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Hi Stykbow,By "letting us go" I mean the British decided to withdraw support for our war and focus on the Caribbean. They still schemed to keep America after Yorktown but they ultimately read the writing on the wall that they could not win. However, they would fight the French and Dutch to the death to keep their Caribbean assets. I believe the British had only one real chance to win the American War and that was in 1776. If Howe had crushed Washington and his army, which he almost did, the game would have been up. After 1776 as the American army started to grow up and more and more colonists sided with the patriots, the British lost their opportunity. They could never function very well more than 100 miles from a supply port on the coast and the Americans could fall back inland and wait for chances to inflict damage. Washington's major achievement was holding his army together long enough to wear down British resolve. Burgoyne shot the British in the foot with his foolish expedition to take Albany because he wasted scarce British resources and his defeat enticed the French to come into the war. What did the French do first after entering the war? They sent a small fleet to New York and then New England while sending a much larger fleet to attack British possessions in the West Indies. What was one of General Clinton's first acts when taking over from Howe and after evacuating Philadelphia? He reluctantly sent troops to protect British assets in the West Indies. Troops that could have been very valuable to him for fighting the Americans during the later southern campaign. What gave Washington his biggest heartburn with the French during the Yorktown campaign? Trying to coordinate with the French fleet because they were prioritizing attacking the British in the West Indies. DeGrasse could only give Washington a few weeks of service in the Chesapeake before scurrying back south to the Caribbean. Fortunately, that was enough. While we celebrate the Battle of Yorktown, The British celebrate the Battle of the Saints in which their fleet destroyed the French under DeGrasse and saved British Jamaica.dave
Hi Stykbow,
By "letting us go" I mean the British decided to withdraw support for our war and focus on the Caribbean. They still schemed to keep America after Yorktown but they ultimately read the writing on the wall that they could not win. However, they would fight the French and Dutch to the death to keep their Caribbean assets. I believe the British had only one real chance to win the American War and that was in 1776. If Howe had crushed Washington and his army, which he almost did, the game would have been up. After 1776 as the American army started to grow up and more and more colonists sided with the patriots, the British lost their opportunity. They could never function very well more than 100 miles from a supply port on the coast and the Americans could fall back inland and wait for chances to inflict damage. Washington's major achievement was holding his army together long enough to wear down British resolve. Burgoyne shot the British in the foot with his foolish expedition to take Albany because he wasted scarce British resources and his defeat enticed the French to come into the war. What did the French do first after entering the war? They sent a small fleet to New York and then New England while sending a much larger fleet to attack British possessions in the West Indies. What was one of General Clinton's first acts when taking over from Howe and after evacuating Philadelphia? He reluctantly sent troops to protect British assets in the West Indies. Troops that could have been very valuable to him for fighting the Americans during the later southern campaign. What gave Washington his biggest heartburn with the French during the Yorktown campaign? Trying to coordinate with the French fleet because they were prioritizing attacking the British in the West Indies. DeGrasse could only give Washington a few weeks of service in the Chesapeake before scurrying back south to the Caribbean. Fortunately, that was enough. While we celebrate the Battle of Yorktown, The British celebrate the Battle of the Saints in which their fleet destroyed the French under DeGrasse and saved British Jamaica.
dave
