The filmmakers took a lot of heat for this scene, which seemed to belong to Nazi Germany rather than the American Revolution, but I've always wondered if they read George Howe's "History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina" (1870) #HATM

Howe's History of the Presb. Ch in SC has a scene of the British threatening to burn a church #HATM https://books.google.com/books?id=M-UqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA512&lpg=PA512&dq=%E2%80%9Cto+burn+both+the+church,+and+people,+by+way+of+warning+to+other+%E2%80%98disturbers+of+the+king%E2%80%99s+peace%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=Qt319mVvt0&sig=ACfU3U2B87ONEX7XsIyAulj1fUgM-IUIpg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTm_ah4M3pAhUnl3IEHcopC_sQ6AEwAXoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cto%20burn%20both%20the%20church%2C%20and%20people%2C%20by%20way%20of%20warning%20to%20other%20%E2%80%98disturbers%20of%20the%20king%E2%80%99s%20peace%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D&f=false

And Howe's History of the Presb. Ch in SC has a scene of soldiers locking a woman in a house and setting it on fire (so she'd reveal the location of her husband). She escaped though. https://books.google.com/books?id=zqDuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA483&lpg=PA483&dq=%E2%80%9Cunsurpassed,+if+not+unequalled+in+the+annals+of+civilized+warfare.%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=g6Qhh7E2kj&sig=ACfU3U39Z4k6jycrZOfmOBRMCfLwRidNVA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwih96ap4M3pAhXRlHIEHbT_BAwQ6AEwAHoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cunsurpassed%2C%20if%20not%20unequalled%20in%20the%20annals%20of%20civilized%20warfare.%E2%80%9D&f=false

No reason to assume Howe was accurate. Lots of nineteenth-century histories took liberties. But the point is, it's not QUITE as unthinkable as some of the critics said. #HATM