vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
New Jersey
On the night of December 25 -- 26 , 1776 , the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River . After the crossing , he surprised and defeated the Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton . Slightly more than a week after victory at Trenton , American forces gained an important victory by stopping General Cornwallis 's charges at the Second Battle of Trenton . By evading Cornwallis 's army , Washington made a surprise attack on Princeton and successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3 , 1777 . Emanuel Leutze 's painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware became an icon of the Revolution .
American Revolutionary War
Britain triumphed over France and Spain in the Seven Years ' War , but this led to a financial crisis , as the national debt had doubled to £ 130 million , and the annual cost of the British civil and military establishment in America had quintupled when compared to 1749 . Smuggling had been tacitly accepted , but the practice decreased British revenue , so Whitehall decided to ensure that customs duties were unavoidable by passing the Stamp Act in 1765 . Colonists condemned the tax because their rights as Englishmen protected them from being taxed by a Parliament in which they had no elected representatives . Parliament argued that the colonies were `` represented virtually '' , an idea that was criticized throughout the Empire . Parliament did repeal the act in 1766 ; however , it also affirmed its right to pass laws that were binding on the colonies . From 1767 , Parliament began passing legislation to raise revenue for the salaries of civil officials , ensuring their loyalty while inadvertently increasing resentment among the colonists , and opposition soon became widespread . This
American Revolutionary War
After hostilities with the Dutch began in late 1780 , Britain had moved quickly , enforcing a blockade across the North Sea . Within weeks , the British had captured 200 Dutch merchantmen , and 300 more were holed up in foreign ports , though political turmoil within the Republic and peace negotiations by both sides helped keep conflict to a minimum . The majority of the Dutch public favored a military alliance with France against Britain ; however , the Dutch Stadtholder impeded these efforts , hoping to secure an early peace . To restore diminishing trade a Dutch squadron under Johan Zoutman escorted a fleet of some 70 merchantmen from the Texel . Zoutman 's ships were intercepted by Sir Hyde Parker , who engaged Zoutman at Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781 . Though the contest was tactically inconclusive , the Dutch fleet did not leave harbor again during the war , and their merchant fleet remained crippled .
Siege of Yorktown
On October 10 , the Americans spotted a large house in Yorktown . Believing that Cornwallis might be stationed there , they aimed at it and quickly destroyed it . Cornwallis sank more than a dozen of his ships in the harbor . The French began to fire at the British ships and scored a hit on the British HMS Charon , which caught fire , and in turn set two or three other ships on fire . Cornwallis received word from Clinton that the British fleet was to depart on October 12 , however Cornwallis responded by saying that he would not be able to hold out for long .
Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War
Great Britain 's trade with the thirteen American colonies fell apart once the American Revolution started , causing British businessmen , especially from the tobacco industry , to suffer . Income from the sale of woolen and metal products dropped sharply and export markets dried up . British merchant sailors also felt the pinch : it is estimated that 3,386 British merchant ships were seized by enemy forces during the war . However , Royal Navy warships did make up these losses somewhat , due to their own privateering efforts on enemy shipping , particularly Spanish and French merchant ships .
Thirteen Colonies
In Bermuda and the Bahamas local leaders were angry at the food shortages caused by British blockade of American ports . There was increasing sympathy for the American cause , including smuggling , and both colonies were considered `` passive allies '' of the United States throughout the war . When an American naval squadron arrived in the Bahamas to seize gunpowder , the colony gave no resistance at all .
Spain and the American Revolutionary War
The Spanish also assisted in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 , the critical and final major battle of the North America theater . French General Jean - Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur , comte de Rochambeau , commanding his country 's forces in North America , sent a desperate appeal to François Joseph Paul de Grasse , the French admiral designated to assist the Colonists , asking him to raise money in the Caribbean to fund the campaign at Yorktown . With the assistance of Spanish agent Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis , the needed cash , over 500,000 in silver pesos , was raised in Havana , Cuba within 24 hours . This money was used to purchase critical supplies for the siege , and to fund payroll for the Continental Army .
