American Revolution

Robert Hanson Harrison

Robert Hanson Harrison

Hailing from Charles County, Maryland, Robert Hanson Harrison established himself as an attorney-at-law in Fairfax County, Virginia, by 1769.   In this capacity, he came to the notice of George Washington…

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1779 Campaign

In 1779, General Washington made a series of strategic decisions that defeated a British offensive, maintained control of the Hudson River, and protected critical Continental Army resources.

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Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was a humanitarian, activist, and leader with an acute sense of both America's successes and failures.

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Annis Boudinot Stockton

Annis Boudinot Stockton is remembered for her prolific and patriotic poetry.

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Anthony Walton White

Siding with the opposition to the royal government, Anthony Walton White was recommended to General George Washington in the first weeks of his command of the Continental Army by George Clinton, a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York. Washington tried White as an aide-de-camp for several weeks, but courteously turned him down in favor of Robert Hanson Harrison in October of 1775.

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Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne was a notable military officer who served in both the War of the American Revolution and in campaigns during George Washington’s Presidential administration. Wayne was famous for his military ardor and his aggressive leadership in combat, earning the sobriquet “Mad Anthony,” but he was also noteworthy for his careful planning prior to going on campaigns.

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Appointment as Commander in Chief

George Washington arrived at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on May 9, 1775.

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Arthur St. Clair

The high point of Arthur St. Clair's long military career, which began when he was a young British officer in the French and Indian War, came when General George Washington visited his quarters in Trenton, New Jersey on the evening of January 2, 1777.

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Asgill Affair

In April 1782, the Board of Associated Loyalists in Monmouth, New Jersey executed the Continental Army?

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Baron von Steuben

On February 23, 1778, George Washington rode out of Valley Forge to meet Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who's expertise in military training was second to none.

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Battle of Barren Hill (1778)

In actuality, the Battle of Barren Hill was more of a retreat than a battle. This engagement prevented British forces from securing critical communication and supply routes into Philadelphia.

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Battle of Bennington

The Battle of Bennington, on August 16, 1777, formed part of the Saratoga Campaign.

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Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine, fought just outside of Philadelphia on September 11, 1777, resulted in an overarching British victory and the conquest of the rebel seat of government.

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Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens was fought on January 17, 1781, near Thicketty Creek, South Carolina, on a 500 square yard grazing pasture.

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Battle of Germantown

General George Washington's attack upon the British at Germantown on October 4, 1777, surprised the British, but ultimately ended in a sharp defeat.

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Battle of Guilford Courthouse

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was the turning point of the Southern Campaign of 1780-1781. The British "victory" resulted in Lord Cornwallis' retreat to Yorktown and the eventual capture of his entire army.

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Battle of Harlem Heights

After the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776, General George Washington was disappointed that his men failed to execute his orders, but he had won his first battlefield victory of the war.

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Battle of Kip's Bay

George Washington and his officers considered abandoning and even burning New York City after retreating from Long Island on August 29. Washington, however, erroneously believed that Congress wanted the city held and deployed his forces on a sixteen-mile front.

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Battle of Long Island

After the British evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776, General George Washington guessed correctly that their next target would be New York.

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Battle of Monmouth

While considered to be a draw on the battlefield, Washington was able to deftly portray the Battle of Monmouth as a strategic victory.

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Battle of Newtown

Ordered by General George Washington to harass combined Loyalist and Native American forces in Southern New York, General John Sullivan soon found his men in skirmishes throughout August and September of 1779. The largest of these was the Battle of Newtown, near Elmira, New York which took place on August 29.

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Battle of Princeton

On January 3, 1777, Continental Army soldiers under the command of General George Washington defeated a force of British troops near Princeton, New Jersey. The action was part of a larger campaign to regain momentum following a string of defeats in the New York City area throughout the summer and fall of 1776.

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Battle of Saratoga

The Battle of Saratoga, fought in two stages on September 19 and October 7, 1777, proved to be a turning point in the American struggle for independence.

