Highlands Ranch High School - Mr. Sedivy
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

- World History -
Colonial America and
The American Revolution

War - The American Revolution

Lexington and Concord
The Americans didn't fight right - they used guerilla warfare. On April 18, 1775 it was two lanterns by sea - The Ride of Paul Revere. (Paul Revere was a silversmith and false tooth maker.) Revere and Billy Dawes started off to Lexington.

"The British are Coming." Click the map for an enlargement of the battle below.

Racing across the Massachusetts countryside, Paul Revere (1-yellow) and William Dawes (2-blue) warn their countrymen that the redcoats are coming. The British force of about 700 men hoped to surprise Concord (3) and seize colonial ammunition. But, on the night of April 18, patriots found out about the plan and dispatched the two riders to alert the militia.

At Lexington, Dr. Samuel Prescott (4-purple) joined Revere and Dawes. Near Concord, a British patrol stopped them and took Revere prisoner. Dawes fled on foot, but Prescott continued. He jumped his horse over a stone wall and galloped on to Concord to spread the news. By the time 180 of the redcoats had reached Lexington (5), about 70 militiamen had lined up on the village green to meet them. Although badly outnumbered, patriot John Parker urged his men to stand firm.

No one knows who fired the first shot, but when the volleys stopped, eight Minutemen were dead. The redcoats marched on to Concord, where more than 300 of the militia were waiting. The British destroyed some ammunition and food supplies in town and then confronted angry militiamen at North Bridge (6). With more Minutemen arriving, the Brits turned around and marched back to Boston.

Left: Sam Adams. Right: rebel sharpshooters crouched behind this wall and fired at redcoats retreating from Concord. Of the rebels, a British officer wrote: "I never believed they would have attacked the King's troops, or have had the perseverance I found in them."

Later, Paul Revere tried to sue the state to reimburse him for the costs incurred during his ride. The British were to destroy gunpowder stores and arrest patriots, Sam Adams and John Hancock.

Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill began with a British assault on a collecion of unproven continental regiments on June 17, 1775. About 2500 redcoats crossed the Charles River by ferry to march on the hills of Charleston, where resistance was to have been weakened by gunfire from the namy ships at the mouth of the river. The battle plan seemed sound, but it resulted in disaster for the British side.

WINTHROP CHANDLER: The Battle of Bunker Hill
Click the art to view more of the painting.

At first the well-ordered redcoat columns "advanced with confidence," one officer recalled. The patriots, low on ammunition, waited with grim resolve from their position on Breed's Hill, just below Bunker Hill.

"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes,"
a patriot officer was said to have instructed his men.

The British troops did ultimately take the hill, but not without a staggering loss of life. On the third assault, the redcoats took the hill as the militiamen ran out of gunpowder and retreated. With more than 1000 British killed or wounded, General Henry Clinton called the battle: "A dear bought victory. Another such would have ruined us."

The Continental Army
The Continental Army had no money, and had bad soldiers (few soldiers). The Continental Congress raised eight companies of soldiers, each numbering 120 men. These companies were made up entirely of cripples, invalids, blind men, and men missing arms and legs. But, they were fighting on there own land, for their own land, and for freedom. And, they had a great leader. They got supplies by stealing them from the British. (Fort Ticonderoga)

George Washington lamented that the Continental Army had "very little discipline, order or government" at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. As the war progressed, his soldiers learned European military drill, and combined it with their determination and frontier know-how to defeat the redcoats, one of the world's best-trained and best-equiped armies.

Continental Army soldier shown loading a rifle.

The rifle took a long time to load, compared to the musket. By the time a soldier forced his rifle ball down the barrel, the enemy could get him with a bayonet. Their rifles had no bayonet, a necessity for fighting at close range, or in damp weather when wet flints and gunpowder made firearms useless. Because of these disadvantages, the musket remained the primary weapon used during the Revolutionary War.

England had good soldiers and lots of money. But, they didn't care, and England was fighting several other wars at the same time. (There was a Palm tree fort in Charleston. The English stopped several times when they got close to ending it, crossing the Delaware to attack drunk Hessians.)

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