Join us for a reception celebrating the opening our new exhibition, Revolutionary Beginnings: War and Remembrance in the First Year of America’s Fight for Independence.

The War for American Independence began on April 19, 1775 — 250 years ago this spring — with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. These initial engagements gave way to the Patriots’ Siege of Boston, a nearly year-long effort to drive the British from the city. But the fighting during the first year of the Revolution did not just take place in Massachusetts. From April 1775 to June 1776, Patriot, Loyalist, and British forces clashed in most of the thirteen American colonies, as well as Canada and the Caribbean.

On view from March 1-January 4, 2026, this exhibition explores three of those conflicts — the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston (June 1775), the Siege of Quebec in Canada (December 1775), and the Battle of Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina (June 1776), which took place just days before the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Through more than forty objects that include letters, maps, prints, paintings and artifacts from the Institute’s collections as well as several museum and private collections, Revolutionary Beginnings reveals the importance of these lesser-known battles and the extent of the rebellion across the American colonies in its first year. The exhibition also examines how these three battles have been remembered and commemorated, both in the immediate aftermath as well as generations later.

$75 per person 

Purchase Tickets for the Opening Reception

Business attire. Registration is required by February 26, 2025.

Sponsorship opportunities, which include tickets, are available.

For questions or additional information, contact: dcrespy@societyofthecincinnati.org, 202-785-1716.

Image: An unusual early German view of the Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. Das erste Burger-Blut, zu Grundung der Americanischen Freyheit, vergossen bey Lexington am 19ten April 1774 [sic], etching by Daniel Chodowiecki, published in Berlin, 1784. The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection.