Guerilla Tactics In The Revolutionary War

Parmentier WOSSE 18-003

INSURGENCY

The Revolutionary war was a catalyst to bring a nation together and introduce insurgency and guerilla tactics to help beat a more formidable opponent. Insurgency tactics used by the militia brought the British Army to a point of shame, by disrupting and wearing down the fighting spirit of the British. We will look at the first insurgency and how militiamen, made of farmers and tradesmen, used insurgency, and guerilla tactics, to wear down the British army and help the Colonial army, win the war.
Phase one- Survival: The building phase was completed at this point from wars fought in previous years. Many had fought in the French and Indian War where they learned how to fight and use guerrilla tactics. The
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They wanted to be a country of an independent and democratic government, to govern themselves under a system that would give them equality. Phase two- Small Scale Offensive: The first small scale offensive took place on April 19, 1775 in the towns of Lexington and Concord. General Thomas Gage, a commander in the British North America was to make a raid of ammunition and to arrest some known radicals Boot, 2013). General Gage’s men consisted of infantrymen and grenadiers and were extremely well trained soldiers, met a small number of militia of local farmers armed with muskets. The militia commanded by Captain John Parker knew he needed to keep the advantage and told his men “Don’t fire unless fired upon!” (Boot, 2013). No one knows who fired the first shot, but some militia was killed in this short fight. The British continued their march to Concord, where hundreds and then thousands of militia met them (Boot, 2013). The British did not like the fighting tactics of the militia and a British captain was heard saying “The most
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Regulars and militia focused their attacks on scouting missions of small groups of British soldiers, making it hard to replenish the British with supplies, and this helped drive the British out of the north. After losing in the north, the British moved to the south taking Savannah and then a few years later Charleston, according to Boot, “the biggest British success” (Boot, 2013). With no Continental army left to fight in the south, a group of veteran militia, of the Cherokee War played an instrumental part in beating the British down and destroying their resolve at this time. They employed guerrilla tactics ambushing the enemy and then hiding in the local swamps and forests. The tattered Continental army along with militia used conventional and non-conventional warfare to weaken the strength of the British driving them out of south. After years of fighting the Americans, the British ended up in Yorktown. The regular army with help from the French defeated the British at Yorktown in the last battle of the war. This could not have been possible without the help according to Boot “of the bedraggled South Carolina irregulars” doing their part to weaken the British in battles in earlier years (Boot,