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Did George Washington have Commandos?
Am Shooting Journal ^

Posted on 11/13/2017 6:23:27 AM PST by w1n1

During the American Revolution George Washington didn’t have any Tier-1 Spec Ops, but he made the most of what he had.

When we think of modern day Special Forces, we think of Seal Team 6, Delta Force and the Green Berets. Back in the day of the American Revolution era, what did George Washington have? In a time where warfare was all about marching to fife and drum then lined up in rows to blast away with muskets at fifty paces. What did they know about unconventional warfare?

According to retired U.S. Army colonel Robert Tonsetic explains that unconventional warfare was a major part of the War of Independence. He states traditionally special operations has a long historic roots dating back to King Philip’s War of 1675, when the Plymouth Colony formed “an experimental group of men who would train and operate using Native American tactics to attack Indian war parties, and raid their camps in the dense forests and swamps.” However, if you were to ask other researchers, special operations existed back into the B.C. era.

Roger’s Rangers were famous in the French and Indian War, where Indian and French troops ambushed British regulars and American militia. By the time when the American Revolution was underway, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys—a band of Vermont irregulars—used small boats to cross Lake Champlain and seize Fort Ticonderoga in a coup de main in 1775.

Getting back to Washington’s spec ops soldiers, he created “Knowlton’s Rangers”, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Knowlton. They were an elite unit designed for reconnaissance, espionage missions and outfitted as a regiment of light infantry. Read the rest of George Washington Commandos story here.


TOPICS: History; Hobbies; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: commandos; georgewashington; godsgravesglyphs; thegeneral; therevolution
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1 posted on 11/13/2017 6:23:27 AM PST by w1n1
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To: KC_Lion

Ping.


2 posted on 11/13/2017 6:32:19 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: w1n1

I’ve read more than once that the tactic of attacking from the side brush, as depicted in “The Patriot”, is a real re-enactment.


3 posted on 11/13/2017 6:33:28 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true, I have no proof, but they're true)
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To: w1n1

Rogers Rangers...then BC how about Abraham’s 300 or Gideon’s army? Sparta?


4 posted on 11/13/2017 6:42:52 AM PST by Karliner (Jeremiah29:11,Romans8:28 Isa 17, Damascus has fallen)
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To: w1n1

well the Loyalist sure did...

My ancestors were in Butler’s Rangers and the “Indian department” where they were paid extra as interpreters...they had lived amongst the Indians so they must have known something about one on one fighting etc...


5 posted on 11/13/2017 6:43:14 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: w1n1

6 posted on 11/13/2017 6:46:42 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: knarf

Yep.
In grade school, I did a report on it.
Guerrilla warfare tactics.

I doubt that public schools teach about it these days.


7 posted on 11/13/2017 6:51:56 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Vote for your guns!)
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To: w1n1

Ask the Brits how they liked that march back to Boston from Concord?

One year I went on Patriots Day weekend to see how British officers conducted the retreat by moving skirmish lines front and back, left and right, to keep the main body intact amidst the narrow road surrounded by woods. Fascinating.


8 posted on 11/13/2017 7:05:04 AM PST by major-pelham
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To: w1n1
Yes he did. Here is a photograph taken during the amphibious spec ops river crossing. Not shown: MLRS battery fire flying overhead into the Hessian ranks.


9 posted on 11/13/2017 7:05:22 AM PST by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!)
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To: knarf
Another proponent of "irregular" warfare at that time was Francis Marion, AKA "The Swamp Fox", in the South Carolina area.
10 posted on 11/13/2017 7:06:29 AM PST by ken in texas
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To: major-pelham

My first thought, too. The story of the “Battle Road”is amazing. The Brits came darn close to being completely wiped out on the march back to Boston. David Hackett Fisher wrote a thrilling account of it in “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

The second one that comes to mind is Arnold’s march to Quebec through the swamps of Maine.


11 posted on 11/13/2017 7:21:07 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
Thanks w1n1.

12 posted on 11/13/2017 7:33:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: knarf

Another Revolutionary war event comes to mind but I can’t recall any names.

A British army advanced south from Canada or upstate NY via a wilderness road and was continuously bushwacked by Indians in alliance with colonial operators.

The brits were bogged down by their huge baggage train and families in tow.


13 posted on 11/13/2017 7:48:36 AM PST by Rebelbase (There are only two genders. The rest are mental disorders.)
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To: w1n1

“The Swamp Fox”


14 posted on 11/13/2017 7:56:10 AM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: DCBryan1

that looks suspect...you can see around the edges the picture has been modified in photoshop also the gen 4 nvg (why use something so old and no multicam pattern on the housing) , hmmm, calling BS on this...we all know he crossed in a stealth submarine...

great pic...!!


15 posted on 11/13/2017 8:01:50 AM PST by Irishguy
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To: SunkenCiv

He went commando. Everywhere.


16 posted on 11/13/2017 8:02:38 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: w1n1

Daniel Morgan


17 posted on 11/13/2017 8:14:20 AM PST by ZULU (DITCH MITCH!!! DUMP RYAN!! DROP DEAD MCCAIN!! KIM FATTY the THIRD = Kim Jung Un)
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To: ZULU

Before Robert Rogers was .......... Benjamin Church.


18 posted on 11/13/2017 8:16:05 AM PST by ZULU (DITCH MITCH!!! DUMP RYAN!! DROP DEAD MCCAIN!! KIM FATTY the THIRD = Kim Jung Un)
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To: BenLurkin

LOL!
"My body lies on Mt Vernon, my clothes are upstairs." [centennial of GW's birth, memorial statue, Horatio Greenough, 1841]

Horatio Greenough, 1841

19 posted on 11/13/2017 8:16:10 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: Rebelbase

Gen. John Burgoyne?


20 posted on 11/13/2017 8:18:28 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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