When a small force of colonial rebels waved the white flag and tried to surrender at Waxhaws, S.C., in May 1780, the redcoats simply slaughtered them, killing more than 100 men. After all, during the war, the British Army demonstrated a penchant for brutality. If the British had thwarted the American Revolution, the consequences for America might have been terrifyingly harsh. the outcome seemed little short of a miracle,' he wrote. 'To those who had been with Washington and who knew what a close call it was at the beginning. That would be the equivalent of a modern war claiming more than 3 million U.S. As the historian David McCullough noted in his book '1776,' the Americans suffered terrible losses - about 25,000 casualties, or roughly one percent of the colonial population. Though fictional, 'The Patriot' has a strong element of truth, in that it gives a sense of just how much courage it took for the colonists to rebel against the awesome might of the British Empire - and how lucky they were to eke out a victory. Then he goes on to fight for the Continental Army, which defeats the British at Yorktown to win independence, and eventually returns home to resume his life. Fortunately, by luck as much as by skill, Martin manages to survive and kills his antagonist with a desperate thrust of his bayonet. For his trouble, Martin's home is burned, two of his sons are killed, and he nearly loses his own life in hand-to-hand combat against a brutally sociopathic British officer named Tavington.

In the 2000 movie 'The Patriot,' set in 1776, an American colonial landowner named Benjamin Martin, portrayed by Mel Gibson, reluctantly joins the rebellion against the British Crown after one of his sons is arrested as a spy by British forces and threatened with execution. VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm/Digital Vision/ Getty Images

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