The Military during the American Revolution

            The American revolution period is quite a significant point in the history of the country. It was the colonial revolt that occurred in the 18^th century between 1765 and 1783. The aim was for the Americans to defeat the British and set free their land. Therefore 13 American colonies embarked on the journey to fight for independence for their country. They did so through the formulation of the continental army, which was the responsibility of the second continental congress. The continental army needed support from the local militias and volunteer troops. These were usually under the control of individual states. When they came together, their commander was General George Washington. In the end, the army defeated the leading British t the formation of the United States of America. Therefore, it is correct to say that the creation of this great nation was a collective effort between the continental army and the militia. Thus, the purpose of this document is to reveal the war strategies, the strengths and weaknesses of military planning during the American Revolution period. The paper will accomplish this by analyzing one of the existing documents that talk about the military organization during this period. The text in consideration here is mostly focused on the actions of the continental army. The specific is the “Colonels Lasher, Heyer, and Lott, attended, to give information regarding their Battalions”. There will also be an analysis of four other scholarly sources about the military in the American revolution to gain a deeper understanding of this.

The creator of this document is the New York committee of safety. It was created on January 11, 1776, and presented in New York, North America. The presenters of the report were Colonel Lasher, Heyer and Lott. There were various subjects which the document addressed. One of these is the key people, events and institutions in the continental army. There was also a discussion of the meetings, the provincial conventions and assemblies that had been taking place at that time. The people in charge of the presentation also focused on the military actions in terms of the recruitment practices, provision, logistics, administration of discipline. Since the military also collaborated with local militia and irregular forces, it was also an essential part of the discussion by then. The three colonels informed the committee of safety that they were confident the military was adequately armed and equipped. However, they noted that some of the private members of the regiments were unable to acquire muskets, firelocks and arms. The specific colonel who raised this issue was colonel Lott. The reason for this scarcity according to him was the inability and difficulty in purchasing these essential items[1]. The three colonels also acknowledged the heap of work and the vast amount of help that the private regiments had given to the military. After listening to the comments and complaints of the three colonels, the committee gave out several orders. One of the rules was that there would be an immediate release of gun powder at the public expense. The people who would receive and become responsible for this were the executive officers and the privates of the militia. There was also an order that the military men would no longer unnecessarily spend on gun powder. Lastly, the committee gave a rule that all those attending any military service should do so utterly ready with enough cartridges and gun powder to enable them to work diligently and efficiently.

From the document, it is evident that the committee on safety took the military and the irregular armies in the fight towards the freedom of America seriously. They revealed various strategies that they utilized but also the weaknesses and the strengths that the army had at that particular time. The first thing is to look at the strengths, weaknesses of the military to build into the war strategies employed by these armies that led America into independence. One of the advantages of this army was that they were well aware of the land and the battlefields[2]. This gave them an advantage as they were almost always in a position to hide and cover themselves, giving the British army surprises as they advanced towards them. The reason why they were quite familiar with these lands was that they had once owned the forts. They had also led a life of hunting which had introduced them into being calculative all along. They also had the advantage of great military leaders. An army leader often determines the type of moves and the strategies that a troop will utilize. Poor leadership means that the force is defeated without much struggle. That was not the case with leaders like George Washington., they thought genuinely before making a move. George Washington had previously served in the British military as a general in the French and Indian war and therefore brought with him a wide array of experience.

Additionally, they had assistants as the military had a chain of command. These assistants included the colonels mentioned in the document above. They were responsible for identifying any shortcomings on the war front and reporting to the relevant committees. The article indicates this by stating that, “Colonel Lasher, Colonel Heyer, and Colonel Lott, according to order, respectively attended the Committee, to give information of the states of their respective Regiments.” ¹Since the committees did not take this job lightly, then they would make the necessary recommendations.

The other advantage lay in the support from other nations such as France which even offered their armies to help the Americans to increase their numbers and consequently strength on the war front. These Frenchmen also brought alongside them expertise from their military. French was also the primary supplier of gunpowder for the first two years of the war due to their hatred of the English. They supplied approximately 85-90% of the gun powder. The greatest strength that the American army had was the sense of unity and patriotism that the citizens have. They believed that they were fighting for their rights and an excellent course. This faith that the citizens had in the military and the volunteers strengthened them and made them stay in the army without which some would already have quit. The citizens willingly did anything to support the military, including giving up their resources. That is why there was the formation of an irregular militia. They also willingly gave out any supplies such as cartridges and gun powder to support the army towards the attainment of their independence.

