In December 1776, American militia ambushed a British foraging party in New Jersey. The action was part of the intensifying partisan warfare in New Jersey during the winter of 1776-1777, as Hessian and British troops scattered across the state to forage for supplies faced increasing resistance from local militia. These ambushes and skirmishes, largely unreported in major histories, formed a crucial part of the American resistance that eroded British control of New Jersey and contributed to the environment that made Washington's Trenton and Princeton campaigns possible.
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) grew from colonial resistance to British taxation without parliamentary representation — a dispute that radicalized through the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Boston Massacre (1770). Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775; the Continental Congress declared independence on July 4, 1776. The Continental Army under George Washington faced severe shortages of supplies and troops, enduring the brutal winter at Valley Forge (1777–1778) before French alliance and French financing turned the military balance. Major engagements included Bunker Hill (1775), Trenton (1776), Saratoga (1777) — which secured French intervention — and Yorktown (1781), where British General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington. An estimated 25,000 American soldiers died in service, from combat, disease, and captivity. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized American independence and ceded British territory east of the Mississippi, though it left unresolved questions about Indigenous land rights and the status of Loyalists.
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