How America Started a Revolution Against England

You’ve heard the stories of valor and heroism, but how did America really claim its independence? The truth is a mix of asymmetrical warfare, espionage, foreign alliances, and ingenious statecraft—showing that the United States is just as formidable as a plucky underdog as it is today as a major global military power. Join us as we recall one of the world’s most influential revolutions—America’s First War.

By the 1700s, the British Empire, in accordance with its expansionist ambitions in the New World, had established thirteen colonial territories along the east coast of North America. These thirteen would go on to become the original states bound together by the Declaration of Independence—an act of defiance towards King George III of England. The path towards signing this momentous document began with the often-repeated slogan “No taxation without representation.” This phrase referenced the unjust implementation of several policies that disenfranchised the colonial citizens. Chief among these was the Stamp Act of 1765, which mandated that the colonists pay taxes in British pounds despite conducting most of their business dealings through a paper currency unique to the colonial territories.

The economic strain of the Stamp Act was especially egregious because there were no seats reserved for colonial government leaders in the British Parliament—hence the lack of representation called out by the slogan. In response to this harsh tax policy and the further insult of being taxed for surplus tea that British citizens in the mother country weren’t taxed for, a resistance faction known as the Sons of Liberty dumped several crates of tea into Boston Harbor in a protest famously remembered as the Boston Tea Party.

But despite this historic display of solidarity, Parliament refused to back down from exerting control over the colonists—doubling its efforts in 1774 through the passing of four laws, known as the Intolerable Acts. Under these acts, colonists were restricted in their ability to hold town meetings, forced to shut down the port of Boston, and compelled to house any British soldier who requested room and board within a given colonist’s private property, with no recourse for trial for crimes committed within the colonies.

The total effect of these Intolerable Acts was beyond the pale for the colonists, and in April 1775, the simmering conflict ignited into full-scale warfare on the fields of Massachusetts. In the battle of Lexington and Concord, the “shot heard round the world” was fired—though historians cannot agree which side was actually the first to pull the trigger. What is known is that the British forces sent to seize the guns and munitions of the colonists found themselves outnumbered considerably.

Perhaps because of the sheer legal stranglehold over the people of the colonies, the King’s troops and loyalists were unprepared to face an organized force with impressive numbers. The disadvantage of being so far from Europe meant that calling in reinforcements would be nearly impossible for the British. Additionally, the British had underestimated the intelligence network of the rebelling colonists—who had been warned well in advance of the soldiers’ approach by intrepid messengers on horseback. Paul Revere, in particular, is celebrated as a folk hero for his role in preparing his fellow Massachusetts citizens for battle, and many modern place names in the region reflect his legacy.

The backbone of the revolutionary troops that came together at Lexington and Concord were elite soldiers called the minutemen—so named for their ability to assemble and march to the location of battle with only a minute’s notice. Though each town involved in the colonial resistance boasted a robust militia for wartime defense, it was the mobility and flexible training of the minutemen that allowed them to be the vanguard of the anti-British forces. Additionally, the Battle of Lexington and Concord wasn’t the first time minutemen were instrumental in protecting colonial interests.

Survival in the New World required resourcefulness and diligent training, especially when competing with the colonial ambitions of other European countries such as France. Wary of French imperialism, local riots, and the constant ambushes of the indigenous First Nations people, the minutemen were trained to go to war through the harshest conditions if necessary. Another historical name for these troops was Snowshoemen because the call to action usually meant being equipped to brave the cold climate in order to reach the battle destination.

In the words of David Hackett Fischer, an honored professor of history at Brandeis University: “The muster of the Minutemen in 1775 was the product of many years of institutional development…it was also the result of careful planning and collective effort.” The unambiguous victory of Lexington and Concord raised the morale of the revolutionaries and made the possibility of driving the British from the colonies seem like a tangible goal. But early impressions aren’t always what they seem, and the colonists had only taken the first steps up the enormous hill towards true independence.