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Battle of Second Trenton

On 2 January 1777, a Continental Army force led by George Washington successfully repulsed a British attack in Trenton, New Jersey by soldiers under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis.

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Battle of Stony Point

In early 1779, Parliament sent a directive to General Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in America, to bring George Washington into a general action at the start of the campaign.

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Battle of the Chesapeake

The Battle of the Chesapeake was a naval engagement pitting the French naval fleet under Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse against a British fleet under Admiral Sir Thomas Graves that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on September 5, 1781.

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Battle of Trenton

Immediately following his famous crossing of the Delaware River, General George Washington marched the Continental Army to Trenton, New Jersey.

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Battle of White Plains

The Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776 ended in defeat for General George Washington and his army as they retreated from New York City following a series of British victories earlier that summer.

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Benedict Arnold

A General in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold served with distinction in several battles but was passed over for promotions several times. Frustrated by the opposition he encountered, Arnold eventually started working for the British even while continuing to serve in the Continental Army.

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Benjamin Franklin

George Washington may rightly be known as the "Father of his Country" but, for the two decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was the world's most famous American.

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Benjamin Franklin in London

As Mount Vernon is to George Washington and Monticello is to Thomas Jefferson, 36 Craven Street in London is to Benjamin Franklin.

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Benjamin Franklin, Espionage and Counter-Espionage

Benjamin Franklin made his fortune as a printer, journalist and newspaper proprietor, before taking up a non-executive role in his own firm to dedicate his time to public service. It was natural that he should build close contacts with the newspaper trade during his time in London as a political representative.

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Benjamin Tallmadge

American espionage has its roots in the Revolutionary War, specifically in the network known as the Culper Spy Ring. At the center of this ring, appointed by General George Washington to provide military intelligence from the British headquarters in New York City, was Major Benjamin Tallmadge.

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British Occupation of New York City

On August 22, 1776, New Yorkers heard the cannon blasts of the Battle of Long Island. Five days later, an expeditionary force of over 32,000 British regulars, 10 ships of line, 20 frigates, and 170 transports defeated Washington’s troops at Kip’s Bay and invaded Manhattan Island. Thus began seven years of British occupation in the City of New York.

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Caleb Gibbs

Appointed the commander of the Commander-in-Chief's Guard on March 12, 1776, Caleb Gibbs served as both the head of headquarters security and chief steward of George Washington’s military household for nearly five years.

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Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts was incorporated in 1636 along the Charles River on the outskirts of Boston. In addition to being home to some of the world’s finest educational institutions, Cambridge served as the headquarters of General George Washington from July 1775 to April 1776 during the Siege of Boston.

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Casimir Pulaski

Casimir Pulaski was a Polish nobleman who became a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

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Cato

In May 1778, Colonel William Bradford, Jr. wrote to his sister from Valley Forge:

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Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis (1738-1805)

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl Cornwallis, served as a general in the British Army during the American War for Independence. Cornwallis held commands in the colonies throughout the duration of the war and was frequently George Washington’s battlefield counterpart. He is best known for his surrender at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, which effectively ended hostilities and led to peace negotiations between Britain and America.

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Charles Lee

A former British Army officer, Charles Lee retired from that service shortly before he joined the American rebellion.

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Cincinnatus

"You have often heard him compared to Cincinnatus," the French traveller Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville wrote after visiting George Washington at Mount Vernon in 1788. "The comparison is doubtless just. The celebrated General is nothing more at present than a good farmer, constantly occupied in the care of his farm and the improvement of cultivation."1

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Committees of Correspondence

Committees of correspondence were longstanding institutions that became a key communications system during the early years of the American Revolution (1772-1776). Towns, counties, and colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia had their own committees of correspondence.

