The Americans,on the other hand,while they fought with grim determination,as men fighting for their homes,were lacking in discipline and in the experience of regular troops.When the war broke in upon them,there were no common preparations for it.There was no continental army;there were only local bands of militiamen,many of them experienced in fighting but few of them "regulars"in the military sense.Moreover they were volunteers serving for a short time,unaccustomed to severe discipline,and impatient at the restraints imposed on them by long and arduous campaigns.They were continually leaving the service just at the most critical moments."The militia,"lamented Washington,"come in,you cannot tell how;go,you cannot tell where;consume your provisions;exhaust your stores;and leave you at last at a critical moment."
Again and again Washington begged Congress to provide for an army of regulars enlisted for the war,thoroughly trained and paid according to some definite plan.At last he was able to overcome,in part at least,the chronic fear of civilians in Congress and to wring from that reluctant body an agreement to grant half pay to all officers and a bonus to all privates who served until the end of the war.Even this scheme,which Washington regarded as far short of justice to the soldiers,did not produce quick results.It was near the close of the conflict before he had an army of welldisciplined veterans capable of meeting British regulars on equal terms.
Though there were times when militiamen and frontiersmen did valiant and effective work,it is due to historical accuracy to deny the timehonored tradition that a few minutemen overwhelmed more numerous forces of regulars in a seven years'war for independence.They did nothing of the sort.For the victories of Bennington,Trenton,Saratoga,and Yorktown there were the defeats of Bunker Hill,Long Island,White Plains,Germantown,and Camden.Not once did an army of militiamen overcome an equal number of British regulars in an open trial by battle."To bring men to be well acquainted with the duties of a soldier,"wrote Washington,"requires time....To expect the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits as from veteran soldiers is to expect what never did and perhaps never will happen."
How the War Was Won.Then how did the American army win the war?For one thing there were delays and blunders on the part of the British generals who,in 1775and 1776,dallied in Boston and New York with large bodies of regular troops when they might have been dealing paralyzing blows at the scattered bands that constituted the American army."Nothing but the supineness or folly of the enemy could have saved us,"solemnly averred Washington in 1780.Still it is fair to say that this apparent supineness was not all due to the British generals.The ministers behind them believed that a large part ofthe colonists were loyal and that compromise would be promoted by inaction rather than by a war vigorously prosecuted.Victory by masterly inactivity was obviously better than conquest,and the slighter the wounds the quicker the healing.Later in the conflict when the seasoned forces of France were thrown into the scale,the Americans themselves had learned many things about the practical conduct of campaigns.All along,the British were embarrassed by the problem of supplies.Their troops could not forage with the skill of militiamen,as they were in unfamiliar territory.The long oversea voyages were uncertain at best and doubly so when the warships of France joined the American privateers in preying on supply boats.
The British were in fact battered and worn down by a guerrilla war and outdone on two important occasions by superior forcesat Saratoga and Yorktown.Stern facts convinced them finally that an immense army,which could be raised only by a supreme effort,would be necessary to subdue the colonies if that hazardous enterprise could be accomplished at all.They learned also that America would then be alienated,fretful,and the scene of endless uprisings calling for an army of occupation.That was a price which staggered even Lord North and George III.Moreover,there were forces of opposition at home with which they had to reckon.
Women and the War.At no time were the women of America indifferent to the struggle for independence.When it was confined to the realm of opinionthey did their part in creating public sentiment.Mrs.Elizabeth Timothee,for example,founded in Charleston,in 1773,a newspaper to espouse the cause of the province.Far to the north the sister of James Otis,Mrs.Mercy Warren,early begged her countrymen to rest their case upon their natural rights,and in influential circles she urged the leaders to stand fast by their principles.While John Adams was tossing about with uncertainty at the Continental Congress,his wife was writing letters to him declaring her faith in "independency."
Whe n the w ar came d ow n up on t he country,women helped in every field.In sustaining public sentiment they were active.
Mrs.Mercy Otis Warren
Mrs.Warren with a tireless pen combattedloyalist propaganda in many a drama and satire.Almost every revolutionary leader had a wife or daughter who rendered service in the "second line ofdefense."Mrs.Washington managed the plantation while the General was at the front and went north to face the rigors of the awful winter at Valley Forgean inspiration to her husband and his men.The daughter of Benjamin Franklin,Mrs.Sarah Bache,while her father was pleading the American cause in France,set the women of Pennsylvania to work sewing and collecting supplies.Even near the firing line women were to be found,aiding the wounded,hauling powder to the front,and carrying dispatches at the peril of their lives.