CHAPTER THREE
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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Had Americans been really as united and as determined as the stirring phrases of the Declaration of Independence had suggested, their revolution against King George would have quickly ended. After all, they already controlled 99 percent of the country; the English people supported this war only half-heartedly; and the difficulties of conquering a rebellious and determined people 3,000 miles away proved to be an enormous task even for the British Empire. But more than six years of fighting were to follow before Great Britain gave up on her American possessions, and by that time both sides were thoroughly worn out and exhausted.
On the face of it, Great Britain held all the advantages. By 1775, that nation had achieved supremacy not only on the seas and around the globe, but in world commerce as well. Its financial strength was able to support armies of more than 30,000 men in garrisons throughout the empire, not counting the 9,000 or so stationed in the rebellious colonies. British naval power gave superior mobility to her army, enabling British troops to occupy almost any American seaport at will. Lord Barriston, the British war secretary, had already proposed to end the rising rebellion quickly and simply by merely withdrawing all land forces and smothering all resistance by a strict naval blockade of the Atlantic coast. And indeed, had the British concentrated on holding three or four of the larger sea ports as fortified naval bases for just such a blockade, they might have saved far more besides honor – without ever having to send a single regiment inland. But since an army was already on land and already under siege, the North ministry decided that it could no longer withdraw without a serious loss of prestige. Great Britain was thus committed to a land war; let the mighty British Army defeat and disperse the rebels and occupy the country. If one looked at the neatly colored maps of North America, and ignored the wilderness and the ocean between the countries, it was all so simple and clean.
