Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1780 Cooperation video describes how by 1780, the fight for American independence teetered on the brink of collapse as Congress ran out of money–until an influx of individuals, communities, and foreign allies rallied to the Revolutionary cause. The contributions of Esther DeBerdt Reed and the […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1780 Benedict Arnold’s Treason video details how American General Benedict Arnold’s bitterness and ambition led him to betray his country–offering West Point to the British before his plot was exposed with the capture of British Major John Andre. Featured video topics were suggested by our […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1779 Freedom and Natural Rights video examines the promise of freedom and natural rights on which the American Revolution was built and how, by 1779, Americans were debating what those ideals meant, and to whom they applied. For America’s Black, female, and Indigenous populations in […]
Share to Google Classroom In Year in Revolution 1779: Gibraltar the Revolutionary War became a truly global conflict as America’s ally, France, and its ally, Spain, embarked in the “Great Siege” of Gibraltar which would last nearly four years. Britain’s defense of “the Rock” turned into one of history’s longest and most dramatic […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1779 Georgia video explores how the state became the focus of Britain’s southern campaign in 1779. The Patriots win a victory at Kettle Creek, but despite the arrival of French allies led by comte d’Estaing, the failed siege of Savannah left Georgia in British control. […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1779 Franco-Spanish Alliance video examines the entry of Spain into America’s War for Independence as an ally of France. This turns the American Revolutionary War into a global struggle for power and empire across continents. The alliance proved vital to the eventual defeat of Britain […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1780 Overview video examines the war’s brutal hardships, shifting loyalties, and widening front in 1780. The year also ushered in deepening alliances, strengthened ideals, and a renewed fight for American independence. Battles in North and South Carolina and on the western frontier are highlighted, along […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1780 South Carolina video chronicles the 1780 British campaign focused on South Carolina and features the Siege of Charleston and battles at Waxhaws and Camden, and key Patriots Benjamin Lincoln, Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion, and Nathanael Greene, and British adversaries Henry Clinton, Charles Cornwallis, and […]
Share to Google Classroom In the Year in Revolution: 1780 The Frontier, Britain and the United States vie for control of the western territory–“the frontier”–a vast region beyond the Appalachian Mountains, drawing on new and old alliances to gain the upper hand. Some Indigenous Nations in the region sided with the Revolutionaries, often […]
Share to Google Classroom At the outset of the war, around 20% of America’s colonists were Loyalists who wanted to remain under British rule. Year in Revolution: 1780 Loyalists details how British hopes of Loyalist support in the South collapsed at Kings Mountain, turning a once-confident strategy into a pivotal setback in 1780. […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1779 Overview video explores the war’s key events occurring in 1779— the siege and battle of Fort Sackville at Vincennes (in present-day Indiana), the Franco-Spanish Treaty of Aranjuez, the siege and battle for Gibraltar off Spain’s southern coast, the Penobscot Expedition (in present-day Maine), the […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution 1779: John Paul Jones and the Continental Navy video explores the creation of the Continental Navy by Congress on October 13, 1775, the concepts of privateers and letters of marque, the 1779 Penobscot Exhibition in modern-day Maine, and the career of Continental Navy Captain John […]
Independent historian Eric Jay Dolin explores American privateers during the American Revolution. The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime histories of the war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character―above all, its ambition […]
Historian Lauren Duval of the University of Oklahoma discusses her new book that vividly captures daily life during the American Revolution through the eyes and ears of those who intimately experienced it. Prior to the conflict, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, British […]
Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Edward Larson discusses his new book that explores the ideas and battlefield sacrifices of 1776 to remind us why the year matters to all of us. At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence. By the end of 1776, independence was on every patriot’s lips. The […]
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American campaign into Canada, historian Mark Anderson examines the American colonies’ efforts to bring Quebec into the Continental confederation and free Canadians from British “tyranny.” Drawing from his research, Anderson offers new insight into the key political and military factors that ultimately doomed America’s first foreign war of […]
This panel discussion explores a recent anthology, The Archaeology of the American Revolution, published by Florida University Press, that connects historical narratives with material culture, explores how cutting-edge archaeological methods and technology have illuminated previously undiscovered sites, and examines how material remnants and memorials shape the ways the war is remembered. The discussion features panelists Joel Bohy […]
