treaty of Augusta that was designed to protect their land.

Abenaki Tribe:

The Abenaki, a tribe who lived in northern New England and the southern part of the Canadian Maritimes, were heavily divided on the issue and fought in small engagements for both the Americans and the British in the Revolutionary War.

Penboscot Tribe:

The Penobscot, a tribe who lived in Maine, never officially sided with the Americans but allowed some of their young warriors to fight for the Americans upon the request of George Washington in 1776.

Maliseet Tribe:

The Maliseet. a tribe who lived in Maine, sided with the Americans early in the Revolutionary War, hoping that overthrowing the British would restore French rule in North America, and signed a treaty with the Americans, the Treaty of Watertown, in 1776.

Passamaquoddy Tribe:

The Passamaquoddy, a tribe who lived in Maine and Canada, sided with the Americans early in the Revolutionary War and supplied George Washington with warriors upon his request in 1776.

Micmac Tribe:

The Micmac, a tribe who lived in the Canadian maritimes, sided with the Americans early in the Revolutionary War, hoping that overthrowing the British would restore French rule in North America, and signed a treaty with the Americans, the Treaty of Watertown, in 1776.

Stockbridge Mohican Tribe:

The Stockbridge-Mohican, a tribe who lived in Western Massachusetts, sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War in 1774, even though they had been long-standing allies of the British, possibly due to pressure from local patriotic colonists or possibly in hopes of asserting their independence and reclaiming their lost lands.

Shawnee Tribe:

The Shawnee, a tribe who lived in the Ohio River Valley. sided with the British during the Revolutionary War after being attacked by American militia in 1777.

Delaware Tribe:

The Delaware (also known as the Lenni Lenape), a tribe in the Ohio Valley, sided with Americans during the Revolutionary War, hoping to assert their independence, and signed a treaty with the Americans, the Treaty of Fort Pitt, in 1778.

Miami Tribe:

The Miami, a tribe in the Ohio Valley, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War hoping they would stop Americans from settling on their land.

Mohawk Tribe:

The Mohawk, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in New York, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War due to the confederacy’s long-standing alliance with the British.

Cayuga:

The Cayuga, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in New York, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War due to the confederacy’s long-standing alliance with the British.

Onondaga:

The Onondaga, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in western New York, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War due to the confederacy’s long-standing alliance with the British.

Seneca Tribe:

The Seneca, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in New York, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War due to the confederacy’s long-standing alliance with the British.

War Revolution And Crisis - Part 1

Oneida Tribe:

The Oneida, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in western New York, sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War possibly due to strong ties with the colonists and a weakening of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Tuscarora Tribe:

The Tuscarora, a tribe in the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in New York, sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War possibly due to strong ties with the Oneida tribe and the colonists and a weakening of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Wyandot Tribe:

The Wyandot (Huron), a tribe in the Great Lakes region, sided with the British during the Revolutionary War hoping they would stop Americans from settling on their land.

Potawami Tribe:

The Potawami, a tribe in the Great Lakes region, sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War after Virginia militia officer, George Rogers Clark met with with Siggenauk, a Potawami chief from Milwaukee, in 1778 and convinced him to join the Americans.

Sources:
Elking, Max Von. German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence 1776-1783. Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1893
Harding, Nick. Hanover and the British Empire, 1700-1837. The Boydell Press, 2007.
VasantAgnihotri. “Muslim Support for American Independence During the Revolutionary War.” Muslim Academy, 23 Dec. 2012, muslim-academy.com/muslim-support-for-american-independence-during-the-revolutionary-war
Procknow, Gene. “How the British Won the American Revolutionary War.” Journal of the American Revolution, 27 July. 2015, allthingsliberty.com/2015/07/how-the-british-won-the-american-revolutionary-war/
Edler, Friedrich. The Dutch Republic and the American Revolution. John Hopkins Press, 1911.
“The Declaration of Independence, 1776.” Office of the Historian, United States Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/declaration
“French Alliance, French Assistance, and European Diplomacy during the American Revolution, 1778-1782.” Office of the Historian, United States Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/french-alliance
Conway, Stephen. “10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the American War of Independence.” History Extra, 4 July. 2017, www.historyextra.com/article/international-history/10-things-you-need-know-about-american-war-independence

The Revolutionary War in Virginia

French cannon at Yorktown
Source: National Park Service, Sidney King Painting

Governor Dunmore led the official British forces in Virginia at the start of the American Revolution. Local residents had appointed guards to watch the brick 'magazine' in Williamsburg where the coloniy's muskets and gunpowder were stored, but on the very windy night of April 20, 1775 they abandoned their posts. Dunmore took advantage of the opportunity. He had 20 sailors and marines from the schooner Magdalen land at Burwell's Ferry, near the modern Kingsmill Resort. They walked four miles to Williamsburg, opened the locked gates of the magazine using keys provided by Lord Dunmore, and started to remove the half-barrels of gunpowder weighing 65 pounds each.