Vermont
In 1775 , after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , the Green Mountain Boys assisted a force from Connecticut , led by Benedict Arnold , in capturing the British fort at Ticonderoga . Thereafter , the Continental Congress in Philadelphia directed the New York colony 's revolutionary congress to fund and equip Allen 's militia as a ranger regiment of the Continental Army , which it did . Seth Warner was chosen by the men of the regiment to lead , while Ethan Allen went on to serve as a colonel in Schuyler 's Army of Northern New York .
American Revolutionary War
In 1780 , Clinton launched an attempt to retake New Jersey . On June 7 , 6,000 men invaded under Hessian general Wilhelm von Knyphausen , but they met stiff resistance from the local militia . The British held the field , but Knyphausen feared a general engagement with Washington 's main army and withdrew . Knyphausen and Clinton decided upon a second attempt two weeks later which was soundly defeated at Springfield , effectively ending British ambitions in New Jersey . Meanwhile , American general Benedict Arnold had defected to the British , and he conspired to betray the key American fortress of West Point by surrendering it to the enemy . The plot was foiled when British spy master John André was captured , so Arnold fled to British lines in New York . He attempted to justify his betrayal by appealing to Loyalist public opinion , but the Patriots strongly condemned him as a coward and turncoat .
Siege of Yorktown
Cornwallis pulled back from all of his outer defenses , except for the Fusilier 's redoubt on the west side of the town and redoubts 9 and 10 in the east . Cornwallis had his forces occupy the earthworks immediately surrounding the town because he had received a letter from Clinton that promised relief force of 5,000 men within a week and he wished to tighten his lines . The Americans and the French occupied the abandoned defenses and began to establish their own batteries there . With the British outer defenses in their hands , allied engineers began to lay out positions for the artillery . The men improved their works and deepened their trenches . The British also worked on improving their defenses .
Spain and the American Revolutionary War
Nelson was one of the first to become ill , and he was shipped downriver on April 28 , the day before the Spanish surrendered the fort . About 450 British reinforcements arrived on May 15 , but the blacks and the Indians abandoned the expedition because of illness and discontent . Although Dalling persisted in trying to gather reinforcements , sickness continued to take a heavy toll , and the expedition was abandoned on November 8 , 1780 . The Spanish reoccupied the remains of the fort after the British blew it up on departure . In all , more than 2,500 men died , which `` made the San Juan expedition the costliest British disaster of the entire war . ''
American Revolutionary War
George III Lord North Lord George Germain full list ... Strength United States : Army & Militia : 40,000 ( average ) 200,000 ( total served ) Navy : 5,000 sailors ( peak 1779 ) 53 frigates and sloops ( total served ) State Navies : 106 ships ( total served ) Privateers : 55,000 sailors ( total served ) 1,697 ships Allies : Army : 63,000 French and Spanish ( Gibraltar ) Navy : 146 ships - of - the - line ( 1782 ) American Indian Allies : Unknown Great Britain : Army : 48,000 ( America peak ) 121,000 ( global 1781 ) 7,500 ( Gibraltar ) Navy : 94 ships - of - the - line ( 1782 ) 104 frigates ( 1781 ) 37 sloops ( 1781 ) 171,000 sailors Loyalists : 25,000 ( total served ) Hanoverians : 2,365 ( total served ) German mercenaries : 29,875 ( total served ) American Indian Allies : 13,000 Casualties and losses United States : 25,000 -- 70,000 total dead 6,800 killed in battle 17,000 died of disease France : at least 7,000 dead ( 2,112 in the United States ) Spain : 5,000 killed Netherlands : 500 killed Total : 37,000 -- 82,500 + soldiers dead Great Britain : Army : 43,633 total dead ~ 9,372 killed in battle 27,000 died of disease Navy : 1,243 killed in battle 18,500 died of disease ( 1776 -- 1780 ) 42,000 deserted Germans : 7,774 total dead 1,800 killed in battle 4,888 deserted Loyalists : 7,000 total dead 1,700 killed in battle 5,300 died of disease ( estimated ) Total : 78,200 + soldiers dead
Roanoke Colony
They say that their traditions say that the people we call the Croatan Indians ( though they do not recognize that name as that of a tribe , but only a village , and that they were Tuscaroras ) , were always friendly to the whites ; and finding them destitute and despairing of ever receiving aid from England , persuaded them to leave ( Roanoke Island ) , and go to the mainland ... They gradually drifted away from their original seats , and at length settled in Robeson , about the center of the county ...
