Extracts from a letter from General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America to the Earl of Dartmouth, 25 June 1775. Catalogue ref: CO 5/92 f.187
Transcript
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The number of the killed and wounded is greater than our force can afford to lose, the officers who are obliged to exert themselves have suffered very much and have lost some extraordinary good officers. The Tryals [trials] we have had shew [show] that the Rebels are not the despicable Rabble too many have supposed them to be and I find it owing to a military spirit encouraged amongst them for a few years past, joined with an uncommon Degree of Zeal and Enthusiasm that they are otherwise. Wherever they find cover they make a good stand, and the country, naturally strong, affords it them, and they are taught to assist its natural strength by art, for they entrench and raise Batterys. [tactical units of artillery]
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In all their wars against the French they never shewed so much Conduct Attention and Perseverance as they do now.
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- What does this letter infer about stereotypes the British applied to the rebels?
- What can we conclude about the composition of the colonial armies?
- What strategies did the colonial forces use to resist the British?
- Why do you think the rebels showed more “Attention and Perseverance” than in the Seven Years’ War?
- What reasons could explain why the Americans were more successful than the British expected?