William Casey made a long speech on George Washington's intelligence gathering and disinformation. I can't find it in my stuff, forget the book it is in, but the following is interesting, perhaps:
During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington was an avid user of intelligence as well as a consummate practitioner of the intelligence craft. Records show that shortly after taking command of the Continental Army in 1775, Washington paid an unidentified agent to live in Boston and surreptitiously report by use of "secret correspondence" on the movements of British forces. Indeed, Washington recruited and ran a number of agents, set up spy rings, devised secret methods of reporting, analyzed the raw intelligence gathered by his agents, and mounted an extensive campaign to deceive the British armies. Historians cite these activities as having played a major role in the victory at Yorktown and in the ability of the Continental Army to evade the British during the winters at Valley Forge.
In a letter to one of his officers written in 1777, Washington wrote that secrecy was key to the success of intelligence activities:
"The necessity of procuring good intelligence is apparent and need not be further urged-All that remains for me to add is, that you keep the whole matter as secret as possible. For upon Secrecy, success depends in most Enterprises of the kind, & for want of it, they are generally defeated, however, well planned...." [letter to Colonel Elias Dayton, 26 July 1777]
Washington was not the only one to recognize the importance of intelligence to the colonials' cause. In November of 1775, the Continental Congress created the Committee of Secret Correspondence to gather foreign intelligence from people in England, Ireland, and elsewhere on the European continent to help in the prosecution of the war.
Washington's keen interest in intelligence carried over to his presidency. In the first State of the Union address in January 1790, Washington asked the Congress for funds to finance intelligence operations. In July of that year the Congress responded by establishing the Contingent Fund of Foreign Intercourse (also known as the Secret Service Fund) and authorizing $40,000 for this purpose. Within three years, the fund had grown to $1 million, about 12% of the Government's budget at the time. While the Congress required the President to certify the amounts spent, it also allowed him to conceal the purposes and recipients of the funds.
Arnold's role at Saratoga is central to victory beyond dispute. Indeed, without Saratoga the French would not have come in, and the colonists would have lost. DeGrasse kept the British Fleet from intervening in the ground war at a crucial time, and as is stated above, Yorktown was much more a French affair than American.
Speaking of the British Fleet, (and army) it was tied up at the time with the 1778 - 1783 Anglo-French War, the 1779 - 1783 Anglo-Spanish War, and the 1780 - 1784 Anglo-Dutch War. The French were essentially leveraging the colonist's war with England for their own purposes.
More Americans were Loyalist than secessionist, that is a fact. Their property was confiscated and they were generally thrown into prison. Benjamin Franklin's nephew was one of them, and this nephew died in a rebel prison from cold, damp, inadequate blankets and cold, and bad rations. Franklin would not lift a hand to help him.
Hope you folks don't mind too much me using the British nomenclature for the two sides in this struggle.