Where Did the Revolutionary War Take Place?

Where did the Revolutionary War take place? The American Revolution is chock full of names and places that are ingrained in every American’s mind. The war between the British and the colonists fell in battles throughout the new world in places both familiar and relatively unknown. Anyone who travels East of the Mississippi, particularly on the East Coast, has had opportunity to visit a Revolutionary War battlefield. What might be surprising is that the Revolutionary War took place both here and outside the borders of the present day United States. The American Revolution altered the lives of more than just the Americans.

One of the better known battles includes the Battle of Lexington and Concord, where the war formally began. Until that point, the British and colonists had been doing battle through Parliament, passive and active resistance, and, at points, outright disobedience to unfair laws, as was the case with the Boston Tea Party.

Lexington and Concord gave us the “shot heard round the world” at the first military confrontation between the Minutemen and the British Regulars. Massachusetts was also home to the Battle of Bunker Hill and major skirmishes in and around Boston.

New York and New Jersey saw numerous battles as the colonists and the British struggled for control of New York City and Philadelphia. The British scored a major victory at the Battle of Brooklyn, White Plains, and Manhattan. British General Howe chased Washington’s army through New Jersey and to the banks of Delaware River as the colonists retreated from New York.

Other areas that saw battles include Pennsylvania (including Brandywine, Valley Forge, Germantown, and conflicts in Philadelphia), Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia (including the war’s end at Yorktown), North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Some of the battles took place in areas that were part of the colonies but were included in other colonial territories, such as West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Only one of the original colonies, Delaware, escaped a battle on its soil. As you can see, the war was widespread throughout what would become the United States.

English Involvement

The colonists were not content to fight every battle on their own soil. In some cases, they were able to take the fight directly to England. John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy, sailed the English coastline and terrorized the English people. Despite the violence the British Regulars were routinely inflicting on the American populace, the British considered Jones to be a pirate. Jones considered his actions to be just, as his new nation and his old one were at war. He bombarded coastal towns and villages and set fire to ships.

French Involvement

The French joined the war on the side of the colonists, and they held military objectives that sometimes differed from the colonists. Their navy, in conjunction with the small American navy, formed a blockade to both capture British ships and to prevent British ships from terrorizing the American coast. The French also took the war to the Caribbean, where they took control of the West Indies. The colonists also attacked Quebec as it was a British colony. Spain took opportunity to capture British territories, occasionally fighting with the French over an area that both countries wanted to control.

The War Fought on a Global Scale

Where Did the Revolutionary War Take Place? Many other places outside America. England was not without other objectives, as well, and they seized portions of India that had been under French control.  Even parts of Central America were subjected to the fighting among the major superpowers of the day.

The American Revolutionary War ended up being a war fought on a near global scale. The British Empire, which dominated half of the world, was having trouble subduing one of their colonies. Long-time enemies of the British, the French, assisted the colonists and were happy to provide trouble to the English at every turn. The War of Independence touched North America, Europe, and Asia, not simply the small corner of the world that sought liberation.