To put the British of the period into perspective. During the War of 1812, the British won every major decisive battle except one and that didn't wasn't won until after the treaty was signed. They routed the US Government, ransacked and burned the capital, and still ended up capitulating and lost the war.
Heck, the whole reason why Patton wanted to get to Berlin before the British was so that Montgomery wouldn't surrender to the Germans.
Note: I know the difference between the 1770's and the 1810's, but it was still King George. Up until the American Revolutionaries, no military power great or small had ever defeated the British on it's own territory, which technically the American colonies were.
The only other people were to deal the British any significant blows were the two other superpowers of the time, the French and Spanish, and then the Germans in WWII at Dunkirk. The odd thing is the British consider Dunkirk a highlight of WWII. Nothing more uplifting than retreating with 50,000 soldiers either captured or killed.







