Revolutionary Deep Dives

Women contributed to the American Revolution in many ways—as makers supplying the Continental Army, as camp followers who joined the army to fight, as political thinkers and writers—but their efforts have long been overlooked.

Beginning in June 1775, the Continental Army fought the British under the command of General George Washington. People from all thirteen colonies joined the forces for Revolution.

A veteran of the Continental Army, Joseph Plumb Martin went on to write a memoir that remains one of the best resources to learn about common soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and joined the 4th Massachusetts Regiment during the Revolutionary War. She is the only woman known to have received a full pension for serving in the Continental Army.

Born in Virginia in 1732, George Washington served as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and was the first President of the United States from 1789 until 1797.

James Forten, a free man of African descent, built upon his coming-of-age in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia and his wartime experience to forge himself into a changemaker in the city and the young United States. Forten became a successful businessman and devoted great time and effort to philanthropy and the abolition of slavery.

Irish soldier and artist Richard Mansergh St. George fought on the side of the British and was seriously injured at the Battle of Germantown. His life and the art he created and commissioned provide a unique perspective of the physical and emotional toll of the Revolution.