Facts about the Revolutionary War

“… America’s war for independence caused proportionately more human suffering than any other war in American history except the Civil War. Because to modern eyes the absolute numbers involved look comparatively small, it is easy to forget that with an estimated 6,800 to 8,000 Patriot deaths, 10,000 killed by disease in camps, and up to 16,000 or even 19,000 who perished in captivity, the number of Patriot soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War would be well over 3 million in terms of today’s population — and significantly more … if we consider Patriot deaths as a proportion of only the Patriot population in 1775 or 1783. More than ten times as many Americans died, per capita, in the Revolutionary War as in World War I, and nearly five times as many as in World War II. In addition, at least 20,000 British and thousands more American Loyalist, Native American, German, and French lives were lost. … At war’s end approximately 1 in 40 Americans went into permanent exile, the equivalent of some 7.5 million today.”

Scars of Independence — America’s Violent Birth, Holger Hoock, 2017

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Photograph: Marvin Lyles, Uona (Orval Lyle’s youngest daughter), Carl Lyles, Fred Lyles, Zura Stamps, Orval Lyles

Photograph furnished by Tracy

Photograph: Beulah Newman Hunt family — Standing: Claude Rae Hunt, Beulah Ray Newman Hunt, Vina Lyles Newman; seated: George Thompson, Georgeanna Kay, Odessa Hunt Thompson, baby Margo, Beverly Hunt

Photograph furnished by Tracy

Photograph: Unidentified church in Allen County, Kentucky — Carl, Bevie, and Addie Lyles on steps

Caption: “For Maud, where our dad and your mother went to church in Ky. Carl, Bevie, and Addie on steps.”

Maud or Maude was Maude Lou Taylor McCurdy. “Our dad” was James Wesley Lyles. “Your mother” was James’ sister, Margaret Mysainah Lyles Taylor.

Photograph and explanatory information furnished by Tracy

Photograph: Bettie Hinton, Vina Newman, Josie Lamb, Orval Lyles, Allen County, Kentucky

Caption: “Holding a quilt over 100 years old. Grandma Lyles made…. Her four living children holding it.”

Photograph furnished by Tracy

Photograph: Left to right, back: Harold Tanner, Beulah Tanner Brown, Helen Tanner Benson; front: Butch Tanner, Laura Gass Tanner, Herschel Tanner, Perry County, Illinois

Photograph furnished by Barbara Brown Penrod

Photograph: Helen Tanner with school chums, Perry County, Illinois (Helen, plaid dress in the middle of the photo)

Photograph furnished by Barbara Brown Penrod

Photograph: Laura Gass Tanner, Martha Jane Logan Gass, Beulah Tanner Brown, Barbara Brown Penrod (in front), Perry County, Illinois

Photograph furnished by Barbara Brown Penrod

Photograph: Helen Tanner (left), Beulah Tanner (right), Perry County, Illinois

Photograph furnished by Barbara Brown Penrod

Photograph: Gass family, Perry County, Illinois, 1953

Jim, Clara, Kate, Tillie, Laura, Lillian, and Merwin Gass.

Photograph courtesy of Bev Gass Davis and Cindy Nehrkorn Abbott