Talk:List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War

Article name
I believe this article should be named "List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War." Cla68 21:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't agree. Yes, right now it's mostly a lame list. But eventually we'll want an actual article on military leadership in the war -- there are plenty of good secondary works on the subject. Will anyone ever get around to writing it? I dunno. —Kevin Myers 14:57, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
Took out "wow wikipedia" from list --Mus640 (talk) 22:11, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Missing Rufus Putnam Relative
Israel Putnam does not seem to be on the list. Rufus article Rufus Putnam in Wikipedia notes "His grandfather was a half-brother to the father of Israel Putnam, the renowned general during the American Revolution." Dalcrow (talk) 21:26, 24 January 2009 (UTC). —
 * Can we archive old requests for inclusion? Putnam was added a long time ago (for anyone else reading the talk page). Canute (talk) 13:49, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Where is Francis Marion?
Surely General Marion, the Swamp Fox, deserves a mention? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FCC8:A24C:FC00:226:BBFF:FE11:9033 (talk) 04:23, 17 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Can we archive old requests for inclusion? Marion was included some time ago (for anyone else reading the talk page). Canute (talk) 13:49, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria
This article needs some sort of criteria for inclusion. I propose, as a start, to remove anyone from this list who fails all of the following criteria:
 * was a nation's top civilian responsible for directing military affairs
 * held a commission of at least major general or rear admiral in an organized military during the conflict
 * was the highest ranking member of a given nation's force that participated in the conflict (this allows for identification of the force heads of some of the small German principalities that might be headed by brigadiers or colonels)
 * was the highest ranking member of a given state/colonial militia
 * was a royal governor who is known to have directed a notable military action (i.e. one that is sufficiently notable to have a Wikipedia article -- this would allow for the inclusion of e.g. Lord Dunmore and William Tryon)
 * was a tribal leader who is known to have had a leadership position in a notable military action

Comments?  Magic ♪piano 16:55, 7 January 2010 (UTC)


 * ok, move the culled to List of leaders in the American Revolutionary War. i might quibble and say brigadier general, or say was a leader in a notable battle (for example colonial side at Bunker Hill) Pohick2 (talk) 18:34, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I just wonder if adding brigadiers makes the list awfully long (not having researched the actual numbers) -- remember, this list covers all of the belligerents. Your latter suggestion runs into the point that User:Albrecht raised in Talk:American Revolutionary War of objectivity -- which battles are notable enough that their less-than-otherwise-notable leaders deserve inclusion here.  (BTW, I believe Artemas Ward and Israel Putnam, the closest thing to overall commanders at Bunker Hill, became major generals or militia heads.  The leaders at Battles of Lexington and Concord and some other early actions are the most likely to be excluded under the above criteria.)  Magic ♪piano 22:53, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It looks as if time has added in brigadier generals, lots on the Continental Army side. Figure I'll remove the "commenting out" of the British ones now as  Magic ♪piano's Inclusion criteria seems to have organically expanded.  72.234.220.38 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 12:29, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

Random questions
This is only my first pass on this list, but there are a few things I'm not sure how to address.
 * It would be helpful to have in the introduction a short description of the rank system of the era and how it corresponds to modern NATO rank. I'm saying this as a reader, not an editor.  I don't feel competent to write that description.
 * It would also be helpful to list the rank next to the names, especially to distinguish Admirals from Generals. (By the way, the section headers should include admirals, but to my question above, I don't know what minimum naval rank an officer must have held during the war to be included on this list.)  Unless the individual navies should be split out, like they are with the United States section.
 * We have people listed twice (i.e. Howe, Clinton). General tradition is to list people at their highest rank (in this case, I think that would be highest rank during the American Revolutionary War.)  Wouldn't it be better to list them once with a very brief description of their role(s) in the war?  Naming anyone multiple times not only makes this list unnecessarily longer, but also has the potential to hide relevant information about a specific person because there are multiple descriptions.
 * Not sure about the list of Native American leaders near the bottom. On the one hand, it seems like someone was trying to be inclusive, because the Native Nations were distinct political entities.  From that perspective, it's appropriate to include their names.  On the other hand, it feels like pandering.  Many of the people named on this list never held a formal title; they were simply good leaders who attracted followers.  Others, like Brant and Cook, received formal commissions from the British or United States, but they were company or field level officers, not general officers.  So including them on a list which defines itself as Major General and above seems inappropriate, at least without some sort of brief explanation of why they're listed here.

Indigenous peoples
I don't know if a policy has been established for referring to indigenous peoples. That is the term now accepted internationally, although it is always preferable to refer to them by their endonym (and perhaps with the relevant exoname in parentheses). In the case of leaders who fought during the revolution, since most supported Great Britain it doesn't seem appropriate to call them "native Americans".

Would anyone object to changing all references in this article to "indigenous peoples"? Humphrey Tribble (talk) 06:24, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Corrections re Banastre Tarleton
I have deleted the specious nicknames applied to Tarleton and the British Legion. See the article Banastre Tarleton for the explanations. I have not worked on the article about the British Legion yet. Humphrey Tribble (talk) 05:50, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

Executions
I noticed that John André is shown as killed in action. Does this terminology include hanged by the enemy? Humphrey Tribble (talk) 06:02, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

Brigade General Daniel Stewart
This completely leaves out my ancestor who was a Brigadier General of the Georgia Militia and for whom Fort Stewart Georgia was named. 2600:1700:D054:2080:B433:2D24:E304:2272 (talk) 21:16, 12 July 2024 (UTC)