A Timeline of the History of the American Revolution

american-revolution-timeline.yaml

#
# This is an experiment for a personal project I'm working on. The below is a YAML representation of some of the historical
# events that occurred relating to the American Revolution. It is absolutely incomplete (we're talking about a major geopolitical
# event here that was kicked off by a major conflict between two western powers on two continents over 20 years prior after all)
# and not intended to be a history lesson or a political statement. I'll probably add to and tweak this as I go, expanding on
# my experiement in multiple ways, but be aware that this is just used as test data for a personal project that I hope to be able
# to let others use one day, if it turns out well.
#
# (Said project is an attempt at creating an HTML/CSS/JS interactive timeline in the browser. The idea: don't worry about
# messing with front-end code, just feed it some nice and easy YAML - like this - of historical events and data and you
# get a nice and pretty interactive, navigable timeline of events that you can use as a research aid, reference material, etc.
# Could be a good tool for students, authors, historians, teachers, college professors, whomever!)
#
# Be advised: These events may be INTENTIONALLY out of chronological order and the date format may be INTENTIONALLY
# inconsistent. That's by design: I want the end user to be able to make minor human mistakes and the software to still
# work as expected, so I test for that in my own experience by screwing up on purpose.
#

#
# To specify dates, use the format YYYY-MM-DD. If you need a time on that date, use
# 24-hour format WITHOUT a time zone and wrap it in double quotes. For example, 9PM
# on March 5, 1770 would be "1770-03-05 21:00:00" (the Boston Massacre).
#
# The order in which you specify the events here, so long as the time formatting is
# correct as are the dates themselves, doesn't matter. The timeline will sort them
# for you automatically. That's the reason for calling out the specific formatting
# of the date/time string.
#

timeline:
  title: The American Revolution
  intro: |
    Spanning roughly a quarter of the planet, lasting more than thirteen years and involving at least
    three major European powers, the American Revolution was a wildly complex historical flashpoint that forever changed
    the long-term trajectory of human history. The following timeline, while most certainly **far from exhaustive**,
    is a sampling of some of those events that I've personally assembled relevant to my first novel: an historical fiction
    piece set in that era. Writing such a work necessarily entails forming a detailed understanding of the context, events,
    issues, cultures, and peoples who shaped the period, the conflict, and ultimately, our world.
  events:
  - title: "Elizabeth Burgin Flees New York"
    date: 1779-07-17
    description: The British Commandant of New York offers a 200-pound reward for the capture of the person 'suspected of helping the American prisoners make their escape'.
    body: |
      Elizabeth Burgin, an otherwise-minor, unknown figure in American History, is credited with cooperative action with otherwise unknown individuals
      (lost to the ravages of time and bad documentation of the period) with assisting in the escape of over 200 American POWs during the Revolutionary
      War.
    actions:
      - date: 1779-07-17
        description: British Commandant Orders Observation of Burgin's Home, offers 200-Pound Reward
        body: |
          The Commandant of New York, rightly suspecing that Burgin was involved in the escape of many prisoners of war, offered
          a 200-Pound reward for the capture of the individual responsible, and on the same day, British forces began watching her
          home in New York. Knowing this (how? We don't know...) to be the case, Burgin went into hiding alone (without her three children),
          assisted by friends in the area in escaping to Long Island, where she hid for another five weeks. After an unnamed man took her by
          whale boat (William Scudder) to  Connecticut, she made her way to Philadelphia, then to Elizabeth,
          New Jersey where she waited while her children arrived, having been sent to her (somehow) from New York.
      - date: 1779-11-19
        description: Burgin Writes to General Washington
        body: |
          In a letter dated November 19, 1779, Ms. Burgin writes to George Washington, on the advice of individuals named in the
          very same letter, asking for any provisions he is able to himself authorize for her very survival, or on her behalf,
          get Congress to authorize. She states that "Helping our poor prisoners brought me to want, which I don't repent." In the
          letter she recounts her story of fleeing New York, her desire (at the time) to remain in Philadelphia, and provides the names
          of several people with whom Washington could corroborate her story, all of whom could, and would, presumably, vouch for her.
  - title: "The Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill)"
    date: 1775-06-17
    description: Colonial forces, occupying hills surrounding the city, sought to countrol Boston harbor. In response, the British attacked to dislodge them from their defensible positions.
    body: |
      Colonial leaders had become aware of a British plan to occupy hills surrounding Boston to further solidify their control
      over the harbor and the overall region. To beat them to the punch, they pre-emptively did the same, sending troops to occupy
      and fortify those same hills before the British were able to do so. In response, the British launched a massive attack on those
      same hills in several waves that only succeeded because colonial forces literally ran out of ammunition. The British won a tactical
      victory, but at a very high loss: they had incurred massive casualties, far more than the American forces had, making their
      success, arguably, a phyrric victory.
    actions:
      - date: 1775-06-13
        description: Colonial forces learn of a British plan to occupy hills surrounding Boston
        body: |
          On June 13, 1775, Colonial forces learned of a British plan to occupy and entrench defensible positions on
          elevated hills (high ground) surrounding Boston that would ultimately reinforce their dominance over Boston and
          its harbor, a vital supply port for their ongoing occupation of the colonies.
        references:
          - title: "Fortification of Breed's Hill (Wikipedia)"
            citation: 
              - link: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bunker_Hill#Fortification_of_Breed's_Hill"
                title: "Battle of Bunkder Hill (Fortification of Breed's Hill)"
      - date: 1775-06-17
        description: The British Launch their Attack
        body: |
          Four days later, the British launched their attack on those fortified positions in an attempt to re-take them by
          any means necessary. After several waves of attackers assaulted American fortifications and failed, finally the
          American forces had literally run out of ammunition to fire. One story claims that Dr. Joseph Warren stood his
          ground at the scene to give militia a chance to escape, knowing himself to be what we'd today call an "HVT" or
          "high value target" to the British, and remained with nothing more than his spent rifle (likely with a bayonet
          attached) to engage in combat with the British should they get close enough. Whether true or not, a fact not
          in dispute is that Joseph Warren was killed in action on this day by a British officer who recognized him (or,
          potentially, an officer's aide who knew his face and alerted others to his status as an HVT on scene). It's said
          that he was so reviled that several individuals repeatedly stabbed and mutilated his corpse to the point of being
          unrecognizable, and one account claims they went so far as to literally decapitate his lifeless body after the
          fact. His remains were identified by Paul Revere - a known friend - due to a false tooth he was known to have.
          Warren's death served as a form of martyrdom for the American cause, galvanizing people far and wide for the
          long and challenging conflict to come.
        references:
          
