| A | B |
|---|
| Fort Ticonderoga | Fort on Lake Champlain captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen. Supplied needed cannon for Washington's army. |
| Green Mountain Boys | Group of patriots in Vermont led by the Ethan Allen. |
| Battle of Bunker Hill (June, 1775) | Battle fought by General Howe to drive the patriots off the hills surrounding Boston. British victory. Fought mainly on Breed's Hill. |
| Second Continental Congress | Voted to raise an army and chose Washington as commander. Sent the Olive Branch petition to the King. Voted for independence. |
| Olive Branch Petition | Sent by the Second Continental Congress to King George III to try and end the fighting. |
| Patriots | People who supported independence from England. Called rebels by the British. |
| Loyalists | People who supported England. Called Tories by the patriots. |
| mercenaries | German troops (Hessians) hired by England to fight against the Americans. |
| "Common Sense" | Book written by Thomas Paine which tried to convince people to break away from England. |
| Declaration of Independence | Document which declared the colonies to be free from England. Signed on July 4, 1776, |
| Battle of Trenton (Dec., 1776) | Washington's surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas night. An American victory. |
| Battle of Princeton (Jan., 1777) | Another American victory over the British within a few days of Trenton. |
| Battle of Saratoga (Oct, 1777) | Important American victory over General Burgoyne's army. Considered the turning point of the war. |
| Battle of Brandywine (1777) | British victory over Washington's army. Philadelphia captured by the British. |
| Battle of Germantown (1777) | Major American defeat following Brandywine. |
| Valley Forge | Encampment near Philadelphia where Washington's army spent the terrible winter of 1777-78. |
| Fort Vincennes | British fort in the Ohio River Valley captured by George Rogers Clark. |
| territory | an area of land belonging to a government. |
| privateers | privately owned merchant ships mounted with cannon which attacked British ships. |
| "Ranger" | John Paul Jones's ship with which he attacked the coast of England. |
| "Bonhomme Richard" | John Paul Jones's ship named after "Poor Richard's Almanac". Defeated the "Serapis" in a famous sea battle. |
| "Serapis" | British warship defeated in a famous battle by the "Bonhomme Richard". |
| West Point | Fort on the Hudson River which Benedict Arnold commanded and tried to give over to the British. |
| Battle of Yorktown (1778) | Final major battle of the war. General Cornwallis defeated by Washington's army and the French navy. |
| Treaty of Paris 1783 | Treaty which recognized American independence from England. |
