Who Fought and Won The American Revolutionary War -- Militias or Regular Army?

[Procrustes Stretched]

Who Fought and Won The American Revolutionary War -- Militias or Regular Army?

Simple question really. I know people are fond of the idea that it was citizen militias which engaged the British mercenaries beat them. How close or far is that from the actual truth? We all know it is the militia types who would be first to take up arms and shout and holler about how short any war would be due to their self-proclaimed superior virtue and dedication to cause, but is it emotion, delusion, and hype that wins wars of independence?

 

[Unkotare]

Army units, after they had been trained up by Von Steuben.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Both were important.

*****SMILE*****

 

[JakeStarkey]

The professional army came to the fore after Valley Forge.

Greene used a mixture of Continentals and militia in the southern campaign after the disaster at Camden.

American and French regulars at Yorktown with the blockading French Navy ended the major fighting.

 

[Leweman]

Sling shots and bubble gum

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Looks like if the colonists had relied on militia we would all be saying "Go to hospital" instead of "Go to the hospital"

 

[Katzndogz]

Get away from New England and many Americans simply didn't care at all. They fought the British and their indian allies for survival not independence.

I'm doing some intensive research on Revolutionary era Ohio Valley. They had truly great heroes, but none of them were fighting for independence. There were few regular army at the forts. The fighting was done by the settlers.

The last battle of the Revolution was at Fort Henry, Virginia. 200 men and women fought 800 British and Wyandot for three days. That 200 included the settlers from the surrounding area and the women. They were fighting for survival. They didn't know who won the war.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Washington had nothing but disdain for militia's. He considered them little better than nothing at all.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Get away from New England and many Americans simply didn't care at all.

Then you need to understand how to do research. Outside of New England revolutionary spirit was strong -- very strong.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Get away from New England and many Americans simply didn't care at all. They fought the British and their indian allies for survival not independence.

I'm doing some intensive research on Revolutionary era Ohio Valley. They had truly great heroes, but none of them were fighting for independence. There were few regular army at the forts. The fighting was done by the settlers.

The last battle of the Revolution was at Fort Henry, Virginia. 200 men and women fought 800 British and Wyandot for three days. That 200 included the settlers from the surrounding area and the women. They were fighting for survival. They didn't know who won the war.

After the French and Indian wars the colonists were forbidden to cross over into the more fertile and wide open spaces in the west -- some joined the revolutionary cause with the hope in mind that winning would open up the west, as it did. But one need only to look at the record of the people who were most agitated towards England/Britain and those people were spread out all over the 13 colonies

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Washington had nothing but disdain for militia's. He considered them little better than nothing at all.

he had special contempt for the New Englanders.

Washington was after all a Plantation Master

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

*****SMILE*****

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

 

[Vandalshandle]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

..and that, Dante, is where we part ways....

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

The standards will be lowered if the need arises however I'll go with what you want... From now on women need to sign up for selective service and no one is exempt from serving the moment their number comes up, even if they're in college..... Oh! And family members of our politicians get extra chances for being called up since they obviously failed at diplomacy.

*****SMILE*****

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

..and that, Dante, is where we part ways....

of course.

you can't admit when you're wrong

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

enough with the retarded images and videos

gawd, some people

 

[Vandalshandle]

Both were important.

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

..and that, Dante, is where we part ways....

of course.

you can't admit when you're wrong

The draft fed the war machine in Vietnam. It is the single most firm thing that I stand against. LBJ and Nixon both had no qualms whatsoever about getting me killed because the did not want to go down in history as the first president to lose a war. May they, and their military advisors rot in hell.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Militias were important before was was declared. When Washington got to Cambridge MA the militias were a mess. The united colonies were still arguing they were resisting the Parliament and not the Crown. Militias might be good at starting trouble, but...

How many veterans are not actively serving at this time?

Militias are also good at filling in the ranks by volunteering to become regulars in times of need.

I suspect many American militia groups would be unfit

We have the National Guard and during the Bush/Cheney Iraq war, not enough citizens signed up when needed

bring back the damn draft

..and that, Dante, is where we part ways....

of course.

you can't admit when you're wrong

The draft fed the war machine in Vietnam. It is the single most firm thing that I stand against. LBJ and Nixon both had no qualms whatsoever about getting me killed because the did not want to go down in history as the first president to lose a war. May they, and their military advisors rot in hell.

No draft since then and war machines are still fed. The reasons to bring back the draft are many. Most people learn from their mistakes. America should on having made the mistake of getting rid of the draft