5.17

media type="custom" key="29529773" align="right" =**Describe the major battles of the Revolution and explain the factors leading to** American victory and British defeat.=
 * **
 * Topics on the Page **
 * Battles **
 * ** Lexington and Concord (1775) **
 * ** Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) **
 * ** Saratoga (1777) **
 * ** Valley Forge (1777-1778) **
 * ** Yorktown (1781 ** )
 * African Americans during the Revolution **
 * **First Rhode Island Regiment**
 * Women during the Revolution **
 * **Sybil Ludington**
 * **Margaret Corbin**
 * **Betsy Dowdy**

//Focus Question: How did major battles impact the course of the war for American and British troops?//
Click here for a [|Revolutionary War timeline]from the National Park Service.


 * Click here for [|American Revolution Interactives] (1775 to 1783) from teachinghistory.org at __ Ashland University __.


 * Click here for a short video on [|Major Battles of the American Revolution.]

Click here for a __Lesson Plan__ on [|Emanuel Leutze's famous painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware], with a podcast narration from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[|Mission US: A Revolutionary Way to Learn History]from Channel 13 and PBS is a multimedia project featuring free interactive adventure games set in different eras of U.S. history.
 * The first game, Mission 1: "For Crown or Colony?," puts the player in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a 14-year-old printer's apprentice in 1770 Boston.

[|Link] to the national archives of pictures from the Revolutionary ones. Includes a lot of great images of prelude to war, victory in the south, important figures, and shots from both perspectives.

===Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)=== The battles of Lexington and were the first major battles of the Revolutionary War and were known as "the shot heard round the world." This was the first time American and British troops met in battle. The British had planned to move into Concord to seize American troops' military supplies.


 * [|The Battle of Lexington and Concord: Who Fired the First Shot?]**

However, the American troops were expecting the British after having been warned by Paul Revere (see [|Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]). It was a decisive, yet unexpected victory for the American troops.

[|Biography of Isaac Davis] Isaac Davis was a Puritan Gunsmith and the elected Captain of Acton's Company of Minutemen during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Due to his trade, his company was the best equipped unit among the American forces and were therefore placed at the front lines. Davis was among the first to die in the battle.

[[image:Massachusetts_state_seal.png width="40" height="40"]]Battle of Bunker Hill: June 17, 1775
The Battle of [|Bunker Hill] was another Massachusetts battle. It was in the village of Charlestown on June 17, 1775.
 * The battle wasn't fought on Bunker Hill but on Breed's Hill which was a neighboring hill.

Click here for a [|lesson plan on the Battle of Bunker Hill] from the National Park Service.

Short [|clip] summarizing the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Valley Forge
[|Valley Forge] was a decisive battle in the war that took place in the Pennsylvania area know as Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. [|History Channel Special on Valley Forge]
 * General George Washington and his troops had to camp at the site for the whole winter. That winter was very harsh with little food or shelter for all the troops.
 * The British gave up trying to advance into the camp and returned to Philadelphia.
 * To learn more, see [|Valley Forge Encampment: A Winter of Suffering] from the National Park Service.

Excerpts from the Diary of a Surgeon at Valley Forge

Conditions at Valley Forge

Yorktown

 * [|Yorktown] was the last major battle in the American war for freedom. The battle started in August of 1781. General Cornwallis of Britain wanted to make the village of Yorktown, VA a navel base. On Oct. 19th 1781 General Cornwallis surrendered to the American forces at Yorktown.

[|Liberty! The Road to Revolution] is an interactive game for __students__ to test their knowledge of the Revolution from PBS.

Other Key Revolutionary War Battles

 * The Battle of [|Saratoga] took place in upstate New York in 1777. During the battle the British tried to take over three locations that had American troops. This however failed causing one major branch of the British army to give up.

Go here information on the [|contributions of African Americans], including the 5000 Blacks who served in the Continental Army and Black seamen who served on ships during the war.


 * [[image:rotating gif.gif width="43" height="43"]]See United States History I.4 and Grade 3.5 for information about African Americans and the Revolutionary War**.

Image to the right shows a facsimile of the Marquis de Lafayette's original certificate commending James Armistead's service on behalf of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Armistead was a highly effective double agent spy during the war.

[|African Americans during the American Revolution--Teacher Reference Sheet] from Colonial Williamsburg (2006).
 * See also, [|African Americans and the American Revolution Essay] from the Washoe County Nevada School District.

[|The Almost Forgotten. . . First Rhode Island Regiment], a colonial military unit soldiers that included several companies of all-Black soldiers. It unit also included Native American soldiers fighting for the colonial side.
 * First Rhode Island Regiment**
 * Connecticut and New Jersey also high enlistment of Black soldiers.
 * See [|Pines Bridges Monument]for more information about the First Rhode Island regiment from the Yorktown Historical Society.
 * [|Black Soldiers in the Revolutionary War] from Soldiers Magazine.

For a complete timeline from the American Revolution to the present day, see [|African Americans in the U.S. Army].

[|List of Famous African Americans who served during the American Revolution]

**[[image:Female_Rose.png]]Women and the Revolutionary War**
Go to Grade 5.18 for more on women's participation in the Revolution.

[|Women's Service with the Revolutionary Army] an essay from Colonial Williamsburg discusses the roles of women, including women soldiers, during the war.

**Margaret Corbin**
[|Margaret Cochran Corbin] was the first woman to receive a military pension.

**[[image:Quill_and_ink.png]]Sybil Ludington**
[|10 Amazing Women of the Revolutionary War], including [|Sybil Ludington], known as the female Paul Revere who at 16 years-old rode through the Connecticut countryside the warn settlers of the arrival of British troops.
 * [|Sybil Ludington], National Women's History Museum

[|Sybil's Night Ride]. Karen B. Winnick, Calkins Creek, 2009. A picture book recounting the event


 * Betsy Dowdy**

American Patriot and Paul Revere of North Carolina

The Ride: The Legend of Betsy Dowdy

**Other Revolutionary War Women**
[|Clandestine Women: Spies in American History--The American Revolution] from the National Women's History Museum.

[|More information on women] involved in the Revolutionary war efforts. Including Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross. Click here for an NPR interview with Cokie Roberts on her children and young adult book, [|Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies].

Go here for information on [|Catharine Littlefield Greene], wife of General Nathanael Greene and collaborator with Eli Whitney in the invention of the cotton gin.

See also R [|evolutionary War Women]
[|__http://mentalfloss.com/article/67905/9-women-who-helped-win-american-revolution__]
 * This is a resource that offers historical information in regards to the contribution of many incredible women during the American Revolution.

Image IDs from left to right
1. Wikimedia Commons, "North Bridge Fight". 2. Wikimedia Commons, "Battle of bunker hill by percy moran". 3. Wikimedia Commons, "Washington and Lafayette".