Local residents quickly discovered what was happening, but the sailors and marines had time to load 15 of the 18 half-barrels into a wagon and return safely to the Magdalen.

The governor claimed he was ensuring a slave insurrection could not use the gunpowder, but the colonists recognized he was disarming them. Patrick Henry led militia on an unauthorized march to the capital city; violence was avoided by a face-saving compromise when the royal Receiver General paid for the value of the gunpowder.¹

the Magazine in Williamsburg stored gunpowder, which Lord Dunmore removed in April 1775

Lord Dunmore fled the Governor's Palace and reached safety on the H.M.S. Fowey on June 8, 1775. He sought to spark civil war among the colonists, with the hope that the Loyalists would fight the rebels and allow him to reoccupy the Governor's Palace. He also sought to weaken the patriots by recruiting their enslaved men to flee to the British lines. There they would provide labor needed to construct fortifications, and their absence from Virginia plantations would reduce food and supplies needed by the Virginia militia that was fighting against him.²

Dunmore's strategy failed in part because the Loyalists were threatened seriously by rebels who lived nearby. Dunmore created a base of operations at Norfolk after he fled Williamsburg, but he destroyed the city on January 1 and sailed out to the Chesapeake Bay after he lost control of the Great Bridge crossing over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. His last base was at Gwynn's Island, which he abandoned after it was attacked in July 1776.

The British fleet sailed out of the Chesapeake Bay in August, 1776. For almost the next three years, there were no British forces in Virginia. During that time, there were not enough Loyalists concentrated in one place to create their own army, seize control of a part of Virginia, and create a parallel government to Virginia's revolutionary conventions and ultimately the new state government.

British troops returned during a raid in May, 1779 by Commodore George Collier and Major General Edward Mathew. They destroyed the Gosport Shipyard at Portsmouth, but the raid was followed by another British abandonment after just two weeks.

the British captured the Gosport Shipyard at Portsmouth and burned it in 1779
Source: Library of Congress, Part of the Province of Virginia (1791)

Major General Alexander Leslie arrived with over 2,000 troops in October, 1780, but that attack was just a diversion to disrupt supplies and support Lord Cornwallis's campaign in the Carolinas. Leslie left after only a month in the Hampton Roads area.

General Benedict Arnold returned at the end of December, 1780, followed by General William Phillips and finally Lord Cornwallis. Arnold established a base at Portsmouth, but as British troops marched across the state they stayed in one place only briefly. Loyalists who committed to support the invading army were exposed to retaliation as soon as the troops moved on.

British forces under Benedict Arnold reached Richmond in January, 1781
Source: Leventhal Map Collection, Boston Public Library, Skirmish at Richmond Jan. 5th. 1781

On February 22, 1781, General Arnold held a public assembly in Princess Anne County to get 400 local residents to swear a new oath of allegiance to the British government. They were willing to drink and eat what Arnold supplied for the event, and willing to mouth the words in the required oath, but they were just going through the motions.

Captain Johann Ewald, commanding Hessian forces, challenged one uncommitted Loyalist to raise troops locally in order to maintain control over the county. Ewald promised that the British would provide uniforms and weapons as needed. The Princess Anne resident replied to Ewald:³

I must first see if it is true that your people really intend to remain with us. You have already been in this area twice. General Leslie gave me the same assurances in the past autumn, and where is he now? In Carolina! Who knows where you will be this autumn? And should the French unite with the Americans, everything would certainly be lost to you here. What would we loyally disposed subjects have then? Nothing but misfortune from the Opposition Party, if you leave us again.

Ewald replied initially, frustrated that his Hessians were risking their lives to assist the Loyalists unwilling to risk anything:⁴

But you loyalists won't do anything! You only want to be protected, to live in peace in your houses. We are supposed to break our bones for you, in place of yours, to accomplish your purpose. We attempt everything, and sacrifice our own blood for your assumed cause.

