Posted on 07/08/2007 7:39:21 AM PDT by Pharmboy
In the popular mind, the American Revolution was mostly about liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and the war that followed the Declaration of Independence wasn't much of a war. We imagine toy soldiers in red coats chasing picturesque rebels.
Actually, the War of Independence was horrific, according to John Ferling, a leading historian of early America. It was a grinding conflict that rivaled, and in some ways exceeded, the Civil War in its toll on American fighters when looked at on a per-capita basis. Ferling chronicles the suffering in his new book, "Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence" (Oxford University Press).
"There's a sense that there was a great deal of gallantry," Ferling told me, "and the Revolution was a war unlike modern wars." Not so.
Ferling offers a gritty, boots-on-the-ground account of a war that subsequent generations had melted into a patriotic story suitable for children. The reality was that combatants on all sides committed atrocities and the body count turned ghastly.
One in four men who served in the Continental Army lost his life, a higher percentage death toll than in the Civil War, where one regular in five perished. In World War II, one in 40 American servicemen died.
Almost half the American rebels taken prisoner died, mainly from disease and malnutrition. The mortality rate among Union soldiers held at the infamous Andersonville POW camp in Georgia was a far lower 37 percent.
Ferling challenges other misconceptions about the period. One is that the War of Independence came upon a previously peaceful land.
By 1754, Virginia had already fought five wars against the Indians. In the North, the Puritans and their descendents had fought six wars. (Some of them involved European powers vying for the control of America.) Before sailing for America, settlers would hear sermons warning them to prepare for war.
In these earlier hostilities, Ferling writes, the colonists "not infrequently adopted terror tactics that included torture; killing women, children, and the elderly; the destruction of Indian villages and food supplies; and summary executions of prisoners or their sale into slavery in faraway lands." English soldiers would refer to such methods as the "American way of war."
Another flawed impression is that the War of Independence was an overwhelmingly Northern phenomenon. (Before World War II, most of the historians writing about the Revolution came from the Northeast.) Ferling, who grew up in Texas City, Texas, devotes about half the book to the war in the South, where the rivalries were perhaps the most brutal.
"The only real instances of guerilla warfare are in the South," Ferling notes. After the British took Charleston in 1780, the Carolina backcountry erupted into a civil war. At King's Mountain, rebels massacred loyalists -- and the carnage was such that a shocked Virginia colonel asked his officers "to restrain the disorderly manner of slaughtering . . . the prisoners."
In trying to find a winning strategy, British officers and American loyalists entered familiar debates on whether they should terrify the rebels or try to win their hearts and minds. A Pennsylvania Tory named Joseph Galloway urged Britain to drop its "romantic sentiments" in dealing with Washington's army and to turn the redcoat into a "soldier-executioner."
But others worried that excessive cruelty would hurt efforts to bring colonists back into the fold after Britain's expected victory. British General Henry Clinton, for example, said it was necessary "to gain the hearts and subdue the minds of America."
"Almost a Miracle" provides a needed corrective to the idea that the fighting unleashed by the fine words of July 4, 1776, was mild by modern standards. The War of Independence, it turns out, was no cakewalk.
Froma Harrop writes for the Providence Journal. Her column is distributed by Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Reach her at fharrop@projo.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jefferson was full of talk and little walk. Including running like a coward and abandoning his post when the Brits were coming to town.
He had some good ideas, but I wouldn’t trust him to necessarily implement them for anyone but himself. Was he horrible? No. But he is DEFINITELY the Most Overrated Founder.
He comes next to Lincoln and FDR as being 1 of the most overrated American icons, period.
LOL! Yup, you have to wonder.
As I wander around the backwash of Pa an Ny, I come across those “History of this Place” plaques. Big, blue, with yellow lettering.
From reading those short histories, one gets the impression that a lot of raiding went on and was pretty messy. Seems like a lot of it was carried out under the banner of revolution, but was really just raiding for economic purposes. Like the Letters of Marque that the pirates were offered, backwash settlers and Indians got the nod from whatever power was in the area.
I may be off base on that, but its my reading of the history plaques.
On another note, Thommy Paine’s Common Sense outlines Brit atrocities very clearly. You can’t read that work and come away with any other conclusion.
I think there was a deal made between the New Dealers and the Southern segregationists that the New Dealers needed to keep the Democratic party together. Part of that deal was that the North can take credit for the Revolutionary War in textbooks, while, in those same textbooks, the South can deify Lee and villify Grant.