The fight would have been quite easy is the Americans did not have plenty of hurdles that prevented them from getting their independence. One of these hurdles was that they had a weaker army judging from the numbers. The British militia was quite experienced, considering that they had the best navy in the world at that particular time. Even the help of the French militia did not increase the number of the American military to beat the numbers that were in the British army. Still, on the British having the best army, there was the limitation of skill amongst the American soldiers. They had limited powers on the usage of arms needed for war[3]. The people in the military at this time would accurately shoot when they were behind trees or obstacles, but when they came face to face with the British soldiers, they were likely to panic and ran which meant that they would be shot. This was so especially considering that some members of the military were irregular and volunteers. Thus, there was a need to train these people as the war was ongoing. Training people at such a time may turn out detrimental to the party as their focus should be solely on the war. Therefore, from the onset, they seemed at a disadvantage even before the commencement of the war. However, the training issue was resolved after some time as the army steadily gained new strengths and learned how to capitalize on them.

There was also the challenge of the inadequacy of weapons. In the document discussed above, it is evident that the American side lacked in gun powder, cartridges and even arms. It states that “Colonel Lott informed that a number of the Privates of his Regiment are without Muskets or Firelocks, and some of them unable to purchase, and that Arms are so scarce, that it is difficult to purchase.” ¹How then would they beat an army that had surplus supplies? In addition to the lack of armour needed for the war front, there was a shortage of necessary supplies, specifically food and blankets. Without food, most of the army men would turn back to their homes. The lack of clothes, especially during the winter was quite problematic. The military would leave their footprints sometimes full of blood in the snow. This made it easy for the British army to trace and track their movements. Therefore, the military lived in deplorable conditions which would have affected the outcomes of the war[4]. There was also a necessary supply that lacked, which was on the medical side. There was never enough and therefore, when the soldiers got hurt, some ended up succumbing to their injuries. For an army that had quite a small number of people, this was quite adversarial as it threatened to shrink their names continually.

After an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the American military and volunteers, we can now delve into the strategies of war that they used. It is important to note that the Americans only developed a plan in 1775 when George Washington became their leader. One of the strategies was the utilization of a Guerilla war. This is where one of the parties engages in sabotage and surprise raids against the other warring party. The main intention is to weaken the other force. Due to the familiarity of the Americans with their landscape, the strategy seemed to work most of the time as they would strike when the British army least expected it.[5] They would also attack hide behind trees and other obstacles and attack when they knew that the alertness of the British had gone down. Their leader had learned this strategy during the French and Indian war and therefore trained the military men.

The other strategy that they used was adopting a reporting structure. This reporting structure came with the formation of various security committees where the relevant members of the chain of command would report to the committees. The committees were quite as powerful as whatever they recommended would be an order. For instance, the document under reference states that “It is, therefore, Ordered, that such quantities of the Publick Powder be delivered out for the purpose aforesaid…..”¹. the word to take note of here is ‘ordered’. The benefit of this strategy is that they provided a united front which ensured that there was no difficulty in decision making apart from minor internal wrangles. Therefore, when they moved to the war front, they presented a united front. There was also utilization of propaganda strategy where they played the victim in the eyes of the British people. It was in an attempt to get their sympathy and therefore, revolt against the war.

[1] “Colonels Lasher, Heyer, And Lott, Attended, To Give Information In Regard To Their Battalions: The First Two Are Well Armed And Equipped, And Have Performed Heavy Duty, The Least Share Of Which Is Borne By The Most Wealthy | Northern Illinois University Digital Library”. 2019. Digital.Lib.Niu.Edu. Accessed December 7. https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A94901.

[2] Robert Wright. The Continental Army. Center of Military History United States Army Washington, D. C., 2006

[3] Stuart Salmon. The Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783. PHD Dissertation. (2009)

[4] Zoe Detsi-Diamanti. The American Revolution: A Concise History. European Journal of American Studies (2014)

[5] Frazer, Gregg. The American Revolution: Not a Just War. Journal of Military Ethics. 2015