Revolutionary Spark
The Battle of Lexington, 19 April 1775. NAM 1959-11-302
The Battle of Lexington on 19 April 1775, the famous ‘shot heard round the world,’ marked the start of the American War of Independence (1775-83). This momentous event has taken on an almost mythical quality in the American consciousness.
Here we take a closer look at the campaign and separate the facts from the fiction. How many of us know, for example, that the war expanded far beyond North America or that thousands of Native Americans and African-Americans fought on both sides of the conflict?
Colonies on the eve of war
The New York City waterfront, 1776. NAM 1974-03-38
The 13 American colonies were founded in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Most were created by emigrants escaping religious persecution. From Massachusetts in the north to Georgia in the south, the colonies ran along 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) of coastline and covered an area of over 1.1 million square kilometres (430,000 square miles). The population in the 1770s was 2.5 million. The equivalent of modern-day Manchester in an area the size of Britain, France and Germany combined!
Vast distances and rough terrain made travelling overland difficult. Most of the population lived in Atlantic ports, the largest being Boston, New York, Philadlephia, Charleston and Brunswick. The seaboard, the northern lakes and navigable rivers were critical to all trade and transport.
Diversity
The colonies and their inhabitants were enormously diverse. The lumber, livestock and grain-producing North had little in common with the tobacco, cotton and indigo-producing South. The prosperous coastal townsfolk had more to do with British government than the independently-minded inland settlers. Although most were British Protestants, there were colonists from all over Europe with a variety of religious faiths.
A view of the River Hudson near Stillwater, upstate New York, 1777. NAM 2004-10-10
Far from home
The American colonies were not only vast, they were a long way from Britain. Although the Atlantic crossing could be made in only five weeks, journeys of two months were not unknown. By the end of the 18th century, most colonies were administered by a royal governor, his council, and an elective colonial assembly. As royal representatives, the governors controlled the troops in their colonies.
Warships and transports crossing the Atlantic, 1760s. NAM 1971-02-33-494-2
Role of Army
British officers study a map in their billet, 1770s. NAM 1969-10-320
There were about 7,000 British troops in the colonies. Some of these garrisoned the remote forts controlling the Proclamation Line (the divide between Native American and colonial territory) and the main overland routes.
The remainder policed the towns and ports. As well as defending settlers from border attacks by Native Americans, smuggling and civil disturbances were the main problems faced by the Army.
Soldiers posted to colonial garrisons were generally accommodated in purpose-built barracks. In America, extra soldiers brought in to police the Stamp Act of 1765 were accommodated 'in inns and uninhabited houses' at local cost.
