Flashcard for Chapter 6 Terms and Definitions

a rebel militia in western Carolina who claimed victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780.

"over the mountain men"

He bloodied loyalist forces throughout the central part of South Carolina.

"the Gamecock" Thomas Sumter

The wives of poor men who joined the army were often left with no means to support their families. Thousands of such women—1 for every 15 soldiers—drifted after the troops. In return for half-rations, they cooked and washed for the soldiers; and after battles, they nursed the wounded, buried the dead, and scavenged the field for clothing and equipment. An even larger number of women accompanied the redcoats. The services that they performed were indispensable, and women followed the troops throughout the war.

"the Women of the Army"

William Howe's brother, the head of naval operations in America, also stopped short of pressing the British advantage, owing to his personal desire for reconciliation.

Admiral Lord Richard Howe

A penniless Prussian soldier of fortune. He remedied the lack of discipline and training of the Continental Army. He barked orders and spewed curses in German and French, the baron drilled the rebel regiments to march in formation and to handle their bayonets like proper Prussian soldiers. By the summer of 1778 morale had rebounded.

Baron Von Steuben

(11 Sep. 1777) A battle fought during the American Revolution, taking its name from the Brandywine Creek near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. British forces under William Howe defeated George Washington's troops, who were attempting to defend Pennsylvania.

Battle of Brandywine

On June 17, the British launched three assaults on the hills, gaining control only after the rebels ran out of ammunition. British losses were very high—over two hundred were killed and eight hundred wounded—and, despite his victory, General Gage was unable to break the colonial forces' siege of the city. The Battle really took place on Breed's Hill.

Battle of Bunker Hill

(1780) A battle of the American Revolution, fought in South Carolina. After the British capture of Charleston, Camden was the first major battle of the Southern campaign. Americans under Horatio Gates were defeated by British Troops under Lord Cornwallis.

Battle of Camden

(1781) During the American Revolution, an engagement in South Carolina in which a small American army under Daniel Morgan (1736-1802) defeated a British force under Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833).

Battle of Cowpens

(Oct. 1777) A battle fought during the American Revolution, taking place after the Battle of Brandywine. British forces under William Howe defeated George Washington for a second time. Washington was trying to defend Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was unable to prevent the British occupation of Philadelphia.

Battle of Germantown

Battle that took place after the Battle of Trenton, on Jan. 3, 1777, the Continentals defeated British troops on the outskirts of Princeton, New Jersey.

Battle of Princeton

(Oct. 1777) One of the most important engagements of the American Revolution. Actually fought near modern Schuylerville, New York, the battle brought the defeat of a large British army under John Burgoyne by American continental troops and militia under Horatio Gates. The outcome ended British plans to cut New England off from the rest of the states, and encouraged French intervention on the American side.

Battle of Saratoga

George Washington, on a snowy Christmas night, lead the Continental Army across the Delaware River, picked their way over roads iced with sleet and finally slid into Hessian-held Trenton at eight in the morning on December 26, 1776. 1,000 German soldiers, still recovering from their spirited Christmas celebration and caught completely by surprise, quickly surrendered.

Battle of Trenton

(30 Aug-19 Oct 1781): The final campaign of the American Revolution, in which the British Army under General Cornwallis was trapped at Yorktown in Virginia, by troops under George Washington and a French fleet under Admiral de Grasse (1722-1788). The Defeat destroyed the political will on the English side to continue the war. It brought the fall of Lord North, Prime Minister since 1770, and opened the way for peace negotiations.

Battle of Yorktown

(1741-1801): US general and turncoat. In the American Revolution he joined the colonial forces, and for his gallantry at the siege of Quebec (1775) was made a brigadier-general. He also fought with distinction at the Battles of Ridgefield and Saratoga, and in 1778 was placed in command of Philadelphia. His resentment at being passed over for promotion, followed by his marriage to a woman of loyalist sympathies, led him to conspire with John Andre to deliver West Point to the British. When the plan was detected and Andre was captured, Arnold fled behind British lines, and was given a command in the royal army. After the war he lived in obscurity in London, where he died.

