Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull (Architect of the Capitol)
The American War of Independence freed the 13 British colonies in North America from British rule and set the stage for the United States’ bold experiment in self-government. Fighting raged across the continent for eight years, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and permanently reshaping the political and social fabric of the Western Hemisphere.
From the start, victory seemed anything but inevitable. A small, loosely organized confederation of independent colonies, with a population of less than two and a half million and no standing army or strong central government, faced one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations on earth—an empire with an experienced professional army, the world’s most formidable navy, and a government able to mobilize vast resources to suppress the rebellion.
Historian Christopher Hamner traces the war from its roots in the crises of the 1770s to the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord, through the surrender of British troops under Gen. Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris that followed. Drawing on primary sources, Hamner highlights critical moments of strategy, courage, and contingency, providing rich historical context for the colonists’ improbable victory.
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Christmas 1776: Princeton and Trenton
The American army found itself at a precarious low point as 1776 ended. Morale in the ranks was low after a series of recent defeats at the hands of the British, and many soldiers planned to leave the army and return home when their enlistments expired at the end of the year. Commander-in-Chief George Washington himself confessed in a letter in early December that “I think the game is pretty near up.”
Spurred by opportunity, necessity, and desperation, Washington’s Continentals launched a pair of audacious attacks in New Jersey between December 25 and the first week of January. Crossing a half-frozen Delaware River on Christmas, Washington’s troops surprised and overwhelmed a body of German mercenaries in Trenton, capturing two-thirds of them with little loss of their own. Ten days later his forces attacked British regulars at Princeton, inflicting several hundred more casualties. From a military standpoint, the British losses were modest, but the Continentals’ success proved to be a critical boon to the patriot cause. Hamner examines both the battles and their impact on the war in its second pivotal year.
Additional Sessions of the American Revolution: Part 1 Series
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