Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 4. Warfare and Diplomacy. Part 13: A Nation of Minute Men



Chapter 53.  Defensive War and Naive Diplomacy
  • Age of limited warfare
    • corresponding European period to American colonial era
    • restraints of war made them less destructive and decisive
  • The games of war
    • battles took place on large, open fields
    • customary rules for formations obeyed
    • forces set up like chess pieces at opening of battle
    • violations
      • sneak attacks
      • irregular warfare
      • unexpected and unheralded tactics
  • Stratification of war
    • task of warriors
      • functions were as separate from teh common man as those of cleric or barrister
      • ranks usually drawn from aristocracy
    • military engagements
      • away from populace
      • rules neatly and scrupulously followed
  • Indians' differing view of war
    • struck without warning
    • omnipresent
    • nightly terror in the remote areas
    • continued their threat into late 19th century
  • threats of invasion of European powers
  • garrison house
    • common dwelling and refuge during Indian raids
    • whole community huddled together here in times of danger
 
  • Indian summer
    • absence of Indian threat in winter
    • unexpected warm weather in fall prolonged Indian threat
  • colonial warfare
    • all men were soldiers since all lived on the "battlefield"
    • backwoods no place for squeamish
    • boys' pastimes early prepared them for defense
    • institution for the citizenry
    • defense of the hearth against omnipresent and merciless enemy
    • European wars barely intelligible
    • no military games played here
  • improvement of the rifle
  • myth of the omnipresent American marksman
    • potent psychological warfare
    • tactics unnerved rigidly trained (British) professional army
 Chapter 54.  Colonial Militia and the Myth of Preparedness
  • need for an armed citizenry
    • food-gathering
    • self-defense
      • omnipresent threat of war
      • skirmishing type of warfare
      • scattered encounters by small groups and individuals acting on their own
  • professional soldier's mass drill, precision, and discipline were useless
  • militia system development in New England
    • every able-bodied man was to be armed
    • no uniform
    • unprofessional practice of electing own officers
      • informality between officers and men
      • weakened force in combat
      • reminded soldiers they were fighting for themselves
      • desertion was common when service became inconvenient
    • adopted to slaveholding society in South
      • dispersed military function into entire white community
      • military leadership fell upon the civilian leaders of community ("Kentucky Colonels")
  • America relied on armed citizenry rather than professional army
    • dissolving distinctions and monopoly of European life
    • minute men
  • myth of a constantly prepared citizenry
    • explains why Americans are so eager to lay down their arms once the conflict has ended
    • desire for a quick return to peace
    • lacked communications suitable for war
    • no central command
    • forces fell into decay after war
Chapter 55.  Home Rule and Colonial Isolation
  • America thought of military defense in the most direct and simplest terms
    • no men marching off to battle
    • man standing with neighbors defending his village from attack
  • coastal defense
    • remote areas refused to assist
    • fully manned guardships from England carried out this task
  • inter-colony cooperation
    • practically nil
    • Virginia sent scouts north to check movements of hostile French and Indians but never asked immediately threatened New York or New England if they needed assistance
    • most communities offered excuses of why each dared not or could not send militia outside its borders
  • French and Indian war
    • pervasive localism prevent British from being able to combine colonial troops
    • colonies contributed as little as possible
  • colonists feared sending their young men into a regular army where they might be sent to distant places
  • War of Independence
    • clash of how, where and when men should fight
    • problems of particularist feelings plagued them here as they did during French and Indian war
Chapter 56.  The Unprofessional Soldier
  • Lord Loudoun
    • attempted to control and centralize American  military actively starting in 1756
    • the more he learned about the colonial troops, the less he relied on them
    • with his professional soldier's eye, he saw much that horrified him
  • life of provincial militiaman
    • free and easy compared to regulars
    • no punishment
    • came and went as they pleased
  • problems that plagued Loudoun, plagued Washington
    • series of wars from New England to middle colonies to the South
    • small army made more effective and dispersed militia more effective
    • impossible to overcome local pride
    • did what he could to harness the men in a common cause
  • All American armies competed against each other for men, officers, rank, and glory
  • short-term enlistments
    • sometimes as little as three months
    • fear of professional standing army
    • assumption that army would be superfluous after the war was over
    • men went home just as they were learning their duties
    • numerous defeats can be explained by transient character of army
  • Washington's handicaps
    • unreliability of men
    • lack of discipline
    • hastily gathered military ranks
    • large-scale planning impossible
    • commonplace desertions
  • how and why did America win the war?
    • despite bleak story so far, there were numerous acts of heroism, courage, and sacrifice
    • unorthodox imagination of amateur American generals contrasting sharply with rigidity of British professionals
    • British simply gave up -- very likely
      • in first four years of Revolution, the 4 largest towns (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston) had fallen to British and become occupied
      • no jugular to cut
      • American center was everywhere and no where
    • crucial aid of French
  • at end of war, troops quickly dispersed
  • story of actual administration of army
    • dismal and discreditable
    • almost unprecedented in annals of war
  • American tradition of turning military success into political career was born

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