Nichols 1 Ashley Nichols
Third edition
AMH2010-02 Ms. Tarah Luke 16 February 2012 Analysis of Document 7-3 (essay #4) This document, A Soldier’s Experience of the Revolutionary War, is a memoir of Joseph Martin and a personal anecdote about the war through his eyes. This memoir scrapes the surface of the living conditions and treatment of the soldiers who fought for the Continental Army beginning in 1776. This document is important to American history, because it is the only personal account of a common soldier and it uncovers the truth about the horrible conditions in which these enlisted soldiers were made to endure during the Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was a conception of the Second Continental Congress whose main goals were to form a reliable army and explore reconciliation with Great Britain. The SCC glamorized the army and seduced men into joining with promises of land, new wardrobes, an abundance of food, and monthly salaries of their valueless currency; the SCC needed money and men to fight. Common males, such as 16 year-old Martin, were entranced by this offer and at the time, when laws and acts were stealing every cent of money from their pockets; to them this was the best and only option. At this time, Great Britain is in such debt from previous wars that they have no real money to pay to the soldiers or to provide them with warmth or shelter during the winter, therefore they don’t; they leave these penniless men to fend for themselves. Martin speaks of how the soldiers
Nichols 2 daily faced starvation, protection against the elements, lack of promised goods and nowhere to go but stay in the army, because they literally had no money. Martin’s memoir is the best insight we have to get a firsthand feel of how these soldiers were treated and viewed by GB. They were pawns in America’s drive for independence and reconciliation with GB. These men were treated worse than farm animals and due to such conditions, many of them died of disease instead of the actual war. This memoir is important because it is the only window into the reality of how the common soldiers during the Revolutionary War were mistreated.
Word Count: 348