France dispatched a fleet and army across the Atlantic to aid the Americans fighting for independence, in addition to pursuing military operations in the Caribbean and the East Indies.

France also applied pressure on Spain to enter the war; although this did not happen until 1779, Spanish actions in other theaters further stretched British military resources.

These strategic changes forced the British to shift their attention away from North America, moving troops, ships and resources to defend the West Indies, India and other colonial possessions, as well as guarding against the threat of a French invasion of Great Britain itself.

They then embarked on a southern strategy, in which they sought to gain control over the colonies of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, where they believed Loyalist sentiment to be strong.

Following their consolidation after the Saratoga disaster, the British began recruiting American Loyalists and Native allies in great numbers to make up for their lack of army troops, and dispatched them on what were essentially raiding expeditions against Patriot settlements on the frontiers.

While these large-scale actions occupied the army, militia and settlers on the northern and west frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania had to contend with incursions by Indians and Loyalists organized by the British out of posts in Quebec.

In the Battle of Chestnut Neck on October 6, 1778 the British destroyed some American supplies, and on the 15th surprised Pulaski's Legion in the Little Egg Harbor massacre.

The last notable action in the New York City area was an attempt by the British to regain control of northern New Jersey in June by attacking the main Continental Army camp at Morristown.

In the Battle of Bull's Ferry, the 70 Tories endured an artillery barrage and repelled all American attacks, inflicting 15 killed and 49 wounded while suffering only 21 casualties.

[1] The northern coast did not see a great deal of military action after 1777, although the British executed a series of raids against the coastal communities of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and there was occasional skirmishing.

The British raided his supply caches, as well as destroying military defenses and significantly damaging several communities on Mount Hope Bay.

Failure of the expedition was attributed to a lack of well-defined command between the land and naval components, and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall's unwillingness to engage the British fleet that arrived in relief.

These defenses were largely ineffective at preventing the raiders from acting, but communities were sometimes warned of impending attacks by friendly Oneidas, most of whom sided with the Americans.

In 1778, Brant recruited a mixed force of Loyalists and Iroquois, and started his frontier raids with an attack on Cobleskill, New York in May 1778, and the Senecas operated in the Susquehanna River valley, driving settlers out of present-day Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in a series of actions that became known as the Big Runaway.

Brant, the Butlers and some Senecas joined forces to take revenge by participating in a major attack on Cherry Valley in early November in which as many as 30 non-combatants were slaughtered in the aftermath.

British forces from the Montreal area led by Major Christopher Carleton raided communities in the upper Hudson River valley in October.

This destruction of Indian villages on both sides effectively depopulated much of the Iroquois territory as the survivors of the raids became refugees, but Sullivan's expedition failed in its objective of stopping or reducing the frequency of frontier attacks.

In early April 1782, Anne Hupp defended the fort of Miller's Blockhouse against a Shawnee Indian attack,[3] for over 24 hours in 1782 while eight months pregnant,[4] after her husband was murdered and scalped.