The American Revolution was a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and fundamentally transformed how the world worked, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine and creating the first global refugee crisis. Drawing from his new book that repositions the Revolution at the center of an international web, historian Richard Bell, Ph.D., […]
For the 50th anniversary of the Society of the Cincinnati’s annual George Rogers Clark lecture, the principal script writer for Ken Burns’ American Revolution, Geoffrey C. Ward, along with award-winning historian and consultant Rick Atkinson, discuss the making of Burns’ new twelve-hour documentary highlighting the American Revolution. The discussion was moderated by the Institute’s executive […]
In 1775, the rebellious Americans had to form a standing army to protect their rights and defend themselves against occupying British forces. On June 14, 1775, shortly before the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution that authorized the creation of an army that represented unity between the thirteen […]
On October 15, 2025, historian Vaughn Scribner, Ph.D., professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas, was awarded the 2025 Society of the Cincinnati Prize for his book Under Alien Skies: Environment, Suffering, and the Defeat of the British Military in Revolutionary America (University of North Carolina Press), which focuses on the experiences of […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1778 Overview video explores the war’s key events occurring in 1778— the Valley Forge winter encampment, the treaty of alliance with France, the battle of Monmouth, the battle of Ushant, war on the frontier (modern day Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, and engagements at Kaskaskia, […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution 1778: Women in the American Revolution video details the many roles played by female patriots supporting the cause of American independence at home and in the field. This film features the stories of women such as Deborah Sampson, Mary Ludwig Hayes and Margaret Corbin (a.k.a. […]
Share to Google Classroom Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Steuben of Prussia, otherwise known as Baron von Steuben, was an aide to Frederick the Great. During the American Revolution, he offered his services to the American cause and was appointed inspector general of the Continental Army. George Washington asked Steuben to create a […]
Share to Google Classroom With America’s alliance with France on the horizon, Great Britain dispatched a delegation to Philadelphia referred to as the Carlisle Peace Commission in 1778. Organized by William Eden, the Commissioners represented Great Britain’s last attempt to end the American Revolution through diplomatic means. The content of this video, Year […]
Share to Google Classroom Year in Revolution 1778 New Jersey examines the consequential Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 and underscores the fact that the state of New Jersey served as a critical backdrop for the Continental Army under General George Washington’s command during this year of the Revolution. The video also explores […]
Share to Google Classroom The American colonies signed a “Treaty of Alliance with France” with King Louis XVI on February 6, 1778 to formalize France’s financial and military support of the revolutionary government in America. It stipulated that “The essential and direct End of the present defensive alliance is to effectively maintain the […]
At the time of the American Revolution, the British Empire had colonies in India, Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Canada, Ireland and Scotland. The thirteen rebellious American colonies accounted for half of the total number of provinces in the British world after the Seven Years’ War. As much as the Revolution was an event in […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 Sacrifice and Resilience video explores the qualities of sacrifice and resilience as demonstrated by ordinary Americans during the war, by the army in the field—especially in 1777, and by the Continental Congress following the capture of Philadelphia. Year in Revolution: 1777 Sacrifice and Resilience […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 Pennsylvania video explains that while events in Massachusetts sparked the Revolution, Pennsylvania helped shape its destiny, with the events there in 1777 changing the course of history. This video describes the seat of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and later the capture of the […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 Battle of Saratoga video chronicles how after attempting to divide the New England states from the Mid-Atlantic by marching down the Hudson River from Canada, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army to General Horatio Gates. Considered a major if not the most significant […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 Britain’s Military Leadership video describes Britain’s complicated manner of conducting the war with tension between leaders in Britain and commanders in America—likened to a three-headed monster. Noted are the key individuals in England (including Prime Minister Lord North, Secretary of State for the Colonies […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 Overview video explores key events in 1777, including the Battle of Princeton, the adoption of the flag of the United States, the battle of Oriskany, the Philadelphia campaign (the battles of Brandywine and Germantown) and the capture of Philadelphia, the Battle of Saratoga, the […]
Share to Google Classroom The Year in Revolution: 1777 George Washington and His Officers video introduces the key officers under Washington’s command including Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, Benjamin Lincoln, the marquis de Lafayette, Baron Von Steuben, Benedict Arnold, Francis Marion, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, William Moultrie, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, George […]
