1. I thought it was interesting that the author brought up the fact that for the most part, memorable figures from the Civil War are military people, whereas this does not hold true for the Revolution. This goes along with the general misconception that the Civil War far outweighs the Revolution in terms of the magnitude of the actual warfare; people tend to believe that the Civil War was far more deadly for our country.
2. Cultural aspects such artwork also add to this misconception regarding these two wars. Paintings from the Civil War depict gruesome battle scenes, complete with dying and bloodied soldiers suffering from the horrors of war. Revolution paintings offer more of a "sanitized" image, with little major battle scenes depicted.
3. One can easily forget how much a difference of one hundred years can make; the equipment of the Civil War was far more advanced than that of the Revolutionary War. Civil War soldiers carried rifles that had about six times the range of the muskets carried by the Revolution soldiers, which goes a long way in explaining the comparative death toll in the two wars. Along with the much more powerful cannons, it is easy to see why there were so many more deaths in the Civil War.
4. I didn't realize how small the probability of survival was for an American Revolution soldier. Forty- seven percent of soldiers taken into captivity did not make it out, a startling number considering the smaller death percentage in the Civil War. This is yet another example of the underappreciated horrors of the Revolution.
5. Civilians suffered more in the Revolution than I realized. Coastal raids by the British were frequent, evidenced by numerous Connecticut towns being nearly wiped out. Furthermore, Virginia shipyards, ships, and tobacco warehouses were attacked and destroyed, while plantations were also plundered and the slaves were taken for prisoners.
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