John Rupert was a British soldier who fought in several key battles of the American Revolutionary War from the perspective of a Redcoat. He describes his experiences in the French and Indian War, the Boston Massacre, the Battles of Lexington and Saratoga where the British were defeated, and reflects on the Treaty of Paris that recognized American independence. Over time, he becomes disillusioned with the war as he witnesses the death and destruction it causes on both sides.

1. Ryan McDermott

2. Introduction

This Journal Shall explain the life of John Rupert and
his life a British Redcoat. He undergoes many exciting
events while partaking in the war against the Patriots,
namely the French Indian War, The Boston Massacre,
The Battle of Lexington, The Battle of Saratoga, and
Treaty of Paris.

3. October 20, 1763

Opening the hotel door gives me great relief, because I know that my time in Quebec is over and that I won‟t
have to fight for another long while. I took of my wig and hung it on the blockhead getting ready for a nice rest after the long
ride back from Quebec. I could still hear the sound of rifles going off in my head, my first time as a British soldier was far from
what I thought it would be.
The days seemed endless while I was in Quebec, the fighting lasted for hour and many bodies lay dead with
blood seeping into the soil, I often feared that I might be the next Redcoat to die. One of the strangest things I found was that
during the battle were that there were not only French soldiers fighting but also Native American Indians shooting arrows from
their tightly strung bows. I will always remember the moment when my commanding officer screamed “GET DOWN,” and
hearing the whistling of an arrow right above my head as I hit the ground, that near death experienced truly showed me the
danger one had to face in a battlefield. We continued to advance on the French and Indian alliance shooting my rifle what
seemed like 100 times a day. Both armies fought, each of them intending to keep the land. However the British army was much
two powerful for even both of them to overcome. On October 7 the Intolerable acts stating that Britain would receive one third
of Americas land. There was also a proclamation that set aside the lands west of Appalachians for Native Americans, which
calmed their fear of loosing their land. The war had ended and the Great Britain had triumphed once again.
I often think that if it weren‟t for King George III we might have never come back from Quebec alive, supplies
were running low and weapons were almost depleted, luckily King George thought of the brilliant idea to start taxing the
colonist instead of having weapons shipped all the way from England to America, brand new shipments of supplies and
weapons and supplies came in quickly and we were able to fight on. Although the war was over, there was complaining from
the colonist because had to tax them for the war. We fought long and hard too gain land, yet the colonist had been complaining
about. It seems that the colonist complaining has continued now, in order to win the war we needed resources and money, and
to do that we needed to tax the people living here. The only people that don‟t seem to mind the taxing were the loyalist still
believed in King George‟s ways. They don‟t understand that the reason we taxed them is so that we could expand our empire.
The colonists are British and should willingly support the expansion of the nation instead of going against it. The colonists were
being quite selfish even after all King George III had done for them.
John Winkly Alvin Rupert

4. March 7, 1770

The past to weeks in Boston is probably some of the most humiliating times of my life, I never even wanted to come here, but orders are
orders, so I need to stay and help enforce taxes and keep peace while crowds of patriots yell at me with angry voices. Every time I was out patrolling with
my unit, I would be called horrible insults such as Lobster-back. I didn‟t understand why people would do this to us, we had not provoked them in anyway,
and we were just here to collect taxes. Sometimes the crowds even turned to violence and small quarrels broke out. The worst day by far was two days ago
when I was called to control a crowd beating on one of my fellow Redcoats.
It started around dusk, I was cleaning my rifle when another soldier came in yelling, “come quick, there is a brawl in progress.” I quickly put
on my uniform and wig, grabbed my rifle with my right hand and my hat with the other and ran out the door. A squad of seven Redcoats was quickly
marching to the center of the town. As I got closer I could hear to sounds of citizens yelling with rage. Once I was close enough I could see a mob of people
beating on a British soldier. I strapped on my bayonet to my rifle. We came to sudden stop only 10 feet from the angry crowd. “Stop this at once,” the captain
said. Still the mob did not stop, many men came forward to confront the squad, our bayonets only inches away from their chest. The townspeople were
merciless, still beating on the soldier and now looking towards us. Suddenly a large piece of wood flew straight past me, just barely missing my head, the
wood missed me but hit another soldier straight on the forehead. He stumbled to the ground and as his rifle hit the floor a shoot went off and I heard “FIRE”
from behind. The guns went off and the crowd was fleeing, “Seas fire” screamed the captain, and we did so. However after the entire crowd had cleared
there were four bodies on the ground with large holes in their chest.
We were sent to court in order to face judgment for what we had done. “Please rise for the honor James Madison. We all stood up for a short
time and then sat down, which seemed quite strange to me. “These men are being persecuted for shooting and killing four Boston residence. As a soldier I
did no understand some of what was going on, but I understood enough to now that both sides had a fair argument. The court decided that the man who
yelled, “fire” was the guiltiest. Eventually that man stepped forward and confessed to the mistake he had made. Two of the squad was brand on the wrist,
luckily for me I managed to shoot and miss the three times that I had fired. I don‟t know how the Americans dealt with the soldier who yelled fire, but I was
not very interested in it anyway, afterword‟s I continued my stay in Boston but this time without receiving insults from the Americans. It actually seemed
that now, they were scared of me.
John Winkly Alvin Rupert

