American Revolutionary War: Patriots and Loyalist militias engaged each other at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. But Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

Patriots were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who opposed the Kingdom of Great Britain's control and governance during the colonial era and supported and helped launch the American Revolution that ultimately established American independence. Patriot politicians led colonial opposition to British policies regarding the American colonies, eventually building support for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

Loyalist was the term of self-identification for British subjects in the Thirteen Colonies of British America who remained loyal to the British crown. It was initially coined in 1774 when political tensions rose prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution and throughout the period. They were often also referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men at the time. Those supporting the revolution self-identified as Patriots or Whigs, and considered Loyalists "persons inimical to the liberties of America."