Independent historian Gabriel Neville highlights the Revolutionary War service of a unique detachment of the Continental Army: the Eighth Virginia Regiment. In colonial America, thousands of German and Irish immigrants settled in Virginia’s western reaches. The Eighth Virginia Regiment was conceived to recruit them, and as they were sent into some of the hardest service […]
The weeks of bloody maneuvering and fighting along the Delaware River at Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, and Gloucester receive but scant attention in the literature of the American Revolution. The same is true for the five-day Whitemarsh operation and other important events in December 1777. This period of the war began when Gen. Sir William […]
Historian Zara Anishanslin discusses her new book that highlights three remarkable artists devoted to the pursuit of liberty. The American Revolution was not only fought in the colonies with muskets and bayonets. On both sides of the Atlantic, artists armed with paint, canvas, and wax played an integral role in forging revolutionary ideals. Drawing from […]
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson sits down with the Institute’s executive director, Andy Morse, to discuss the second book of his Revolution trilogy, Fate of the Day: The War For America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, that provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. The first twenty-one months of the American […]
The Institute’s historical programs manager, Andrew Outten, discusses a 1773 register of British Army officers, annotated with casualties suffered during the first battles of the Revolution—most notably at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Beginning in 1740, the British Army published annual books listing officers serving within the army’s various regiments, along with their dates of […]
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, historian Paul Lockhart of Wright State University, offers a reassessment of the battle and explores how various misconceptions about it have been formed in American memory over the last two and a half centuries. This program accompanies our current exhibition, Revolutionary Beginnings: War and Remembrance […]
Historian Don Hagist, editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, explores the British Army in Boston before and after the opening shots of the Revolution on April 19, 1775. Drawing from his research that focuses on the common soldier within the British ranks, Mr. Hagist discusses the experiences of the army stationed in Boston […]
Explore our exhibition, Revolutionary Beginnings: War and Remembrance in the First Year of America’s Fight for Independence, in this short video. Drawn principally from the Institute’s library and museum collections, Revolutionary Beginnings, explores three critical early battles of the Revolution before the signing of the Declaration of Independence was signed—at Bunker Hill in Massachusetts, at Quebec […]
Elizabeth Chew and Melina Testin of the South Carolina Historical Society discuss a rare orderly book kept by Capt. Barnard Elliot of the Fourth South Carolina Regiment, which was incorporated into the Continental Army on June 18, 1776—ten days before the Battle of Sullivan’s Island—and disbanded on January 1, 1781. Drawing from the orderly book, […]
Share to Google Classroom Structured like a timeline, this Year in Revolution 1776: Overview video frames 1776 around the concept of independence, starting off the year with Thomas Paine’s publication of Common Sense, tying the beginnings of the war in the south and mid-Atlantic to the growing fervor for independence, and ending with […]
Share to Google Classroom This “who” video features Silas Deane, who was appointed by Congress on March 2, 1776, to negotiate financial aid from the French government in support of the Revolution. While in Paris, Dean began recruiting foreign soldiers with specialized skillsets to support the cause of Independence. The marquis de Lafayette, […]
Share to Google Classroom This “what” video introduces the concept self-governance and what it would mean for the colonies to be independent of Britain. Included is information on the efforts that led up to the Declaration of Independence and the eventual global impact of this act of defiance. Featured video topics were suggested […]
Share to Google Classroom This “when” video begins with the defense of Charleston at Fort Sullivan in 1776, one of the first major Patriot victories during the war. It also introduces General William Moultrie, the importance of local knowledge of waterways, and Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter (who gained essential experience during this […]
Share to Google Classroom This “where” video explores how, to lessen the impact of a potential British invasion of one of the colonies most valuable port cities, General Washington relocated his army to New York City in April and May of 1776. On August 22, General Howe landed 22,000 troops at Gravesend Bay […]
Share to Google Classroom This “how” video describes how George Washington frequently had a fraught relationship with Congress, and highlights his advocacy for his troops, for adequate supplies, and with the challenges inherent to coordinating a unified war effort across the country. Featured video topics were suggested by our national network of Master […]
To kick off our eight-year-long 250th anniversary celebrations of the American Revolution, this panel discussion highlights the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the beginning of the American Revolution. Panelists include historians J.L. Bell discussing the prelude of the two events of April 19, 1775; Alexander Cain highlighting the engagements through the perspectives of the […]
Share to Google Classroom Structured like a timeline, this video will weave the theme of “liberty” into an overview of major events that occurred during 1775 which sowed the seeds of revolution in the British colonies. Featured video topics were suggested by our national network of Master Teacher Seminar alumni. The Year in Revolution […]
