Photo from Edie Allen
Tom Allen has written dozens of books and contributes frequently to both National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine.
Posted on 11/10/2010 9:54:47 AM PST by Pharmboy
Photo from Edie Allen
Tom Allen has written dozens of books and contributes frequently to both National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine.
If the title of Bethesda author Tom Allen's new book requires a double-take, you're probably not alone. After all, it mentions America's "First Civil War," which might leave you wondering when we suffered through a civil war other than the one that ended in 1865.
As Allen thoroughly addresses in "Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War," the Revolutionary War was about more than the battle to win freedom from Great Britain. Although many colonists wanted independence, thousands of others wanted to maintain a relationship with Great Britain, and intense, bloody fighting took place between the two factions.
"The idea of the Revolutionary War being called a civil war just evaporates under the heat of the North-South civil war," Allen points out.
Americans were battling other Americans in addition to fighting the British.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.net ...
We won.
We get to name it.
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list...
I actually think the Revolution was the completion of the English Civil War / Scots Independence.
This man is from MD. Ping?
Interesting- thanks for sharing.
I like it.
There is no doubt it was a civil war. It was not, after all, 2 separate entities clashing over territory, etc. That alone makes it a civil war; never mind that people here were pro-Brit.
If the insurgents (rebels) win, it’s a revolution. If the insurgents lose, it’s a civil war. :D That’s pretty much all we need to know.
We get to name it.
That about sums it up.
When you think about it (at least in the last several centuries) if those revolting are ultimately successful the conflict is usually called a revolution, if unsuccessful it's typically labeled a civil war.
- The English Civil War overthrew the monarchy in the mid-17th century, but ultimately the monarchy was restored (though with greatly diminished power).
- The Glorious Revolution saw one royal house successfully overthrow another.
- The American Revolution successfully freed the Colonies who declared independence.
- The French Revolution successfully removed what was basically an absolute monarchy (the Bourbon family would be restored to the throne at various points, but never with the power they once enjoyed).
- The Confederate States were totally defeated in the Civil War.
- The Russian Revolution totally removed an absolute monarchy.
- The Spanish Civil War is an oddity, but has a lot to do with it being almost completely overshadowed other European conflicts and World War II itself. Franco certainly retained his dictatorial powers longer than anyone thought, but he eventually allowed Spain to transition to a constitutional monarchy.
Look at “The Cousin’s Wars”, author escapes me at present, but he makes the same point across the English Civil wars, the American War of Independence and the US Civil War.
Lots of good info there as well as in “Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in North America”.
The first book makes the case for a series of conflicts with roots in the differences related in the second (different authors).
Personally I wouldn’t be surprised at a fourth in the series in our future, many of the differences in world view present in our body really are intractable.
PING!
bttt
I’m reading the book, The Real George Washington, a fascinating book recommended by Glenn Beck.
http://www.amazon.com/Real-George-Washington-American-Classic/dp/0880800143
When Washington had to flee New York with the British on his heels, he was under orders from Congress not to burn the city as he evacuates. A fire was started somehow anyway, nobody knows by who, but it devoured many of the buildings. Loyalist were so angered that they grabbed Patriots from their homes both male and female and threw them into the flames to burn alive. Others they hung or shot on sight. Just barbaric that this went on among a civilized people.
Oliver Wiswell if I remember correctly. Excellent read. Some very brave Americans fought on the Loyalist side.
I believe the British, through most of the war, had considerably more Americans under arms than were in the Continental Army.
Tarleton, the bogeyman of the war in the South, led troops who were primarily Loyalists.
Kevin Phillips, as I recall. I read it when it came out, I think early ‘90s. Good book, and quite interesting. They trace the family lineages and it shows how the same peoples fought each other in the English civil war, the American Revolution and the American Civil war. The main difference is that in the Revolution, the Cavaliers in the US joined with the Puritans, which allowed this nation to be formed. They two have been fighting ever since, and the Scots-Irish and midwestern Germans have been joining one or the other to create a majority ever since.
Great link to a great history...thanks. Must confess I had been ignorant of this.
Thanks! This is very interesting. I had an ancestor who is believed to have been a Hessian who fled to Upper Canada after the war.
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