US History

U.S. History Study Guide

©2018 of 194 Battle of Monmouth In June 1778, these newly trained troops met the British at Monmouth Courthouse, NJ, in a battle which lasted six hours in 100º heat. Under cover of darkness, the British slipped away. The battle also saw Mary Hays McCauley, better known as "Molly Pitcher." She is known for coming out of her home to the battlefield and serving the American soldiers pitchers of water on that hot New Jersey day. This would be the last major battle on the northern front. The continual training and drilling during Valley Forge significantly improvedmorale, skill, and discipline, allowingWashington to hold the field against the British army. Although the battle ended in a draw, the most significant outcome of it was the Continental Army was vastly improved and now could go toe to toe with the British in a conventional battle. 6.10 War in the South After unsuccessfully trying to end the war in the North and middle colonies the British focused now on the South, hoping they could build a strong hold and move north to reclaim the colonies. They would try a few new tactics they felt would increase their chances of stabilizing the South for occupation. They would occupy the newly conquered areas and put Tories (British loyalists) in positions of power to run the colony and free any slave who declared loyalty to England and served in the British army. The plan would create more chaos rather than stability, the Tories who were put in power held personal vendettas against the Southern elite, who were mostly patriots, and went on ruthless slaughtering and plundering campaigns. Using the fear of slave revolts angered the Patriots even more and made their hatred for the British even deeper. The Southern Continental forces would lose terribly in the beginning and things would seem very bleak. It would be the intelligent Continental General Nathaniel Green who would manipulate these circumstances and make the British chase him on long marches, making the British plunder farms and homes for food, placing hatred for British occupation and eventual overwhelming support of the American forces. Losing in Charleston Charleston was the worst American defeat of the war. In the spring of 1780, approximately eighty- five hundred British and Loyalist troops and fourteen ships surrounded the city of Charleston, trapping the Southern army, they subdued the entire army of fifty-five hundred men. Guilford Courthouse Most of the war in the South consisted of British troops beating American troops, chasing them, and then beating them again. In December 1780, Congress finally put Nathaniel Green in charge of the American forces in the South while Washington fought in the North. After a couple of victories, Greene faced British General Charles Cornwallis at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. The British won Achieve Page 75