American Revolution Institute

Today in 1780, the Battle of Waxhaws, also known as the Waxhaws Massacre, unfolded near the South Carolina/North Carolina border.

After marching more than 100 miles in less than three days, British dragoons under Banastre Tarleton surrounded a small detachment of the Continental Army, which was retreating out of South Carolina, led by Col. Abraham Buford. Tarleton’s demanded immediate surrender. Buford rebuked him, writing, “Sir, I reject your proposal and shall defend myself to the last extremity.”

Tarleton’s response was swift and fierce, causing such disarray that Buford’s men did not have time to fire their field canon. Reports that Patriot troops were denied quarter by Tarleton’s dragoons—attacked while attempting to surrender—gave rise to the rally cry: “Remember Waxhaws!” British Army officer and historian Charles Stedman later summarized the battle: “on this occasion the virtue of humanity was entirely forgot.”

Our library holds a copy of this illustration depicting Waxhaws from Harper’s Weekly, which was published in the 1858 version of “on this day in history.”

The Institute is excited to honor two exceptionally talented educators who have been named teachers of the year by the Society of the Cincinnati for their dedication to education on the American Revolution in the states of South Carolina and Virginia.

On May 11, Brock Beaver received the 2025-2026 South Carolina Society of the Cincinnati Excellence in Education Award at a meeting of the Dorchester School District Two Board of Trustees in Summerville. Brock is a curriculum specialist with a “deep passion for the founding of our nation and the long war that made it possible.” The award was presented by Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina President Bill Marshall and Education Committee Chairman George “Pat” Apperson.

On May 12, the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia’s Education Committee Chairman, Jack Hayes, Ph.D., presented the 2025-2026 Virginia Teacher of the Year Award to educator John Ferguson at a meeting of the Radford City School Board. John is a history teacher and history department chair at Radford High School who views the revolution as “a transformative moment in world history, marking the establishment of a republican government founded on the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence.”

Image 1: (left to right) Superintendent Chad Daugherty, Bill Marshall, Brock Beaver, George “Pat” Apperson, and Board Chair Dr. Ashley Wimberly (with the Dorchester Board seated in the background)

Image 2: Dr. Jack “Jay” Hayes presenting the award certificate to John Ferguson, surrounded by Superintendent Dr. Adam Joyce (between Dr. Hayes and Mr. Ferguson) and the members of the Radford City School Board

The Revolutionary War’s westernmost battle, the Battle of St. Louis, happened on this day, May 26, 1780. Spain had entered the war in 1779, making St. Louis—then a part of Spanish Louisiana—a British target. To protect this river settlement and maintain control of the upper Mississippi, Spanish lieutenant governor Fernando de Leyba ordered the construction of Fort San Carlos, which was completed only weeks before the attack. Also known as the Battle of Fort San Carlos, the Battle of St. Louis ended with a small number of Spanish soldiers and local militia defeating a larger British force, mostly composed of Indigenous allies and Canadian traders and militia.

For more about this encounter, watch our Year in Revolution video “The Frontier,” chronicling the struggle between Britain and the United States for control of the western frontier—a vast region stretching beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Drawing on new and old alliances, both sides attempted to gain an upper hand in armed engagements at Kaskasia, Cahokia, St. Louis, and Vincennes located in the present-day states of Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana.

Year in Revolution 1780: The Frontier In this video, Britain and the United States vie for control of the...

The American Revolution was not just a military and political struggle; it was a profound test of principle. A desire to secure our highest ideals—liberty and self-determination—for generations yet unborn empowered the Revolutionary generation to give freely of “their Lives, their Fortunes and their sacred Honor.”

This Memorial Day, we honor all Americans who gave their last full measure in defense of our nation and its ideals across the span of two and a half centuries—sacrifices that began with the American Revolution. As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the war that forged our nation, we are reminded that a free society requires an enduring commitment to its principles and historical memory.

Today, may we remember the fallen with gratitude, reflect upon the history of how our nation came to be, and recommit ourselves to the ideals for which Americans from every generation gave their lives.

Image: A detail of America. To those, who wish to sheathe the desolating sword of war : and, to restore the blessings of peace and amity, to a divided people, this plate is most respectfullly address'd by R.E. Pine, 1781. Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection. The Society of the Cincinnati.

Walk Weekend 2026 is just two weeks away on June 6-7! This is your opportunity to visit Anderson House free of charge and explore the museum spaces at your leisure, visit our exhibition Voices of Revolution, and talk with staff and docents about our history and headquarters. Many of our partners in the Dupont-Kalorama Museum Consortium will be open for free too.

