Revolutionary+War+by+Josh+and+Dillen

= = The American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War was about many of the colonists rejected the power of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them without claiming that violated the Rights of Englishmen. The First Continental Congress met in 1774 to coordinate relations with Great Britain and the thirteen now self-governing and individual provinces, petitioning George III for intervention with Parliament, organizing a boycott of British goods, while affirming loyalty to the British Crown. Their pleas ignored, and with British combat troops billeted in Boston, Massachusetts, by 1775 the Provincial Congresses formed the Second Continental Congress and authorized a Continental Army. Additional petitions to the king to intervene with Parliament resulted in the following year with Congress being declared traitors and the states to be in rebellion. The Americans responded in 1776 by formally declaring their independence as one new nation The United States of America claiming their own sovereignty and rejecting any allegiance to the British monarchy. == **__The Thirteen Colonies__** were British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America, which declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States. The colonies, whose territory ranged from what is now Maine and Georgia were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. At the time of the Revolution, these colonies contained territory now outside of the borders of the modern states.

**Musket-** the soldier armed with a smoothbore flintlock musket was expected to fire off a shot every 20 seconds. There are 13 steps to fire a flintlock musket. A soldier had to get a cartridge, tear it open with his teeth, put a little bit of powder in the firing mechanism, put the rest of the powder and a gun ball down the barrel, ram the ball and powder home, and cock the musket and fire. The musket was not an accurate weapon, so the soldier didn’t have the greatest chance of shooting his intended target.


 * Cannon-**each cannon had a crew of between seven to 14 men. Each soldier had his own special job and the tools he needed to perform the job. A cannon’s range was hundreds of yards, it could take out dozens of enemy soldiers at once.


 * Bayonet-** the bayonet transformed a musket into a terrifyingly effective spear. The bayonet was also handy for close or hand-to-hand combat, and untrained soldiers were even known to have retreated in the face of bayonet attacks. At first, bayonets were designed to go inside the barrel of the musket. These plug bayonets were soon replaced with socket bayonets that could fit over the barrel of the musket.


 * Rifle-** rifles took a long time to load. Gun powder also had a tendency to quickly build up inside a muzzle-loading rifle meaning that a rifleman had to a take precious time away from shooting and loading to clean the thing. A bayonet could not be attached to a rifle; riflemen also usually carried an axe, or tomahawk, for close-quarters combat.


 * Pistol-** were mostly used by officers and the cavalry, and were only good at very close range. There were no grooves on the inside of the barrel to help with accuracy. Many had decorations carved into the trigger housing and the stock.

// **Turtle-**  // the Turtle submarine wasn’t standard issue during the Revolutionary War, but it was weapon that the colonists tried to use to solve a very particular problem. The problem was the British had a navy and the Continental army did not, but they had a plan. The plan was to use the Turtle to plant a bomb on the bottom of the HMS Eagle, which was anchored in New York Harbor. Unfortunately, the volunteer inside the Turtle was unable to attach the bomb to the Eagle’s hull. He detonated the bomb underwater anyway and caused quite a stir in the harbor.


 * Bullets-** soldiers used molds like this one to cast their own musket or rifle shot. The pieces of the mold fit together and the solider would pour melted lead into the mold's spout. After the lead cooled, the soldier could take the mold apart and remove his new shot.