Historian and documentary editor Robb Haberman examines the perilous voyage of Sgt. James Selkirk and the Second New York Regiment on their way to Yorktown in September 1781, when their transport schooner was separated and ran aground while sailing from…

John Trumbull experienced the American Revolution firsthand by serving as an aide to American generals George Washington and Horatio Gates and being jailed as a spy. Throughout his wartime experience, he made it his mission to record the conflict, giving…

Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the marquis de Lafayette. For over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic as a soldier, statesman, idealist…

Drawing from his recent co-authored book, Admiral de Grasse and American Independence: Command and Operations, Jean-Marie Kowalski, Ph.D., associate professor of history and lecturer at the Université Paris-Sorbonne and the École Navale (French Naval Academy), discusses…

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, played an influential role throughout the life of George Washington. Having been introduced to Washington shortly after settling in Belvoir, Va., in 1747, Fairfax became Washington’s first employer when he hired the…

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses an 1830s model of HMS Roebuck, a forty-four-gun British frigate that saw extensive service during the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1774, the Roebuck found itself performing blockade duty on…

In 1777, French army officer Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, with the marquis de Lafayette. During the American Revolution, Capitaine du Chesnoy served with Lafayette as both his aide-de-camp and mapmaker, producing several important…

Research Services Librarian Rachel Nellis discusses three manuscripts signed by Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution. The manuscripts, recently donated to the Institute as part of the George Miller Chester Jr. (Society of the Cincinnati in the State of…

Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discusses a collection of letters written from captivity by William Russell, an American soldier and privateer who was imprisoned twice during the Revolution. Following his initial capture at sea, Russell was first held prisoner at…

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a handkerchief commemorating the reign of British monarch King George III, made ca. 1812. The large printed handkerchief chronicles contemporary events in a lavishly decorated manner and includes several portraits of notable…

In this segment of Collections Corner, the Institute’s research services librarian, Rachel Nellis, highlights a rare map from our Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection, Carte des Etats-Unis de l’Amerique suivant le Traité de Paix de 1783, engraved…

Museum Collections and Operations Manager Paul Newman discusses a handkerchief commemorating the reign of British monarch King George III, made ca. 1812. The large printed handkerchief chronicles contemporary events in a lavishly decorated manner and includes several portraits of notable…

Deputy Director and Curator Emily Parsons discusses an allegorical portrait from our museum collections. Completed in 1783 by Parisian artist Nicolas René Jollain, the painting depicts Thomas François Lenormand de Victot, a fallen French naval officer from the Revolutionary…

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” The words Nathan Hale is said to have uttered just before being hanged as a spy by the British are among the best remembered of the…

It’s back to school season! To celebrate, this month’s Collections Corner features the Institute’s director of education, Stacia Smith, discussing The Patriot’s Monitor, an 1810 American primer written by Rev. Ignatius Thomson of Pomfret, Vermont. As…

In this segment of Collections Corner, the Institute’s research services librarian, Rachel Nellis, highlights a rare map from our Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection, Carte des Etats-Unis de l’Amerique suivant le Traité de Paix de 1783, engraved…

Deputy Director and Curator Emily Parsons discusses an allegorical portrait from our museum collections. Completed in 1783 by Parisian artist Nicolas René Jollain, the painting depicts Thomas François Lenormand de Victot, a fallen French naval officer from the Revolutionary…

It’s back to school season! To celebrate, this month’s Collections Corner features the Institute’s director of education, Stacia Smith, discussing The Patriot’s Monitor, an 1810 American primer written by Rev. Ignatius Thomson of Pomfret, Vermont. As…

Coping with the sunset that followed Louis XIV’s death, battered by a string of costly military defeats, and influenced by the intellectual currents of the Enlightenment, the French army was primed for reform in the mid-eighteenth century. Scholar…

The Society of the Cincinnati’s Eagle insignia has been the most recognizable symbol of the organization and its members for more than two hundred years. Designed in 1783 by Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, the double-sided gold insignia bears…

On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution, the marquis de Lafayette embarked on a tour of the United States, returning for a final time to the country he helped established and whose republican form of government…

Diplomacy and entertaining have always gone hand in hand in the nation’s capital. Anderson House, headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, has played a historic role in that story during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—but one…

Explore our exhibition Saving Soldiers: Medical Practice in the Revolutionary War in this short video tour featuring a few highlight objects. Drawn principally from the Institute’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, portraits and artifacts, Saving Soldiers examined medical practice…