American Ha the Midnight Ride of Dr
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t’s B ha B g in os r? W rewin ton rbo RevolutionAmerican Ha The Midnight Ride of Dr. Prescott ? Hey, Guys! Wait a PITCHER’S Minute! PETTICOAT PERILS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH American_Revolution_FC.indd 1 3/13/17 12:57 PM 2 and coming to America. They did so for many reasons: religious freedom, making Americans Revolt! money, and a new life, among others. Ma- If you sometimes don’t want to do what ny colonists had their differences with your parents tell you, then you have an Britain. But most still considered them- idea of how Great Britain’s 13 American selves loyal subjects of the Crown. colonies felt in the 1770s. Since the 16th Starting around 1763, after the end of century, people had been leaving Britain the rench an nian War con ict in Their tax protests But, in fact, they might make you had the highest think the American per capita (per colonists suffered person) income of financially (in any people in the terms of money). world. American_Revolution_2-3.indd 2 3/13/17 12:58 PM 3 creased between Britain and the colonies. representation in Parliament. The British Great Britain had fought to drive the offered to let the colonists elect represen- French from the continent. Britain won tatives to Parliament. The colonists reject- but had huge war debts. Parliament (the ed that idea. They thought they would nev- lawmaking body of Britain) said the colo- er get enough votes to have any real power. nies should help pay these debts. The Conict beteen the colonists an ritain Americans resisted. They said they increased until, on April 19, 1775, armed shouldn’t be taxed, because they had no revolt broke out. ON MARCH 5, BY 1773, BRITAIN 16, 1773, more Coercive Acts, so under military con- 1770, a group of had removed than 100 leading named because trol. In protest, the colonists began all taxes on the citizens of Boston they tried to colonists ended throwing snow- colonies except dressed up as coerce, or force, trade with Britain balls, rocks, and the one on tea. The Mohawk warriors. the colonists and called a meet- chunks of ice at tea tax wasn’t an They boarded to obey British ing in Philadelphia, British soldiers economic hardship three British ships laws. These laws on September guarding the cus- for the colonists. and threw 342 (also called the 5, 1774, now tomhouse in Boston, But it was a hated chests of tea into Intolerable Acts) known as the Massachusetts. symbol of Britain’s Boston Harbor. closed the port of First Continental One clubbed a power. On the In response, Boston and put Congress. British soldier. The night of December Britain passed the Massachusetts British responded with gunfire. The first of five colo- nists to die was Crispus Attucks (below, center left), an African American seaman. At the trial, future U.S. president John Adams success- fully defended the British soldiers against a murder charge. He argued that they had been provoked by an angry mob. Adams later changed his mind about the conflict. It is now known as the Boston Massacre. American_Revolution_2-3.indd 3 3/13/17 12:58 PM 4 Important Events of the Revolution In Boston, men like Samuel Adams and village northwest of Boston. On April 18, John Hancock kept the colonists in a con- 1775, British soldiers quietly marched out stant state of anger over British rule. In the of Boston. Colonial leaders thought the surrounding countryside, groups of colo- soldiers meant to take Concord’s military nists got reay to fight hey store gun- supplies. Riders Paul Revere and William powder and other supplies in Concord, a Dawes took separate routes to tell people APRIL 19, 1775 MAY 1775 THE BATTLES OF l THE SECOND Lexington Continental and Concord Congress meets are fought. in Philadelphia to draw up war plans. It sets up an army and names George Washington com- mander in chief. JULY 4, 1776 NOVEMBER 1776 DECEMBER 25–26, 1776 l THE DECLARATION d THE BRITISH DE- r WASHINGTON of Independence feat Washington’s and about 2,400 is approved in troops and get scruffy, poorly Philadelphia. control of New York equipped soldiers City for the rest of cross the Delaware the war. River. They sur- prise the British and their Hessian mercenaries (hired soldiers) at Trenton, New Jersey. This gives the American cause new hope. WINTER 1777–1778 FEBRUARY 1778 JUNE 28, 1778 1780 1781 d THE AMERICANS NEITHER SIDE WINS THE BRITISH GAIN A FRENCH FLEET sign military and a clear victory control of Georgia defeats British political treaties at the Battle of and South ships coming to with France. That Monmouth, New Carolina. But they Cornwallis’s aid. puts Britain’s long- Jersey. But