"What do you call the two sides?" Topic

I'd say that Quisling is as pejorative and deprecatory a term as can be used in any company Robert. I need not mention Britain's opposition to Quisling and his ilk here. Now my two cents….
Consider the fates of Jonathan Hale and John Andre. Let us consider John Paul Jones as an example of the way the revolution played out. The man started his naval training in the port of Whitehaven in Cumberland and so would have been well acquainted with the port and it's people.
Yet he sailed to attack the very same port, burn the ships in the harbour and set further fires with a view to terrorising the local population. The dismal weather here in the Grim North prevented him from doing this.
His men then drank in the local pub and I doubt they stood out from the local people. I understand one of them then tipped off the locals.
The descendants of these local people welcome American sailors every year for a ceremony to commemorate the raid and there's a statue in the harbour commemorating this which shows an American sailor spiking one of the guns.
It was far more nuanced than the war Quisling took part in and I for one am more than happy to refer to the Americans as Patriots. This is what they were. The Loyalists or Crown forces seem most appropriate for their opposite numbers and describes their position. .
Wonderful what a good cup of tea can achieve.

Following the raid on Whitheaven, JPJ called in at Kirkcudbright, across the Solway Firth in Scotland, round the coast from his native parish of New Abbey. He raided the home of Lord Selkirk at St Mary's Isle, where, traditionally, a silver tea set was 'liberated (to be returned later) but forebore to open fire on the town- where he had previously been imprisoned. He also raided down the East Coast of Scotland, where he did shell the town of Anstruther in Fife.

Considering he was, technically, a North Briton, the nuance of JPj's place of birth may be a minor detail, but it seems he was conflicted as to the level of damage he was prepared to inflict on his native soil.

Nonetheless, having sought a new life in America, after he had burnt his boats in Scotland, at what point did JPJ, the change from being a rebel raider,a traitor, to being a patriot.

Forces of law and order versus the insurgents .