1.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
2.
Cliveden (Benjamin Chew House)
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Cliveden, also known as the Benjamin Chew House, is a historic mansion at 6401 Germantown Avenue in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the Battle of Germantown, built between 1763 to 1767, by Benjamin Chew, the mansion was inhabited from colonial times by seven generations of the Chew family, until 1972. Chew was head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania, from his legal mentor, Andrew Hamilton, he inherited Hamiltons lifelong clients, the descendants of William Penn. British Colonel Musgrave then quickly occupied the sturdily built mansion and fought off the attack from within with muskets and bayonets, washingtons army was repelled and driven back down Germantown Avenue in defeat. In 1961, Cliveden was designated a National Historic Landmark, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and it is part of the Colonial Germantown Historic District. The National Trust for Historic Preservation operates Cliveden as a house museum. Significance, Cliveden is an example of Philadelphia Georgian architecture. Probably designed by Chew and Jacob Knor, a master carpenter, the original estate included a number of other structures, including a stable and coach house, a smoke house, hen house, and summer house. The landscaping features statuary and gardens with over 200 varieties of trees, in 1868, a two-story addition was added in the original courtyard. A site dedicated to emerging research on Benjamin Chew, Esq
3.
Germantown, Philadelphia
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Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German Quaker and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, the area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods, Germantown and East Germantown. Today the area rich in historic sites and buildings from the colonial era. Germantown stretches for two miles along Germantown Avenue northwest from Windrim and Roberts Avenues. Today, the part of the former borough is the neighborhood known simply as Germantown. The neighborhood of Mount Airy lies to the northwest, Ogontz and West Oak Lane to the northeast, Logan to the east, Nicetown–Tioga to the south, and East Falls to the southwest. The majority of Germantown is covered by the 19144 zip code, Germantown was founded on October 6,1683, by German settlers, thirteen Quaker and Mennonite families from Krefeld. Today the founding day of Germantown is remembered as German-American Day, francis Daniel Pastorius was the first bailiff. Jacob Telner, Derick Isacks op den Graeff and his brother Abraham Isacks op den Graeff, Reynier Tyson and they had authority to hold the general court of the corporation of Germantowne, to make laws for the government of the settlement, and to hold a court of record. This court went into operation in 1690, and continued its services for sixteen years, sometimes, to distinguish Germantown from the upper portion of German township, outside the borough, the township portion was called Upper Germantown. In 1688, five years after its founding, Germantown became the birthplace of the movement in America. The petition was based upon the Bibles Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In 1723, Germantown became the site of the first Church of the Brethren congregation in the New World, when Philadelphia was occupied by the British during the American Revolutionary War, British units were housed in Germantown. In the Battle of Germantown, on October 4,1777, during the battle, a party of citizens fired on the British troops, as they marched up the avenue, and mortally wounded British Brigadier General Agnew. The Americans withdrew after firing on one another in the confusion of the battle, however, the battle is sometimes considered a victory by Americans. During his presidency, George Washington and his family lodged at the Deshler-Morris House in Germantown to escape the city, the first bank of the United States was also located here during his administration. Germantown proper, and the adjacent German Township, were incorporated into the City of Philadelphia in 1854 by the Act of Consolidation, italians began settling Germantown in 1880, and comprised an active and vibrant part of the community. The significant changes occurred in Philadelphias demographics at the start of the 20th century caused major shifts in Germantowns ethnic makeup as well
4.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
2nd Canadian Regiment
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All or part of the regiment saw action at Staten Island, Brandywine, Germantown and the Siege of Yorktown. Most of its time was spent in and around New York City as part of the forces monitoring the British forces occupying that city. The regiment was disbanded on November 15,1783 at West Point, the regiment was one of a small number of Continental Army regiments that was the direct responsibility of the Continental Congress. Hazen and his staff were later authorized by Congress to recruit in other areas to supplement their ranks, late in 1775, Colonel James Livingston raised and commanded a regiment of Canadians which fought at St. Jean, Quebec, in support of General Montgomerys 1775 invasion of Quebec. Livingstons 300 Canadians, along with about 50 Americans, were instrumental in the fall of Fort Chambly during that engagement, Livingstons regiment, which was not formalized by Montgomery until November 1775, also participated in the action at Quebec. On January 3,1776, Congress commissioned him Colonel, moses Hazen had served as a lieutenant in the 44th Regiment during the French and Indian War and was receiving a half-pay pension for his British service. In 1775, while he was living on this plus the income from his estate in St. Jean, Quebec, the Americans plundered Hazens estate plundered and damaged his property damaged by the during the siege of the fort. Nevertheless, Hazen was arrested by the British on suspicion of spying for the Americans and he was held a prisoner for 54 days, until he was finally released by General Montgomery after the fall of Montreal in November. Hazen then joined the American cause, and took part in the battle of Quebec, following the American failure to take the city, Hazen and Edward Antill, an American expatriate, traveled to Philadelphia to report on the battle. Congress partially compensated Hazen by establishing the 2nd Canadian Regiment and he accepted the command, thus forfeiting his British half-pay. Antill was made lieutenant colonel of the regiment, on January 20,1776, Congress authorized the 2nd Canadian Regiment with an allowed maximum strength of 1,000. It would consist of four battalions, the only oversized regiment in the Continental Army and it was assigned to the Armys Canadian Department, and was organized by Hazen on February 10,1776 at Montreal, to be recruited from the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Valleys. Over the next two months, Hazen and Antill recruited in areas, until early April, when the recruiting funds dried up. During much of the war, the 2nd Canadian Regiment was known as Congresss Own Regiment, greatly depleted by its five years of service, Livingstons regiment was disbanded in the reorganization of the Continental Army on January 1,1781. Its Canadian elements were assigned to Hazens command, which was redesignated as the Canadian Regiment. The regiment was first assigned to duty in and around Montreal. In March 1776, Wooster went to Quebec City to assume command of the army there, Arnold then assigned the regiment to guard duty at Fort Chambly, where it remained until the American retreat in June 1776. On July 2, the Canadian Department was disbanded, and regiment was reassigned to the Northern Department, the regiment was at Fort Ticonderoga in July 1776, Albany in September, and then Fishkill, New York for winter quarters
7.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
8.
Hesse
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Hesse or Hessia is a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden, the largest city is Frankfurt am Main, the English name Hesse originates in the Hessian dialects. The variant Hessia comes from the medieval Latin Hassia, the German term Hessen is used by the European Commission because their policy is to leave regional names untranslated. The term Hesse ultimately derives from a Germanic tribe called the Chatti, an inhabitant of Hesse is called a Hessian. The synthetic element hassium, number 108 on the table, is named after the state of Hesse. As early as the Paleolithic period, the Central Hessian region was inhabited, due to the favorable climate of the location, people lived there about 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period, as burial sites show from this era. Finds of paleolitical tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago, the Züschen tomb is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist, it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the fourth millennium BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture. An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-fifth-century BC La Tène style burial uncovered at Glauberg, the region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the first century BC, and the name Hesse is a continuation of that tribal name. The ancient Romans had a camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here, the settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year 9 AD. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in 69 AD, Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse, its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar, it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the Fulda river, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel, to the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn. It measured roughly 90 kilometers north-south, and 80 north-west, the area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the first century on. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts, a possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called Heilgenbron, the name Geismar itself may be derived from that spring. By 650, the Franks were establishing themselves as overlords, which is suggested by evidence of burials
9.
Germans in the American Revolution
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Ethnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. Many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of Great Britain, other Germans came to assist the rebelling American patriots, but most of the Germans who were patriots were colonists. During the American Revolution, there were many German-speaking states loosely unified under the Holy Roman Empire, King George III came from an ethnic German family and was the first of the British royal House of Hanover to speak English as his first language. When the British colonies in America rebelled a decade later, several German-speaking states contracted soldiers to the British Army. Although the leasing of soldiers to a power was controversial to some Europeans. In some instances, ethnic Germans even enlisted directly into British units, Americans were alarmed at the arrival of German-speaking troops on American soil, viewing it as a betrayal by King George III. The financial basis of several smaller continental states was the rental of their regiments to fight for various larger nations during the 18th century. Historian Charles W. Ingrao examines The Hessian Mercenary State, Ideas, Institutions, the mercenaries of Hesse were very well trained and equipped, they fought well for whomever was paying their prince. At the conclusion of the war, Congress offered incentives—especially free farmland—for these ethnic Germans to remain in the United States, Great Britain also offered land and tax incentives to its continental soldiers willing to settle in Nova Scotia. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, under Frederick II, an uncle of King George III and it has been estimated that Hesse-Kassel contributed over 16,000 troops during the course of the Revolutionary War, of whom 6,500 did not return. Hessian officer Adam Ludwig Ochs estimated that 1,800 Hessian soldiers were killed, but many in the Hessian army intended on staying in America, and remained after the war. Because the majority of the German-speaking troops came from Hesse, modern Americans sometimes refer to all troops of this war generically as Hessians. Hesse-Kassel signed a treaty of alliance with Great Britain to supply fifteen regiments, four grenadier battalions, the jägers in particular were carefully recruited and well paid, well clothed, and free from manual labor. These jägers proved essential in the Indian style warfare in America, German-speaking armies could not quickly replace men lost on the other side of the Atlantic, so the Hessians recruited African-Americans as servants and soldiers. There were 115 black soldiers serving with Hessian units, most of them as drummers or fifers, perhaps the best-known officer from Hesse-Kassel is General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, who commanded his troops in several major battles. Other notable officers include Colonel Carl von Donop and Colonel Johann Rall, ralls regiment was captured, and many of the soldiers were sent to Pennsylvania to work on farms. Hesse-Hanau was a semi-independent appendage of Hesse-Kassel, governed by the Protestant Hereditary Landgrave William, when William received news of the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, he unconditionally offered a regiment to King George III. During the course of the war, Hanau provided 2,422 troops, a significant number of Hessian soldiers were volunteers from Hanau, who had enlisted with the intention of staying in the Americas when the war was over
10.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
11.
Nathanael Greene
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When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible, he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washingtons most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United States are named after him and he suffered financial difficulties in the post-war years and died in 1786. Greene was the son of Nathanael Greene, a Quaker farmer and smith, Nathanael was born on Forge Farm at Potowomut in the township of Warwick, Rhode Island on August 7,1742. His mother Mary Mott was his fathers second wife and his fathers sect discouraged literary accomplishments, so Greene educated himself with a special study of mathematics and law. The Rev. Ezra Stiles, later president of Yale University, was an influence in the young Nathanaels life. In 1770, Greene moved to Coventry, Rhode Island to take charge of the family-owned foundry and he sympathized strongly with the Whig or Patriot element among the colonists. In July 1774, he married Catharine Littlefield, also known as Caty or Kitty and they had six children who survived infancy. He was Quaker by birth, and struggled to reconcile the faiths commitment to pacifism throughout his military career and he continued to serve despite this, as did many other Quakers in the American Revolution. In August 1774, Greene helped organize a militia which was chartered as the Kentish Guards that October. His participation in the group was challenged because he had a pronounced limp, at this time, he began to acquire many expensive volumes on military tactics and began to teach himself the art of war. In December 1774, he was on an appointed by the assembly to revise the militia laws. His zeal in fighting the British and organizing the militia led to his expulsion from the pacifistic Quakers, on May 8,1775, he was promoted from private to major general of the Rhode Island Army of Observation formed in response to the Siege of Boston. He was appointed a brigadier of the Continental Army by the Continental Congress on June 22,1775, George Washington assigned Greene the command of the city of Boston after it was evacuated by the British in March 1776. Severe illness prevented him taking part in the Battle of Long Island. Greene was also a Rhode Island Freemason and bore a masonic jewel, Greene was prominent among those who advised a retreat from New York City. He also advocated the burning of the city so that the British might not use it and he justified this by asserting that the majority of property was owned by Loyalists. While Washington agreed with this, the proposal was rejected by Congress and he was placed in command of Fort Constitution on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. On October 25,1776, he succeeded General Israel Putnam in command of Fort Washington, Greene ordered Colonel Magaw, who was in immediate command, to defend the place until he should hear from him again, and reinforced it to meet General Howes attack
12.
