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American Revolution

"I am well acquainted with Gen.l W. who is a man of very few words but when he speaks it is on purpose [and] what I have often admired in him is he [has] always avoided saying anything of the actions in which he has engaged in the last war. [H]e is uncommonly modest, very industrious - prudent." Charles Willson Peale to Edmond Jennings, August 1775

The Strange Case of George Washington’s Disappearing Sash

How an early (and controversial) symbol of the American republic was lost to the annals of history

"America is lost!" wrote George III.

Now We’ll Finally Get to See the American Revolution Through the Eyes of King George

A treasure trove of nearly 350,000 documents, about to be released to the public, reveals new insights about how George III lost the colonies

Ask Smithsonian

When Was the First Map Produced and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

The Boston Light still shines brightly at night in Boston Harbor.

Cool Finds

The Oldest Lighthouse in the United States Just Celebrated 300 Years of Service

The Boston Light still welcomes sailors to Boston Harbor

Who will be the next Hamilton?

Which Great American Should Be Immortalized With the Next Big Broadway Musical?

Hamilton has caught the nation’s attention. A panel of Smithsonian writers and curators suggest who’s next.

Tankard made in Westerwald, German , found along with lots of tanning debris in a privy associated with a small house on an alley that probably be longed to tanner.

Cool Finds

Tens of Thousands of Artifacts Have Been Found in Colonial Philadelphia Toilets

Archaeologists excavating the site of the Museum of the American Revolution found a dozen privy pits full of pottery, printing supplies and animal bones

Likely made from a cow’s horn, this Revolutionary War era gunpowder holder belonged to patriot fighter Prince Simbo.

Breaking Ground

The Revolutionary War Patriot Who Carried This Gunpowder Horn Was Fighting for Freedom—Just Not His Own

Simbo, an African-American patriot, fought for his country’s liberty and freedom even as a large population remained enslaved

The library's current location isn't where Hamilton and Burr read books, but the membership library still owns books that they checked out.

Cool Finds

This Library Has Books Checked Out by Hamilton and Burr

The New York Society Library was wide enough for both men

An exterior rendering of the museum, set to open in April 2017.

A New Museum Is Bringing Relics of the Revolutionary War Into Public View for the First Time in Decades

Scheduled to open next year in Philadelphia, the museum will immerse visitors into the time when the American colonies became the United States

Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr in "Hamilton"

Before There Was “Hamilton,” There Was “Burr”

Although Gore Vidal’s book never became a hit on Broadway, the novel helped create the public personae of Alexander Hamilton’s nemesis

The Liberty Tree in colonial-era Boston

The Story Behind a Forgotten Symbol of the American Revolution: The Liberty Tree

While Boston landmarks like the Old North Church still stand, the Liberty Tree, gone for nearly 250 years, has been lost to history

In 1781, Arnold ordered British troops to burn New London, Connecticut.

Why Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor Against the American Revolution

The story behind the most famous betrayal in U.S. history shows the complicated politics of the nation’s earliest days

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin Was One-Fifth Revolutionary, Four-Fifths London Intellectual

The enterprising Philadelphian was late to adopt the revolutionary cause, but infused America with English ideals

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (Mrs. Alexander Hamilton), 1787, Ralph Earl (1751-1801).

Cool Finds

Elizabeth Hamilton Once Posed for a Portrait in a New York City Prison

There was a dire need for painters to immortalize America’s elites

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, circa 1787.

Why Elizabeth Hamilton Is Deserving of a Musical of Her Own

How the founding father’s wife kept their love alive in the face of tragedy

Students pledged to speak only Latin, Greek or Hebrew in each other's company in this 1712 note.

Cool Finds

Read About Drama, Politics, Breakfast in These Newly Digitized Colonial Documents

An ambitious Harvard University project brings history to life, archiving nearly half a million documents online

A fragment of a scuttled Revolutionary War-era ship discovered at a Virginia construction site.

Trending Today

Revolutionary War-Era Ship Found at Hotel Construction Site

The scuttled ship could reveal new details about how American colonists built their boats

Illustration of the slave revolt in Haiti, and what slaveholders in the United States feared.

History of Now

The History of the United States’ First Refugee Crisis

Fleeing the Haitian revolution, whites and free blacks were viewed with suspicion by American slaveholders, including Thomas Jefferson

This 1789 illustration by W.D. Cooper recreates the protest of December 16, 1773.

Trending Today

For the First Time in 242 Years, British Tea Will Be Dumped Into the Boston Harbor

Drink up, patriots!

The manuscript found in the attic

An Intern Saved a Museum by Finding This Revolutionary War Treasure in the Attic

The obvious lesson: never throw anything away

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