American Revolution Institute

10/21/2026

Calling all Massachusetts teachers! The ARI is offering a free, day-long workshop for Massachusetts educators at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury on Friday, November 6, 2026, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. The workshop theme, “Voices of Revolution” draws on the scholarship from our current exhibition, which explores the variety of people who participated in the and some of the battlefields where their paths crossed. Featured presenters include: Dr. Robert Allison, who will present “Why Massachusetts? Causes and Consequences of the Revolution;” ARI Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis, presenting “Mercy Otis Warren and the Female Voice of Revolution;” and master teachers Elizabeth Cahill and Sam McGraw, who will model lessons they crafted for their Massachusetts classrooms using our library and museum resources. Six hours of professional development will be conferred relative to the 2018 Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks. Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided along with admission to the Wayside Inn historic site.

A tentative itinerary of the day’s agenda can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/4B48cFi

Teacher registration for this event is required at: https://bit.ly/3W0JkOt

IMAGE:
Masthead from The Massachusetts Spy by Paul Revere and Isaiah Thomas, Boston: January 5, 1775. The Society of the Cincinnati.

10/20/2026

The fifth letter from our collection written by Capt. Jonathan Birge to his wife, Priscilla, in Connecticut from his deployment with the Continental Army during the New York campaign is dated October 20, 1776. In this letter, sent from “Camps 5 miles above Kings Bridge,” he reported:

“the Regulars are Landed about ten miles to the Eastward of Kings Bridge and are sloly advanceing twards the westward which our people Donot try to hinder as we are told for Gl. Lea is Lying at the Eastward of them… & Genl. Washington with us at the Northward… it is the general conjecture among us that the Generals intend to draw the Enemy a little out and then make an attack… we trust we have faithful Generals and hope under God that we shall finaly have sucses… I hope if my life is spared to Return to my famely at the end of the campaign, my mind is much at intervals on my famely and home affairs but I keep them as much from Perplexing me as posable for it is the countryes cause I am ingaged in and must pay attention to it… your most loyal husband until provedence shall seperate what it has joined ---Jonth Birge.”

Captain Birge also included a post-script to his 12-year-old son, Isaac:

“my son… be obedient to you mother and do as well as you can and if we should be prospered well this season I hope if my Life is Spared to return home this winter and have no more call to a***s to Seperate parents from children & children from parents aney more. Write to me as often as you can… Remember your Creator while young. My Love to Pricilla, Jonathan Ruth Simeon and Anne”

Examine this letter from Captain Birge in our digital archives at: https://bit.ly/4cJJcIH, and read an excerpt from our final letter in the series on November 17th.

Map showing Kingsbridge and A plan of the operations of the King's army : under the command of General Sr. William Howe, K.B. in New York and east New Jersey against the American forces commanded by General Washington from the 12th. of October, to the 28th. of November 1776 : wherein is particularly distinguished the engagement on the White Plains, the 28th. of October from creators Claude Joseph Sauthier and William Faden, published by W. Faden [London], “25th Feby. 1777.” The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection.

10/19/2026

Attention educators in New York and Virginia! The Society of the Cincinnati branches in those states are accepting nominations for their respective Teacher of the Year awards on the American Revolution.

The New York State Society of the Cincinnati’s Teacher of the Year Award annually confers $2,500 to an exceptional educator in the New York State public school system selected through a competitive, merit-based process from a statewide pool of nominations. The recipient is recognized for innovative or exemplary teaching—within curricular or extracurricular settings—that advances student understanding of our nation’s struggle for independence, the officers and soldiers who fought in that conflict, and the men, women, and children who supported them. Applications for the 2027 award will be accepted online through April 15, 2027. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/4yvgzXM

The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia’s annual Teacher of the Year Award also recognizes excellence in teaching the American Revolution as well as Virginia’s role in it with a $2,500 prize. Any K-12 teacher in the state of Virginia is welcome to apply for the 2026-27 award until January 1, 2027, at: https://bit.ly/4z4w3Du



Image: The New York Society recently recognized the recipient of its first award, Renah Feldman, during the 250th commemoration of the Battle of Brooklyn at the Old Stone House, just steps away from MS 51 William Alexander Middle School where she teaches.

10/17/2026

On this day, October 17, 1777, one of the most important American victories of the Revolutionary War was secured at Saratoga, New York. After a series of engagements in September and October, about 6,000 British and German troops under Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to the American forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates. The four-month-long British campaign to take control of the Hudson River Valley and cut off New England from the rest of the states had failed.

The campaign culminated in American victories at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights in September and October 1777. Connecticut militia captain Isaac Stone, whose journal is preserved in our collections, described the action at Bemis Heights, about ten miles south of Saratoga: “wee was alarimd by the enmy atacking us and Striving for a hill whair was kept our advanc gard but gratly to ther Distruckson wee Dedfeted their Dission and Drive them back to theyr own Brestwork.” The Americans had halted Burgoyne’s advance, and his increasingly isolated army was ultimately surrounded and forced to surrender.

The American victory at Saratoga demonstrated the strength of the Continental war effort and helped to persuade France to enter into a formal alliance with the United States the following year.

Image: Detail of entry for October 7, 1777, in “Isaac Stone his book,” 1758-1781. The Society of the Cincinnati. MSS L1997F505 [Bound]

10/14/2026

On the night of October 14, 1781, American and French troops launched coordinated assaults on two British redoubts at Yorktown. Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton led about 400 American light infantrymen against Redoubt 10, while French troops attacked neighboring Redoubt 9. Both positions were captured, allowing the allied armies to extend their siege lines and bring their artillery closer to the main British defenses.