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution, the Institute’s deputy director and curator, Emily Parsons, discusses an American-made hanger sword carried during the early months of the Revolutionary War by James Taylor, a minute man from western Massachusetts. A native of Pelham, Taylor was an ensign in Capt. David Cowden’s […]
Share to Google Classroom This “who” video about the Continental Army, beginning with an explanation of the militia, will educate viewers on the evolution of formal armed resistance in the Colonies, highlighting the creation of the Continental Army after its authorization by the Continental Congress. At the start of the American Revolutionary War, […]
Share to Google Classroom This “what” video introduces the concept of liberty using Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech, the liberty tree, and the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. Featured video topics were suggested by the Institute’s national network of teachers, all of whom have participated in its Master Teacher Seminar program. The […]
Share to Google Classroom This “when” video introduces the key elements that led to the outbreak of the war, including the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, and Intolerable Acts. Featured video topics were suggested by the Institute’s national network of teachers, all of whom have participated in its Master Teacher Seminar program. TheYear in […]
Share to Google Classroom With a focus on Massachusetts, this “where” video will touch on the revolutionary activities that occurred in Massachusetts in 1775. Massachusetts’ story during 1775 illustrates how the British American colonies were pushed to their breaking point and, through the Siege of Boston to the Battles of Lexington and Concord […]
Share to Google Classroom This “how” video describes the tenuous nature of the relationship between Britain and the Colonies and how a growing sense of neglect, distrust, and over-extension of power led to the desire for liberation from the crown. Featured video topics were suggested by our national network of Master Teacher Seminar […]
Historian Alex Burns, Ph.D., assistant professor of history at Franciscan University of Steubenville, places the common enlisted man during the American Revolution at center stage by discussing their experiences during the war. Drawing from his archival research on the American, British and Prussian armies, Dr. Burns shows how the infantryman throughout the eighteenth century played […]
Historian Wayne E. Lee of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill discusses Indigenous warfare before and during the American Revolution. Throughout the Revolution, Indigenous warriors sought to surprise their targets, and the size of the target varied with the size of the attacking force. A small war party might “cut off” individuals getting water […]
Between December 12–19, 1777, Gen. George Washington and his Continental Army encamped in the towering hills of Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania, fifteen miles from Philadelphia. Known as the threshold to Valley Forge, the Gulph Mills Encampment is often forgotten or minimized, falling between the more famous military engagements of the Philadelphia Campaign and the well-known experience […]
The Institute’s library director, Thomas Lannon, discusses the orderly book of Edmund Bancroft. Initially a non-commissioned officer in Col. William Prescott’s Regiment from May-December 1775, Edmund Bancroft was likely a participant at the Battle of Bunker Hill before becoming an ensign in the Seventh Continental Infantry in 1776. He eventually became a first lieutenant in […]
For eight grueling years, American and British military forces struggled in a bloody war over colonial independence. This conflict also ensnared Native American warriors and the armies and navies of France, Spain, the Dutch Republic and several German principalities. From frozen Canada to tropical Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River, the Revolutionary […]
Historian Thomas E. Chávez focuses our attention on Spanish participation throughout the American Revolution through a discussion of Spain’s grand strategy during the war; the contributions to the Spanish war effort of Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, a Spanish official working for Spain’s Ministry of the Indies; to the Spanish war effort and the interactions of […]
Historian John Rees discusses his recent collaboration with historical artist Don Troiani highlighting the participation of African American soldiers in America’s early wars that combines Troiani’s dramatic art with Rees’ heavily researched text. Drawing from his research and written contributions, along with Troiani’s battle paintings, figure studies, artifact collection and artist notes, Rees focuses on […]
The Revolutionary War is often celebrated as marking the birth of American republicanism, liberty and representative democracy. Yet for the tens of thousands of British and Hessian troops sent three thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean to wage war under alien skies, such a progressive picture could not have been further from the truth. Whether […]
In May 1777, Congress commissioned Christopher Ludwick, a Philadelphia gingerbread baker, as the superintendent of bakers in the Continental Army. Upon receiving his commission, Ludwick quickly developed a baking department—the first of its kind in America—to feed Gen. George Washington’s army as they fought and retreated throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Under Ludwick’s supervision, a series of […]
Throughout his life, the marquis de Lafayette fought vehemently for personal freedoms. He advocated for women’s rights in America and civil rights for Protestants in France, and promoted respect for the identity and sovereignty of American Indians. His most extensive efforts in support of human liberty were his work to end slavery and the African […]