Confederate States of America
Potters House , Atlanta Ga Downtown Charleston SC Navy Yard , Norfolk Va Rail bridge , Petersburg Va
Tennessee in the American Civil War
The Confederates continued to hold East Tennessee despite the strength of Unionist sentiment there , with the exception of strongly pro-Confederate Sullivan and Rhea Counties .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
On March 19 , the editors of the Clarksville Chronicle endorsed a pro-Union candidate for state senator in Robertson , Montgomery , and Stewart counties .
Border states (American Civil War)
Though Tennessee had officially seceded , East Tennessee was pro-Union and had mostly voted against secession . Its attempts to secede from Tennessee were suppressed by the Confederacy . Jefferson Davis arrested over 3,000 men suspected of being loyal to the Union and held them without trial . Tennessee came under control of Union forces in 1862 and was occupied to the end of the war . For this reason , it was omitted from the Emancipation Proclamation . After the war , Tennessee was the first Confederate state to have its elected members readmitted to the US Congress .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
In a letter to Democratic senator Andrew Johnson , the publisher of the Clarksville ( TN ) Jeffersonian , C.O. Faxon , surmised that the margin by which the `` No Convention '' vote won would have been even greater , had Union men not been afraid that if a State Convention were not called then , then Isham Harris would have again called for a State Convention when more state legislators were `` infected with the secession epidemic '' ( ... ) `` Gov Harris is Check mated ( sic ) . The Union maj ( ority ) in the State will almost defy computation ( . ) So far as heard from the disunionist have carried by a single precinct . The Union and American ( Nashville , TN pro-secessionist paper ) Stands rebuked and damned before the people of the State ''
Battle of Fort Sumter
The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the first military action of the American Civil War . Following the surrender , Northerners rallied behind Lincoln 's call for all states to send troops to recapture the forts and preserve the Union . With the scale of the rebellion apparently small so far , Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for 90 days . Some Northern states filled their quotas quickly . There were so many volunteers in Ohio that within 16 days they could have met the full call for 75,000 men by themselves . Other governors from border states were undiplomatic in their responses . For example , Gov. Claiborne Jackson wrote , `` Not one man will the state of Missouri furnish to carry on any such unholy crusade '' , and Gov. Beriah Magoffin wrote , `` Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states . '' The governors of other states still in the Union were equally unsupportive . The call for 75,000 troops triggered four additional slave states to declare their secession from the Union and join the Confederacy . The ensuing war lasted four years , effectively ending in April 1865 with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee 's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomatox Courthouse .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
Many battles were fought in the state , most of them victories by the larger Union forces .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
Unionists of all descriptions , both those who became Confederates and those who did not , considered the proclamation calling for seventy - five thousand troops `` disastrous . '' Having consulted personally with Lincoln in March , Congressman Horace Maynard , the unconditional Unionist and future Republican from East Tennessee , felt assured that the administration would pursue a peaceful policy . Soon after April 15 , a dismayed Maynard reported that `` the President 's extraordinary proclamation '' had unleashed `` a tornado of excitement that seems likely to sweep us all away . '' Men who had `` heretofore been cool , firm and Union loving '' had become `` perfectly wild '' and were `` aroused to a frenzy of passion . '' For what purpose , they asked , could such an army be wanted `` but to invade , overrun and subjugate the Southern states . '' The growing war spirit in the North further convinced southerners that they would have to `` fight for our hearthstones and the security of home . ''
Confederate States of America
Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions adopting the forms of state governments without control of substantial territory or population in either case . The antebellum state governments in both maintained their representation in the Union . Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the `` Five Civilized Tribes '' -- the Choctaw and the Chickasaw -- in Indian Territory and a new , but uncontrolled , Confederate Territory of Arizona . Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of martial law ; Delaware , though of divided loyalty , did not attempt it . A Unionist government was formed in opposition to the secessionist state government in Richmond and administered the western parts of Virginia that had been occupied by Federal troops . The Restored Government later recognized the new state of West Virginia , which was admitted to the Union during the war on June 20 , 1863 , and re-located to Alexandria for the rest of the war .
