Rethinking the Revolution
(Artist's depiction of Washington crossing the Delaware River).
1.) John Adams admitted that he feared that history would falsely remember an extremely glorified version of the revolution, with Washington and Franklin appearing as almost christ-like saviours of America.
2.) Washington actually had a relatively hard time expressing the events of Revolutionary battles, or praising the common soldier - instead he often spoke very vaguely of the war and did little (relative to Presidents like Lincoln) to commemorate his soldier's sacrifice.
3.) Several Major atrocities upon troops were committed/suffered in the war. Continental troops starved more than once while on campaign, many had no shoes and poor clothing, and in battle, victors would often strip the losers of their uniforms and gear.
4.) Looking back, many Americans and American Historians have focused heavily on the political aspects of the revolution, such as the Boston Tea Party, instead of the major military victories that granted us our independence; and I can say that this is definitely true in our schools today, though maybe for good reason, as the political aspects are also the cornerstones of our American ideals.
5.) Additionally, many coastal towns suffered from naval raids by the British Armada during the war. However, the truly brutal side of the civilian war was the violence between American Loyalists and Patriots, who often slew each other with "great ferocity" in small, localized, skirmishes.
I connected this to the recent Riots in Ferguson, MI - as both events saw large amounts of partisan civilian unrest, be it civilian skirmishes in the Revolution, or the burning of Ferguson property by protesters.
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