Diplomacy and entertaining have always gone hand in hand in the nation’s capital. Anderson House, the headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, has played a historic role in that story during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—but …

American military doctors who joined the cause for independence faced formidable odds. Of the 1,400 medical practitioners who served in the Continental Army, only about ten percent had formal medical degrees. The majority of the rest had learned their …

Our commitment to the veterans of our time is a legacy of the American Revolution and our commitment, two hundred years ago, to honor and care for America’s first veterans. Over a quarter of a million American men served …

The American Revolution marked the beginning of an age of democratic revolutions that swept over France and challenged the old order throughout the Atlantic world. The French officers who served in the American War of Independence, whether as idealistic volunteers …

The American republic was born in war. While statesmen asserted the independence of the United States in an eloquent declaration, tens of thousands of British soldiers and sailors converged on New York to subdue the rebellion by force. Revolutionaries armed …

Alexander Hamilton arrived in America in 1772 at the age of fifteen—a poor, self-taught, ambitious immigrant from the West Indies. He settled in New York City in the midst of the colonial crisis, when oppressive taxes and other …

“In a country where every gentleman is a soldier, and every soldier a student in the art of war, it necessarily follows that military treatises will be considerably sought after, and attended to.”
– Hugh Henry Ferguson, editor of the American …

The American Revolution articulated ideals of universal liberty, but for more than a century the United States had little political or diplomatic involvement with other nations. A republic in a world dominated by imperial monarchies, the United States avoided the …

To win their independence, Americans had to create an effective artillery service able to challenge the British on the battlefield. They had to secure cannon barrels, gun carriages, limbers, ammunition wagons and a wide array of other specialized equipment. They …

Philanthropist. War nurse. Political commentator. World traveler. Patriot. Author. Arts patron. Isabel Anderson filled her life—spanning the centennial of the American Revolution and World War II—with pursuits that both fulfilled and challenged the expectations for a woman of …

For many of the men who fought for American independence, the Revolutionary War was the defining experience of their lives. They paid artists to paint their portraits, identifying themselves for posterity as participants in the cause that established their nation …

March 1780: The marquis de Lafayette is entrusted by his king with a message for George Washington. It is a message the American commander-in-chief has been hoping to receive for nearly five years—that France will send troops …

Leaders of the Revolutionary War were the national heroes of the early republic. Soldiers of the war cherished memories of serving with George Washington. They delighted in sharing stories of fighting under Nathanael Greene or Francis Marion. They revered the …

The French artist and engineer Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (1754-1825) made vital contributions to the early formation of the American nation and American identity. As a foreign volunteer during the Revolutionary War and, later, as a citizen of the …

The War of the American Revolution was conducted mainly at sea and its outcome was ultimately determined by naval power.

The war involved the two greatest naval powers in the world—Britain and France—in a maritime conflict of unprecedented …