John Sullivan (general)
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John Sullivan was an American General in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire and a United States federal judge. Sullivan, the son of Irish settlers, served as a major general in the Continental Army. He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries, as a member of Congress, Sullivan worked closely with the French Ambassador the Chevalier de la Luzerne. Born in Somersworth in the Province of New Hampshire, Sullivan was the son of Irish settlers from the Beara Peninsula in County Cork. One of his brothers, James Sullivan, became Governor of Massachusetts, another brother, Benjamin, who served in the Royal Navy died before the American Revolution. A landing party from HMS Allegiance on February 14,1781 kidnapped another brother, Captain David Sullivan, who later died of disease. The father, John Owen OSullivan was the son of Philip OSullivan of Beare of Ardea, minor gentry in Penal Ireland, the Penal Laws reduced them to the status of peasants. After emigrating to York, Maine, in 1723, the elder John became a Protestant, in 1760, Sullivan married Lydia Remick Worster of Kittery, now in Maine. John and Lydia Sullivan had six children, Margery, who died in infancy, Lydia, John, James, George and another Margery, Sullivan read law with Samuel Livermore of Portsmouth, New Hampshire between 1758 and 1760. He began the practice of law in 1763 at Berwick, now in Maine and he annoyed many neighbors in his early career, when he was the only lawyer in town, with numerous suits over foreclosures and was threatened with violence at least twice in 1766. But by 1772, he was established and began work to improve his relations with the community. He also expanded his interests into milling from which he made a substantial income, in 1773 Alexander Scammell joined John Sullivans law practice. Sullivan built a friendship with the governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth. In November 1772, Wentworth appointed Sullivan a major in the militia, as the American Revolution grew nearer, Sullivan turned away from Wentworth and began to side more with the radicals. On May 28,1773, at the urging of the Virginia House of Burgesses, hoping to thwart the committee, Wentworth adjourned the Assembly the next day. On December 16,1773, colonists in Massachusetts destroyed tea worth 15,000 pounds at the Boston Tea Party to protest taxes under the Tea Act. The British Parliament responded with the Boston Port Act, effective March 21,1774, Wentworth called a new Assembly, which began meeting on April 7,1774. On May 13, news of the Boston Port Act reached the Assembly, on May 27, the Assembly provided for only five men and an officer to guard Fort William and Mary at Portsmouth harbor
13.
William Alexander, Lord Stirling
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William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, was an American Brigadier-General during the American Revolutionary War. Alexander was considered male-heir to the title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish lineage and his claim was granted by a Scottish Court, however, the House of Lords ultimately over-ruled Scottish law and denied the title, granting Alexander instead the compromise title of Lord. Lord Stirling commanded the 1st Maryland Regiment that fought at the Battle of Long Island and he lost the battle and was captured but his actions allowed General George Washingtons troops to escape. Stirling was returned by prisoner exchange, promoted for his actions and he was trusted by Washington and in 1780 he exposed the Conway Cabal. Alexander was educated, ambitious, and proficient in mathematics and astronomy and he joined his mother, Mary Alexander, in a successful business and, in 1747, married Sarah Livingston, the daughter of Philip Livingston and sister of Governor William Livingston. The couple had two daughters and one son William, one of his daughters, Mary Alexander, would marry a wealthy merchant named Robert Watts of New York. Another daughter Catherine was the wife of Congressman William Duer, the title Earl of Stirling became dormant or expired upon the death of Henry Alexander, the 5th Earl of Stirling. Williams father, James Alexander, who had fled from Scotland in 1716 after participating in the Jacobite rising, upon his death William lay claim to the title and filed suit. His relationship to the 5th Earl was not through heirs of the body, but through heir male collateral and the inheritance by Proximity of blood had been questioned. It was settled in his favor, by a vote of a jury of twelve in a Scottish court in 1759. It is not clear if the case went to court because of an answer from the Lord Lyon King of Arms concerning the peerage. Legal opinion was that this was a Scottish heir problem so the right was solved. This might have been unopposed, as indisputable peerage, except there was a catch, the two sponsors, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, and John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, encouraged William through representatives to seek the title. The goal was vast land holdings in America that the holder of the title was to enjoy, the sponsors were to receive money and land if Alexander was successful. With this in mind William decided to petition the House of Lords, a friend and professional agent in Scotland, Andrew Stuart, wrote and advised William not to petition the House of Lords. He felt that the right of indisputable peerage demanded that William just claim the titles as others had done and his opinion was that others lay similar claims to titles so he would not be opposed. It is possible William did not want to commit a crime, or be found out, one problem is that to prove his claim in court two old men were used to testify that William did in fact descend from the 1st Earl through his uncle named John Alexander. This might have been persuasive in a Scottish court but might be considered dubious in England, Stirling inherited a large fortune from his father
14.
William Smallwood
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William Smallwood was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland. He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general and he was serving as the fourth Governor of Maryland when the state adopted the United States Constitution. Smallwood was born in 1732 to planter Bayne Smallwood and Priscilla Heaberd Smallwood and he had six siblings, Lucy Heabard Smallwood, Elizabeth F. Smallwood, Margaret F. Stoddert, Heabard Smallwood, Priscilla Courts, and Eleanor Smallwood. His sister Eleanor and brother Hebard served with him later in the Revolutionary War and his parents sent the boys to England, for their education at Eton. His great-grandfather was James Smallwood, who immigrated in 1664 and became a member of the Maryland Assembly in 1692, James son Bayne followed him later in the Assembly. A first cousin of James and Milledge Bonham was Senator Matthew Butler Smallwood served as an officer during the French and he was elected to the Maryland provincial assembly. When the American Revolutionary War began, he was appointed a colonel of the 1st Maryland Regiment in 1776 and he led the regiment in the New York and New Jersey campaign, where the regiment served with distinction. For his role at the Battle of White Plains, in which he was twice wounded and he continued to serve under George Washington in the Philadelphia campaign, where his regiment again distinguished itself at Germantown. Thereafter, he quartered at the Foulke house, also occupied by the family of Sally Wister, Smallwoods accounts of the battle and criticisms of Gates behavior before and during the battle may have contributed to the Congressional inquiries into the debacle. Opposed to the hiring and promotion of foreigners, Smallwood objected to working under Baron von Steuben and he spent the remainder of the war in Maryland. He served as the first President-General of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, Smallwood was elected to Congress in 1785. He was elected Governor of Maryland before he could take up the Congressional seat, in 1787 he convened the states convention that in 1788 adopted the United States Constitution. The 1790 census shows that he held 56 slaves and a tobacco crop of 3000 pounds. When he died in 1792 his estate, known as Mattawoman, including his home the Retreat, William Trueman Stoddard was orphaned at age 9 and raised by his maternal grandfather, Bayne Smallwood). His burial site is now the Smallwood State Park in Marbury, during his occupation of the building in 1778, Gen. Smallwood used the building as a hospital. Some of the soldiers who died in the building were buried in the graveyard directly outside, Smallwood frequented the Cross Keys Inn, at the time a several-room inn and bar. This building stands as a residence at the intersection of Calvert Road. His restored plantation home, Smallwoods Retreat, is located at Smallwood State Park, Smallwood Church Road leads from the State Park toward Old Durham Church, where he was a vestryman
15.
Moses Hazen
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Moses Hazen was a Brigadier General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he saw action in the French and his service included particularly brutal raids, during the Expulsion of the Acadians and the 1759 Siege of Quebec. During his lifetime he acquired land in Quebec, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, but lost most of his Quebec land due to litigation, with Christie and the negative effects of the Revolution. In 1775 he became involved in the American invasion of Quebec early in the American Revolutionary War and he went on to lead his own regiment, throughout the war, seeing action in the 1777 Philadelphia campaign and at Yorktown in 1781. He was frequently involved in litigation, both military and civil, and constantly petitioned Congress for compensation of losses and expenses incurred due to the war. He supported similar efforts by men from his regiment who were unable to return to Quebec because of their support for the American war effort, Moses Hazen was born in Haverhill, a frontier town in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to an old New England Puritan family. Some histories that mention Hazen sometimes indicate that he was Jewish, a genealogist clearly documents Hazens lineage to England, where the family name was Hassen. Hazen was apprenticed to a tanner when the French and Indian War broke out, in 1756, he enlisted with the local militia, which included a number of family members. He first served at Fort William Henry near Lake George, where he probably first met, in McCurdys company, he saw action at Louisbourg, including the initial landings, when the action was quite fierce. These raids were sometimes quite brutal, the company was known to scalp Acadian settlers. In one particularly brutal incident, Hazen was responsible for the scalping of six men, and the burning of four others, along with two women and three children, in a house he set on fire. Joseph Bellefontaine, a leader of the militia and the father of one of the women. In January 1759, Captain McCurdy was killed when a tree felled by one of his men fell on him, in another notable atrocity that may have involved Hazens company, a priest and thirty parishioners in a parish near Quebec were killed and scalped. Hazen also fought at the 1760 Battle of Sainte-Foy, where he was wounded in the thigh. In February 1761, he purchased a commission as a first Lieutenant in the 44th Regiment of Foot in the British Army and he spent the remainder of the war on garrison duty at Montreal, retiring on half-pay in 1763. General James Murray wrote approvingly of Hazen in 1761, He discovered so much still bravery, during the siege of Quebec, Hazen had met Gabriel Christie, then a deputy quartermaster. Christie owned some land in the Richelieu River valley south of Montreal, after the war, Christie and Hazen jointly purchased the seigneuries of Sabrevois and Bleury, located on the east bank of the Richelieu near Fort Saint-Jean. They also leased land on the west side of river from the Baron of Longueuil and these holdings gave them almost exclusive control over the land holdings around Saint-Jean, which is the northernmost navigable point reachable from Lake Champlain
16.
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
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General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brothers who had distinguished military careers, having joined the army in 1746, Howe saw extensive service in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years War. Howe also participated in the campaigns to take Louisbourg, Belle Île and he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, a post he would hold until 1795. Howe was sent to North America in March 1775, arriving in May after the American War of Independence broke out. After leading British troops to a victory in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Howes record in North America was marked by the capture of both New York City and Philadelphia. However, poor British campaign planning for 1777 contributed to the failure of John Burgoynes Saratoga campaign, Howes role in developing those plans and the degree to which he was responsible for British failures that year have both been subjects of contemporary and historic debate. He resigned his post as Commander in Chief, North America, in 1778, and returned to England and he served for many years in Parliament, and was knighted after his successes in 1776. He inherited the Viscountcy of Howe upon the death of his brother Richard in 1799 and he married, but had no children, and the viscountcy was extinguished with his death in 1814. His mother was a regular in the courts of George II and this connection with the crown may have improved the careers of all four sons, but all were also very capable officers. His father was a politician, who served as Governor of Barbados where he died in 1735, williams eldest brother, General George Howe, was killed just before the 1758 Battle of Carillon at Fort Ticonderoga. Another brother, Admiral Richard Howe, rose to one of Britains leading naval commanders. A third brother, Thomas, commanded ships for the East India Company, Winchelsea in 1762–4 and Nottingham in 1766, William entered the army when he was 17 by buying a cornets commission in the Duke of Cumberlands Dragoons in 1746. He then served for two years in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession, after the war he was transferred to the 20th Regiment of Foot, where he became a friend of James Wolfe. During the Seven Years War Howes service first brought him to America and he joined the newly formed 58th Regiment of Foot in February 1757, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December of that year. He commanded the regiment at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 and this action won the attackers a flanking position and earned Howe a commendation from Wolfe. Howe commanded an infantry battalion under General Wolfe during the 1759 Siege of Quebec. Howe led a brigade in the 1761 Capture of Belle Île, off the French coast and he served as adjutant general of the force that captured Havana in 1762, playing a part in a skirmish at Guanabacoa
17.
