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Line 23: + + + + + + − + + + + + + + + − Fast riders sped word of the British aggression and American + − resistance up and down the coast. The news reached General + − [[Israel Putnam]], age 67, as he was plowing his Connecticut farm. He instantly unhitched a horse, left word for his militia to follow, and galloped the 100 miles in 18 hours. Within days Boston was surrounded by 10,000 patriots, enlisted for the year, armed with muskets and ready to fight. Their opportunity came in June, at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]], when 2,400 redcoats attacked 1,600 patriots dug in on Breed's Hill (in front of Bunker Hill). Crouching low behind their breastworks, the Yankees were told to wait--"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" The first two waves were mowed down; finally a bayonet charge took the hill. The redcoats won, at a stunning cost of 1,054 casualties, including a high proportion of officers. The Americans lost 400 casualties, and shattered the illusion that they would not or could not stand up to well-trained regulars.
expand on causes
* [[Stamp Act of 1765]], the British asserted power to tax without represntation; foled by bold Ameircan reaction
* [[Stamp Act of 1765]], the British asserted power to tax without represntation; foled by bold Ameircan reaction
* [[Townshend Acts]], 1767, more taxes imposed because the British insisted they could tax the Americans any time and any way
* [[Townshend Acts]], 1767, more taxes imposed because the British insisted they could tax the Americans any time and any way
The revolution occurred in the hearts and minds of Americans in 1774-1776 as they realized that continued subservience to the British Empire was impossible. The [[Seven Years War]] ended in British victory in 1763, and there were no foreign threats to the American colonies, nor any serious Indian threats. London wanted stifling controls on the colonial economy and on westward expansion. They insisted that the colonists new taxes, but refused to allow representation in Parliament. Britain was not asking the Americans to share the burden of warfare--they never asked the colonial legislatures for that. Instead they insisted that Parliament had every right to tax the colonists whether they liked it or not. Power was the issue. Ominously London sent thousands of regular army troops--was this to protect the colonists from nonexistent threats, or to protect the Royal officials from the anger of the people? Nothing seemed more dangerous to the precious political liberties of the Americans than the sort of standing army Britain was forcing upon them. The colonists responded by setting up their own shadow government, including local committees and (beginning in 1774) a [[Continental Congress]]. The Empire thought it knew how to suppress rebellions--in 1715 and 1745 it had ruthlessly crushed the Highlanders in Scotland; in the 17th century it had taken control of Ireland in campaigns that killed thousands of Catholic rebels and left the Protestants in total domination.
Tensions came to a head in Massachusetts. In late 1773 at the [[Boston Tea Party]], patriots disguised as Indians dumped a shipment of tea into the harbor in protest. London officials were outraged and plotted to so weaken Massachusetts that it could never defy the Empire again. In ealy 1774 Parliament passed the Coercive Acts that imposed near martial law, closed the courts, ended local government, shut the port of Boston, and suspended traditional civil liberties and economic freedom. Congress denounced the Acts, called for boycotts of British goods, and recommended that the militias ready their weapons. Georgia became the 13th colony represented in the Congress; however, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundalnd, East Florida, West Florida and several island colonies in the Caribbean remained loyal. The French Catholics in Canada much preferred the tolerance of London to the anti-Catholic Yankees; they stayed loyal, as did the wealthy sugar planters who controlled the numerous West Indian colonies. East Florida, West Florida and Newfoundland were so small, so new, and so dominated by the British army and navy that they stayed loyal. Nova Scotia (just north of Maine) was the curious case. It had been settled largely by New England [[Yankees]], who favored Congress. Yet it was an isolated island, easily controlled by the Royal Navy from its powerful base in Halifax. Protests were put down, and the people stayed neutral, pouring their emotions into religious revival rather than revolution.
The 13 revolting colonies were the largest, richest, and most developed in the Empire. London had no intention of letting them go easily. General Thomas Gage imposed martial law, fortified Boston and raided nearby towns where rebels had stored munitions. The people of Massachusetts responded by setting up a provisional government, training militia units, and detecting and suppressing Loyalists and spies. A system of "minute men" was established, so that any alarm would be answered immediately. The Americans had sympathizers in Britain, but not enough. Parliament rejected conciliation by a 3 to 1 margin, and Gage was ordered to aggressively enforce the Coercion laws. More troops arrived, along with the generals who would later replace Gage and command the main British armies during the war, Sir William Howe (fall 1775 to spring 1778), Sir Henry Clinton (1778 to 1782) and John Burgoyne. All of them failed at their mission--perhaps because London political considerations made it impossible to remove careless generals who repeatedly lost tactical opportunities, quarreled or failed to coordinate with one another, and muffled the strategic designs that London drew up.
