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War breaks out -

War in the colonies officially broke out on April 19, 1775, with the British invasions of the cities of Lexington and Concord. What followed would be more than seven years of brutal struggle between the poorly trained, poorly armed American armies and the most powerful army in the world: that of Britain.

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The hidden history of the Revolutionary War -

Of course, we all know how the war turned out. The Americans won against all odds, and sparked a worldwide wave of revolution. However, there was much more to the American War of Independence than just the stories taught in schoolbooks.

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The almost-assassination of George Washington -

It may come as quite a surprise that there was a plot to assassinate George Washington, the (almost) universally loved commander of the Continental Army and the eventual first president of the United States. To make matters worse, the whole operation was orchestrated by one of his closest allies.

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The almost-assassination of George Washington -

Washington's personal bodyguard, Thomas Hickey, was responsible for the plot. The details of Hickey's motive and preferred method are still foggy, but thankfully someone caught onto him before he could kill Washington.

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Occupying and entertaining -

Here's another curiosity: during the British occupation of New York City of 1776, the soldiers of the British Army took on some peculiar new hobbies in their free time.

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Occupying and entertaining -

Wartime doesn't seem like the best time to access the thespian within, but that's exactly what many groups of occupation soldiers did. In the theaters of Broadway, the British troops put on semi-regular productions of Shakespearean dramas and comedies.

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The other 199 Declarations of Independence -

Most people are familiar with the one, true, Declaration of Independence, signed by 56 fathers of the revolution. In reality, there were 200 original copies of this revolutionary document, 199 of which were only signed by John Hancock and Charles Thompson. These copies were distributed throughout the infant nation, and only a handful still exist today.

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Veterans on film -

The Revolutionary War took place long before the advent of photography, so all visual documentation available to historians is drawn by hand. However, a handful of who were likely some of the youngest soldiers in the Continental Army survived for close to a century after the start of the war, and had their photographs taken in 1864.

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18th-century invisible ink -

Secrecy and espionage was essential in the Revolutionary War. No one could ever be too sure who was a true revolutionary and who was an undercover Royalist. One Dr. James Jay invented what might be the world's first invisible ink, made out of ferrous sulfate and water, allowing George Washington and his generals to safely communicate in between the lines of innocent-looking or misleading letters. Pictured is a later example of such a letter.

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Deborah Sampson: The American Mulan -

In the 18th century, women weren't generally allowed to fight in wars. Every once in a while, however, a brave woman would decide to do whatever it took to fight for what she believed was right.

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Deborah Sampson: The American Mulan -

In the Revolutionary War, that woman was Deborah Sampson. She enlisted as Robert Shurtleff, and fought valiantly for two years before being injured and found out. Instead of punishing Sampson, the Continental Army granted her an honorable discharge and a full military pension for her extraordinary service.

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The war's worst killer: smallpox -

The bleak reality of the Revolutionary War is that battles were few and far between. Guerrilla warfare was hardly utilized, and soldiers spent weeks on end simply starving and dying in harsh, New England winters. Smallpox was rampant during the war, and it is estimated that for every soldier killed in battle, two more succumbed to smallpox.

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Washington's inoculation program -

Acting with the utmost secrecy, so as to not give the British a chance to decimate his army, George Washington began vaccinating his entire army one regiment at a time to curb the massive losses caused by smallpox. It was risky, as it left huge swaths of his forces incapacitated for a short time, but the program paid off in the end.

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Revolutionary women: The heroes of espionage -

Even though they weren't allowed to officially join the army, women passionate about the patriot cause still found ways to do their part. All across occupied territories, shopkeepers and women in the markets would eavesdrop on the conversations held between the ignorant and oblivious British troops, and relay all relevant information to the Continental Army.

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Lydia Darragh -

One woman, Lydia Darragh, quite possibly prevented an entirely different end to the war with her information. After overhearing that the British were planning a well-thought-out ambush attack on Washington and his men in Pennsylvania, she wasted no time alerting the troops, saving them from a massacre.

