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.