==Boston 1775==
==Boston 1775==
[[Image:Concord1775.jpg|thumb|500px|right|Eyewitness drawing of British Redcoats marching to Concord in April, 1775;attacked by thousands of [[Minute Men]], they retreated & barely managed to reach Boston.<ref> This is a hand colored engraving by Amos Doolittle based on a sketch by Ralph Earl. The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, "Fields of Fire—Four Views of the Fatal Day", Summer 2006. [http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer06/paintings.cfm online] </ref>]]
[[Image:Concord1775.jpg|thumb|500px|right|Eyewitness drawing of British Redcoats marching to Concord in April, 1775;attacked by thousands of [[Minute Men]], they retreated & barely managed to reach Boston.<ref> This is a hand colored engraving by Amos Doolittle based on a sketch by Ralph Earl. The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, "Fields of Fire—Four Views of the Fatal Day", Summer 2006. [http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer06/paintings.cfm online] </ref>]]
Political tactics had failed, and the British sent a combat army to Boston to overawe the rebels. On April 18, 1775, Gage sent 700 elite troops to Concord, 21 miles from Boston, to seize illegal munitions stored there. Major John Pitcairn a month before wrote that "one active campaign, a smart action, and burning two or three of their towns, will set everything to rights." The minute men of Lexington blocked Pitcairn; someone unknown fired the first shot; the British pushed on to Concord. They found the munitions gone and began their return trek only to be stunned by the discovery the Americans were fighting back. Three thousand brave militia lined the route, firing muskets from behind stone fences. ("The Americans," noted General Israel Putnam, "are not at all afraid of their heads, though very much afraid of their legs; if you cover these they will fight forever.") The Yankee assault was well-planned and well-carried out. Only the timely arrival of a rescue party saved the redcoats, who suffered 270 casualties (versus 93 American casualties).
Political tactics had failed; now the British combat army based in Boston decided to overawe the rebels. On April 18, 1775, Gage sent 700 elite troops to Concord, 21 miles from Boston, to seize illegal munitions stored there. Major John Pitcairn a month before wrote that "one active campaign, a smart action, and burning two or three of their towns, will set everything to rights." The minute men of Lexington blocked Pitcairn; someone unknown fired the first shot; the British pushed on to Concord. They found the munitions gone and began their return trek only to be stunned by the discovery the Americans were fighting back. Three thousand brave militia lined the route, firing muskets from behind stone fences. ("The Americans," noted General Israel Putnam, "are not at all afraid of their heads, though very much afraid of their legs; if you cover these they will fight forever.") The Yankee assault was well-planned and well-carried out. Only the timely arrival of a rescue party saved the redcoats, who suffered 270 casualties (versus 93 American casualties).
Fast riders sped word of the British aggression and American resistance up and down the coast. The news reached General
[[Israel Putnam]], age 67, as he was plowing his Connecticut farm. He instantly unhitched a horse, left word for his militia to follow, and galloped the 100 miles in 18 hours. Within days Boston was surrounded by 10,000 patriots, enlisted for the year, armed with muskets and ready to fight.
==The challenge==
In Philadelphia, the [[Continental Congress]] took charge of the war and sent Virgia leader [[George Washington]] as commander in chief of the American army.
The most difficult and most important mission ever given the American military came in 1775: throw out the British army, repel the Royal Navy, preserve American liberties. In July 1776 the charge was expanded--to wrest total independence for the new nation, the United States of America. The challenge seemed impossible. Britain had a large professional army, the greatest navy afloat, three times the population, and a comprehensive administrative system that raised and spent money efficiently. Add to that her allies: fierce Indian tribes to the rear, Canada to the north, the Floridas to the South, and untold numbers of Loyalists right in the middle. The Americans had weak state governments which collected few taxes, a new, even weaker national government that lacked any taxing power at all. None of the states had standing armies or navies. Fortifications and harbor defenses were decrepit. Only in New England was the militia system anything more than an archaic joke. No one in America yet knew how to make gunpowder or cast cannon. Washington had never led as many as a thousand soldiers, and the other generals were even less experienced. A more subtle problem was that the Americans sought independence in large part because they feared a standing army--a force that would negate the republican government they sought--yet they needed a standing army to fight the Crown.
===Boston 1775-76===
Their opportunity came in June, at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]], when 2,400 redcoats attacked 1,600 patriots dug in on Breed's Hill (in front of Bunker Hill). Crouching low behind their breastworks, the Yankees were told to wait--"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" The first two waves were mowed down; finally a bayonet charge took the hill. The redcoats won, at a stunning cost of 1,054 casualties, including a high proportion of officers. The Americans lost 400 casualties, and shattered the illusion that they would not or could not stand up to well-trained regulars.
[[image:Bunker hill.jpg|350px|right|thumb|Battle of Bunker Hill]]
[[image:Bunker hill.jpg|350px|right|thumb|Battle of Bunker Hill]]