the army set up their winter quarters with business-like efficiency at Middlebrook, New Jersey.
February
Rhode Island Assembly enacts temporary law granting freedom to slaves who enlist in the predominately African American First Rhode Island regiment.
February 6
French Alliance treaties signed in Europe.
February 23
Former Prussian officer Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge to begin training program.
May 6
Continental Army formally celebrates French Alliance at Valley Forge.
June 18
British withdraw from Philadelphia.
June 19
Continental Army leaves Valley Forge in pursuit.
June 28
Steuben-trained Continentals prove their mettle and force the King’s troops from the field at Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey.
July
George Rogers Clark carries out audacious operation against British-held posts in present-day Indiana and Illinois, capturing Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Fort Sackville at Vincennes.
July 10
France declares war on Great Britain.
August 29
French Alliance gets off to a rocky start as an uncoordinated Franco-American attack on Newport, Rhode Island, fails.
November 11
Loyalist leaders Walter Butler and Joseph Brant lead tory and Indian attack on Cherry Valley, New York.
November
Continental Army begins fourth winter camp at Middlebrook, New Jersey.
December 17
British retake Vincennes.
December 29
British expedition captures Savannah, Georgia.
1779
World at War
By 1779 the war had spread across the globe. In spring Spain entered the war as an ally of France and soon declared war on Great Britain. As the year closed, the Continental Army entered into
