 | This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2023) |
|
A great number of military leaders played a role in the American Revolutionary War.
United States[]
When the war began, the American colonists did not have a regular army (also known as a "standing army"). Each colony had traditionally provided for its own defenses through the use of local militia.
Seeking to coordinate military efforts, the Continental Congress established (on paper) a regular army—the Continental Army—in June 1775, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress, and Washington reluctantly augmented the regular troops with militia throughout the war.
Commander-in-Chief[]
Continental Army[]
Detail from Washington and his generals at Yorktown (c. 1781) by Charles Willson Peale. Lafayette (far left) is at Washington's right, the Comte de Rochambeau to his immediate left.
- John Laurens
- William Alexander, Lord Stirling
- William Smallwood
- James Wilkinson
- Benedict Arnold
- Charles Lee
- Horatio Gates
- Henry Knox
- Nathanael Greene
- Rufus Putnam
- Anthony Wayne
- Hugh Mercer
- James Monroe
- Elias Dayton
- Peter Gansevoort
- William Heath
- John Stark
- Edward Hand
- James Clinton
- Richard Montgomery
- Alexander McDougall
- John Thomas
- John Sullivan
- John Paterson
- William Irvine
- Daniel Brodhead
- Lachlan McIntosh
- George Weedon
- Seth Warner
- Arthur St. Clair
Militia[]
- Israel Putnam
- Artemas Ward
- Philip Schuyler
- George Clinton
- John Morin Scott
- David Wooster
- Joseph McJunkin
- Francis Marion
- William Moultrie
[]
- Esek Hopkins
- Dudley Saltonstall
- Nicholas Biddle
- James Nicholson
- John Manley
- John Burroughs Hopkins
- John Barry
- Hector McNeill
- Abraham Whipple
- Samuel Tucker
Operating out of France[]
- John Paul Jones
- Lambert Wickes
- Gustavus Conyngham
- Jonathan Haraden
Frontier[]
- Daniel Boone
- George Rogers Clark
Foreign individuals allied with the American cause[]
- Johann de Kalb
- Tadeusz Kościuszko
- Francisco de Miranda
- Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
- Kazimierz Pułaski
- Friedrich von Steuben
- Louis Lebèque Duportail
- Stephen Rochefontaine
- Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan
- Pierre Charles L’Enfant
- Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouerie
- Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier de Laumoy
British Empire[]
Government officials[]
- King George III of Great Britain
- George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville
- Frederick North, Lord North
- John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty
At the head of the British forces was the King, George III, who was captain general of all forces both naval and military. It was usual for him to delegate his military powers as captain general or commander-in-chief. From 1772 to 1778 the office was vacant, but from 1778 to 1782 Sir Jeffery Amherst officiated as Commander-in-Chief with the title of General on the Staff. He was succeeded in February, 1782 by Henry Seymour Conway.
Next in importance to the Commander-in-Chief was the Secretary at War who was bidden "to observe and follow such orders and directions as he should from time to time receive from the king or the general of the forces". Not until 1783 was he a minister responsible to parliament. At the start of part of the war the secretary was Lord Barrington. He was replaced in 1778 by Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool who held this position until the fall of Lord North's government.
Commander-in-Chief, North America[]
- Thomas Gage
- William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
- Sir Henry Clinton
- Sir Guy Carleton
Other military officers[]
- James Abercrombie
- Robert Abercromby of Airthrey
- James Agnew
- William Adlam
- John André
- Mariot Arbuthnot
- Benedict Arnold
- Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet
- Samuel Auchmuty
- Nisbet Balfour
- Friedrich Baum
- Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres
- Tom Bilbrey
- Heinrich von Breymann
- Montfort Browne
- John Burgoyne
- Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Lymington
- Harry Calvert
- Archibald Campbell
- John Campbell, of Strachur
- John Campbell, of Stonefield
- Christopher Carleton
- Thomas Carleton
- William Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart
- Eyre Coote
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
- James Henry Craig
- William Dalrymple
- Oliver De Lancey Jr.
- Arent DePeyster
- Sir Charles Douglas
- John Enys
- William Erskine
- Patrick Ferguson
- Henry Edward Fox
- Simon Fraser of Lovat
- Simon Fraser of Balnian
- Francis Geary
- Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves
- Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet
- George Harris, 1st Baron Harris
- Henry Hamilton
- Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
- Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
- Edward Jessup
- William Medows
- William Phillips
- Johann Rall
- Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings
- Friedrich Adolf Riedesel
- George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney
- Banastre Tarleton
Canadians and other Loyalists[]
- René-Amable Boucher de Boucherville
- David Monin
- James Chalmers
- Oliver De Lancey Sr.
- Edmund Fanning
Rangers and Indian Department officials[]
- William Caldwell
- Simon Girty
- John McDonell
French & Spanish leaders[]
- Comte d'Estaing (admiral)
- Comte de Grasse (admiral)
- Marquis de Lafayette (Continental Army officer)
- Pierre-Charles L'Enfant (Army officer)
- Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (diplomat)
- Comte de Rochambeau (commander of French army in America)
- Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (foreign minister)
- Bernardo de Gálvez (Commander-in-Chief of Spanish colonial forces)
- Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo (general)
- Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis (colonial official)
- Juan de Lángara (admiral)
- Armand Louis de Gontaut
Native Americans[]
Chief Cornplanter portrait by F. Bertoli, 1796
- Joseph Brant (Mohawk)
- John Deseronto (Mohawk)
- Coanter (Seneca)
- Guyasuta (Seneca)
- Cornplanter (Seneca)
- Red Jacket (Seneca)
- Sayenqueraghta (Seneca)
- Dunquat (the Wyandot "Half-King")
- Dragging Canoe (Chickamauga Cherokee)
- Blue Jacket (Shawnee)
- Cornstalk (Shawnee)
- White Eyes (Lenape)
- Captain Pipe (Lenape)
- Buckongahelas (Lenape)
References[]
- Black, Jeremy. War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783. St. Martin's Press (New York) and Sutton Publishing (UK), 1991. ISBN 0-312-06713-5 (1991), ISBN 0-312-12346-9 (1994 paperback), ISBN 0-7509-2808-5 (2001 paperpack).
- Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New York: McKay, 1966; revised 1974. ISBN 0-8117-0578-1.
Further reading[]
- Anderson, Troyer Steele. The Command of the Howe Brothers During the American Revolution. New York and London, 1936.
- Buchanan, John. The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution. Wiley, 2004. ISBN 0-471-44156-2.
- Fischer, David Hackett. Washington's Crossing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-517034-2. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for History.
- Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-6081-8.
- McCullough, David. 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-2671-2.