People+in+Revolution

= David Fanning = ==== ** The most famous Tory--or infamous depends on who is telling the story--was Daivid Fanning. Although he was no relative of Edmund Fanning of Regulator fame, David Fanning becanm just as notorious. Fanning had been abused and beaten by Whigs early in the war, and he swore revenge. Fanning raised a second regiment for the British, who invaded in 1781, and became its colonel. Fanning's regiment did not join the British, but operated independently. Fanning's recruited most of his troops from among the unhappy residents of the Uwharries. As the British retreated from Guilford Courthouse to Wilmington, Fanning attacked and harassed American units whenever and wherever he could find them. In addition, Fanning and his men terrorized the backcountry neighborhoods that sent men to the North Carolina militia. Fanning's men were accused of theft, murder, and more than one rape during this time. ** ==== = George Washington = ==== **The Continental Congress appointed Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly-formed Continental Army on June 15, 1775. The Massachusetts delegate John Adams suggested his appointment, citing his "skill as an officer... great talents and universal character." He assumed command on July 3. On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington led the American forces across the Delaware River to attack Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey, who did not anticipate an attack near Christmas. Washington followed up the assault with a sneak attack on General Charles Cornwallis's forces at Princeton on the eve of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the state. However, Washington's army recovered from the defeats and harsh winter conditions and drilled during the spring under the German Baron Friedrich von Steuben. Later, it attacked the British army moving from Philadelphia to New York at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. Against tremendous odds, Washington retained an army in being throughout the Revolution, keeping British forces tied down in the center of the country while Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. After Monmouth, the British concentrated their offensives in the southern colonies, and rather than attack them there, Washington's forces moved to Rhode Island, where he commanded military operations until the war's end. ** ** In 1781, American and French forces and a French fleet had trapped General Cornwallis at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington quick-marched south, joining the armies on September 14, and pressed the siege until the army surrendered. The British surrender there was the effective end of British attempts to quell the Revolution. In 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great Britain recognized American independence. As a result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill, New Jersey General Washington gave his "Farewell Address to the Army". Then at Fraunces Tavern in New York on December 4, General Washington formally bid his officers farewell. **====

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