The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the military conflict of the American Revolution in which American Patriot forces under George Washington's command defeated the British, establishing and securing the independence of the United States. Fighting began on April 19, 1775, at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The war was formalized and intensified following passage of the Lee Resolution, which asserted that the Thirteen Colonies were "free and independent states", by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, and the unanimous ratification of the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4, 1776.
Richard Dale was an American naval officer who fought in the Continental Navy under John Barry and was first lieutenant for John Paul Jones during the naval battle off of Flamborough Head, England against HMS Serapis in the celebrated engagement of September 23, 1779. He became one of the six original commodores of the permanent United States Navy, and commanded a blockade of Tripoli in 1801 during the First Barbary War of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.
Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Spain.
The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada during the Revolutionary War assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779, for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying an expeditionary force of more than 1,000 American colonial marines and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.
Joshua Barney was an American Navy officer who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and as a captain in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He later achieved the rank of commodore in the United States Navy and also served in the War of 1812.
The Continental Marines were the amphibious infantry of the American Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The Corps was formed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775 and was disbanded in 1783. Their mission was multi-purpose, but their most important duty was to serve as onboard security forces, protecting the captain of a ship and his officers. During naval engagements, in addition to manning the cannons along with the crew of the ship, Marine sharpshooters were stationed in the fighting tops of a ship's masts specifically to shoot the opponent's officers, naval gunners, and helmsmen.
The siege of Pensacola was fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province of West Florida during the Gulf Coast campaign.
The siege of Baton Rouge was a brief siege during the Anglo-Spanish War that was decided on September 21, 1779. Fort New Richmond was the second British outpost to fall to Spanish arms during Bernardo de Gálvez's march into West Florida.
The Battle of Fort Charlotte, also known as the Siege of Fort Charlotte, was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish general Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding the port of Mobile, during the Anglo-Spanish War of 1779-1783. Fort Charlotte was the last remaining British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans, Louisiana. Its fall drove the British from the western reaches of West Florida and reduced the British military presence in West Florida to its capital, Pensacola.
Samuel Miles was an American military officer and politician, as well as an influential businessman and politician, active in Pennsylvania before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War.
William Jackson was a figure in the American Revolution and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as secretary to the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention, and as part of his duties added his signature to the United States Constitution. He also served with distinction in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war, he served as one of President George Washington's personal secretaries.
The Massachusetts Naval Militia, was a naval militia active during the American Revolutionary War. It was founded December 29, 1775, to defend the interests of Massachusetts during the war.
The Battle of Lake Pontchartrain was a single-ship action on September 10, 1779, part of the Anglo-Spanish War. It was fought between the British sloop-of-war HMS West Florida and the Continental Navy schooner USS Morris in the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, then in the British province of West Florida.
The Capture of the Bahamas took place in May 1782 during the American Revolutionary War when a Spanish force under the command of Juan Manuel Cagigal arrived on the island of New Providence near Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. The British commander at Nassau, John Maxwell decided to surrender the island without a fight when confronted by the superior force.
The Capture of Saint Vincent was a French invasion that took place between 16 and 18 June 1779 during the American Revolutionary War. A French force commander named Charles-Marie de Trolong du Rumain landed on the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies and quickly took over much of the British-controlled part of the island, assisted by local Black Caribs who held the northern part of the island.
General John Campbell, 17th Chief of MacArthur Campbells of Strachur was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, who commanded the British forces at the Siege of Pensacola, and succeeded Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester as Commander-in-Chief in North America in 1783 following the end of the American War of Independence.
Gálveztown was HMS West Florida, which the Continental Navy schooner USS Morris captured at the Battle of Lake Pontchartrain, which was then in the British province of West Florida. West Florida became Gálveztown, supposedly under the command of Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana.
The Anglo-French War, also known as the War of 1778 or the Bourbon War in Britain, was a military conflict fought between France and Great Britain, sometimes with their respective allies, between 1778 and 1783. As a consequence, Great Britain was forced to divert resources used to fight the American War of Independence to theatres in Europe, India and the West Indies, and to rely on what turned out to be the chimera of Loyalist support in its North American operations. From 1778 to 1783, with or without their allies, France and Britain fought over dominance in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean.
James Willing (1750–1801) was a representative of the American Continental Congress who led a 1778 military expedition during the American Revolutionary War. Known as the Willing Expedition, the effort involved raiding British forts, plantations, and other properties of loyalists in the colonial British West Florida settlement of Natchez. Later that year, he sought protection from the British by hiding out in New Orleans, but was taken prisoner by them on his attempt to return to Philadelphia.