Revolutionary+War+Figures

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John Hancock
In early 1775, the British General Thomas Gage learned that Massachusetts patriots were collecting guns, and ammunition and hiding it in Concord. Thomas Gage took action, and sent 800 soliders to seize the Patriots. The Patriots learned of Gage's plan and sent Paul Revere to warn everyone that the British were coming. John Hancock and Samuel Adams escaped to the Hancock-Clarke House before the British could capture them. General Thomas Gage, found Hancock and Adams, and ordered them to be arrested for treason. A proclamation was pronounced giving a general pardon to all who would show loyalty to the crown, with the exceptions of Hancock and Adams.

1775 - February 1, in Cambridge, Mass., a provincial congress is held during which John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin defensive preparations for a state of war. On February 9, the English Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. (This paragraph from http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/index.html)

On May 24, 1775, John was elected to be the third president of the Continental Congress. He served as the third Continental Congress President until October 30, 1777.

On June 19, 1775 John Hancock made George Washington commander-in-chief of the Army of the United. John Hancock was the governor of Massachusetts from 1780-1785.

During the [|American Revolution] he was best known for his ability to raise funds and provide supplies for American troops.

Most of Hankcock's tributes were into the Declaration of Independence, the document that changed the world. John Hancock was the first to sign the document, and he signed it the biggest of all!



Samuel Adams
[|Samuel Adams] was a delegate from Massachusetts. He was a workhouse member of Congress and he was also apart of the Board of War, in 1775. He served in the Board of War until 1781.

Samuel Adams played a major role in the Boston Massacre. He was led by the Sons of Liberty on the night of March 5, 1770. The colonists, including Samuel Adams, started to taunt the British guard of duty. Many other soldiers came to help the guard and were attacked by members of the crowd. The soldiers shot in the crowd killing three colonists and wounding several others. Samuel Adams, and many others, used this so-called Boston Massacre to bring forth even more dislike of the British

In the late 1780's Samuel Adams became an Anti-Federalist, who struggled to ratify the Constitution and were aganist it. They fought in arguments againist Federalists', another party who was for the Constitution. To many of the Anti-Federalists, the new Constitution would destroy the rights of the states and the individual liberties of the people. They also believed that the Consitutional Convention had gone far beyond its authority. They called the convention to improve the Articles of Confederation, not rewrite the plan of government.

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Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen spent alot of his life trying to gain independence for Vermont. Ethan Allen was the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, named when New York forced Vermont settlers from the fields in the "Green Mountains". The Green Mountain Boys and Colonel Arnold Benidict are most famous for taking over Fort Ticonderoga in the first colonial victory of the Revolutionary War. He persuaded many Indians and Canadians to fight for America in the Revolutionary War.

On September 24, 1777 he attempted to take over Montreal who had many more troops than him. Another attack force failed. Allen and his troops were easily captured and were sent to England to be tried as a traitor to King George III.

In the spring of 1777, he was sent free for exchange of a British officer.



**[|Friedrich Von Steuben]**
Friedrich Von Steuben was general a Prussia-American general of the Revolutionary War. He came to the Americas in 1778 and offered his services to the George Washington. The Congress put him into the Continental Army and later Washington appointed him as an inspector General. Von Steuben remodeled the Continental Army and an efficient staff plus improved its discipline. In 1783, he became an American citizen.



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John Burgoyne (Gentleman Johnny)
He was born in Sutton, February 22, 1722. He was given the nickname, Gentleman Johnny.

[|John Burgoyne] was elected head of the British reinforcements from Canada. During, The Revolutionary War, the British had a plan to destroy the COntinental Army and win a victory in 1777. The British hoped to gain control of the Hudson River Valley in New York. This would allow them to cut New England off from the rest of the colonies and to make sure British had firm control over Philadelphia, and New York. General John Burgoyne and hos troops were to march south from Canada to Albany, to help make this plan succeed. Unfortunatley, none of the British plans worked and they were defeated. The Americans won these battles with the help of the French.

On October 17, 1777, at Saratoga, his 5,800 troops were defeated once again. This defeat proved to be a great turning point in the war, because France was brought into the war to help the Americans. France and Great Britain were long time enemies, and France saw the chance to get revenge.

When Burgoyne returned to England he was not respected. This caused him to step down from his position, but in 1782 some of his political friends decided to go into office. John Burgoyne was given his rank back, and was made commander in chief of Ireland.

Gentleman Johnny started to spend more time in his private life, after the government of Rockingham declined in 1783. He was greatly remembered as a politician and a British leader. He greatly affected the outcome of the Revolutionary War.



**John Paul Jones**
He left for France on November 1,1777 to help the American’s struggle against the British. His first assignment was on the USS Alfred. They were assigned to sail on the Delaware River in February 1776 to attack the British coast, wich forced the British to keep part of its naval force close to home. Congress had ordered the construction of 13 ships for the American Navy to attack, which he was supposed to command.

Even as his ship was sinking, he never gave up and he survived to live a peaceful life back in his hometown of France. After he had returned to France, the future American Navies based their strategies on the work of John Paul Jones.

Jones died on July 18th, 1792 in Paris. In a 1913 ceremony, President Roosevelt made a tribute speech for his works.



