Ordinary Soldiers – Privateers and the Asgill Incident

This Ebook is the second of two Ebooks that present the print book about the American Revolution, Ordinary Soldiers - Extraordinary Task. 

The print book traces the sons of two ordinary colonial families in their Revolutionary War efforts against the British.

Soldiers from far off Connecticut responded to the alarm that Paul Revere began. They helped lay siege to British occupied Boston. Their placement of canon on Dorchester Heights in a single night, resulted in Howe's abandonment of Boston. 

Washington raced to New York, knowing Howe would strike there next. One son joined forces against the British on Long Island. The British fleet was the largest invasion force since the Spanish Armada. General Howe suffered a humiliating loss of men at the Battle of Bunker Hill because he directly assaulted the American lines.  Howe would not repeat that mistake.

At the Battle of Long Island, Howe's astonishing flanking maneuver nearly surrounded the greatly outnumbered patriot soldiers facing the British outside of the American's fortified line. In an act unmatched bravery, the Maryland 400 gave their lives to allow the bulk of the American forces and one of the sons to escape back to the American fortified lines.

The British captured a horde of American soldiers with the fall of New York City. American prisoners endured extreme hardship in the overcrowded British prisons around New York City. Held by sadistic jailers in horrific conditions they died by the tens of thousands. 

The British planned an attack down the Hudson River in order to split the colonies and cause the rebellion to collapse. In an attempt to lure Washington away from the Hudson River, the British carried out a series of attacks against civilian targets along the Connecticut coast in a campaign called Tryon's Raid. One son died defending these civilians against British and Hessian attacks.

Privateers acted as a proxy where the American Navy fell short. A group of New Jersey patriots brought havoc to British merchant shipping in the midst of an ongoing civil war in Monmouth County. 

A heinous Loyalist scheme began with an attack on a small blockhouse at Toms River.  The capture of the blockhouse survivors resulted in one son's imprisonment in the infamous Provost in New York City. The Loyalists later murdered the American Captain (and privateer) "Jack" Huddy while their prisoner. Enraged at an officer's murder while a prisoner or war, General Washington selected a British officer to hang in retaliation. Congress specifically approved the action. The British court martial failed to hold anyone accountable and they let the murderers go free. The murder triggered an international incident which eventually involved the highest levels of military and government in England, France and America.