Fort Jay

In terms of aesthetics of the forts used in the Revolutionary War, Fort Jay may have the others beat with many trees, buildings, and a great view of New York City's skyscrapers. The fort was originally built during the American Revolution by the colonists in order to defend New York City. The first fortification of the site began in April of 1776 and armed with eight cannons to defend New York Harbor. More fortifications and artillery would soon be added and the cannons inflicted enough damage to make the British cautious about traveling through that part of the river and would later contribute to George Washington's success in the Battle of Brooklyn.

Fort Niagara

Easily the most uniquely shaped and designed fort of the Revolutionary Was was Fort Niagara. The fort is fixed on a peninsula in Youngstown, New York on a bank of the Niagara river. Instead of fortifying the property with huge walls on every side, this fort uses the cliffside to its advantage in that it has shorter walls on the riverside and big walls facing inland. This technique would have saved time, manpower, and lots of money. The fort served as the Loyalist base during the Revolutionary War for Colonel John Butler. The British maintained the fort for the entire war with only a few Colonist attempts of capture, which speaks to its effectiveness in battle.

Fort Stanwix

The construction of Fort Stanwix commenced on August 26, 1758 in present day Rome, New York under the British general John Stanwix and it was completed in 1762. The fort is in the shape of a square with 4 diamonds breaking out at each corner, which was a popular feature of forts of the time, because it provides more surface area to fit more cannons and to have more feasible angles on targets. Fort Stanwix was built to guard a portage between the main waterway southeastward to the Atlantic seacoast, down the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, and an important interior waterway northwestward to Lake Ontario, down Wood Creek and Oneida Lake to Oswego. The fort was abandoned in 1768 and allowed to go to ruin until it reconstructed by colonial troops in 1777 in order to be used in the revolutionary war where it would aid them greatly in their battles against the British.

Battle of Saratoga

The word Saratoga is short for the combination of the two battles that granted the Coup de Grace to the 1779 British invasion from Canada in the Revolutionary War. On the 19th of September, under the command of General John Burgoyne, who had just recaptured Fort Ticonderoga with ease, attacked American troops in a clearing known as Freeman's Farm. After hours of back and forth rifle fire, the rebels temporarily retreated leaving the battered British in possession of most of the grounds. Burgoyne attempted another assault on the 7th of October, and while Benedict Arnold was told to remain in his quarters by Horatio Gates, who was the original leader of these troops, Arnold decided to join the fighting and he led an attack that captured many key strong points causing the British forces to retreat to Saratoga. Ten days later, while surrounded by an outpouring of militia, Burgoyne was forced to surrender.

Battle of Monmouth

On Sunday June 28, 1778 General Washington and his troops, who were deprived of food and supplies after a a long and harsh winter in Valley Forge, came into combat with Lieutenant General Henry Clinton in Monmouth, New Jersey. On this rainy and storming day, as the British army exited the Monmouth courthouse, Washington attacked them from behind with marshy ground to give separation and used his artillery to keep the British in place to allow for the other colonist forces to attack from the other side. While the Americans held better position in this battle, as a result of their exhaustion from the winter, the battle was a stalemate between the to forces. Soon, the night would approach and Clinton withdrew undetected around midnight to resume his army's march to New York City. The armies were very similar in size and as were the number of casualties, which is why this battle was considered a neutral victory, however the Americans were unsuccessful at preventing Clinton's forces from reaching New York, so in a way it was a loss for the rebels.

Battle of Cowpens

The battle of Cowpens, which took place in South Carolina during the southern campaign of the revolutionary war, was fought by the British army led by Colonel Banastre and the Continental army forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. The battle took place on January 17, 1781 and it was a crucial turning point for the patriots in their reconquest of South Carolina. At this point in time, the Continental army had split up into more fronts in South Carolina in order to force the British contingent to also separate and fight the rebels on smaller fronts, which is favorable to their style of fighting. Both sides of the battle began with around one thousand soldiers, but as a result of the rebel's tactic to reposition themselves by skirmishing but leaving their first two lines of troops, the British ran into an unexpected volley of concentrated rifle fire and then a cavalry charge and the return of the militia. The American rifles proved to have far more success in this battle, given that 800 British troops were killed or wounded, while the Americans had less than 100.

The Battles Of Lexington and Concord

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, which took place on the April 19, 1775, were the official beginning to the revolutionary war. Tensions between the British and Colonists had been building for the past several years as a result of the British increasing taxes on many of their imports. The battle began in Lexington, where some 700 red coats came upon a measly 77 militiamen, who were gathered on the town green. To this day, nobody knows who fired the first shot in this battle. Several British volleys penetrated the lines of the colonist troops, and when the smoke cleared, eight militiamen laid dead and nine wounded, while only one red coat was hurt. The British continued to pursue the militiamen until they arrived in the town of Concord. When the troops arrived in Concord, they began to burn everything to the ground, which as a result gained the attention of many colonists who were occupying the land outside of Concord. About three hours later, around 2,000 minutemen had descended on the area, and more were constantly arriving. The minutemen who were attacking the British from behind trees and walls pushed the red coats back to Lexington and gained a victory in this battle. While only 250 British soldiers were killed in the battle, it proved that the colonists can compete with one of the world's greatest militaries.

Battle Of Bunker Hill

On June 16, 1775, after learning that the British were sending troops from Boston to occupy the surrounding hills, around 1,000 Colonists under the command of Colonel William Prescott built fortifications on top of Breed's Hill, which overlooks Boston. The battle received its name, because they had originally built their fortifications on Bunker Hill, but then decided that Breed's Hill had better location. On the seventeenth of June, some 2,200 British forces began to march the hill in coulombs. As a result of the colonists being low on ammunition, Prescott told his soldiers to only shoot when they could see the whites of the enemies eyes. The British had multiple unsuccessful attacks on the hill until they reached the top of the hill and forced the colonists to retreat. While the colonists lost the battle, they killed 800 British troops and wounded 300.

The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty at the Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. The movement was as a result of the Tea Act, which was a fairly substantial tax placed on tea by the British. The Colonials disguised themselves as Native Americans and in the darkness of the night, they raided the British ships that were transporting tea to the Colonies. They dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the harbor which would cost around one million dollars today. The colonists felt that the Tea Act violated their rights as Englishmen to "No Taxation without Representation". The British government responded to this occurrence harshly and it would later escalate into the Revolutionary War.

Fort Ticonderoga

Located at the south end of Lake Champlain in New York is Fort Ticonderoga. This was considered to be one of the best military forts of the eighteenth century, which had a crucial part in The Revolutionary war because of its strategic placement and design. The fort was initially British and was constructed in 1755, however it was captured in 1775 by Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont. This was the Americans first victory in the Revolutionary war. The fort was so secure because of its shape, walls, and weaponry. The fort is in the shape of a square with four large diamond shapes pointing out of each corner. The diamonds add more surface area to the outside of the fort, which also allows for more cannons to be held on it. The fort has multiple layers of walls improving the fortification immensely. In addition, the walls were seven feet tall and 14 feet thick making them impenetrable by any weapon of the time. The fort was supplied with around 300 canons, which was the second most of the US forts at the time.