Forming the Continental Army
In order to "preserve a good army," one had to be created in the first place. It was a long and difficult road from the Continental Congress's edict designating the militia around Boston as a Continental Army and creating such an army in fact. Although many colonials had had some military experience in the French and Indian War, most had served in militia units, a far cry from service in a regular European-style army. The latter, Washington believed, was what the Continental Army needed to become if the colonies were to stand up to the British army.
The Continental Army had volunteer soldiers from all of the 13 colonies. At the start of the war, there was not actually an official army, however many people banded together in their states and form make-shift militia, formed by part-time citizen soldiers who defended their own colonies. Some colonies had even gone so far as to create little regiments within themselves.
Read More @ Library of Congress, Revolutionary War, Mount * Vernon, American History Central and U.S Army Center of Military History
The French and Indian War (1754 - 1763)
The French and Indian War is one of the most significant, yet widely forgotten, events in American history. It was a conflict that pitted two of history’s greatest empires, Great Britain and France, against each other for control of the North American continent. Swept up in the struggle were the inhabitants of New France, the British colonists, the Native Americans, and regular troops from France and Britain. While the major fighting occurred in New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, and Nova Scotia, the conflict had far greater implications overseas and ignited the Seven Years’ War worldwide.
This conflict placed Britain in financial distress whereby later enacting a series of new taxes to replenish their coffers. With this, the Stamp Act of 1765 was born and may have just been the spark that helped lead to the revolution. This was the first tax imposed directly on the 13 American colonies.
Read More @ American Battlefield Trust, Office of the Historian, and History.com
Boston Tea Party (1773)
The Boston Tea Party was an act of rebellion against the British government that occurred in Boston on December 16, 1773.
Beginning in 1764, the British began implementing new taxes and restrictions in the Thirteen Colonies of America, which gradually inflamed tensions between the colonists and the government.
On December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded British cargo ships docked in Boston Harbor, and dumped the tea on board into the sea.
342 chests of tea were destroyed – the entire ships’ cargo – worth more than $1m in today’s money. The rebels disguised themselves as Mohawk warriors (Native Americans) to hide their identity, and to symbolize that they identified as American, instead of British.
Read More @ AmericanRevolution.org, History.com, National Park Service and WorldHistory.org
The Real Story of Paul Revere's Ride
According to The Paul Revere House
In 1774 and 1775, the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety employed Paul Revere as an express rider to carry news, messages, and copies of important documents as far away as New York and Philadelphia.
On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren summoned Paul Revere and gave him the task of riding to Lexington, Massachusetts, with the news that British soldiers stationed in Boston were about to march into the countryside northwest of the town. According to Warren, these troops planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who were staying at a house in Lexington. It was thought they would then continue on to the town of Concord, to capture or destroy military stores — gunpowder, ammunition, and several cannon — that had been stockpiled there. In fact, the British troops had no orders to arrest anyone — Dr. Warren’s intelligence on this point was faulty — but they were very much on a major mission out of Boston.
Read More @ The Paul Revere House
Espionage
During the American Revolution, both the British and patriot armies employed spies to gather information about the enemy. Both armies relied on spies to gather information on troop strength and morale, access to and availability of munitions and supplies and intended plans to march or attack. British commanders found intelligence gathered by loyalist sympathizers useful, which often included details about geography and terrain unfamiliar to the British army. Some spies served for long periods or even the duration of the war, while others performed only singular acts of espionage when duty called, or when opportunities presented themselves. Both armies also mounted misinformation campaigns, purposefully leaking false intelligence for the enemy to find.
Read More @ American Battlefield Trust, Mount * Vernon, SocialStudiesHelp.com, USA History Timeline.com and History.com
Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
According to this first military treaty of the new nation, the United States agreed to provide a defensive alliance to aid France should England attack.
American diplomats Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee negotiated in France on behalf of the American Colonies. The treaty is written in both English and French.
The two sides also agreed that neither France nor the United States would make peace with England until the independence of the United States was recognized. As part of the alliance between "the most Christian King and the United States of North America," neither party could conclude a peace "with Great Britain without the formal consent of the other."
Read More @ National Archives and again @ National Archives
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