Download 7.3 The path to victory

7.3
THE PATH TO
VICTORY
Savannah and Charles Town
•British believed that
most Southerners were
Loyalists
•December 1778, the
British captured the port
of Savannah, Georgia
•They trapped American
forces in Charles Town
•The city’s 5000
defenders surrendered
•Worst American defeat
of the war
Defeat at Camden
•Congress assigned
General Horatio Gatesthe victor at Saratogato form a new
Southern army
•August 18, 1779 Gates’
army ran into British
troops outside Camden
•Gates put the
inexperienced militia
along part of the
frontline instead of
behind the veterans
The Swamp Fox and Guerrilla
Fighting
•Francis Marion, also
known as “Swamp
Fox”
•Fighting from a base in
the swamps, Marion’s
men cut the British
supply line that led
inland and north from
Charles Town
•Marion used methods
guerrilla fighting.
The Tide Turns
•After Gates' defeat at
Camden, Washington put a
new general, Nathanael
Greene, in charge of the
Southern Army
•The American forces let the
British chase them around
the countryside and wear
themselves out
•As the fighting dragged
on into its sixth year,
opposition to the war
grew in Britain
The End of the War
• In 1781, the British general
Cornwallis set up his base at
Yorktown
• In August 1781, a large
French fleet arrived from the
West Indies and blocked
Chesapeake Bay
• Prevented the British from
receiving supplies and from
escaping
• Also allowed Washington to
come from the North and trap
Cornwallis on the peninsula
Battle of Yorktown
•American and French
troops bombarded
Yorktown with cannon fire
•Cornwallis had no way out
•On October 19th, 1781, he
surrendered his force of
about 8000
•Although some fighting
continued, Yorktown was
the last major battle of
the war
7.4
THE LEGACY OF THE
WAR
Why the Americans Won
• Better Leadership
• British-overconfident, poor
decisions
• Foreign Aid
• Britain’s rivals helped
America (France)
• Knowledge of the Land
• Americans knew the land
and used that knowledge
well
• Motivation
• Lives, property and liberty
were at stake.
Treaty of Paris of 1783
• The United States was
independent
• Its boundaries- Mississippi River
on the west, Canada on the
north, and Spanish Florida on
the south
• Each side would repay debts it
owed to others
• The British would return
captives.
• Congress would recommend
that the states return any
property they had seized from
loyalists
Costs of the War
• Americans
• 25,700 died
• 1,400 remained missing
• 8,200 wounded
• British- about 10,000
military deaths
• Between 60,000 and
100,000 Loyalists left the
United States
Issues After the War
•A change in ideas
about government
•Republicanism- this
idea stated that
instead of a king, the
people would rule
•Conflict between
slavery and the ideal
of liberty