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Connecticut Raids

Connecticut was essential to supplying the war effort during the American Revolution because its coastline harbored privateers that captured almost 500 British ships and more importantly, vast stores of food, supplies, and ammunition.1 Additionally, it provided more troops to George Washington’s army than any other state except Massachusetts. Connecticut’s reputation as a key supporter of the Continental Army and harasser of British shipping earned the small state the praises of George Washington and the attention of the British who launched several destructive raids there in 1777, 1779, and 1781.2

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Continental Army

As Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington won the military struggle for American Independence. Remarkably, however, Washington's army won only three of the nine major battles that he oversaw and was often retreating.

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Conway Cabal

The Conway Cabal refers to a loosely organized attempt by a group of military officers and members of?

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Crossing of the Delaware

General George Washington's commitment to cross the Delaware River on Christmas 1776 foreshadowed the many hardships faced as well as the eventual victory of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

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Culper Spy Ring

The Culper Spy Ring was an American spy network operating during the War of American Independence that provided George Washington with information on British troop movements.

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David Bushnell

David Bushnell (1740–1826) was an inventor and a veteran of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. His most notable invention was “The Turtle,” a one-man submersible which became the first submarine to be used in active combat – albeit unsuccessfully – during the Revolutionary War.

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David Cobb New

A native of Massachusetts, David Cobb (1748-1830) served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington from the summer of 1781 till the end of the War for American Independence. Described by a contemporary as “an ingenious young gentleman,” Cobb was a physician before the conflict, but spent the great majority of his life as a developer and state official in the District of Maine.

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David Ramsay

David Ramsay is considered to be one of the first major historians of the American Revolution. His significant contributions to American literature include two volumes of History of the Revolution in South Carolina (1785), History of the American Revolution (1787), and The Life of George Washington (1807).

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Declaration of Independence

The Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776. Two days later on July 4, a declaration explaining the reasons for independence, largely written by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted. George Washington received official notification when a letter dated July 6 arrived from John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, along with a copy of the declaration.

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Diego María de Gardoqui y Arriquíbar (1735-1789)

Diego de Gardoqui, a shrewd businessman, was commissioned by King Carlos III of Spain to oversee Spain’s financial and material support of American colonies during the War for Independence.

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Disease in the Revolutionary War

In the first years of the Revolutionary War, George Washington and his Continental Army faced a threat that proved deadlier than the British: a smallpox epidemic, lasting from 1775-1782.

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Elizabeth Thompson

Elizabeth Thompson of New York served as George Washington's housekeeper at his various Revolutionary War headquarters from 1776 until 1781. For her devoted service to the former commander-in-chief, the Continental Congress awarded Thompson a lifetime pension in 1785.

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Elizabeth Willing Powel

Elizabeth Willing Powel, considered one of the premiere social figures of Colonial and Early Republic Philadelphia, played a vital role in American history as a close friend and confidant to both George and Martha Washington.

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Francis Fauquier

Writing from Fort Loudoun, Virginia, on June 17, 1758, Colonel George Washington honored Francis Fauquier with best wishes for a successful tenure as the new lieutenant governor of the Colony of Virginia.  Thomas Jefferson later deemed Fauquier "the ablest man" to have occupied this post.  Lauded and beloved, Fauquier’s justness in disputes and enthusiasm for education reflect the Enlightenment ideas he espoused.

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François-Jean de Chastellux

Major General François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, was a French officer in Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau's expeditionary force sent to North America during the War of Independence.  He served as one of the principle liaison officers between General George Washington of the Continental Army and Rochambeau. A member of the distinguished Académie française, Chastelux was a man of letters as well as a soldier. Chastellux kept a record of his travels while serving in North America, published in 1786 as Voyages…dans l’Amerique septentrionale dans les annees 1780, 1781, & 1782.

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George Hammond

George Hammond was an English diplomat who served as Britain’s first envoy to the United States from 1791 to 1795. Born in East Riding, County York, England, in 1763, Hammond received a liberal education as a fellow of Merton College in Oxford, England. His career in diplomacy began when he was sent to Paris as secretary to British diplomat David Hartley during negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Hammond was later chosen as the first minister plenipotentiary to the United States, where he would face the daunting task of addressing American grievances against Britain while simultaneously advancing his home country’s agenda. Hammond accomplished this task with a measure of difficulty during his four-year station in the United States.  

