The most troubling thing is, no matter what side you are on, the other one will take you hostage anyways. You may be a very peaceful person, yet you may get yourself into a situation, that might end up killing you. Even worse, both sides troops' constantly patrol most villages. In addition, both sides really want to win, and in order to win, they need more men. Plus, war is happening everywhere, so there is no way to escape it. As you will learn in the next paragraph, the British are ruthless and plow through all the towns they know about, and assasinate or take hostage all the Rebels they can get their hands on.