Cornwallis entered Virginia after crossing South Carolina and North Carolina, before choosing Yorktown as the deepwater port where he would be resupplied by ships of the Royal Navy sailing from New York
Source: Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, Campaigns of 1781 (Plate 160h, digitized by University of Richmond)

Later, Ewald recognized that Loyalists were wise to keep a low profile. He was surprised to discover that the response he heard was convincing, and provided a clear rationale for not overtly supporting the British cause. The Marquis de Lafayette articulated the same perspective in a letter to the Continental Congress, which was alarmed that Cornwallis was marching through North Carolina into Virginia without meeting formal resistance:⁵

You can be entirely calm with regard to the rapid marches of Lord Cornwallis. Let him march from St. Augustine to Boston. What he wins in his front, he loses in his rear. His army will bury itself without requiring us to fightwith him.

Lord Corwallis chased General Nathaniel Green to the Dan River, before marching back into North Carolina and then fighting at Guilford Courthouse
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)

General William Phillips brought 2,000 more soldiers to Portsmouth from New York in March, 1781 with directions by Sir Henry Clinton to take command from Benedict Arnold. Expanding the war effort in Virginia would reduce the number of troops who could be sent south into the Carolinas, and interdict supplies which could support George Washington's army around New York.

Phillips sailed out of Portsmouth on April 18, 1781. He seized Williamsburg, then destroyed the Virginia State Navy base on the Chickahominy River. He crossed the James River and captured Petersburg, then destroyed the barracks at Chesterfield Court House and captured ships and supplies at Osborne's Landing. General Phillips raided Richmond again, this time destroying the cannon foundry at Westham upstream of the city.

Cornwallis marched north from Wilmington to Petersburg. Phillips went to join him there, but died from malaria or typhus before Cornwallis arrived. The general's body was buried secretly in the cemetery at Blandford Church; the exact location is still unknown.⁶

Lord Corwallis marched from Wilmington, North Carolina to Petersburg to combine forces with General William Phillips
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)

Col. Banastre Tarleton seized the ships and supplies at Osborne's Landing on April 27, 1781
Source: Huntington Library, Journal of the operations of the Queen's Rangers (Colonel John Simcoe, 1782)

After Phillips died, Cornwallis sidelined Benedict Arnold by sending him back to New York. Col. Banastre Tarleton, in his 1787 memoirs, diplomatically described Cornwallis' removal of a person he did not want in his army:⁷

Brigadier-general Arnold obtained leave to return fo New York, where business of consequence demanded his attendance.

The British forces moved from Petersburg towards Richmond, seeking to defeat the Marquis de Lafayette before he could unite with reinforcements coming from Pennsylvania. The British had complete military dominance thanks to their superior numbers (over 7,000 men) and especially their cavalry. Lafayette had only a few men on horses, and struggled to even monitor the movements of Cornwallis' forces.

The rebellious Virginia leaders in the General Assembly fled Richmond on May 10, headed west to reconvene on May 24 in Charlottesville. A quorum of members was finally available on May 28, when the legislature reconvened in (probably) Scottsville at the former Albemarle County Courthouse. Jefferson's second one-year term expired at the start of June and he had declined to serve any longer, but the legislature did not elect his replacement on May 28.⁸

Cornwallis decided that he could not cross the North Anna River and catch Lafayette before General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne would arrive with the Pennsylvania reinforcements. Cornwallis also decided that the supplies stored by the Virginians at two locations to his west were more significant that the material at Fredericksburg and Hunter's Iron Works at Falmouth.

Taking advantage of Lafayette being on the other side of the North Anna River, Cornwallis split his army. He sent Colonel John Simcoe and his Queens Rangers to seize an important supply base at the mouth of the Rivanna River, ordered Col. Banastre Tarleton to race west from Hanover Court House to Charlottesville, and marched with the rest to a planned reunion at Thomas Jefferson's Elk Hill plantation in Goochland County.

