FamilySearch Wiki

Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783

Revision as of 08:50, 21 May 2024 by SvareJM (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
News

The Revolutionary War pension files for all 80,000 pension and bounty-land warrant applications are now available online at Fold3.com ($). Fold3 is available free at some libraries.

Topics
Other Nations
Did You Know?

In 1775, when the American Revolution began, there was no regular army. Instead each colony defended itself with a militia made up of local men. With few exceptions, any male 16 or older was expected to participate in the milita. By 1776 Washington had an army of 20,000 men. About one-third came from colonial militia groups, and two-thirds were regular army.


Revolutionary-war-034-1-.jpg


The American Revolutionary War was fought from 1775 to 1783. It was also known as the American War of Independence. The Revolutionary War began with the confrontation between British troops and local militia at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on 19 April 1775. Throughout the war, state troops and local militias supplemented the Continental (Federal) Army. The total number of men who served is not known. Men between the ages of 16 and 60 may have served during the war in either the Continental Army, State Line Troops, or local militia mustered to help the Continental Troops.

After the French and Indian war ended 1773, the British Parliament imposed a series of taxes on their American colonies in an attempt to recover some of the cost of the war, to have the colonies pay for their own defense, and to assert authority over the colonies. The taxes were not well received by the colonists, who felt that as they lacked representation in the Parliament, their rights as Englishmen were being violated and the taxes were unlawful. The colonists attempted to gain representation in the British Parliament without success. When gaining representation failed each colony began to form their own parliaments or governments. These colonial government bodies would then overturn British laws that they felt were unlawful and created an undue burden. In response, Britain sent in more soldiers, and the colonies were occupied by a standing army. The already overburdened colonists were required to feed and clothe the army. This series of events lead to the outbreak of war on April 19, 1775. The colonists’ original aim was to restore their rights as Englishmen; however, by early 1776 the idea that the American Revolution was a bid for independence began to form and take root, and by July the Colonists had declared their independence from the rule of the British Empire.

In 1775, when war seemed like a possibility, a congress was formed with delegates from all 13 original colonies. This assembly, the Continental Congress, was a loose confederation of the colonies soon to become states. As part of their duties, the Continental Congress formed an army originally of enlisted men of short duration, but over the course of the war became a standing army of both enlisted men and conscripts, soldiers who were drafted into service. In addition to the Continental Army formed by the Congress, states, counties, and towns formed militias who fought and protected around their local area or for with the Continental Army. Revolutionary War records are the enlistment or muster roles both for the local militias and the Continental Army, pension files, and bounty land warrants. These records may include information on leave, mustering out or separation from the army, and any pension or benefits received as part of service or upon separation from the army or the militia. Military Rosters and Enlistment or Muster Rolls provide a record of when a soldier or sailor served, where they served, and for how long. They also provide details of who they served under, rank, promotion, leave information, and when their service ended. These records tell where a soldier or sailor lived and where the enlisted which were not always the same place.

Getting Started

Original British Colonies

New England

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies

Canada Remained Loyal to Britain

State Revolutionary War Records

The Revolutionary War was fought before these states existed. However, many of these states have information specific to their area on individuals that served in the war and later lived in these states.

Online Collections

Chronology of Major Events
16 Dec 1773 Boston Tea Party
18 Mar 1774 British occupied Boston, Massachusetts until evacuated 7 March 1776.
5 Sep 1774 First Continental Congress convened.
19 Apr 1775 Battle at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
17 Jun 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill, Massachusetts.
4 Jul 1776 Declaration of Independence adopted.
15 Sep 1776 New York City occupied by the British until 26 November 1783.
26 Dec 1776 Attack at Trenton, New Jersey.
3 Jan 1777 Attack at Princeton, New Jersey.
11 Sep 1777 Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania.
19 Dec 1777 Washington's army established headquarters at Valley Forge.
6 Feb 1778 U.S. and France entered a military alliance.
28 Jun 1778 Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey.
29 Dec 1778 Capture of Savannah, Georgia by the British. It was occupied until 11 July 1782.
23 Feb 1779 George Rogers Clark and his men took Vincennes, Indiana from the British.
21 June 1779 Spain declared war against the British.
21 Sep 1779 Spain wins the Battle of Baton Rouge, thus keeping the British out of the Mississippi valley.
12 May 1780 Charleston, South Carolina was captured by the British and
occupied until 14 December 1782.
16 Aug 1780 Battle near Camden, South Carolina.
7 Oct 1780 Patriots defeated a group of Loyalists at Kings Mountain, South Carolina.
17 Jan 1781 Battle at Cowpens near the Broad River in South Carolina.
15 Mar 1781 Battle at Guilford Co., North Carolina courthouse.
10 May 1781 British lost the Battle of Pensacola Florida.
19 Oct 1781 Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia.
30 Nov 1782 A preliminary peace treaty was signed in Paris, France.
3 Sep 1783 The final peace treaty was signed in Paris.

Boston Tea Party


Peckham, Howard, ed. The Toll of independence : engagements & battle casualties of the American Revolution. Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press, 1974. FS Library973 M2ti

Continental Congress


Continental Army

Continental Soldier

Officers

Prisoners of War

Naval Sources

Research Guides, Bibliographies and Reference Sources

Articles

Archives and Libraries

National Park Service

Revolutionary War Sources

Sources for Further Reading

Histories

  • Alden, John Richard. The American Revolution: 1775-1783. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1954.
  • Benson, John Lossing.Field-book of the American Revolution : published under the patronage of the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution ... reprint of the 1850-1852 ed. published in New York, Harper and Brothers, 2 vols. Cottonport, Louisiana : Polyanthos, 1972. FS Library 973 H2Lb Digital
  • Ferguson, E. James. The American Revolution: A General History, 1763-1790.rev. ed. Homewood, Illinois: The Dorsey Press, 1979.
  • Gibson, Lawrence Henry. The Coming of the Revolution: 1763-1775. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1954.
  • Jensen, Merrill. The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution 1763-1776. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
  • Loane, Nancy K. Following the drum : women at the Valley Forge encampment Washington, D.C. : Potomac Books, 2009. FS Library 974.813/V1 F2L
  • Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
  • Miller, John C. Origins of The American Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1943.
  • Miller, John C. Triumph of Freedom: 1775-1783. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948.
  • Morgan, Edmund S. The birth of the Republic: 1763-89. rev. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
  • Peckham, Howard. The War for Independence: A Military History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. 973 M2ti
  • Resch, John and Walter Sargent War and society in the American Revolution : mobilization and home fronts. DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2007.FS Catalog book 973 M2rjs;
  • Shy, John. A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

Additional Websites


Retrieved from "https://integration-ru.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=Revolutionary_War,_1775_to_1783&oldid=5748201"