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On the other side of the American revolution there is the interesting case of Benjamin Thompson, aka Count Rumford (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thomp

On the other side of the American revolution there is the interesting case of Benjamin Thompson, aka Count Rumford (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thompson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thompson) after he became a nobleman in later life. Born in Massachusetts in 1753, he became a Loyalist who opposed the American Revolution, and later moved to Britain, and then to what is now Germany. But he was one of the earliest scientists born in what is now the United States, and contributed a lot to the early study of thermodynamics. But being on the "wrong side" of history he doesn't get the recognition he deserves in America.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago
A lot of people had to leave during the American Revolution. It saddens me how American school textbooks and pop-history for adults depict the revolution as a simple case of freedom-yearning colonists against the oppressive mother country. The American Revolution was a true civil war: a substantial part of the population wanted to remain under England, but the revolutionaries won their cause by burning down loyalists’ houses, tarring and feathering them, and forcing them to flee to Canada or the Caribbean.
- adventured 7y ago
  > the revolutionaries won their cause by burning down loyalists’ houses, tarring and feathering them, and forcing them to flee to Canada or the Caribbean They hardly needed help. The British and Hessians accomplished much of that all on their own, as they brutally raped women and pillaged all across the colonies wherever they went.
  - wallace_f 7y ago
    Kind of an aside: No matter when or where and for what reason (or no reason at at all), it's unbelievable how terrible a normal human is when allowed to be. I never understood this on a personal level. I've always been one to be bullied and taken advantage of, and I wonder if the two are connected.
  - arcanus 7y ago
    > and Hessians This is an important point and I wanted to give more context. Hessians were German (admittedly pre-german unification) mercenaries employed by Britain to control the territories. They were famously involved in numerous human rights problems. One of the original colonists greivences was the use of, "large armies of foreign mercenaries".

Mediterraneo10 7y ago

A lot of people had to leave during the American Revolution. It saddens me how American school textbooks and pop-history for adults depict the revolution as a simple case of freedom-yearning colonists against the oppressive mother country. The American Revolution was a true civil war: a substantial part of the population wanted to remain under England, but the revolutionaries won their cause by burning down loyalists’ houses, tarring and feathering them, and forcing them to flee to Canada or the Caribbean.

adventured 7y ago
> the revolutionaries won their cause by burning down loyalists’ houses, tarring and feathering them, and forcing them to flee to Canada or the Caribbean They hardly needed help. The British and Hessians accomplished much of that all on their own, as they brutally raped women and pillaged all across the colonies wherever they went.
- wallace_f 7y ago
  Kind of an aside: No matter when or where and for what reason (or no reason at at all), it's unbelievable how terrible a normal human is when allowed to be. I never understood this on a personal level. I've always been one to be bullied and taken advantage of, and I wonder if the two are connected.
- arcanus 7y ago
  > and Hessians This is an important point and I wanted to give more context. Hessians were German (admittedly pre-german unification) mercenaries employed by Britain to control the territories. They were famously involved in numerous human rights problems. One of the original colonists greivences was the use of, "large armies of foreign mercenaries".