This belligerent stubbornness influenced King, Parliament and the British ruling class. They lost battles but, if they did not invariably win campaigns, there was always an American army in the field capable at unexpected moments of turnirg and hitting hard, as it did at Trenton, Princeton and Stony Point. The Americans' resililncy was a major factor. The presence of the French fleet off Yorktown insured Cornwallis's surrender, and French shipments providel much‐needed arms for the Rebels. The American victory at Saratoga, for instance, convinced the French that the infant Republic was an ally that would help them humble the British. Ultimate victory was due not to any single success on the battlefield but to a series of significant ovents, some isolated, some connected, and to changes in she British attitude brought about by American intransigence. The British Regulars, cursed by a largely incompetent high command, fought with valor‐ and, in most cases, due regard to the rules. ![]() The Rebel ranks included villains and cowards as well as heroes. National maturity had dissipated the patriotic haze that long obscured the realities of the war that began on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775. ![]() Nathaniel Greene to the French Ambassador in 1781, epitomize the American military experience in the Revolutionary War.
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