Conclusion of the American Civil War
Colonel Louis Merrill kept the Headquarters Department of the Cumberland in Nashville , Tennessee informed and according to a letter he wrote on May 4 , 1865 , there were about 10,000 soldiers under Wofford 's command , `` on paper . '' These consisted of all the Confederate troops in northwestern Georgia , however only about a third could actually be collected as the rest were deserters . From this group there were a number of soldiers that resisted General Wofford 's efforts to make them follow his commands .
Conclusion of the American Civil War
About ten minutes after the surrender , Pritchard heard rapid gunfire to the north . He left Davis and the captured men in the hands of his 21 - year - old adjutant . Once he had approached the gunfire , he realized it was the 4th Michigan and the 1st Wisconsin shooting at each other with Spencer repeating carbines , neither realizing who they were shooting at . Pritchard immediately ordered his men to stop and shouted to the 1st Wisconsin to identify the parties . In the five - minute skirmish , the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry had suffered eight men wounded , while the 4th Michigan Cavalry had lost two men killed and one wounded .
Confederate States of America
Ft . Sumter ( April 12 ) and Lincoln 's call up ( April 15 )
Rhode Island
During the American Civil War , Rhode Island was the first Union state to send troops in response to President Lincoln 's request for help from the states . Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men , of whom 1,685 died . On the home front , Rhode Island and the other northern states used their industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials that it needed to win the war . The United States Naval Academy moved to Rhode Island temporarily during the war .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
Having ratified by popular vote its connection with the fledgling Confederacy , Tennessee became the last state to declare formally its withdrawal from the Union .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
General William Sherman 's famous March to the Sea saw him personally escorted by the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment , which consisted entirely of Unionist southerners . Despite its name , the regiment consisted largely of men from Tennessee .
Border states (American Civil War)
The ultimate decision about West Virginia was made by the armies in the field . The Confederates were defeated , the Union was triumphant , so West Virginia was born . In late spring 1861 Union troops from Ohio moved into western Virginia with the primary strategic goal of protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . General George B. McClellan destroyed Confederate defenses in western Virginia . Raids and recruitment by the Confederacy took place throughout the war . Current estimates of soldiers from West Virginia are 20,000 - 22,000 men each to the Union and the Confederacy .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
East Tennessee was a stronghold of Unionism ; most slaves were house servants -- luxuries -- rather than the base of plantation operations . The dominant mood strongly opposed secession . Tennesseans representing twenty - six East Tennessee counties met twice in Greeneville and Knoxville and agreed to secede from Tennessee ( see East Tennessee Convention of 1861 . ) They petitioned the state legislature in Nashville , which denied their request to secede and sent Confederate troops under Felix Zollicoffer to occupy East Tennessee and prevent secession .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
In the June 8 , 1861 referendum , East Tennessee held firm against separation , while West Tennessee returned an equally heavy majority in favor . The deciding vote came in Middle Tennessee , which went from 51 percent against secession in February to 88 percent in favor in June .
Tennessee in the American Civil War
The Banner urged its readers to ignore the presidential election and direct their energy into building `` a local movement here at home '' to end Republican rule .
