Philadelphia printer William Bradford used his weekly newspaper, the Pennsylvania Journal, to encourage resistance to British taxation and other measures that threatened American colonists’ traditional English liberties. This issue of the Journal from January 1775 bears the image of a rattlesnake cut into pieces, each representing an American colony or colonies, with the words UNITE OR DIE. Fellow Philadelphia printer Benjamin Franklin had first used the image of a disjointed snake to encourage colonial unity against France in 1754. Click here for additional images ]]> Pennsylvanian "Mad" Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) received his nickname during the War of Independence for his daring military exploits and legendary temper. Brigadier-General Wayne participated in many significant battles against British forces, most famously in a 1779 attack on British fortifications at Stony Point on the Hudson River in New York. Wayne’s political career is less well known: following the end of the war with Britain in 1783, Wayne served one term in the Pennsylvania State Legislature (1784) before moving to Georgia, where he served as a delegate to the state convention that ratified the United States Constitution (1788), and as a Representative of Georgia in the United States Congress (1791). The following year, President George Washington placed Wayne in command of military forces struggling against the Native American nations in the Northwest Territory. Wayne's military victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) and his diplomatic settlement with the tribes at the Treaty of Greenville (1795) secured American control of the upper Ohio Valley for the fledgling United States. This volume of the proceedings of the Continental Congress was published in Philadelphia in 1784, and bears Anthony Wayne’s signature on the title page. This "Descriptive List" list of fifty-one noncommissioned officers and soldiers in Captain Rufus Lincoln’s Company of the 7th Massachusetts Regiment provides fascinating personal details of men—including five African Americans—who served in the final campaigns of the War of Independence. Captain Lincoln’s men came from several Massachusetts counties, reflecting a growing scarcity of recruits that forced officers to search widely for new soldiers. By this stage in the conflict, many military and political leaders who had earlier resisted the enlistment of enslaved and free African Americans changed their opinions. Black soldiers had performed admirably in battle, and in many states they provided a much needed source of manpower to keep the regiments full. Historians estimate that more than five thousand African Americans enlisted in the Continental Army, most serving in integrated units like Captain Lincoln's Company. Click here for additional images ]]> Charles Cornwallis, Earl Cornwallis (1738-1805) is most often remembered as the British general who surrendered his forces to the American and French troops under the command of General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781. Cornwallis was, in fact, an accomplished and active military commander who had led British troops in a number of successful actions against Washington’s army between 1776 and 1781. Even more surprising to many people today, Cornwallis was one of five peers in the House of Lords who had voted against the 1765 Stamp Act, and other harsh measures against the American colonists. This 1793 mezzotint was based on a portrait painted in 1782, following his return to London after the surrender at Yorktown. This detailed plan shows British, Hessian, and American troop positions and movements during the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777. This hard-fought action ended with Washington’s army withdrawing east towards Chester, Pennsylvania. The exhausted Crown forces encamped at Dilworth (visible at the right-center of this plan) and neighboring areas until September 15, when they resumed pursuit of Washington’s forces before capturing Philadelphia on September 26, 1777. During the four-day encampment on the battlefield, British engineers surveyed the area and recorded details of the engagement in a series of plans, including this example. American artist Alonzo Chapel (1828-1887) achieved widespread fame in the late nineteenth century for historical paintings and portraits illustrating events and characters from the American Revolution. Most of his works were reproduced as black and white illustrations in schoolbooks, newspapers, magazines, and other publications, teaching generations of Americans about the founding era of their nation. In this 1857 painting by Chapel, the German-born officer Johann de Kalb (center) introduces American diplomat Silas Deane (right) to the youthful Marquis de Lafayette (left) in Paris, in November 1776. The Continental Congress had sent Deane as a secret agent to France in order to seek financial and military assistance against the British. Deane enlisted the services of a number of foreign officers, including De Kalb and Lafayette, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1777 to take up positions in the Continental Army. As one of the oldest colonies in British North America (founded in the 1630s), Connecticut had a long tradition of self-government that encouraged many of its citizens to support resistance to British taxation and other measures. Connecticut native John Chandler (1736-1795) studied theology and medicine at Yale College as a young man, serving as a physician and occasional preacher before serving in the colonial legislature from 1771-73. Chandler received this military commission in the colonial militia in 1771, and later served in the Continental Army during the War of Independence. The commission is signed by Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., one of only two colonial governors who continued to serve after American Independence was declared in 1776. Governor Trumbull’s son John (1756-1843) gained fame as a historical painter who specialized in the history of the American Revolution. This porcelain punch bowl was made and decorated in China around 1770 for export to Britain and its American colonies. The design on the exterior of the bowl was intended to poke fun at those who had opposed the English politician John Wilkes (1727-97), a proponent of English civil liberties, parliamentary reform, and American rights. Wilkes was elected to the House of Commons several times, but was repeatedly expelled for attacking King George III and his loyalists. American patriots, including Boston’s Sons of Liberty, rallied to the cry of "Wilkes and Liberty!" and incorporated his name and likeness into broadsides, drinking bowls, cuff links, and other items. This eighteenth-century copper and iron brazier was designed to hold hot coals and serve as a portable cooking surface. Such implements were particularly useful for military officers and their servants, who spent much of the campaign season (spring through fall) living in tents and frequently shifting the location of their encampments. This example was acquired in 1918 with the tradition that it had been brought to America by Lafayette during the American Revolution, and that Lafayette had presented it to Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, the dashing cavalry commander from Virginia. It was Lee who famously eulogized George Washington as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Click here for additional images ]]> Click here for additional images ]]> Click here for additional images ]]> On August 19, 1812, Captain Isaac Hull, commander of the United States frigate Constitution, engaged the British frigate Guerriere (or "Warrior") off the coast of Nova Scotia. During this action, sailors observed British cannon balls bouncing off the thick oak timbers of the Constitution’s hull, giving rise to the nickname "Old Ironsides." After a thirty-five minute battle, close to a third of the Guerriere’s crew was killed or wounded, and the ship was so badly damaged that it was forced to surrender. Captain Hull retained this elegant dinner plate from the British captain’s service as a memento of the action, which was one of the most celebrated American victories of the War of 1812, also known as the "Second War of Independence." These embossed metal pieces once adorned the distinctive military headgear worn by Hessian fusiliers—specialized soldiers who served under British command during the War of Independence. Between 1776 and 1783, about thirty thousand German-speaking soldiers from the principalities of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Hanau, Waldeck, and Brunswick served in America. The largest number of these troops came from Hesse-Kassel, giving rise to the nickname “Hessians.” These relics were recovered in 1915 during dredging operations in the Delaware River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recent historical research suggests that they were lost in March 1778, when a British transport ship carrying supplies and reinforcements—including Hessian soldiers— sank after striking obstructions that had been placed in the river by the American army the previous year. This engraved powder horn commemorates the July 7, 1763 British evacuation of Havana on the Island of Cuba, marking the end of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). Sparked by a May 1754 skirmish involving a 22-year old George Washington, the Seven Years' War became a global conflict with fighting in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Most American colonists felt intense pride as members of the great British Empire that had defeated France and Spain, but British efforts to raise revenue and tighten control in the colonies soon turned joy into despair. Bearing several popular slogans of the American War of Independence, including LIBERTY or DEATH, APPEAL TO HEAVEN, and the sobering KILL or be KILLD, this engraved powder horn was carried by a Virginia rifleman named William Waller, who was captured by British and Hessian forces after the fall of Fort Washington near New York City on November 16, 1776. The silver escutcheon in the center of this brass officer's gorget, a vestigial piece of armor worn around the neck by European infantry officers as a sign of rank, displays the royal arms of the Bourbon kings of France. Following its demoralizing defeat in the Seven Years' War, the French army began to reform and update its arms, equipment, and training in anticipation of a future conflict with Britain. The profuse decoration on this engraved powder horn includes a view of Philadelphia's busy waterfront on the eve of the American Revolution. During the 1760s and early 1770s, urban populations in places like Boston, New York and Philadelphia played an important role in protests against British taxation and coercive measures than eventually led to armed revolt. German-American Brigadier General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746—1807) carried these English holster pistols during the American Revolution. Born at Trappe, Pennsylvania and educated in Philadelphia and Europe as a Lutheran minister, Muhlenberg commanded the Eighth Virginia Regiment, a corps composed largely of German-speaking recruits raised in the Shenandoah Valley in 1776. This dazzling silver gorget was made in England in 1775-76 for an officer of the 60th, or Royal American Regiment. This British army unit was originally raised in Pennsylvania and surrounding colonies during the French and Indian War (1754—1763). Elements of