the fail to take North The French enter time enemy on the British give up Carolina. British Chesapeake Bay. Americans’ side in on holding the general Charles Their presence the war. North. They turn Cornwallis keeps Cornwallis their attention to fights his way to from leaving u WASHINGTON the South, where Yorktown, Virginia. Yorktown. and his troops there are more spend a harsh win- Loyalists. ter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. American_Revolution_4-5.indd 4 3/13/17 1:04 PM 5 in the countryside the British were com- a shot rang out. No one knows for sure ing. Revere stopped in Lexington to warn ho ha fi re t as calle “the shot hear Adams and Hancock that the British might ’round the world.” The American Revolu- be looking for them. When the British got tion had begun! to Lexington on April 19, the colonists were waiting. As the two groups faced off, JUNE 17, 1775 MARCH 17, 1776 r THE AMERICANS r THE BRITISH make a bold stand leave Boston, tak- at the Revolution’s ing 1,000 Loyalists first major battle, – colonists who the Battle of stayed loyal to Bunker Hill, in Great Britain – Charlestown, with them to Nova Massachusetts. Scotia, in what is The British win but now Canada. suffer a huge num- ber of casualties (soldiers killed or injured). SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 1777 OCTOBER 17, 1777 d BRITISH GENERAL and Germantown, William Howe Pennsylvania. defeats Washing- Then he captures ton’s troops at Philadelphia. Brandywine Creek Poet Henry Wadsworth u BRITISH GENERAL New England from Longfellow made a John Burgoyne the other colonies. hero of Paul Revere in surrenders at This American vic- a poem called “Paul Saratoga, New York. tory is considered Revere’s Ride” (often This ends a British the turning point of mistakenly called “The effort to separate the war. Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”). But, in fact, OCTOBER 19, 1781 SEPTEMBER 3, 1783 NOVEMBER 1783 Revere never finished his ride. After warn- d CORNWALLIS d THE CONTINENTAL surrenders at Army is officially ing Lexington, he and Yorktown. disbanded. William Dawes set out for Concord with Dr. Samuel Prescott. Some British officers surprised them between Lexington and Concord. Revere was captured, and u THE BRITISH AND Dawes was thrown from Americans sign a his horse. Dr. Prescott peace treaty (for- was the one who mal agreement) in warned the Concord Paris, France. colonists to prepare for a British attack. American_Revolution_4-5.indd 5 3/13/17 1:05 PM 6 for the army in many battles inutemen were special groups of militia that formed A Soldier’s Life ust before the Revolution hey ere Patriots – colonists who supported inde- ready to respond to a British attack “in a pendence – could enlist in General Wash- minute” oys as young as coul oin ington’s Continental Army or join their the army ith their parents permission state militia local fi ghting unit he mili here as no upper age limit oyalists tias were less organized and less disci- either joined the British army or formed plined, but they provided crucial support their on militias l NATIVE AMERICANS fought on both sides during the war. But more sided with the British. They thought the British would win and then keep the colonists from mov- ing farther west and taking their lands. u THE ARMY WAS closed to women. But a few, like former indentured (bound by contract) servant and teacher About 20,000 Molly, carried Deborah Sampson, Patriot women water in large dressed up as men followed their pitchers to sol- and joined. Once, husbands to war. diers fighting on Sampson hid a seri- They cooked, the battlefield. On ous thigh wound so u BECAUSE MANY soldiers from small u ENSLAVED did laundry, and June 28, 1778, she wouldn’t have to British felt sym- German states to Africans found nursed the sick. at the Battle undress and reveal pathy for the fight. Many came themselves on both A few went with of Monmouth, her identity. She American cause, from Hesse-Cassel, sides of the battle their men into Molly helped her later caught yellow King George III so they were all lines. At least 5,000 battle. The legend husband with fever. The doctor found it hard to called Hessians. people of African of Molly Pitcher the cannon. An discovered she was raise troops to descent fought on may be based on enemy shot tore a woman. To her fight across the the Patriot side. One several of these off part of her surprise, she was Atlantic. As a was Lemuel Haynes “half soldiers.” petticoat, but she given an honorable solution, he paid (above). He later Mary Hays, called kept going! discharge, prob- became the first ably because of African American to her courage on the serve as the pastor battlefield.