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
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In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America, born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years War. Upon his fathers death in 1762 he became Earl Cornwallis and entered the House of Lords, from 1766 until 1805 he was Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. He next saw action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the forces of many campaigns, in 1780 he inflicted an embarrassing defeat on the American army at the Battle of Camden. He also commanded British forces in the March 1781 Pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House, Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign through the Southern states, marked by disagreements between him and his superior, General Sir Henry Clinton. Despite this defeat, Cornwallis retained the confidence of successive British governments, knighted in 1786, he was in that year appointed to be Governor-General and commander-in-chief in India. From 1789 to 1792 he led British and Company forces in the Third Anglo-Mysore War to defeat the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan, returning to Britain in 1794, Cornwallis was given the post of Master-General of the Ordnance. Following his Irish service, Cornwallis was the chief British signatory to the 1802 Treaty of Amiens and was reappointed to India in 1805 and he died in India not long after his arrival. Cornwallis was born in Grosvenor Square in London, though his familys estates were in Kent and he was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend and his uncle, Frederick, was Archbishop of Canterbury. Fredericks twin brother, Edward, was an officer, colonial governor. His brother William became an Admiral in the Royal Navy and his other brother, James, eventually inherited the earldom from Cornwalliss son, Charles. The family was established at Brome Hall, near Eye, Suffolk, in the 14th century, Frederick Cornwallis, created a Baronet in 1627, fought for King Charles I, and followed King Charles II into exile. He was made Baron Cornwallis, of Eye in the County of Suffolk, in 1661, Cornwallis was educated at Eton College and Clare College, Cambridge. While at Eton, he received an injury to his eye by an accidental blow while playing hockey, from Shute Barrington and he obtained his first commission as Ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, on 8 December 1757. He then sought and gained permission to engage in studies abroad. After travelling on the continent with a Prussian officer, Captain de Roguin, upon completion of his studies in Turin in 1758, he traveled to Geneva, where he learned that British troops were to be sent to the Continent in the Seven Years War
18.
Wilhelm von Knyphausen
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Reichsfreiherr Wilhelm von Innhausen und Knyphausen was a general officer of Hesse-Kassel. He fought in the American Revolutionary War, during which he commanded Hessian auxiliaries on behalf of Great Britain, Knyphausens father was the colonel of a Prussian regiment under the Duke of Marlborough. Educated in Berlin, the young Knyphausen entered the Prussian military service in 1734, in the army of Hesse-Cassel, he was a lieutenant general. In 1776, with 42 years of experience, he came to the Thirteen Colonies of British North America as second-in-command of an army of 12,000 men called “Hessians” under General Heister. Knyphausen led the Hessian troops in the Battles of White Plains, Fort Washington, Brandywine, Germantown, Springfield, in 1779 and 1780, he commanded British-held New York City. When Heister left for Germany, Knyphausen took command of the German troops serving under Sir William Howe, because of Knyphausens seniority, British officers held dormant commissions outranking him in case the British commander became disabled. Despite this, Knyphausen was trusted by his British superiors, Knyphausens regiment took part in the attack on Fort Washington and was in garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. Major von Dechow, who was in command in late 1776, warned Colonel Johann Rall to fortify the town, during the Battle of Trenton the regiment tried to escape across Assunpink Creek but was forced to surrender. Dechow was mortally wounded during the battle and he also commanded the vanguard of the army withdrawing from Philadelphia at the time of the Battle of Monmouth. For several years the body of Knyphausens force occupied the upper part of Manhattan Island. Knyphausens regiment served in the Americas from 1776 to 1783, Knyphausen left the North American theater in 1782 in part because of ill health, including blindness in one eye caused by a cataract. Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg succeeded to command of the Hessian troops in New York, Knyphausen returned to Europe, having, as he said, achieved neither glory nor advancement, but near the end of his life he became military governor of Cassel. He was a taciturn and discreet officer, who understood the temper of his troops and his was a hireling army of recruits gathered from work-houses and by impressment, drilled in the use of arms on shipboard. As he frequently declared, on such forces a judicious commander could place little reliance, in 1785, shortly after the end of the war, General Lafayette travelled to Cassel and met Knyphausen. He wrote to General Washington that they had reminisced about the war, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Wilson, James Grant, Fiske, John, eds. Eelking, Max von, Rosengarten, Joseph George, The German Allied Troops in the North American war of Independence 1776-1873, Baltimore Atwood, Rodney, The Hessians, Cambridge Knyphausen, Wilhelm von. Bernhard von Poten, Knyphausen, Wilhelm, Reichsfreiherr zu Innhausen und in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol
19.
Philadelphia campaign
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The Philadelphia campaign was a British initiative in the American Revolutionary War to gain control of Philadelphia, which was then the seat of the Second Continental Congress. From there, he advanced northward toward Philadelphia, Washington prepared defenses against Howes movements at Brandywine Creek, but was flanked and beaten back in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11,1777. After further skirmishes and maneuvers, Howe was able to enter, Washington then unsuccessfully attacked one of Howes garrisons at Germantown before retreating to Valley Forge for the winter. General Howe resigned during the occupation of Philadelphia and was replaced by his second-in-command, Clinton evacuated the troops from Philadelphia back to New York City in 1778 in order to increase that citys defenses against a possible Franco-American attack. Washington harried the British army all the way across New Jersey, at the end of the campaign the two armies were roughly in the same positions they were at its beginning. While this time was punctuated by numerous skirmishes, the British army continued to occupy outposts at New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, Germain approved his plan, although with fewer troops than Howe requested. He also approved plans by John Burgoyne for an expedition to force his way to Albany from Montreal, Washington realized that Howe certainly ought in good policy to endeavor to Cooperate with Genl. Burgoyne and was baffled why he did not do so, historians agree that Lord Germain did a poor job in coordinating the two campaigns. Following Howes capture of New York and Washingtons retreat across the Delaware, Howe on December 20,1776 wrote to Germain, proposing an elaborate set of campaigns for 1777. These included operations to control of the Hudson River, expand operations from the base at Newport, Rhode Island. The latter Howe saw as attractive, since Washington was then just north of the city, Howe wrote that he was persuaded the Principal Army should act offensively, where the enemys chief strength lies. Germain acknowledged that this plan was well digested, but it called for more men than Germain was prepared to provide. However, by mid-May Howe had apparently abandoned the idea of an overland expedition and we must probably abandon the Jersies. Along the same lines Don Higginbotham concludes that in Howes view, was Burgoynes whole show, with regard to Burgoynes army, he would do only what was required of him. He sailed from New York not long after, Washingtons Continental Army had been encamped primarily at Morristown, New Jersey, although there was a forward base at Bound Brook, only a few miles from the nearest British outposts. In response to this raid, Washington moved his army forward to a fortified position at Middlebrook in the Watchung Mountains that commanded likely British land routes toward Philadelphia. For reasons that are not entirely clear, General Howe moved an army to Somerset Court House. If he performed this move as a feint to draw Washington out from his position, it failed
20.
Battle of Bound Brook
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The Battle of Bound Brook was a surprise attack conducted by British and Hessian forces against a Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook, New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War. The British objective of capturing the garrison was not met. The American commander, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, left in haste, abandoning papers. Late on the evening of April 12,1777, four thousand British, all but one detachment reached positions surrounding the outpost before the battle began near daybreak the next morning. During the battle, most of the 500-man garrison escaped by the unblocked route, American reinforcements arrived in the afternoon, but not before the British plundered the outpost and began the return march to New Brunswick. One of the bases used for these operations was at Bound Brook, located on the Raritan River upriver from New Brunswick. The post was responsible for patrolling three bridges across the Raritan likely to be used by the British in moves against the camp at Morristown. In February 1777, the Bound Brook outpost consisted of 1,000 men under the command of Major General Benjamin Lincoln, on the night of April 12, the plan was put into action. Under the overall command of Cornwallis,4,000 British, the right flank, under the command of Major General James Grant, consisted of the Hessian jäger corps, grenadiers from the English Brigade of Guards, and a detachment of British light dragoons. Ewald and a few of his jägers were in the vanguard of Grants column, unaware that this was supposed to be a feint, Ewald drove the sentries back nearly to the main redoubt where the outposts cannons were located. By sunrise he was surrounded, the timely arrival of von Donops column just over the river. The surprise was nearly complete, the Pennsylvania artillery company. Colonel von Donop reported that General Lincoln must have retired en Profond Négligé, the British plan was marred by the early skirmishing involving Ewald, and the too-late arrival of the companies sent to cut off the road to Morristown, Many Americans escaped via this route. The British captured also cannons, ammunition, and supplies, and looted Bound Brook, the Continental Army response was immediate, Washington sent a large force under Major General Nathanael Greene to reoccupy Bound Brook. The British had already left by the time arrived, Greene sent a detachment to harass their rear guard. This detachment caught up with the British near Raritan Landing, where they killed 8, General Howe reported that about 30 Americans were killed and 80 to 90 were captured, while General Lincoln reported that 60 of his men were killed or wounded. Howe claimed no deaths and seven wounded among the British and Hessians, Washington reported that he enemy lost the post at Eleven OClock the same day, & our people took possession of it again, and that the armys losses were trifling and not worth mentioning. He did, however, also report that between 35 and 40 killed or captured, and the loss of three field cannons, in a report to the Board of War, Washington admitted the capture of two cannons, two officers and 20 men from Colonel Proctors Regiment
21.
Battle of Short Hills
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The Battle of Short Hills was a conflict between a Continental Army force commanded by Brigadier General William Alexander, and an opposing British force commanded by Lieutenant General William Howe. The battle took place on June 26,1777, at Scotch Plains and Metuchen, New Jersey, despite the name, no fighting occurred in modern-day Short Hills, a section of Millburn. When Washington refused to abandon his position Howe returned to Amboy on June 22, Washingtons forward divisions, including that of Lord Stirling, shadowed this British movement, and Washington moved his main army out of the hills. Howe seized this opportunity, and on June 26 marched two columns of troops out in an attempt to cut Washington off from the high ground and these troops skirmished with Lord Stirlings troops, and eventually engaged in a pitched battle in Scotch Plains. Stirlings outnumbered force retreated, but Washington, alerted to the British movement, had by then retreated back into the hills, in March 1776 the British forces of Lieutenant General William Howe withdrew from Boston after Major General George Washington fortified high ground threatening the city and its harbor. With this army augmented by reinforcements from Europe, General Howe captured New York City, at the end of 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised German troops at Trenton, New Jersey, and eventually regained control of most of the state. The two armies settled into winter quarters, and engaged in a war of skirmishes during the winter months. General Howe spent the winter planning a campaign to capture the seat of the rebel Congress, historians who mention this battle only occasionally give it a name. It is often called Short Hills, even though the battle took place primarily in present-day Edison and Scotch Plains, historians also give the battle other names, David Martin calls it Flat Hills or Metuchen Meeting House, one British regimental history refers to it by Westfield. On June 9, Howe began moving troops from Staten Island to Perth Amboy, on June 11, almost his entire army moved up the roads along the Raritan River to New Brunswick. On June 14, Howes army marched again, its destination Somerset Court House, apparently seeking to draw Washington into battle on open terrain, Howe remained there five days. Washington refused to out of the hills, and on June 19, Howe began the march back to Perth Amboy. Stirlings command, numbering about 2,500, comprised William Maxwells New Jersey brigade, Thomas Conways Pennsylvania brigade, Daniel Morgans Corps of Riflemen and Ottendorfs Corps. Maxwells brigade consisted of the 1st through 4th New Jersey Continentals and Oliver Spencers Additional Regiment, while Conways consisted of the 3rd, 6th, 9th, at 1,00 am on the morning on June 26 Howe marched two columns of troops out of Perth Amboy. The second column was under the command of Major General John Vaughan and it consisted of jäger companies from Hesse-Kassel and Ansbach-Bayreuth, and battalions of British light infantry and grenadiers. The column of General Cornwallis marched for Woodbridge, while Vaughans marched toward Bonhamton, the retreating Americans lead both of the armies into the Ash Swamp and Scotch Plains areas, where Stirling prepared a defensive position. Severe cannon fire and strength of British numbers forced Stirling, as determined as he was to stand against them, to even further back. There the British, suffering under the heat of the day, ended the pursuit
22.
