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Cheers and have a safe tomorrow. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

Today episode 183 the Doan Brothers and Crooked Billet.

By the spring of 1778, General Washington had fought off the political attempts to replace him

and was ready to put the training of his new army, which had drilled under General von Steuben all winter, to challenge the British in occupied Philadelphia.

The news had already arrived in April that France had joined the war

against Britain. Hopes ran high that perhaps French supplies and soldiers would soon arrive to assist the

continentals. As a result, Washington did not want to risk his

army in an all-out assault on Philadelphia like a German town. Many

wanted to wait and see if the French would arrive to supplement an attack that would have a greater chance of victory.

If the British remained in Philadelphia until a French fleet arrived at the Delaware, the British might be trapped.

At that point, a combined American and French attack on the city would have far more impact.

But until the French arrived arrived that couldn't happen. At the same time

Washington was not a man to sit around and do nothing. British supplies in

Philadelphia were dwindling.

Washington focused on efforts to prevent people from the countryside

...