Battles:
Lexington-4/19/1775:
On April 19, the first shot fired took place in Lexington Massachusetts started the Revolutionary War. The British General named Thomas Gage ordered 700 of his soldiers to rampage colonists stores and destroy their guns and ammunition in a town just outside of Boston.
Bunker Hill-6/16/1775:
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place during the Siege of Boston. When the colonists heard about the British attempt to occupy Dorchester Heights on the Boston Peninsula, the colonists were shaken and felt threatened by the news. In a last minute plan to save their land and protect their territory, William Prescott with about 1,200 colonial soliders ordered a quick fortifications on top of the hill. The British troops attacked the very next day and the fight resulted in 800 wounded and 226 killed British troops.
Saratoga- 9/19/1777:
On September 19, 1777, the Battle of Saratoga begun which turned into two separate battles in Saratoga New York. The first battle was lead by Gen. John Burgoyne's offensive while the the other battle of Bemis Heights on October 7 was the turnig point in American Independence. The British in the beginning were advancing in the war until the Americans started to fight back. British General John Burgoyne had a three fold plan to attack and advance south from Canada to meet at Albany with Generals Barry St. Leger and William Howe. He was suppose to move east from Fort Oswego to Lake Ontario, while General Howe was suppose to go North from Virgina. The overall plan of the British Generals were to destroy the Northern American Army but the plan failed to due Howe going to Philadelphia instead because of lack of communication.
In favor of America, the battle convinced the French to join the war and France aided money and supplies due to Americas victory.
Yorktown-10/9/1781:
During the 20-day seige which took place on October 9,1781, 16,000 French and American soldiers inclosed 8000-man of the British army. The British were extremely out numbered and had no choice but to surrendered on October 19, 1781. Due to the Treaty of Allicance made between the French and the Americans, the French helped defeat the British in Yorktown Virgina.
Key Events:
The Stamp Act:
In 1765 a law was passed to help support the war between Great Britian and America. This law required that colonists had to pay tax on all Britain's printed materials that they used. These material were newspapers, magazines, and even playing cards. Every printed material was required to have a stamp on it stating that the items tax was paid for. The Colonist expressed their anger by boycotting goods and burning the stamps in the streets. Britian sent officals to minimze the tension and Stamp Act was shot down by the Stamp Act Congress in New York but repealed again in 1766.
The Boston Massacre:
Parliament in Great Britain was determined to pass new laws and taxes on glass, lead, paper and tea. Colonist were outraged by the new laws and British troops were sent to make sure that the colonist were enforcing and adhering to these taxes. One Winter afternoon in 1770, a group colonist agravated and taunted some of the British soliders by throwing rocks and snowballs at the soliders in anger. These military troops then opened fire on the group of colonist killing four of them. This event became known asa significant event in history, it was called the Boston Massacre. The British thought that by leaving tax on tea, it would straighten out the Colonials and show them whose in charge.
The Boston Tea Party:
The tax on tea that Parliament had forced the colonies to pay effected the tea business extremely. As the price of tea America continually increased, it became more difficult for tea producers, and shippement to survive. But the British companies were exempt from the new taxes. This meant that the British were able to sell their product of tea inexspensively so that the businesses in American could no longer exist. In result, the colonist organized a protest in the Boston Harbor to dump out all the shipment cargo into the Boston harbor water. The British responded by enforcing new taxes and stipulations on the Colonials.