The Center for Revolutionary Studies is a private venture, capturing the history, material culture and personalities of the American Revolutionary War.

FIND OUT HOW TO HELP SAVE AN IMPORTANT REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITE FROM DESTRUCTION AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE

The roots of the American Revolutionary War began with the regulation of colonial trade and increased taxation of the colonies. The 1761 Writs of Assistance permitted the search for illegal shipments, followed soon after by the Sugar Act of 1764, the Currency Act of the same year, the Stamp and Quartering Acts of 1765, and the Duty Act of 1767. To these heav taxes, the British government was also attempting to limit western expansion in America. The colonial unrest came to a head in 1773, when a group of protestors through a shipment of tea into Boston Harbor.

In 1774, the First Continental Congress was formed, and they sent a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" to the king. They also urged the colonies to form a Continental Association. The British government retaliated by sending troops to Massachusetts. In 1775, Paul Revere rode through the countryside warning of their arrival. Soon after, tempers erupted, and the British soldier's fired on Americans at LExington and Concord, the so-called "Shot Heard Round the World.

The Second Continental Congress met in 1775, and directed that an army be raised. They appointed George Washington to be commander-in-chief, and urged their delegated to vote for independence from England. By the next year, a committee had written the Declaration of Independence.

The British responded to the Declaration by sending massive amounts of troops to America. Early battles in the War began at Long Island, where General Howe defeated Putnam's Division of Washington's Army at Brooklyn Heights, but the Americans escape across the east river. The British march across New Jersey, where they were defeated by Washington at Trenton. After the Battle, Washington escape by fording the Delaware River, and encamped for the winter at Valley Forge. Meanwhile, General Burgoyne sailed down the Hudson River, and was taken at Saratoga in 1777.

By 1778, the war was moving to the south. Savannah was captured by the British in 1778, and Charleston was occupied in 1780. The Americans began to use guerilla tactics, and began defeating the British who were still following European rules of engagement. Finally, on October 19, 1781, the British were defeated at Yorktown. For the next year and a half, the American and British negotiators met, finally ending the War with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

SAVE CAMP SECURITY

After the Battle of Saratoga, thousands of British troops were captured. They were imprisoned at Boston, moved to Charlottesville, Va., then to Frederick, Md., and between 1781 and 1783, they were retained at York, Pa. The site of their imprisonment has been found, and is largely intact. Thousands of artifacts, including ceramics, glass, military buttons and buckles, have already been recovered. It is currently threated by development, but a grass-roots movement is underway to try to save this site from destruction. You can help by wrting letters of support to the Friends of Camp Security, c/o Historic York, Inc., 224 N. George Street, P.O. Box 2312, York, PA, 17405.

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