Sour grapes.
The English were right, it was the "American way of war", but more it was the "American Indian way of war" and the natives got it returned to them in spades by the colonials who were quick learners.
A comment on your comment: Over the 4th, the History Channel repeated it's excellent series on the Revolution and one of the things mentioned was that between the fall of Charleston and Cowpens there were something like 110/130 major engagements in the Carolinas.
It’s my observation over the years, learning about history on my own while seeing what’s presented in school (and also in many TV quickie-history shows of the past). Sorry, but it’s true we’re given the impression in schools that the RevWar was mostly “all about” the New England patriots, both in fomenting rebellion and fighting it, and nothing much else happened. Except that the war “ended” (NOT) at Yorktown, which was in VA.
I don't see how that could be the case at all, even anecdotally, as the fighting in Massachusetts was done by mid-June of 1775. That's like having the impression that WWII was fought in Hawaii.
When does a “skirmish” become a “battle?” Hard to say...and there were plenty here in NY/NJ also.
Actually, it was done July 1776, or just before (can’t recall the detail, but they moved out before August).
It doesn’t matter what the facts are. If people aren’t given all the facts, and are mostly given impressions - well, their impressions will be less than factual.
Surely you’ve heard the saying “if you repeat a lie long enough, it’ll be true”.
The last fight of any import in New England during the Revolutionary War was Bunker (Breed's) Hill, which occurred on 17 June 1775, about two months after the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The British were so depleted after Bunker Hill that they withdrew to the island of Boston; New England militias were able to keep the British bottled up in Boston until March 1776, when the British evacuated to Halifax.
That's just straight history. I find it hard to believe anyone thinks the Revolutionary War was fought entirely in New England, as you claim. I think, rather, you were just looking to take some pot-shots at New England.
Dixie ping
Not quite (although after my observations in my life, I do have some things against NE; I also like things about it, as my father is from there as did some of his brothers still live there, and I lived there 2 years liking many things).
Sorry, but it’s just true that many people have the impression it was mostly about NE.
I’m not talking people who really study it in any sense. I’m talking school systems which gloss over the RevWar as it is. They seem more interested in the lead-up, which partly explains the impression left. Even my husband, a Yankee who loves military stuff (but never a big “fan” of the RevWar), thought most stuff was way up north.
There are facts, and there are impressions.
I still can’t see how you’d think it’s impossible people would ignore facts. Liberals do all the time. They don’t necessarily ignore - they’re never taught in the 1st place, and if they’re not interested (95% of the people), they won’t know.
In a recent survey, most college freshman can't identify the DOI vs. Constitution vs. Bill of Rights.
Idiot girl. The real problem is that so few Americans know anything about the Revolution at all. Half of all college students think(guess) that Yorktown was a battle in the civil war.
free dixie,sw
The South ultimately turned out to be the Brit’s (pardon the pun) Waterloo.With a very cagey Nathanael Greene along with the help of Daniel Morgan (Cowpens),they set old Cornwallis up for the big surrender at Yorktown and the virtual end of the Revolution !!!
...and Nathaneal Greene was a Rhode Island Quaker and Dan Morgan spent the first 16 years of his life in Hunterdon County, NJ. Whatta country, America!
The Revolutionary War moved South very early during the conflict.
Following their defeat at Bunker Hill, the British knew they had a determined enemy on their hands. They looked to a quick campaign in the Southern colonies where they expected resistance to be weakest and support to be strongest.
The British Southern effort began when the exiled Loyalist governor of North Carolina devised a plan to regain control of his state. He planned to form an army and link with British Naval forces. The combined army would then crush the rebellion in the South.
On February 27, 1776, while enroute to the sea, the North Carolina Governor’s British Loyalists and local Patriots met at the Battle of Moores Creek in the area of Currie, North Carolina.
“King George and Broadswords” shouted loyalists as they charged across partially dismantled Moores Creek Bridge. Just beyond the bridge nearly a 1,000 North Carolina patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire.
This dramatic victory ended British rule in the colony forever. The battle was a great victory for the Southern Patriots. because the British Loyalists were never able to reach the sea.
Now unable to complete their rendezvous assignment, the British ships sailed south to Charleston, South Carolina. British commanders believed it would be a simple matter to capture the Southern port cities of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. This would eliminate the Rebels there, swell the army’s ranks with Tory volunteers and leave only Virginia and New England to be subjugated.
