The Character of the Loyalists.When General Howe evacuated Boston,more than a thousand people fled with him.This great company,according to a careful historian,"formed the aristocracy of the province by virtue of their official rank;of their dignified callings and professions;of their hereditary wealth and of their culture."The act of banishment passed by Massachusetts in 1778,listing over 300Tories,"reads like the social register of the oldest and noblest families of New England,"more than one out of five being graduates of Harvard College.The same was true of New York and Philadelphia;namely,that the leading loyalists were prominent officials of the old order,clergymen and wealthy merchants.With passion the loyalists fought against the inevitable or with anguish of heart they left as refugees for a life of uncertainty in Canada or the mother country.
Tories Assail the Patriots.The Tories who remained in America joined the British army by the thousands or in other ways aided the royal cause.Those who were skillful with the pen assailed the patriots in editorials,rhymes,satires,and political catechisms.They declared that the members of Congress were "obscure,pettifogging attorneys,bankrupt shopkeepers,outlawed smugglers,etc."The people and their leaders they characterized as "wretched banditti ...the refuse and dregs of mankind."The generals in the army they sneered at as "men of rank and honor nearly on a par with those of the Congress."
Patriot Writers Arouse the National Spirit.Stung by Tory taunts,patriot writers devoted themselves to creating and sustaining a public opinion favorable to the American cause.Moreover,they had to combat the depression that grew out of the misfortunes in the early days of the war.A terrible disaster befell Generals Arnold and Montgomery in the winter of 1775as they attemptedto bring Canada into the revolutiona disaster that cost 5000men;repeated calamities harassed Washington in 1776as he was defeated on Long Island,driven out of New York City,and beaten at Harlem Heights and White Plains.These reverses were almost too great for the stoutest patriots.
Pamphleteers,preachers,and publicists rose,however,to meet the needs of the hour.John Witherspoon,provost of the College of New Jersey,forsook the classroom for the field of political controversy.The poet,Philip Freneau,flung taunts of cowardice at the Tories and celebrated the spirit of liberty in many a stirring poem.Songs,ballads,plays,and satires flowed from the press in an unending stream.Fast days,battle anniversaries,celebrations of important steps taken by Congress afforded to patriotic clergymen abundant opportunities for sermons."Does Mr.Wiberd preach against oppression?"anxiously inquired John Adams in a letter to his wife.The answer was decisive."The clergy of every denomination,not excepting the Episcopalian,thunder and lighten every Sabbath.They pray for Boston and Massachusetts.They thank God most explicitly and fervently for our remarkable successes.They pray for the American army."
Thomas Paine never let his pen rest.He had been with the forces of Washington when they retreated from Fort Lee and were harried from New Jersey into Pennsylvania.He knew the effect of such reverses on the army as well as on the public.In December,1776,he made a second great appeal to his countrymen in his pamphlet,"The Crisis,"the first part of which he had written while defeat and gloom were all about him.This tract was a cry for continued support of the Revolution."These are the times that try men's souls,"he opened."The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,in this crisis,shrink from the service of his country;but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of men and women."Paine laid his lash fiercely on the Tories,branding every one as a coward grounded in "servile,slavish,selfinterested fear."He deplored the inadequacy of the militia and called for a real army.He refuted the charge that the retreat through New Jersey was a disaster and he promised victory soon."By perseverance and fortitude,"he concluded,"we have the prospect of a glorious issue;by cowardice and submission the sad choice of a variety of evilsa ravaged country,a depopulated city,habitations without safety and slavery without hope....Look on this picture and weep over it."His ringing call to arms was followed by another and another until the long contest was over.
Military Affairs
The Two Phases of the War.The war which opened with the battle of Lexington,on April 19,1775,and closed with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19,1781,passed through two distinct phasesthe firstlasting until the treaty of alliance with France,in 1778,and the second until the end of the struggle.During the first phase,the war was confined mainly to the North.The outstanding features of the contest were the evacuation of Boston by the British,the expulsion of American forces from New York and their retreat through New Jersey,the battle of Trenton,the seizure of Philadelphia by the British （September,1777）,the invasion of New York by Burgoyne and his capture at Saratoga in October,1777,and the encampment of American forces at Valley Forge for the terrible winter of 177778.