Alternate Outcome At Fort Ticonderoga

This paper will examine the British and American Southern Loyalist defeat in the Battle of Kings Mountain and discuss the assumptions the British made including loyalist support, logistic support, and terrain advantage.

This could possibly explain why the British were sure they would succeed in the Revolutionary War, as they clearly did not think much of the American military, or lack thereof.

The British enrolled about fifty thousand American Loyalists and enlisted the services of many Indians, who though unreliable, who fair-weather fighters, inflamed long stretches of the frontier”(135). This extra help from colonists, Loyalist, hessians, and the Indians only add to the army creating a bigger advantage towards the colonists. Even though they did not win it can said that the British seemed to have a bigger lead on the colonists. Colonists presented themselves as weak and disorganized, where one would presume that they wouldn’t win at all, “Yet the American rebels were badly organized for war. From the earliest days, they had been almost fatally lacking in unity, and a new nation lurched forward uncertainly like an uncoordinated centipede”(136). Organization is important for the colonists because they are competing against a well-developed and trained army.

Shortly after George Washington becoming chief, Britain's General Gage a discreet plan to send out British soldiers to Lexington April 19th, 1775, where their goal was to capture Colonial leaders such as John Hancock and leader Samuel Adams, then to concord, where they would have to seize all gunpowder. Fortunately friends of the Americans leaked Gage’s plan to the people. Two

Prior to the war Arnold became a captain in the Governor's Second Company of Guards. Eager for action, Arnold and his men marched off to Cambridge and asked for the commission of the Massachusetts committee of safety to capture Fort Ticonderoga. Along the way Arnold’s group met up with Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. Despite their differences the groups successfully captured the fort on May 10th by surprising the British Garrison. As the Green Mountain Boys raided the rum stores Arnold was in an argument about credit in capture of the fort. Arnold lost the argument and he received very little credit in the report to Congress.

Washington was aware that he and the militia’s needed the artillery to be successful. Many people thought the 300 mile journey was impossible and that the crew and leader would surely die. Washington decided to choose one of his own, Major General Henry Knox, to do the job. Knox and his crew “...traveled 300 miles in the dead of winter to transport over 120,000 pounds of artillery including 59 mortars and cannons, a large supply of gunpowder, and numerous weapons…“ (Strum, 33) that would help the militia defeat the British. So Knox was assigned to move artillery when the funny thing is that Knox actually focused on artillery, “...with a focus on artillery.” (American Revolution: Major General Knox). Knox once said on his journey, “... It is not easy [to] conceive the difficulties we have had in getting them [the artillery] over the lake owing to the advanced season of the year and contrary winds,

Americans of the eighteenth century might question: What were the most pivotal battles of the revolution? Was it at Saratoga, where the British marched through the dense forests of Massachusetts, trying to isolate the northern colonies and then attack them? When the Americans in Massachusetts heard of this plan, they constructed a plan to attack this convoy? Wa s it at Trenton, when Washington took his men on December 25th across the frigid Delaware River to surprise the Hessians? Then captured around 1,500 Hessians, and marched through the city of Philadelphia. Was it at Yorktown, where the final battle was held against the British? And were assisted by the French in taking down British forts. The most pivotal battles of the

This paper will examine the Battle of Fredericksburg through the research of analytical papers, historical articles and technical reports by conducting the four steps of battle analysis. It will analyze the effects of the use and dismissal of intelligence assets and disciplines when applied to the planning of a territorial battle campaign. Using terrain analysis it will discuss how the choice of advantageous terrain can sway the outcome of a battle. It will also discuss how timing and momentum can be critical to our overall military planning. Finally, it will present an alternative outcome to the battle by establishing the utilization of intelligence assets available to both commanding generals and how altering critical decision points would have presented a significantly different result.