After debating the method of attack, the British chose a direct approach to Charleston by way of the harbor, but they found stiff resistance from the Charleston militia.
On June 28, 1776, when the ships attempted to enter the harbor, they discovered that the Colonials had constructed a dirt-and-palmetto log fort, Fort Moultrie. During the ensuing battle, the British fleet suffered severe damage to several of their ships. The British withdrew having witnessed another defeat at the hands of the Colonials.
Following these two battles the focus of the war shifted to the north. Battles were fought over cities such as New York, Trenton, Saratoga, and Boston. By the late 1770s, the war in the north was stalemated with neither side able to gain the advantage.
7/12/1776 As a show of force, two British frigates sailed up the Hudson River blasting their guns. Peace feelers were then extended to the Americans. At the request of the British, Gen. Washington met with British representatives in New York and listened to vague offers of clemency for the American rebels. Washington politely declined, then left.
10/28/1776 After evacuating his main forces from Manhattan, Washington’s army suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of White Plains from Gen. Howe’s forces. Washington then retreated westward. More victories for the British as Fort Washington on Manhattan and its precious stores of over 100 cannon, thousands of muskets and cartridges was captured by Gen. Howe.
The Americans lost Fort Lee in New Jersey to Gen. Cornwallis. Washington’s army suffered 3000 casualties in these two defeats. Gen. Washington abandoned the New York area and moved his forces further westward toward the Delaware River. Cornwallis pursued him.
The British reattempted War in the Southern Colonies.
The British commanders decided that the war could still be won by using the South.
British Gen. Clinton set sail from New York with 8000 men in the previous December, and headed for Charleston, South Carolina, arriving there on Feb. 1, 1780.
The British captured Savannah, Georgia, and on April 8, 1780 attacked Charleston, South Carolina after sailing past the cannon of Fort Moultrie. After a month long siege, General Clinton defeated American General Lincoln and captured Fort Moultrie on May 6, and Charleston on May 12, 1780. Thus, the forth largest city and commercial capital of the South came under British control.
5/29/1780 Near Waxhaws, S.C., Colonel Banastre Tarleton attacked a column of about 400 Virginia patriots. Over-powered, the patriots raised a white flag and asked for quarter (surrender). Tarleton ignored their plea, having his loyalists slaughter 113, while wounding 100, and taking 53 prisoners. He left the wounded to die. This massacre earned Tarleton the name “Bloody Ban”, and “give them Tarleton’s quarter” became a patriot cry for revenge.
During the summer of 1780, Clinton’s General Ferguson and his provincial corps of 150 traveled through South Carolina and into North Carolina gathering support in terms of men and supplies for His Majesty’s cause. While marching through the upcountry of South Carolina, the Loyalists engaged in minor skirmishes with militia regiments. Some of those small battles happened at places like Wofford’s Iron Works, Musgrove’s Mill, Thicketty Fort, and Cedar Spring.
8/16/1780 In Camden, South Carolina, forces under newly appointed Gen. Gates were defeated by troops of Gen. Charles Cornwallis, resulting in 900 Americans killed and 1000 captured. Cornwallis then took possession of Camden and Ninety Six. This left the way clear for Cornwallis to pursue his goals of gathering southern Loyalists and taking the war to Virginia. After the Americans lost at the Battle of Camden, the Over Mountain Men retired to their homes in western North Carolina to rest before going after Ferguson again.
8/18/1780 Another American defeat occurred at Fishing Creek, South Carolina, and opened a route for Gen Cornwallis to invade North Carolina. He planned to use his southern ports to move men and material into the interior of North and South Carolina.
9/1780 Cornwallis began his invasion northward. He commanded the center force. Tarleton lead the eastern flank and Ferguson led 1100 men on the western flank. At Gilbert Town, Ferguson dispatched a message to Col. Shelby of the “backwater men” that “…if they did not desist from their opposition to the British arms, (Ferguson) would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country to waste with fire and sword.”
It was a challenge the patriots did not ignore.
In late September, a mounted column of Carolinians and Virginians headed east over the Appalachian mountains wearing hunting shirts and leggings, with the long, slender rifles of the frontier across their saddles. They came full of wrath, seeking their adversary—Major Patrick Ferguson and his loyalist battalion. They came to meet his challenge and to fight to the finish.
Most were of Scots-Irish ancestry, and were a hardy people who were hunters, farmers, and artisans. Years earlier they had established settlements that were remote and nearly independent of the royal authority in the eastern counties of the states. Fiercely self-reliant they were little concerned or threatened by the five year old war, fought primarily in the northern colonies and along the coast.
