Pretty Funny :)

After the hurricane, comes the rainbow...

Valley Forge

The struggle continued, the remarkable army faced a very difficult winter from 1777 to 1778, the scenario was on Valley Forge(outsides of Philadelphia). George Washington reported Congres that 1/3 of 10,000 soldiers had no warm clothing and no shoes. Washington was worried for his army, he only saw 3 possible ways out: 1. Starve to death 2.Army would dissolve 3.Army would disperse. But never lose hope, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also known as Baron von Steuben, he was a Prussian born military officer, he was a volunteer that offered to train the Continental Army. In June 1778, the British evacuated from Philadelphia through New Jersey into New York, they retreated due to the Battle of Monmouth, in this Battle the Continental Army showed all the skills they've been learning at Valley Forge, and demonstrated their huge improvements. Still, the British had nothing new to show, how boring... they only had New York as a stronghold and that was it. The war began moving South. 

Baron Von Steuben

What a great Christmas gift...

Washington's troops were devastated after the series of battles they fought and failed, so this were desperate times. But Washington was ready he had his plans set and was ready to execute them, he needed to counterattack and win this battle. He was a really clever man, on December, 26 1776;, Washington led his Continental Army across the icy and cold roads of Delaware about 9 miles north of Trenton. The weather was terrible and the river was pretty tricky. Huge winds combined with snow, and rain produced impossible conditions. Another of the difficulties, a big number of Washington's troops marched through the snow without shoes and warm clothing.

The next morning they attacked the south, giving the Hessian garrison a surprise and invading the town. After the intense fighting, and the terrible loss of the commander, the Hessians gave up. This became known as the Battle of Trenton, and gave the Patriots and supporters a huge moral boost, this was a great victory and became widely know and remembered as the Crossing of Delaware.

Famous painting of the Delaware Cros

For Washington's luck, he began 1777 with another victory. While he was moving his troops at the middle of the night, he encountered General Charle Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton(January 3, 1777), this battle was fought on Princeton, New Jersey. There's ot much to say about this war, but what you need to know is that it gave a great victory to the Patriots and gave them a fresh new start. 

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However, he's luck didn't lasted long, in the fall of 1777 he lost his beloved Philadelphia to Howe's army, so now it was under British control. After this General John Burgoyne's army marched from Canada, ready to capture New York Hudson Valley. But to his fortune he fell into a Patriots' troop at Saratoga(September 19 and October 7, 1777) this consisted of several battles, and it was definitely a turning point in the war. Why? Well it made this whole situation popular, making the Continental Army gain support. France recognized American independence, and began helping the Colonials secretely, they saw this as a great opportunity to defeat their biggest enemy: Britain. Altough the French were afraid of making their alliance public, but they still sent shipments to the Patriots, and this kept the army going. French were really generous, for example Marquis de Lafayette provided military experts. After Saratoga, France decided to make their alliance public and they negotiated in February 1778, and this made the diplomatic genius Benjamin Franklin to come up to scene, he was an exceptional and simple American. It seems a great future was planned for the perseverant colonials, wanna know more about it? Wait for the next posts :)

fun huh?

Cruel Hessians and Memorable Women...

The British troops were being commanded by Lord William Howe, a not-so brilliant man because he kept on attacking the same way, even though it wasn't effective. The British had this idea that they were fighting another common British war, but they were wrong they were fighting: a revolutionary war. But Howe had some really good ideas in mind, he thought that if he captured Philadelphia, the Patriots capital; and the major sea port, Boston, he would finally win the war. But they were planning to win it on a really dirty way. They hired German mercenaries, which is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of the sovereign state of which he is a citizen, they were called The Hessians. They wew no-hearted soldiers, they were well-trained and German, they would do anything to eliminate the enemy. No doubt that the word "assassination" comes from the word "Hessian".

The Hessians

Since the British had this brutal soldiers by their sides which were a great strength, but the Patriots also had a great strength by their side: George Washington. He loved his Continental Army and took care of it, he knew he couldn't take the risk of putting his army out there into a major battle. Unfortunately, George Washington lost most of his battle but his skillful retreats kept his army alive. Also the support of Patriot women made this army keep shining, a few of the several supporting women standed out; one of them was Deborah Samsson Garnett(December 17, 1760 - April 27, 1827) better known as Deborah Sampson, she received a military pension from Congress due to her brave work, that consisted on impersonating a man in order to serve in the Continental Army, ahe served 17 months in the army.

Deborah Sampson

Another famous women was Mary Hays McCauley aka Molly Pitcher, known for her brave actions at the battle of Monmouth. She was born near Trenton, New Jersey on October 13, 1754. Her task consisted on delivering water to the troops while they were at war(because they got tired, obviously) and sometimes she was brave enough to fire the cannon of her husband. She an many other women are definitely American heroines that we should always remember.

Molly Pitcher

It's on...

The colonists needed to demonstrate their Independence, and as said before, one thing was declaring it on paper and achieving it was a different story. They had to win a series of battles and a bloody war in order to defeat the world's biggest empire. Britain had 4x the population of the colonists which was about 2.5 million, so can you imagine the amount of British people against a few colonists who truly seeked Independence? 
The British didn't take the colonists seriously, until they defeated them at Concord. The British repeated the same mistake once again at the Battle of Bunker Hill, this battle was fought on June 17, 1775, a few days after George Washington was elected the Commander of the Continental Army. Despite the name, the battle was really fought on Breed's Hill not on Bunker Hill.

Battle of Breed's Hill

 The colonials were ready to attack, they had fortified the hills around Boston, they wanted to push the British outside the Port. The British had a new commander: Lord William Howe, born on August 10, 1729 on Britain. He planned a frontal assault right at noon, making his army struggle because they were wearing this red coats below the hot sun of noon and carrying heavy artifacts, and walking uphill... Absurd right? The Patriots had a clever tactic, they hide in trenches and attacked the Red Coats. The first two charges the Patriots won, and the British won the third charge, but just because the Patriots ran out of ammunition. Even though the Red coats won, the Patriots gave the British wake-up call. So the British better get ready for the next encounters...