Confederate States of America
The survival of the Confederacy depended on a strong base of civilians and soldiers devoted to victory . The soldiers performed well , though increasing numbers deserted in the last year of fighting , and the Confederacy never succeeded in replacing casualties as the Union could . The civilians , although enthusiastic in 1861 -- 62 , seem to have lost faith in the future of the Confederacy by 1864 , and instead looked to protect their homes and communities . As Rable explains , `` This contraction of civic vision was more than a crabbed libertarianism ; it represented an increasingly widespread disillusionment with the Confederate experiment . '' Victories
Tennessee in the American Civil War
Initially , most Tennesseans showed little enthusiasm for breaking away from a nation whose struggles it had shared for so long . In 1860 , they had voted by a slim margin for the Constitutional Unionist John Bell , a native son and moderate who continued to search for a way out of the crisis .
Border states (American Civil War)
The exiled state government was forced to withdraw into Arkansas . For the rest of the war , it consisted of several wagon loads of civilian politicians attached to various Confederate armies . In 1865 , it vanished .
Conclusion of the American Civil War
Pritchard learned from local residents that about a mile and a half to the north there was a military camp . Not knowing whether this was Davis and his group or the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry , he approached cautiously . He soon identified the camp as Davis 's . At first dawn , Pritchard charged the camp , which was so surprised and overwhelmed that it offered no resistance and yielded immediately .
Battle of Fort Sumter
Jump up ^ Eicher , pp. 52 -- 53 , 72 -- 73 . Jump up ^ Eicher , pp. 820 , 841 . Jump up ^ Eicher , p. 834 . Jump up ^ `` Louisiana State University Army ROTC Unit History '' . Louisiana State University . Retrieved January 24 , 2015 . Jump up ^ `` Civil War Centennial Issue '' . Smithsonian National Postal Museum . Retrieved Oct 1 , 2013 . ^ Jump up to : `` Civil War Centennial Issue '' , Arago : people , postage & the post , National Postal Museum online , viewed March 16 , 2014 .
American Civil War
Lincoln called on all the states to send forces to recapture the fort and other federal properties . With the scale of the rebellion apparently small so far , Lincoln called for only 75,000 volunteers for 90 days . The governor of Massachusetts had state regiments on trains headed south the next day . In western Missouri , local secessionists seized Liberty Arsenal . On May 3 , 1861 , Lincoln called for an additional 42,000 volunteers for a period of three years .
Confederate States of America
Richmond , Virginia was chosen for the interim capital at the Virginia State Capitol . The move was used by Vice President Stephens and others to encourage other border states to follow Virginia into the Confederacy . In the political moment it was a show of `` defiance and strength '' . The war for southern independence was surely to be fought in Virginia , but it also had the largest Southern military - aged white population , with infrastructure , resources and supplies required to sustain a war . The Davis Administration 's policy was that , `` It must be held at all hazards . ''
Confederate States of America
Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4 , 1861 . After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter April 12 , 1861 , and Lincoln 's subsequent call for troops on April 15 , four more states declared their secession : 10
Battle of Fort Sumter
After the formation of the Confederate States of America in early February , there was some debate among the secessionists whether the capture of the fort was rightly a matter for South Carolina or for the newly declared national government in Montgomery , Alabama . South Carolina governor Pickens was among the states ' rights advocates who thought that all property in Charleston harbor had reverted to South Carolina upon that state 's secession as an independent commonwealth . This debate ran alongside another discussion about how aggressively the installations -- including Forts Sumter and Pickens -- should be obtained . President Davis , like his counterpart in Washington , preferred that his side not be seen as the aggressor . Both sides believed that the first side to use force would lose precious political support in the border states , whose allegiance was undetermined ; before Lincoln 's inauguration on March 4 , five states had voted against secession , including Virginia , and Lincoln openly offered to evacuate Fort Sumter if it would guarantee Virginia 's loyalty .