Τα κίνητρα

Αμερικανός υπολοχαγός αφηγείται για τα αίτια που τον έκαναν να πάει στην Αμερικάνικη Επανάσταση. Επανάσταση που ήταν πρότυπο για την Γαλλική, την Ελληνική και ...
(Με την ευκαιρία της 4ης Ιουλίου σε λίγες μέρες)

Του Χάουαρντ Ζιν:

Αμερικανός υπολοχαγός στο Bunker Hill, είπε το πως είχε καταταγεί στις δυνάμεις των ανταρτών (Επιτροπή):
- Ήμουν υποδηματοποιός, και ζούσα με την εργασία μου. Όταν αυτή η εξέγερση ξεκίνησε, είδα ότι μερικοί από τους γείτονές μου μπήκαν στην Επιτροπή, οι οποίοι δεν ήταν καλύτεροι από εμένα. Ήμουν πολύ φιλόδοξος, και δεν ήθελα να δω άλλους πάνω από μένα. Ο Τ. κλήθηκε να στρατολογηθεί, ως απλός στρατιώτης ... εγώ προσφέρθηκα να στρατολογηθώ από την Επιτροπή σαν υπολοχαγός: και η αίτηση έγινε δεκτή.
Είχα φανταστεί τον εαυτό μου τότε ακόμα ψηλότερα, με τον εξής τρόπο προαγωγής: αν σκοτωνόμουν στη μάχη, θα είχα τελειώσει, αλλά αν ο Λοχαγός σκοτώνονταν, θα ανέβαινα στην τάξη και μπορούσα να είχα την ευκαιρία να ανέβω ακόμα ψηλότερα. Αυτά κύριε! ήταν τα μόνα κίνητρα της εισόδου μου στην Υπηρεσία.
Για τη διαφορά μεταξύ της Μεγάλης Βρετανίας και της αποικίες, δεν ξέρω τίποτα. ...

Στο πρωτότυπο:
"American lieutenant at Bunker Hill, interviewed by Peter Oliver, a Tory (who admittedly might have been looking for such a response), told how he had joined the rebel forces:

I was a Shoemaker, & got my living by my Labor. When this Rebellion came on, I saw some of my Neighbors got into Commission, who were no better than myself. I was very ambitious, & did not like to see those Men above me. T was asked to enlist, as a private Soldier ... I offered to enlist upon having a Lieutenants Commission; which was granted. I imagined my self now in a way of Promotion: if I was killed in Battle, there would be an end of me, but if any Captain was killed, I should rise in Rank, & should still have a Chance to rise higher. These Sir! were the only Motives of my entering into the Service; for as to the Dispute between Great Britain & the Colonies, I know nothing of it. ...

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John Shy investigated the subsequent experience of that Bunker Hill lieutenant. He was William Scott, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, and after a year as prisoner of the British he escaped, made his way back to the American army, fought in battles in New York, was captured again by the British, and escaped again by swimming the Hudson River one night with his sword tied around his neck and his watch pinned to his hat. He returned to New Hampshire, recruited a company of his own, including his two eldest sons, and fought in various battles, until his health gave way. He watched his eldest son the of camp fever after six years of service. He had sold his farm in Peterborough for a note that, with inflation, became worthless. After the war, he came to public attention when he rescued eight people from drowning after their boat turned over in New York harbor. He then got a job surveying western lands with the army, but caught a fever and died in 1796.

Scott was one of many Revolutionary fighters, usually of lower military ranks, from poor and obscure backgrounds. Shy's study of the Peterborough contingent shows that the prominent and substantial citizens of the town had served only briefly in the war. Other American towns show the same pattern. As Shy puts it: "Revolutionary America may have been a middle-class society, happier and more prosperous than any other in its time, but it contained a large and growing number of fairly poor people, and many of them did much of the actual fighting and suffering between I775and 1783: Avery old story."

The military conflict itself, by dominating everything in its time, diminished other issues, made people choose sides in the one contest that was publicly important, forced people onto the side of the Revolution whose interest in Independence was not at all obvious. Ruling elites seem to have learned through the generations-consciously or not-that war makes them more secure against internal trouble.

The force of military preparation had a way of pushing neutral people into line. In Connecticut, for instance, a law was passed requiring military service of all males between sixteen and sixty, omitting certain government officials, ministers, Yale students and faculty, Negroes, Indians, and mulaItos. Someone called to duty could provide a substitute or get out"