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George Johnston

George Johnston was the eldest son of Sarah (née McCarty) and George Johnston, Sr. The senior Johnston was a prominent attorney who had represented George Washington in legal matters, as well as serving together in the Virginia House of Burgesses.1 The younger Johnston received a good education, read law and, on March 12, 1770, established himself as an attorney in Loudoun County, Virginia.2 As the rift widened between Great Britain and her North American colonies, Johnston sided firmly with the rebellion. A loyalist observer once remarked of Johnston that “Independence seems to be his favorite Scheme…”3 He was appointed to the Loudoun County Committee of Correspondence on June 14, 1774,4 often serving as the body’s clerk.5 With the outbreak of armed conflict the following year, however, Johnston took up arms and was appointed a Captain in the 2nd Virginia Regiment on September 21, 1775.6 The unit spent the following year screening and skirmishing with crown military forces in the southern Tidewater region of Virginia and Johnston fought with his company at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775.7

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George Lewis

George Lewis was the fourth son of Fielding and Betty Lewis. During the Revolutionary War, he would be promoted to Captain.

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George Mason

Neighbor or Washington and the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Bill of Rights

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George Mercer

As a soldier, surveyor, and politician, George Mercer was a prominent Virginian in the mid-eighteenth century. He served under George Washington during the French and Indian War, participating in the Forbes Campaign of 1758. Following the war, he served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and then as an agent of the Ohio Company in London.

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George Washington's Marquee Tent

Throughout the course of George Washington’s military career, he owned a series of marquees – eighteenth century generals’ and field officers’ tents – which served jointly as his headquarters when no nearby stately homes were available, as well as dining and sleeping quarters. The long, oval-shaped tents were amongst the most essential and practical pieces of any general’s military equipage. Due to their heavy use and exposure to the elements, particularly throughout the eight-year-long American Revolutionary War, Washington wore through several sets. Today Washington’s surviving tents are the only existing military tents from the war. They serve as iconic symbols of the war and his military leadership.

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George Weedon

George Weedon kept an inn at Fredericksburg, Virginia, that was frequented by George Washington in the?

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Gouverneur Morris

Known as “the Penman of the Constitution,” the eccentric and outspoken Gouverneur Morris contributed in multiple ways to building the core foundation of American government.

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H.M.S. Savage

In the spring of 1781, seventeen enslaved people at Mount Vernon took advantage of the arrival of the British warship.

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Henry Knox

Henry Knox was a Revolutionary War general whose efforts to build a robust American militia were paramount to the colonies? victory against Britain, as well as the development of the early Republic?s armed forces.

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Henry Lee

Born near Dumfries, Virginia, Henry Lee, was the son of Lucy Grymes Lee, who was courted by George?

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Hessians

The term "Hessians" refers to the approximately 30,000 German troops hired by the British to help fight during the American Revolution.

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Horatio Gates

Born on July 26, 1727, in Maldon, England, Horatio Gates came to America at the age of twenty-two as?

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Hudson River Campaign - 1779

Sir Henry Clinton’s 1779 Hudson River Campaign was one of multiple attempts by the British to take possession of the Hudson Highlands. Although Clinton’s troops were initially victorious in raiding Continental Army fortifications and towns sympathetic to the rebels, these victories proved to be fleeting. In the end, the British general’s objective of crushing General George Washington’s forces went unaccomplished. 

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Hugh Mercer

In the summer of 1776, when British military operations shifted from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, George Washington dispatched Brigadier General Hugh Mercer to confer with the Governor of New Jersey.

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Isaac Hayne

A colonel in the Continental Army, Isaac Hayne was hanged on August 4, 1781, in Charleston, South Carolina, by British troops for espionage and treason. His public execution inspired fellow Americans to join General Nathanael Greene’s army. Hayne’s unjust death turned into his legacy and contributed to Greene’s successful campaign in South Carolina.

