What initial challenges did the opposing armies face?

> CHRONOLOGY

1775

  • Battle of Quebec fought.
1776

  • Battle of Long Island fought.

  • Washington captures German troops along Delaware River.

Both sides approached the war for America with uneasiness. The Americans, with inexperienced militias, were opposing the mightiest military power in the world. Also, their country was not unified; many people remained loyal to Britain. The British faced serious obstacles as well. Their disdain for the fighting abilities of the Americans required reassessment in light of the Bunker Hill battle. The logistics of supplying an army with food across three thousand miles of water were daunting. And since the British goal was to regain allegiance, not to destroy and conquer, the army was often constrained in its actions. These patterns—undertrained American troops and British troops strangely unwilling to press their advantage—played out repeatedly in the first year of war. [[LP Photo: P07.03 Female Combatants, 1776/ROA_04224_07_P03.JPEG]]

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“The Female Combatants,” 1776 This British cartoon of January 1776 follows a long tradition of representing countries as female characters: a fancy-dressed matron as Britain and a near-naked Indian maiden as Britain’s North American colonies, pummeling each other with fists. The British matron calls out, “I’ll force you to Obedience, you Rebellious Slut,” while the Indian maiden replies, “Liberty, Liberty forever, Mother, while I exist.”
Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

Understanding the American Promise 3ePrinted Page 172