The War in the South and West

• over three years in North, British can't win so they have a new strategy = plan of action

• they wanted to invade the South with a small army

• British also thought there's more Loyalists in the South to help them win and...

• at first it worked, they captured Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC

• they were winning every battle

• oh, and guess what?

• remember Benedict Arnold?

• he was the Patriot hero from Battle of Saratoga, well...

• he secretly changed sides! he became a British general!

• Patriots were shocked, obviously

• today he is remembered as a traitor = someone who is not loyal

• Britain offered him $1 million and an important position to switch

Patriot Successes

• British kept battling down South with surprise attacks

• they would sneak up on the British, attack and then retreat

• Colonel Francis Marion was awesome at this, while retreating through swamps

• he became known as the Swamp Fox

• Nathanael Greene was the commander of the Americans down South

• his plan was to wear out the British

• he had a small army so he could move faster than the enemy

• he would force the British to chase him, using up their supplies of food and gunpowder and get them tired

• British were led by Charles Cornwallis

• British actually won more battles, but couldn't completely defeat Greene

• Greene said, "We fight, get beat, rise and fight again."

• 1781 - Cornwallis had to retreat, Greene's strategy of wearing them out worked!

• British were actually losing in the West also

• George Rogers Clark and about 200 Patriots captured British forts in the ORV.

• Spain also declared war on Britain and they captured their forts too!

  
  

The War Ends

• summer of 1781, British are in Yorktown, led by Cornwallis

• GW heard of this news and made a plan

• he was in NY so he went south to Yorktown, VA

• French navy sailed to meet him there (remember we have France's help)

• Cornwallis was surprised, but couldn't escape! He was trapped!

• Americans and French attacked with cannons day and night!

• Cornwallis thought they would be rescued, he thought British ships would come and save them

• but the British ships couldn't get past the French navy

• they fought for a week and then Cornwallis realized that he wasn't going to win this battle

• he was surrounded and no help was coming

• what could he do, but ______________?

• October 19th, 1781, he surrendered = give up

• why was this important?

• over 7,000 British soldiers had to march out of Yorktown with the French and American soldiers lined up, and they laid down their weapons on the field

• Battle of Yorktown was over! This was the last big battle in the Revolutionary War.

• war went on for 2 more years, but not much fighting and...

• America wins! They are now independent! Let's go!!!

The Treaty of Paris

• September 3rd, 1783, U.S. and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris

• this said that the United States was their own country!

• But um, now what?

• What do we do about slavery? Was it right?

• some states made laws against slavery already

• also... how would America rule themselves? what kind of government would we have?

• Mercy Otis Warren wrote that America was a "child just learning to walk." What will America do now? Stay tuned...