This date in history.....

[SPM]

I just finished the last chapter in a book entitled The Minutemen-The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American Revolution. It was written in 1989 by General John R. Galvin, US Army - and at the time the Supreme Allied ommander, Europe.

As fate would have it, today is also the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, when our ancestors decided that they were going to be Free Men that would govern themselves - as they always intended.

The book is fascinating in its analysis of the Minuteman concept, from its early inception to its adaptation and progression over a hundred year period and it's pivotal role in the shot heard 'round the world. The battle history itself is engaging in that it's written as a soldier understands war, and even if you know the story frontwards and backwards, it's worth a read.

What's astounding about this story is that in less than 24 hours, the People of Massachusetts were able to turn out over 14,000 men, under arms, who drove a force of professional soldiers from the world's premier military to frantic retreat. They did this without cell phones or social media, without email or instant messenger, without TVs or bullhorns. All they had was horses, muskets, signal fires and church bells.

14,000. How many could YOU turn out to fight an existential threat? With all the convenience of modern communication-think WE could get 14,000 plus in less than 24 hours?

It was far from the myth of the individual farmers, stirred by patriotic fervor to assemble spontaneously and fight off the terrible Redcoats. It was a highly organized, exercised, trained and practiced system that included intelligence, communications, supply, organization and an understanding of the political context for running a successful insurgency. Things we all lack - terribly.

The trouble started with the Stamp Act, the Coercive Acts, the Intolerable Acts, etc....when Americans decided the Crown could go $&/@ itself. It did not abate with the repeal of the Stamp Act, or the repeal of this duty or that duty, or ministers more inclined to the American point of view. They continued to instigate for self governance and their Rights.

With the left now actively pursuing violence in the face of electoral defeat, and many on the right instigating it as well - we face dangerous times ahead in our beloved Republic. What we do in the meantime, seeing clearly what may be coming, may make the difference of living Free or being crushed under the heel of whatever despotism sweeps over our land, be if from the left or the right.

Freedom demands nothing less.

 

[Howland]

When my wife was going through naturalization to become a citizen, she had to pass a history and civics exam, so I read through her study material.

Actual questions and correct answers (according to the .gov book).

Q - What sparked the Revolutionary War?
A - Resentment about taxes.

Q - What type of government does our Constitution give us?
A - A democracy.

I blew a gasket!

Actual correct answers are a gun control raid and a republic.

 

[CZfool68]

I could turn out 2! So someone better have a much bigger social network than I.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

With the use of modern technology to call to muster, the potential enemy would also know our mustering point and be better prepared.

 

[SPM]

With the use of modern technology to call to muster, the potential enemy would also know our mustering point and be better prepared.

Which is why those modern techniques, while very convenient, cannot be relied on.

My point in writing the post was two-fold: one, to show what a determined people is capable of doing without all the modern gizmos and gadgets we have today and two, that Liberty loving folks are not ready to face a similar threat to our way of life.

Lots of gun folks like to say "When you come for mine, better bring yours" and "........from my cold, dead hands."

But in the event a similar confiscation scheme were hatched, and police/troops march to come and take them - we would be killed in onesie twosies, maybe a small group here and there.

Further, I've noticed our side has cooled its passions for taking our Rights back with a Trump Administration. Our ancestors did no such thing, and as a result, they were already responding to a threat the majority of the Redcoats didn't know they were.

We need to do more networking, organizing - having a system of whos, whats, whens, wheres, and hows.

Too many of us have bought in to the Minuteman myth - that individuals heard the cry of Paul Revere, left their plow and simply showed up.

In reality, it was much more organized. Individuals assembled in their existing units, units that had trained together often for some time, and marched as units to the battlefield.

Lexington and Concord were the successful execution of an organized plan, not a haphazard occurrence carried by the nobility of the Cause.

 

[noway2]

@SPM The curse of the modern communications. Just think about how our countries forefathers would have wet their drawers at the idea of near instantaneous global communications and information transfer? But what has it done? Has it brought us together? No, it had done the exact opposite and fractured us. No more do we gather as a community in the local pub, rare is the family or community that regularly sits down together for dinner? While we may be able to better physically communicate, and do so by finding like minded induviduals in a wider community, we lack the cohesiveness of community of which you speak. This is one of the proximate reasons why a group actor like s police force would be able to pick people off in smaller groups; which they would not be able to against a larger organized community.

