America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army

Conclusion

Conclusion T oward the end of the Revolution, Joseph Plumb Martin chanced upon the army as it passed a crossroads. He stated that he had never before had such an opportunity to see the entire army as it marched. What he saw was "truly amazing." "There was Tag, Rag, and Bobtail; some in rags and some in jags, but none in velvet gowns." The army's soldiery, Martin insisted, "beggared all description." He marveled at the great array of dialects and languages spoken by the equally great variety of soldiers as they marched by. "There was the Irish and Scotch brogue, murdered English, flat insipid Dutch [German] and some lingoes which would puzzle a philosopher to tell whether they belonged to this world or some undiscovered country." 1 This book has focused on the "undiscovered country" that was the Continental army itself, emphasizing the importance of the social origins and cultural diversity of the men who composed it. The historiography of the army in the Revolutionary era has itself suffered from a lack of attention to social and cultural questions. Fortunately, a newer generation of historians has risen to challenge the older, frequently mythic history of 1776 and finally to set things straight.2 The American fight for independence needs to be seen in a broader, more international perspective. After all, one rebellion "does not a revolution make." The men and women who joined or were associated with the Continental army were part of a larger group of free (and unfree) waged (and unwaged) laborers who found themselves in service for a variety of reasons. As contemporary observers of this group freely pointed out, "enthusiasm" for the cause usually had little to do with their participation 159 160 • Conclusion in the rebellion. By looking at the longer history of the struggles and resistance of these working-class people, we can begin to see how the American Revolution "was part of a broader cycle of rebellion in the eighteenth-century world." By considering the Revolution as just one more rebellion in a series of upheavals in the eighteenth century, the participation of various racial and ethnic elements is now seen as much more crucial to the outcome of the event than has been previously supposed . 3 Army recruiter appeals to the Irish or German elements of American society were attempts by the patriot movement to find common ground with other repressed groups and engender an international sense of solidarity . Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all realized that by aligning the American cause with other rebellions or discontents outside the North American theater, the patriot movement was given greater legitimacy. It served to isolate the interests of the crown and cast it as the singular abuser of liberty against the freedom-loving peoples the world over. But getting from a rebellion of small property holders to a revolt with inter1?-ational implications can be a long and winding road. The first task of any serious history on the Continental army must be to deconstruct the myths of Lexington and Concord. This myth long held that the British aggressively attacked America's peace-loving colonists who in turn had little choice but to abandon the plows in their fields and defend themselves, their families, and their national honor. All freedom-loving Americans willingly and self-sacrificingly abandoned their civil pursuits until the glorious fight was won.4 What we have seen was that the typical Continental soldier was not the "yeoman" farmer of legendary yore. In reality, it was those leaststrongly connected to communities who were usually chosen as longtermed soldiers for distant campaigns. African Americans, ethnic minorities , and "free white men on the move" eventually formed the bulk of the Continental army. The state militias, on the other hand, usually retained those connected to the community by property and economic exigency.5 By appealing to racial and ethnic groups and luring the "lower sorts" into long-termed service, the army experience of the soldiers served to submerge former racial and ethnic identities and forged a new class consciousness from among those who had had little stake in the society that recruited them for war. The wartime experiences of these groups created a sense of commonality among them. Moreover, their army ser- Conclusion • 16I vIce undermined local loyalties and created a class of highly mobile, cosmopolitan-oriented laborers. As we saw with soldiers recruited in Virginia, few remained in...