5. April 22, 1775

It had only been three days since my last encounter with the American rebels. It seemed that every town I went to
there were small groups of poorly armed men willing to fight the mighty British. It was admirable of so few men to go up against
such a large armada. Yet I can‟t see why the colonist would rebel like this, the inevitable end was that the loyalist would win. Why
even rebel the British were the ones to colonize this place, and we were the ones who gained the land, why should the Americans
have the right to own this country. While I was fighting I usually never had the fear of death in my mind, until three days ago when I
was almost killed by an American Patriot.
We stood nine hundred strong, facing around sixty American rebels. The mere fact that the Americans would do such
a bold thing was quite foolish, yet there was a side of it that was quite valiant. We stood almost perfectly still as the captain barked
out orders, “aim for the blacks first, once they a dead start killing everyone you see. My eyes quickly picked up a black American
rebel, while the captains of each army were still giving orders a sudden CRACK went of and the battle began. I couldn‟t tell who was
the first one to shoot, but if it had been one of us, nothing could protect them from the wrath of the captain. Following the first show,
many others went off, most of them missing the intended target. I pointed my gun at the black soldier and fired, the shot missed but
only seconds later a bullet hit his chest and he fell to the ground. The firing continued and only one or two redcoats had been killed
while the Americans had lost about a quarter of their militia. Minutes after the battle had begun, we all ran out of ammunition. Every
British soldier began strapping on the bayonets to the top of their rifles, this took only ten second and we all charged towards the
Americans giving loud battle cries, most of the Americans ran away but a few to fight, I was sprinting hard, at the front of them army.
I was about ten feet away from an American, when he shot and a sudden numbness came to my foot followed by excruciating pain.
The blood was gushing out of my foot, the pain was almost unbearable. I was gasping for air breathing rapidly; I could already see
the black of my eyelids. I was incredibly scared wondering whether I was going to die or not.
Luckily I woke up in an infirmary two days later, my foot was laired in bandages and the fear that it might have to be
amputated was growing in my stomach. On the other hand, I was incredibly happy to be alive, and truly thankful to whomever had
saved my life while I was out on the battlefield. It didn‟t seem possible to me before, but the large hole in my foot says otherwise, I
was almost killed by a poorly armed, untrained, American rebel.
John Winkly Alvin Rupert

