next winter held thousands of men captive in Valley Forge near Philadelphia. More than twenty-
five hundred men died from disease, frostbite, or hunger, while another thousand deserted the
base entirely.
The largest battles fought in the south came in the late 1770’s when General Sir Henry
Clinton earned a new job as a commander of British troops. He sent three thousand men to the
port of Savannah, Georgia hoping to control the two most southern colonies Georgia and South
Carolina. And as twenty months go by, the British had defeated three American armies and had
seized both port cities of Savannah and Charleston with this they controlled all of Georgia and
small portions of South Carolina. With this success British officers believed the war would be
over in no time. British General Charles Cornwallis, attacked a second South Carolina city,
Charleston on May 12. By 1780, most of South Carolina was under British control.
By 1781, a momentum change occurring pushing the Americans to fight with ferociously,
winning battle after battle starting with the Battle at the Cowpens, where Patriots killed over a
hundred and captured seven hundred others. Around the same time, Cornwallis and his army had
to join up with Benedict Arnold’s infantry at Petersburg, Virginia combining a total of seventy-
two hundred men. Both officers weren’t worried about an American attack because Washington’s
main force seemed preoccupied with attacking New York. In July of 1780, the French managed
to land six thousand soldiers at Newport, Rhode Island while the British controlled almost all of
American waters. Washington persuaded the French commander in Rhode Island to join in an
attack in New York. When the two armies joined up, they received news that French Admiral
Francois-Joseph-Paul de Grasse was headed for Chesapeake Bay with a large fleet and three
7
Garcia
thousand soldiers. Washington decided to change his strategy, by moving his men to the direction
of Yorktown. August 30
th
, Admiral de Grasse’s fleet reached Yorktown, taking out the British
fleet forcing them to abandon Cornwallis and his army leaving them with no food or supplies. De
Grasse then sent his ships to pick up the soldiers who were marching from New York to
Yorktown, upon returning with about sixteen thousand men. After setting up in three strategic
locations around the British fort, the battle began on September 28, 1781. These locations closed
off all escape routes and bombarded them with artillery for several days. October 17
th
came
around and General Cornwallis finally surrendered. Two days later, the seven thousand British
troops walked out of Yorktown and laid down their weapons.
In December 1781, King George did not want to send any more troops to America.
February 27
th
the next year, Parliament had a vote to end the war. The British leaders chose to
come to terms of peace with America so they could focus on the global war they had with France
and Spain. After the Continental Congress heard news of the British decision to negotiate, they
sent a group of American leaders to go to Paris and come to a resolution with the British. The
men who made the trip include John Adams, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin. Negotiations
