Have to agree on the psychological horror! I'm about the same level of (un)success. I daresay that it's probably fairly close to history though, the whole affair stood on a knife-edge for the first year or so ... the crossing of the Delaware at the end of '76 was an act of absolute desperation and a terrible gamble.
I've resigned myself to not playing on anything higher than the easiest setting, although it doesn't help much. I feel that could be a little more balanced for those of us with short attention spans when facing a challenging game!
And oh boy, I wish my armies would stop throwing all their muskets away.....