Revolutionary era
On April 19, 1775, a British army was sent to the town of Concord to destroy colonial military supplies. On the way to Concord, they encountered a group of "minutemen" at the town of Lexington, and somebody fired a shot, which brought about a volley of British muskets. The militia were not actually prepared for a direct conflict with the strong, well-trained British army, so many ran away and never got a chance to return fire. Nevertheless, these shots marked the start of a war against Britain.
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, on Breed's Hill, a very strategic location that looked directly on to Boston. The colonists occupied the hill and were able to easily fire on to the British, who were using Boston as their headquarters. The British knew that they had to take back this position, and sent waves of regulars up the hill until the colonial army eventually ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. However, this was a pyrrhic victory for the British, since they had lost so many men in this attack, and it gave the colonists a lot of confidence in their ability to fight against the mighty British.
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776. It discussed the advantages of America becoming independent from Britain, and provided many reasons why it did not make sense for Britain to be ruling the colonies. It was written in language that common people could understand, which led to it becoming extremely popular among colonial soldiers and townspeople alike.
After the devastating defeat at Long Island, Washington was forced to retreat with the small army he had left. The morale of his troops was shattered, since they had not had a victory in a long time, and Washington needed to do something to regain his men's confidence and enthusiasm. He therefore decided to cross the Delaware River on the night of December 25, 1776, and launch a surprise attack on group of about one thousand Hessians at Trenton. The German soldiers were exhausted and put up very little fight, and this victory, though relatively small, gave the colonial army a much-needed confidence boost.
During the winter of 1777-1778, George Washington decided that the Colonial Army should set up camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The winter was very hard on the soldiers, and by the end of the season almost 2,500 soldiers had died from exposure, starvation, and disease. However, the time at the camp showed how strong the soldiers were, and that they could persevere through even the roughest conditions. The soldiers were brought closer together in these hard times and truly became an American army in which all of the soldiers shared the same goal, to gain their independence.