Blog #4-Revolution article

Michael Mariuz

Mr. Decarlo

September 20, 2011

AP U.S.

1. Through reading the “rethinking the revolution article I learned unlike it is perceived by many people that the revolutionary war was actually a very bloody, costly, and even less vital. The revolutionary war was America longest declared war. It lasted eight years and the casualties on both sides were huge.
2. The civil war seems to overshadow the brutality and truth of the revolutionary war. Some of the most famous paintings of the revolutionary war are inside the United States Capital building. The paintings depict drummer boys before marching armies, soldiers who have not shot, bayonets still sheathed, and fields with no dead or wounded. The paintings are very different from those of the Civil War which show thousands of dead and wounded in fields and the true gore of war. Overall it is clear the brutality and truth of the revolutionary war are not noticed by many.
3. Not even George Washington spoke about the brutality of the Revolutionary war or the major battles. This only further “downplays” the revolutionary war. It is said that historians have written more about political debates and the state of the growing country that wanted independence, then the actual war and battles. Obviously this was not done on purpose but the actual war of the revolutionary war was conveyed as unimportant or “inconsequential”
4. The British had hired mercenaries such as the Hessian soldiers from Germany, and also other armies from different nations in Europe to help them defeat America. Many of the mercenaries and British soldiers died on the trip over the Atlantic. After thinking about all of the information and pictures I have heard about the revolutionary war I had never really thought of how difficult and dangerous the trip over the Atlantic must have been at that time.
5. In the revolutionary war innocent people were very heavily affected. Diseases brought from both the British and American soldiers reached civilians and killed them by the hundreds. The British executed coastal raids on towns and killed thousands of civilians.