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Israel Putnam

Israel “Old Put” Putnam was born on January 7, 1718 to Puritan parents in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1740, Putnam moved to Pomfret, Connecticut for the promise of cheap land.1 He became a successful farmer by the time of the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1755.

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James McHenry

At the end of the American War for Independence, George Washington personally penned a letter of recommendation for a former member of his military staff, James McHenry.  In the letter, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army touted McHenry as “a man of Letters and Abilities, of great integrity, sobriety and prudence… of an amiable temper; very obliging, and of polished manners.”1  Born November 16, 1753 in County Antrim, Ireland, James McHenry was classically educated in Dublin before immigrating to Philadelphia in 1771.  After a term at the Newark Academy in Delaware, he returned to Philadelphia to study medicine with Dr. Benjamin Rush in the years leading up to the eruption of the Revolutionary War.2  

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John André

During the American Revolution, British Major John André joined with American General Benedict Arnold?

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John Armstrong Jr.

John Armstrong Jr. was an officer in the Continental Army and the anonymous author of the infamous Newburgh Address in March 1783. He survived the incident to have an active political career, serving as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as the U.S. ambassador to France, and as secretary of war during the War of 1812. 

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John Cadwalader

Colonel John Cadwalader led the Third Battalion of the Philadelphia militia during the American War for Independence. His command reinforced the Continental Army led by General George Washington during the winter of 1776-1777, and Cadwalader played a crucial role at the Battle of Princeton in January 1777.

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John Fitzgerald

Born in Ireland and described as “bred to trade,” John Fitzgerald immigrated to Virginia by 1773 and established himself in Alexandria as a merchant, gaining in that town the friendship of George Washington.1 Siding with the rebellious faction of northern Virginia, he was appointed an officer in the Fairfax County Independent Company in 1774.2 As tensions furthered with Great Britain, Fitzgerald was commissioned a Captain of the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army on February 9, 1776.3 In the summer of 1776, the battalion was ordered to join the main army in New York and arrived in time to counter the enemy at the Battle of Harlem Heights.4 The 3rd Regiment’s Major died from wounds received at the engagement and, as senior Captain, John Fitzgerald was promoted to that rank on October 3, 1776.5 Deeming John Fitzgerald to be “an Officer of unexceptionable merit,” George Washington appointed him an aide-de-camp when an opening on his staff arose a few weeks later.6 For the next two years, Lieutenant Colonel John Fitzgerald capably served in the Commander-in-Chief’s “military family” on the fields of battle at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown, and in non-battlefield conflict like the Conway Cabal incident.7 Wounded at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, Fitzgerald thereafter left the army, returning to Alexandria to marry and resume his commercial pursuits.8 However, his military accomplishments were not yet complete. When an enemy naval force arrived before Alexandria with intentions of burning the town in April of 1781, Fitzgerald “…made so good a display for the few men he could collect that the enemy were frightened and did not land, although they were five times the number of his men.”9

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John Hancock

As the son and grandson of ministers, John Hancock was destined for the ministry. His life took an abrupt?

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John Laurens

John (Jack) Laurens served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the American Revolution, becoming a devoted member of Washington's "military family".

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John Marshall

A towering figure in American legal history, John Marshall served as chief justice of the United States?

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Jonathan Boucher

Anglican minister Jonathan Boucher, one of the most prominent Loyalists in the South, was born in Cumberland?

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Joseph Brant

Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea (1743-1807) was a Mohawk warrior, tribal leader, and diplomat most notable for his alliance with the British during the American Revolution.

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Joseph Reed

Joseph Reed was one of George Washington’s aides-de-camp early in the American Revolutionary War and eventually held the ranks of colonel and adjutant-general.

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Letter to the Camp Committee

George Washington passed through many trials during the long winter at Valley Forge. He watched his?

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Lewis Nicola

An Irish-born author, merchant, and military officer who served in a variety of military and civilian?