Though it is a historical book, 1776 has many different themes waiting to be analyzed and dissected. One theme would be the theme of leadership being a major key to success. Throughout the book, McCullough seems to emphasize the fact that even though the American army was minimal, vastly outnumbered by the British, strong leadership was what truly mattered. Not only did this mean the Commander-in-Chief George Washington, but also other commanding officers such as Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox. If the American rebels did not have such strong leadership, both on the field and when inspiration was needed, victory would have been very much postponed or not existent at all. McCullough writes “ good officers were mandatory” and “officers must be better paid, better trained (pg 226).” While the army itself is very important, the commanding officers serve as a driving force that directs the firepower in a certain direction and, in turn, towards victory. Another example would be when soldiers witness their commander, George Washington, rushing onto the field despite the dangers that lay ahead and how important his life was to the cause. One soldier wrote that he would “never forget what [he] felt… When [he] saw him brave all the dangers

As Donald N. Moran notes, the British light infantry was told, "On no account to fire, nor even attempt it without orders," by second-in-command Major John Pitcairn as he and his men marched to Lexington that morning. That is, at least, the report of Colonel Smith which was given to General Gage. General Gage himself seemed to have little interest in stirring the hornet's nest that was right outside his door. As military governor of Massachusetts,

As Sir Washington was heading back from delivering the message, he saw a point of land at an intersection of Allegheny and the Monongahela form the Ohio, where he thought would be a brilliant idea to build a fort. Dinwiddie agreed to his suggestion therefore building Fort Prince George, but ended with the French coming and taking over changing the name to Fort Duquesne. Washington ended up moving to the Great Meadows where he and his troops decided in building a fort that would be called, Fort Necessity. Three days within encampment, Washington and 40 men went looking for a group of French that were seen about seven miles away from Chestnut Ridge. When finding the French they were made prisoners, killed the commander Joseph Coulon de Villiers, and several others were killed as well, especially since it was a surprise attack they surrendered. George Washington won that encounter but the French weren’t about to give up yet. Not to long after, French troops were sent out from Fort Duquesne and defeated the British which left the French in charge of the west Allegheny Mountains. In 1755, General Edward Braddock came from Britain to America as commander in chief I order to help Britain gain Fort Duquesne back. Again the British had failed, loosing men as well as General Braddock who passed away four days after the

In the mountainous Shah-i-Khot region south of the city of Gardez in Eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda took place early March 2002. Operation Anaconda, to this day, stands as the largest reported ground action in the Afghan war. This 17-day battle led to eight U.S. casualties and over 50 wounded. Operation Anaconda is viewed as a success due to coalition forces being able to kill and root out several hundred Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, which left U.S. and coalition forces in control of the Shah-i-Khot Valley. Originally intended to be a three-day battle with light resistance, a seven-day battle ensued with intense fighting and was finally

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that contributed to the failure in the British Southern Campaign in the American Revolutionary war. This paper will examine British and American Southern Loyalist defeat in the Battle of Kings Mountain, and discuss assumptions the British made, including loyalists support, logistics, long rifle, and terrain advantage. It is important to study past military actions to identify mistakes and apply lessons learned to current U.S. military operations.

At Ticonderoga and Saratoga, his defense plans were implemented (Independence Hall Association, n.d.). Kosciuszko’s highly disciplined engineering mind foresees a military advantage to the placement of revolutionary artillery on a hill near the Ticonderoga defensive position. His military intuition and sound tactical planning was overridden by the fort commander and, a few days later, Thaddeus’ tactical decision was substantiated by British artillery companies who occupied the hill (Polish Academic Information Center, 2000). The battle at Ticonderoga was considered a loss. According to the Polish Academic Information Center (2000), Kosciuszko utilized his engineering prowess, felling sizeable pine trees in the retreat of this battle. His action flooded fields, hindering British pursuit, buying the revolutionaries much needed time (Polish Academic Information Center,

For the English to continue further north, they would need to cross the River Forth at Stirling. If they got past Sterling, there would have been no stopping them from continuing north. So if this battle were lost, then Scotland’s independence might have been lost as well. William Wallace’s men were mostly made up of about 8,000 poor country men forming an infantry using long spears. They had about 30-40 men on horseback, while the English had 200 to 300 cavalry and 10,000 men.