Introduction
Sometimes Americans are pretty sure that they know a few things about the British soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. A list of them probably goes something like this:
They were the scum of the earth, scraped out of the London gutter and from the prisons to unwillingly serve in America.
They were stupid, so stupid that they obligingly wore red coats and stood in long lines, the easier to be shot by clever Americans who hid behind trees and rocks.
They usually had no idea how to fire their guns, and when they did they couldn’t aim. (Unlike Americans, who were all sharpshooters.)
They plundered and looted and deserted as often as they could, when they weren’t so drunk that they forgot to do any of those, which was most of the time.
As punishment they were flogged until they were mostly dead.
And just about every one of those concepts is wrong, as Don Hagist explains in his book Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution.
About the Guest
Don N. Hagist is managing editor of Journal of the American Revolution and the author of several books on the British Army in the Revolutionary era, and on the Revolution more generally. While he has a day job outside of academia, he has become a leading expert on the lived experience of British soldiers. Don was previously on the podcast in Behind the Book 6: The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves, where we investigated whether Daniel Morgan could have survived a punishment of five hundred lashes.
For Further Investigation
Don N. Hagist, Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought for the American Revolution
Don N. Hagist, British Soldiers, American War: Voices of the American Revolution
Don N. Hagist, The Revolution’s Last Men: The Soldiers Behind the Photographs
Stephen Conway, The British Isles and the War of American Independence
⸻
Listen & Discuss
What common myths about British soldiers in the Revolution does Hagist overturn?
How does knowing more about these soldiers reshape our understanding of independence?
If this episode challenges what you thought you knew about the Revolution, share it with a friend who loves history.
