Military leadership in the American Revolutionary War

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American Revolutionary War

Armed Forces United States Continental Army  → Commander-in-Chief  → Regional departments  → List of units Continental Navy Continental Marines State forces  → List of militia units  → Pennsylvania Navy  → Massachusetts State Navy British Empire List of British units France List of French units Related topics List of battles Military leadership

A great number of military leaders played a role in the American Revolutionary War.

Contents 1 United States 1.1 Continental Army 1.2 American Militia 1.3 Continental Navy 1.4 Frontier 1.5 International leaders allied with the American Patriots 2 British Empire 2.1 Government officials 2.2 Commander-in-Chief, North America 2.3 Other military officers 2.4 Rangers and Indian Department officials 3 French & Spanish leaders 4 Native Americans 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] United States

When the war began, the American colonists did not have a regular army (also known as a "standing army"). Each colony had traditionally provided for its own defenses through the use of local militia.

Seeking to coordinate military efforts, the Continental Congress established (on paper) a regular army—the Continental Army—in June 1775, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress, and Washington reluctantly augmented the regular troops with militia throughout the war.

[edit] Continental Army

• Daniel Brodhead
• William Crawford
• Horatio Gates
• Nathanael Greene
• Edward Hand
• John Eager Howard
• Henry Knox
• Charles Lee
• Thomas Mifflin
• Israel Putnam
• John Morin Scott
• William Smallwood
• James Wilkinson
• Benedict Arnold (note that he betrayed the Americans midway through the war and sided with the British)

[edit] American Militia

• John Cadwalader
• Nicholas Herkimer
• John Stark
• William Whipple

[edit] Continental Navy

• John Paul Jones
• Abraham Whipple

[edit] Frontier

• Daniel Boone
• George Rogers Clark
• Nathanael Greene

[edit] International leaders allied with the American Patriots

• Thomas Conway
• Johann de Kalb
• Tadeusz Kościuszko
• Francisco de Miranda
• Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
• Kazimierz Pułaski
• Friedrich von Steuben

[edit] British Empire

See also: War Office

[edit] Government officials

• King George III of Great Britain
• George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville
• Frederick North, Lord North

At the head of the British forces was the King, George III, who was captain general of all forces both naval and military. It was usual for him to delegate his military powers as captain general or commander-in-chief. From 1772 to 1778 the office was vacant, but from 1778 to 1782 Sir Jeffery Amherst officiated as Commander-in-Chief with the title of General on the Staff. He was succeeded in February, 1782 by Henry Seymour Conway.

Next in importance to the Commander-in-Chief was the Secretary at War who was bidden "to observe and follow such orders and directions as he should from time to time receive from the king or the general of the forces". Not until 1783 was he a minister responsible to parliament. At the start of part of the war the secretary was Lord Barrington. He was replaced in 1778 by Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool who held this position until the fall of Lord North's government.

[edit] Commander-in-Chief, North America

• Thomas Gage
• William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
• Sir Henry Clinton
• Sir Guy Carleton

[edit] Other military officers

• Benedict Arnold
• John Burgoyne
• Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
• Simon Fraser of Lovat
• Simon Fraser of Balnian
• Henry Hamilton
• Banastre Tarleton
• Johann Rall

[edit] Rangers and Indian Department officials

• William Caldwell
• Simon Girty

[edit] French & Spanish leaders

• Comte d'Estaing (admiral)
• Comte de Grasse (admiral)
• Marquis de Lafayette (Continental Army officer)
• Pierre-Charles L'Enfant (Army officer)
• Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (diplomat)
• Comte de Rochambeau (commander of French army in America)
• Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (foreign minister)
• Bernardo de Gálvez (Commander-in-Chief of Spanish colonial forces)
• Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo (general)
• Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis (colonial official)
• Juan de Lángara (admiral)

[edit] Native Americans

• Joseph Brant (Mohawk)
• John Deseronto (Mohawk)

• Coanter (Seneca)
• Guyasuta (Seneca)
• Cornplanter (Seneca)
• Red Jacket (Seneca)
• Sayenqueraghta (Seneca)

• Dunquat (the Wyandot "Half-King")

• Dragging Canoe (Chickamauga Cherokee)

• Blue Jacket (Shawnee)
• Cornstalk (Shawnee)

• White Eyes (Lenape)
• Captain Pipe (Lenape)
• Buckongahelas (Lenape)

[edit] References

• Black, Jeremy. War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783. St. Martin's Press (New York) and Sutton Publishing (UK), 1991. ISBN 0-312-06713-5 (1991), ISBN 0-312-12346-9 (1994 paperback), ISBN 0-7509-2808-5 (2001 paperpack).
• Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New York: McKay, 1966; revised 1974. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1.

[edit] Further reading

• Anderson, Troyer Steele. The Command of the Howe Brothers During the American Revolution. New York and London, 1936.
• Buchanan, John. The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution. Wiley, 2004. ISBN 0-471-44156-2.
• Fischer, David Hackett. Washington's Crossing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-517034-2. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for History.
• Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-6081-8.
• McCullough, David. 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-2671-2.