American Revolution - Revolutionary War Timeline

The Battle of the Clouds (also known as the Battle of Warren, Battle of Whitehorse Tavern, or the Battle of Goshen) was an engagement of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revoluti...

The Battles of Saratoga, sometimes referred to as The Battle of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the Am...

The Battle of Paoli (also known as the Battle of Paoli Tavern or the Paoli Massacre) was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 21, 17...

A thick fog clouded the battlefield throughout the day. The vanguard of Sullivan's column, on Germantown Road, launched the battle when they opened fire on the British pickets of light...

The Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery was an American Revolutionary War battle fought in the highlands of the Hudson River valley, not far from West Point, on October 6, 1777. Britis...

After the capture of Philadelphia on September 26, 1777, and of the failure of the American surprise attack against the British camp at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, the American...

The Battle of Gloucester was a skirmish fought on November 25, 1777, during the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was the first battlefield command for the Marqu...

The Battle of White Marsh was a battle of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought December 5–8, 1777, in the area surrounding White Marsh, Pennsylvania. The bat...

The Battle of Matson's Ford was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on December 11, 1777 in the area surrounding Matson's Ford (present-day Cons...

With the winter setting in the prospects for campaigning being greatly diminished, General George Washington sought quarters for his men. Washington and his troops had just fought what wa...

France entered the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1778, and assisted in the victory of the Americans seeking independence from Britain (realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris). ...

The naval operations of the American Revolutionary War (also, mostly in British usage, American War of Independence), divide themselves naturally into two periods. The first ranges from 1...

The Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga consisted of a series of battles between American revolutionaries and British forces, from 1778 to 1782 during the Am...

The Battle of Quinton's Bridge was a small battle of the American Revolutionary War; it took place on March 18, 1778. The battle was a technical American victory in that the British faile...

Early on the morning of April 19, Elbert took the galleys down the river to attack the British ships, which were already ranged in their order of battle. The galleys likely initiated the ...

The formalities completed, Ranger turned sharply and fired a broadside at the following Drake. The British were unable to reply immediately- and when they did, they found they had a serio...

The Battle of Crooked Billet was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on May 1, 1778 near Crooked Billet (present-day Hatboro), Pennsylvania. In ...

On May 20, the British launched their attack. The militia scattered at the sight of the British troops, not offering any resistance and failing to notify Lafayette of the attack. On Ridge...

The Battle of Freetown was a skirmish between American colonists and a British naval ship during the American Revolutionary War. The action took place on May 25, 1778, in the part of Free...

In 1778 the settlement of Cobleskill, New York consisted of twenty families living in farms spread out along Cobleskill Creek. As it was on the frontier with Iroquois territory, the settl...

Lee, as Washington's senior subordinate, was initially appointed commander of the advance force, but turned it down because of his doubts about the plan. However, when the force was incre...

In the spring of 1778 an invasion of British East Florida was organized by Georgia Governor John Houstoun and Continental Army General Robert Howe. However, the two men could not agree on...

The Illinois campaign was a series of events in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in which a small force of Virginia militiamen led by George Rogers Clark seized control of sever...

The Battle of Wyoming was an encounter during the American Revolutionary War between American Patriots and Loyalists accompanied by Iroquois raiders that took place in Wyoming Valley, Pen...

The Battle of Ushant (also called the First Battle of Ushant) took place on 27 July 1778, during the American War of Independence, fought between French and British fleets 100 miles (160 ...

The 1778 Siege of Pondicherry was the first military action on the Indian subcontinent following the declaration of war between Great Britain and France in the American War of Independenc...

The Battle of Rhode Island, also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill, took place on August 29, 1778, when units of the Continental Army under the command of John Sullivan attempted to reca...

Gunfire was exchanged over the next several days. After the initial flurry of shooting, Boone—who reemerged as the natural leader even though as a captain he was outranked by Major Smith ...

On September 17, 1778 during the American Revolution, German Flatts was attacked by Loyalists and Iroquois. A force of several hundred men from Butler's Rangers under the command of Wi...

On September 22, 1778, Gen. Sir Henry Clinton ordered Maj. Gen. Sir Charles Grey, Maj. Gen. The Marquess Charles Cornwallis,and Brigadier General Edward Mathews to mobilize troops in an e...

The Little Egg Harbor massacre took place in New Jersey during the American Revolution. The massacre has been little studied in modern times, and the exact date it took place appears to h...

The Battle of Chestnut Neck was a battle fought in New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Chestnut Neck was a busy thriving trade ...

The Cherry Valley massacre was an attack by British and Seneca Indian forces on a fort and village in eastern New York on November 11, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, and has...

Admiral Barrington was alerted to the presence of the French fleet by the frigate Ariadne. He organized his line of battle such that Isis and his three frigates (Venus, Aurora, and Ariadn...

The capture of Savannah, Georgia was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on December 29, 1778 between local Patriot militia and Continental Army units holding the city and a Briti...

The Battle of Beaufort (also known as the Battle of Port Royal Island) was a battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place on February 3, 1779 near Beaufort, South Carolina. Th...

Boyd was apparently unaware that he was being followed so closely, and his camp, while guards were posted, was not particularly alert. Pickens advanced, leading the center, while his left...

On the morning of February 25, 1779, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, elder brother of explorer William Clark, accepted British Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton's unconditional surrender o...

On the afternoon of March 3, a rider galloped into the American camp, warning of the British approach. While the exact amount of time they had to deploy is uncertain, the relatively hurri...

The opening move in Britain's "southern strategy" to win control of its rebellious colonies in the American Revolutionary War was the December 1778 capture of Savannah, Georgia. This heig...

Eventually on 13 September 1782 the Bourbon allies launched their great attack; the number involved nearly 70,000 fighting men both French and Spanish. On land an army of 40,000 which con...

The French fleet, under Admiral Comte d'Estaing, consisted of 25 ships of the line and several frigates. The British fleet, under Vice-Admiral John Byron, had 21 ships of the line and 1 f...

Washington’s plan called for a two-pronged, pincer-type, nighttime attack on the fortifications to be carried out by 1,200 men of his Corps of Light Infantry. According to 18th Century mi...

Later that day, riders from Peenpack reached the village of Goshen, telling of Brant's raid and the destruction of the town. A militia formed immediately, under the reluctant command of L...

On August 11, about 250 American militia advanced from their fortified camp and occupied a recently abandoned battery about a quarter mile (400 m) from the British fort. As expected, a so...

At four o'clock on the afternoon of August 8, 1779, Major Henry Lee, with four hundred infantry and a troop of dismounted dragoons started from New Bridge (now River Edge, New Jersey), on...

During the next day the scouting party spotted a group of four Indians along the trail and a brief gun fight occurred. One Indian was killed, and Boyd and Parker started to return to Sull...

The Siege of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under L...

The Battle of Flamborough Head was a small naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779, in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between an American Continental Navy squadron led...

The Battle of San Fernando de Omoa was a short siege and battle between British and Spanish forces fought not long after Spain entered the American Revolutionary War on the American side....