Minnesota SAR

On April 7, 2022, three members of the MN SAR (Phil Christiansen, Rich Howey and Chris Moberg) gave a Patriot Chest presentation to members of the Civil Air Patrol in Rochester, MN. The CAP is a youth program of the USAF. They were interested in the life of a soldier during the Revolutionary War and how it differed from the life of a soldier today. The presentation focused on the history of the war, the differences between a smooth bore musket and a rifle and how the linear tactics of the time were appropriate given the types of weaponry used in the war.

It is largely an American myth that the Continental Army did not adopt the British method of fighting in linear formations. In fact, George Washington appointed Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian army officer, as inspector general of the army at Valley Forge to teach the army how professional soldiers fought in formation. When the Continental Army met the British in battle at Monmouth, New Jersey after their training, they proved that they were the equal of the British in all aspects of fighting a set-piece battle in a linear formation.