King George and Parliament learned from that shocking battle that appealing to lawful authority alone would not quell the growing fervor of revolution in the colonies. If the crown wished to regain control, it would need to crush the rising opposition through decisive action. As the British sent more ships, the militias and minutemen of the colonial camp were gathered under a new banner pioneered by the Founding Fathers and their supporters. The Continental Army was formed and laid siege to Boston, ultimately taking the harbor city back within a month of the grueling first battle. British forces retreated to other bases along the coast and within Canada, and the number of loyalist troops rose to meet the demands of suppressing the patriots.

General Thomas Gage, the man whom the King had originally tasked with governing the colonies, served as commander-in-chief for the British side. As if compensating for his defeat in Lexington and Concord, Gage led a bloody battle of attrition at Bunker Hill. Though the common idiom of “a hill one is willing to die on” was not coined as a result of the brutality at Bunker Hill, it could be evenly applied to both the Patriot and Loyalist sides of the conflict.

The Continental Army didn’t want to lose any of the territory they had gained during the Siege of Boston, while the British could scarcely suffer another loss against the rebellious colonists who needed to be reminded of their place. Before the battle began in earnest, the booms of cannon fire from offshore British warships forced the patriots under Colonel William Prescott to dig deeper into the redoubts in anticipation of the assault to come. Though the position was fortified, the Continental Army wouldn’t have any chance of restocking their supplies once the fighting started. This meant that Prescott’s chances of holding the hill were exactly as limited as his troops’ ammunition stores.

To quote a popular modern musical, the revolutionaries were “outgunned and outmanned.” But this fact alone was not the guarantee that the British were hoping for, and the number of redcoats that marched to their deaths at Bunker Hill would prove to be a significant detriment in the battles to come. During the first two waves of the British offensive, the Americans used clever ingenuity to make the most of their dwindling bullets. Folklore states that an order was given not to fire on the British until the whites of their eyes were visible. At point-blank range, the Continental Army tore through the attacking infantry with a staccato of precisely timed musket blasts, risking ground to gain formidable accuracy. It was a bold strategy, but by the third wave of the battle, it did not pay off. Bunker Hill was retaken by the British, and the Patriots were on the back foot.

It was around this time when American forces found a hero to rally behind—a man whose legacy is nearly synonymous with the fight for independence itself and whose face adorns the one-dollar bill. The future first president of the United States, General George Washington, took command of the Continental Army and helped to redefine their tactics in the face of the Empire. Washington’s renowned crossing of the Delaware River during the Battle of Trenton in 1776 allowed his troops to overwhelm a force of 1,500 German mercenaries that the British had hired to help suppress the revolution. The battle was incredibly one-sided, owing to the complete state of disarray that the hired Germans were found in. Most of the British-aligned soldiers who survived were captured, and their leader, Colonel Johann Rall, was mortally wounded—giving his formal surrender to George Washington in what was practically his dying breath.

The Battle of Trenton was won, and Washington’s reputation as a war hero and brilliant leader was all but secured. For the first time since Bunker Hill, there was hope for the American side. But hope alone would not dislodge the geopolitical interests of the mightiest monarchy on the planet. The best lesson that the Continental Army could take from the victory at Trenton was that unconventional and, by the standards of the time, “cowardly” maneuvers were the way to keep the momentum of the war on their side.

The creation of covert spy networks such as the Culper Ring and Mersereau Ring was overseen by George Washington, and a great deal of information about the British troop movements became available to the patriot cause. Privateers—otherwise known as legal pirates—were dispatched on orders of the Continental Congress and served as a makeshift navy in a branch of warfare where the patriots were otherwise lacking. Additionally, the Continental Army gained unlikely allies in the indigenous Oneida and Tuscarora peoples—who chose to defect from the Pro-British Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy.

In particular, a Oneida woman named Polly Cooper was able to befriend George Washington and his wife, Martha Washington, by bringing bushels of white corn to the starving patriot troops in the winter, teaching the non-native soldiers how to properly cook and eat the produce in the process. For her service as a medic and volunteer quartermaster for the war effort, Polly Cooper was memorialized in the modern age with a bronze statue in 2004 and through the preservation of a shawl, which Martha Washington gifted Polly after she turned down monetary compensation for her actions.