the corps served in many campaigns of the American Revolution. Issued under the authority of the Continental Congress, this example of paper currency from the American Revolution bears the image of an eagle attacking a crane with the Latin motto EXITUS IN DUBIO EST (The Outcome is in Doubt). With no authority to tax, the Continental Congress was unable to prevent deep depreciation of its paper currency, and coupled the widespread circulation of British counterfeit bills, gave rise to the phrase "Not Worth a Continental." The tradesman who engraved this flintlock mechanism for an American military musket chose the sobering design from the Continental Three Dollar Bill, whose motto translated as "The Outcome is in Doubt." Such American-produced arms from the early years of the American War of Independence are exceeding scarce. By 1777, imported French and other foreign arms increasingly displaced such locally produced weapons. These silver camp cups, with later commemorative inscriptions, were part of General George Washington's camp equipment during the American War of Independence. The original set of twelve cups, used to serve wine to aides and guests at the General's table, were made in the shop of Philadelphia silversmith Edmund Milne in August 1777. My D[ea]r Rebecah, William Duncan, a Baltimore cooper-turned-soldier, began his letter home on October 7, 1777, this comes with love to you and my dearest children. Three days earlier, Duncan and his fellow Maryland militiamen had fought in the "very hot" Battle of Germantown, near British-occupied Philadelphia. This extremely rare wooden soldier's canteen is marked USTATES, indicating Continental Army usage. Alarmed by chronic shortfalls in arms and equipment caused in part by thefts and negligence, the Continental Congress directed in February 1777 that all the arms and accoutrements belonging to the country should be marked to show ownership by the United States. The Royal Gazette was published by Loyalist printer James Rivington in British-held New York City from 1777 to 1783. This January 24, 1778 issue contains the complete text of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, adopted for ratification by the Continental Congress in November 1777. Although final ratification did not occur until 1781, the Articles acted as the de facto system of government for the United States from the end of 1777 until the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. This rare French presentation sword from the period of the American Revolution bears the inscription "Ex Dono Regis" (Given by the King) on its gilded blade. The chiseled steel hilt is overlaid in gold with the royal arms of France, the royal monogram, and a silver-gilt medallion portrait of King Louis XVI. The military trophies incorporated into its design suggest that it was awarded for bravery. This finely decorated English sword, with cast and chased military trophies on the shells of its silver hilt, bears the motto "Ne me tire pas sans raison, Ne me remette point sans honneur" (draw me not without reason, sheath me not without honor) on its blade. It is of a common form widely used by military officers in the British and American armies of 1775-83. Private Jeremiah McGowan of the Second New York Regiment received this discharge, signed by General Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, on June 7, 1783. Having served through six years, including the Valley Forge Winter of 1777-78, McGowan received the Badge of Merit, a military decoration created by General Washington to honor his veteran soldiers. The badge was a predecessor of the Purple Heart. This broadside details the participants and order of procession for Philadelphia's July 4, 1788 parade celebrating the establishment of the Constitution of the United States. The American War is over, Philadelphian and signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush had observed on the eve of the Constitutional Convention, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution. . . nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed. For Rush others of the Founding Generation, the experiment in self government that began in 1775-76 would remain the ongoing American Revolution. Bearing the initials GW and the motto LONG LIVE THE PRESIDENT, this brass button is one of several styles produced for George Washington's First Inauguration as President of the United States on April 30, 1789. Meant to be worn on gentlemen's coats as sign of respect for the president and the historic occasion, inaugural buttons are among the earliest American political mementos. George Washington's death from acute laryngitis and pneumonia on December 14, 1799 sparked a wave of grieving across the United States. Throughout the young republic, ministers preached sermons that reflected on the significance of Washington's life. Reverend Enos Hitchcock (1745-1803), whose discourse, on the dignity and excellence of the human character illustrated in the life of General George Washington was printed in 1800, had served as a chaplain in the Continental Army from 1776-1780, and had attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787. William Rush, a Philadelphia sculptor, Revolutionary War veteran, and founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, modeled this terracotta bust of George Washington for the Academy's Sixth Annual Exhibition in 1817. The original exhibition label noted: From the familiarity of the artist with Washington, his opportunities of comparing his work with the original and his acknowledged talent, it is claimed that this bust is the most perfect likeness existing. This earthenware pitcher, produced in England for the American market, commemorates the 1824-25 visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States