Delete comment from: Boston 1775
Robert Paul's comment on the phrase "a highly unorganized citizenry hiding behind trees and stone walls" was, I believe, not directed at whether that shows a "Tory" or "Patriot" point of view but whether it's historically accurate.
The provincial forces that engaged the British on 19 April were at times highly organized citizenry, and they sometimes attacked using regular battlefield tactics, as at the North Bridge. At other points they did shoot from shelter, and when the British had enough fresh men (after reaching Lexington again) they deployed flankers to make such shooting a lot harder.
In their early reports, British commanders did make some complaints about the irregular tactics of the locals. In subsequent decades, American historians and popular authors blew those up into a myth of wily Yankees shooting at stiff redcoats who couldn't adapt. That's the myth that I think Mr. Paul detected behind your phrase and thought should be addressed.
It ties to my main point about the music, which is that for a long time the history of the Battle of Lexington and Concord was written almost entirely by Americans for Americans using American sources. Some of those sources ascribed motives, reactions, and remarks to the British, but those statements appear to have been based mostly on hope and speculation. Several accounts from British officers were published in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and we should check those if we really want to know what those men thought of events.
Apr 8, 2013, 11:01:09 PM
Posted to The Patriots Day Season Has Begun