Two hundred thousand fought. Twenty-five thousand died.

The War for Independence.

Although the exact number is difficult to determine, about 6,800 of the recorded deaths were from battle. The remaining 17,000 were the result of disease including 8,000 to 12,000 who died as prisoners of war from disease and starvation. Patriots wounded or disabled were an estimated 8,500 to 25,000.

These figures do not account for American colonists who fought as Loyalists.

Other estimates give the death toll upwards to 70,000. The different numbers come from the difficulty of determining the impact of disease deaths. In 1776 alone, an estimated 10,000 died from disease.

In proportion to the population of colonial America, the war was deadlier for Americans than World War I and World War II – second only to the Civil War.

The Revolutionary War has been seen as a civil war. Is it not interesting that our deadliest wars were amongst ourselves?

As we remember those who fell in battle in our two civil wars, let us find any and all paths to avoid a third.