Benedict Arnold

(1706-1790): US politician author and scientist. He set up a printing house in Philadelphia, bought the Pennsylvania Gazette (1730), and built a reputation as a journalist. In 1736 he became Clerk of the Pennsylvania legislature, in 1737 Deputy Postmaster of Philadelphia, and in 1753 Deputy Postmaster-General for the colonies, and was sent on various diplomatic missions to England. In 1748 he began his research into electricity, proving that lightning and electricity are identical, and suggesting that buildings be protected by lightning-conductors. In 1776 he was actively involved in framing the Declaration of Independence. A skilled negotiator, he successfully won Britain's recognition of US independence (1783). He was US Minister in Paris until 1785, three times President of the State of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1788 he retired from public life.

Benjamin Franklin

US Brigadier General in the American Revolution. In December 1780 he was dispatched by General Greene to western South Carolina a detachment of 600 men went with him. He helped get Lord Cornwallis to divide his army. He is the commander of the American forces at the Battle of Cowpens. He fought Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and routed Tarleton (January 1781).

Brigadier General Daniel Morgan

French foreign minister who was coming up with a scheme for evening the score with England. He reckoned that France might turn discontented colonials into willing allies against Britain. He approached the Americans cautiously. He wanted to make certain that he rift between Britain and its colonies would not be reconciled and that the rebels in America stood a fighting chance. France had been secretly supplying the Continental Army with guns and ammunition since spring of 1776, He and France would go no further than covert assistance. After the victory at the Battle of Saratoga by the Americans that convinced Vergennes that the rebels could actually win. In Feb.1778 France signed a treaty of commerce and friendship and a treaty of alliance, which Congress approved in May.

Charles Gravier de Vergennes

French Commander of the French navy blockading in Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown.

Comte de Grasse

Washington's French ally in the American Revolution, met in Connecticut to plan a major attack. He urged a coordinated land-sea assault on the Virginia coast. Washington insisted instead on a full-scale offensive against New York City. Just when the rebel commander was about to have his way, word arrived that a French fleet under the comte de Grasse was sailing for the Chesapeake to blockade Cornwallis by sea.

Comte de Rochambeau

Main rebel military force created by the Second Continental Congress in July 1775 and commanded by George Washington. After the 1776 campaign, most enlistments came from the poorest and most desperate in American Society, and it was they who shouldered the burden of the fighting. During the harsh winter at Valley Forge in 1778/1779, the army acquired greater discipline and expertise and thereafter scored important military victories in the mid-Atlantic and the South.

Continental Army

The document adopted by the US Continental Congress to proclaim the separation of the 13 colonies from Britain. Drawn up by a committee of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R Livingston, and Roger Sherman, it announced the right of revolution, detailing the Americans' reasons for the break, and asserted that American government should be based on a theory of natural law, and should respect the fundamental rights of individuals.

Declaration of Independence

the decree signed by Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, which proclaimed that any slaves or indentured servants who fought on the side of the British would be rewarded with their freedom

Dunmore's Proclamation

Leader of a band of white and black raiders that cut British lines of communication between Charleston and the interior.

Francis Marion "Swamp Fox"

(1728-1806): British-born US general. He joined the British Army, served in America in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and then settled in Virginia. In the American Revolution he sided with his adoptive country and fought for its cause. In 1777 he took command of the Northern department, and forced the British Army to surrender at the Battle of Saratoga. In 1780 he commanded the Southern department but his army was routed by Cornwallis at the Battle of Camden, and he was superseded. He returned to Virginia, but in 1790 emancipated his slaves and then settled near New York City.

General Horatio Gates

British general and dramatist. He entered the army in 1740, and gave distinguished service in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). He then sat in Parliament as Tory MP in 1761 and 1768. He was sent to America in 1774 and fought at Bunker Hill in 1775. As major general he led an expedition from Canada and captured Fort Ticonderoga in 1777, but was later forced to surrender to General Gates in Saratoga. He returned to England where he joined the Whigs, and was commander-in-chief in Ireland (1782-1783). His plays include the comedy The Heiress (1786)

General John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne

British official, along with Lord George Germain, was charged with overseeing the war. He is replaced by Sir Henry Clinton in May 1778.

General William Howe

American Fighter, older brother to William Clark (Lewis and Clark Expedition) with great daring, captured outposts such Kaskaskia and Vincennes, without materially affecting the outcome of the war.

