Final Weeks: Visit our Witness to Revolution special exhibit before it closes Sunday, Jan. 5. Info & Tickets

Dismiss notification
Showing 51–60 of 1039 results for Flags and Founding Documents

Season of Independence: Charlestown, South Carolina Grand Jury Presentments, April 23, 1776

This documentation of Grand Jury Presentments in Charlestown, South Carolina makes numerous legal arguments for why South Carolina and other American colonies would be justified in dissolving their connection to Great Britain. Also included are various grievances against King George III and Parliament, similar to those that were later included in the Declaration of Independence when it was adopted by Congress.

Courtesy of South Carolina Department of Archives and History

Read More

Finding Freedom: Andrew - Revolutionary War Pension Application

On August 15, 1838, Andrew Ferguson told the story of his military service during the Revolutionary War at the courthouse in Monroe County, Indiana. This document records his story and the testimony of people who could verify Ferguson’s claims. Ferguson told his story in order to apply for a veteran’s pension (financial assistance) from the United States Government. Six years earlier, in 1832, Congress passed a law that allowed men who had served at least two years in the Continental army, militia, or navy during the war to apply for lifetime pensions. Following the application requirements, Andrew Ferguson appeared before his local court and described his military service under oath. Ferguson described himself as a “colored man” from Virginia who had served at battles such as King’s Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, and Eutaw Springs. His application was successful, and he began to receive payments the following year.

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC/Fold3.com

Read More

Finding Freedom: London - “A Sketch of New London & Groton”

This battle map of the British Army’s attack on New London and Groton in Connecticut shows the positions of the American Legion on the left side of the map. London served with the American Legion as it assaulted New London. British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold led the attack on the town and the surrounding fortifications. After intense fighting, the British Army defeated the Revolutionary forces defending the towns.

Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Read More

The Davenport Letters: January 15, 1783

James wrote another letter home about a month after his mess finished their winter hut in the encampment at New Windsor, New York. The army remained largely inactive and unpaid, or, as Davenport put it, in “peace and Poverty,” leading to ongoing frustrations among the soldiery. While many Continental soldiers had a deep ideological commitment to the Revolution and had served for years, they also felt, as Davenport put it, that “the Labourer is worthy of his hire.”

Read More

Meet the Figures: Oneida Nation Theater: Two Kettles Together

Tyonajanegen, also known as Two Kettles Together, was an Oneida woman who married Han Yerry in the 1750s and settled at the village of Oriska. By 1777, they managed a large farm, lived in a frame house, and owned a significant number of livestock, as some of the wealthiest local Oneida. On Aug. 2, 1777, she carried word into the countryside that the British and their Native allies were surrounding Revolutionary-held Fort Schuyler. On Aug. 6, at the Battle of Oriskany, Tyonajanegen fought alongside her husband, first with two pistols and then loading for him after he was wounded, an incident which appeared in period newspapers. Other British-allied Haudenosaunee/Iroquois destroyed their farm in retribution. Tyonajanegen lived into the 1820s.

Read More

The Davenport Letters: January 15, 1778

The Continental Army had been at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for less than a month when Sergeant Isaac How Davenport wrote home to his brother, Samuel, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Isaac had joined the Continental Army shortly after Lexington and Concord and served as a member of General George Washington’s Commander in Chief’s Guard. A company of mounted Guardsmen were commanded by Captain George Lewis, Washington’s nephew. In early 1777, they were consolidated into the 3rd Regiment of Continental Dragoons commanded by Colonel George Baylor. Davenport served as a sergeant through the campaigns of 1777 with this regiment. In this letter, he reflects on conditions at Valley Forge in early 1778. James and Isaac had three other brothers, Josiah, Joseph, and Samuel.

