Includes index.

From resistance to rebellion before 1775. The thirteen colonies ; Colonial society ; The French and Indian War ; Testing loyalties ; Raising revenue ; Boston erupts ; The Boston Massacre ; Sam Adams ; Westward expansion and the frontier ; The Boston Tea Party ; The tea saboteurs ; The Intolerable Acts ; The First Continental Congress ; Lord North -- The start of the War, 1775. Lexington and Concord ; Paul Revere's ride ; The Siege of Boston and Bunker Hill ; The Battle of Bunker Hill ; The Second Continental Congress ; Militia and the Continental Army ; Patriot uniforms ; The Loyalists ; Loyalists under pressure ; The Proclamation of Rebellion ; King George III ; The South ; African American Loyalists ; The invasion of Canada -- Birth of a nation, 1776. British strategy ; Redcoats ; British uniforms ; A serving redcoat ; The philosophy of revolt ; The liberation of Boston ; Transporting artillery ; Artillery ; The South chooses sides ; Henry Clinton ; Battle of Sullivan's Island ; The Declaration of Independence ; Crafting the declaration ; Thomas Jefferson ; Battle of Long Island ; George Washington ; Retreat from New York ; Running the Hudson River barricade ; The threat from Canada ; Trenton and Princeton -- The struggle for mastery, 1777. The forage war ; The British in New Jersey ; European assistance ; Marquis de Lafayette ; African American patriots ; An African American militiaman ; Burgoyne's offensive ; German mercenaries ; The German experience in America ; German equipment and uniforms ; The British in upper New York ; The Battle of Saratoga ; Surrender at Saratoga ; Prisoners of war ; Life on a British prison ship ; The Philadelphia campaign -- A widening war, 1778. Facing stalemate ; Winter at Valley Forge ; The army at Valley Forge ; French intervention ; Benjamin Franklin ; American options ; Rethinking British strategy ; The march from Philadelphia ; Molly Pitcher ; Women and the Revolution ; Abigail Adams ; The war in the North ; Muskets and rifles ; British resurgence -- Conflict spreads, 1779. War on the periphery ; The war at sea ; Naval equipment and weapons ; HMS Serapis versus Bonhomme Richard ; John Paul Jones ; Native Americans at war ; Native American raid ; Joseph Brant ; Native American weapons ; Deadlock in New York ; The Ohio; ;The march on Vincennes ; The Siege of Savannah ; The death of Casimir Pulaski -- The continuing struggle, 1780. New York theater ; Betrayal at West Point ; Execution of John Andr�e ; Benedict Arnold ; Caring for the wounded ; Medical equipment ; The Siege of Charleston ; Guerrilla war in South Carolina ; Impressions of the "Swamp Fox" ; Banastre Tarleton ; The Battle of Camden ; Horatio Gates ; The Battle of Kings Mountain ; Pistols and swords -- America victorious, 1781-83. The Battle of Cowpens ; The North Carolina campaign ; Action at Guilford Court House ; Charles Cornwallis ; Success in Georgia and the Carolinas ; The Battle of the Chesapeake ; The Yorktown Campaign ; Surrender at Yorktown ; The British surrender ; Negotiating peace ; Treaty of Paris -- Aftermath : a stronger union. Cost of war ; The limits of confederation ; James Madison ; The Constitutional Convention ; Signing the Constitution ; President Washington ; Washington's inaugural address ; The American West ; The irrepressible conflicts ; The revolution remembered ; In their footsteps.

Provides information about the people, battles, and events of America's battle for independence, including what daily life was like for Americans caught up in the conflict, the type of arms used by both armies, and the lasting effect of the war.