Military Records
Jul. 8th, 2008 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
A sudden question has popped into my head:
What, if any, military service was on the resume of the founding fathers? Just being "Commander-in-Chief" doesn't cut it, you need to have actually been a part of the army. It doesn't matter if you saw action, it doesn't matter if you served under the British or other non-American army. How many soliders are in the roster?
George Washington -- too extensive to summarize here.
John Adams -- none as far as I can tell. Lawyer and Diplomat.
Thomas Jefferson -- Another Lawyer/Diplomat.
James Madison -- I believe he briefly commanded an artillery battery as the British marched on Washington. I'm going to count that, although I'd put an asterisk by it.
Alexander Hamilton -- Artillery Captain. Definitely counts.
Benjamin Franklin -- Pretty much did everything but fight.
John Jay -- Seemed mostly associated with espionage and intelligence among the Patriot rebels. Again, I'll count this, but with a very big asterisk.
George Mason -- None.
Samuel Adams -- Unclear, but I'm leaning towards no. Even as part of the rebel movement, he didn't appear to take direct action or be part of the chain of command.
John Hancock -- Commanded Massachussetts militia during the Revolutionary War.
All this gleaned from a quick perusal of Wikipedia and is cheerfully open for peer review. It's quite possible that all of these men were part of a local militia and I just don't know about it.
But it does appear that out of the 10 men listed, 3 definitely have a military record, 2 are suspect and 5 never served in uniform. Now, all of these men probably did a lot of work for the Revolution and may have co-ordinated a lot of rebel activity. But it doesn't appear as though they acted as part of the rebellion's "military wing".
Huh, interesting
Tom
A sudden question has popped into my head:
What, if any, military service was on the resume of the founding fathers? Just being "Commander-in-Chief" doesn't cut it, you need to have actually been a part of the army. It doesn't matter if you saw action, it doesn't matter if you served under the British or other non-American army. How many soliders are in the roster?
George Washington -- too extensive to summarize here.
John Adams -- none as far as I can tell. Lawyer and Diplomat.
Thomas Jefferson -- Another Lawyer/Diplomat.
James Madison -- I believe he briefly commanded an artillery battery as the British marched on Washington. I'm going to count that, although I'd put an asterisk by it.
Alexander Hamilton -- Artillery Captain. Definitely counts.
Benjamin Franklin -- Pretty much did everything but fight.
John Jay -- Seemed mostly associated with espionage and intelligence among the Patriot rebels. Again, I'll count this, but with a very big asterisk.
George Mason -- None.
Samuel Adams -- Unclear, but I'm leaning towards no. Even as part of the rebel movement, he didn't appear to take direct action or be part of the chain of command.
John Hancock -- Commanded Massachussetts militia during the Revolutionary War.
All this gleaned from a quick perusal of Wikipedia and is cheerfully open for peer review. It's quite possible that all of these men were part of a local militia and I just don't know about it.
But it does appear that out of the 10 men listed, 3 definitely have a military record, 2 are suspect and 5 never served in uniform. Now, all of these men probably did a lot of work for the Revolution and may have co-ordinated a lot of rebel activity. But it doesn't appear as though they acted as part of the rebellion's "military wing".
Huh, interesting
Tom
