 Even what didn't happen might have seemed likely or even inevitable at the time. If you were on the side of independence, after reading in the newspapers and hearing about Washington's crushing defeat, would you be tempted to think maybe this was a bad idea? Would you be rethinking your support for the cause, especially when it meant committing treason against the king of one of the greatest empires in the world? And what would happen when it was over? Would you be imprisoned? What would happen to your family, your spouse, your children, your home