John, I think you have forgotten another Colony where the Rev War was a border-to-border event, New York. The British also established "island posts" there, Long, Manhattan, and Staten. Also, it is thought that "the militia won't fight" in New York too. Well, they did, at White Plains, Fort Anne, and Saratoga, among other battles. We know how that turned out too. Of course the British moved the border in 1776 to Westchester County in 1776 after occupying half of the State. So, it was a little more cramped. Don John Robertson wrote: > At 06:53 PM 6/5/2002 -0400, you wrote: > >Out of curiousity what state do you live in? > > I live in NC, but very near SC. The comments are based primarily on SC, > but also partially on NC. > > SC is probably the one colony in which the Rev War was a border-to-border > event, since it was the only colony in which the Brits established inland > posts and sought (with considerable success) to provoke a civil war. SC > had more battle/skirmish sites than any other colony (I'll arm-wrestle on > this *privately*, if anyone is so inclined) and had more war debt than the > other 12 colonies combined (it was then "total war", it was civil war, it > was late in the war when the other colonies felt they had "done their > share" and the Carolinas were essentially on their own, and all that was at > stake was the outcome of the war). The war could have been won or lost > there. The Continental forces in the > South had been decimated. All that stood in the way of defeat was the > backcountry militia, and there was a very viable British army still in the > field. And the watchword was that "the militia won't fight". > > We know how it turned out. > > I study the Rev War all over, wherever it happened. But there are few > places it gets more exciting, or more unpredictable (or unbelievable) than > in SC. > > John Robertson > > ==== AMERICAN-REVOLUTION Mailing List ==== > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

At 08:56 PM 6/5/2002 -0500, you wrote: > I think you have forgotten another Colony where the Rev War was a >border-to-border event, New York. <snip> > Also, it is thought that "the militia won't fight" in New York too. > Well, they >did, at White Plains, Fort Anne, and Saratoga, among other battles. We >know how >that turned out too. <snip> Nowhere was the contribution of militia more important than at Bennington. In my listing of the true heroes of Saratoga (the one "turning point" I never quibble over!), I place John Stark immediately after Benedict Arnold. Brit historian Piers Mackesy (a favorite of mine) refers to Stark as "that cross-grained New Hampshireman". Piers must have split some wood in his day. > Of course the British moved the border in 1776 to Westchester > County in 1776 >after occupying half of the State. So, it was a little more cramped. I find the following map to show some interesting patterns in battle/skirmish sites during the Rev War. http://jrshelby.com/britcols.jpg Please note that this is copyrighted, but it is o.k. to snag for your personal use (please check with me before using it in other ways). Its presence on the net wasn't intended to be permanent (I just never got around to removing it!). I made this originally (to print and laminate) in order to show to visitors to Cowpens National Battlefield (where I work a day or two most weeks) who expressed surprise that anything of significance happened in the South during the Rev War. We gotta remember how it used to be taught to us older folk. You can't tell it but there are close to 1000 points plotted on that map, many simply stacked on top of others. There were many, many more at sea than is shown on this map. The colors of the points have no significance. And of course, some locations involved multiple events at the same place (shown only once on the map). The pattern that you can see is that in the North, the sites tended to be along the coast (coastal raiding) and up the rivers. There is a dense pattern in the vicinity of NY, but is must be remembered that this involved 4 colonies and accumulated over about 7 or 8 years. Now look at the colony of SC. See how evenly distributed the sites are all over the colony (and extending a bit into NC)? Most of these sites accrued over a 2 year period. In most of these battles, there were no Continentals or Redcoats involved, just "civilians". In my efforts to find and plot the sites, I found more sites in SC than any other colony (and with half the list of remaining unknown locations also being in SC), with NY being next. This was no contest going on here, that is just the way it worked out. The brown line down the middle is the "Proclamation Line of 1763", to the west of which there was not supposedly to be any settlement. In NC, this line is today closely approximated by the Blue Ridge Parkway. Note the goodly number of battles to the west of that line. Note the dense little pattern around Boston. We often forget that all these accrued in only 8 months!