10/7/1780 Cornwallis having moved his forces into North Carolina assigned Major Ferguson to command Loyalist troops on his left flank. Ferguson placed his army at Kings Mountain, North Carolina to await the arrival of the enemy.
Forces hunting Ferguson met at Sycamore Shoals. Handpicked sharpshooters moved toward Kings Mountain.
Major Ferguson’s militia was defeated at King’s Mountain by Patriot militia in a battle where pleas of surrender were ignored. This was likely due to Banastre Tarleton, who had angered many Patriots after his massacre of soldiers trying to surrender to him at Waxhaw.
Some African Americans had joined the chase. Also, on this day, Essius Bowman, a free-man, is one of the men said to have shot Maj. Ferguson.
As news of the patriot victory at Kings Mountain spread, Cornwallis’ plan to pacify the Carolinas with the help of loyalist militia had no chance for success. Patriots began to enlist, while loyalists lost courage and refused to serve. For the patriots, the news was exciting and desperately needed. For the loyalists this turn of events dealt the deathblow to their cause, leading eventually their surrender at Yorktown.
Hearing of the defeat, Ferguson’s fate weighed heavily on Cornwallis. He retreated south to his winter quarters, Winnsborough, South Carolina, giving the Continental Army time to organize a new offensive.
This battle demolished a significant part of Lord Cornwallis’ army, and prevented the British from advancing into North Carolina. With hindsight, General Clinton said “…the instant I heard of Major Ferguson’s defeat, I foresaw the consequences likely to result from it.” He called it the “first link in a chain of evils that…ended in the total loss of America.”
10/14/1780 General Nathaniel Greene, Washington’s most able and trusted General, was named as the new commander of the Southern Army, replacing Gen. Gates.
Greene then began a strategy of rallying popular support and wearing down the British by leading Gen. Cornwallis on a six month chase through the back woods of South Carolina into North Carolina into Virginia then back into North Carolina. The British, low on supplies, were forced to steal from any Americans they encounter, thus enraging them.
Greene divided his army, sending South Carolinian Daniel Morgan into western Carolina. Cornwallis countered, and dispatched Banastre Tarleton and his dragoons to destroy Morgan’s army.
1/17/1781 A decisive battle that turned the tide of war in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution occurred on this date. On a field near a small South Carolina village named Cow Pens, General Daniel Morgan led his army of tough Continentals, militia, and cavalry to a brilliant victory over Banastre Tarleton’s force of British regulars.
The battle at the “Cow Pens” is recognized by historians as one of the most important of the American Revolution in that it drove the British out of the Southern colonies, and proved that the British Regulars could be defeated.
Coming on the heels of the patriot victory at nearby Kings Mountain it was the second successive staggering defeat for British forces under General Charles Cornwallis. Only nine months after the Battle of Cowpens, Cornwallis was later forced to surrender his army to General George Washington.
After this battle, Cornwallis followed Morgan into North Carolina. However, Greene moved north and consolidated his army. Cornwallis followed Greene into Virginia and then back into N.C.
3/15/1781 The two armies met at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. The British forces won a victory but were unable to continue their campaign because one in four of the British force had been killed. Cornwallis abandoned his invasion of North Carolina after Americans captured his reinforcements.
5/22 to 6/19/1781 At Ninety-Six, South Carolina, Greene laid siege to Britain’s important Southern outpost. The British retreated to Wilmington, North Carolina and later further retreated into Virginia to Yorktown.
The Southern campaign broke the will of the British to continue the war. Public sentiment in England turned towards peace. While peace was not declared until 1783, for most purposes the war ended with the Southern campaign.
8/1/1781 After several months of chasing Gen. Greene’s army in the South, and without much success, Gen. Cornwallis and his 10,000 tired soldiers arrived to seek rest at the small port of Yorktown, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. Gen. Washington then rushed his best troops south to Virginia to destroy the British position in Yorktown. A French fleet arrived off Yorktown, Virginia and cut Cornwallis off from any retreat by land or sea.
10/19/1781 The British army surrendered at Yorktown. British Chief-of-Command General Cornwallis’ surrender to General Washington was preceded by the success of the Southern militia against the British in North and South Carolina.
2/27/1782 In England, the House of Commons voted against further war in America.
Great post PeaRidge - I enjoyed reading every bit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.