At Point of Fork (the site of the old Monacan town of Rassawek, near modern-day Columbia), Baron von Steuben moved all the supplies and boats away from Colonel John Simcoe to the south side of the James River. Von Steuben was fooled into thinking all of Cornwallis' army had arrived, and the American rebels fled. The British were able to cross the river unopposed and destroy the stockpile.⁹

under Colonel John Simcoe, the Queen's Rangers (American Tories) captured Baron von Steuben's supply base at Point of Fork (modern-day Columbia) on June 5, 1781
Source: Huntington Library, Journal of the operations of the Queen's Rangers (Colonel John Simcoe, 1782)

Col. Banastre Tarleton led a raid to Charlottesville with his British Legion to destroy supplies there and also to capture the General Assembly. As British cavalry were riding up the hill at Monticello on June 4, Thomas Jefferson fled in the other direction. He retired to property he owned in Bedford County where he later constructed Poplar Forest.

Opponents, primarily supporters of Patrick Henry, quickly accused Jefferson of mismanaging the Virginia response to the invasions by Arnold, Phillips, and Cornwallis, and of personal cowardice for his flight. Jefferson responded that the state always lacked the resources to counter the British, particularly a navy to stop them from crossing rivers:¹⁰

I believe we are left with a single armed boat only.

The legislators who escaped Tarleton went further west to Staunton and reassembled in Trinity Church. While meeting in Staunton, the General Assembly elected Thomas Nelson Jr. as the next governor.¹¹

After being rejoined by Simcoe and Tarleton, Cornwallis marched his army east from Elk Hill back to Williamsburg. There he receive a message from Gen. Henry Clinton in New York, who feared attack by the combined forces under General George Washington and the French under the Count de Rochambeau. Clinton demanded Cornwallis detach a force from his unchallenged marches through Virginia and send them to New York. To supply the troops and to ensure adequate fortifications to protect his remaining force, Cornwallis started to move to the British base at Portsmouth.

That required crossing the James River again. The British Navy brought up ships, and the army moved to Jamestown Island in order to be ferried across to Cobham.

That is where Lafayette finally sent Wayne's troops to attack Cornwalllis. Lafayette thought he was dealing with only the rear guard because Tarleton had arranged for him to capture a false deserter with that 'intelligence,' but Cornwallis had disguised his movements and outnumbered the Americans. Wayne managed to retreat back to Green Spring Plantation, the former home of Governor Culpeper. The British victory was the largest infantry engagement to occur in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.

After crossing to the south bank, Tarleton was sent west to Bedford County to interdict and destroy supplies intended for the General Greene's army in the Carolinas. The British Legion left Cobham on July 9, 1781, passing through Petersburg and Prince Edward Courthouse (now Worsham, near Hamden-Sydney college south of Farmville). During the raid, the cavalry rested in the middle of the day to avoid exhausing the horses.

British intelligence was faulty; the American supplies had been shipped to the Carolinas a month earlier. Tarleton chose a different route back to reach Portsmouth, since General Wayne had moved his units to Petersburg. Fortunately for the British, no Americans contested their crossing over the Blackwater River, where a defended position could have blocked the ford.

Over the course of 15 days, the cavaly rode over 400 miles. There were no significant engagements, and few supplies were destroyed. Fine Virginia horses were captured, but Tarleton later judged that the British had been more damaged by the long, hot ride than the Virginians:¹²

The stores destroyed, either of a public or private nature, were not in quantity or value equivalent to the damage sustained in the skirmishes on the route, and the loss of men and horses by fhe excessive heat of the climate.

One of the tall tales of the Revolutionary Way is of the superhuman strength of Peter Francisco. He was an impressively-large man, perhaps 6'6' tall. Supposedly he single-handedly pulled an 1,100 pound cannon off its carriage and brought it safely to a wagon during the battle of Camden. During Tarleton's Bedford raid, nine of Tarleton's cavalry made Franciso their prisoner. When one demanded he hand over the silver buckles on his shoes, Franciso reportedly grabbed the soldier's sword, wounded him, and forced the other eight to flee while leaving ther horses behind.

