General Cornwallis

Lord Charles Conwallis was a military officer born in London, December 31, 1738. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and entered the army as captain when twenty years of age.

In the House of Lords he opposed the measures that caused the war with the Americans, but he accepted the commission of major-general and the command of an expedition against the Carolinas under Sir Peter Parker in 1776. He commanded the reserves of the British in the battle on Long Island in August, but he was beaten by George Washington at Princeton.

It was with Howe on the Brandywine and in the capture of Philadelphia that he returned to England, but soon came back. He was at the capture of Charleston in May, 1780. He also commanded the British troops in the Carolinas that year. He later defeated Gates near Camden in August and fought Greene at Guilford Courthouse early in 1781. He invaded Virginia, and finally took post at and fortified Yorktown, on the York River, and there surrendered his army to the American and French forces in October, 1781.

He was appointed governor-general and commander-in-chief in India in 1786, and was victorious in war there in 1791-92, compelling Tippoo Sahib to cede, as the price of peace, half his dominions to the British crown. He returned to England in 1793, he was created a marquis, and appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1798. He negotiated the treaty of Amiens in 1802, and received the appointment of governor-general of India in 1805. He died at Ghazipur, India, October 5, 1805.

Bernardo De Galvez

Bernardo de Gálvez was a Spanish military leader and the general of Spanish forces in New Spain. He served as governor of Louisiana and Cuba and, as viceroy of New Spain.

Gálvez helped the Thirteen Colonies in their quest for independence and led the Spanish armies against Britain in the Revolutionary War, he defeat the British at Pensacola and reconquered Florida for Spain. He spent the last two years of his life as viceroy, succeeding his father Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo, who had been viceroy before him.

Gálvez was born in Macharaviaya, a mountain village in the province of Málaga, Spain, on July 23, 1746. He studied military sciences at the Academia de Ávila and at the age of 16 participated in the War against Portugal, where he was promoted to lieutenant. He arrived in New Spain, then Mexico, in 1762. As a captain, he fought the Apaches, with his Opata Indian allies. He received many wounds, several of them serious. In 1770, he was promoted to commandant of arms of Nueva Vizcaya y Sonora, northern provinces of New Spain, comprising even New Mexico.

In 1772, he returned to Spain in the company of his uncle, José de Gálvez. Later, he was sent to Pau, France with the Cantabria regiment. There, he learned to speak French, which served him well when he became governor of Louisiana. He was transferred to Seville, in 1775, and then participated in the disastrous expedition of O’Reilly to Algiers. After capturing the fortress that guarded the city, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He then became a professor at the military academy of Ávila.

In 1777, he was sent to Louisiana, as a colonel and interim governor of the province. This was the large territory that later became the Louisiana Purchase. It had been ceded by France to Spain, in 1763, in compensation for the loss of Florida to England. In 1779, he was promoted to brigadier.

In 1777, he married doña Marie Felice de Saint-Maxent Estrehan, a young Criolla widow. They had three children, Miguel, Matilde and Guadalupe.

He practiced an anti-British policy as governor, taking measures against British smuggling and promoting trade with France. He also established free trade with Cuba and Yucatán. He founded Galvez Town, in 1778, and promoted colonization of Nueva Iberia.

In 1786, he become ill and died.

The Battle of Charleston

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

Vince Lombardi

In 1779, the British decided to concentrate their efforts on the southern colonies so that they could encourage loyalists and serve as a morale boost. In December 1779, Leiutenant General Henry Clinton of the British Army set sail for Charleston, South California, In February, he arrived there and after a month he was in Charleston. He crossed the Ashley River and cut off Charleston and Major General Benjamin Lincoln from reinforcements.

On April 2, siege weapons were brought and bigger armies joined the siege. Among the leaders of the other armies were General Cornwallis and Colonel Banastre Tarleton. On May 8, Clinton demanded surrender, and since Lincoln denied it, waiting for better terms, the bombardment started a day later. On May 12, Lincoln surrendered Charleston and 5000 Continental Soldiers to Clinton. It was the greatest loss of soldiers and equipment of the war and gave the British nearly complete control of the South.

Lord William Howe

William Howe fought many battels, he served under James Wolfe at Quebec, and succeeded Thomas Gage as commander in chief in America. Working with his brother Richad Howe, he succefull assults in Long Island, White Plains, and Forts Washington and Lee. Even in victory, he was subject of criticism. Because he failed to intercept the amercan troops moving across the east river from Long Island to Manhattan in August 1776, and is regarded by many as the missed opportunity to early end the war.

In 1777 Howe defeated Washington at Brandywine and escaped a trap at German Town before movig into Philadelphia for winter.
Howe was hardly criticized for enjoying the pleasures of Philadelphia, rather than keeping on with te hostilities.

Howe was not an incompetent military leader, but just he preffered to fight with the old european approach. War in his view was an enterprise conducted by gentelmen who should not be expected to bestir themselves during inclement weather.

Howe decision to move to philadelphia, rather than to join general Burgoyne in 1777, is considered to be the decesive decision of the war. And he was removed from his command in 1778, in favor of Sir Henry Clinton.

Baron von Steuben

You say to your soldier, 'Do this' and he does it. But I am obliged to say to the American, 'This is why you ought to do this' and then he does it

Baron von Steuben



Von Steuben was born in Magdeburg, Germany. He attended Jesuit schools in Breslau, entered the Prussian army's officer corps, and served in the Seven Years War. He then joined Frederick the Great's military staff. Later, he was appointed chamberlain to the Prussian court of Hohenzollern Hechingen. In 1777, Von Steuben went to Paris to meet America's foreign commissioners, Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, and offer them his military services. The Continental Congress, much impressed by Von Steuben's title and his refusal to accept any salary while in service, immediately sent him to George Washington at Valley Forge.

Although he spoke no English, Von Steuben systematically trained the amateur American troops in military discipline and battle-readiness. This rigorous training saved the troops from complete defeat during the Battle of Monmouth. In 1779, Von Steuben prepared his Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, which remained America's official military manual for over three decades.
Later in the war, Von Steuben commanded the Army supply center in Virginia and fought at Yorktown. Afterward, Washington employed him in a variety of duties from the creation of a plan to demobilize the wartime army to the acceptance of Britain's surrendered Canadian forts. Von Steuben helped to found the Society of the Cincinnati, and then resigned his American commission in 1784. After the war, the New York legislature granted Von Steuben an estate. He received a small pension from the United States government, but relied on friends like Alexander Hamilton to settle his mounting debts. Von Steuben died on November 28, 1794

The Hessians

The Hessian Flag



The Hessians were German soldiers, who fought for King George III in various wars. They participated in the Seven Year War and in the American Revolutionary War. Although they are commonly thought as mercenaries, they were far from being so. The Hessians were not paid for paying, actually, they almost didnt receive much wage besides their daily bread, but it was the Hessian Prince that benefitted from this by sellling their services.

The German soldiers hired were almost 30,000 but since 12000 of those came from Hesse-Cassel, the name remained Hessians

The Brown Bess

Though firearms have become the predominant weapon in the battle field on the 18th century, there was little standardization in their design and manufacture, so supplying their ammunition and getting repair parts become a problem. So in an attempt to solve the problem, they introduced the Land Pattern Musket, that within fifty years gain the nickname of the Brown Bess. It is said the name may be derived by the german term of strong gun (braun buss). the weapon became as long as 62 inches, and with a weight of 11 pounds, and as short as 42 inches, with a weight of 10 pounds.

The Brown Bess was used by some until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and was used by both sides in the American Revolution.