Battle of Staten Island
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The Battle of Staten Island was a raid by Continental Army troops under Major General John Sullivan against British forces on Staten Island on August 22,1777, during the American Revolutionary War. As a result, Sullivan did not take as many prisoners as expected, although Sullivan was accused of mismanaging the raid, a court martial held later in 1777 exonerated Sullivan of all charges. In March 1776 the British forces of General William Howe withdrew from Boston after Major General George Washington fortified high ground threatening the city, with this army augmented by reinforcements from Europe, General Howe captured New York City, forcing Washington to retreat all the way across New Jersey. At the end of 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised German troops at Trenton, New Jersey, the two armies then settled into winter quarters, although there was much skirmishing before the 1777 campaign got underway. General Washington, although he was notified promptly of the departure, was unaware of its destination. He heard on August 10 that the fleet appeared to be moving south of Philadelphia, possibly heading for Charleston, as a result, he prepared to move north to assist General Horatio Gates defend the Hudson River against Lieutenant General John Burgoynes march south from Quebec. On August 21 he was alerted that the fleet had been spotted one week earlier at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, realizing the danger to Philadelphia, he immediately issued orders to move the entire army south with all speed. His orders to Major General John Sullivan, who commanded the front line defenses in eastern New Jersey, were to rejoin the army with all convenient speed. Sullivan, in the meantime, had learned that the departure of Howes army had left Staten Island vulnerable and his plan was to cross two groups onto the island from points in Elizabethtown, capture prisoners from the isolated militia outposts, and destroy supplies. They would then go to the Old Blazing Star Ferry to return to the mainland, Campbells men numbered about 900, and were stationed near the northeastern tip of the island. Skinners men, numbering about 400 according to Campbells report, were stationed at outposts along the shore between Dexters Ferry and Wards Point. General Sullivan, at his base in Hanover, New Jersey, sources do not describe the precise composition of the troops chosen, but most of them were drawn from Sullivans division, which consisted of the First and Second Maryland Brigades. These brigades comprised the regiments of the Maryland Line, additional troops chosen for the operation included companies from the 2nd Canadian Regiment, on the afternoon of August 21 two columns numbering about 1,000 in all left the camp. After reaching Elizabethtown late that evening, they rested for a few hours, one detachment, led by Colonel Matthias Ogden, crossed opposite Fresh Kills and rowed partway up the kill, in order to approach their target, the militia brigade of Elisha Lawrence, from its rear. The remaining troops crossed near Palmers run on the side of the island. Smallwood and Sullivan led most of their columns away to attack specific targets, Ogden attacked Lawrences outpost at dawn, surprising and routing the militia company. After a few minutes of battle he had taken 80 prisoners, dongans men put up stiff resistance, even though he was felled with a mortal wound. This prompted Ogden to retreat toward the Old Blazing Star, after waiting there as long as he thought prudent, Ogden crossed his men back to the mainland before Sullivan and Smallwood arrived
23.
Battle of Cooch's Bridge
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It was the only significant military action during the war on the soil of Delaware, and it took place about a week before the major Battle of Brandywine. Reportedly, the saw the first flying of the American flag. Their advance was monitored by an infantry corps of Continental Army and militia forces that had based itself at Coochs Bridge, near Newark. On September 3, German troops leading the British advance were met by fire from the American light infantry in the woods on either side of the road leading toward Coochs Bridge. Calling up reinforcements, they flushed the Americans out and drove them across the bridge, after having successfully captured New York City in 1776, British military planners organized two expeditions to divide the Thirteen Colonies and, they hoped, decisively end the rebellion. One expedition was to control of the Hudson River by a descent from Quebec, while the other was targeted at the colonial capital. In pursuit of the objective, Lieutenant General William Howe embarked an army numbering about 18,000 onto transports in late July 1777. The Continental Army of Major General George Washington remained near New York until Howes objective became clear, Howes plan was gauged to the south, intending to move against Philadelphia via the Chesapeake. Washington marched his army, numbering about 16,000, through Philadelphia, riding further south and west to perform reconnaissance on August 26, Washington learned that the British had landed. On August 25, Howes army disembarked below a small town called Head of Elk in Maryland, due to the relatively poor quality of the landing area, his troops moved immediately to the north, reaching Head of Elk itself on August 28. The bridge was named for Thomas Cooch, a landowner whose house was near the bridge. These troops occupied Iron Hill and Coochs Bridge, Maxwells men were encamped on either side of the road leading south from Coochs Bridge toward Aikens Tavern in a series of small camps designed to facilitate ambushes. Those of our officers who know Washington well, maintained that the man in the coat was Washington. On September 2, Howes right wing, under the command of the Hessian general, Wilhelm von Knyphausen, left Cecil County Court House and headed north, hampered by rain and bad roads. Early the next morning, Howes left wing, headed by troops under the command of Charles Cornwallis, left Head of Elk, expecting to join with Knyphausens division at Aikens Tavern, about 5 miles east. Cornwallis reached the tavern first, and Howe, traveling with Cornwallis, a small company of Hessian dragoons led by Captain Johann Ewald headed up the road from the tavern toward Coochs Bridge as Cornwalliss advance guard. These were struck by a volley of fire from an American ambush, Ewald did not, and he quickly alerted the Hessian and Ansbach jägers, who rushed forward to meet the Americans. This began a running skirmish that Major John André described as follows, Howe rode to the front lines, and seeing Iron Hill crawling with enemy soldiers, ordered his troops to clear it
24.
Battle of Brandywine
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The British Army defeated the American Army and forced them to withdraw toward the American capital of Philadelphia. The engagement occurred near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania during Howes campaign to take Philadelphia, more troops fought at Brandywine than any other battle of the American Revolution. It was also the longest single-day battle of the war, with fighting for 11 hours. Howes army departed from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on July 23,1777, marching north, the British Army brushed aside American light forces in a few skirmishes. Washington offered battle with his army posted behind Brandywine Creek, while part of his army demonstrated in front of Chadds Ford, Howe took the bulk of his troops on a long march that crossed the Brandywine beyond Washingtons right flank. Due to poor scouting, the Americans did not detect Howes column until it reached a position in rear of their right flank, belatedly, three divisions were shifted to block the British flanking force near a Quaker meeting house. After a stiff fight, Howes wing broke through the newly formed American right wing which was deployed on several hills, at this point Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen attacked Chadds Ford and crumpled the American left wing. As Washingtons army streamed away in retreat, he brought up elements of Nathanael Greenes division which held off Howes column long enough for his army to escape to the northeast, polish General Casimir Pulaski defended Washingtons rear assisting in his escape. The defeat and subsequent maneuvers left Philadelphia vulnerable, the British captured the city on September 26, beginning an occupation that would last until June 1778. Unloading the ships proved to be a problem because the narrow river neck was shallow. General George Washington had situated the American forces, about 20, 300-strong and his forces were able to reconnoiter the British landing from Iron Hill near Newark, Delaware, about nine miles to the northeast. Because of the delay disembarking from the ships, Howe did not set up a typical camp, as a result, Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing forces. This site was important as it was the most direct passage across the Brandywine River on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia, on September 9, Washington positioned detachments to guard other fords above and below Chadds Ford, hoping to force the battle there. Further upstream was a brigade under Colonel Moses Hazen covering Buffingtons Ford, Washington was confident that the area was secure. The British grouped forces at nearby Kennett Square, Howe, who had better information about the area than Washington, had no intention of mounting a full-scale frontal attack against the prepared American defenses. He instead employed a flanking maneuver, similar to that used in the Battle of Long Island, about 6,800 men under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen advanced to meet Washingtons troops at Chadds Ford. September 11 began with a fog, which provided cover for the British troops. Washington received contradictory reports about the British troop movements and continued to believe that the force was moving to attack at Chadds Ford
25.
Battle of the Clouds
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The Battle of the Clouds was an aborted engagement of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War on September 16,1777, in the area surrounding present day Malvern, Pennsylvania. After the American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, the British Army remained encamped near Chadds Ford, when British commander William Howe was informed that the weakened American force was less than ten miles away, he decided to press for another decisive victory. George Washington learned of Howes plans, and prepared for battle, before the two armies could fully engage, a torrential downpour ensued. Significantly outnumbered, and with tens of thousands of cartridges ruined by the rain, bogged down by rain and mud, the British allowed Washington and his army to withdraw. After Washingtons defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, he was intent on accomplishing two tasks and he wanted to protect Philadelphia from British forces under the command of Howe, and he needed to replenish the rapidly dwindling supplies and munitions which were stored in Reading, Pennsylvania. Washington withdrew across the Schuylkill River, marched through Philadelphia, since the Schuylkill was fordable only far upstream starting at Matsons Ford, Washington could protect both the capital and the vital supply areas to the west from behind the river barrier. Yet he reconsidered, and recrossed the river to face the British, the going was difficult because the weather had been rainy and windy, and the troops and wagons turned the roads into muddy quagmires. The next morning, Washingtons 10,000 man army was moving west through the Great Valley and he learned from his cavalry, led by General Pulaski, that the British were advancing on him from the south just a few miles away. The position was three miles long and was strong, especially in the center, Washington sent an advance force under General Anthony Wayne to slow the British progress. At about 2,00 pm, his men encountered the advance units of the Hessian column on one road. These forces began skirmishing, and the Americans very nearly captured Colonel Carl von Donop when he separated from his main column with a small company of jägers. The main British column, led by General Charles Cornwallis, met with Waynes Pennsylvania militia on another road at around 3,00, who gave way in a panicked retreat, suffering 10 killed or wounded. While this went on, Washington, who was trying to organize the line of battle, had a change of heart about the position and this withdrawal was just getting underway when it began pouring rain. Hessian jäger captain Johann Ewald described it as an extraordinary thunderstorm, the British army halted its advance, although General Wilhelm von Knyphausen ordered the jägers to engage the enemy. Ewald and his men rushed forward, swords drawn since their muskets were inoperable due to wet powder, Ewald reported losing 5 killed,7 wounded, and 3 captured in this action. The storm, which historian Thomas McGuire describes as a classic noreaster, the British were forced to construct a makeshift camp, and Washington managed to form a battle line, but a great deal of his ammunition was spoiled by the rain and poorly constructed cartridge boxes. Howes army found it impossible to follow Washington over the rutted. The decision was made to wait out the storm, then move toward their objective, Wayne was to be joined by militia, and together they were to strike at the enemy baggage train as the British advanced on Washingtons main army
26.