The marquis de Lafayette’s farewell tour of the United States produced a staggering number of images of the general, from original oil portraits commissioned by government entities and wealthy individuals to prints mass produced for sale at public events. One of the lesser-known original works of art created during the tour is a watercolor portrait […]
On July 4, 1776, two hundred miles northwest of Philadelphia, on Indigenous land along the west branch of the Susquehanna River, a group of colonial squatters declared their independence. They were not alone in their efforts. This bold symbolic gesture was just a small part of a much broader and longer struggle in the Northern […]
For this special lecture, Dennis Conrad, Ph.D., editor of The Nathanael Greene Papers, discusses the leadership of Gen. Nathanael Greene in the South during the American Revolution, along with events that led to the critical Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781. This lecture was part of our larger two-day battlefield tour program exploring […]
James Wright lived a transatlantic life, taking advantage of every imperial opportunity afforded him. He earned numerous important government posts and amassed an incredible fortune. An England-born grandson of Sir Robert Wright, James Wright was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, following his father’s appointment as the chief justice of that colony. Young James served South […]
The Institute’s museum collections and operations manager, Paul Newman, for a Lunch Bite object talk highlighting a recent acquisition for our museum collections: a Chinese porcelain punch bowl depicting the Battle of the Saintes. Produced around 1783, the punch bowl was manufactured for the British market to commemorate the Royal Navy’s victory over the French […]
The Spanish era in the Lower Mississippi Valley, a borderland contested by empires and the region’s diverse inhabitants following the Seven Years’ War, was characterized by tremendous transition as the colony emerged from the neglect of the French period and became slowly but increasingly centered on plantation agriculture. The transformations of this critical period grew […]
Historian Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., delivers the 2024 George Rogers Clark Lecture. Drawing mainly from objects featured in our current exhibition, Fete Lafayette: A French Hero’s Tour of the American Republic, Dr. Auricchio explores how the marquis de Lafayette and his tour, along with Alexander Hamilton and the Society of the Cincinnati, helped foster American manufacturing […]
Jews played a critical role both in winning the American Revolution—fighting for the patriot cause from Bunker Hill to Yorktown—and in defining the republic that was created from it. As the most visible non-Christian religion, Judaism was central to the debate over religious freedom in America at a critical juncture. Except for Philadelphia, the birthplace […]
Against the backdrop of a tumultuous election, a beloved hero of the American Revolution returned to America for the first time in forty years. From August 1824 to September 1825, the marquis de Lafayette traveled through the United States, welcomed by thousands of admirers at each stop along the way. Although the tour brought him […]
According to his 1833 pension letter and other contemporary accounts, Wallace had a seemingly fascinating career throughout the Revolution. Having allegedly served as a sergeant from 1776 through the end of the war, Wallace claimed to have participated in nearly every major battle and campaign, along with carrying out other heroic feats such as aiding […]
The 2024 Society of the Cincinnati Prize honors Eli Merritt, M.D., M.A., for his book Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution (University of Missouri Press, 2023), which explores the politics of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution. Far from a harmonious collaboration, the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War was so filled […]
Americans agree that their nation’s origins lie in the Revolution, but they have never agreed on what the Revolution meant. For nearly 250 years, politicians, political parties, social movements, and a diverse array of ordinary Americans have constantly reimagined the Revolution to fit the times and suit their own agendas. Drawing from his new book, […]
Having learned of the American war in the summer of 1775, the marquis de Lafayette responded to the rebels’ calls for republican principles inspired by ancient Rome, the opportunity to avenge France’s defeat by the British in the Seven Years’ War and the chance to further his military career. In December 1776, the young marquis […]
Historian Don Hagist moderates a panel of contributors to the recent anthology Waging War in America 1775-1783, exploring the significant operational challenges faced by American, Loyalist, French and German forces during the Revolution. From recruitment and training to tactics and logistics, the panelists also examine how the various armies adapted to the specific circumstances of this war. […]
Known to history as Dunmore’s War, the 1774 campaign against a Shawnee-led Indian confederacy in the Ohio country marked the final time an American colonial militia took to the field in His Majesty’s service and under royal command. Led by John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore and royal governor of Virginia, a force of […]
Historian and documentary editor Robb Haberman examines the perilous voyage of Sgt. James Selkirk and the Second New York Regiment on their way to Yorktown in September 1781, when their transport schooner was separated and ran aground while sailing from Baltimore to Williamsburg. Using Selkirk’s unpublished papers, this talk examines his harrowing experience and the […]
