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Showing 51–60 of 1250 results for Virtual Tour of Washington's Field Headquarters

When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Women of the VanDike Family

Four women of a Dutch slave-owning family — Rebecca, Ann, Catherine, and Sarah VanDike — voted together in October 1801. The latter three were daughters of a known Loyalist, John VanDike. Rebecca was the name of both John’s wife and another daughter. The VanDike women lived together with John on their 227-acre estate.
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Cost of Revolution: Part 4 Irish Revolution

The American Revolution put Ireland on edge. In 1778, after France announced its alliance with the United States, many Irish people feared that the French would invade their country. Tens of thousands of Protestant landholders, lawyers, and craftsmen rallied to form a militia force called the Irish Volunteers to counter the potential threat. No invasion came. The Volunteers quickly became Ireland’s strongest political action group and successfully advocated for greater Irish rights and liberties as part of the British Empire. In the 1790s, a new political movement led by the United Irishmen called for total Irish independence from the British Empire. The United Irishmen dreamed of creating an Irish republic with political equality for all Irishmen, regardless of their religion. The American and French revolutions inspired them. Richard Mansergh St. George opposed the ideas of the United Irishmen and paid for it with his life in February 1798. St. George's death marked the beginning of a bloody year in Ireland. The United Irishmen launched a full-fledged revolt against British rule in May 1798, but their fight was short-lived. The British and loyal Irish forces swiftly crushed the Irish Revolution. In just five months, the fighting left over 30,000 Irish men, women, and children dead, regardless of their loyalties.
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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: How Did Women Gain the Vote?: The Promise of 1776 for Women

On July 4, 1776, The American Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing that “all men are created equal.” Two days earlier in nearby Burlington, New Jersey, the new state legislature adopted a written constitution that would open the door to a radical new vision of voting in America, one that would include women and people of color among the voters. But what was the world like for the women and other people of New Jersey who might have read that constitution in 1776? What might it have meant to them? Did it really mean equality for men and women and for people of both European and African descent?
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Meet the Figures: Oneida Nation Theater: Paul Powless

Tegahsweangalolis ("The Sawmill"), also known as Paul Powless, was born in the 1750s as a member of the Bear Clan of the Oneida who lived at Kanonwalohale in upstate New York. On Aug. 2, 1777, he spotted members of Theyendanega’s (also known as Joseph Brant) party as it approached Fort Schuyler. This meeting, as recalled by his son in the 19th century, is recreated in the live-action portion of the film, with dialogue inspired by the incident but drawn from a 1778 speech by Grasshopper. He was known as a fast runner, and after conversing with Brant he escaped to warn the Oneida who were outside of the Fort. He died about 1847.

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Picturing Washington's Army: Verplanck’s Point | Parade Ground

Take a closer look at the area where the Continental Army showed its professionalism to the French. The tents of the New York and New Jersey troops are visible here, as well as Stony Point across the Hudson River.

Image: Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of the Landenberger Family Foundation 

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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Elizabeth Mattison

Elizabeth (Betsy) Mattison was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Princeton (now the Nassau Presbyterian Church). She died in 1806, five years after she voted.
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Meet the Figures: Oneida Nation Theater: Oneida Nation Theater

Meet the figures at the Museum's Oneida Indian Nation tableau and multimedia experience. Each of the figures is based on a real Oneida person and dressed in garments representative of what these people wore in the 1770s, combining Native fashion and Euro-American textiles and trade goods. Their words are drawn from a variety of sources and written in the style apparent in recorded Native American speeches, treaty negotiations, and conversations.

Hover over a hotspot and then click Learn More to explore more about the story of each Oneida figure.

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Finding Freedom: Jack - “The Memorial of Sundry of the Inhabitants of Botetourt County”

After Jack escaped from prison in 1781, he remained in Botetourt County, Virginia. With this petition, addressed to Virginia’s Governor Thomas Nelson, a group of citizens claimed that Jack was disturbing the peace. They wrote that Jack was threatening the lives of local people, especially those who had been involved in his arrest. The group of Botetourt County residents asked that Jack be tracked down and executed by the state. It is unknown whether Jack was recaptured or if he remained at-large. 

Courtesy of the Library of Virginia 

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Finding Freedom: Eve - St. George Tucker’s Letter to Fanny Tucker

Williamsburg, Virginia, resident St. George Tucker wrote this letter to his wife Fanny in 1781 and described that the British Army left "pestilence" and "poverty" behind them following their occupation of the city. He noted that many enslaved people ran away from Williamsburg with the army. One of Tucker’s neighbors was left with "but one little boy...to wait on them.” Eve and her son George were among the enslaved people who left Williamsburg to follow the British Army in search of their freedom. St. George Tucker lived on the same street as the Randolph family, the owners of Eve and George.

Tucker-Coleman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary

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Picturing Washington's Army: Verplanck’s Point

Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s watercolor of the encampment at Verplanck’s Point (August-October 1782) depicts the Continental Army at its professional best. Wooden bowers, or shades made of tree branches, decorated the long line of soldiers’ tents. Washington’s marquee tent stood on a hill where it “towered, predominant” over the camp, as one eyewitness put it.

For a month, the Continental troops at Verplanck’s Point gathered firewood for the coming winter and drilled for the next campaign. On September 22, the Continental Army demonstrated their fighting readiness for French forces marching from Virginia through the Hudson Highlands. One astonished French officer admired the transformation of an army that had “formerly had no other uniform than a cap, on which was written Liberty.” 

Image: Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of the Landenberger Family Foundation

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