of America. Lafayette had been a trusted and beloved aide and brigadier to General Washington, and his return to America on the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the American Revolution sparked a wave of nostalgia. These relics, including a military commission from 1776, shoe buckles, a federal period militia knapsack and a coat from the 1830s, descended in the family of father and son soldiers Nicholas Dike Sr. and Jr. of Westminster, Massachusetts. Father Nicholas first turned out on April 19, 1775 in response to the British march on Lexington and Concord, while young Nicholas served in several campaigns between 1776 and 1780. This is a rare life portrait of a Revolutionary War veteran, Pennsylvania militiaman Jacob Latch, was taken within a few years of his death in 1845. Like many surviving members of the Revolutionary armed forces, Latch benefited from the Pension Act of 1832, which authorized monthly payments to those veterans who had served for more than six months. As a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln represented the widow of a Revolutionary War pensioner. German immigrant artists Lambert Sachs (1818-1903) and Paul Weber (1823-1916) collaborated on this image of General Washington at prayer at Valley Forge, first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1854. While historians continue to debate the precise character of Washington's religious beliefs, the powerful image of Washington at prayer at Valley Forge continues to hold great cultural meaning for many Americans. This pamphlet was published by the Union League of Philadelphia to encourage the enlistment of colored troops during the Civil War. The author drew on African-Americans' record of distinguished service in the American War of Independence to persuade those who doubted their capacity for bravery and valor. One of the most iconic commemorative works on the American Revolution, William Trego's March to Valley Forge was painted in Philadelphia and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1883. Trego's inspiration was a passage from Washington Irving's Life of Washington: Sad and dreary was the march to Valley Forge, uncheered by the recollection of any recent triumph. ...Hungry and cold were the poor fellows who had so long been keeping the field; ...provisions were scant, clothing was worn out, and so badly were they off for shoes, that the footsteps of many might be tracked in blood. Arthur S. Higgins of New York City patented the design of this George Washington Jug in 1896, at the height of the so-called Colonial Revival. Sparked by displays of colonial and Revolutionary era items at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, a wave of nostalgia for the Founding Era swept through American society in the late 19th century. Richard Wilson's London gun-making firm produced military arms for the colony of New Jersey during and after the French and Indian War. Many of these arms were retained in the colony's arsenal after the conflict with France, and were later issued to New Jersey forces at the beginning of the War of Independence. This well-preserved example is marked NEW JERSEY on the butt plate, and S/3 on the wrist plate, denoting government ownership in the former case, and the individual company letter and weapon number in the latter. Rifles have spiral grooves cut into the interior of their iron barrels to impart a stabilizing spin on the lead bullet when it is fired. This feature improves accuracy, but slows the loading process. During the early years of the War of Independence, many Americans believed that expert riflemen would prove to be more than a match for the formidable British infantry. This rifle was made in central Europe, and is similar to examples that were imported to the colonies during the mid-18th century. American artist Charles Willson Peale may have painted this miniature portrait of young Pennsylvania militia officer Isaac Sidman during the disastrous campaign of 1776. Peale, who achieved fame producing portraits and prints of General Washington, marched with the volunteer Philadelphia militia to reinforce Washington's shrinking Continental Army during its retreat through New Jersey in the fall of 1776. Despite his countrymen's enthusiasm for American riflemen, General Washington placed his greatest reliance on Continental Army troops armed with smooth bore muskets that could be loaded and fired more rapidly and mount a bayonet for attack and defense. Tens of thousands of French muskets like this example flowed into America during the later years of the War of Independence. The US mark on the tail of the flintlock may have been applied when the arm was placed in an arsenal after the conflict. Military officers who were on campaign or expecting imminent action often carried sturdy “fighting swords” of various patterns rather than their lighter dress swords. This silver-hilted hanger, made in London during the War of Independence, was a form favored by many British and American officers on campaign in America. During the War of Independence, American gunsmiths struggled to meet the enormous demand for military firearms to equip the Continental Army, as well as state and militia forces. This musket is a typical composite piece of wartime production, incorporating British and American components. The butt of this weapon is boldly marked with the words U.STATES to designate public ownership and deter theft of government property. Private John Williams of the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment, injured in the shoulder during a 1777 battle in New Jersey, later served in the Continental Army's Invalid Regiment, a corps composed of old and disabled soldiers able to perform garrison and guard duties but otherwise