American Revolutionary War (E Pluribus Unum)

Massachusetts
In February 1775 Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. Lieutenant General Thomas Gage, the British North American commander-in chief, commanded four regiments of British regulars (about 4,000 men) from his headquarters in Boston, but the countryside was in the hands of the Revolutionaries. On April 14, he received orders to disarm the rebels and arrest their leaders.

On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent 700 men to seize munitions stored by the colonial militia at Concord, Massachusetts. Riders including Paul Revere alerted the countryside, and when British troops entered Lexington on the morning of April 19, they found 77 Minutemen formed up on the village green. Shots were exchanged, killing several Minutemen. The British moved on to Concord, where a detachment of three companies was engaged and routed at the North Bridge by a force of 500 minutemen. As the British retreated back to Boston, thousands of militiamen attacked them along the roads, inflicting many casualties before timely British reinforcements prevented a total disaster. With the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the war had begun.

The militia converged on Boston, bottling up the British in the city. About 4,500 more British soldiers arrived by sea, and on June 17, 1775, British forces under General William Howe seized the Charlestown peninsula at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Instead of landing behind the Americans, a move that would not only have easily won the battle but also expose the rest of the rebel army to destruction, the British mounted a costly frontal attack. The Americans fell back, but British losses totaled over 1,000 men. The siege was not broken, and Gage was soon replaced by Howe as the British commander-in-chief.

In July 1775, newly appointed General Washington arrived outside Boston to take charge of the colonial forces and to organize the Continental Army. Realizing his army's desperate shortage of gunpowder, Washington asked for new sources. Arsenals were raided and some manufacturing was attempted; 90% of the supply (two million pounds) was imported by the end of 1776, mostly from France. Patriots in New Hampshire had seized powder, muskets and cannons from Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth Harbor in late 1774. Some of the munitions were used in the Boston campaign.

The standoff continued throughout the fall and winter. During this time Washington was astounded by the failure of Howe to attack his shrinking, poorly armed force. In early March 1776, heavy cannons that the patriots had captured at Fort Ticonderoga were brought to Boston by Colonel Henry Knox, and placed on Dorchester Heights. Since the artillery now overlooked the British positions, Howe's situation was untenable, and the British fled on March 17, 1776, sailing to their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia, an event now celebrated in Massachusetts as Evacuation Day. Washington then moved most of the Continental Army to fortify New York City.

Quebec
Main Article: Invasion of Canada

Soon after the Revolutionary War broke out in April of 1775, a small force led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the fortress of Ticonderoga in May, Arnold then followed this success with a raid on Fort Saint-Jean, near Montreal , scaring the British leadership. These actions considered both the British and Rebels to consider a possibility for an invasion of Canada. Quebec 's governor, General Guy Carleton, mobilized the provincial army. Initially rejected the idea of an invasion of Canada, Congress authorized the Continental Army 's commander of the Northern Department, Major General Philip Schuyler, to invade Canada if he felt it was absolutely necessary.

The Continental Army moved into Quebec by September 1775. Its goal was to drive away the troops of Great Britain. Brigadier General Richard Montgomery led the force from Fort Ticonderoga, up Lake Champlain, besieged Fort St. Jean, and capturing Montreal in November. Arnold led a force of around 1000 men from Cambridge on the military expedition through Maine heading towards Quebec shortly after Montgomery left Ticonderoga

Main Article: Battle of Quebec

A storm had broke on December 30, and the Americans had already ordered several attacks on Quebec city. Montgomery led his men down a steep, snow-heaped path toward the outer British defenses. The snow storm had turned into a blizzard, making the American advance a struggle. Montgomery soon led 50 men down a street towards a two-story building. The building formed a part of the defense of Quebec. Quickly noticing soldiers inside, Montgomery ordered the men fall back. The British shot. Around 5 men were killed.

While Montgomery was advancing, Arnold advanced his main force towards the northern end of the lower town. They passed the gates and some British gunners undetected. As soon as the body moved around the palace gate, fire broke out from the walls above them. The height of these walls made it impossible to return fire. Arnold ordered his men to run forward. Arnold almost was shot in the ankle, but the bullet missed. The men soon captured a nearby barricade. They easily advanced further down the city, eventually breaking morale, ending with half the British forces surrendering. The British may have won this battle if a force of 500 men on ships had not sunken due to the earlier storm. the City of Quebec was now under the control of American forces.

Expelling the royal officials
The British had a significant force only in Boston. The Patriots in all 13 colonies, quickly established new revolutionary governments based around various committees and conventions that they had created in 1774 and early 1775. Royal officials found themselves powerless to stop the rebellion and were forced to flee. The Patriots were energetic and were backed by angry mobs while the Loyalists were too intimidated or poorly organized to be effective without the British army. The term "lynching" originated when Virginia Patriots held informal courts and arrested Loyalists (the term did not suggest execution).

Loyalist writings throughout the conflict persistently claimed that they were the majority, and influenced London officials to believe that it would be possible to raise many Loyalist regiments. As late as 1780 the Loyalists were deceiving themselves and top London officials about their supposedly strong base of support.

Patriots overwhelmed the Loyalists in the Snow Campaign in South Carolina in late 1775. Virginia's governor Lord Dunmore attempted to rally a loyalist force but was decisively beaten in December 1775 at the Battle of Great Bridge. In February 1776 British General Clinton took 2000 men and a naval squadron to assist Loyalists mustering in North Carolina, only to call it off when he learned they had been crushed at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. In June he tried to seize Charleston, South Carolina, the leading port in the South, but the attack failed as the naval force was repulsed by the Patriot forts.

Apart from the original thirteen, no other British North American colony joined the rebellion.

New York
Having withdrawn his army from Boston, General Howe now focused on capturing New York City, which then was limited to the southern tip of Manhattan Island. With the capture of Montreal by the Americans, Howe had to divert a substantial amount of soldiers to upstate New York to try and retake Quebec back from American forces. Howe's force arrived off of Staten Island on June 30, 1776, and his army captured it without resistance. To defend the city, General Washington spread his forces along the shores of New York's harbor, concentrated on Long Island, right across from where Howe's forces were located. While the British had failed to hired Hessian troops due to their lack of faith in the British to beat back the growing revolution, Washington had the newly issued Declaration of American Independence read to his men and the citizens of the city. The speech delivered by Washington and Arnold's recent victory in Quebec bolstered morale in the 10,000 soldiers defending the island and brought in many newly signed militiamen to help protect the island.