[geeks] Percentages & mail list

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 27, 2008, at 16:09 , Lionel Peterson wrote:

>> From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
>> Date: 2008/05/27 Tue PM 03:30:33 EDT
>> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>> Subject: Re: [geeks] Socialized medicine [was Re: nVidia 8800GT for  
>> Apple Mac
> Pro]
>
>> On May 27, 2008, at 04:02 , Mike Meredith wrote:
> <snip>
>
>> I doubt percentages are relevant in any way.
>>
>> In 1775, less than 10% of the colonials started a rebellion that  
>> ended
>> English rule in America.
>>
>> Less than 30% voted agreement even after it was over.
>

> [0] I don't question your assertion, I am accepting it as stated - I  
> wouldn't
> know how to research it and have no reason to question it.

There is no official estimate, since it is nearly impossible to track  
every possible contribution to the rebellion.  I've had a hard time  
even finding sources that would talk about anything except guesses at  
military service and some of the more well recorded auxillaries.

I've yet to see many say more than 10% though, and it seems  
reasonable, at least at the beginning of hostilities.

Each soldier needed multiple non-combatants for support, and those are  
very hard to count, but you can still make rough guesses based on  
other events that were similar.

Really figuring out how many suppliers, logistical personnel, hired  
drivers (like for limbered artillery), blockade runners, spies,  
clerks, friendly merchants, political leaders, etc.... that's pretty  
difficult, but I don't believe it was very high even if you pad it  
heavily.

You aren't a rebel just for standing around bitching about England, or  
what you would do to King George if you saw him in a dark alley, so I  
don't really like statistics based on voting records, counts of  
Loyalists or dissenters, etc.  It's just not accurate enough to bother  
with.

90% of the people might have hated King George, but that didn't make  
them rebels.  Remember that even some very vocal England bashers of  
the time were against rebellion.

Also, remember that the revolutionaries had a hard time getting  
ratification, which only required something like a 1/3 vote, so it  
seems that the number or active rebels could not possibly have been  
very high.

One reason England lost was their inability to gather intelligence on  
their opposition.  90% of the colonial population was rural and not on  
record anywhere, and even children were employed by the rebellion as  
spies, couriers, and workers.

It's always hard to account for rebel or partisan forces, both  
soldiers and non-combatants.

I think to this day we really don't know how many guerilla fighters  
there were, especially in the south where they frequently made up the  
bulk of attacks against English forces.




-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com