jueves, 7 de abril de 2011

The Treaty of Paris

I bet you are thinking that how does the war ended or when it ended. Also that you think that after the Battle of Yorktown everything was already over. Well for a war to be over it is necesary to sign a Treaty that states that a war is over, and to know what are the deals in which both parts will agree.


The Treaty that ended "The War for Independence"  is the Treaty of Paris. The delegates from the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. They negociated a peace treaty directly with British.

In the treaty Great Britain accepted the United States Independence.


The boundaries of the United States were: from the Great Lakes to Florida, and as far west as the Mississippi River. In an exchange the United States accepted to respect the properties in posetion of the Loyalists, and to allow tax collectors to collect debts that were owed to them.

miércoles, 6 de abril de 2011

The Battle of Yorktown (Final Battle)



This was the final battle of War for Independence, and it could be said that it was the shortest one. Before the battle had even started General Cornwallis planed to go to the middle colonies from the South; he was going towards Yorktown to wait for the ships sent by British forces in New York. As he was going North, George Washington and his army along with French were marching South towards Yorktown to attack the British Army. Washington was hoping that the French fleet would arrive in the Chesapeake Bay at the right time to block the entrance of the British ships. 

As they were waiting their occurred a big Naval battle between De Grasse (French) and Admiral Hood (British). That battle ended up with British forces forced to surrender after another French fleet leaded by De Barras (French) arrived. This defeat doomed Cornwallis because he would have no way out of the trap. 

British army was of 9,000 men, but it was outnumbered by the allied forces that were of 19,000 soldiers. Cornwallis made a desesperate attempt to escape from Yorktown but it was useless. On October 17 at 10 A.M. a white flag appeared over the British lines. Later papers were given to Washington to negotiate the British surrender. Next day the ceremony began when British soldiers walked through two lines of allied soldiers. The war was finally over and the Americans won it.


The Siege of Charleston

Charleston Map

British Cannons

The battle of Charleston began on March 20 1779 when British ships enter the harbor of the city. British formed a line and rested when they were 250 yards from the city where General Clinton (British) ordered a bombardment to the city. The result of the bombardment was that every day Patriots lost 10 soldiers. During all the duration of the battle Patriot General Lincoln sent to Clinton terms to surrender, but one time was rejected and two other times Lincoln don’t liked Clinton’s terms until the lost was imminent. The British army won the Battle and captured 5,700 American soldiers and 1,000 sailors. This was the Pariots biggest defeat of the entire war.
Troops position

viernes, 1 de abril de 2011

The Battle of Vincennes

Well al the battle began when in October 7, 1778, a group of 175 settlers and 60 indians left for Vincennes.  They arrived on December 17, 1778, but they actually didn't fight because the fort was only protected by Captain Lord Helm and other three Virginians. Frenchmen surrounded them, and they surrender with firing any shot.


Soldiers walking toward Vincennes
Lt. Colonel Hamilton made a big mistake by believing that no one would attempt to attack the fort so he let the Indians and the militiamen go back to their homes. He lost Vincennes again to the British.
On February 5, 1779 Lt. Colonel Clark gave the order to do an expedition, with the objective of recapturing Vincennes. The trip to Vincennes was very harsh because of the rain that fall down during the Winter. Lt. Clark developed the plan of attacking during the night of the 23rd. Something interesting is that Lt. Hamilton didn't realize they were under attack until he was informed that a Colonel was wounded. During all that night they continued to fire. Hamilton was forced to surrender because reinforcements were 500 miles away. Also because he thoght that they were surrounded by 500 men when they were actually surrounded by 172 men. Lt. Hamilton surrendered on February 25, 1779.