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Some semi-lighthearted reflections from Joseph E Fallon
According to Jefferson and Adams support for the American Revolution in the 13 rebellious North American colonies never topped 30 percent
The British Army could have won and ended the war at the start - at the battle of Breed's Hill (the lower, temporarily reinforced hill between Boston andÂÂ Bunker Hill, where most of the fighting was and where the present day memorial is). But politics intervened. Many senior commanders belonged to the opposition party and did not want their political opponents to be the winners. They thought when their party was voted in, they could then end the conflict. What a better definition of the word "stupid".
And the Battle of Yorktown was a French victory, not American.
American forces - 9,150, British forces - 7,000, Total French Ground and Naval forces - 28,500!!!! (More on page 2)
Support for the American Revolution lead to bankrupting France, leading the King to reconvene Parliament, which declared itself the National Assembly, which unleashed Revolution, Civil War, the Terror - and Napoleon and a quarter of a century of war in Europe. None of that would have occurred if British Generals had fought to win Breed's Hill.
Distribution of Forces at the Siege of Yorktown, October 1781
American Army
Continentals 5,850 (return of 9/26/1781)
Militia 3,300
Total 9,150
French Ground Forces
Rochambeau's Army 4,900 (return of 11/11/1781)
Saint-Simon's Forces 3,300
Marines (at Gloucester) 800
Total 9,000
French Naval Forces Afloat
Ships' crews 24,000 (18,000 de Grasse, 6,000 Barras)
Marine 4,500
Total 28,500 French forces on sea
British Army
British Regulars 4,300
German Auxiliaries 2,000
Loyalists 700
Total 7,000
.Source; U.S. Army Center of Military History
March to Victory: Washington, Rochambeau, and the Yorktown Campaign of 1781ÂÂ https://history.army.mil/html/books/rochambeau/CMH_70-104-1.pdfÂÂ , page 4
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