How did Washington use unconventional warfare in the American revolutionary war?

Answer 1

George Washington used a strategy of harassment, wearing down his opponent through numerous skirmishing, and making a few surprise attacks on British garrisons. One example of strategy of harassment and wearing down one's opponent through numerous skirmishing is the forage war. In the forage war, George Washington sent his militia with Continental army support to launch raids and ambushes on British detachments and foraging expeditions. The militia and continental soldiers would harass the British foraging expeditions through skirmishing, basically making their lives hell. It cost the British a lot of manpower, money, and resources to protect their foraging expeditions. So basically, George Washington and his commanders made the forage war too hard, too bloody, and too expensive for the British to endure during the forage war. Not only did the British casualties in the forage war exceed past 900, the forage war also increased moral for the Americans. A couple of good examples of George Washington making good use of unconventional warfare is his surprise attack on Trenton, which was a big a turning point in the Revolution and brought massive amount of hope to the Revolutionary cause. Another good example is the battle of Stony Point, while George Washington wasn't present at this battle, he was a major contributor to the unconventional strategy used at the battle of stony point. George Washington ordered his men who were under the command of Anthony Wayne to unload their muskets and use only bayonets to surprise attack the British garrison at the battle of stony point. George Washington encouraged Anthony Wayne to be creative and aggressive in his unconventional tactics to overrun the garrison. At night, Anthony Wayne and his 1350 light infantry surprise attacked the garrison and took it with only 15 casualties while inflicting 20-63 kills on the British and taking hundreds prisoner. George Washington's inspiration and encouragement for unconventional warfare played a huge part in the American revolutionary war. Not only did they bring victory, they also brought hope to the cause of freedom.

NEW RESPONDENT

To improve the answer it's worth also remembering that Washington secretly supported the creation of a privateer fleets to harass British commercial trade and supplying traffic of war materials in the Atlantic.