          - title: "The True Story of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Smithsonian)"
            url: "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-true-story-of-the-battle-of-bunker-hill-36721984/"
          - title: "Joseph Warren - Death (Wikipedia)"
            url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Warren#Death"
  - date: 1774-06-02
    title: The New Quartering Act is Passed
    description: A new form of the previously-expired Quatering Act is passed by Parliament
    body: |
      Part of what was considered "The Intolerable Acts" of 1774, this new version of the Quartering Act, which previously expired
      in 1770, allowed British governors to requisition unoccupied buildings to house British troops. This inflamed tensions further, which were
      already at a fever pitch.
    links:
      - title: "Encylopedia Brittanica: The Intolerable Acts"
        url: "https://www.britannica.com/event/Intolerable-Acts"
  - date: 1783-09-03
    title: Treaty of Paris
    description: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the war
    body: |
      The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the war. The treaty
      establishes the United States as a sovereign nation, and establishes
      the boundaries of the new nation.
    links:
      - title: "Wikipedia: The Treaty of Paris"
        url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1783)
      - title: "Library of Congress: The Treaty of Paris"
        url: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/paris.html
  - date: "1770-03-05 21:00:00"
    title: The Boston Massacre (Incident on King Street)
    description: British Soldiers Fire on an unarmed crowd in Boston
    body: An accidental weapons discharge in a moment of furious political intensity
      leads to the unintended deaths of five civilians at the hands of British
      soldiers. The event is later used as propaganda by the Sons of Liberty to
      incite anti-British sentiment in the colonies.
    links:
      - title: "Wikipedia: Boston Massacre"
        url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre
      - title: "Library of Congress: Boston Massacre"
        url: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/massacre.html
  - date: 1775-04-18
    title: The Regulars are Coming Out (The British Are Coming)
    description: British Soldiers Begin Overnight Search for Munitions
    body: British soldiers from the 5th Regiment of Foot begin an overnight search
      for munitions and Whig sympathizers in the cities of Lexington and Concord,
      Massachusetts, west of Boston. Looking for John Hancock and Samuel Adams,
      who had already fled, acting on intelligence received in advance of the
      British search, Paul Revere and William Dawes take to the countryside on
      horseback to quietly warn local militia of the incoming British advance.
    links:
      - title: "Wikipedia: Battles of Lexington and Concord"
        url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord
      - title: "Library of Congress: Lexington and Concord"
        url: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/lexi.html
  - date: 1775-04-19
    title: Battles of Lexington and Concord
    description: The first military engagements of the American Revolution
    body: After an overnight search for munitions and Whig sympathizers in Concord,
      Massachusetts, British soldiers from the 5th Regiment of Foot engage with
      colonial militia at Lexington and Concord. The British retreat to Boston,
      suffering staggering casualties along the way.
    links:
      - title: "Wikipedia: Battles of Lexington and Concord"
        url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord
      - title: "Library of Congress: Lexington and Concord"
        url: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/lexi.html
  - date: 1776-07-04
    title: Declaration of Independence
    description: The United States issues its Declaration of Independence
    body: "TODO: Body text here"
    links:
      - title: Wikipedia
        url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
      - title: National Archives
        url: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
      - title: Library of Congress
        url: https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html