I continue my series of highlighting the historical series written by Danny Sjursen…..
Below is the fourth installment of the “American History for Truthdiggers” series, a pull-no-punches appraisal of our shared, if flawed, past. The author of the series, Danny Sjursen, an active-duty major in the U.S. Army, served military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and taught the nation’s checkered, often inspiring past when he was an assistant professor of history at West Point. His wartime experiences, his scholarship, his skill as a writer and his patriotism illuminate these Truthdig posts.
Part 4 of “American History for Truthdiggers.”
“Who shall write the history of the American Revolution?” John Adams once asked. “Who can write it? Who will ever be able to write it?”
“Nobody,” Thomas Jefferson replied. “The life and soul of history must forever remain unknown.”
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Compare the tarring-and-feathering scene at the top of this article with the 1770 painting “The Death of General Wolfe” (immediately below this paragraph), which was featured in installment three of this Truthdig series. Painted by colonist Benjamin West, it shows North American colonists among those devotedly and tenderly attending the mortally wounded British general, who lies in a Christ-like pose. How did (at least some) North American colonists evolve from a proud celebration of empire into the riotous, rebellious mob portrayed in the illustration above? It’s an important question, actually, and it deals with an issue hardly mentioned in standard textbooks. Even rebellious “patriots” saw themselves as Englishmen right up until July 4, 1776. Others remained loyal British subjects through the entire Revolutionary War.
An excellent look at American history some of it has been withheld from many of our history textbooks for one reason or another…..
Class Dismissed!
The Revolutionary War remains as one often misunderstood, and sometimes inaccurately ‘reported’ in many aspects. Most writers conveniently ‘overlook’ the 500,000 or more people who remained loyal to England.
Best wishes, Pete.
In the South they were more than up North….many were militias that were loyal to George…..chuq
Interesting reading. And confusing. I have never studied the causes of the revolutionary in any depth. Not one of my interests. I have wondered about one branch of my ancestors. They lived on a 300 acre estate in what is now Washington, D.C. After the war my ancestor moved with his son and family to Camden County, S.C. No record of anyone in the family fighting in the war. Interesting they picked Camden County.
All the motives and motives of groups leads to me comment about confusion. Who was on which side and why. I have always heard the Georgians in South Georgia were mostly loyal to England. In South Carolina and Georgia feeling ran pretty high.
All my ancestors that I can trace were in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts at the time. The Pennsylvania ancestor served with the continentals for a while and fought in at least one battle in New Jersey. His son married a girl from the Massachusetts family and they moved South.
The South Carolina ancestor was with the South Carolina Militia for two years.
Look forward to next installment.
Interesting stuff….the South is where there were the most Tories in those days….some more stuff to consider……chuq
https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2018/04/18/top_10_things_that_tipped_off_revolutionary_war_295.html