WHAT IF Washington was a KIA?

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Loyalist Dave

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So I just picked up a copy of For Our Cause was Just a "novel of alternate history", by Larry Chiger

REV WAR NOVEL.jpg


So the premise is that in the days prior to The Battle of Brandywine, George Washington and another man ride out to do a recon of the area, which Washington did do, and historically Washington and the other fellow almost got captured by riflemen under the command of Patrick Fergusson (inventor of a breechloading flintlock rifle and who later was a KIA at King's Mountain). Fergusson and his men held their fire because it wasn't honorable for officers to take pot-shots at each other.

BUT what might have happened to history if one of the riflemen there that day didn't hear the order to hold fire, and that rifleman killed Washington?

Full disclosure, I've not finished the book, and I bought a signed copy from the author, but so far, the book really does a good job of illustrating just how important George Washington was to holding together the Continental Army and maintaining the determination of that army to continue the fight. These days that fact is pretty much lost to most Americans, that Washington's leadership was crucial.

I'm very interested as Brandywine was before the disastrous winter at Valley Forge. The previous Winter, Washington had staged and won the Battle of Trenton (after crossing the Delaware River) and Princeton. He'd become the charismatic leader of the Continentals, so what would've happened if a year later he was killed in the field?

I'm wondering how this is going to play out in the author's imagination... looking forward to the rest of the novel.

LD
 
I think that someone else would have stepped up. The war may have lasted a few more years, but the cause was just and there were other officers who would have stepped in.
I'm not so sure. Washington had such a commanding presence as both officer and gentleman, the Continentals would have disintegrated. The loss of Washington would have caused dismay annd disarray among the Congress, which was only holding together because Washington was persuasive in words if not always in actions.

Without Washington, would there have even been a camp at Valley Forge? Would the Continentals have gone from an organized band of rabble to actually being an army?
 
So hard to play what if.
Congress was so taken with gates and Lee, both so incompetent
Then we have green and Arnold
We could have had a president Arnold
And America might have then been so different

I don't think things would of been that much different. Another General would step up and America would of won sooner or later. We would still had the same framers of the constitution. But I am like you, don't really enjoy the " what if game ". I mean if I was taller I wouldn't be so short.
 
Washington lost most of the battles he engaged in. He "won" the war through a battle of try and catch me and the cost to the Brit's to keep an army over here grew to huge amounts. The Brit's decided to just let it go or continue to pour more $$$$ into the war when the long term may never have worked out anyway. Sort of what the North Vietnam army did to the US Troops.
 
Nathanael Green...He understood the strategy. "We get beat, rise up and fight again". Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, this is when the war was won. Yorktown was just the icing on the cake. This is when Britain realized they couldn't win.
 
Read Angel in the Whirlwind by Benson Bobrick if you want an excellent breakdown of Washington’s importance in the American Revolution. It’s a long read and very detailed but really brings home the contribution that he made and hardships that he and all the Continental Army experienced. If he hadn’t been there I really doubt the American Revolution would have succeeded at that time in history.
 
The New England colonies MAY have been beaten , if Washington was dead. The westernmost areas and others would carry on , they hated the British for setting the Indian tribes against them.
 
That’s a fascinating premise! The idea of Washington being killed at Brandywine really does open up a massive “what if” in American history. His leadership wasn’t just about military strategy—it was the glue that held the Continental Army and even the broader cause together. Without him, the army could’ve fractured under the weight of defeats, lack of supplies, and political infighting.

I imagine figures like Nathanael Greene or Henry Knox might’ve tried to step up, but would they have had the same unifying presence? Washington had this almost mythic status, even among his contemporaries. Losing him before Valley Forge could’ve demoralized the troops beyond recovery. It’s possible the Revolution might have fizzled out, or at least dragged on much longer with a different outcome.

I’m curious how the author handles the ripple effects—both immediate and long-term. Does the Continental Congress rally behind another leader? Does France still lend its support without Washington’s victories to inspire confidence?

Let me know how the book wraps up—I’d love to hear where the author takes that alternate timeline!
 


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