1775
- April 19 There are holstilities at Lexington and Concord. The colonists win.
- May 11 Militiamen under the command of Ethan Allen capture Fort Ticonderoga.
- June 17 The colonists inflicted heavy casualties on the British at the battle of Bunker(Breed's) Hill
- George Washington is named commander of the Continental Army
- Benedict Arnold leads 650 of the Continental Army against Quebec.
- Nov. 13 Montgomery leads 300 of the Continental Army and captured Montreal.
- Dec. 3 Mongomery joins Benedict Arnold at Quebec.
- Dec. 31 The attack on Quebec fails.
1776
- March 26 The British are forced out of Boston by George Washington.
- July 4 The Declaration of Independence is signed in Independence Hall, Philidelphia.
- July 12 Howe's British fleet reaced Staten Island, New York.
- August 27 The British defeat George Washington at Long Island, New York.
- Sept. 12 Washington retreats from New York.
- Howe moves to attack the retreating forces.
- October 28 Washington is again defeated at White Plains.
- Howe allows the Continental Army to escape to Pennsylvania.
- The British separate to wait out the winter in several New York and New Jersey towns.
- Dec. 26 In a surprise attack, the Continental Army crosses the Delaware River to capture Trenton, New Jersey.
1777
- January 3 Washington surprises the British at Princeton, New Jersey, and captures it.
- The Continental Army winters in Morristown, New Jersey.
- June 17 Burgoyne leads the British south from Canada.
- July 5 Burgoyne captures Fort Ticonderoga from the Americans.
- St. Leger leads more British from Montreal to Fort Stanwix.
- The British suffer heavy casualties at Fort Stanwix and are forced back to Saratoga.
- August 6 St. Leger is defeated at Oriskany.
- August 25 Howe sails from New York to the Chesapeake Bay. Washington moves to block the British advance.
- October 17 Burgoyne surrenders.
- Sept. 11 & 21 The British defeat Washington at Brandywine Creek and Paoli.
- Sept. 26 The Continental Congress flees to York as Howe enteres Philadelphia.
- October 4 Washington's assault on Germantown fails.
- The Continental Army winters at Valley Forge.
- The United States' alliance with France causes the British to return to New York.
1778
- June 19 Washington leaves Valley Forge in pursuit of the British.
- June 28 The battle of Monmouth was indecisive, but a moral boost to America.
- The British continue their retreat to New York.
- Dec. Campbell leads the British against Savana, Georgia.
1779
- January 29 The British move inland from Georgia to capture Augusta.
- October 8 The British resist a joint attack by both the French and Americans on Savana.
- Clinton, a British captain, sails from New York to join Prevost's army in a seige of Charleston.
1780
- May 12 Charleston surrenders to the British.
- August 16 Cornwallis moves his British army inland from Charleston, crushing an American army at Camden.
- October 7 Fronteirsmen wiped out a group that was still loyal to Great Britan at King's Mountain.
- The British retired to Winnsboro for winter.
1781
- Nathaniel Greene splits his American forces to disrupt the British flanks.
- Cornwallis orderes Tarleton to intercept the part of Greene's forces under the command of Morgan.
- January 17 Morgan defeats Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens.
- His army reunited, Greene leads the British on a chase.
- March 15 The British are weakend at Guilford Courthouse by Greene.
- Cornwallis retreats to Wilmington to receive reinforcements.
- August 1 Cornwallis arrives in Yorktown.
- August 31 To block the British fleet, De Grasse arrives.
- Sept. 5 The British fleet, under Graves, arrives too late and is defeated in the Battle of the Capes.
- Washington's Army with French forces trap Cornwallis in Yorktown.
- October 19 Cornwallis surrenders.
1783
- September 3 The Treaty of Paris ends the war. Under the conditions of the treaty, the United States of America owns all of the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, excluding modern-day Florida.