The attacks marked a critical moment in the Siege of Yorktown. Five days later, Cornwallis’s army surrendered.

As we approach the 245th anniversary of the American victory at Yorktown, the American Revolution Institute is adding a group of objects associated with Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman to The Field, our online collections catalog.

Tilghman served as one of George Washington’s longtime aides-de-camp and worked within the headquarters system through which orders, intelligence, and operational information moved during the Yorktown campaign. After the British surrender, Washington entrusted Tilghman with carrying his official dispatch announcing the victory to the Continental Congress.

The newly available records include Tilghman’s Congressional presentation sword and scabbard, military dress accessories, and Society of the Cincinnati Eagle insignia. Together, these objects connect the battlefield at Yorktown with the service, recognition, and memory of the officers who secured American independence.

Explore the Tilghman objects and other primary sources from the Revolution in The Field:
https://bit.ly/4i2NWew

10/13/2026

Just in time for the U.S. Navy’s 251st birthday today, we teamed up with the National Museum of the United States Navy (NMUSN) to highlight how both institutions have commemorated America 250.

Through a discussion moderated by NMUSN's senior curator, Raj Solanki, the Institute’s deputy director and curator, Emily Parsons, and the NMUSN's museum curator, Abby Schreiber, highlight each institution's respective exhibitions, "Voices of Revolution" and "Nation and Navy: The American Revolution." Together, the two curators highlight the development behind each exhibition, various artifacts displayed in them, as well as their significance as the United States celebrates 250 years of independence.

Just in time for the Navy's 251st birthday, the American Revolution...

10/12/2026

We spent last Friday, October 9 at the Delaware Art Museum with a magnificent group of K-12 educators representing over a dozen public and private Delaware schools presenting “Voices of Revolution and the Revolution in Wilmington after Brandywine.”

In addition to learning about the ARI’s free online classroom resources, the gathered teachers heard scholarship on the impact of the war on Wilmington and the Brandywine Valley presented by author Bill Knightly and the ARI’s own Andrew Outten, then engaged with a model lesson created for the ARI by master teacher Rob Schulte featuring a series of letters from our library collection penned 250 years ago by a captain on the front lines during the New York campaign.

The group also enjoyed a private tour of the artwork at the museum created by renowned local artist Howard Pyle depicting scenes from the American Revolution. Thank you to the event’s generous sponsor, the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati.

10/11/2026

250 years ago, the Battle of Valcour Island, in the middle of New York’s Lake Champlain, took place. American Brigadier General Benedict Arnold’s flotilla of 9 vessels surprised the larger 26-vessel British force under General Guy Carleton. Though outgunned, the Americans fought well and were able to extricate the personnel to safety after scuttling their ships.

While an American defeat, the battle for control of Lake Champlain delayed the British forces in their attempt to divide the New England states from their southern neighbors. With the onset of winter approaching, the British force headed back to Canada and their quarters. By the time the British ventured south again in 1777, the Americans had reorganized and were in stronger position to fight back. The resulting campaign would end near Saratoga, New York, and the surrender of a British army.

Image: "A survey of Lake Champlain: including Lake George, Crown Point, and St. John" (London, 1776). The Society of the Cincinnati.

10/09/2026

The allied Franco-American attack on Savannah, Georgia, had disastrous results in 1779.

After several weeks besieging British-held Savannah, the allies decided to attack the city on October 9. Continental Army general Benjamin Lincoln and French admiral Charles-Henri, comte d’Estaing, coordinated the operation. They focused the assault on the Spring Hill Redoubt, at the western end of the British lines. Heavy fog, delays, and confusion among the allied forces, along with an unexpectedly strong British defense, doomed the attack. The French and American forces lost almost 1,000 men in under an hour.

Among the Frenchmen at Savannah was Philippe-Jacques-François Aupépin de Lamothe, a lieutenant in the Auxerrois Regiment. Bringing more than ten years of experience in the French army, he primarily fought in the Caribbean during the Revolution. His only service on the mainland came in the Siege of Savannah. A pastel portrait of Aupépin de Lamothe from our collections is currently on display in our exhibition Voices of Revolution.

Learn more about the portrait and its recent conservation at
https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/conservation/pastel-portraits-of-captain-and-madame-aupepin-de-lamothe/

Image: Portrait of Philippe-Jacques-François Aupépin de Lamothe by Charles Thévenin, 1786, pastel on paper.

One of the most popular artforms of the eighteenth century, pastels offer a lifelike and beautifully textured painting, but their inherent fragility has made it less common for them to survive than their ubiquitous oil counterparts. The Institute’s museum collections contain a dozen pastel portrai...

10/08/2026

What did the American Revolution look like from Madrid?

In 1778, Spanish cartographer Tomás López published this map of New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and part of Virginia. Lopez brought together geographic knowledge from some of the leading British, American, and French mapmakers of the 18th century. Published as the war was becoming an international conflict, the map reminds us that the Revolution was being watched, mapped, and understood far beyond the thirteen states.

It is one of the many maps in the American Revolution Institute’s collections documenting how people understood the geography of the Revolution, from campaign maps and battle plans to charts of coasts, harbors, colonies, and empires.

Explore this map, and more of our growing map collection, in The Field, the Institute’s digital collections platform.

https://bit.ly/4yP1S2E