II. Just Surviving… 1778-1780

A. Winter @ Valley Forge, PA 77-78 (Washington’s men)

1. No summer clothing.

2. No decent shoes. 3. Hunger, Frostbite, Dysentery.

4. Harsh training.

a. Baron von Steuben: Prussia/Germany

Valley Forge, Winter 1777-78

Drilled the militia men in the European ways of war.

b. Thaddeus Kosciusko & Casimir Pulaski: Poland

Valley Forge, Winter 1777-78

Showed militia how to build better forts and how to ride like Euro Cavalry.

c. Marquis de Lafayette: France

Valley Forge, Winter 1777-78

Brought some French troops along, and said “The French Navy will be here soon!”

B. One Sea Battle: 1779

1. USS Bonhomme Richard: John Paul Jones (USA)

2. HMS Serapis: (Brit)

The Richard vs. The Serapis, 1779

3. Several holes shot in side of the Richard.

4. Brits ask Jones to surrender.

5. Jones-- “I have not yet begun to fight.”

The Richard vs. The Serapis, 1779

6. Jones’ men boarded the Serapis--hand to hand combat…and won.

C. Fort Vincennes: Illinois Winter 1778

1. George Rogers Clark: after taking Cahokia, he surrounded the fort with a few men.

3. British give up the fort. They thought they were outnumbered.

Fort Vincennes, 1778

D. War in the South1. Francis Marion

a. Charles Town, SCb. F & I War veteranc. Guerilla Ward. The “Swamp Fox”

Benjamin Martin

Charles Town

F & I War veteran

Guerilla War

The “Ghost”

2. Guilford Courthouse, NC

War in the South

a. General Nathanial Green (USA) vs. Cornwallis

1780

b. Only fought Brits where he could win…along creeks where his men could get into little boats.

War in the South

a. Cornwallis’ men worn out, retreated to Yorktown, VA.

III. We Win!

A. Yorktown, VA 1781

1. Cornwallis asks Gen. Clinton to send his army & help.

2. It doesn’t make it in time.

a. Washington: sneaks south and traps Cornwallis on a peninsula.

Yorktown, 1781

b. Admiral DeGrasse (French) blockades any sea escape.

c. 8-month seige. Yorktown, 1781

d. Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 men--Oct 19, 1781.

B. Treaty of Paris 1783

1. Ben Franklin, John Adams, John Jay from USA.

2. USA is an independent nation!

3. From Atlantic to Mississippi, Can to FLA.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

4. USA 26,000 dead.

5. Brits 10,000 dead.