Turning Points on the Road to Independence

Several Paths to Victory

The American Revolution did not turn on one battle alone. People in the thirteen colonies disagreed about independence, and the Continental Army often lacked food, clothing and pay. Over several years, military leaders, writers, soldiers and diplomats made choices that changed the struggle.

In 1774, delegates met in the First Continental Congress to discuss how the colonies should respond to British policies. In 1775, fighting began at Lexington and Concord. That June, the Battle of Bunker Hill ended with a British victory, but British troops suffered heavy losses. The battle showed that colonial soldiers could stand against trained British forces, even though the colonies still needed a stronger army.

In 1776, Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense argued in plain language that the colonies should become independent. The Declaration of Independence then announced the colonies' reasons for separating from Great Britain. Later that year, George Washington led a surprise attack at Trenton after crossing the Delaware River. The victory helped restore confidence in the Continental Army during a difficult winter.

The army still needed training and supplies. At Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–1778, soldiers endured shortages while Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a military officer from Prussia, helped train them in drills and discipline. In 1778, France openly allied with the United States. French money, weapons, soldiers and naval power added resources that Britain had to face.

Fighting continued in the South, where British forces captured Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780. In January 1781, Daniel Morgan's forces defeated British troops at Cowpens. Nathanael Greene then used movement and careful planning in the Southern Campaign. After the fighting at Guilford Courthouse in March, British General Charles Cornwallis moved toward Virginia. In October 1781, American and French forces surrounded Cornwallis's army at Yorktown while French ships blocked help by sea. Cornwallis surrendered. The war did not legally end until the Treaty of Paris in 1783 recognized the United States as independent.