page_title: American Revolutionary War
section_title: War breaks out
hierarchical_section_title: American Revolutionary War / War breaks out
caption_attribution_description: Arnold's column is shattered in fierce street fighting during the Battle of Quebec.
context_page_description: The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence, was initiated by the thirteen original colonies in Congress against the Kingdom of Great Britain over their objection to Parliament's direct taxation and its lack of colonial representation.
  From their founding in the 17th century, the colonies were largely left to govern themselves. As conflict with New France expanded, the costs of their defense increased; after the eviction of France from North America in 1763, Parliament and the colonies disputed how these expenses should be paid. Measures like the 1765 Stamp Act to increase government revenues provoked unrest that culminated in the 1773 Boston Tea Party. When Parliament responded by imposing punitive measures on Massachusetts, the other twelve colonies set up the First Continental Congress, which agreed to boycott British goods.
  In June 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington to create a Continental Army and oversee the capture of Boston. When their Olive Branch Petition was rejected, Congress sponsored an unsuccessful attack on British Quebec, before passing the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.
context_section_description: As the American Revolutionary War was to unfold in North America, there were two principal campaign areas within the 13 states, and a smaller but strategically important one west of the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River and north to the Great Lakes. The full-on military campaigning began in the states north of Maryland, and fighting was most frequent and severest there between 1775 and 1778. In the South, Patriots benefitted from early victories at Fort Sullivan and Moore's Creek. After the 1778 Battle of Monmouth, war in the North stalemated into raids, and the main Continental Army watched the British army in New York City. Starting in 1779, the war shifted as the British initiated a new strategy to subdue the southernmost states then move northward. The British maneuvering out of Charleston through battles in South Carolina, North Carolina and into Virginia led to a combined American and French force cornering General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown and the surrender of his army.
  Well known for his accomplishments in the French and Indian War, Washington was unanimously confirmed by the Continental Congress on June 16, and he officially assumed command in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 3. He designed the overall military strategy of the war in cooperation with Congress, established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs, personally recruited his senior office corps and kept the states all pointed toward the common goal.  For the first three years until after Valley Forge, the Continental Army was largely supplemented by local state militias. At Washington's discretion, the inexperienced officers and untrained troops were employed in a Fabian strategy rather than resorting to frontal assaults against Britain's professional army. During the war Washington lost more battles than he won, but he maintained a fighting force in the face of British field armies and never surrendered his troops.
  Acting on intelligence, Gage planned to destroy stores of militia ordnance at Concord by way of Lexington to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, the two principle provocateurs of the rebellion. The operation was to commence before midnight while completing their objectives and retreating to Boston before multitudes of patriot militias could respond. However, the patriots also had a good intelligence network, which Paul Revere had helped organize. Subsequently, the Patriots learned of Gage's intentions before he could act, where Revere quickly dispatched this information and alerted Captain John Parker and the patriot forces in Concord.
  Fighting broke out during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, when patriots fired the first shot forcing the British troops to conduct a fighting withdrawal to Boston. Overnight, the local militia converged on and laid siege to Boston. On May 25, 4,500 British reinforcements arrived with generals William Howe, John Burgoyne, and Henry Clinton. During the Battle of Bunker Hill the British seized the Charlestown Peninsula on June 17 with a frontal assault costing many officer casualties to American rifle snipers. Surviving British commanders were dismayed at the costly attack which had gained them little, and Gage appealed to London stressing the need for a large army to suppress the revolt. Total British losses killed and wounded exceeded 1,000, leading Howe to replace Gage.
  Congressional leader John Adams of Massachusetts nominated Virginia delegate George Washington for commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in June 1775. He had previously commanded Virginia militia regiments in British combat commands during the French and Indian War. Washington proceeded to Boston to assume field command of the ongoing Siege of Boston on July 3. Howe made no effort to attack in a standoff with Washington, who made no plan to assault the city. Instead, the Americans fortified Dorchester Heights. In early March 1776, Colonel Henry Knox arrived with heavy artillery captured from a raid on Fort Ticonderoga. Under cover of darkness Washington placed his arti
caption: British regulars and Canadian militia repulse American attack on Quebec
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