The co-chairs of the All-Party Congressional Group on War Legacy have called for a “concrete” memorial to British soldiers and Loyalists who died during the American Revolutionary War.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester told the Epoch Times, “There are currently no memorials for those who died on the British side. That is probably what we should be talking about, a tangible memorial.”
He said the “tone of voice” of such memorials on American territory should pay tribute to the organizers, but he said: I think it’s a good idea. ”
of All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) It was founded in 2011 after a successful campaign by parliamentarians and associates to block plans by the Belgian Flemish government for a new road across the Pilchem Ridge, a key part of the Ypres battlefield of World War I. I was.
As work begins to mark the 500th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the American Battlefield Trust has been in discussions with the British Battlefields Trust and APPG on War Heritage on appropriate ways to preserve Revolutionary War battlefields. rice field. Commemorative “enduring legacy”.
The American Battlefield Trust seeks to protect 11,000 acres in South Carolina and Georgia that were part of the British Army’s Southern Campaign of 1778-1781.
Howard Simmons, former chairman of England’s Battlefields Trust, told the Epoch Times: It became a civil war between loyalists and patriots. There is a fierce battle and they still want to protect his 11,000 acres of pristine land. ”
American Battlefield Trust’s communications director, Mary Coick, said operations in the South were primarily a war between America’s neighbors and brothers. Kings Mountain In South Carolina in 1780, there was only one person born in England, the commander of the pro-British army, Major Patrick Ferguson.
The American Battlefield Trust, which also covers battlefields from the Civil War and the War of 1812, protects 55,000 acres in 24 states, most of which has been transferred to the National Park Service, and will open its first site in Ohio later this year. I would like to procure
According to Coick, between 1775 and the British defeat at Yorktown in 1781, 8,500 regular British soldiers and 1,700 American “loyalists” were killed in action, and many more from disease and illness. He died as a result of his injuries.
The British were ‘enemies’ but not ‘true villains’
She said they were trying to crush the idea of independence, but the Redcoats were just doing their jobs and not “true villains”.
Asked how Americans today view redcoats, Koik said: They were enemies, but more philosophical foils than true villains. ”
King George III actually tried to hire Russian troops from Catherine II to fight in America, but in exchange for the Mediterranean island of Menorca, the negotiations fell through.
Simmons said the French military played a “vital” role in the conflict, stating: There is no doubt about it. ”
“But the Americans were also funded by Spain, and the West Indies were more important than America. The Spanish were trying to take the Bahamas from us and invade Jamaica. It didn’t work, which is part of the reason we signed the contract to end the war in 1783,” he added.
Simmons said, “The war was a real turning point for England.”
He said he hopes American scholars will come to Britain by 2026 to examine the “richness” of documents that shed light on the war.
Last month, government minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom said plans for the half-centenenary were in their early stages, but Lord Faulkner said one possible way to mark it would be to fight in vain to keep Britain alive. to “identify and rededicate the graves of British soldiers” who died in the United States.
after the battle of Princeton In 1777 British casualties were buried in a cemetery, but the exact location has not been found.
But Coyk said it wasn’t just the American Revolutionary War British cemetery that hadn’t been discovered.
Mystery of the Maryland 400
she said: Maryland 400a regiment tasked with holding back British forces so that the rest of the American forces could escape [during the Battle of Long Island in 1776]Only a dozen people returned alive. ”
Their bodies were buried in trenches, but Koik said the location of the grave was not identified. I don’t know where it is. Current guess is that it is under an auto repair shop. ”
She told the Epoch Times: There were also German mercenaries, the famous Hessians, but about 1,200 died, as well as Iroquois fighters. ”
After the war, 5,500 Hessians remained in America, as did most of the Loyalists. Many more migrated to Nova Scotia, which was under British rule, and a few to British-controlled islands in the Caribbean and Florida, which was under Spanish rule until 1819.
Thousands of blacks who had been freed by fighting for Britain went to England after the war.
Simmons said: Some returned here, others settled there. ”
one of the survivors John Graves SimcoeHe commanded the Queen’s Rangers in New York, is said to have massacred 40 of George Washington’s Native American allies in what is now the Bronx, and later became Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
Simcoe’s monument in Exeter Cathedral describes him as a “patriot” and a “Christian”, adding that “he served king and country with a zeal surpassed only by piety to God”. I’m here.