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Paul Revere, dentist -

Most famous for his midnight ride to Concord at the start of the war, Paul Revere was also an accomplished and self-taught dentist who specialized in false teeth. During the war, major general and Founding Father Joseph Warren’s body was found 10 months after his death. Revere had just so happened to be Warren’s dentist before the war, and was able to identify Warren’s remains by the false tooth Revere had crafted himself, making Revere America’s first forensic dentist.

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The ride of Sybil Ludington -

While Paul Revere's story is well and good, and his midnight ride marked an important moment in history, due credit must also be given to heroine Sybil Ludington. At 16 years old, Ludington rode approximately 40 miles (about 65 km) from Danbury, Connecticut, which was being sacked by the British, to a militia stationed in New York to notify them of the attack. The next day, thanks to Ludington's bravery and tirelessness, the militia was able to confront the British soldiers and force their retreat.

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The valiance of the Minutemen -

Despite George Washington's exceptional leadership skills, the Continental Army was disorganized and not equipped to accommodate every man who wished to fight. For this reason, and many others, militias of members known as Minutemen began to pop up all across the country. Minutemen had little training and were armed with only what they could scrounge up themselves, but their decentralized organization meant they could respond to British attacks at a moment's notice. Their quick response time helped the Americans win the war on countless occasions.

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Patriotic pirates -

The infant and impoverished American army had virtually no funds for a real navy, certainly not one that could stand up to the strongest navy in the world. So instead, Washington got into the habit of hiring pirates to ambush British ships. The pirates, of course, were more than happy to oblige!

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The indispensable Marquis de Lafayette -

One of the greatest heroes of the American Revolution wasn't American at all: it was the young and legendary Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette.

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The indispensable Marquis de Lafayette -

Joining Washington's army as a general before the age of 20, Lafayette was not only an accomplished strategist, but he also played an integral role in convincing the French Crown to send 6,000 French troops to aid in the fight for revolution.

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Christopher Ludwick, Director of Baking -

Food and supplies were a constant concern for the soldiers of Washington's army. As far as food was concerned, there simply wasn't enough of it to go around, and there didn't seem to be a clear solution to the problem.

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Christopher Ludwick, Director of Baking -

That is, until a baker named Christopher Ludwick volunteered his services in the name of the revolution. Ludwick began to manage flour shipments and distribution, and produced 135 pounds (about 60 kg) of bread for every 100 pounds (45 kg) that he received for the last five years of the revolution. Ludwick was even given the title of Director of Baking by Congress.

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The Culper Spy Ring -

As previously mentioned, espionage played a huge part in the Revolutionary War. In 1778, George Washington officially appointed Benjamin Tallmadge (pictured) as head of the country's first secret intelligence agency.

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The Culper Spy Ring -

Tallmadge and his small team of trusted allies spread themselves throughout New York City, then occupied by the British, and were extremely successful in collecting information concerning the Royalist army's movements, foiling a number of their best-planned ambushes.

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Washington: An inexperienced commander -

Although he has gone down in history as one of the world's most successful and accomplished military leaders, the truth is that George Washington was a relatively inexperienced commander when he took charge of the Continental Army. Despite his lack of experience, he was one of only a few eligible candidates in the newly formed Congress, and was put in charge despite his lack of proper training in commanding an army.

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Submarine warfare -

A descendant of the modern submarine, a contraption known simply as "the turtle" was designed and constructed by the Continental Army. The vastly superior British navy had set up an impenetrable blockade along the coast of the colonies, and the only way to make a dent was to sink past undetected in the turtle, plant explosives on the ship, and quietly slink away once again under the water.

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Tar and feathers, or molasses and flowers? -

In the 18th century, tar and feathering was a popular form of public punishment and ridicule. Not only was it incomprehensibly painful to be covered in hot tar, but to be paraded around town covered in feathers was also deeply shameful. The Daughters of Liberty, a women's revolutionary group, once caught a Royalist and put their own twist on the classic punishment, covering the traitor with molasses and flowers instead.

Sources: (Military Veterans Resource Center) (The Archive) (Ranker)

See also: Unsolved mysteries of World War II

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