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Lenny Kravitz’s Hero Uncle and Other Lesser Known American Heroes

Khalid Elhassan August 18, 2020 35 min

American Revolutionary War - United States — The British surrender at Yorktown. Library of Congress

14. The British Plan to Split the Rebel Colonies

Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Wikimedia

From early in the war, a key British strategy for crushing the Americans was to split New England, the birthplace and hotbed of the Revolution, from the rest of the colonies. In 1777, the British planned a coordinated attack to do just that, only for it to miscarry and end with the defeat of General John Burgoyne and the capture of his army at Saratoga, in upstate New York.

The plan to split New England from the other colonies remained viable, however, provided the British could control the Hudson River. If that happened, the British could sail northward from their base in New York City, deep into upstate New York. From there, the British could sever communications with New England, or even launch an invasion into that region.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.