1.
On the
19th of April 1775, Paul Revere rode around rousing the
colonialist with his call of "The British are coming! The British are
coming!"
False!
To the colonialists, they were still British. They were just fighting for
representation in Parliament; they weren't becoming a new nation. Paul Revere
would have most likely been saying "The Regulars are out! The Regulars are
out!" The Regulars referred to British Regulars, the main battalion
troops.
2.
All of the colonies jumped up at once to join the revolution. No taxation
without representation!
False!
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, only about a third, if not less, of
the colonies wanted to go to war against Briton. Another third were loyalists,
and the last third were indifferent, or just wanted to make sure they joined
the winning side.
3.
The British lost the war because they would only march on the roads, and were
always out in the open getting shot at.
False!
In each regiment of British troops there was a Light Infantry company. These
troops were the elite of the British army; they specialized in flanking the
enemy. In fact, during the French and Indian War, the British trained the
Colonialists in guerilla warfare.
4.
The British were foolish because they wore their bright red uniforms which gave
their position away. They should have been like the Colonialists and wore
camouflage.
False!
Though you might not believe this until you see it for yourself, but the brick
red color of the uniforms worn by the British became dark red in the shadow of
trees, and with a couple layers of branches and leaves, it would become nearly
impossible to see them. From personal experience I have seen 400+ British
troops disappear into a forest, when they were only 10 - 20 yards in.
5.
American sharpshooters were able to pick off the British.
False!
Since the musket ball was a smaller caliber than the musket barrel's, (for ease
of loading) it came out bouncing all over the place. At 80 yards if you crossed
your fingers, you might hit your target. Any further than that, if you want to
hit something, you'd be better off not aiming at it in the first place. Though
there were some colonialists who had hunting rifles (most guns back then were
smooth bore), the rifles would take a long time to load since you had you put
the bullet down the barrel from the muzzle and you could not attach a bayonet
onto the end of a rifle, making them defenseless to a bayonet charge or hand to
hand fighting.
6.
The grenadiers were feared because of their grenades, thus their name.
False!
Grenades in the 1700's were like a small cannon ball filled with gunpowder
along with a fuse. Though grenadiers were named for throwing grenades, by the
time of the Revolutionary War grenades have gone out of use. They were
impractical seeing as there is no way to make the grenade go off at the right
time. Either they would explode too soon, above the heads of the enemy and not
cause much harm, or they would land near the enemy, and they would have a
chance to throw it back at you before it went off.
So
if the grenadiers weren't feared for their grenades, then what were they feared
for?
Well,
grenadiers were usually the tallest strongest men. They also had tall bearskin
hats to make them look even larger. Having 100+ men who, with their hats on,
were around 7 feet tall with large muskets with bayonets attached running at
you would be quite the scare.