Battle of Paoli
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The Battle of Paoli was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 20,1777, in the area surrounding present-day Malvern, Pennsylvania. On the evening of September 20, British forces under Major General Charles Grey led an attack on Waynes encampment near the Paoli Tavern. Although there were relatively few American casualties, claims were made that the British took no prisoners and granted no quarter, after the American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, American Major General George Washington was intent on accomplishing two tasks. Washington withdrew across the Schuylkill River, marched through Philadelphia, since the Schuylkill was fordable only far upstream starting at Matsons Ford, Washington could protect both the capital and the vital supply areas to the west from behind the river barrier. Washington reconsidered, and recrossed the river to face the British, when the British columns passed by, Wayne followed, under orders from Washington to harass the British and attempt to capture all or part of their baggage train. Wayne assumed that his presence was undetected and camped close to the British lines in Paoli, Pennsylvania. His division consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th Pennsylvania Regiments, Hartleys Regiment, an artillery company. All told, it was about 1,500 strong, camped about 1 mile away was William Smallwoods Maryland militia, about 2,100 relatively inexperienced troops. The British heard rumors that Wayne was in the area, since his position was just 4 miles from the British camp at Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, Howe immediately planned an attack on Waynes relatively exposed camp. At 10 p. m. Greys troops consisted of the 2nd Light Infantry, altogether, his brigade comprised some 1,200 men. To ensure that the Americans were not alerted, Grey had the flints removed from his troops muskets, the British, led by a local blacksmith forced to act as guide, approached the camp from a wood and were able to achieve complete surprise. They stormed the camp in three waves—the 2nd Light Infantry in the lead followed by the 44th and the 42nd, completely unprepared, Waynes troops fled from the camp and were pursued. Near the White Horse Tavern the British encountered Smallwoods force and routed it as well, with casualties of only 4 killed and 7 wounded, the British had routed an entire American division. Historian Thomas J. McGuire says that 53 Americans were buried on the battlefield, local tradition says that 8 more Americans killed in the battle were buried at the nearby Anglican church of St. Peter-in-the-Great Valley. 71 prisoners were taken by the British,40 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind in nearby houses, a total of 272 men were killed, wounded or missing from Waynes division after the battle. An official inquiry found that Wayne was not guilty of misconduct, Wayne was enraged and demanded a full court-martial. On November 1, a board of 13 officers declared that Wayne had acted with honor, the incident gained notoriety partly because of accounts by eyewitnesses who stated that the British had stabbed or mutilated Americans who tried to surrender. Among them were the following, I with my own Eyes, see them, cut & hack some of our poor Men to pieces after they had fallen in their hands, - Lt. Col. Adam Hubley, 10th PA Regiment
27.
Battle of Red Bank
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To that end, two forts were constructed commanding the river. One was Fort Mercer on the New Jersey side at the Red Bank Plantation in what was part of Deptford Township. The other was Fort Mifflin on Mud Island, in the Delaware River just south of the confluence of the Schuylkill River, so long as the Americans held both forts, British navy ships could not reach Philadelphia to resupply the army. On October 18, General Sir William Howe, the commander of the British Army, evacuated his camp at Germantown and he sent a part of his force to capture the two American forts denying him use of the Delaware River. Earlier, Howe had sent a group of men via Webbs Ferry, at the mouth of the Schuylkill River, the first bombardment of Fort Mifflin came on October 11. This was merely a desultory attack which convinced the British to expand, von Donop, whose attack had been repulsed at the Second Battle of Trenton, was eager to avenge what he considered to be a humiliation. He declared to his men, Either the fort will be called Fort Donop, von Donop divided his force into two groups totaling 1,200 men for a two-pronged attack upon the fort on the morning of October 22. With six British men-of-war in the river to support the attack, after a cannonade by the Hessian artillery, Linsing moved against the nine-foot-high southern parapet, and his men were cut down by devastating cannon and musket fire and were forced to retreat. On the north, Minnigerodes grenadiers managed to scale the ramparts of a section of the fort. But when they moved on they were confronted by a mass of felled trees with pointed branches. With little in the way of tools, they were soon spotted trying to claw their way through the barricade and were fired upon by the Americans waiting for them on the other side. Suffering heavy casualties, the Hessians began to retreat, falling back to their camp ten miles away in the village of Haddonfield which they had taken after landing at nearby Coopers Ferry. Von Donop was wounded in the thigh during the attack and was left on the battlefield by his retreating troops. Mortally wounded, von Donop died three days later in the Whitall House, a farmhouse just outside the works of the fort between the fort and Woodbury Creek. To make matters worse for the British and Hessians, the six British men-of-war were engaged by smaller American gunboats, overnight attempts to free the ships were unsuccessful. Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania Navy engaged the stranded ships the next morning, with cannons and fire ships, the Augusta caught fire and within an hour the fire reached the magazine and the ship exploded. The loss of the Augusta was attributed to accidental ignition by the British, soon after, the crew of Merlin was ordered to abandon the ship and destroy it also. The Hessian army reported casualties of 377 killed and wounded with 20 missing or captured, frustrated by the failure to capture Fort Mercer, Howe ordered the Hessian regiments withdrawn from New Jersey while he made plans to attack Fort Mifflin by a massive artillery bombardment
28.
Siege of Fort Mifflin
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The operation finally succeeded when the wounded Smiths successor, Major Simeon Thayer, evacuated the fort on the night of November 15 and the British occupied the place the following morning. Owing to a shift of the river, Fort Mifflin is currently located on the bank of the Delaware adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport. After General Sir William Howes British-Hessian army occupied Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 26,1777, with Philadelphia effectively blockaded by the Americans, the Howe brothers were forced to lay siege to Fort Mifflin in order to clear the river. A Hessian attempt to storm Fort Mercer failed with heavy losses on October 22 in the Battle of Red Bank, two British warships which had run aground near Mud Island were destroyed the next day. General George Washington reinforced Fort Mifflin throughout the siege, but the garrison never numbered more than 500 men, after a few setbacks, the British finally assembled enough artillery and warships to bring Fort Mifflin under an intense bombardment beginning on November 10. No longer able to reply to the British bombardment, Thayer ordered the survivors to row across to New Jersey in the night, Fort Mercer was abandoned soon afterward, opening the Delaware and permitting the British to hold Philadelphia until June 1778. After the British defeated the American army at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11,1777, Howe failed to follow up Washingtons withdrawal to Chester, from that town on the Delaware, the Americans marched northeast through Darby to cross the Schuylkill River at the Middle Ferry. From the ferry, the army moved north to present-day East Falls, for the next ten days, the two armies sparred while the British won the Battle of Paoli and several skirmishes. On the night of September 22, Howe outmaneuvered Washington and won an unopposed crossing of the Schuylkill near Valley Forge, on September 26, the British army occupied the rebel capital of Philadelphia. In the face of the British advance the Second Continental Congress fled first to Lancaster then to York, during the summer of 1777, Philippe Charles Tronson du Coudray, a French artillery expert, arrived from France. Congress appointed him a general and inspector general of ordnance. His aristocratic airs soon irritated people and he began to quarrel with another French military engineer, Louis Lebègue Duportail, about how the defenses were to be prepared and even managed to anger Gilbert Motier, marquis de La Fayette. To the relief of many, Coudray drowned on September 16 after he rode his horse onto a Schuylkill ferry. The Mud Island Fort was designed and begun by British engineer Captain John Montresor in 1771, the river front was shielded by a stone face, but then the work stopped due to a shortage of money. After the outbreak of war with Britain, the rest of the defenses were completed with wooden palisades and earthen ramparts. There were wooden barracks for the men along the west. Nearby was a building to accommodate officers. According to one of the soldiers, a battery of 18-pound artillery pieces stood at the southeast end of Mud Island
29.
Battle of White Marsh
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The battle, which took the form of a series of skirmish actions, was the last major engagement of 1777 between British and American forces. From here, Washington monitored British troop movements in Philadelphia and evaluated his options, after a series of skirmishes, Howe called off the attack and returned to Philadelphia without engaging Washington in a decisive conflict. With the British back in Philadelphia, Washington was able to march his troops to winter quarters at Valley Forge. They then marched east on Skippack Pike, turned left on Forty-Foot Road, and marched to Sumneytown Pike, while there, Brig. Gen. Francis Nash died of wounds incurred at Germantown and was buried in the Mennonite Meeting Cemetery. Washington remained at Towamencin for one week, gathering supplies and waiting to see if Howe would move against him, on October 16, Washington moved his forces to Methacton Hill in Worcester Township. After learning of Howes withdrawal from Germantown to Philadelphia, Washington moved his army to Whitpain,5 miles closer to Philadelphia, on October 20. On October 29, Washingtons army numbered 8,313 Continentals and 2,717 militia, although the terms of enlistment of many soldiers from Maryland and Virginia were due to expire. With his ranks reinforced, Washington dispatched a brigade to assist with the defense of Forts Mifflin and Mercer, on November 2, at the recommendation of his council of war, Washington marched his forces to White Marsh, approximately 13 miles northwest of Philadelphia. At White Marsh, the army began to build redoubts and defensive works, after the surrender of British Lt. Gen. Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates sent Col. Daniel Morgans rifle corps, and the brigades of Paterson and Glover. With these additional forces, and the onset of winter. A quarter of the troops were barefooted, and there were very few blankets or warm clothing, Washington became so desperate that he even offered a reward of $10 to the person who could supply the best substitute for shoes, made of raw hides. Morale was so low and desertion so common that Washington offered a pardon on October 24 to all deserters who returned by January 1, Washingtons loss of Philadelphia and inactivity brought criticism from Congress, who pressured him to attack the city. He therefore called a council of war on November 24 which voted against an attack 11 to 4, nonetheless, Washington rode out the next day to view the British defenses, which turned to be stronger than he had expected. On October 19, Howe withdrew the British forces from Germantown, Howe took advantage of his time in Philadelphia to raise additional forces from the loyalist population in the region. Newly-promoted Maj. John Graves Simcoe reinforced his unit, the Queens Rangers, William Allen, Jr. the son of notable loyalist William Allen, raised the 1st Battalion of Pennsylvania Loyalists, and was made its lieutenant colonel. Loyalist James Chalmers raised the 1st Battalion of Maryland Loyalists, and was given its command, recruitment also took place among the citys Irish Catholic population, with the formation of the Irish Catholic Volunteers, and in the counties immediately surrounding Philadelphia. The weeks with two major armies sitting within miles of each other were not without conflict, and a petite guerre ensued in the no mans land between White Marsh and Northern Liberties. Minor skirmishes between light troops increased in intensity throughout November, with almost daily losses being incurred by both the British and the Americans, eleven houses in all were burned to the ground, and residents of Philadelphia climbed onto rooftops and church steeples to watch the spectacle
30.
Battle of Matson's Ford
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The Battle of Matsons Ford was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on December 11,1777 in the area surrounding Matsons Ford. In this series of skirmish actions, advance patrols of Pennsylvania militia encountered a British foraging expedition and were overrun. The British pushed ahead to Matsons Ford, where units of the Continental Army were making their way across the Schuylkill River, the Americans retreated to the far side, destroying their temporary bridge across the Schuylkill. The British left the area the day to continue foraging elsewhere, the Continentals crossed the river at Swedes Ford. In July 1777 he embarked about 18,000 troops on transports in New York, in early December 1777, General Howe led a sizable contingent of troops out of British-occupied Philadelphia in one last attempt to destroy Washingtons army before the onset of winter. At the Battle of White Marsh, Washington successfully repelled the British attacks, after the battle, Washington and his troops remained encamped at White Marsh. On December 10, George Washingtons council determined that the Continental Army would move to winter quarters somewhere west of the Schuylkill River. The army struck camp the morning of December 11, and proceeded to march through Plymouth Meeting, across Ridge Road, unbeknownst to the Americans, General Charles Cornwallis led a sizable British force out of the city on a foraging expedition early that morning. Cornwallis was also unaware of the Continental Army movement, and had planned to forage in the area just south of Matsons Ford. Employing a local resident named John Roberts as a guide, Cornwallis crossed the Schuylkill at Middle Ferry, Cornwallis then proceeded up the road toward Matsons Ford. His force consisted of brigades of British light infantry and grenadiers, one brigade of regular infantry, the force took with them six 6-pound cannons. Soon after, the militia stationed at the Black Horse Inn exchanged fire with the British troops, outnumbered and flanked, the militia began to fall back in some confusion, taking casualties along the way. Reports were delivered to Potter, who was with the contingent located at Harriton House, indicating that the British were advancing in force up Gulph Road, Potter stationed five regiments of militia between the British forces and Harriton House. However, the militia were quickly overrun and they retreated back through Gulph Mills to Swedes Ford. The retreat was so chaotic that militiamen literally threw away their muskets, with the militia in retreat, Cornwallis discontinued pursuit and took up a strong position on the heights overlooking Matsons Ford. General Potter estimated his casualties at 5 or killed,20 wounded and he believed the British casualties to be higher than his. Jäger Captain Johann Ewald recorded that the British captured about 160 men in the battle after a stubborn resistance and those divisions had almost completed crossing the river when the British position on the heights was spotted. Sullivan quickly ordered a retreat back across the river, and destroyed the bridge behind him
31.
