Rethinking the Revolution

After read the article "Rethinking the Revolution" by John Ferling, i discovered many things about the Revolutionary and Civil War that i did not know before.

1. One of the rather interesting things that i found out about the Civil War from reading this article is that there were cameras present during the time of the civil war. This allowed battlefield pictorials to be taken and caused many to consider this war as the first modern war.

2. Another interesting fact that I came across while reading the article is that before the 1820's, Independence day celebrated the military aspect of the Revolutionary war. However, after the people who lived during the war died, the holiday turned its focus on the political aspects of the Revolution.

3. By reading this article, I learned that the American Revolution was thought of as less of a bloody and difficult war simply because it had 6 times as less casualties as the Civil War. However, the American Revolution was still a gruesome war where soldiers were forced to steal the clothes off their enemy and boil their shoes for dinner as well as march in formation into battle, leaving them with a greater chance of dying.

4. I also learned that during the Revolutionary War, a soldier had a higher chance of dying while they were captured then being killed in battle. Nearly 50% of captured soldiers died while in captivity. On the other hand, only 10% of the soldiers in combat died.

5. Another thing that I learned from reading this article is that the American civilians were heavily affected by this war. Many of the civilians died of diseases brought to their town by soldiers. In addition, civilians often took violent measures against each other if they took different sides in the war. Tories and Patriots would often clash in violence.

Overall, this article was very informative and contained information that I have never known before. It supplied me with additional information about the Revolution that I would not have known otherwise.