Five things I learned from "Rethinking the Revolution":
1. The duration of the Revolutionary War was longer than any other declared American war, lasting over 8 years. I did not know that it lasted so long nor that it was the longest war in American history.
2. While the Civil War had the most American casualties, because both sides were American, the Revolutionary War had a scary ratio of those killed to the total population with 30,000 dying in a population of 2.5 million. Compared to today, that would mean that of our 300 million American citizens, 3 million would have died, to be proportionally correct.
3. Many, including myself, had thought that the Revolutionary War was widespread throughout the colonies, but in fact, few of the colonists were affected by the war and the fighting was not all over the place. The only ones who were really affected were the soldiers and such.
4. Conditions were not also good, and in many cases they were plain awful. During the winters, men went without food or clothing, and in one extreme case, during the invasion of Canada, men were so hungry they ate their dogs, shoes, and candles.
5. Individual states took land from the Loyalists, Tories, or foreigners and sold it. Furthermore, certain Loyalists were banned from eight states who took these measures.
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