Quote:To be fair; the world's top superpower never really threw its full force against the revolution and the Continental Army got considerable help from France, Spain and the Dutch Republic. But that doesn't affect his exemplary conduct after the US gained true independence. 

 

It's kind of similar to the Vietnam war in some ways.   I'm sure the Vietnamese would say they won that war, while we say we never threw our full force against them, we just lost interest and went home.   Granted, the American Revolution was a sideshow in a much bigger conflict between European powers.  If GB had wanted to, they could have laid waste to the entire continent.  But that would have been like burning down a building to get rid of ants. 

 

Washington understood that the key to winning the war was to hold the army together, win just enough to bring other players in on our side (France in particular), and avoid getting destroyed in one big battle.   And he managed to hold a starving army together for 8 years.   No one else could have done that.   He was never a great general in battle.  He was constantly outmaneuvered by British generals.   But Washington was a great general in every other way.   Logistics, setting up spy networks, choosing subordinates, dealing with congress, and leading his men through incredible hardships. 

 

The amazing thing was that he was never hit by a bullet.   In the French and Indian War, he walked around in the middle of a battle, men being killed all around him, French soldiers shooting at him, and he never got hit.  The Indians thought he was under some sort of divine protection.   And during the revolution, in one battle against the British, to rally his men, he rode out between the two armies, sword raised, both sides let loose a volley, and when the smoke cleared, he was still sitting on his horse with his sword in his hand.  His clothes got all nicked up with bullet holes, but he never got hit by a bullet.  

 

Sorry to rattle on and on about George Washington.  Obviously, my admiration for the man is deep. 

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