unfit for active service. The regiment's commander, Colonel Lewis Nicola, would later achieve fame as one of the frustrated and disgruntled Continental Army officers who flirted with the idea of reestablishing monarchical government under General Washington's leadership. Following the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American War of Independence, Congress disbanded all but a tiny remnant of the Continental Army. With the exception of a small force of regular troops on the northwestern frontier near Pittsburgh, defense against foreign invasion and domestic unrest was vested in the state militias and short-term levies. This gilt-brass, lion-head pommel horseman's saber, a form popular with mounted militia troopers in the Mid-Atlantic states, was produced by Philadelphia craftsman John Myers. Philadelphia printer Thomas Bradford issued this folded sheet of patriotic song lyrics in 1784, the year Lewis Hallam Jr.'s American Company returned to the city's Southwark Theater (built in 1767). Theatrical performances such as the Monody, which many American revolutionaries considered a sign of British corruption and luxury, had been banned during the War of Independence and remained a controversial issue in the 1780s. This brass and iron chamber door handle was removed from the Market Street house in Philadelphia that George Washington occupied during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and as President of the United States from 1790 to 1797. During this period, up to thirty people, including nine enslaved Africans from Washington's Mount Vernon estate, occupied the President's House. John Adams, who succeeded Washington as the second president of the United States, lived in the house from 1797 until he took up residence in the new federal capitol of Washington, D.C., in 1800. French bronze worker Jean-Baptiste Dubuc produced a small number of elegant mantel clocks for export to the American market following George Washington's death in December 1799. Featuring a nobly posed Washington derived from John Trumbull's 1792 painting of Washington before the Battle of Trenton, this piece includes a tableau representing Washington resigning his commission to return to civilian life. This act recalled the virtuous example of Roman general Cincinnatus, affirming the principle of civilian control of the military. Words from Major General Richard Henry Lee's famous eulogy of Washington appear below the dial. Images derived from Valley Forge and other events of the American Revolution continued to appear in popular culture and on commercial products through much of the 20th century. The Adam Scheidt Brewing Company in Norristown, Pennsylvania, (founded in the 1870s) drew on nearby Valley Forge to name and market many of its products during the first half of the 20th century. English manufacturers have a nearly unbroken tradition of producing commemorative ceramic wares for the American market, from the iconic NO STAMP ACT teapots of the 1760s through the ubiquitous plates, cups, and saucers of the American Bicentennial (1975-1983). Produced by an English manufacturer established (ironically) in 1775, this teacup includes an image derived from one of artist Charles Willson Peale's iconic wartime portraits of George Washington. Christopher Ludwick (1720-1801), a native of Hesse-Darmstadt in the German-speaking region of central Europe, established a bakery in Philadelphia in 1754. Ludwick would later take an active role in the American revolutionary movement, and serve as Superintendent of Bakers in the Continental Army during the American War of Independence. His descendants carefully preserved this carved wooden cookie board or mold as a memento of their ancestor's role in the founding of the United States. British victories against the French in Europe, India, North America and the West Indies transformed the year 1759 into "Annus Mirabilis" or the "Year of Miracles" for patriotic Britons on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Among the most celebrated of these triumphs was General James Wolfe's victory at the Battle of Québec on September 13, 1759. Long before he achieved fame as a revolutionary pamphleteer, Englishman Thomas Paine composed a rousing celebration of Wolfe's victory. This song became popular in the American colonies in the 1770s, when a New England writer copied the lyrics into this commonplace book of recipes, poetry and songs. Virginian Patrick Henry, an advocate of colonial American rights within the British Empire and author of the 1765 Stamp Act Resolutions, owned this volume of English court cases. A fierce opponent of taxation without representation, Henry later delivered a stirring speech before the Virginia House of Burgesses in March 1775 that included the famous line: "Give me Liberty, or Give me Death." Virginian George Mason, a statesman and American patriot later known as the "Father of the Bill Rights," acquired this volume of ancient Roman history by the author and historian Livy (Titus Livius) in 1769. Mason and other members of America's founding generation were careful students of history, and looked to the example of ancient Rome for guidance on the structure and operation of republican government. George Mason died in 1792; his son Thomson Mason probably added his own signature and the year of his father's passing to the title page at that time. Also visible is the faded ink inscription "Gunston," the name of the Mason home on the banks of the Potomac River south of George Washington's Mount Vernon. With hard currency in short supply, the coins of many nations circulated throughout the British colonies. Pennsylvanian James Boone, Jr. pasted a printed table (probably clipped from a pocket almanac) showing the value and weight of various