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Loyalists

The Revolutionary War was also in many ways a civil war. Approximately one-fifth of Americans supported?

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Major William Jackson New

William Jackson (1759-1828) was a military officer during the War for American Independence, known for being an aide-de-camp and later secretary to George Washington. He was also the secretary to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

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Marquis de Lafayette

Visitors to Mount Vernon might be surprised to see the key to the Bastille, the notorious French prison?

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Martha Washington and the American Revolution

Martha Washington joined George Washington at his winter encampment and stayed with him for months at a time every year during the Revolutionary War.

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Meschianza

On May 18, 1778, British officers in occupied Philadelphia threw an extravagant farewell party to honor the commanders of the Army and Navy, General Sir William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe.

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Morristown, NJ

Morristown, New Jersey was the location where General George Washington established two winter encampments during the Revolutionary War.

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Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene was a Major General in the Continental Army, an ardent admirer of George Washington.

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New Windsor Cantonment

The American victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 marked the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War in North America. Until victory was declared, however, General George Washington remained steadfast in maintaining the Continental Army’s position. He divided his army by sending part of it south, under Major General Arthur St. Clair, and the rest north to Pompton, New Jersey, and New Windsor, New York. About 7,500 of Washington’s troops were stationed in New Windsor. Washington kept his headquarters a few miles away in Newburgh, New York, from 1782 to 1783, making Newburgh-New Windsor area the last winter cantonment (military quarters) of the main Continental Army.

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New York Campaign

In the summer of 1776, shortly after America declared its independence from Great Britain, the New York Campaign took place primarily on Long Island, Manhattan Island and in Westchester County, New York.  Because of New York City’s strategic location and status as an important port, the military campaign for New York had been in the minds of both the British and the Americans even prior to the Siege of Boston. The main fighting started in August 1776 and continued to November 1776, involving a series of American defeats.  The New York Campaign was the lowest point in George Washington’s military career during the American War of Independence.

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New York Committee and Council of Safety

To aid the war effort and fill the void of civil government left when British colonial institutions collapsed, the Continental Congress recommended each colony establish a committee of safety to execute resolutions – especially when the legislature adjourned.1 Smaller than the cumbersomely large Provincial Congress, the New York Committee of Safety could act more efficiently. Occupying a somewhat vague position within both the civil government and military hierarchy, the short-term Committee worked with General George Washington to preserve order amidst the ongoing struggle. Commencing July 11, 1775, the Committee received ambiguous orders and tentatively assumed it responsibilities: responding to government letters, executing resolutions, obliging Continental Army officials “as far as…[the Committee] shall think proper,” directing the military when in New York, and administering finances.2 In fact, as civil bulwarks, the Committee and later the Council of Safety (the slight nomenclature alteration came after independence) even operated until early 1778 – well after New York ratified a constitution. These bodies helped stabilize the state until the formal government initiated. Originally conceived as executive bodies, the Committee and Council eventually received all the Convention’s powers.

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New York Provincial Congress

On June 26, 1775, George Washington met with leaders from the New York Provincial Congress while passing?

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Newburgh Address

On March 10, 1783, General George Washington learned that his officers planned to meet on the following?

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Newburgh Conspiracy

The Newburgh Conspiracy was a plan by Continental Army officers to challenge the authority of the Confederation.

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Oneida

The Oneida are one of the Six Nations Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), and the only one that openly declared its support for the American Revolution.

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Patrick Henry

Founding framer and gifted political orator, Patrick Henry was one of the bright lights of the United?

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Quebec Campaign

The ill-fated American invasion of Quebec from August 1775 to July 1776 began for two primary reasons. First, after over a century of imperial warfare with Catholic France, many British Protestant colonists along the Atlantic seaboard viewed Quebec as a threat to both the physical and cultural security of their colonies, a threat that would obviously be negated by Quebec’s union with the lower thirteen colonies.1 Second, Quebec fit into a newly burgeoning sense of American national identity that was predicated upon a sense of commonality among the many and varied residents of North America.2 Because of that supposed commonality, many Congressional leaders believed Quebec deserved a place in the new American union.

