Project Appleseed

    This came from the description of a book on ebay, and seems to pretty much strip a lot of history down to the bare bones:


"The Revolutionary War (1775-1783), also known as the American War of Independence, began as a conflict between Great Britain and the thirteen American colonies, and ended in a global war between several European great powers. The war itself was the culmination of the political American Revolution, whereby the colonists and their allies overthrew British rule. In 1775, Revolutionaries seized control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up the unifying Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. The following year, they formally declared their independence as a new nation, the United States of America. In 1777 the Continentals captured a British army, leading to France entering the war on the side of the Americans in early 1778, thus evening the military strength with Britain. French allies Spain and the Dutch Republic also went to war with Britain over the next two years.

"Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside, where the vast majority of the population lived, largely eluded them due mainly to their relatively small land army. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in the Chesapeake leading to the surrender of a second British army at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west."

    There are those who might add that there were few "choke points" on the American continent for the British to capture or destroy, certainly nothing like the "oil campaign" against Germany in 1944, followed by the "transportation campaign" in late '44.

     In other words, to win, the Brits would ultimately have to station a Redcoat outside the door of every American home...as each home was generally self-sufficient.

     At least, in front of the homes of the 33% more or less who were for the patriot cause.

Any chance you can share the link to that book Fred? I'm all for "bare bones" facts right now, being that I don't have a lot of time to read...working on promo stuff and program development for '09.

    I would, if there were one. What you see is the entire description from the ebay auction.

    Look for "Rev War" under "books" on ebay, and you will find a ton.

    I don't know of a more succinct encapsulation than the one I posted.

    Here's one for April 19th:

    The British commander sent 800 redcoats on a quick raid to Concord to seize and destroy colonists' military supplies stored there.

     Paul Rever road thru the night, sounding the alarm. By dawn of April 19th, 14,000 armed militia were marching toward Concord.

      The British column arrived at Lexington at dawn, and two British companies fired on the militia company of Capt John Parker, killing 8 and wounding 8. The Brits then formed up and marched to Concord.

     Once in Concord they piled some seized goods up and set them alight. Our militia, forming up just north of town, spotted the smoke and made the decision to march into town to prevent its destruction.

     At the North Bridge, they were fired on by three British companies, but answered with such accurate fire the British broke and ran.

     The British then formed up and began the long 17-mile march back to Boston. Just outside Concord, at a spot known as "Merriam's Corner", the British rear guard turned and fired a volley at following militia. At that, militia units concealed in the woods to the north side of the road opened fire, and for the rest of the way back to Boston, the British were kept in a moving circle of fire, despite the reinforcing Percy's 1st Brigade which 'rescued' them at Lexington.

     Or, as one RWVA instructor put it (I quote approximately): "We are a nation because some people long ago picked up firearms and shot dead a bunch of people who were trying to deny us our rights, wherein we chased the rest all the way back to Boston."