On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution, the marquis de Lafayette embarked on a tour of the United States, returning for a final time to the country he helped established and whose republican form of government he saw as a model for the rest of the world. In August 1824, Lafayette […]
Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses an 1830s model of HMS Roebuck, a forty-four-gun British frigate that saw extensive service during the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1774, the Roebuck found itself performing blockade duty on the Delaware River as early as 1775. The Roebuck later patrolled off Long Island and took part in the attacks on Forts Mercer […]
John Trumbull experienced the American Revolution firsthand by serving as an aide to American generals George Washington and Horatio Gates and being jailed as a spy. Throughout his wartime experience, he made it his mission to record the conflict, giving visual form to the great and unprecedented political experiment for the citizens of the newly […]
Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the marquis de Lafayette. For over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic as a soldier, statesman, idealist, philanthropist and abolitionist. As a teenager, Lafayette ran away from France to join the American […]
Drawing from his recent co-authored book, Admiral de Grasse and American Independence: Command and Operations, Jean-Marie Kowalski, Ph.D., associate professor of history and lecturer at the Université Paris-Sorbonne and the École Navale (French Naval Academy), discusses recent research and discoveries surrounding French admiral Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse and British and French naval operations. In […]
In this segment of Collections Corner, the Institute’s research services librarian, Rachel Nellis, highlights a rare map from our Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection, Carte des Etats-Unis de l’Amerique suivant le Traité de Paix de 1783, engraved by Jean Lattré, an official engraver to Louis XVI. This map is an exceedingly rare copy of the […]
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, played an influential role throughout the life of George Washington. Having been introduced to Washington shortly after settling in Belvoir, Va., in 1747, Fairfax became Washington’s first employer when he hired the sixteen-year-old Virginian to survey his lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Although a professed Loyalist […]
In 1777, French army officer Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, with the marquis de Lafayette. During the American Revolution, Capitaine du Chesnoy served with Lafayette as both his aide-de-camp and mapmaker, producing several important plans of key engagements. In addition to his maps serving as vital tools for French officers who […]
William and Benjamin Frank, brothers and freeborn men of color, joined the Second Rhode Island Regiment in the spring of 1777, joining a cohort of free Black soldiers serving in an integrated Continental Army. Following the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, they were transferred to the newly segregated First Rhode Island Regiment, a unit composed […]
In 1824-1825, the marquis de Lafayette embarked on a tour of the United States, returning for a final time to the country he helped establish and whose democratic experiment he saw as a model for the rest of the world. Throughout his thirteen-month tour, he visited all twenty-four states of the union, where he was […]
In February 2023, the Museum of the American Revolution opened the acclaimed special exhibition Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia. The exhibition introduced visitors to three generations of the family of James Forten (1766-1842), a free Black Revolutionary War veteran and sailmaker, as they battled slavery and defended freedom in the early United States. Matthew […]
The American Revolution in the West is often neglected from the overall history of the conflict, though it had a significant impact on how it was conducted. Larry Nelson, assistant professor of history at Bowling Green State University, discusses this important component of the war by examining American ambitions in the Old Northwest, the vast […]
Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses three manuscripts signed by Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution. The manuscripts, recently donated to the Institute as part of the George Miller Chester Jr. (Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut) Collection of Historic General Washington Documents, include two wartime letters written by Washington from […]
The American founders were men of high intellect, steely integrity, and enormous ambition—but they were not all of one mind. They came from diverse colonies, and they all sought their futures on different horizons. Without reliable maps of even nearby terrain, they contributed in different, and sometimes conflicting, ways to the expansion of a young […]
In the final words of the Declaration of Independence, the signatories famously pledged their lives, their fortunes and their “sacred Honor” to one another, but what about those who made the opposite choice? By looking through the lens of honor culture of the period, Timothy Compeau, assistant professor of history at Huron University College at […]
The Stamp Act riots in Rhode Island and the Regulator Rebellion in North Carolina, although movements in smaller colonies, tell a broader story about the evolution of American political thought in the decades surrounding the American Revolution. Without pre-existing local tensions, the fury of the Stamp Act crisis might not have spilled over during the […]
Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a collection of letters written from captivity by William Russell, an American soldier and privateer who was imprisoned twice during the Revolution. Following his initial capture at sea, Russell was first held prisoner at Mill Prison in England before being released. Shortly after, he was recaptured and incarcerated on […]