1.2.5 The Revolutionary War Part 1

The Revolutionary War: Part 1
Learners can:

• identify important information about the battles that occurred at the beginning of the American Revolution

Vocabulary: militia-armies of American colonists
minutemen-members of the local militias who would be ready to fight at a minute’s notice
ammunition-material used to fire a gun or a cannon

Curriculum Kit Materials: red and blue crayons, Social Studies Activity Book (page 2)

By Sierra Scaggs

In another lesson, you learned about the Coercive Acts, which was a series of laws that were passed by Great Britain after the Boston Tea Party.

The laws were meant to punish the colonists who lived in the colony of Massachusetts. The colonists were so angry about these acts that they called them the Intolerable Acts.

In response to the Intolerable Acts, the colonies organized the First Continental Congress in September 1774.
At the meeting, 56 delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies drafted a letter of demand to King George III. They demanded that the Intolerable Acts be repealed.

King George III ignored their letter. The colonists began to boycott all British goods. This was the beginning of the American Revolution!
In the fight for their independence from Great Britain, the colonists started a war called the Revolutionary War. A revolution occurs when a government is overthrown or replaced with a new government.

Preparing for War

After the First Continental Congress met, the American colonists began to form their own militia. The militia was an army of American colonists, made up of men ages 16 to 60 who were required by law to train six days a year. Each colonial town had its own militia of about 50 to 60 men.

Each colonial town also had men, called minutemen, who volunteered to train every week. Minutemen were required to be ready to fight at a minute's notice.
In the spring of 1775, colonial militias in Massachusetts began storing weapons and ammunition in a city not far from Boston named Concord.

Press the arrows to expand the map and get a closer look.

Ammunition is material used to fire a gun or a cannon.
The colonists wanted to be ready for war. They formed a militia, trained men to fight, and gathered weapons and ammunition.

The British Are Coming!

British General Thomas Gage, who was also the governor of the colony of Massachusetts, found out about the ammunition and weapons stored in Concord.

He planned to travel to Concord with British troops and take the colonists' military supplies.
On the way to Concord, General Gage and his troops planned to arrest Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were in Lexington.
The colonists found out about Gage’s plan. On the night of April 18, express riders Paul Revere and William Dawes set out from Boston to warn the minutemen in Lexington and Concord that the British were coming.

An express rider was someone who rode from one place to another, delivering messages, letters, or documents. They were known to deliver things quickly, without getting distracted along the way.
Paul Revere and two other express riders set out to warn the colonists in Lexington and Concord that the British were coming.

Do you think they made it in time to warn them before the British made it there?

Multiple Choice

On April 18, 1775, why did Paul Revere ride from Boston to Lexington?

• 
  to help train a new group of minutemen

• to try to find more soldiers to help fight against the British

• 
  to warn the militias, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock of General Gage’s plan

The Battles of Lexington and Concord

Paul Revere made it to Lexington and Concord to warn the colonists that the British were coming! When the British reached Lexington by dawn on April 19, 1775, they met a colonial militia of about 77 men and their captain, John Parker, in a field. Neither side expected to fight. However, a shot, now referred to as the “shot heard 'round the world,” was fired unexpectedly, causing both sides to shoot. Eight minutemen were killed, and nine were wounded. The British troops were ordered to stop fighting. So, they continued to march toward Concord.
In Concord, colonists were ready for the arrival of the British troops! The British troops searched the town for weapons and ammunition, but the colonists had already buried them in a local farmer's field. The colonial militia moved in on the British soldiers near Concord's North Bridge. At the bridge, they defeated the British soldiers.
By the time the British troops were ready to retreat and return to Boston, they were confronted with about 2,000 minutemen.

The British were unable to stop the colonial attacks, and at the end of the battle, about 73 British soldiers were killed, and about 49 minutemen were killed. The American colonists won the battles known as the Battles of Lexington and Concord. They were the battles that started the American Revolution.
The American colonists officially won the first battles that started the American Revolution.

However, they would have to fight many more battles before they could officially separate and be independent from Great Britain. VIDEO PAGE 6

Multiple Choice

Why did the British mainly go to Concord?

