They regulars had uniforms and contracts, they were paid money to serve for a year as full-time soldiers. The irregulars were literally anyone with a gun in whatever clothes they had, often under the command of regulars or simply defending their local territory from government forces.

>>63942085

The numbers fluctuated a lot, many people simply did their time and went back home, and the combat mortalities were also rather low. Despite this, the Revolutionaries consistently outperformed the British in combat casualties.

It was not like the GWOT or Vietnam. These men were trained to a high standard and well armed. They outperformed their counterparts in combat, taking fewer combat casualties, despite being raised directly from the civilian population as insurgents.

Going to war does not mean you have to die, in fact, most survived. And yes, while it was a brutal war, many men were actually excited to see real combat.

At Saratoga, for example, 90 were killed out of 9,000. So you had a 99.99% chance of surviving, and if you fell, you were immortalized as a hero of the nation and found gentle rest as a God believing man.