Perhaps the most accurate element of the story is the behavior of the tavern keeper. Francisco reported that he helped the British, giving one a gun to shoot Francisco. Not all Virginians were strong supporters of the patriot cause, especially when surrounded by British troops.¹³

Peter Francisco, an unusually strong and courageous man, became an American hero for his fighting against the British
Source: Library of Congress, Peter Francisco's gallant action with nine of Tarleton's cavalry in sight of a troop of four hundred men

After Tarleton left on the Bedford raid, Cornwallis took the rest of his army along the path of modern Route 10 to Suffolk and on to Portsmouth. He received new orders directing him to stay north of the James River and to secure Old Point Comfort as a base for the British Navy. After determining it was not the best place to establish a base and wait for resupply from New York, he moved the British Army by ship to Yorktown in August, 1781. The British destroyed the fortifications at Portsmouth to prevent them from being used by Lafayette.¹⁴

the British sailed from Portsmouth to Yorktown in August, 1781 in anticipation of getting resupplied there
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)

The ultimate fate of the British army at Yorktown was determined by a naval battle in the Atlantic Ocean. At the Battle of the Capes, a French fleet blocked the British ships coming from New York from entering the Chesapeake Bay. When Washington and Rochambeau arrived with American and French troops, Cornwallis was trapped in Yorktown without the expected reinforcements or supplies.

His surrender to a united force of French and American troops in October, 1781, was a catastrophe for the enslaved men and women who had chosen to abandon their Virginia homes and follow the British. During the four months of marching across the state, Cornwallis encouraged enslaved people to leave their masters and follow him. Cornwallis learned from his Carolina experience, and did not expect Virginia's Tories to re-establish control and govern after his army had moved on. He did not try to win the hearts and minds of white Virginians by returning slaves. Instead, he sought to impose economic pain on the rebels and force the colony into submission, and to the enslaved population 'freedom wore a red coat' in 1781.

After Cornwallis surrendered, George Washington ordered that the free blacks within the British lines be separated from the enslaved blacks. Those who were judged to be escaped slaves were returned to their masters.¹⁵

Yorktown brought most, but not all, fighting to an end. On the western frontier, British officers worked with Native Americans to launch two major assaults in 1782.

On August 19, 50 British soldiers and 300 Native Americans clashed with 182 Kentucky militiamen at the Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky. The Americans had been pursuing the British/Native American force which had attacked Bryan's Station and, after failing to capture it, headed north to cross the Ohio River.

Daniel Boone warned the Kentucky militia that they were following a too-obvious trail, and an ambush lay ahead. Other leaders chased on anyway, to avoid accusations of cowardice. Boone followed, commenting:¹⁶

We are all slaughtered men.

Boone was correct. About 1/3 of the Kentuckians - including Boone's son Israel - died that day.¹⁷

In the other assault by British rangers and Native American warriors, Fort Henry was surrounded in September, 1782. The defenders inside the fort at Wheeling were just the local residents, who raced inside just before the raiders appeared. A few other Virginians, including the family of Ebenezer Zane, fled to the nearby blockhouse where the gunpowder was stored.

The fort's defenders repelled two attacks on the first night, but ran low on gunpowder by morning. Elizabeth Zane ran from the fort to the blockhouse, filled her apron with gunpowder, and raced back to the fort under fire from the attackers. That enabled the defenders to continue their resistance. The attackers had brought only enough supplies for a few days, and soon abandoned the siege.¹⁸

The American retaliation came in November, 1782. George Rogers Clark led an army into Ohio and burned five Shawnee villages, in the Northwest Territory to which Virginia had only recently ceded its claims to the Continental Congress. The Shawnee retreated rather than fight, but the expedition is often described as the 'last battle' of the American Revolution.¹⁹

The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war and acknowledged American independence, was signed in 1783.

in 1781, Lafayette (yellow line) could only shadow the British (red line) as they chose to raid Richmond and destroy supplies throughout Virginia
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major General M'is de LaFayette : ou se trouvent les camps et marches, ainsy que ceux du Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis en 1781

Cornwallis concentrated forces at Petersburg in April 1781, crossed the James River to Westover Plantation and captured Richmond, then embarked at Bermuda Hundred to sail back to the British base at Portsmouth
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major General M'is de LaFayette : ou se trouvent les camps et marches, ainsy que ceux du Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis en 1781

after an American victory at Cowpens, General Daniel Morgan and General Nathaniel Greene managed a strategic retreat across the Carolinas and crossed the Dan River before General Cornwallis
Source: Internet Archive, A School History of the United States, from the Discovery of America to the Year 1878 (p.196)

highway historical markers highlight Revolutionary War events in eastern Virginia

route of Comte de Rochambeau's army through Northern Virginia, 1781 and 1782
Source: Library of Congress, Cote de York-town - Boston: Marches de l'armee

