Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Discussing the history of Army Rangers.

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Jim
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by Jim »

Let us not overlook Daniel Morgan and the Riflemen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan
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Jim
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by Jim »

COL Thompson is buried in the same cemetery in Carlisle, PA as Molly Pitcher. Because of the Rifle Regiment, GEN Washington, and the Continental Army changed the way they fought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Pennsylvania_Regiment
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rgrokelley
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by rgrokelley »

Jim wrote:COL Thompson is buried in the same cemetery in Carlisle, PA as Molly Pitcher. Because of the Rifle Regiment, GEN Washington, and the Continental Army changed the way they fought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Pennsylvania_Regiment
What changed the way the Continental army fought was them getting their asses handed to them repeatedly, France legitimizing our rebellion, and a short fat German guy who couldn't speak english.

Washington continued to get beat, badly, at every turn. In 1777 he was almost surrounded and captured by underestimating his enemy at the Battle of Brandywine. He lost that battle and then lost the capital of the United States, Philadelphia. Congress was on the run, fleeing from the British. The only bright spot was that Gates had won at Saratoga, due to no effort by Gates, but due entirely to Benedict Arnold and Daniel Morgan. So Congress is about to fire Washington and put Gates in charge of the whole army.

Washington decides to do a "Trenton" on the British army. Trenton was a suprise attack against a Hessian force where Washington came at them from three different avenues of approach in the middle of the night. However at Trenton Washington had about two thousand men. For his next plan Washington had about 11,000 men. Also the British were not the Hessians. Washington came at them, in Germantown, from five different avenues of approach. However everything quickly fell apart when a thick fog rolled in and when the British could not be driven out of a fortified house in the rear of Washington's forces. Washington had to retreat into Valley Forge.

Due to massive efforts by Franklin France decides to make this war overt and declares war on Britain. Once this happens it makes the war legitimate and all across Europe experienced officers volunteer their services to the American army. One is Von Steuben, who had been in Frederick the Great's army.

Steuben changed the army by making a single drill, modified from the Prussian drill. Prior to this there were five major drills that various states were using. Give a command and it could be interpreted a variety of ways. Another major change Steuben did was Battalion level drill. Prior to Valley Forge the American army tended to go into battle in single file. Imagine how long it would take a thousand men, in single file, to deploy into a line of battle. Steuben introduced the idea of columns. Go into battle in a Roman-like phalanx and quickly deploy into line.

That, along with new French weapons (with bayonets!) and new uniforms changed the way the army fought. The next battle, Monmouth, the American army fought the British army to a standstill... and didn't run away.

Not a lot of rifles were used in Monmouth and none in the most serious fighting. We had to learn how to fight the British in their terms, not ours. Though a rifle is a nifty weapon, it was a civilian weapon. Expensive to make and it took longer to make one. Each rifle was an individual weapon and no two had the same caliber. At the beginning of the war there were a lot of them, because we used whatever we could get. By the end of the war the rifle had all but ceased to exist as a military weapon.
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by rgrpuck »

Testify!!!! my Brother Testify !!!!!
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by rangertough »

rgrpuck wrote:Testify!!!! my Brother Testify !!!!!
Post an intro please.

Tough
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by rgrpuck »

Intro? .....I am an old poser trying to see what my heros are up too
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by rangertough »

rgrpuck wrote:Intro? .....I am an old poser trying to see what my heros are up too
So Cliv was right.

Good to see you CSM. How have you been?

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Jim
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Re: Pre-revolution thru Civil War

Post by Jim »

rangertough wrote:
rgrpuck wrote:Intro? .....I am an old poser trying to see what my heros are up too
So Cliv was right.

Good to see you CSM. How have you been?

Tough
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