Revolutionary War Battles by State: 168 Battles, Counted
Which states saw the most Revolutionary War battles? South Carolina (32) and New York (31) lead a count of 168 battles of 1775-1783, mapped to today's states.
By Thomas van der Bruggen, Cartouche Maps · Published
Of the 168 battles of 1775–1783 in the dataset behind our map, South Carolina saw the most, 32, followed by New York with 31 and New Jersey with 22. Together those three states account for 85 battles, just over half. The fighting reached 23 of today’s US states and the Canadian province of Québec.
What counts as a battle here
There is no single official list of Revolutionary War battles with locations, so we built our own for The American Revolution. It holds land battles, sieges and a few naval actions fought close to shore, in the thirteen colonies, Canada, Florida, the Gulf coast and the Ohio and Illinois country. We left out sea battles far offshore, actions in the Caribbean, Europe and India, raids without a fixed place, and expeditions without a coordinate.
Locations come from Wikidata, where each battle is an item linked to the American Revolutionary War. The dates, results, significance grades and theaters were assigned by hand from well-established facts. The list is not exhaustive: Wikidata lacks some smaller battles, such as Cedar Springs and Hancock’s Bridge, and so does our list.
To count by state we placed each battle point inside today’s state and province boundaries from Natural Earth. These are modern borders, not colonial ones.
Revolutionary War battles by state
“American” and “British” are the side that won, seen from the American point of view.
| State or province | Battles | American wins | British wins | Inconclusive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 32 | 17 | 11 | 4 |
| New York | 31 | 17 | 12 | 2 |
| New Jersey | 22 | 13 | 8 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| Virginia | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| Georgia | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Québec | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Maine | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Florida | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Indiana | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Louisiana | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Vermont | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Delaware | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Alabama | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Illinois | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Michigan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Arkansas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
New York’s 31 includes a combined “Battles of Saratoga” entry as well as its two component battles, Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights. Pennsylvania has no American victory in this list: its battles include Brandywine and Germantown.
The fourteen major battles
We graded every battle 1 (major), 2 (notable) or 3 (minor). Fourteen are graded major, 50 notable and 104 minor.
| Battle | Began | State | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lexington and Concord | 1775-04-19 | Massachusetts | American |
| Bunker Hill | 1775-06-17 | Massachusetts | British |
| Long Island | 1776-08-27 | New York | British |
| Trenton | 1776-12-26 | New Jersey | American |
| Princeton | 1777-01-03 | New Jersey | American |
| Brandywine | 1777-09-11 | Pennsylvania | British |
| Saratoga | 1777-09-19 | New York | American |
| Monmouth | 1778-06-28 | New Jersey | Inconclusive |
| Siege of Charleston | 1780-03-29 | South Carolina | British |
| Camden | 1780-08-16 | South Carolina | British |
| Kings Mountain | 1780-10-07 | South Carolina | American |
| Cowpens | 1781-01-17 | South Carolina | American |
| Guilford Court House | 1781-03-15 | North Carolina | British |
| Siege of Yorktown | 1781-09-28 | Virginia | American |
Four of the fourteen were fought in South Carolina, all in 1780 and 1781.
Battles per year and by theater
| Year | Battles begun | Of which in the Southern theater |
|---|---|---|
| 1775 | 16 | 4 |
| 1776 | 21 | 5 |
| 1777 | 33 | 1 |
| 1778 | 17 | 2 |
| 1779 | 16 | 6 |
| 1780 | 31 | 22 |
| 1781 | 26 | 18 |
| 1782 | 7 | 3 |
| 1783 | 1 | 0 |
The pattern is clear. 1777, the year of Brandywine, Germantown and Saratoga, has the most battles, 33, and 18 of them were in the Middle theater. In 1780 and 1781 the war moved south: 40 of the 57 battles of those two years were in the Southern theater. Over the whole war the Southern theater has 61 battles, the Middle 43, the Northern 40, the Western 16, and 8 are coastal naval actions.
The first battle in the list is Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775. The last is the Colbert Raid on Arkansas Post, on April 17, 1783.
Who won?
By our grading, 83 battles ended in an American (or allied) victory, 70 in a British victory and 15 were inconclusive. Some results are judgment calls where a tactical and a strategic verdict differ. We count Bunker Hill, Guilford Court House and Freeman’s Farm as British wins, and Monmouth and Eutaw Springs as inconclusive. Spanish actions on the Gulf coast, such as the Siege of Pensacola, count as allied victories.
About the data
Battle points are Wikidata coordinates and are sometimes a town center rather than the battlefield itself; the Siege of Savannah and the Capture of Savannah share one point. Twenty-one points fell just outside Natural Earth’s simplified coastline, and we gave each to the nearest state or province. Sixteen of them were within 1.3 km of the shore. The other five are naval actions: Block Island (38 km out, counted in Rhode Island), Cape Henry and the Chesapeake (55 and 35 km out, both counted in Virginia), Delaware Bay (New Jersey) and the action off Fairhaven (Massachusetts).
For a count built the same way for a later war, see Civil War Battles by State.
See it on the wall
The American Revolution places these battles of the War of Independence, 1775 to 1783, across the thirteen colonies on one sheet.
Battle locations and identifiers: Wikidata (CC0), queried 2026-10-06/07. State and province boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain). Selection, dates, results, significance and theaters: our own compilation from well-established facts.
On the wall
The American Revolution
