American Revolution

A dedication marker outside of the damaged Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.

Black Soldiers Played an Undeniable but Largely Unheralded Role in Founding the United States

Veterans like Prince Hall fought for independence and then abolition in the earliest days of the nation

A woman reaches for a copy of Life on a New York City newsstand in 1936.

How Magazines Helped Shape American History

Explore 300 years of the periodical in an encyclopedic exhibition opening at the Grolier Club in New York City

An illustration of the British burning Washington in 1814

The History of Violent Attacks on the U.S. Capitol

While the building has seen politically motivated mayhem in the past, never before has a mob of insurrectionists tried to overturn a presidential election

Mills (left) and Buck (right) use painstakingly gathered documents to spread knowledge of local black history.

Meet the 'Detectives' Documenting New Jersey's Overlooked Black History

Beverly Mills and Elaine Buck have spent more than a decade exploring neglected local stories

Halahtookit, a Nez Perce man, widely believed to be the son of William Clark.

Are There Native Descendants of the Lewis and Clark Expedition? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got questions. We've got experts

“The postal service is one of the oldest federal agencies,” says Daniel Piazza, a curator of philately at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum. “Maybe for that reason, we tend to take it for granted. But we have always relied on it, whether for news from home, prescription medications or e-commerce.”

A Brief History of the United States Postal Service

To forge a nation, the founders needed an efficient communications network

Archaeologists with the South Carolina Battlefield Preservation Trust found Tar Bluff battlefield with the help of a British officer's hand-drawn map.

Archaeologists Locate the South Carolina Battlefield Where Patriot John Laurens Died

The Revolutionary War officer was notoriously reckless and fought alongside George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette

Nancy Baker Cahill's Liberty Bell, as seen over the National Mall

This AR Artwork Reimagines Historical Spaces Across the U.S.

Nancy Baker Cahill's red, white and blue "Liberty Bell" rings over sites in six major cities

The Stenton House, circa 1865 to 1914

Philadelphia Will Memorialize Dinah, an Enslaved Woman Who Saved the City's Historic Stenton House in 1777

Currently in the works, the new monument will honor her contributions and legacy with a contemplative space

This engraving by Paul Revere offered a specific argument about what happened that day in Boston.

A Fresh Look at the Boston Massacre, 250 Years After the Event That Jumpstarted the Revolution

The five deaths may have shook the colonies, but a new book examines the personal relationships forever changed by them too

This detail of a map, one of many in the collection of cartographic enthusiast George III, shows the Saint Lawrence River and Quebec during the French and Indian War in 1759, the year before George became King of England (and its American colonies).

These Newly Digitized Military Maps Explore the World of George III

The last British monarch to reign over the American colonies had a collection of more than 55,000 maps, each with their own story to tell

The cabin is believed to date to the 1700s.

18th-Century Log Cabin Discovered Beneath Condemned Pennsylvania Bar

The structure can be saved, experts say, but whether it can stay in the local community remains unclear

Washington, who tended to favor surprisingly silly names for his animals—his dogs answered to Sweetlips, Drunkard and Madame Moose—went literal when it came to the mule, who he called Royal Gift.

George Washington Saw a Future for America: Mules

A newly minted celebrity to the world, the future president used his position to procure his preferred beast of burden from the king of Spain

Jacob Lawrence, . . .again the rebels rushed furiously on our men. — a Hessian soldier, Panel 8, 1954, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954-56

How Jacob Lawrence Painted a Radical History of the American Struggle

The Peabody Essex Museum is reuniting a series of paintings that explore the hidden stories of the nation's formative years

“Their bone size indicates that they were probably militiamen,” says archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni. "Their femur bones show that they clearly walked a lot and carried a lot of weight back in their day.”

Skeletons Unearthed in Connecticut May Belong to Revolutionary War Soldiers

If confirmed, the bones would be the first remains recovered from Revolutionary War soldiers in the Constitution State

An unknown thief stole the historic rifle in a brazen 1971 heist.

Revolutionary War Rifle Stolen 50 Years Ago Recovered at Barn Sale

The long rifle, made by master gunsmith Johann Christian Oerter, will go on view at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia

Patriots toppled the statue in July 1776, but British Loyalists rescued and hid some of the fragments

You Could Own an Amputated Arm From the George III Statue Toppled at Bowling Green

The 18th-century lead fragment was unearthed in a Connecticut resident's garden in 1991

Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre

Exploring Paul Revere’s Legacy Beyond His Famed Midnight Ride

Before becoming an American legend, the Revolutionary War hero was best known as a skilled artisan, activist and entrepreneur

Drone shot of the dig

'Seditious' Pressed Glass Jewel Found in 18th-Century North Carolina Tavern

The bead is imprinted with 'Wilkes and Liberty 45,' a code for those who opposed the policies of George III

Engraving by George Graham. From a drawing by William Beastall, which was based on a painting by Joseph Stone.

Diary Sheds Light on Deborah Sampson, Who Fought in the Revolutionary War

Historians agree that Sampson dressed as a man and enlisted in the military, but many details of her extraordinary life remain unclear

Page 3 of 8