Student Question
How many people died in the American Revolution?
Quick answer:
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 4,400 service members died during the American Revolution. However, other historians estimate that there were as many as 6,000 casualties. As a comparison, more than 100 times the number of servicemen died during the American Civil War. On the British side, more than 24,000 Redcoats were said to have been killed in action.
Despite its important role in the founding of the United States, the Revolutionary War saw fewer deaths than during the Civil War or World War II.
The birth of America was precipitated by a political and philosophical schism between the British Crown and its thirteen protectorates in the New World. The conflict between the two parties centered on differences regarding the idea of freedom.
The Crown saw the colonies as a material resource. However, the colonists resented being taxed without having a voice in the British Parliament. To the colonists, taxation without representation was tyranny. The Crown, of course, disagreed.
Things came to a head on April 18, 1775. On that day, British soldiers marched to Concord, Massachusetts, to seize an arms cache that belonged to Massachusetts militiamen. The next day, the militiamen clashed with the Redcoats, precipitating the Battles of Lexington and Concord. These skirmishes represented the "shot heard...
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around the world."
They also represented the start of the American Revolutionary War. The war did not end until the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781. On that day, General Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington and his troops.
In all, more than 4,400 servicemen were killed in action during the Revolutionary War. Historians estimate that more than 6,000 were wounded. Meanwhile, an additional 20,000 were taken as prisoners and another 17,000 died from disease. On the British side, more than 24,000 Redcoats reputedly gave their life for the British Crown.
References
How many people participated in the American Revolution?
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, the population of the American colonies in 1770 was 2,148,000. The same data show that the population rose to 2,780,000 by 1780. Those numbers, of course, represent the total population, including men, women and children, not all of whom supported a war of independence, and not all men of whom fought in war on the side of the revolutionaries. According the 2003 study "A Companion to the American Revolution" by Jack Greene and J.R. Pole, the breakdown of pro-independence forces was as follows:
35,000 Continentals; 44,500 associated militia; 5,000 sailors in the Continental Navy; and around 12,000 French soldiers.
A 1997 British study, "The British Army in North America," concluded that there were 8,580 British troops in the colonies at the start of the Revolutionary War, with that number climbing to over 50,000 by the end of the war. Other studies put the number of British troops in the colonies during the period before and during the war higher, but difficult accurate data has been difficult to attain. In addition to the British soldiers, the British Crown has hired about 30,000 German mercenaries, known as "Hessians." Once again, the figures provided by Greene and Pole:
56,000 British Red Coats; 171,000 sailors; 30,000 Germans; 50,000 Colonials who fought with the British; and 13,000 Native Americans.