When the British prime minister, Lord North, heard the news, he exclaimed, "All is over; all is over!" The king alone remained stubborn, and for a while insisted on holding Georgia, Charleston, and New York. But his advisers in time persuaded him to yield, and (November 30, 1782) a preliminary treaty, acknowledging the independence of the United States, was signed at Paris. [14] The final treaty was not signed till September 3, 1783. [15]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT NEWBURGH. From an old print.]
In November the Continental army was disbanded, and in December, at Annapolis, where Congress was sitting, Washington formally surrendered his command, and went home to Mount Vernon. [16]
SUMMARY
1. Despite the king's proclamation in 1763, frontiersmen soon crossed the mountains and settled in what is now Kentucky and Tennessee.
2. In the region north of the Ohio were a few British forts, some of which George Rogers Clark captured in 1778 and 1779; but Fort St. Joseph in Michigan was captured by the Spanish.
3. At the end of 1778 the British began an attack on the Southern states by capturing Savannah.
4. Georgia was then overrun. The Americans, aided by a French fleet, attacked Savannah and were repulsed (1779).
5. In 1780, reënforced by a fleet and army from New York, the British captured Charleston and overran South Carolina. The Americans under Gates were badly beaten at Camden; but a British force was destroyed at Kings Mountain.
6. In the same year Benedict Arnold turned traitor, and sought in vain to deliver West Point to the British.