By the spring of seventeen seventy-eight, General Washington and his army were ready to fight again.
General Howe was still in Philadelphia. His behavior as a military leader was sometimes difficult to understand. At times, he was a good commander and a brave soldier. At other times, he stayed in the safety of cities, instead of leading his men in battle.
The next series of important battles in the American Revolution was led by another British general, John Burgoyne. His plan was to capture the Hudson River Valley in New York state and separate New England from the other colonies. Doing this, the British believed, would make it easier to capture the other colonies.
The plan did not succeed. American General Benedict Arnold defeated the British troops in New York. General Burgoyne had expected help from General Howe, but that help never came. Burgoyne was forced to surrender at the town of Saratoga.
The American victory at Saratoga was extremely important. It ended the British plan to separate New England from the other colonies. It also showed European nations that the Americans might be able to win their revolution. This was something that France, especially, had wanted ever since being defeated earlier by the British in the French and Indian War.
The French government had been supplying the Americans secretly through the work of America's minister to France, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was popular with the French people and with French government officials. He helped gain French sympathy for the American cause.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
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2013-11-25