answers: George Washington
context: at the attack, which had gained them little, while Gage wrote to London stressing the need for a large army to suppress the revolt. On July 3, George Washington took command of the Continental Army besieging Boston. Howe made no effort to attack, much to Washington's surprise. A plan was rejected to assault the city, and the Americans instead fortified Dorchester Heights in early March 1776 with heavy artillery captured from a raid on Fort Ticonderoga. The British were permitted to withdraw unmolested on March 17, and they sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington then moved his army to New </s> of Burgoyne's Indian support abandoned him and Howe informed Burgoyne he would launch his campaign on Philadelphia as planned, and would be unable to render aid. Burgoyne decided to continue the advance. On September 19, he attempted to flank the American position, and . The British won, but at the cost of 600 casualties. Burgoyne then dug in, but suffered a constant haemorrhage of deserters, and critical supplies were running low. On October 7, a British reconnaissance in force against the American lines was . Burgoyne then withdrew with the Americans in pursuit, and by October 13, he was surrounded. </s> without informing Clinton of his intentions. Clinton, however, had wholly failed to construct a coherent strategy for British campaigning that year, owing to his fractious relationship that he shared with Mariot Arbuthnot, his naval counterpart. As the Franco-American army approached Cornwallis at Yorktown, he made no attempt to sally out and engage before siege lines could be erected, despite the repeated urging of his subordinate officers. Expecting relief to soon arrive from Clinton, Cornwallis prematurely abandoned all of his outer defences, which were then promptly occupied by the besiegers, serving to hasten the British defeat. These factors contributed to the
question: who led the continental army to victory against the british and thus won american independence