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Resignation of Military Commission

On December 23, 1783, then commander in chief of the Continental Army, George Washington, addressed the Continental Congress in Annapolis in order to resign his military commission. The resignation not only signified the end of Washington’s tenure as commander in chief, a position to which he was appointed to on May 9, 1775, but also Washington’s desire to return to his Mount Vernon estate as a private citizen. Americans ever since have viewed this event as a testament to Washington’s republican values, as he willingly surrendered power of the army back to the governmental body that first appointed him.

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Richard Kidder Meade

Richard Kidder Meade was born July 14, 1746 into the respectable family of David and Susannah Meade of Nansemond County, Virginia.  As a youth, Richard Kidder Meade received a classical education in London, England, first at James Graham’s school and then at Fuller’s Academy.  In 1767, he married and embarked upon the life of a farmer in Prince George County, Virginia.  However, this was not to be.  By the end of 1771, all three of his children had tragically passed away and his wife died in January of 1774. 

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Richard Varick

Fifty-four years after the occurrence, Richard Varick recalled his first glimpse of General George Washington in 1775, while “standing as a Sentinel at the Door of his Quarters at the City Tavern when on his way to Cambridge”. By the end of the War for American Independence, the two men would benefit from the other; Varick, by Washington’s validation of his crucial reputation as a gentleman, and Washington, by Varick’s stewardship of his documentary legacy.

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Robert Hanson Harrison

Hailing from Charles County, Maryland, Robert Hanson Harrison established himself as an attorney-at-law in Fairfax County, Virginia, by 1769.   In this capacity, he came to the notice of George Washington and represented Washington on several legal matters in the years leading up to the War for Independence.  Harrison sided firmly with the rebels by actively participating in patriotic associations, from supporting the Virginia Nonimportation Resolves in 1770 to serving as the clerk for the Fairfax County Resolves in 1774.  Most significant of his undertakings, perhaps was his position as a military officer of the Fairfax Independent Company. 

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Rochambeau

By the autumn of 1794, most of the prisoners in the Conciergerie, a Parisian jail that housed enemies?

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Samuel Blachley Webb

Samuel Blachley Webb was named an aide-de-camp in General Orders for June 21, 1776.

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Samuel Fraunces

Business owner, dedicated patriot, well-known chef, presidential steward; during the late eighteenth?

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Siege of Boston

On the evening of March 4, 1776, Washington directed his men to take the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga up Dorchester Heights south of the city. Washington also ordered his troops in Cambridge to fire on the redcoats.

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Siege of Charleston - 1776

The 1776 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, was a short but important military episode in the early years of the American Revolution. A small American Patriot force defending Charleston under the overall command of Major General Charles Lee successfully repelled a combined British assault force of 2,900 soldiers and seamen under Major General Sir Henry Clinton and Commodore Peter Parker on June 28, 1776.  American use of a fortification on Sullivan’s Island played a critical role in the victory, as the fort dominated the narrow channel into Charleston Harbor and prevented any British ships from entering.  The Patriots’ victory helped increase support for independence among South Carolina’s population and the British did not return to the Southern Colonies in force for nearly three years.

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Siege of Charleston - 1780

The 1780 siege of Charleston was a decisive success for the British during the War of the American Revolution as they shifted their strategy to focus on the southern theater. Capture of the city and its harbor gave them a vital base from which to conduct operations in their attempt to rally the support of American Loyalists and reconquer the southern states. Conversely, the loss of Charleston was a painful blow to the American cause, made even worse by the capture of over 2,500 Continentals and numerous vital weapons and supplies.

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Siege of Savannah

The Siege of Savannah (September 23 to October 18, 1779) refers to the failed attempt by American and French forces to retake the port city from its British occupiers. It was one of the costliest battles of the Revolutionary War in terms of casualties.

