Tactics And Techniques Of Warfare During The American Revolution

During the time of the American Revolution the British Empire was at one of its strongest points. The Colonials consisted of professional soldiers as well as minutemen that had minimal training in comparison to arguably the strongest military power at the time. The Americans developed a unique, complex, and ultimately effective style of warfare to combat this supreme force. While there were many factors that led to the American victory we will look more specifically at the tactics, techniques, and procedures of the actual conduct of warfare they utilized.
To better understand the Tactics and techniques utilized you must have an understanding of the time period this war was fought. Most militaries worldwide fought in line formations, usually

They were ordinary everyday people who decided to take up arms and partake in the revolution. They were poorly trained and had a variety of weapons which lead to some unique problems. With poor training they were not able to hold their formations very well and broke easily. Thus they were easily repulsed on the battlefield and could not be relied on to hold their ground. The variety of weapons also meant they could not fire in unison due to the times required to reload separate weapons systems. It was a farmer with his hunting rifle or a blacksmith with his own personal shotgun the militias did not have military style weapons. Military weapons had bayonets that could be fixed and the weapons could still be fired. Due to the close proximity (50-100m) of engagements armies went to battle with the bayonet fixed in order to execute a quick charge on command from the officer. The militia still had bayonets but it had to plug into the barrel rendering the weapon itself obsolete as it could not be fired (Of Rocks, Trees, Rifles, and Militia.) A final note on the militia is they rarely had any outside support from Calvary or artillery and could not defeat a British unit that had those capabilities. With these factors the American forces utilized two primary techniques to combat the British forces; guerilla warfare and conventional

As many of the colonial officers were former British officers this was what was known to them. The colonial army was well trained and well equipped for warfare. Also known as regulars the colonial army regularly did drills and were professional soldiers. This style of warfare was more costly in both personnel and material but it allowed the Americans to defeat the British and own the area compared to small hit and run style guerilla tactics. These battles were fought in large open fields in the style of warfare the British were accustomed to. Both sides would line up usually with the regular army at the center and militia on the flanks. This was done because the regular army was stronger and better disciplined, this is important because if the center is weak and breaks the force is now split. If the enemy can split the force then they are now fighting two smaller units which is much easier to defeat. Regular units also had artillery in support of them. While the Americans didn’t have artillery until the capture of Ft. Ticonderoga once they seized a few artillery pieces it wasn’t long until they were able to manufacture their own. (The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga) Artillery is a very important asset as it could cause mass casualties on the close knit formations utilized at the time. The goal of artillerymen was to fire the projectile so it would skip across the ground inflicting the greatest