coins inside the lid of his money scale. In 1773, the year that he boldly inscribed his name on the outside of the wooden case, James' cousin, Daniel Boone, made the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky. New Englander Abel Scott of Whately, Massachusetts served in five military campaigns during the American War of Independence, first marching from home the day after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Scott or a fellow soldier engraved this detailed view of British-occupied Boston as British and New England forces eyed one another across the fortifications and harbor encircling the town. British troops and loyalist refuges were forced to evacuate Boston after American troops constructed fortifications and placed artillery on Dorchester Heights on the night of March 4, 1776. Philadelphia printers issued works that stoked debate over the American Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic. In the early months of 1776, Thomas Paine issued his clarion call for American independence, "Common Sense", and Loyalist James Chalmers his pointed rebuke, titled "Plain Truth", through the printer and bookseller Robert Bell on Third Street. London publisher John Almon bundled the two works in this June 1776 edition for British readers who wondered "whether Americans are, or are not prepared for a state of independence." This July 6, 1776 issue of the "Pennsylvania Evening Post" presented the first newspaper printing of the newly adopted Declaration of Independence. A German language translation appeared three days later in the "Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote", a newspaper that served Pennsylvania’s large German-speaking community. By the end of August 1776, the Declaration had been reprinted in at least 29 newspapers and 14 broadsides. In this January 1777 letter, Colonel John Bull of Pennsylvania reports on preparations for a council with Native American men, women and children from communities in the upper Susquehanna River Valley. Professing neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and the United States, the American Indian leaders requested that illegal squatters be removed from their land. Anger over such encroachments, which Pennsylvania authorities ignored, led many Native Americans to side with the British in the Revolutionary War. African American soldiers played an important role in winning American Independence. This list of Connecticut soldiers who deposited a portion of their pay to provide supplies for their families during the war includes a black soldier from Hartford named Plimoth Negro. Plimoth (or Plymouth) Negro enlisted in the Fifth Connecticut Regiment in May 1777 and served through the end of the War of Independence in 1783. This charming powder horn was engraved for a New England soldier serving in Warwick, Rhode Island in December 1777. The engraved decoration, including a whimsical unicorn, a pair of moose and two sword wielding figures with the motto “Try it Out,” is attributed to Jacob Guay (or Gay), a prolific powder horn engraver whose surviving work span the dates 1758 - 1787. In this handwritten receipt, Massachusetts soldiers Phineas Morgan and Palatiah Allen acknowledge receiving new French muskets and bayonets in exchange for their worn out weapons while encamped on Van Schaick's Island in the Hudson River, several miles north of Albany. These arms may have been part of a shipment of 12,000 French muskets that had arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire earlier in the year. French supplies of arms, money and eventually troops and ships proved vital in securing American independence. On the night of September 21, 1777, a column of British troops launched a surprise attack on American troops encamped in a field near modern day Malvern, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing struggle, American Brigadier General Anthony Wayne's force suffered heavy casualties and was forced to flee. One of the British participants in the action, Lieutenant Richard St. George Mansergh St. George of the 52nd Regiment, commissioned this painting in 1782 to commemorate the action. In 1817, local residents erected a stone obelisk to mark the location of a mass grave of American soldiers, one of the earliest public monuments commemorating the American Revolution. Beginning in 1777, the United States imported large numbers of brass-mounted Model 1763 French cavalry pistols like this example. The US surcharge on the tail of the flintlock, together with the presence of an American-made belt hook on the opposite side suggest that this pistol saw use aboard a naval vessel during the era of the American Revolution. Spanish gunsmith Miguel Zegarra made these ornate holster pistols in Madrid in 1768. They are of a popular form carried by Spanish military officers, including those who took part in attacks on British forts and garrisons in the Mississippi Valley and along the Gulf of Mexico during the later years of the American War of Independence. Most American soldiers carried their ammunition in cartridge boxes worn over the shoulder or around the waist. These leather pouches contained drilled wooden blocks to hold individual cartridges - round paper tubes containing gunpowder, lead bullets and, often (as here), small buckshot that improved a soldier's chance of hitting his target. This example from the era of the American Revolution includes a whisk and pick, used to clean a flintlock musket's firing mechanism when it was fouled by burned gunpowder. The individual cartridges, components and bullet mold are also from the era of the American War of Independence. Naval gunners fired a range of specialized projectiles from their cannon in order to disable or destroy enemy vessels. Solid iron "round shot" were