George Rogers Clark

(1732-1799): US General and 1st President of the USA. He had an informal education, worked as a surveyor, and first fought in the campaigns of the French and Indian War (1754-1758). He then managed the family estate at Mount Vernon, Virginia, becoming active in politics as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758-1774). He then represented Virginia in the first (1774) and second (1775) Continental Congresses. In 1775 he was given command of the American forces, where he displayed great powers as a strategist and leader of men. Following reverses in the New York area, he retreated through New Jersey, inflicting notable defeats on the enemy at Trenton (1776) and Princeton (1777). He suffered defeats at Brandywine and Germantown, but held his army together through the severe winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. After the alliance with France (1778), he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781, marking the end of the war. He then retired to Mount Vernon, and sought to secure a strong government by constitutional means. In 1787 he presided over the Constitutional Convention, and became the first President, an office he held from 1789 to 1797. He tried to remain neutral as political differences increased between the Federalists and Jeffersonians, and refused to continue for a third term in office. He retired to Mount Vernon and died two years later.

George Washington

German soldiers who fought with the British Army during the American Revolution. Some Hessians taken as prisoners of war later served in the Continental Army and settled in the United States after the Revolution.

Hessians

A young Kaskaskia chief, who allied first with the French, then joined the British and briefly threw in his lot with the Spanish, before finally joining the Virginians.

Jean Baptiste de Coigne

(1735-1826): US politician and 2nd President. Educated at Harvard, and admitted to the Bar in 1758, he emerged as a leader of US resistance to Britain's imposition of the Stamp Act (1765), and led the debate that resulted in the Declaration of Independence. He served in Congress until 1777, after which he had an extensive diplomatic career in Europe. He took part in negotiating a peace treaty with Great Britain, and served as Minister to Great Britain (1785-1788). He became the first US Vice-President, under George Washington (1789), an office he found frustrating. Both were re-elected in 1792, and in 1796 Adams was elected President with Thomas Jefferson as Vice-President. Adams's Presidency was marked by factionalism within his cabinet and his party, especially over the issue of war with France. Adams opposed a war, which made him an unpopular president, and he was defeated by Jefferson on seeking re-election in 1800. He retired to his home at Quincy, where he died.

John Adams

(1742-1807): Mohawk chief. He fought for the British in the French and Indian Wars and the American Revolution. In later years an earnest Christian, he translated St Mark's Gospel and the Book of Common Prayer into Mohawk and in 1786 visited England, where he was received at court. He helped lead devastating raids across the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania.

Joseph Brant

(19 Apr 1775) the first battles of the American Revolution, fought in Massachusetts after British troops tried to seize supplies stored at the village of Concord, and were confronted by colonial militia.

Lexington and Concord

He was sent by Lord Cornwallis to intercept and deal with Daniel Morgan and his army of 600. For two weeks Morgan led Tarleton's troops on a breakneck chase across the Carolina countryside. In January 1781 at an open meadow called Cowpens, Morgan routed Tarleton's force.

Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton:

1st Marquis (1738-1805): British general and politician. He served in the Seven Years' War, although he was personally opposed to taxing the American colonists, accepting a command in the war. He defeated Gates at Camden (1780), but was forced to surrender at Yorktown (1781). In 1786 he became Governor-General of India, and was made marquis in 1793.

Lord Charles Cornwallis

British Politician that did not even try to understand a Congress that sued for peace while preparing for war. A tough-minded statesman now charged with overseeing colonial affairs, Germain was determined to subdue the rebellion by force.

Lord George Germain

Colonial Americans who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. Britain defined the term carefully, since loyalists were eligible for compensation. It was not enough to have been born or been living in the American colonies at the onset of revolution; it was necessary to have served the British cause in some substantial manner and to have left the USA before or soon after the termination of hostilities. During the revolution special corps were established for over 19,000 loyalist troops. Half of the 80,000-100,000 refugees went to Canada, especially to the Maritime Provinces, and their presence contributed to the creation of Upper Canada in 1791. Their influence was not insubstantial in the establishment of governmental, social, educational, and religious institutions. In 1789 Lord Dorchester ordained that both they and their children were entitled to add the letters "UE" after their names, indicating their belief in the Unity of Empire. They then became known as the United Empire Loyalists. They were the supporters of the king and Parliament and known to the rebels as "tories." At the outset of the American Revolution, loyalists made up about one-fifth of the white population, but their ranks diminished steadily after about 1777, as the British army alienated many civilians in every region that they occupied.

