240 Years Ago: The American Revolution

[Aries Walker]

Imagine that instead of today being August 31, 2015, it is 240 years earlier, on August 31, 1775. The British Empire, of which we are all part, fought the French and their Indian allies in the equivalent of the late 1990s and early 2000s, after which the British imposed increasingly strict taxes on its colonists while steadily denying their representation in Parliament. Colonists were troubled, but the concept of independence was only popular among the most radical of fire-breathers.

In early March 2010 (not long after Million Dollar Baby won the Oscar and Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics), British troops fired on colonial protesters in what would later be called the Boston Massacre. In December of 2013 (the same month in which The Wolf of Wall Street and The Desolation of Smaug both hit theaters), furious demonstrators destroyed an entire shipment of British tea, dumping its contents into Boston Harbor. After the British passed a series of increasingly harsh "Intolerable Acts" in response, representatives of 12 of the King's colonies met in Philadelphia about a year ago to discuss a boycott of English goods and to draft an appeal to the King for justice. The members of the so-called Continental Congress delivered that appeal to Parliament in October, and received no reply.

Colonial rebels began to stir. At the crack of dawn last April 19 (not long after the Nepal earthquake and the premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron), about 100 British troops on a mission to seize a store of munitions were met by 400 Colonial "Minutemen" hastily drawn from the local population at the North Bridge outside of Lexington, Massachusetts. The surprisingly accurate Patriot militiamen drove the British regulars back to Boston, where they fortified their position as the battle began a protracted siege. The Colonials then bolstered their success with Ethan Allen's capture of Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York on May 10, and on the same day, the Continental Congress convened a second time in Philadelphia.

After meeting for about a month, on June 15 the leaders of the 13 Colonies formally established the Continental Army, and installed as its commander a rich but respected southerner who seemed to not really want the job but was willing to take it nonetheless. Two days later, before the newly-promoted General George Washington had even begun his journey north, British regulars attempted to break out of Boston and seize nearby Breed's and Bunker Hills; the Colonial defenders fought ably and the British were only able to claim a Pyrrhic victory, suffering heavy losses at the hand of the motley Patriots. Washington arrived at Boston about two months ago, and since then the colonial forces have neither advanced into nor retreated from the city of Boston.

As of about a week ago, King George proclaimed that the American colonies are officially in a state of open rebellion, and any captured leaders are subject to immediate hanging. Confidence in the rebellion is mixed; Thomas Paine laments that General Washington's presence drains the army of enthusiasm and worries are mounting of how effective the force will be once a large portion of its strength contractually returns to their home farms on the first of the year. It is a time of great concern for the people of Boston but also the colonial people in general, torn between their anger at the British and their concern over the future of the Continental Army, especially with winter on its way.

It is August 31, 1775. Watch this space.