DOUGLAS GINSBURG, Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit:
There were dozens of important events during the American Revolution such as the Battle of Bunker Hill, near Boston. In one afternoon, more than a thousand Redcoats were killed or wounded. The shocking casualties – nearly half the troops deployed – shattered British illusions that the rebellion could be easily crushed.

In the summer of 1776, the rebellion became a revolution when Congress signed the Declaration of Independence – creating the United States of America. By winter the war seemed lost. Then on Christmas night, George Washington led his army across the Delaware River to New Jersey, captured the enemy garrison at Trenton, and revived the Revolution.
The next year, surrounded in the New York wilderness, an entire British army surrendered at Saratoga – a stunning victory that gave France the confidence to join the war on America’s side.
That winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, morale was low among Washington’s army. They were almost out of food and supplies. But under the Prussian drillmaster, Baron Von Steuben, they learned to stand and to fight as well as the Redcoats.
After six years of fighting, Washington seized the chance to end the war by linking arms with his French allies in Virginia and trapping a British army at Yorktown. Yorktown was Britain’s worst, and its final, defeat.
When the news reached Great Britain, the Prime Minister paced the room shouting, “Oh God, it is all over.” And it was.