Of course, America’s most pivotal ally—France—wouldn’t officially provide support until after the momentous Battle of Saratoga, which was won partially through the innovative craft of a little-known European immigrant. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, an engineering graduate of the Royal Military Academy of Warsaw, had a genius knack for assembling defensive fortifications in the field. His handiwork strengthened the patriot position at the forested Bemis Heights, giving the continental soldiers a vantage point from which they could oversee the road along the Hudson River.

No mere hired gun, Kosciuszko was a close personal friend of Thomas Jefferson, having been inspired to meet with the revolutionary statesman after reading the Declaration of Independence. The spirit of political action would go on to define the remainder of Kosciuszko’s life as he would lead troops from his own country against the foreign powers of Russia and Prussia that sought to keep Poland’s land for themselves. He was also granted citizenship and the title of brigadier general in the American army after the war.

Outside of Kosciuszko’s battlefield constructions, the British troops commanded by General John Burgoyne were hounded by hit-and-run ambushes all the way to Saratoga. Washington made sure to cut off supply lines and especially to ward off any other detachments that could bolster the men in Burgoyne’s command. In the rural countryside of New York, patriot frontiersmen used their hatchets to fell trees across major roads, keeping the enemy guessing as to which path would offer easy passage.

Like some of the most famous battles in history, the Battle of Saratoga was over before it began. The weary and heavily trimmed-down force that Burgoyne had managed to drag to the site was no match for the fully stocked and energized regiment under General Horatio Gates. Surrounded and handily beaten, General Burgoyne surrendered to the Continental Forces. With the royal army having suffered their most crushing defeat yet, Britain’s rivals in Europe took notice of the vulnerability and saw a chance to gain a loyal ally within the new paradigm that would emerge post-war. France specifically signed a treaty of alliance with the United States in 1778, making them the first European country to officially endorse the colonies’ right to form a legitimate state. Troops, weapons, rations, and the supreme naval dominance of the French navy were now at the disposal of the American cause.

British warships that once made retaking the coastal cities seem like a fool’s errand for the patriots were now facing a blockade of French fleets that made the waters of the Atlantic Ocean into contested territory. Recognizing that New York and Boston could not be held, the British and their loyalist allies moved on to the exposed southern colonies. It was on this front that the use of guerrilla warfare was most needed for the American cause.

General Nathaniel Greene would scatter his troops across vast swathes of the wilderness, baiting the British away from the comfort of their bases and into predetermined sites where sneak attacks from small strike teams could prove most devastating. The later years of the Revolutionary War were defined by what historians have deemed mixed warfare. Gone were the days of gentlemanly conduct and agreed-upon battlegrounds, replaced with disinformation and opportune skirmishes designed to make the Continental Army seem to have an infinite supply of new and ready troops.

Slowly, the tide began to turn back in the United States’ favor, as while General Greene did retreat from the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a quarter of the British regulars under Charles Cornwallis were killed in the process of seizing that win. Charles James Fox, a contemporary member of the Whig party, had the following to say on his homeland’s performance at Guilford Courthouse: “Another such victory would ruin the British Army.” The southern campaign was hard-fought by both sides, but when it came to the tactics involved, the Continental Army was able to surprise their better-trained and more numerous foes repeatedly across many battles. Cornwallis suffered the tactical equivalent of a death of a thousand cuts, which came to a head at the Battle of Yorktown.

A combined force of French and American troops marched into the city, with George Washington leading the way. With the help of the French, there was no chance for the tired and hungry British land forces to receive naval support. The surrender of Cornwallis forced Great Britain to concede to the newly established authority of the United States. While the British occupied a few of their remaining forts until the War of 1812, the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 brought a clean end to America’s first war—a revolution that succeeded in spades and led to the creation of another global empire.

Now check out “What the US Would Be Like if America Lost the Revolution.” Or watch this video instead!