Re-enactment of the Battle of Saratoga
The Turning Point of the American Revolution
The Revolutionary Side



The American encampment had ten to fifteen tents, each housing a few people. It seemed that soldiers tended to group together, and the wives and children of the solders tended to group together. The only one who had a larger tent was the Major General, and his wife lived with him. Everyone in the Revolutionary camp had a specific duty. If they did not perform this duty, they would be let go. Pay was always promised but rarely given, since the idea was that after the war the men would receive as compensation for their work.

George Washington, the General of the Continental Army, didn't accept pay himself. The only thing he does do is submit an expense account to the government of the time. He was the right man in the right place at the right time, and he held the army together. Amazingly, someone from Massachusetts was able to command troops from Virginia. It was improbable at that time that some one would be able to create a coalition where none had existed before. Each of the thirteen colonies considered themselves an almost independent state. This sectionalism existed all through the continent, and it could have easily torn the army apart, and if the army had been torn apart, the nation wouldn't have had a chance.


To hear personal accounts of the Revolutionary men and women, click on the links below:

Major General Benjamin Lincoln
Helen Smith: Wife of a Soldier
Lieutenant in the Light Infantry


Revolutionaries
Loyalists
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