To learn more about Walk Weekend 2026, including the participating sites, click here: https://bit.ly/4dzMr5c

In late May 1781, George Washington, accompanied by Henry Knox, arrived in Wethersfield, Connecticut, to meet with French officers led by the comte de Rochambeau. The officers met at the home of Joseph Webb, brother of Washington’s aide-de-camp Samuel Blachley Webb. The meeting, known as the Wethersfield Conference, resulted in the plan that led to the Siege of Yorktown. During the meeting, Washington argued for a joint assault on the British stronghold in New York City while Rochambeau supported a march south for a combined offensive against the British in Virginia, taking advantage of Admiral de Grasse’s fleet of ships being able to maneuver the Chesapeake Bay.

The conference ended with a flexible strategy. The generals created plans for both New York and Virginia—waiting for information on British troop strength in New York as well as news of the location and expected date of arrival of de Grasse’s fleet.

Image: Detail of Washington et Rochambeau donnant les derniers ordres pour l'attaque d'Yorck-Town, engraved by Felix Massard after Louis-Charles-Auguste Couder. [Paris], ca. 1840. The Society of the Cincinnati.

Join us next Wednesday, May 27 at 6:30 p.m. for an author’s talk featuring Rear Adm. John Palmer, U.S. Navy (Ret.), discussing his new book, Washington’s One-Man Army: The Life, Legends, and Battles of Peter Francisco, who was born in the Portuguese Azores in 1760, was kidnapped and brought to Virginia in 1765, and joined the Continental Army’s Virginia Line at the outbreak of the American Revolution. Considered to be a larger-than-life soldier at 6 feet 6 inches tall, he served in the Battles of Brandywine, Germanton, Monmouth, Stony Point, and Guilford Courthouse. Admiral Palmer tells the true story of this fascinating figure’s military service by separating fact from fiction and debunking the many myths and legends that have arisen about him over the last two centuries.

Learn more and register for the program at: https://bit.ly/4fh7En9

How does a weapon tell us about leadership in the Continental Army and the struggle for American independence in 1776?

This British carbine in our collections was made in 1762 for British light dragoons and was in storage at the Tower of London when the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775. In early 1776, it was on its way to America, among the cargo of the transport ship Hope to supply British troops then under siege in Boston. In mid-May 1776, an American privateer captured the Hope and its cargo, including this carbine among 1,000 fi****ms, 4 cannon, and 1,500 pounds of gunpowder.

In the months that followed, Continental Army officers fought over the captured cargo and George Washington struggled to assert his authority over it. By the end of the summer of 1776, the carbines were issued to Continental troops in New York City, where the main army anticipated a British attack. First, examples like this one were altered for American use, replacing the wood stock with cherry and adding French-style brass barrel bands.

Read more of this caribine's fascinating story: https://bit.ly/4eRzrKz

Did you catch us on C-SPAN's America’s Book Club recently? We had the pleasure of hosting a recording of that program that featured David Rubenstein and historian Heather Cox Richardson, Ph.D., for an interview and discussion about her career as a scholar, author, and podcaster.

As an accompaniment to the program’s hour-long interview, Mr. Rubenstein and Dr. Richardson joined our library director, Thomas Lannon, for a special private viewing of various treasures from our library collections that included manuscripts, a broadside, an orderly book, and the Society of the Cincinnati’s founding document, the Institution.

Watch a recording of this special viewing here:

America's Book Club Treasures with Heather Cox Richardson America's Book Club -- David Rubenstein and Heather Cox Richardson explore the archive of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati....

The Anglo-French naval battles off Martinique in 1780 are captured in two illustrated French battle charts created for François-Jean de Beauvoir, marquis de Chastellux.

Housed in our library collections, the charts trace fleet movements and battle phases during encounters between Admiral Sir George Rodney and the comte de Guichen. Chastellux later served as liaison between Generals Rochambeau and Washington during the American Revolution.

The first chart depicts ten phases of the Battle of Martinique on April 17, 1780. The second illustrates the final engagement of May 19. Both retain the blind stamp of the Archives de Chastellux.

Though tactically indecisive, the battles helped preserve French naval power in the Caribbean and laid groundwork for later French operations culminating at Yorktown in 1781.

These rare visual records show how eighteenth-century naval warfare was mapped and studied in real time.