During the whole affair the Rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into any regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so.
Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob will find himself much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers against the Indians and Canadians; and this country, being much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.
Nor are several of their men void of a spirit of enthusiasm, as we experienced yesterday, for many of them concealed themselves in houses and advanced within 10 yards to fire at me and other officers, though they were morally certain of being put to death themselves in an instant.
You may depend upon it that as the Rebels have now had time to prepare, they are determined to go through with it, nor will the insurrection turn out so despicable as it is perhaps imagined at home. For my part, I never believed, I confess, that they would have attacked the King‘s troops, or have had the perseverance I found in them yesterday.
Brigadier General Hugh Earl Percy, April 20, 1775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bF-Yfaf9fs
An Op Ed by King George III, courtesy of The Babylon Bee:
Listen, a lot of people have been suggesting this whole “blood of the patriots” language and suggesting you can just go topple a government using just muskets. It’s absurd on its face. You can’t go up against a nation that has big ships. Lots of ships. The best ships, really — some of the best ships of all time. Everyone says so. Ahhh, fantastic ships. Quite so.
But these bloody peasants — farmers with pitchforks you might say — think they can beat us with guns. Guns! While I do wish we had taken away their muskets some time ago, now we’re stuck with them. But still. They’re not going to stand a chance against our beautiful ships.
And I haven’t even mentioned our cannonry! Some of the finest cannonry in the world. The sun never sets on our cannons. They fly through the air and go boom! Such a jolly good boom.
Have you seen our soldiers? They have the finest weaponry and wear cool red clothes and march around all synchronized and what-not. What chance can some “guerilla” group stand against our might? It’ll never work.
Go here to read the rest.
Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprizes of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain that with this aid alone, they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will, and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned, in spite of the legions which surround it. Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession, than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors. Let us rather no longer insult them with the supposition, that they can ever reduce themselves to the necessity of making the experiment, by a blind and tame submission to the long train of insidious measures, which must precede and produce it.
James Madison, Federalist 46
One element seldom explored in the big revolution, was that the little guys were fighting for a soul-wrenching cause, while the other side was merely dutifully fighting for the king. Passion for freedom and and the perseverance that it birthed, withstood all the overwhelming burdens of the day.
I don’t believe that this feminized, Godless America can have that passion for freedom, so it will whimper, complain and comply.
During the Revolution supporting the cause was very much a minority pursuit, perhaps as low as one-third of the population. I think there are enough Americans who greatly prize freedom today to make a successful fight of it.
There are enough today as well. I met some yesterday at a local gun range. Mostly men and a handful of women,,,, white, black, yellow and brown.
(Our main stream and social media magnify those who whimper today.)
I will remain an optimist. The only color that matters is red. I do believe there will always be enough patriots in this country who are willing to sacrifice their lives such that the Bidens of the world will have some check on their tyrannical ambitions.
From The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War
by Michael Shaara:
Longstreet grunted, found himself blushing. He rose, went silently with Armistead toward the crowd around Pickett. Moxley Sorrel was on his feet, pounding his palm with a clenched fist. The Englishman, Fremantle, was listening openmouthed. The Prussian, Scheibert, was smiling in a nasty sort of way. Longstreet caught the conclusion of Sorrel’s sentence.
“… know that government derives its power from the consent of the governed. Every government, everywhere. And, Sir, let me make this plain: We do not consent. We will never consent.”
They stood up as Longstreet approached. Sorrel’s face was flushed. Jim Kemper was not finished with argument, Longstreet or no. To Fremantle he went on: “You must tell them, and make it plain, that what we are fighting for is our freedom from the rule of what is to us a foreign government. That’s all we want and that’s what this war is all about. We established this country in the first place with strong state governments just for that reason, to avoid a central tyranny—”
“Oh Lord,” Armistead said, “the Cause.”
Fremantle rose, trying to face Longstreet and continue to listen politely to Kemper at the same moment. Pickett suggested with authority that it was growing quite late and that his officers should get back to their separate commands. There were polite farewells and kind words, and Longstreet walked Pickett and Armistead to their horses. Kemper was still saying firm, hard, noble things to Sorrel and Sorrel was agreeing absolutely—mongrelizing, money-grubbing Yankees—and Longstreet said, “What happened?”
Pickett answered obligingly, unconcerned, “Well, Jim Kemper kept needling our English friend about why they didn’t come and join in with us, it being in their interest and all, and the Englishman said that it was a very touchy subject, since most Englishmen figured the war was all about, ah, slavery, and then old Kemper got a bit outraged and had to explain to him how wrong he was, and Sorrel and some others joined in, but no harm done.”
“Damn fool,” Kemper said. “He still thinks it’s about slavery.”
“Actually,” Pickett said gravely, “I think my analogy of the club was best. I mean, it’s as if we all joined a gentlemen’s club, and then the members of the club started sticking their noses into our private lives, and then we up and resigned, and then they tell us we don’t have the right to resign. I think that’s a fair analogy, hey, Pete?”