 

[Chuckman]

Which is why those modern techniques, while very convenient, cannot be relied on.

My point in writing the post was two-fold: one, to show what a determined people is capable of doing without all the modern gizmos and gadgets we have today and two, that Liberty loving folks are not ready to face a similar threat to our way of life.

Lots of gun folks like to say "When you come for mine, better bring yours" and "........from my cold, dead hands."

But in the even a similar confiscation scheme were hatched, and police/troops march to come and take them - we would be killed in onesie twosies, maybe a small group here and there.

Further, I've noticed our side has cooled its passions for taking our Rights back with a Trump Administration. Our ancestors did no such thing, and as a result, they were already responding to a threat the majority of the Redcoats didn't know they were.

We need to do more networking, organizing - having a system of whos, whats, whens, wheres, and hows.

Too many of us have bought in to the Minuteman myth - that individuals heard the cry of Paul Revere, left their plow and simply showed up.

In reality, it was much more organized. Individuals assembled in there existing units, units that had trained together often for some time, and marched as units to the battlefield.

Lexington and Concord we're the successful execution of an organized plan, not a haphazard occurrence carried by the nobility of the Cause.

It was an organized plan, but not without issue. A few times they broke ranks and seemed to not have a cohesive strategy. Of course, they rebounded, and the guerrilla-style hit-and-run on the Brit's march back to Boston was very damaging to the British soldiers and Marines. In fact, I wonder if the colonists used those tactics more often and did not try to match the British with the typical ROE of the day is things would have been different, the war made shorter.

As for signaling with fires, lamps, etc., that is not uncommon. The Taliban used fires, so did the Skinnies in Somalia.

 

[SPM]

It was an organized plan, but not without issue.

No plan is without issue, and no plan typically survives first contact since the enemy rarely follows the script laid out in the plan.

However, insofar as plans go - that of the Provincial Militia was pretty outstanding. They had a sophisticated intelligence network that enabled them to know the Regulars intended to march days before the Regulars themselves knew.

They knew the intended target and the mission the Regulars were embarking on before the rank and file of the British column knew.

They had an alert plan in place such that the countryside began mustering prior to the British even beginning their march.

That plan enabled them to outnumber the enemy force within hours of the alert and in less than 24 hours, over 14,000 men were in the field.

Further, they maintained a roaming circle of fire around the British - as the end of the column broke contact, the militia immediately redeployed themselves to get back ahead of the column to engage them again further down the road. It was a strategy devised by General Heath, overall commander of the militia. It worked so well, in fact, that had Lord Percy's relief column not arrived in Lexington to the rescue of the main line of march, Colonel Smith's entire force faced annihilation.

Even then, had one Provincial Militia commander not hesitated that afternoon and cut off the Brits before they reached Charlestown (this commander still hoped for reconciliation with the crown), the entire column -original force and relief force alike - would likely have been destroyed.

A few times they broke ranks and seemed to not have a cohesive strategy.

Such is the nature of warfare. Even in the age we live in.

Of course, they rebounded, and the guerrilla-style hit-and-run on the Brit's march back to Boston was very damaging to the British soldiers and Marines. In fact, I wonder if the colonists used those tactics more often and did not try to match the British with the typical ROE of the day is things would have been different, the war made shorter.

Be careful buying into the notion that the militia won the Revolutionary War. They certainly played a huge part, but it was the Continental Army that was the key to victory.

Not because it won more battles than it lost, though it did win the ones it needed to win. But because the Continental Army was the strategic center that had to be captured or destroyed to enable the British to win the war.

They captured New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. They chased Washington from NY through NJ. They decimated the Southern Department at Camden.

Many commanders - even great ones like Napoleon and Robert E Lee - fail to grasp the political context of their military campaigns. Lee, like Washington - didn't need to WIN the war in which he was engaged. He simply had to NOT LOSE IT.

These are wholly different objectives from a strategic standpoint.

It was the survival of the Army, it's continued existence in the field that caused the British to ultimately lose.

As for signaling with fires, lamps, etc., that is not uncommon. The Taliban used fires, so did the Skinnies in Somalia.

The point was not that such methods aren't still used. The point is that our ancestors used such rudimentary means to accomplish something we ourselves, with all our amazing tech, would fail to do in a similar situation in a a similar time frame.