GGCSAR.ORG GREAT GLADES Chapter
Sons of the American Revolution
serving the Pennsylvania counties of Somerset and Cambria
Formerly SOMERSET CAMBRIA CHAPTER

History 1775 - 1783

From The Military Heroes of the Revolution:

page 19, "The American Revolution, in whatever aspect viewed, forms an epoch in history. That a comparatively weak confederacy should undertake a war unassisted, against a power which had just humbled the proudest throne in Europe, appears at first sight little short of madness."

page 25-26, "The American Revolution naturally divides itself into five periods.

The first dates from the passage of the Stamp Act to the battle of Lexington. This was a period of popular excitement, increasing in an accelerated ratio, until it burst forth with almost irresistable fury at Lexington and Bunker Hill.

The second reaches to the battle of Trenton. During this period the popular enthusiasm died away, and recruits were difficult to be obtained for the army; consequently the American forces were made up chiefly of ill-disciplined militia, wholly incapable of opposing the splendid troops of England. As a result of this, the battle of Long Island was lost, and Washington was driven across the Delaware. In this emergency, even the most sanguine of the patriots were beginning to despair, when the commander in chief made his memorable attact at Trenton, and rescued the country from the brink of ruin.

The third period brings us up to the important alliance with France. It was during this period that a regular army, having some pretentions to discipline, was first formed; that the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth were fought; and that Burgoyne surrendered, It was a period when, notwithstanding the fortunes of the country occasionally ebbed, the cause of Independence on the whole steadily advanced.

The fourth period embraces the war at the south. During this period the military operations of the British at the north were comparatively neglected; indeed England now began to regard the conquest of the whole country impossible, and therefore resolved to concentrate all her energies on one part, in hopes to subdue it at least.

The fifth and last period, which had nearly proved fatal, after all, to Independence, comprises the capture of Cornwallis; witness the deliverance of the nation from a financial crisis; and finally beholds Independence acknowledged, and the enemy's troops withdrawn from our shores."