The American Revolution was in fact a civil war. The population was fairly evenly divided into those who supported the revolt and those who favoured the crown, and vicious reprisals were taken on civilians on both sides of that divide by both sides.

It was also a revolution against the crown.

It was both of those things.

The revolution succeeded. Although the British won the majority of pitched battles in that war, they lost a couple of really decisive ones (Saratoga and Yorktown) and that, along with some very effective help from the French Navy at the time of the Battle of Yorktown lost them the war.