**Marquis De Lafayette**
The [|Marquis de Lafayette] was one of the richest people in France, but he humbled himself and helped the tiny, miserable Continental Army. He used his money to buy some of the soldiers’ uniforms so they wouldn’t be naked or without shirts, shorts, or shoes. He also helped them make it through the nasty winter even though they thought they wouldn’t make it. He helped train the army with the help of George Washington and Friedrich Von Steuben.



**King George III**
[|King George] the third was hated by the Patriots and was loved by the Loyalists. After the Declaration was signed and given to him, he hated it with such a passion he almost gave up his throne that day.

While all this was happening the King also had a personal feud with the Whig leader Charles James Fox. The feud came to a standstill and ultimate conclusion with the end of the Fox-North ministry.

The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, officially ended the Revolutionary War. During the last years of his reign, King George became mentally ill (insane) and blind, unable to fulfill his official duties.



**Thomas Paine**
Thomas Paine was a very inspiring, helpful man in the American Revolution. He wrote many inspiring books as well. Two of them had to do with the Revolutionary War. He had helped people along when they didn’t know what to do.

The first book he wrote was called [|Common Sense]. It was published in January of 1776. It had been a best seller because everybody in Europe and the colonies read it. If they hadn’t read it, but heard about it, they would go find a copy and read it. His book helped the colonies realize that having a king makes life harder. Once they realized that, they blamed King George III for everything, it helped the colonists resolve their problems with Britain and stand up and fight aganist them.

He had also written the other book after Common Sense. It was called //The Crisis//. This book taught people how to handle things on their own and do it in the best way possible. It also talked about arguments for continuing the Revolutionary War. All of the articles were written at different times. All of them were written in between the years of 1776-1783. The articles were written in Philadelphia except for the fifth one, which was written in Lancaster. The point he was trying to get across was that we mostly value they things that we struggle with the hardest and the things that are the hardest to achieve.



= George Wahington = He made a huge military mistake by occupying a hard to defend position in Brooklyn, even though he saved his army by skillfully, He did this by withdrawing from Manhattan and going into Westchester County, and all the way through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. (It wasn’t a smart idea). [|Washington] and his troops got away but there were a lot of injured soldiers that had suffered greatly as they got away from the British.
 * New York**

George Washington using cannon took down Ticonderoga that was being held up by Henry Knox. Washington did his commanding very effectively and forced the British to leave the city on March 17.
 * March 1776**

Washington was very short of men and supplies, he almost gave up hope. George Washington lost New York City to the British. The troops enlistments are almost finished up for a number of the many troops and others were either deserting in large numbers. Washington was faced with the possible attack from the British on Philadelphia and so he withdrew from the city.
 * Last months of 1776**

George Washington's black housekeeper saved his life by acting as if she was a friend to one of the Tory spies. She overheard a plan to kill George Washington by giving him a dish of contaminated peas and when she saw him being given the poisoned peas, she grabbed them and threw them out the window.

George Washington was one of the greatest known army generals because of his devotion to his troops and of his leardership. He was a very wise man, and brought our country further in the military.

John Stark
[|The Battle of Bennington] is what [|John Stark] of most famously known for. The battle took place on August 16, 1777 in Bennington, Vermont. John Stark and his troops had heard that an army only had half the soldiers as the Continental Army did, 1250. With John's great leader skills, he was able to strengthen the souls of his men. One of his most famous quotes was " Live free or die". Clearly the out numbering of the Americans, led them to win the war. The Americans would just pick away at the men an their supplies, until they surrendered.

Many believe that the Battle of Bennington led to the loss of Saratoga and might have even changed the outcome of the Revolutionary War.



Banastre Tarleton
Banastre Tarleton was on Britain’s side of the war. He volunteered in America, from England, in 1775. He arrived in America (North Carolina) on May 3, 1776 and was there when they were trying to take over Charleston in June.

Then in July his expedition sailed to New York. When the sixteenth [|Light Dragoons] arrived from England, he was assigned to that unit. Soon he was getting attention from his superiors. Then in December 1776 Tarleton was in the patrol that captured General Charles Lee in New Jersey. Colonel William Harcourt led it.

In 1777, Tarleton was promoted as Captain in Colonel Harcourt’s cavalry. In 1778 he became Captain of the 79th Foot (the 1st Company, Royal Liverpool Volunteers) skipping the rank of lieutenant. Then in January he was in a force the almost captured Captain Henry Lee.

In August 1778 Tarleton got promoted to Lieutenant Colonel Commandant. He was only 24, but put in charge of British Legion. It was made up of mostly American Loyalists from Pennsylvania and New York. They were formed in June 1778 and were trained just like normal soldiers. When Tarleton became in control he worked them until they became one of the army’s best units. Yet he led an unsuccessful attack on Poundridge, New York. He was chosen as an officer for the Southern campaign of 1780, after serving in all of the major engagements in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Tarleton was one of the most hated officials in the British army and was eventually called “Bloody Ben” and “Bloody Tarleton”.



**Benedict Arnold**
Benedict Arnold was one of the generals in the American Army. In the war, Arnold was one of the bravest people. He had tricked the British into thinking that the Americans had thousands of men coming to Fort Schuyler. When they got to Fort Schuyler there were no enemies in sight thanks to Arnold. Benedict Arnold wasn’t always that nice to the Americans.

Arnold was charged in court with the crime of using the army for personal things. This made him upset with them and began working with the British. The British paid him for his serves and promised him that he would be a British general. Soon the Americans found out and they punished him. He was replaced as general and had to flee from the America because everyone was upset with him. The Americans called him a traitor.