David E. Shi: A War of Independence that Divided American Colonies

David E. Shi, an Atlanta native, is president emeritus and professor of history at Furman University. He is the co-author of “America: a Narrative History.”

History celebrates winners and often forgets losers. Yet it is worth remembering on this Independence Day that Americans both won and lost the Revolutionary war. The struggle for independence was as much a brutal civil war fought between Americans (“Patriots” versus “Loyalists”) as it was a conventional conflict between American and British armies. Americans killed Americans in large numbers.

The act of choosing sides divided families and friends, towns and cities. John Adams of Massachusetts, one of the leading revolutionaries and a future president, noted that many of the Tories (a derisive term for Loyalists, implying that they were monarchists) were “my cordial, confidential and bosom friends.”

Benjamin Franklin’s illegitimate son, William, was the royal governor of New Jersey. An ardent Loyalist, he sided with Great Britain during the Revolution, leading his disgusted father to remove him from his will.

About 20 percent of the 2 million white colonists were Loyalists. Other “American” opponents of the Revolution included several Indian tribes, free blacks, and thousands of runaway slaves enticed by the promise of freedom in exchange for their allegiance to the Crown....