• 
  to build a British fort there

• 
  to search the city for Samuel Adams and John Hancock

• to take the colonists' supply of weapons and ammunition

Second Continental Congress

On May 10, 1775, less than a month after the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at the battles of Lexington and Concord, the colonies leaders met again. The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
During the meeting, which lasted from May to August 1775, many things were accomplished. The leaders of the colonies:

• drafted and sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III;

• chose George Washington to lead the colonial militia, now called the Continental Army; and

• drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence.

On the first day that the Second Continental Congress met, colonists captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York.

Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

The Second Continental Congress met on May 5, 1775. On the same day, a local colonial militia in the colony of New York called the Green Mountain Boys was given the task of capturing Fort Ticonderoga from the British. A man led the Green Mountain Boys named Ethan Allen.
With the help of Colonel Benedict Arnold from Boston, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys surrounded Fort Ticonderoga. They surprised about 48 British soldiers who were forced to surrender. No one was killed in the attack. The main reason that the American colonists wanted to capture Fort Ticonderoga was to get control of its cannons. The cannons were moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and would help defend the colonists against the British troops there. Later in the war, in the summer of 1777, the British troops would regain control of Fort Ticonderoga. The loss of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777 would be a significant event for the Americans.

Multiple Choice

Who led the Green Mountain Boys in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga?

• 
  Ethan Allen

• 
  George Washington

• 
  Thomas Jefferson

The Battle of Bunker Hill

In June of 1775, the population of the colonial militia of the Continental Army was growing in Boston, Massachusetts. In a desire to take control of Boston, the British Army knew that they had to claim two hills that overlooked Boston. The colonists learned about the British plan and secretly moved to the two hills named Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. It was there that the colonists prepared for battle. On June 17, the British attacked the colonists on Breed's Hill. General William Howe led the British Army of 3,000 men. Over 1,000 men made up the Continental Army of the colonists, under Colonel William Prescott's command. During the battle, the colonists ran out of supplies and had to retreat. The British won the battle. Even though the British won the battle, they suffered severe losses. It was the battle with the most losses in the Revolutionary War. Most of the battle took place on Breed's Hill, but the troops thought that they were on Bunker Hill. So, the battle was named the Battle of Bunker Hill. Although they lost the battle, it showed the colonists that they could stand up to the British in battle. As a result, more colonists joined the army. However, with the success of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the British now had more control over Boston, Massachusetts. The leaders of the colonies knew that British control over Boston would cause more conflict between the American colonies and the British. In a last attempt to stop the war from happening, the delegates at the Second Continental Congress wrote the Olive Branch Petition. EDIO VIDEO PAGE 9

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is true about the Battle of Bunker Hill?

• 
  Most of the battle took place on Breed's Hill.

• 
  The battle was won by the American colonists.

• 
  The American colonists suffered more losses than the British.

Olive Branch Petition

By July of 1775, several events had already occurred:

• The Battles of Lexington and Concord were won by the American colonists.

• The colonists also captured Fort Ticonderoga.

• The Battle of Bunker Hill was won by the British Army.

However, the Revolutionary War was not officially declared yet.

As a final attempt to avoid going to war with Great Britain, the 56 delegates at the Second Continental Congress wrote and signed a document called the Olive Branch Petition.
The petition was a document that expressed the loyalty of the colonists to the king and Great Britain.

It also requested that the king peacefully reconsider their requests to:

• have a position in Parliament; and

• repeal, or cancel, the taxes that were placed on goods.

On August 23, 1775, King George III refused to receive the Olive Branch Petition.
The colonists knew that going to war would be costly. A war meant training soldiers, spending money on supplies, and the possibility of many casualties, or losses of soldiers, along the way.

While the colonists disliked how the King and Parliament treated them, the Olive Branch Petition was their attempt to avoid war and solve things peacefully.

However, when King George III rejected the petition, his rejection strengthened the colonists' desire to become independent from Great Britain.

Today, you learned about the battles that started the American Revolution.

In fear of going to war, the leaders of the colonies wrote the Olive Branch Petition to peacefully solve their conflict with Great Britain.

King George III rejected the petition, strengthening the colonists' desire to become independent from Great Britain.

Great job today!