Posted on 10/02/2009 5:16:07 PM PDT by GOPGuide
Until now, however, one plan has remained unknown: an 18th-century plot to invade with an American army during that country’s War of Independence.
Drawn up by a French general, the scheme was to bring over an American force of 10,000 that would find a Britain so distracted by the war on the other side of the Atlantic, that victory would seem certain. Just to make sure, however, the general suggested that the force include a corps of Native Americans, or “sauvages”, as he termed them, who would strike such fear in British troops that any resistance would collapse immediately.
The plan, which is being sold at auctioneers Bonhams in London next week as part of a lot of books, was drawn up by Charles-François Dumouriez when commander at Cherbourg. The document, which bears a pencil note saying it came from the papers of General Barthélemy Scherer, briefly Minister of War, says it would be easy to take the Americans across the Atlantic, and suggests if they landed in Ireland “they would be guaranteed success”.
With a corps of just 500 Native Americans, right, the document notes: “It is impossible to imagine the terror that would strike the British on seeing them”.
The scheme, which is sufficiently detailed to include discussion on the likely deployment of British forces, and the supplies, ships, horses and artillery needed, also considers what would happen if there were a shortage of Native Americans: “Even if the Bostonians could not assemble this number of savages, they could dress up and paint themselves,” it says. “These phantoms would be enough, by their mere appearance, to cause mass desertions amongst the British.”
It is not known how the Americans reacted to the proposal — if they ever knew.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
> With a corps of just 500 Native Americans, right, the document notes: “It is impossible to imagine the terror that would strike the British on seeing them”.
:)
ping
Charles-François Dumouriez
Of course. I remember reading that the reason the French lost the war against Austria was because the french officers had ten chefs and one spy while the Austrian officers had ten spies and one chef. Or so the story goes.
And people wonder why we name sports teams after them.
Sung by British troops marching into Washington D.C...
I know that name sounded familiar. He became a general for the French Revolutionary armies during the early stages of the war and was at Valmy when the after an artillery duel the Prussian army retreated. This saved the French revolutionaries. To save his neck, literally, he switched sides and eventually settled in Britain.
1. Most of the Indians in North America fought on the side of the Crown.
2. Even if they didn't, professional British soldiers, equipped with a Brown Bess, firing in mass at three rounds a minute, are not going to be scared by Indians in what amounts to a skirmish line. The North American woods are one thing. The open country of England is another.
3. Where the heck are you going to get 10,000 American troops for the invasion, that's pretty much Washington's whole army. Assuming Washington was to have a moment of temporary insanity to agree to this, you would strip the 13 Colonies of rebel forces. Which means while the Continental Army is off invading England. The British Army is capturing the Congress and winning the war.
4. How are you going to get 10,000 Americans to England without the Royal Navy sinking every last troopship?
5. Even if they land in England they will be outnumbered and alone in a hostile country. The entire army would be wiped out in weeks. 10,000 is a lot in North America, in Europe where the Crown has the British Army, the Hanoverian Army, and as many German mercenaries as you can buy, it is a drop in the bucket.
Minor nitpick: Navies frequently 'missed' eachother in the days of sail. The French were able to move substantial forces to North America to aid Washington's Army, and the Royal Navy (which nominally controlled the American coast) failed to intercept.
Also, John Paul Jones operated a flotilla of surface raiders off the British Isles. Yes, they were eventually intercepted (Bonhomme Richard v. HMS Serapis), but not before they attacked Brit shipping & even staged a minor raid of a seaport.
LS, have you ever heard about something like this?
ahhhh...yeah...sure.
The french are such brilliant thinkers in terms of winning wars. seems to me they even got their butts kicked by mexico in the 19th century.
hmm, you are quite correct there. Plus, the limey scalps are way better groomed than us colonials..they’ll love it.
Biggest mistake France ever made was supporting America in our revolution. The Ancien Régime had problems but what came after was orders worse. The tragedy unfolded because generals such as this thought they could duplicate the American success. But, instead of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Fisher Ames and Gouverneur Morris, France got Thomas Paine type looters and worse.
What struck fear in the hearts of Native Americans? The United States Army. Outnumbered, ill fed and supplied, sometimes with inferior arms, fighting an enemy in their own territory with almost no intelligence, the army prevailed.
Sounds like a great plot for an alternate history novel.
You are looking at it centuries later, it is because of the tales and the imagery of the period that physically landing painted savages on the Europeans shores would have wreaked emotional havoc, a kind of 100 to 1 ratio thing where rumors of painted savages would have freaked everyone out, kind of like paratroopers in WWII.
That's the part that got me, it would be a couple of weeks of British civilian chaos and fear and then the British army would get everything under control and mopped up.
Unlikely to strike any terror at all. The Brits had experience of fighting “sauvages” up in the Highlands :)
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