Chronology of Important Events Related to This Volume
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1778
February 6–May 4. France recognizes the independence of the United States and enters into the Treaty of Commerce and Alliance.
February 17–November 27. Lord North’s Conciliatory Acts and the Earl of Carlisle’s Peace Commission fail to gain support from the Americans.
March 7–May 8. General Sir Henry Clinton relieves General William Howe as commander in chief of British forces in America.
June 17. France formally declares war on Britain.
December 29. American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders his entire army to British General Sir Henry Clinton at Savannah, Georgia, and the British establish a base in the deep South.
1779
May 10. Benedict Arnold begins treasonous negotiations with John André; Arnold’s wife, Peggy, is his accomplice.
June 27. Spain declares war on England.
1780
December 23, 1779–January 26, 1780. Benedict Arnold’s court-martial results in conviction on two of four counts of wrongful abuse of his authority as military governor of Philadelphia. He continues his treasonous negotiations with the British.
February 11–May 12. British General Sir Henry Clinton defeats American General Benjamin Lincoln and occupies Charleston, South Carolina.
March 23. French Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse sails from France with a fleet to assist the Americans, arriving in Martinique in the West Indies in late May.
April 28. French General Lafayette returns from France with promises from King Louis XVI to assist America with soldiers, warships, and money.
May 23–31. French Lieutenant-General Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur Rochambeau arrives at Rhode Island to establish his permanent camp with 5,500 French infantry to assist the Americans.
July 10–September 26. Benedict Arnold completes his plan for delivery of Fort West Point to the British through Major John André.
August 16. American General Horatio Gates, the reputed hero of the pivotal battle of Saratoga, engages British General Charles Cornwallis near Camden, South Carolina, and is defeated; he loses his entire army and flees 210 miles to Hillsboro, North Carolina, a coward.
October 2. British Major John André, having been captured in the act of completing the treason with Benedict Arnold, is hanged.
October 10. Americans engage British troops at King’s Mountain, South Carolina, and defeat them decisively. The battle signals the end of the power of the British in the South.
1781
January 17. American General Dan Morgan engages British Colonel Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens, South Carolina, and, through a brilliant military stratagem, soundly defeats the infamous Tarleton, destroying nearly his entire regiment.
March 1. The Articles of Confederation are ratified.
March 15. Americans under command of General Nathanael Greene engage British soldiers at Guilford Courthouse, where the Americans are defeated; however, the British losses are high, and the British are seriously crippled in their southern campaign.
September 5–8. French ships sent by King Louis XVI under command of Admiral de Grasse to aid the Americans, engage and defeat the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay. With the loss of the British navy for support, General Cornwallis, with his entire army at Yorktown, is landlocked and subject to attack by the Americans under General Washington and French General Rochambeau.
September 28–October 19. General Sir Charles Cornwallis is placed under siege by American and French forces, who pound him with cannon for weeks. October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrenders his entire army to save his soldiers. The surrender essentially concludes the fighting in the Revolutionary War.