Valley Forge
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Valley Forge was the military camp 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed more than 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February 1778, General George Washington sought quarters for his men with winter almost setting in, and with greatly diminishing prospects for campaigning. Washington and his troops had fought in early December what was the last major engagement of 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh and he devised to pull his troops from their present encampment in the White Marsh area and move to a more secure location for the coming winter. Several locations were considered for the winter quarters, but Washington selected Valley Forge. Valley Forge was named for a forge on Valley Creek in Whitemarsh. It was not the best place to set up camp for the Continental Army. This location also left the vulnerable under-supplied army in striking distance of the British, the area was close enough to the British to keep their raiding and foraging parties out of the interior of Pennsylvania, yet far enough away to halt the threat of British surprise attacks. The densely forested plateau of Mount Joy and the adjoining two-mile-long plateau of Mount Misery made the area easily defensible and it also provided abundant forests of timber that were used to construct thousands of log huts. Seventy-eight of the huts in the camp housed the soldiers, on December 19,1777, Washingtons poorly fed, ill-equipped army staggered into Valley Forge, weary from long marches. Winds blew as the 12,000 Continentals prepared for winters fury, only about one in four of them had shoes, and many of their feet had left bloody footprints from the marching. Grounds were selected for brigade encampments, and defense lines were planned, the first properly constructed hut appeared in three days. One hut required 80 logs, and timber had to be collected from miles away and it went up in one week with the use of only one axe. These huts provided sufficient protection from the cold and wet conditions of a typical Pennsylvania winter. By the beginning of February, construction was completed on 2,000 huts and they provided shelter, but did little to offset the critical shortages that continually plagued the army. Washington ordered that two windows should be cut into each hut during the springtime, as the climate grew considerably warmer, mud was also chipped between the logs to improve ventilation. The soldiers received inadequate supplies of meat and bread, some getting their only nourishment from firecake, occasionally, there would be pepper pot soup, a black pepper-flavored tripe broth. So severe were conditions at times that Washington despaired that unless some great, starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can. Snow was limited and small in amounts, the layer of snow was often too thin to be collected and melted into drinking water
32.
Conway Cabal
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It was named after Brigadier General Thomas Conway, whose letters criticizing Washington were forwarded to the Second Continental Congress. When these suggestions were made public, supporters of Washington mobilized to assist him politically, Conway ended up resigning from the army, and General Horatio Gates, a leading candidate to replace Washington, issued an apology for his role in events. No formal requests were ever made asking for Washingtons removal as commander in chief, there was no sign of any formal conspiracy amongst the various malcontents, although Washington was concerned that there might be one. It was the major political threat to Washingtons command during the war. In the fall of 1777 forces of the British Army successfully captured Philadelphia, the seat of the Second Continental Congress, the series of military setbacks caused many in the Continental Army and Congress to question George Washingtons leadership of the war effort. In contrast, the army of General Horatio Gates had won a signal victory over John Burgoynes forces. In addition to claiming credit for the victory at Saratoga, Gates was politically connected to Congress. Conspiracy is perhaps too strong a term to use in describing varied actions taken by disaffected officers, most of those involved shared the view only that Washington was a less than perfect commander in chief, and very few of their activities were coordinated. His view of Washington as an amateur was supported by Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Rush. A number of French officers who had commissioned into the Continental Army were also critical of Washington. These notably included Johann de Kalb, Louis Lebègue Duportail, Thomas Conway was an Irishman who was educated in France and had served in its military. General Conway had been appointed as Inspector General of the Army, in October 1777 Conway began lobbying Congress for a promotion to major general, including in his writings criticisms of Washington. Washington opposed Conways promotion, as he felt there were many American-born officers more deserving of promotion who would be upset by such a move, General William Alexander received a letter from Gates adjutant, James Wilkinson, that contained this quotation. He forwarded the letter to Washington, who received it on November 8,1777 and this led Washington to consider the possibility that his subordinates were scheming behind his back to replace him. He was already aware that Gates in particular was well connected. Washington wrote Conway a brief letter, Sir, a letter which I received last Night contained the following paragraph, in a letter from Genl Conway to Genl Gates he says, and then quotes the above passage. Conway immediately acknowledged having written to Gates, but denied having written the quoted passage, Washington never saw the actual letter Conway sent to Gates. Henry Laurens did however, and sent Washington an excerpt, What pity there is, but the more I see of this Army the less I think it fit for general Action under its actual Chiefs I speak you sincerely & wish I could serve under you
33.
Battle of Crooked Billet
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The Battle of Crooked Billet was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on May 1,1778 near the Crooked Billet Tavern. The British inflicted significant damage, and Lacey and his forces were forced to retreat into neighboring Bucks County, the British Army, led by General William Howe, had captured New York City in 1776 and Philadelphia in 1777. British troops also regularly foraged for supplies in the countryside around the city, since December, Washington and the Continental Army were in winter quarters at Valley Forge, northwest of Philadelphia. John Lacey, was tasked by Washington with patrolling the region north of Philadelphia, Washington was highly critical of both Pennsylvanias militia recruitment and Laceys performance. Pennsylvania, despite promising 1,000 militia to patrol area, had been unable to raise that many. Washington wrote that militia stipulated by the state had never been above half kept up, Lacey had not been as effective as Brigadier General James Potter at interdicting trade with the British, and Washington hoped Potter, off on leave, would soon return. In late April Lacey began a series of maneuvers and patrols across the area ended with his arrival on April 27 at the Crooked Billet Tavern in present-day Hatboro. One of his companies was attacked by a British patrol. In Philadelphia, General Howe ordered Simcoe, to secure the country, during the winter of 1778, British and Loyalist troops repeatedly led raids into Bucks County, despite the presence of Lacey and the militia. In April, Simcoe secured permission from Howe to launch an attack on Lacey, on the afternoon of April 30, he and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby led their contingent of troops out of Philadelphia and towards the Crooked Billet. By then Laceys troops numbered about 400, including fresh arrivals from Cumberland and that night Lacey ordered Lieutenant William Neilsen to begin a patrol between 2,00 and 3,00 am, and ordered the brigade of Thomas Downey to stand on alert. Neilsen failed to follow his orders, and his patrol only left camp shortly before daybreak on May 1 and they had not gone far when they spotted the advancing British. The British troops arrived at Crooked Billet at daybreak on May 1, Simcoe had planned a pincer-type attack, with his troops attacking from the north and east, and Abercrombys troops from the south and west. Laceys pickets, in place to warn against any type of threat, noticed the British troops, Neilsen sent a runner back to the camp to raise the alarm, but he never arrived. Surprised and outnumbered, the militia were soon routed and forced to retreat into Warminster, losing their supplies, hOVEDENs Pennsylvania, and Capt. JAMESs Chester dragoons, left the city about eleven oclock, and proceeded up the Old York road. Besides the above waggons,3 were burnt after taking out the horses, also all the huts, the royal party did not lose a single man on this occasion, and have only 7 men wounded, and 2 horses killed. As a result of this engagement, the American forces lost ten wagons full of much-needed supplies, Lieutenant Nielson, the officer in charge of the pickets, was court-martialed and cashiered from the militia for disobeying orders. On May 11, Potter returned from his leave of absence, Washington requested that Lacey remain with the militia for a short time in order to familiarize Potter with the region
34.
Battle of Barren Hill
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The Battle of Barren Hill was a minor engagement during the American Revolution. On May 20,1778, a British force attempted to encircle a smaller Continental force under the Marquis de Lafayette, the maneuver failed, with the Continentals escaping the trap, but the British took the field. On May 18, Lafayette left the Valley Forge camp with 2,100 troops, after crossing the Schuylkill River and turning south, he took up position at Barren Hill, which was close to Matsons Ford. A brigade and the guns were posted on the ground, near a church. Another posting was at the Ridge Road to the south, the British quickly discovered that the American force was nearby and decided to attack and seek its destruction. On May 19, around 10,30 p. m, maj. Gen. James Grant and a 5, 000-man British force, including 15 guns, was sent toward Barren Hill. The plan was to take a route leading to the junction of White Marsh Road. This would cut off any avenue of retreat for the Americans, a body of 2,000 grenadiers and dragoons would then move along Lafayettes left flank while another group would move into position on the American right. The plan would result in the American position being encircled from 3 positions, the British force was to wait until morning to attack and destroy or capture the entire American force. On May 20, the British launched their attack, the militia scattered at the sight of the British troops, not offering any resistance and failing to notify Lafayette of the attack. On Ridge Road, the American group learned of the British attack, a small group was sent to fight a delaying action against the British while their commander sent word to Lafayette about the developments. After Lafayette learned of the attack, another patriot came up, Lafayette knew of another small road that led back to Matsons Ford that would bypass the British force. It ran along some low ground that would conceal the Americans from the British, the British did not know about this road. Lafayette ordered his men to retreat down this road while ordering a rear guard to delay the British at the church, a few small patrols were sent to engage the British, skirmishing including the Oneida, making them think that the American force intended to stay and fight. Lafayette calmed his retreating force and slipped away with few casualties. The British, having failed to bag Lafayette, resumed their retreat from Philadelphia to New York, washingtons army shadowed Clinton on his withdrawal and forced a battle at Monmouth on June 28,1778, the last major battle in the North. Historians have questioned the decision of Washington for dispatching a force under the command of such a young general in the vicinity of the British Army. d. C
35.
Carlisle Peace Commission
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The Carlisle Peace Commission was a group of British negotiators who were sent to North America in 1778, during the American War of Independence. The commission carried an offer of self-rule to the rebellious colonies, the Second Continental Congress, aware that British troops were about to be withdrawn from Philadelphia, insisted on demanding full independence, which the commission was not authorised to grant. The Peace Commission marked the first time the British government formally agreed to negotiate with Congress, the limited authority given to both Howe and the American negotiators made it a virtual certainty that nothing would come of the meeting. The commission was empowered to offer a type of self-rule that Thomas Pownall had first proposed a decade earlier, historian David Wilson is of the opinion that the war could have been avoided if the terms it proposed had been offered in 1775. Historian Peter Whiteley, however, notes that King George was unlikely to agree to such an offer then. William Eden organized and served on the commission, but it was headed by the Earl of Carlisle, richard Jackson declined to serve after it became known that the United States and France had signed a Treaty of Alliance. The commissioners also learned of the Franco-American alliance before they set out in April, Carlisle was of the opinion that the administration had done this intentionally, since they might not otherwise have gone at all. Carlisle wrote to his wife of the situation, We all look grave, I fear nobody will think so when we return. I dont see what we have to do here, upon learning of the planned withdrawal, Carlisle appealed to Clinton to delay it, but, in rejecting the appeal, Clinton cited his orders to act without delay. This prompted Carlisle to observe that the administration wanted the commission to be a mixture of ridicule, nullity, Eden was upset that he wasnt told of Clintons orders, since the British intent to withdraw further stiffened American resolve. On June 13, the commissioners sent a package of proposals to Congress, Congress replied insisting that either American independence be recognised, or that all British forces first withdraw from the states, terms the commission was not authorised to accept. The commission attempted to appeal to public opinion, with warnings of widespread destruction, Johnstone tried to bribe some Congressmen, and the Marquis de Lafayette challenged Carlisle to a duel over some anti-French statements he had made. Gouverneur Morris wrote several essays against the proposals, the Commissioners circulated a Manifesto, which was printed in the Hartford Courant, October 10,1778. The Marquess of Rockingham, an opponent of the war, objected to the threats in the Manifesto. Johnstone sailed to Britain in August, and the commissioners returned in November 1778. The British, being unable to bring Washington to an engagement, resumed the military campaign. It was upon the failure of this effort that Benedict Arnold elected to switch over to the side of the British during the American Revolution. Portrait of a General, Sir Henry Clinton in the War of Independence, encyclopædia Britannica Blackwell The Real History of the American Revolution, Alan Axelrod
36.
