TIMELINE Events leading up to the War

• The French and Indian War (1754-63)
  
• The Sugar Act (4/5/1764)
  
• The Stamp Act (3/22/1765)
  
• Patrick Henry's "If This Be Treason" speech (5/29/1765)
  
• The Stamp Act Congress (10/7-25/1765)
  
• Townshend Act (6/29/1767)
  
• Disturbances in Boston
  
• The Boston Massacre (3/5/1770)
  
• The Boston Tea Party (12/16/1773)
  
• The First Continental Congress (Philadelphia, 9/5-10/26/1774)
  

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  1775: The War Begins
  
• The Rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes (4/18)
  
• The Battles of Lexington and Concord (4/19)
  
• Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys Seize Fort Ticonderoga (5/10)
  
• The Second Continental Congress (met in Philadelphia, 5/10)
  
• Washington named Commander in Chief (6/15)
  
• Battle of Bunker Hill (fought on Breed's Hill) (6/17)
  
• Montgomery captures Montreal for Americans (11/13)
  
• Benedict Arnold's failed attack on Quebec (12/30)
  

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  1776: The Year of Independence
  
• Paine's "Common Sense" published (1/15)
  
• Patriot triumph at Moore's Creek, NC (2/27)
  
• Continental fleet captures New Providence Island in the Bahamas (3/3)
  
• The British evacuate Boston (3/17)
  
• Richard Henry Lee proposes Independence (6/7)
  
• British defence of Fort Moultrie, SC (6/28)
  
• Declaration of Independence adopted (7/4)
  
• Declaration of Independence signed (8/2)
  
• Arrival of 30,000 British troops in New York harbor
  
• British win the Battle of Long Island (Battle of Brooklyn) (8/27-30)
  
• British occupy New York City (9/15)
  
• British win the Battle of Harlem Heights (9/16)
  
• Benedict Arnold defeated at Lake Champlain (10/11)
  
• American retreat at the Battle of White Plains (10/28)
  
• British capture Fort Washington, NY and Fort Lee, NJ (11/16)
  
• Washington Crosses the Delaware and captures Trenton (12/26)
  

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  1777: The War for the North
  
• Washington wins the Battle of Princeton (1/3)
  
• Washington winters in Morristown, NJ (1/6-5/28)
  
• Flag Resolution (flag possibly designed by Hopkinson, likely sewn by Betsy Ross) (6/14)
  
• St. Clair surrenders Fort Ticonderoga to the British (7/5)
  
• Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia (7/27)
  
• Americans under Herkimer defeat the British under St. Leger at Fort Stanwix, in the Mohawk Valley in Oriskany, New York (8/6)
  
• American Militia under General Stark triumph over Hessians at Bennington (8/16)
  
• British General Howe lands at Head of Elk, Maryland (8/25)
  
• British success at the Battle of Brandywine, PA (9/11)
  
• Rain-out at the Battle of the Clouds, PA (9/16)
  
• Burgoyne checked by Americans under Gates at Freeman's Farm, NY (9/19)
  
• Paoli Massacre, PA (9/21)
  
• British under Howe occupy Philadelphia (9/26)
  
• Americans driven off at the Battle of Germantown (10/4)
  
• Burgoyne loses second battle of Freeman's Farm, NY (at Bemis Heights) (10/7)
  
• Burgoyne surrenders to American General Gates at Saratoga, NY (10/17)
  
• Hessian attack on Fort Mercer, NJ repulsed (10/22)
  
• British capture Fort Mifflin, PA (11/16)
  
• Americans repulse British at Whitemarsh, PA (12/5-7)
  
• The Winter at Valley Forge, PA (12/19/77-6/19/78)
  

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  1778: Valley Forge and the French Alliance
  
• The French Alliance (2/6)
  
• British General William Howe replaced by Henry Clinton (3/7)
  
• Van Steuben arrives at Valley Forge
  
• Battle of Barren Hill, PA (5/20)
  
• Washington fights to a draw at Battle of Monmouth (6/28)
  
• George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia, a French village near Detroit (7/4)
  
• French and American forces besiege Newport, RI (8/8)
  
• British occupy Savannah, GA (12/29)
  

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  1779: The War Spreads
  
• Militia beat Tories at Kettle Creek, NC (2/14)
  
• American George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes on the Wabash in the Western campaign (2/25)
  
• Fairfield, CT, burned by British (7/8)
  
• Norwalk, CT, burned by British (7/11)
  
• American "Mad" Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, NY (7/15-16)
  
• "Light Horse" Harry Lee attacks Paulus Hook, NJ (8/19)
  
• John Paul Jones, aboard the Bonhomme Richard, captures British man-of-war Serapis near English coast (9/23)
  
• The Tappan Massacre ("No Flint" Grey kills 30 Americans by bayonet) (9/28)
  
• American attempt to recapture Savannah, GA fails (10/9)
  
• Coldest Winter of the war, Washington at Morristown, NJ
  

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  1780: The Campaign for the South
  
• British capture Charleston, SC (5/12)
  
• British crush Americans at Waxhaw Creek, SC (5/29)
  
• Patriots rout Tories at Ramseur's Mill, NC (6/20)
  
• French troops arrive at Newport, RI, to aid the American cause (7/11)
  
• Patriots defeat Tories at Hanging Rock, SC (8/6)
  
• British rout Americans at Camden, SC (8/16)
  
• Benedict Arnold's plans to cede West Point to the British discovered (9/25)
  
• King's Mountain, SC: battle lasted 65 minutes. American troops led by Isaac Shelby and John Sevier defeated Maj. Patrick Ferguson and one-third of General Cornwallis' army. (10/7)
  
• Washington names Nathanael Greene commander of the Southern Army (10/14)
  

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  1781: All But Done
  
• Mutiny of unpaid Pennsylvania soldiers (1/1)
  
• Patriot Morgan overwhelming defeated British Col. Tarleton at Cowpens, SC (1/17)
  
• Articles of Confederation adopted (3/2)
  
• British win costly victory at Guilford Courthouse, NC (3/15)
  
• Greene defeated at Hobkirk's Hill, SC (4/25)
  
• Corwallis clashed with Greene at Guilford Courthouse, NC (5/15)
  
• Americans recapture Augusta, GA (6/6)
  
• British hold off Americans at Ninety Six, SC (6/18)
  
• "Mad" Anthony Wayne repulsed at Green Springs Farm, VA (7/6)
  
• Greene defeated at Eutaw Springs, SC (9/8)
  
• French fleet drove British naval force from Chesapeake Bay (9/15)
  
• Cornwallis surrounded on land and sea by Americans and French and surrenders at Yorktown, VA (10/19)
  

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  1782 and Beyond
  
• Lord North resigned as British Prime Minister (3/20/82)
  
• British evacuated Savannah, GA (7/11/82)
  
• British sign Articles of Peace (11/30/82)
  
• British leave Charleston, SC (12/14/82)
  
• Congress ratifies preliminary peace treaty (4/19/83)
  
• Treaty of Paris (9/3/83)
  
• British troops leave New York (11/25/83)
  
• Washington Resigns as Commander (12/23/83)
  
• U.S. Constitution ratified (9/17/87)
  

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