Lord Cornwallis fortified Yorktown, with the expectation that reinforcements would arrive from New York before his base could be captured through a siege by French and America armies
Source: Library of Congress, Plan of Yorktown and Glucester [sic], Virginia, October 1781

re-enactors at the Yorktown Victory Monument
Source: Joint Base Langley-Eustis

Albemarle Barracks

Battle of Great Bridge

Battle of Gwynn's Island

Battle of Yorktown

Benedict Arnold and William Phillips in Virginia, 1780-1781

A Monument In Petersburg Honoring a British General Who Invaded Virginia in the Revolutionary War

The Chesapeake Bay: Avenue for Attack

Collier-Mathew Raid of 1779

Colonial Militia in Virginia

Race to Charlottesville: Jack Jouett and Banastre Tarleton

Leslie's Raid in 1780

Virginia Military District

Virginia and Prisoners of War in the American Revolution

Virginians in The Continental Army

Were the Virginia Slaves Loyalists or Revolutionaries in the Revolutionary War

Why the Conservative, Rich Gentry Rebelled Against the 'System' in the American Revolution

Why Was Virginia a Military Target in 1781?

Winning the Illinois Country in the American Revolution

Blandford Church in Petersburg - burial site of Major General William Phillips, who captured the city in 1781

in 1781, Col. Banastre Tarleton raided as far west as Bedford and Charlottesville and Lord Cornwallis marched up to the North Anna River
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)

Bedford was not safe from the British in 1781
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)

the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War in 1783
Source: Iowa Historical Society, Treaty of Paris

Links

• American Battlefield Trust
• American Revolution Round Table - Richmond
• Colonial Williamsburg
• Journal of the American Revolution
• Recognizing The Skirmish At Kemp's Landing (December 17, 2018)
• LIBERTY! The American Revolution (a PBS broadcast)
• Library of Congress
• London Gazette - report of Lord Cornwallis' surrender (December 15, 1781)
• National Archives
• Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture
• Siege of Yorktown (commemorating the 225th anniversary of the surrender on October 19-22, 2006)
• The Revolution in Virginia by H. J. Eckenrode (NOTE: a 1916 publication)
• The Story of the Campaign And Siege of Yorktown- The American Revolution by H. J. Eckenrode (NOTE: a 1931 publication)
• University of Virginia - The Papers of George Washington
• US Army Center for Military History
• American Military History: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775-1917 - The American Revolution, First Phase
• Virginia Militia in the Revolutionary War, by J.T. McAllister (1913)
• Yale Law School - The Avalon Project
• May 15, 1776: Preamble and Resolution of the Virginia Convention
• June 7, 1776: Resolution introduced in the Continental Congress by Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) proposing a Declaration of Independence
• June 29, 1776: Constitution of Virginia and earlier draft)

Cornwallis's surrender in 1781 was negotiated in the Moore House outside the town of Yorktown by subordinates - Cornwallis and Washington did not meet there in person to sign terms of capitulation
Source: Historical collections of Virginia, The Moore House, Yorktown (p.530)

the Moore House in Yorktown was damaged during the Civil War
Source: The Photographic History of the Civil War, The Scene of Yorktown's Only Surrender (p.268)