Battle of Monmouth
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The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28,1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court House and it is also known as the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. Sensing the opportunity to smash the Continentals, Cornwallis pressed his attack, finally, Washington tried to hit the exhausted British rear guard on both flanks, but darkness forced the end of the engagement. Both armies held the field, but the British commanding general Clinton withdrew undetected at midnight to resume his armys march to New York City. The battle improved the military reputations of Washington, Lafayette and Anthony Wayne but ended the career of Charles Lee, who would face court martial at Englishtown for his failures on the day. According to some accounts, an American soldiers wife, Mary Hays, brought water to thirsty soldiers in the June heat, British forces had captured Philadelphia in 1777. Clinton was ordered to dispatch units to West Florida and the West Indies which left him too few troops to continue occupying Philadelphia, Clinton was also ordered to abandon New York and withdraw to Quebec if he felt his position there was untenable. A French fleet under dEstaing had sailed from Toulon in April,1778 and it was originally intended that the withdrawing British army would travel directly to New York via the sea, escorted by the Royal Navy. A lack of transports forced Clinton to change his plans, while the stores, heavy equipment and Loyalist American civilians fleeing revenge attacks would be shipped by sea, the main army would march overland across New Jersey. On June 18, the British began to evacuate Philadelphia, the British force comprised 11,000 British and German regulars, a thousand Loyalists from Philadelphia, and a baggage train 12 miles long. As the British advanced, the Americans slowed their advance by burning bridges, muddying wells, with a high of over 100 °F, both sides lost almost as many men to heat stroke as to the enemy. Major General Charles Lee, Washingtons second-in-command, advised awaiting developments as he did not wish to commit the American force against the British regulars. However, Washington determined that the British column was vulnerable to attack as it traveled across New Jersey with its baggage train, Washington was still undecided how to attack the British column, and held a council of war. The council, however, was divided on the issue, with a group of officers including General Anthony Wayne urging a partial attack on the British column while it was strung out on the road. Lee was still cautious, advising only harassing attacks with light forces, Lee, as Washingtons senior subordinate, was initially appointed commander of the advance force, but turned it down because of his doubts about the plan. However, when the force was increased to 5,000, Lee met with his subordinates but failed to give them proper orders, resulting in a piecemeal and disorganized attack on June 28 against the British rear guard under General Charles Cornwallis. After several hours of fighting in the hot weather, several American brigades executed a tactical retreat, the British rear guard counterattacked and as his flanks rapidly became routed, Lee was forced to order a withdrawal. Washington, advancing with the force along the Monmouth road, encountered Lees fleeing troops and finally Lee himself
37.
Continental Army
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The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
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Militia
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For instance, the members of some U. S. Army National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to maintain the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Militias thus can be military or paramilitary, depending on the instance, some of the contexts in which the term militia is used include, Forces engaged in defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws. The entire able-bodied population of a community, town, county, or state, a subset of these who may be legally penalized for failing to respond to a call-up. A subset of these who actually respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation, a private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government. An irregular armed force enabling its leader to exercise military, economic, an official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers. Called by various names in different countries, such as the Army Reserve, National Guard, the national police forces in several former communist states such as the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, but also in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia. The term was inherited in Russia and other former CIS countries, in France the equivalent term Milice has become tainted due to its use by notorious collaborators with Nazi Germany. A select militia is composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population, as regular military forces were insufficient to counter the British attackers, Santiago de Liniers drafted all males in the city capable of bearing arms into the military. These recruits included the peoples, who ranked low down in the social hierarchy. With these reinforcements, the British armies were twice defeated, the militias became a strong factor in the politics of the city afterwards, as a springboard from which the criollos could manifest their political ambitions. They were a key element in the success of the May Revolution, a decree by Mariano Moreno derogated the system of promotions involving criollos, allowing instead their promotion on military merit. The Argentine Civil War was waged by militias again, as both federalists and unitarians drafted common people into their ranks as part of ongoing conflicts and these irregular armies were organized at a provincial level, and assembled as leagues depending on political pacts. This system had declined by the 1870s, mainly due to the establishment of the modern Argentine Army, provincial militias were outlawed and decimated by the new army throughout the presidential terms of Mitre, Sarmiento, Avellaneda and Roca. Armenian militia also played a role in the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992–1993, in the Colony of New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie proposed a colonial militia but the idea was rejected. Governor Ralph Darling felt a mounted force was more efficient than a militia. A military volunteer movement attracted wide interest during the Crimean War, following Federation, the various military reserve forces of the Commonwealth of Australia became the Citizen Military Force. In the beginning, members didnt have uniforms and often paraded in business attire and they were given instruction on guerrilla warfare, and later the private organization was taken over by the Australian Government and became part of the Australian Military Forces. After World War I, multiple militias formed as soldiers returned home to their villages, only to many of them occupied by Slovene
39.
Hessian (soldier)
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They took their name from the German state of Hesse-Kassel. The British hired Hessian troops for duty in several eighteenth century conflicts. About 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War and they entered the British service as entire units, fighting under their own German flags, commanded by their usual officers, and wearing their existing uniforms. The largest contingent came from the state of Hesse, which supplied about 40% of the German troops who fought for the British. The large number of troops from Hesse-Kassel led to the use of the term Hessians to refer to all German troops fighting on the British side, the others were rented from other small German states. Patriots presented the soldiers as foreign mercenaries with no stake in America, many of the men were press-ganged into Hessian service. Deserters were summarily executed or beaten by an entire company, Hessian prisoners of war were put to work on local farms. The small German states of the Holy Roman Empire had professional armies, when military conflict broke out, the German states provided a ready supply of trained troops that was ready to go into action immediately. Hesse-Kassel was particularly prominent in this role, Between 1706 and 1707,10,000 Hessians served as a corps in Eugene of Savoys army in Italy before moving to the Spanish Netherlands in 1708. In 1714,6,000 Hessians were rented to Sweden for its war with Russia whilst 12,000 Hessians were hired by George I of Great Britain in 1715 to combat the Jacobite Rebellion. In the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744,6,000 Hessians were fighting with the British army in Flanders whilst another 6,000 were in the Bavarian army. By 1762,24,000 Hessians were serving with Ferdinand of Brunswicks army in Germany, in most of these wars, Hesse-Kassel never became a belligerent by declaring war on any other country. The troops were rented for service in other armies, and Hesse-Kassel itself had no stake in the outcome of the war. Thus, it was possible for Hessians to serve with the British and Bavarian armies in the War of the Austrian Succession, even though Britain, historian Charles Ingrao says that the local prince had turned Hesse into a mercenary state by renting out his regiments to fund his government. Of 30,067 German troops leased by Great Britain,12,992 were supplied by Hesse-Kassel and they came not as individuals but in entire units with their usual uniforms, flags, equipment, and officers. Hesse-Kassel like most of the other German principalities still had serfdom, once these troops entered British Territory, where serfdom was illegal, they were still bound by the military code. Their officers were for the most part the upper stratum of society, the only ways a Hessian regular soldier could become a free man under these circumstances was desertion or capture. Serfdom was only abolished in Hesse-Kassel in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Hessian troops included jäger, hussars, three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers
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Battle of Trenton
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The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War which took place on the morning of December 26,1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After a brief battle, nearly the entire Hessian force was captured, the battle significantly boosted the Continental Armys flagging morale, and inspired re-enlistments. The Continental Army had previously suffered several defeats in New York and had forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Because the river was icy and the severe, the crossing proved dangerous. Two detachments were unable to cross the river, leaving Washington with only 2,400 men under his command in the assault, the army marched 9 miles south to Trenton. The Hessians had lowered their guard, thinking they were safe from the American army, Washingtons forces caught them off guard and, after a short but fierce resistance, most of the Hessians surrendered. Almost two thirds of the 1, 500-man garrison was captured, and only a few troops escaped across Assunpink Creek, despite the battles small numbers, the American victory inspired rebels in the colonies. With the success of the revolution in doubt a week earlier, the dramatic victory inspired soldiers to serve longer and attracted new recruits to the ranks. In early December 1776, American morale was very low, the Americans had been ousted from New York by the British and their Hessian auxiliaries, and the Continental Army was forced to retreat across New Jersey. Ninety percent of the Continental Army soldiers who had served at Long Island were gone, men had deserted, feeling that the cause for independence was lost. Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, expressed doubts, writing to his cousin in Virginia. At the time a town in New Jersey, Trenton was occupied by three regiments of Hessian soldiers commanded by Colonel Johann Rall. Washingtons force comprised 2,400 men, with divisions commanded by Major Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan. Washington had stationed a spy named John Honeyman, posing as a Tory, Honeyman had served with Major General James Wolfe in Quebec at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13,1759, and had no trouble establishing his credentials as a Tory. Honeyman was a butcher and weaver, who traded with the British and this enabled him to gather intelligence, and also to convince the Hessians that the Continental Army was in such a low state of morale that they would not attack Trenton. Shortly before Christmas, he arranged to be captured by the Continental Army, after being questioned by Washington, he was imprisoned in a small hut, to be tried as a Tory in the morning, but a small fire broke out nearby, enabling him to escape. The American plan relied on launching coordinated attacks from three directions, General John Cadwalader would launch a diversionary attack against the British garrison at Bordentown, New Jersey, to block off reinforcements from the south. General James Ewing would take 700 militia across the river at Trenton Ferry, seize the bridge over the Assunpink Creek and prevent enemy troops from escaping
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40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot
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The 40th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1717 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 82nd Regiment of Foot to form the Prince of Waless Volunteers in 1881, prior to Father Rales War, the Mikmaq resisted the establishment of a British fort at Canso, Nova Scotia by raiding the fishing station in 1720. Phillips sent a company of the 40th, under the command Major Lawrence Armstrong, the Mikmaq continued preying on shipping, forcing the garrison to take action in February 1723. Serving as marines, the troops and local fishermen were able to disperse the marauding Indians, the next engagement came in July 1724 when a party of sixty Indians attacked Annapolis Royal. After some pillaging, the Mikmaq departed with a number of civilian prisoners, at the outbreak of King Georges War, the French at Louisbourg immediately engaged in the Raid on Canso in May 1744. A flotilla containing 900 French regulars and militia, the four poorly supplied companies of Phillips Regiment were forced to surrender. The town was destroyed and the prisoners sent to Louisbourg, Governor Shirley was having difficulty raising troops requested by Mascarene and therefore he ordered the ex-Canso garrison to Annapolis Royal. The Newfoundland Campaign started during August 1744, the prize was named the St. Philip, and was manned by eighty men of the Kinsales crew, and commanded by one of her lieutenants, and accompanied by three 10-gun colonial privateers. The St. Philip had ten killed, and thirty wounded, the loss on board the French ships was more severe. The five vessels, which had on board 18,000 quintals of fish and eighty tons of oil, mounted together sixty-six guns, in July 1744, three hundred Indians under command of a French priest named Le Loutre attacked Annapolis, the only British garrison in Nova Scotia. Only eighty men of Phillips Regiment were available to meet this threat, Mascarene refused to surrender to Le Loutre. Le Loutres party eventually burned a number of houses and withdrew, following this, George II authorized the reorganization of the regiment which increased to six regiments the garrison at Annapolis, with an authorized complement of 450. Initially only seventy additional men were received, recruitment efforts continued and Governor Shirley sent 206 recruits in February 1746. Despite the additional manpower the regiment remained under strength and it was at this time that Captain John Winslow first took command of a Philipps regiment at Annapolis Royal, after being transferred from Newfoundland. In September the enemy, this three hundred regulars and militia with Indian support, reappeared outside the dilapidated earthworks of Annapolis Royal. After a four-week siege and lacking a train of artillery, the French withdrew from the defiant garrison, a force of six hundred French and Indians again attempted to take Annapolis in May 1745. This demonstration ended quickly with the French and Mikmaq being ordered back to help defend Louisbourg from the British, the only other action seen by Phillips Regiment occurred while serving as marines and seamen. A detachment from the garrison at St. Johns, Newfoundland volunteered to serve on a captured ship for an expedition with three privateers to Fishotte Bay
42.
