New facts learned from "Rethinking the Revolution" by John Ferling:
1) The American Revolution is and was actually thought of as less important and vital to American History, paling in comparison to the casualties and widespread suffering seen in the Civil War that took place nearly a century later.
2) July 4th lectures have made the Boston Massacre, Boston tea Party, Liberty Trees, Liberty Poles, and the Sons of Liberty themselves the focal point of the time. These have also continually served as remembrances for those killed in past wars.
3) In George Washington's letters to Congress he said nothing notable about the war, and neglected to discuss the nature and other gruesome aspects about the fighting. He also made no mention about any battles or the war itself during his term as President, unlike Lincoln, who established a day to remember those who fought in combat.
4) One of the most savage periods in the Southern colonies took place from 1780 until 1781, in which Colonel Banastre Tarleton led Loyalist cavalrymen in South Carolina's Waxhaws, killing off roughly seventy-five percent of the rebels who had already laid down their arms in a rampage. What remained of these rebels were able to gain retribution now and again however.
5) The British rarely ever suffered the same as colonial troops, who often ran short of food and clothing, resorting to eating pet dogs, their own shoes, and tree bark as means of sustenance. It was not uncommon for the rebels who seized British and Hessian strongholds to rob them of their own clothing, leaving the foreigners out in the cold.
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