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Sir Guy Carleton

Guy Carleton, First Baron of Dorchester, was the Governor of Quebec from 1768 to 1778, and Commander-in-Chief of British forces from 1782 to the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

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Sir Henry Clinton

The only son of a British Admiral, Sir Henry Clinton was raised in pre-revolutionary America.

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Society of the Cincinnati

The Society of the Cincinnati was a fraternal and charitable association of Continental Army officers?

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Southern Strategy

The Southern Strategy was a plan implemented by the British during the Revolutionary War to win the conflict by concentrating their forces in the southern states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Although the British proposed plans for a southern campaign as early as 1775, the strategy did not come to full fruition until France became America’s ally following the latter’s decisive win at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. France’s subsequent entry into the war in February 1778 forced the British to reevaluate the war in America, which had become a military quagmire. British Secretary of State for the American Department, Lord George Germain, soon responded by turning to the Southern Strategy. The strategy depended upon the assumption that many southerners remained loyal to the British. American loyalist support never matched Germain’s expectations, however, and by 1781 the Southern Strategy failed to prevent British defeat in the war.

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Tench Tilghman

Of the thirty-two officers who assisted George Washington as aides-de-camp during the course of the War for American Independence, Tench Tilghman proved to be the Commander-in-Chief’s most loyal aide, serving with him from August 1776 to November 1783, far longer than any other.  After working closely with General Washington for only a few months in 1776, Tilghman would prophetically observe, “…indeed the Weight of the whole War may justly be said to lay upon his Shoulders…”    

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The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774

The Coercive Acts of 1774, known as the Intolerable Acts in the American colonies, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party.

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The Marquis de Lafayette at Valley Forge

The Marquis de Lafayette, who joined the Continental Army at age nineteen in the summer of 1777 as a?

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Thomas Gage

In 1755, while struggling to save British forces during the French and Indian War, George Washington?

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Thomas Mifflin

Thomas Mifflin was a distinguished merchant and politician from Pennsylvania who also served as a delegate?

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Thomas Paine

One of the most influential writers during the American Revolution, Thomas Paine also helped shape the?

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Treaty of Aranjuez (1779)

The Treaty of Aranjuez was a mutual military alliance treaty between France and Spain, officially signed on April 12, 1779.

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Trinity Church

Trinity Church of New York was an important site during the American Revolution and the founding era?

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Valley Forge

Washington and the Continental army faced a true test of endurance at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778.

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Wilhelm von Knyphausen

Wilhelm von Knyphausen, German landgrave and General Lieutenant, was a commander of German auxiliary troops during the American Revolutionary War. The British hired these troops, collectively known as Hessians because they predominantly came from the German state of Hesse-Cassel, as mercenaries. Knyphausen was notable for his role in the capture of Fort Washington (renamed Fort Knyphausen), and for his brief command of New York City during the British commanding general, Henry Clinton's, absence.

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William Alexander, Lord Stirling

William Alexander, Lord Sterling was one of George Washington's most loyal military subordinates during?

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William Livingston

Noted lawyer, essayist, and political polemicist from New York, William Livingston was also elected the?

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William Moultrie

William Moultrie was a planter, legislator, and South Carolina’s highest-rankling Continental officer, finishing the Revolutionary War with the rank of major general. After the war he served as the president of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina from 1784 until his death, and also served as governor of South Carolina from 1785–87 and 1792–94.

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William Palfrey

William Palfrey was known for his work in mercantile and trade. He was also appointed an aide-de-camp to Major General Charles Lee during the Revolutionary War.

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William Stephens Smith (1755-1816)

From the Battle of Long Island in 1776 until the withdrawal of British military forces from his native New York City in 1783, William Stephens Smith proved himself an exceptional military officer during the War for American Independence.

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William Washington

A distant cousin to George Washington, William Washington was a celebrated officer of the Continental?

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Yorktown Campaign

The victory at Yorktown ended the major combat during the Revolutionary War and led to American independence.

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