Read More

Among His Troops: Pierre Charles L’Enfant

In 1782, Pierre “Peter” Charles L’Enfant, a French-born Continental Army engineer, created the panoramic watercolor views of the army’s encampments at Verplanck’s Point and West Point. The son of an artist, L’Enfant studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. He crossed the ocean to volunteer for America. In 1778, during the Valley Forge winter, he received a commission as captain of engineers. Unsatisfied with such a technical role, L’Enfant went south in hopes of distinguishing himself in combat. In 1779, he fought at Savannah, Georgia and was badly wounded in the leg. He rejoined the army in 1780, and fought while leaning on a crutch during the Siege of Charleston, South Carolina. Taken prisoner with the rest of the Charleston garrison in 1780, L’Enfant missed the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. When he painted these watercolors in 1782, he was still nursing hurt feelings that he had missed the chance for glory and promotion at Yorktown. After the siege of Yorktown, L’Enfant returned to the Continental Army, and wrote to Washington from Philadelphia on February 18, 1782, asking for a promotion. He then moved with the army from Philadelphia to the Hudson Highlands in the spring of 1782.
Read More

When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Montgomery Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, October 1801

Montgomery Township
Somerset County, New Jersey
October 13, 1801
Ink on Paper 

This poll list is from an 1801 state election held at the Rocky Hill Inn in Montgomery Township, Somerset County. The election determined annual officeholders for the New Jersey State Assembly and Legislative Council, and for the Somerset County Sheriff and Coroner. The town officers presiding over the election included one judge, Robert Stockton, the town clerk, Frederick Cruser, and two poll inspectors, Hendrick VanDike, also known as Colonel Henry VanDike, and Thomas Skillman. 

The poll list includes the names of 343 total voters. At least 46 of these voters are women, accounting for nearly 14 percent of the voters on the list. It also includes the names of at least four free Black male voters, one of whom is identified as Black on the poll list with the word “negro” in parentheses next to his name. 

Like the rest of Somerset County, Montgomery Township voted Federalist in 1801. Most voters in the township supported Federalists Peter D. Vroom for Legislative Council; William MacEowen, James Van Duyn, and Frederick Frelinghuysen for General Assembly; and Peter Stryker for sheriff. The voting results for coroner are lost.

Note: The names recorded on this poll list were written by an election official, not by the voters themselves. The spelling of each voter’s name on the poll list may be different compared to how that same person’s name is spelled in other historical records and by the Museum of the American Revolution.

Images: New Jersey State Archives, Department of State

Read More

When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Election Locations

The recently discovered poll lists document elections that took place in four different townships in three New Jersey counties between 1800 and 1807. Each location is plotted on this 1795 map of the state. Prominent local taverns served as the polling places for the elections in Montgomery Township, Upper Penns Neck Township, and Bedminster Township. The election in Chester Township was held in a schoolhouse in Moorestown, Burlington County. 

Image courtesy of Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.

Read More

When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Upper Penns Neck Township, Salem County, New Jersey Poll Lists, 1802

Upper Penns Neck Township
Salem County, New Jersey
October 12 & 13, 1802
Ink on Paper

This poll list is from an October 1802 state election that was held at the home of Philip Souder, an innkeeper in Upper Penns Neck Township, Salem County. The election determined annual officeholders for the New Jersey State Assembly and Legislative Council, and for Salem County Sheriff and Coroner. The town officers presiding over the election included Judge William Patterson, Assessor Charles Jones, Clerk Isaac Ward, and Collector Joseph Borden. 

The poll list includes the names of 241 total voters. At least 29 of these voters are women, accounting for about 12 percent of the voters on the list. 

Like the rest of Salem County, Upper Penns Neck Township voted Democratic Republican in October 1802. Most voters in the township supported Democratic-Republicans Samuel Ray, Edward Burrows, and Merriman Smith for the State Assembly and William Parrett for the Legislative Council. We do not know who they supported for county sheriff or coroner.

Note: The names recorded on this poll list were written by an election official, not by the voters themselves. The spelling of each voter’s name on the poll list may be different compared to how that same person’s name is spelled in other historical records and by the Museum of the American Revolution.

Images: Salem County Historical Society

Read More
6 of 104 pages