Columbia is a midwestern Country Bordering the United States, Canada, and New England.
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| Capital | Columbus | ||||||
| Largest city | Chicago | ||||||
| Language official |
English, German, Dutch | ||||||
| others | Welsh | ||||||
History[]
In November of 1776, Lord Howe sent a letter to Lord Germain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, outlining his plan for an ambitious campaign to take the Hudson Valley and split the rebellious colonies in twain. History would remember this as the Saratoga Campaign. Lord Germain approved of the plan and sent instructions to Howe and Burgoyne, telling them that the plan would begin on 14 June of the following year.
In the interim, Howe had cooled on the idea and thought he should focus more on capturing the rebel capital of Philadelphia. He wrote to Burgoyne informing him of this, and within a few weeks received back a scathing reply, threatening a formal complaint to Germain should he deviate from the plan, effectively forcing Howe’s hand. Begrudgingly, Lord Howe began marching a force of 16,000 men north from New York on 14 June.
Lord Howe reached Newburgh on the 25th and took the town with very little effort. Poughkeepsie fell 3 days later. The people of New York trembled. For it was at point Burgoyne appeared on the rebel frontier and laid siege to Fort Ticonderoga. It fell on the 3rd of July. It was clear that their aim was Albany, and all rebel forces that could be spared made their way with all haste to the Hudson Valley. Some reinforcements under Horatio Gates met Howe at Germantown, but succeeded only in delaying him.
As Burgoyne began moving into Vermont, Howe began closing in on Albany and cutting it off from the rest of the rebel forces. The Siege of Albany began on July 20th with shelling of the city beginning at sunrise. The city held out for three weeks before surrendering to Howe’s forces. With that, the colony of New York was considered to have officially surrendered, with the governor being forced to recall all representatives from the Continental Congress. A few members of the New York delegation, most notably Philip Schuyler, were able to escape and took refuge in New Spain, before setting sail for Europe. The Schuyler family eventually settled in St Petersburg. Many of the other delegates however were arrested and held for the duration of the rebellion.
By the end of September, Howe and Burgoyne had joined forces in Saratoga, leading to a decisive victory for the loyalist forces. Together, they spent the rest of 1777 pacifying the rest of New York, before proceeding through New Jersey to take Philadelphia in early December. They settled into winter quarters in Philadelphia, with Washington at Valley Forge. Meanwhile, word had reached France of the success of the Saratoga Campaign, the surrender of New York, and the capture of Philadelphia. Unimpressed, Louis XVI stated he could not in good faith support the American rebels. Franklin was expelled from court. He was found dead in Paris a month later.
Over the course of the winter of 1777-1778, a staggering 90% of the rebel forces succumbed to the cold, lack of provisions, communicable diseases, or outright deserted. By spring, Washington saw the writing on the wall. He proceeded to Philadelphia with his senior officers under a flag of truce, and surrendered to Lord Howe. The Continental Congress officially surrendered that summer.
Provinces[]
- Allegheny (Adirondack)
- Haudenosaunee (Rufus)
Illinois (Lewiston)- File:US-MI flag proposal Steve Lovelace.png Michigan (Lansing)
- New Jersey (Trenton)
- New York (Albany)
- Ohio (Columbus)
- Pennsylvania (Harrisburg)
- Superior (Funland)
- Westmoreland (Grover)