Loyalists

North Carolina's declaration of rebellion against Great Britain

Mecklenburg Resolves

Local Defense band of civilians comprising men between the ages of 16 and 65 whose military training consisted only of occasional gatherings known as musters. Militias were organized in towns and counties throughout the American colonies from the beginnings of settlement, but they played a crucial role in the war for independence by supporting the Continental Army whenever the fighting moved into their neighborhoods.

Militia

Militiamen, particularly in New England, who were prepared to take up arms at very short notice. They were important in the first months of the US War of Independence, before the creation of a regular continental army under George Washington.

Minutemen

Refusal of rank-and-file soldiers to follow the commands of their superior officers. Mutinies plagued the Continental Army between 1779 and 1781 as resentments mounted among soldiers over spoiled food, inadequate clothing, and back pay.

Mutiny

An energetic 38-year-old Rhode Islander and a veteran of the northern campaigns in the American Revolution. In the fall of 1780 Congress replaced Gates with him in the southern Campaign. He bore out Washington's confidence by grasping the military situation in the South.

Nathanael Greene

Drawn up by Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, the document affirmed American loyalty to George III and asked the king to disavow the policies of his principal ministers.

Olive Branch Petition

Armed clashes among political rivals, typically involving guerilla fighting and the violent intimidation of civilians by militias. Partisan warfare between loyalists and rebels tore apart communities everywhere in the United States during the war for independence, but the fighting was especially fierce and protracted in the South. The success of rebel insurgencies there ultimately convinced many southern whites to support the cause of independence.

Partisan Warfare

Representative from Virginia that on June 7, 1776 offered the motion "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States...and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Richard Henry Lee

Convened in May 1775, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and created an army. Agreeing to seek independence in the summer of 1776, the Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. The Congress remained the political voice of the young country under the Articles of Confederation until the US Constitution took effect in 1789.

Second Continental Congress

May of 1778, He will replace William Howe as commander-in-chief and received orders to withdraw from Philadelphia to New York City. Was harassed by Washington's Army on his march overland from Philadelphia to New York City. He was inspired by the British's new Southern Strategy, he dispatched forces to the Caribbean and Florida. During the last days of 1779, and expedition under Clinton himself set sail from New York City. He lays siege at Charleston and on May 12, 1779, Charleston surrendered. Clinton goes back to New York City. He leaves Lord Charles Cornwallis in charge of the Southern Campaign.

Sir Henry Clinton

General in British army. Dissolved the Massachusetts legislature in 1774, due to the fact that he was watching as the royal authority crumbled in Massachusetts and the rebellion spread to other colonies.

Thomas Gage

(1743-1826); US politician and 3rd President. He became a lawyer (1767) and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. A delegate tot the Second Continental Congress (1775), he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), Minister to France (1785) and Secretary of State (1790). He served as Vice-President under John Adams (1797-1801), and as President (1801-1809).

Thomas Jefferson

(1737-1809) British-American political writer. In 1774 he sailed for Philadelphia, where his pamphlet Common Sense (1776) argued for complete independence from Britain. He served with the American Army, and was made Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs. In 1787 he returned to England, where he wrote The Rights of Man (1791-1792) in support of the French Revolution. Indicted for treason, he fled to Paris in 1792, where he was elected a Deputy to the National Convention (the assembly that ruled France from 1792 to 1795), but imprisoned for his proposal to offer the King asylum in the USA. At this time 1794-1795 he wrote The Age of Reason, in favor of deism. Released in 1796, he returned to the USA in 1802.

Thomas Paine

Signed on September 3, 1783, was a diplomatic triumph for the American negotiators: Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. They dangled before Britain the possibility that a generous settlement might weaken American ties to France. The British jumped at the bait. They recognized the independence of the United States and agreed to ample boundaries for the new nation: the Mississippi River on the west, the 31st parallel on the south, and the present border of Canada on the north. American negotiators then persuaded a skeptical France to approve the treaty by arguing that, as allies, they were bound to present a united front to the British. Spain, the third member of the alliance, settled for retaining Florida and Minorca, an island in the Mediterranean.

Treaty of Paris 1783

An area in Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA, which was the winter headquarters of George Washington in 1777-1778. His troops are renowned for the endurance and loyalty they showed while stationed there during the severe winter.

Valley Forge

the British colonies in North America that declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, which included Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, the province of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, South Carolina, and Virginia

thirteen colonies