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<\/a>hand combat in murky woods with axes, pikes, bayonet, fists\u2026no mercy given or asked. We slaughter our prisoners and so do the Redcoats.<\/p>\nOurs is a fraternal civil war because Americans loyal to the king fight us Americans inflamed by Tom Paine\u2019s best-selling, anti-monarch \u201cCommon Sense\u201d, \u201cthe most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era\u201d. Neighbor betrays neighbor, Mohawk Indians fight Oneida Indians, and British and American officers (like the brave traitor Benedict Arnold) change sides for the money. \u00a0More black slaves fight for the Crown than for slave-holding George Washington because the British promise freedom to bondage men and women who come over to their side.<\/p>\n
A secret to our success is that we home-grown American militia don\u2019t go \u201cbowling alone\u201d. We know and trust each other from years of living and working together in small, tight-knit communities. Some of us have fought shoulder to shoulder in the 7 Years (French & Indian) war. Officers are elected by their men, at least at the beginning of our revolution. \u00a0\u00a0Democracy runs amok, which greatly worries Gen. Washington who likes things kept in the hands of the propertied elite. That Tom Paine has a lot to answer for!<\/p>\n
Unspoken is an underlying class tension between our Continental army officers and we shoeless, shivering, starving rankers at, for example, Valley Forge. While we suffer in freezing makeshift tents, Gen. Washington and his top officers eat well and sleep comfortably in warm houses. \u00a0We resent privilege but fight on because we aim to be free and independent Americans, and anyway we\u2019re paid a bounty to re-enlist. \u00a0Fighting as a unit with our own close neighbors makes all the difference. \u00a0We hope it never comes to pass that only a tiny fraction of the American citizenry will do all the fighting.
Another civil war, between us American back country poor and eastern seaboard merchant class, the same class that signed our Declaration of Independence, won\u2019t surface until after the British surrender and we get our independence. Look up \u201cShay\u2019s Rebellion\u201d, the Occupy movement of its time.<\/p>\n
Clancy Sigal<\/strong> is a screenwriter and novelist. His latest book is Hemingway Lives<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n