What was General George Washington's strategy in the early stages of the war against Britain?
Britain had many military advantages over the United States. The British had the world's largest and most powerful army and navy. Britain deployed 110,000 troops in America to stop the Revolution, plus 30,000 Hessians (German mercenaries, soldiers who were paid to fight in the war). Britain also received assistance from more than 20,000 loyalists. More than 200,000 Americans fought against the British over the course of the Revolution (1775-1783), although only a small fraction of these soldiers were in the Continental Army or in local and state militia at any moment. The Americans were outnumbered and ill-equipped, but they had one key advantage: they did not have to conquer Britain, only avoid defeat and make the war so costly that the British would stop fighting.
In the summer of 1776, 130 British warships and 32,000 troops arrived in New York to put down the Revolution. Britain almost ended the war quickly by winning its earliest battles on Long Island, New York. Washington led his troops across New Jersey into eastern Pennsylvania, while British troops pursued them. By the time he reached Pennsylvania, Washington's original army of 18,000 soldiers had been reduced to only 7,000.
General George Washington's strategy was to avoid a major defeat at the hands of the British. In the war's early months, Washington's army fought several battles against British troops but tried to avoid large-scale battles and to prevent the British from surrounding them and forcing their surrender. But Washington knew that he could not simply run away from the British. On Christmas night, 1776, Washington led his army across the Delaware River, which separates Pennsylvania from New Jersey. His troops surprised the Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, New Jersey. Washington's forces captured 918 Hessians while suffering only four soldiers killed. A few days later, Washington's army defeated British forces in the Battle of Princeton, capturing or killing more than 400 British troops while suffering only 40 casualties. These victories boosted the Americans' morale by proving that American troops could fight and even defeat the world's largest, best-equipped army.