American Revolution was one of the most noted
struggles that ultimately led to the freedom of America. Apart from the
history that many have read in their schoolbooks, not many people know
the real truth of the times. We have brought you some interesting
tidbits of American revolutionary war. According to Mr. Thomas Fleming,
a noted historian, in 1776, Americans enjoyed highest standard of living
and lowest taxes in the entire West. Since the farmers, lawyers and
other business owners along with the general public were quite rich in
the Colonies, British tried to levy taxes on them and reroute some of
the cash flow to their nation. Colonists took it as a threat to their
prosperity and liberty and resisted violently.
Patrick Henry of Virginia gave the cry, "Give me liberty or give
me death!" What most people don't know is that there were actually
two Boston tea parties, one in 1773 and another in 1774, where 'Sons of
Liberty' disguised as Mohawks and threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor
rather than paying the tax of 3 cents per pound as ordered by the
British. British suffered a loss of about $3 million in modern terms.
None other than the famous scientist Benjamin Franklin, who was touched
by the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord in 1775, wrote the first
Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote another version with
suggestions by the Franklin that the Congress ultimately voted for in
1776.
British could boast of having John Adams and Captain Thomas Preston on
their side, who helped their soldiers at the time of and after Boston
massacre. The American Revolution could also boast of the first ever
submarine attack that took place in New York Harbor in 1776. The
submarine was known as 'Turtle' and was invented by the Connecticut
inventor David Bushnell. According to the historian George Neumann the
best general in the Continental Army was Benedict Arnold. In 1775,
Benedict was nearly about to conquer Canada, he built a fleet next year
and kept the bigger British fleet at bay on Lake Champlain and in 1777
at Saratoga, he forced the British army to surrender persuading French
to shake hands with the American side. However, he was not happy with
the alliance and thus, switched sides in 1780.
The 1779 American military included about several blacks that fought
well and distinguished themselves. Even the women served and fought in
the Continental Army, the best-known being Mary Ludwig Hays nicknamed as
'Molly Pitcher.' Thousands of women served as cooks and nurses in the
Washington's army. George Washington ran dozens of espionage rings in
British and was a genius at rendering false reports about his army
through double agents. At the final war in Yorktown that proved
decisive, there were almost three Frenchmen for every one American. King
George III almost abdicated the throne on losing the war but then
decided to continue the war under the impression that Americans would
soon repent on choosing a dictator in Washington as their leader. When
he came to know that Washington planned to resign his commission, he
honestly commented that the move would prove that Washington is 'the
greatest man in the world.'