References

1. Mary Miley Theobald, 'The Monstrous Absurdity,' Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Summer 2006, https://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Summer06/plots.cfm; Norman Fuss, 'Prelude To Rebellion: Dunmore's Raid On The Williamsburg Magazine,' Journal of the American Revolution, April 2, 2015, https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/04/prelude-to-rebellion-dunmores-raid-on-the-williamsburg-magazine-april-21-1775/ (last checked June 4, 2019)
2. 'Summary of Dunmore's Proclamation,' Colonial Williamsburg, https://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchaadun.cfm (last checked June 4, 2019)
3. Captain Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian's Journal, Joseph P. Tustin (editor), Yale University Press, 1979, pp.286-287, https://archive.org/details/EwaldsDIARYOFTHEAMERICANWAR (last checked December 18, 2018)
4. Captain Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian's Journal, Joseph P. Tustin (editor), Yale University Press, 1979, p.295, https://archive.org/details/EwaldsDIARYOFTHEAMERICANWAR (last checked December 18, 2018)
5. Captain Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian's Journal, Joseph P. Tustin (editor), Yale University Press, 1979, p.302, https://archive.org/details/EwaldsDIARYOFTHEAMERICANWAR (last checked December 18, 2018)
6. 'Major General William Phillips,' Petersburg, Virginia, http://www.petersburgva.gov/484/Major-General-William-Phillips (last checked March 21, 2020)
7. Lieutenant-General Banastre Tarleton, A history of the campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the southern provinces, Printed for Colles (Dublin), 1787, p.305, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/yale.39002002440338 (last checked May 6, 2020)
8. John R. Maass, 'To Disturb the Assembly: Tarleton's Charlottesville Raid and the British Invasion of Virginia, 1781,' Virginia Cavalcade, Autumn 2000, https://fusilier.wordpress.com/banastre-tarleton-article-2000/; 'Chronology by Volume, Volume 5: 25 February to 20 May, 1781' The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (last checked May 6, 2020)
9. 'Fluvanna and the American Revolution,' Fluvanna County Chamber of Commerce, https://fluvannachamber.org/page-596563 (last checked March 21, 2020)
10. 'Jefferson fled Monticello to avoid being captured by the British. And he was mocked for it,' Washington Post, June 2, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/02/jefferson-fled-monticello-to-avoid-being-captured-by-the-british-and-he-was-mocked-for-it/ (last checked March 21, 2020)
11. Michael A. McDonnell, 'Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia,' Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, 21 November 21, 2016, https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jefferson_Thomas_as_Governor_of_Virginia12. Lieutenant-General Banastre Tarleton, A history of the campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the southern provinces, Printed for Colles (Dublin), 1787, pp.361-369, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/yale.39002002440338 (last checked May 11, 2020)
13. Michael Schellhammer, 'Peter Francisco: Distinguishing Fact From Fiction,' Journal of the American Revolution, July 23, 2013, https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/07/peter-francisco-fact-or-fiction/; 'American Hercules,' Richmond Magazine, July 12, 2012, https://richmondmagazine.com/news/american-hercules-07-12-2012/; 'Military Service,' Peter Francisco Society, https://peterfrancisco.org/about-peter/military-service/ (last checked May 11, 2020)
14. 'Timeline of the Siege of Yorktown,' The Yorktown Chronicles, https://www.historyisfun.org/sites/yorktown-chronicles/history/timeline-siege-yorktown.htm; 'Lafayette and the Virginia Campaign 1781,' National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/lafayette-and-the-virginia-campaign-1781.htm; Lieutenant-General Banastre Tarleton, A history of the campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the southern provinces, Printed for Colles (Dublin), 1787, pp. 370-371, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/yale.39002002440338 (last checked May 6, 2020)
15. Gregory J. W. Urwin, 'Abandoned to the Arts & Arms of the Enemy:' Placing the 1781 Virginia Campaign in Its Racial and Political Context,' 2014 Harmon Memorial Lecture, US Air Force Academy, https://www.usafa.edu/app/uploads/Harmon57.pdf (last checked May 11, 2020)

War Revolutionehr

16. John M. Trowbridge, 'We Are All Slaughted Men:' The Battle of Blue Licks,' Kentucky Ancestors, Volume 2, Number 2 (Winter 2006), p.59, https://kynghistory.ky.gov/Our-History/History-of-the-Guard/Documents/ancestorsbluelicks.pdf (last checked May 5, 2020)
17. John M. Trowbridge, 'We Are All Slaughted Men:' The Battle of Blue Licks,' Kentucky Ancestors, Volume 2, Number 2 (Winter 2006), p.60, https://kynghistory.ky.gov/Our-History/History-of-the-Guard/Documents/ancestorsbluelicks.pdf (last checked May 5, 2020)
18. Eric Sterner, 'Betty Zane and the Siege of Fort Henry, September 1782,' Journal of the American Revolution, January 14, 2020, https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/01/betty-zane-and-the-siege-of-fort-henry-september-1782/ (last checked May 5, 2020)
19. 'The Events that Led to the Last Battle of the American Revolution,' History Collection, https://historycollection.co/the-events-that-led-to-the-last-battle-of-the-american-revolution/ (last checked May 6, 2020)

Yorktown Victory Monument

Yorktown Grace Church

Yorktown fascine (1781 sand bag)

Yorktown 'Fox' cannon

NPS visitor center (Yorktown Battlefield)

Thomas Nelson house (Yorktown)

Nelson House 1781 cannonball (fake...)

Yorktown mural (Read Street)

(click on images for larger versions)Military in Virginia
Virginia Places