| This dissertation addresses mutiny, desertion, and other acts of indiscipline by soldiers serving in the French and Indian/Seven Years' War (1754-1763), the War for American Independence (1775-1783), and the War of 1812 (1812-1815). Americans attached to provincial regiments campaigning with British regular army forces, the Continental Army, and the United States Army were drawn overwhelmingly from the lower ranks of American society. They did not, however, act as simple cannon fodder. They entered into service on a contractual basis. In exchange for enduring the hardships of military life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American soldiers expected ample rations, adequate clothing, decent shelter, regular pay, and postwar pensions promised to them by military and civilian authorities.;Due to difficulties of inadequate supplies, inept administration, and popular apathy, these promises were rarely realized. The troops often endured severe privation and quite often went months without pay. These circumstances, combined with the brutal disciplinary practices, drove significant numbers of soldiers to engage in acts of indiscipline intended to assert their rights. Plundering and desertion were especially common, and as a last desperate resort, entire units staged full-scale mutinies, such as those which took place in the Continental Army between 1779 and 1783.;Ultimately, such acts obtained only temporary relief at best. State and national authorities often lacked the resources to provide properly and also pay their forces. Likewise, many individuals higher up the social scale looked down on common soldiers; consequently, they did little or nothing to alleviate the situation. As a result, many ordinary Americans who served in these conflicts came away from their experience with the satisfaction of having done their duty, but few or almost none of the rewards promised to them. |