6. October 20, 1777

It has only been three days since I had narrowly escaped the Patriot soldiers in Canada. The worst thing I feared had come true,
the Americans seemed to have defeated all odds and gotten the upper hand over us British. The battle in Saratoga caused the capture and death of
many British soldiers and the Americans had finally triumphed over us. To make our situation even worse the French have joined forces with the
Americans. I am not fond of the French, but I must say that there cunning is exemplary, joining forces with the Americans so that they could try to
defeat the one enemy that they never could. Things look quite bleak for the British now but I feel that we can overcome this obstacle. However
with the American and French armies it will be quite difficult to win this battle. I believe that the French would have never even join the
Americans if it were not for our loss in Saratoga three days ago.
October 17, 1777
The American army had grown quite large since my first days as a soldier, their artillery and equipment has also risen
exponentially. However, it is still not enough to over come the British. In fact, my next battle would take place in only a few hours, and I was
ready to fight for my country. However life as a soldier has not been great for me ever since I was shot in the foot, I have become what some
would call “overcautious.” My commanding officer yelled into my quarters, “get ready for battle.” The four other men I had been bunking with
were still in deep sleep; last nights drinking was taking its toll on the men. I walked over to one of the men and tapped him on the shoulder, “get
up, we must go,” I kept saying. With a groan he slowly stepped of the cot and started preparing his clothes. I did the same thing with the other
four men, each of them looking like they did not want to be here. I put on my red coat, wig, and hat and walked towards the door, I grabbed my
rifle, which was leaning against the wall next to the door. When I looked out of the window I saw many other soldiers lined up outside the
barracks. All of us quickly went outside and lined up.
It was a long march to Saratoga, but once we had arrived we had already spotted the American soldiers and began to fight almost
instantly. The sounds of explosions rung in my ears, and a body dropped every ten seconds. Strangely, the Americans were in quite large numbers,
at least as many as us and if not even more than us. The fear of battle struck me again as I fired my rifle, I was out of ammunition and my bayonet
was lost. My first instinct was to run, far away, but I knew I had to fight for what I thought was right. The Americans were advancing on us we
were outnumbered and worried. Suddenly instinct took me over and I ran. Not caring whether or not my fellow soldiers were killed or captured,
but just caring for my own life. I raced into the forest and let the rest of the British soldiers take the bullets. I managed to narrowly escape the
American soldiers and slip away through the trees.
John Winkly Alvin Rupert

7. September 20, 1782

Life as a retired British Redcoat has not been easy ever since the Americans had won the war against us. What we wanted we could
not have, and the only resolution was to give the Americans what they wanted and make piece. It is hard to believe that the
Americans could rebel against a nation as powerful as the British Empire, and then win in the end. They had once been Loyalist
before, how could they change so quickly like that. It was no help that the French came in to assist the Americans on the war against
us. At least we were able to keep the province of Quebec, however the British had not gained anything from this entire war expect for
that piece of land, yet our dead were many, all that death was truly not worth the fight.
I remember how outraged England was at how the French and Americans „unfairly‟ joined forces to defeat our great nation. I for one
know that the French had not done this to help the Americans because they thought it was right, but to finally defeat the enemy that
they never could. If the British had won the fight I could be a commanding officer amongst the ranks by now, but instead I stay in
this crummy living quarters, eating two awful meals a day and working in a weapons factory. Although the war was over, the spirits
of the British people gone down, many women had lost their husbands, and many men had lost their good friends. I used to support
the expanding of our empire by fighting for it, now I think about how I could have ever felt that way. War can only lead to more and
more death, no matter what side you are on. I think that making piece with the Americans was the right choice, but I still do not
believe they should have taken our land in the first place. The colonist were sent over specifically so that they could start expanding
and constructing the British Empire, instead the selfishly took the land for themselves. Most of all the women were furious at the
French; the women say that if the French had not helped the filthy Americans, the British would have won the war and all of their
husbands would still be alive. The battle of Yorktown left the British humiliated, we were forced to surrender to the Americans and
the French, and after losing so many men in the battle. Once again I say, there is no war without death, both sides will lose lives and
someone will always be mourning the loss and blaming someone else for what happened. That‟s Just war.
John Winkly Alvin Rupert

8. Citations

 "King George III - Google ·j´M." King George III. N.p., n.d. Web.
28 Feb. 2014.
 "Boston Massacre." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Feb.
2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
 Ponce, Nicolas. "File:Battle of Lexington by Nicolas Ponce.jpg."
File:Battle of Lexington by Nicolas Ponce.jpg. Nicolas Ponce, n.d.
Web.
 "Battles of Saratoga." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb.
2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
 "Treaty of Paris (1783)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27
Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.