THE PATRIOT

CHARACTERS

• Benjamin Martin
• Lieutenant General Cornwallis
• Colonel Tavington
• Colonel Harry Burwell

PEOPLE

• Cornwallis
• Andrew Pickens, Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan, and Thomas Sumter
• All of these people were real people in the Revolutionary.
• I believe that Mel Gibson's character was primarily based on Daniel Morgan.

SIMILARITIES

• In the movie Benjamin Martin was white and owned a small farm in the south with slaves.
• Just as we talked about in class most people in the south owned slaves and a farm or plantation .
• He had no wife, however his sister-in-law was a women who typically at the time took care of the kids while the men went to war.
• The women at the time of the Revolution were in charge of taking care of children.

GOVERNMENT SIMILARITIES

• In the movie a court house is portrayed where Mr. Martin argues against going to war.
• In the south war has been going on at the time. The British took over South Carolina, which called the south to fight.
• In the movie and text book portrayed the militia as most of the southern people were "farmers with pitchforks"
• However later this theory failed when the British realized that they being driven out of the south by the militia men.
• In the case of the movie the battle of Cowpens debunked that theory.

WAR SIMILARITIES

• After the meeting in the court house the people of South Carolina decide to go to war.
• It was common for boys the age of 18 to join the war, however Mr. Martin dreaded the idea of his son fighting.
• It was hard to raise a militia so they took anyone they could get that were not women and children.
• Later on Mr. Martin's house was burned down because he was helping the patriot cause.
• During the Revolutionary war it was common for the British and the Patriots to fight on people's property.

FIGHTING STYLE

• The book and movie tell that the Militia did not fight using tradition methods
• The Militia fought with guerrilla warfare which proved effective
• The British thought that, that fighting was an insult to their style of warfare.
• The Militia won all skirmishes with the British but lost major battle up until Cowpens
• The militia did not learn these fighting styles by themselves.

FIGHTING STYLE CONTINUED

• The militia were trained and influenced by several people
• People like Friedrich Von Steuben and Lafayette. The also were influenced by the Native Americans
• These fighting techniques helped prevail the militia to victory.

VICTORIES

• In the movie battles such at Trenton and Saratoga are mentioned, which are important battle won.
• Those battles won by the Patriots are great example of leadership and execution.
• However the main battle in the film, Cowpens, showed the true ambitions and side of the militia
• The term "hold the lines" was was unclear to me until Cowpens where the Militia ran away from the fight.
• After that battle the British were pushed back to Yorktown where the British surrendered.

CONCLUSION

• In conclusion I thought that they movie and what I learned in class was similar.
• Although some of the characters were a little inaccurate I thought the film was excellent.
• The movie portrays the struggle in the south for the soldier to prove themselves and earn freedom.
• Over all the similarities from class to film are basically spot on and accurate with portrayals.