Anthony Wayne
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Anthony Wayne was a United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives. He later served as General in Chief of the Army and commanded the Legion of the United States, Wayne was one of four children born to Isaac Wayne and Elizabeth Iddings Wayne in Easttown Township, near present-day Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His father had immigrated from Ireland, and was part of a Protestant Anglo-Irish family, Wayne was born on January 1,1745, on his familys Waynesborough estate. He was educated as a surveyor at his uncles private academy in Philadelphia, as well as at the College of Philadelphia, in 1767 he returned to work in his fathers tannery, while continuing work as a surveyor. He became a prominent figure in Chester County and served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1774–80 and he married Mary Penrose in 1766 and they had two children. Their daughter Margretta was born in 1770 and their son Isaac Wayne, representative from Pennsylvania, was born in 1772. At the onset of the war in 1775, Wayne raised a unit and, in 1776. His service resulted in a promotion to general on February 21,1777. On September 11,1777, Wayne commanded the Pennsylvania Line at Brandywine, the two forces fought for three hours until the American line withdrew, and Wayne was ordered to retreat. Later, Wayne was ordered to harass the British rear in order to slow General Howes advance towards Pennsylvania, Waynes camp was attacked on the night of September 20–21, in the Battle of Paoli. General Charles Grey ordered his men to remove their flints and attack with bayonets in order to keep their assault secret, the attack earned General Grey the nickname No Flint, but the Americans used the tactics and casualties as propaganda regarding British brutality. General Waynes own reputation was tarnished by the American losses, only days later, on October 4,1777, Wayne again led his forces against the British in the Battle of Germantown. Waynes soldiers pushed ahead of other American units, and, according to his report, generals Wayne and Sullivan advanced too quickly, however, and became entrapped when they reached two miles ahead of other American units. As General Howe arrived and reformed the British line, American forces retreated, General Wayne was again ordered to hold off the British and cover the rear of the retreating body. After winter quarters at Valley Forge, Wayne led the American attack at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth, during this battle, Waynes forces were abandoned by General Charles Lee and pinned down by a numerically superior British force. Wayne held out until relieved by reinforcements sent by Washington, Wayne reformed his troops and continued to fight. Because the body of Lt. Colonel Henry Monckton was discovered by the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, in July 1779 Washington named Wayne to command the Corps of Light Infantry, a temporary unit of four regiments of light infantry companies drawn from all the regiments in the Main Army. Waynes successful attack on British positions at Stony Point, New York in the Battle of Stony Point was the point of his revolutionary war service
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Battles of Saratoga
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The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. Burgoyne fought two battles to break out. They took place eighteen days apart on the ground,9 miles south of Saratoga. Trapped by superior American forces, and with no relief in sight, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga and his surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, was a great turning point of the war because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory. Burgoynes strategy to divide New England from the colonies had started well. He won a tactical victory over General Horatio Gates and the Continental Army in the September 19 Battle of Freemans Farm at the cost of significant casualties. His gains were erased when he attacked the Americans in the October 7 Battle of Bemis Heights. Burgoyne was therefore compelled to retreat, and his army was surrounded by the much larger American force at Saratoga and this battle also resulted in Spain joining France in the war against Britain. The first battle, on September 19, began when Burgoyne moved some of his troops in an attempt to flank the entrenched American position on Bemis Heights, Benedict Arnold, anticipating the maneuver, placed significant forces in his way. While Burgoyne did gain control of Freemans Farm, it came at the cost of significant casualties, skirmishing continued in the days following the battle, while Burgoyne waited in the hope that reinforcements would arrive from New York City. Militia forces continued to arrive, swelling the size of the American army, disputes within the American camp led Gates to strip Arnold of his command. Burgoyne attacked Bemis Heights again on October 7 after it became apparent he would not receive relieving aid in time, when the American Revolutionary War approached the two-year point, the British changed their plans. Giving up on the rebellious New England colonies, they decided to split the Thirteen Colonies and isolate New England from what the British believed to be the more loyal middle, the British command devised a grand plan to divide the colonies via a three-way pincer movement in 1777. The northern pincer was to proceed southward from Montreal, and the three forces were to meet in the vicinity of Albany, New York, severing New England from the other colonies. In June 1777 British General John Burgoyne, known as Gentleman Johnny for his manners, after his early capture of Fort Ticonderoga, his campaign had become bogged down in difficulties. Elements of the army had reached the upper Hudson as early as the end of July, one attempt to alleviate these difficulties failed when nearly 1,000 men were killed or captured at the August 16 Battle of Bennington. Furthermore, news reached Burgoyne on August 28 that St. Legers expedition down the Mohawk River valley had turned back after the failed Siege of Fort Stanwix. Faced with the need to reach defensible winter quarters, which would require either retreat back to Ticonderoga or advance to Albany, consequent to this decision he made two further crucial decisions
44.
Delaware River
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The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, not including Delaware Bay, the rivers length including its two branches is 388 miles. The Delaware River is one of nineteen Great Waters recognized by the Americas Great Waters Coalition, the Delaware River rises in two main branches that descend from the western flank of the Catskill Mountains in New York. The West Branch begins near Mount Jefferson in the Town of Jefferson in Schoharie County, the rivers East Branch begins at Grand Gorge near Roxbury Delaware County. These two branches flow west and merge near Hancock in Delaware County and the waters flow as the Delaware River south. The river meets tide-water at the junction of Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, the rivers navigable, tidal section served as a conduit for shipping and transportation that aided the development of the industrial cities of Trenton, Camden, and Philadelphia. The mean freshwater discharge of the Delaware River into the estuary of Delaware Bay is 11,550 cubic feet per second, in 1609, the river was first visited by a Dutch East India Company expedition led by Henry Hudson. Hudson, an English navigator, was hired to find a route to Cathay. Early Dutch and Swedish settlements were established along the section of river. Both colonial powers called the river the South River, compared to the Hudson River, lord de la Warr waged a punitive campaign to subdue the Powhatan after they had killed the colonys council president, John Ratcliffe, and attacked the colonys fledgling settlements. Lord de la Warr arrived with 150 soldiers in time to prevent colonys original settlers at Jamestown from giving up, the name of barony is pronounced as in the current spelling form Delaware and is thought to derive from French de la Guerre. It has often reported that the river and bay received the name Delaware after English forces under Richard Nicolls expelled the Dutch. However, the river and bay were known by the name Delaware as early as 1641, the state of Delaware was originally part of the William Penns Pennsylvania colony. In 1682, the Duke of York granted Penns request for access to the sea and leased him the territory along the western shore of Delaware Bay which became known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware. The Delaware Rivers watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles and encompasses 42 counties and 838 municipalities in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. This total area constitutes approximately 0. 4% of the mass in the United States. In 2001, the watershed was 18% agricultural land, 14% developed land, there are 216 tributary streams and creeks—an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks—in the watershed. The waters of the Delaware Rivers basin are used to fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation
45.
Stenton (mansion)
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Stenton, also known as the James Logan Home, was the country home of James Logan, colonial Mayor of Philadelphia and Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The home is located at 4601 North 18th Street in the Logan neighborhood of North Philadelphia and he assembled one of the best libraries in colonial America, discovered the vital role of pollen in the fertilization of corn, and amassed a fortune in the fur trade. The building is of red brick, with dark headers, the roof atop its 2½ stories is hipped. After James Logans death in 1751, Stenton was inherited by his son, William used Stenton mainly as a summer residence, choosing to live in Philadelphia for the rest of the year. He also built the kitchen and added many fine furnishings, after Williams death in 1776, Stenton was in turn inherited by his son, Dr. George Logan, a physician and later US Senator. The house figured in the 1777 Battle of Germantown, and served as headquarters of both General George Washington and British General Lord William Howe, George married Deborah Norris, a noted diarist and historian, and the person to whom Sally Wisters Journal was written, in 1781. The mansion remained in the hands of the Logan family until 1910, Stenton, now open as a historic house museum, part of the Historic Germantown Historic Society is an outstanding example of early American Georgian architecture. Stenton was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 12,1965, the mansion lends its name to nearby Stenton Park and Stenton Avenue. The village of Stanton in Readington Township, New Jersey also borrows its name from the mansion, List of Washingtons Headquarters during the Revolutionary War Wyck House List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia National Register of Historic Places listings in North Philadelphia H. D. Eberlein and H. M. Lippincott, The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood, charles F. Jenkins, The Guide Book to Historic Germantown, Germantown Historical Society,1973
46.
James Logan (statesman)
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James Logan was an Irish-born colonial American statesman and scholar who served as the fourteenth Mayor of Philadelphia and held a number of other public offices. Logan was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland, to an Irish father and he served as colonial secretary to William Penn. He was a trustee of the College of Philadelphia, the predecessor of the University of Pennsylvania. James Logan was born at Lurgan on October 20,1674 and his parents were Patrick Hogan and Isabella, Lady Hume, who married in early 1671, in Midlothia, Scotland. His father had a Master of Arts degree from the University of Edinburgh, although apprenticed to a Dublin linen-draper, he appears to have received a good classical and mathematical education, and to have acquired a knowledge of modern languages not common at the period. The War of 1689–91 obliged him to follow his parents, first to Edinburgh, in 1699, he came to the colony of Pennsylvania aboard the Canterbury as William Penns secretary. Logan is described as tall and well-proportioned, with a graceful yet grave demeanour. He had a good complexion, and was quite florid, even in old age, nor did his hair, later, he supported proprietary rights in Pennsylvania. After advancing through several political offices, including commissioner of property, receiver general, clerk, during his tenure as mayor, Logan allowed Irish Catholic immigrants to participate in the citys first public Mass. He later served as the chief justice from 1731 to 1739. He opposed Quaker pacifism and war tax resistance, and encouraged pacifist Quakers to give up their seats in the Pennsylvania Assembly so that it could make war requisitions. Meanwhile, he engaged in mercantile pursuits, especially fur trading. He wrote numerous scholarly papers published by the American Philosophical Society, Logan was also a natural scientist whose primary contribution to the emerging field of botany was a treatise that described experiments on the impregnation of plant seeds, especially corn. He tutored John Bartram, the American botanist, in Latin, James Logans mother came to live with him in Philadelphia in 1717. She died on January 17,1722, at Stenton and his daughter, Sarah, married Isaac Norris. Logan died in 1751 at Stenton, near Germantown, at the age of 77 and he collected a personal library of over 3,000 volumes. Some commentators consider Logan’s library to have been the largest and best collection of writings in America at that time. Logan would in time known to Benjamin Franklin and his Junto
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