used to pound and penetrate the heavy wooden planks that made up a ship's hull. Gunners also used "bar shot" and "chain shot," which tumbled through the air with a terrifying buzz, to knock down the masts and cut away the sails and rigging of opposing ships. Cramped together above and below decks, sailors of all nationalities suffered horrific wounds both from projectiles such as these and the showers of wooden splinters that erupted from their battered ships after impact. General Washington's original sleeping and office tent, parts of which appear in this early 20th century photograph, was carefully preserved by generations of the Custis and Lee families following the deaths of George and Martha Washington. In 1909, Reverend W. Herbert Burk purchased this national treasure from Miss Mary Custis Lee, daughter of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, for the Valley Forge Museum of American History. The Washington Marquee will be a centerpiece of The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. This private letter from merchant John Rucker in l'Orient, France carried the welcome news that Britain, France and Spain had recently signed final articles of peace that would end the war and establish the independence of the United States of America. Its recipient John Brown was an assistant to Robert Morris, the "financier of the American Revolution." Prussian officer Frederick William Augustus Henry Von Steuben (1730-1794), known as "Baron von Steuben," developed a simplified system of drill and discipline during the Valley Forge encampment of 1777-78 that helped to forge the Continental Army into an effective fighting force. First published in 1779, Von Steuben's "Regulations" remained the standard for the United States army and state militia forces through the War of 1812. The English-born Eleazer Oswald, who issued this edition in Philadelphia in 1786, had served in the Continental Army through the American Revolution before returning to the printing trade. Committed to the republican ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, Oswald greeted the French Revolution with enthusiasm, serving in the French Revolutionary Army in 1792-93 and embarking on a secret mission to study the feasibility of invading Ireland. Philadelphia artist John Archibald Woodside was born in 1781, the same year that French and American troops marched through the city, passing the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) on their way to victory at Yorktown, Virginia. Nearly half a century later, a crowd of perhaps one hundred thousand people gathered to welcome the Marquis de la Fayette on his return to the scenes of his military service in the cause of American Independence. This painted silk parade banner (signed and dated by the artist) was carried in a procession through the city’s streets by the "Victuallers of Philadelphia" - the butchers who supplied the residents, taverns and inns with meat. Irish immigrant John Moses (1832-1902) founded the Glasgow Pottery in Trenton, New Jersey in 1864. The firm became widely known for producing commemorative and souvenir wares during the centennial celebrations of the American Revolution in 1870s. This saucer commemorates the December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party. If you can shed light on the significance of the date (May 13, 1874) and place (Minersville, Pennsylvania) in the center of this saucer, The American Revolution Center would love to hear from you! You can contact us at info@americanrevolutioncenter.org. Ten million visitors from around the world traveled to Philadelphia in 1926 to visit the Sesquicentennial International Exhibition celebrating a century and a half of American Independence. This commemorative card features an image of Carpenter's Hall, site of the First Continental Congress in 1774. American artist Bernard Perlin (b.1918) drew on the popular memory of General Washington's ragged army at Valley Forge to compose this powerful image of American soldiers, past and present, during the darkest days of the Second World War. Posters like this were displayed in post offices, libraries, schools, factories and other public place to strengthen resolve in the fight against Fascism. Perlin's work powerfully associated two of our nation's epic struggles for freedom: The American War of Independence and what was already known in 1943 as World War Two. The Declaration of Independence and the United States' successful war of independence against Great Britain inspired a wave of revolutions in Latin America during the early 19th century. This 1955 Columbian postal stamp commemorates Generals San Martin, Simón Bolívar and George Washington as founding fathers of their countries. Bolívar is considered a founder of Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and his native Venezuela. Like Bolívar, Argentine General José de San Martín is remembered as a liberator of Spanish South America. In this sheet of postage stamps issued during the United States Bicentennial, Poland commemorates two of its own - Tadeusz Kościusko and Kazimierz Pułaski - who served the cause of American independence under General George Washington. One of the most iconic commemorative works on the American Revolution, William Trego’s March to Valley Forge was painted in Philadelphia and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1883. Trego’s inspiration was a passage from Washington Irving’s Life of Washington: "Sad and dreary was the march to Valley Forge, uncheered by the recollection of any recent triumph....Hungry and cold were the poor fellows who had so long been keeping the field;...provisions were scant, clothing was worn out, and so badly were they off for shoes,that the footsteps of many might be tracked in blood."