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• WAR

• 1. Anticipating War
• 2. Committing to War
• 3. Leading the War
• 4. Sustaining the War
• 5. Reporting the War
• 6. Fighting the War
• 7. Living in War
• 8. Losing the War
• 9. Winning the War
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WAR: 1775-1783

8. Losing the War

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"It is all over. It is all over," the British prime minister is reputed to have muttered repeatedly when notified of Cornwallis's surrender in October 1781.1 The news was unbelievable, despite the American resurgence after the U.S.-France alliance of 1778. As historian Robert Middlekauff describes the shock, "Few in Britain had imagined that the Americans could pull themselves together and create a central government and an army—and then fight year after year. Fewer still sensed their 'political enthusiasm,' as [Edmund] Burke had styled their near-fanaticism for self-government."2 What was the empire to do now? Equally pained while less surprised were the American Loyalists, whose treatment by Patriots during the war ranged from harassment to horror. They had lost their security, property, and American identity; many had fled to England and Canada; and some had been killed by Patriot mobs. What were they to do now? Here we sample images and documents from this crisis period for the defeated.

• British satirical rebuses on the U.S. alliance with France, 1778. In February 1778, after months of negotiations in Paris, France and the United States signed a treaty of alliance, news which Britain dreaded and understood as a harbinger of defeat. Two months later, a British delegation arrived in America in a last-ditch attempt at reconciliation that Congress rejected. In May, an English husband-wife printmaking house published two rebuses satirizing the plea of the rejected mother (Britain) and the reply of the rebellious daughter (U.S.). Rebus puzzles, in which images replace words and syllables in the text, were a popular mode of satire at the time. How did the English printmakers strike a middle ground between praising Britain and condemning America? Why? See also the American negotiators' letters on the alliance in #4: Sustaining the War. (4 pp.; rebus transcriptions and "translations" included.)



• British cartoons on Britain's defeat in the war, 1782. The rattlesnake as a symbol of the American colonies originated with Benjamin Franklin's Join or Die cartoon of 1754 that depicted a fragmented snake unable to defend itself against an enemy. So in 1782, as Britain was reeling from defeat and maneuvering through treaty negotiations with the U.S. and its allies, English cartoonists relished portraying the U.S. as a vengeful and menacing rattlesnake. Europeans had long been fascinated by accounts of the rattlesnake's threat and prowess—which translated into "deceitful foe"—and yet the cartoonists' awe of the coiled muscular reptile is evident. The U.S. was a power to contend with, period, and the standard symbol of an Indian princess for "America" (as used in the rebuses above) was no longer apt.

  Rarely printed in newspapers at the time, political cartoons were usually published by printmakers as large etchings—the four in this selection average 9 x 13 1/2 inches. They were called satires or caricatures; the term cartoon was not commonly applied to such illustrations until the mid 1800s. What impressions do the cartoonists give of the U.S. and Britain in these satires? How do they characterize the nations' new relationship in 1782? How do they acknowledge that the U.S. is, indeed, a nation among nations? (5 pp.)



• Loyalists and the defeat of Britain: selections from letters, narratives, etc., 1782-1786. Throughout the Revolutionary period, Americans Loyalists were harassed and condemned as traitors, their homes and land confiscated, their lives threatened and sometimes taken by Patriot mobs. While most stayed in America, about ten to fifteen percent fled to England or Canada. With Britain's surrender in 1781, they faced a new challenge—accepting the finality of defeat, envisioning the future of their homeland, and rethinking the rest of their lives. These selections, compiled by historian Catherine Crary,4 reveal the anguish and anticipation of white Loyalists in the aftermath of the Revolution. Compare these Loyalist experiences with those in Theme II: REBELLION. (For the experiences of black Loyalists, see #6: Fighting the War, and Supplemental Sites below.) (8 pp.)

Supplemental Sites