A People's Army Fred Anderson Summary

Wars are facts of lives for nations. History tells us of wars each nation endures more than telling us how individual lives where. We know the ends and outs of wars as far as missions, objectives, and even conclusions but not much research is done on how the people where that fought in these wars. Fred Anderson, author of A People’s Army compiles an argument with the idea that the New England Provincials where in some way inferior or substandard to their British regular army allies.

Anderson focuses his argument on the livelihood of the soldiers. “I have focused on the mundane aspects of soldiering- daily life, discipline, common attitudes to war, and so on- in order to gauge the effects of the military service on the provincial troops

themselves.” (Anderson, PG viii)
Anderson gives us history on the wars in the 1700s and breaks them down into four phases.

The first phase is Governor Shirley’s War, 1754-1755. (Anderson PG. 8). Shirley was a politician and not a soldier. However, he transformed the military that he was in charge of and paved the way for a future military. He made it possible for reimbursement in silver for his soldiers and planned and executed missions. Shirley’s hard work for his career made an enemy because of it. Thomas Pownall was his successor to be governor of Massachusetts. “Shirley, his career in ruins, was recalled to England under the suspicion of malfeasance. His tangled accounts with the Livingstons were audited by the Treasury, a process that was not complete until 1763.” (Anderson PG. 12)

The second phase involved Thomas Pownall and Lord Loudoun. Lord Loudoun was a soldier and understand the art of soldiering. He wanted to change policy and ask for reimbursements. This idea became costly and was not in Thomas Pownall’s overall plan as governor. “What Loudoun required of the governors was politically costly, if not impossible. His policies were especially at odds with Thomas Pownall’s plans.” (Anderson PG.

14).
The third phase Anderson discusses is the involvement of William Pitt.

Pitt order Loudoun to go back and leave the area. William Pitt sent letters to the General Court concerning this matter. “The letters informed the members of the assembly that Lord Loudoun was being recalled and went on to ask that they authorize the recruitment of an unprecedented number of soldiers for the coming campaign.” (Anderson PG. 14). The morale character of someone means a lot to other people. Loudoun’s morale character was not parallel with everyone else. Instead of saving money for the military, Loudoun wants more money for his ideas and strategic methods. Pitt could get the people he wanted for the fight by simply getting rid of Loudoun and changing the mindset of the operation and the meaning behind it. “Pitt achieved this remarkable reversal in colonial attitude by jettisoning along with Loudoun, everything Loudoun had stood for. (Anderson PG. 14). Reimbursement for the wars were high, however everyone that was a part of the war were required to pay their share. This was a heavy burden lifted from Great

Britian.
The fourth phase entailed the push for more troops to man forts that were made in the previous phases. Pitt got his wish and the forts were manned. The government voted for more people to maintain a garrison command. “The assembly had voted to raise thirty-two hundred men, again for garrison duty.” (Anderson PG. 21). The Seven Year Wars is what is was called 1763-1776, is what it was called during this time period. Anderson notes that these wars were a postwar period. “To people with no inkling of what the future might bring, the years from 1763-1775 were not prerevolutionary, but a postwar period.” (Anderson PG.23)
Andersons noted that the government during this time was changing leadership a lot and the New England provincials were trying to create a government that would last for a long time. The New England provincials and to figure out ways to pay the troops which led to the recruitment of more troops. People coming from their local farms to assist in becoming a soldier. However; values and beliefs of the some of the New England Provincials did not go hand in hand with what Great Britain wanted to do.
Anderson’s thesis; “I will argue that the New England provincials of the Seven Years’ War subscribed to notions about military service and warfare that were wholly incompatible with the professional ideals and assumptions of their British regular allies” (Anderson PG viii) was the correct thesis for this book. Anderson did provide proof of his thesis in an historian manner, just with a different outlook that is different from other historians. He finished the thesis by providing entries and prayers from the soldiers in the Contractual Principles portion of the book. Anderson’s examples are not just from soldiers but from officers as well. The morale of the soldier appeared to be low within the military. “About two thirds of the soldiers whose diaries survive were content simply to set down the mundane details of camp life; the other third, in varying degrees, commented reflectively.” (Anderson PG 197)
Anderson also proves his thesis by displaying tables in the appendix of the book. This is very key to his thesis by not only talking about the strengths of the military as a whole, but he breaks down to the soldier level. He displays tables of the soldiers physical condition (Table 29) and the death rate of the soldiers (Table 30).