r/revolutionarywar

I think one of the things history classes accidentally do is make the Founding Fathers feel untouchable.

Like they were all confident, powerful men standing in a room knowing they were about to create the United States.

But a lot of them genuinely had no idea if they were signing their own death warrants.

I went down a rabbit hole recently while working on a Virtual Wayback project about three signers of the Declaration: Benjamin Rush, Abraham Clark, and Lewis Morris.

And honestly, the personal cost surprised me.

Rush was one of the best-known doctors in the colonies. Supporting independence was not some safe career move for him. He risked destroying his reputation and medical practice by publicly backing what Britain considered open rebellion. Later in life he became obsessed with trying to repair the hatred and division between former founders because the Revolution and the politics afterward completely shattered a lot of friendships.

Lewis Morris was rich. He had status, land, privilege, everything people usually try to protect during unstable times. The British occupied and damaged his estate during the war because of his support for independence. He basically chose revolution knowing full well he had more to lose than most people.

But Abraham Clark’s story was the one I couldn’t stop thinking about.

Clark wasn’t one of the elite famous founders people usually talk about. He was known as “the poor man’s signer” because he pushed for ordinary farmers and common people politically. During the Revolution, two of his sons were captured by the British and imprisoned aboard the Jersey prison ship.

Those prison ships were horrific. Disease, starvation, abuse, overcrowding. Thousands died on them.

From what I’ve read, the British basically hinted that his sons could receive better treatment if Clark backed away from the revolutionary cause.

He refused.

I genuinely don’t know what I would’ve done in that situation.

That’s the side of the Revolution I think gets lost sometimes. These weren’t symbols yet. They were people making decisions while terrified, angry, uncertain, and risking things that were deeply personal.

We ended up making a new Virtual Wayback video/conversation about these three signers and what they sacrificed after signing the Declaration.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/shorts/-03nB6e_SkQ

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17nhFhoEU8/

https://www.tiktok.com/@virtualwayback/video/7641997557614267655

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYkMuyTpGT3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

BLOG: https://virtualwayback.com/blog/price-of-a-signature

You can also talk with them yourself here: Virtual Wayback

Would you still sign the Declaration if you knew it could destroy your family, career, property, and future?

We've started a new loylist in new england, portraying the kings loyal Americans. If you're in the area and are interested pls DM me! We are looking for new members to tell the storys and faithfully and unbiasly represent the colonists who fought with the crown

Samuel Sprague died in 1844, this photograph was taken in 1842. For reference, the Boston Tea Party happened in 1773 when Samuel was in his 20s.

I got this large oil painting at auction last year. It is unsigned and it was listed as a late 19th century Colonial Revival painting. However, I can't quite decipher the scene here. Does anybody recognize who these men might be or what the symbolism of the red banner, flag, etc. depicts?

Does anybody know what specific flag is shown in the bottom right? Appears to have a Union jack as well as crossed keys. I know both early American flags and British flags had the Union Jack.

Mainly curious if this would be an American scene or a British scene.

Thank you!

June 23, 1780, Springfield, New Jersey. In the last major battle fought in the north during the American Revolution, several British and Hessian attempts to attack the Continental Army at Morristown resulted in the battles of Connecticut Farms (now Union, NJ) on June 7 and Springfield on June 23. In a well-known and probably apocryphal story, the Rev. James Caldwell gave a stack of hymnals by a clergyman names Watts to Continental artillerymen who were running out of wadding for their guns. Caldwell's wife Hannah had been killed by British soldiers during the fight at Connecticut Farms. Her death is immortalized on the seal of Union County. Caldwell himself would be killed by an American sentry on November 24, 1781. He and his wife are buried in Elizabeth, NJ.

Just a note - I grew up in Caldwell NJ, and attended James Caldwell High School. I've also lived in Elizabeth, which has quite the Revolutionary history. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr attended the same school there at roughly the same time.....

Served as a lieutenant colonel under the swamp fox Francis Marion was later promoted as brigadier general of the South Carolina State militia. Has an often mispronounced County named after him.

A lot of people know the famous names behind the Declaration of Independence, but some of the most important stories belong to men almost nobody talks about anymore.

Caesar Rodney from Delaware was seriously ill in 1776. He suffered from asthma and what was likely facial cancer, severe enough that he often covered part of his face with a green silk scarf. Delaware’s delegation was split on independence, and without him, the colony probably would have voted against breaking from Britain. When he got word that Congress was deadlocked, Rodney rode through a thunderstorm overnight from Dover to Philadelphia, arriving exhausted just in time to cast the deciding vote for independence.

Thomas Lynch Jr. has an equally strange story. He was one of the youngest signers of the Declaration, but he was already physically deteriorating by his mid-20s after contracting malaria during military service. He actually entered Congress because his father, Thomas Lynch Sr., suffered a stroke and became too ill to continue. Father and son briefly served together in Congress before the elder Lynch became completely incapacitated.

What’s even more surprising is how tragic Lynch Jr.’s story became afterward. His health kept declining, and a few years later he disappeared at sea with his wife while sailing to Europe. Nobody knows exactly what happened to them.

Both men were wealthy, respected, and had plenty to lose. Neither was in good health. But both still chose to support independence at a moment when failure could have cost them everything.

We made a Virtual Wayback episode imagining conversations with both figures based on their documented lives, writings, and actions.

Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/JgVoBsZZiCc

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYXvjX0NzEq/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.tiktok.com/@virtualwayback/video/7640203027424627986?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18Xtk5xXMw/

You can also talk with Caesar Rodney and Thomas Lynch Jr. yourself at Virtual Wayback and ask your own questions about their lives, decisions, and the American Revolution.

I had this show on DVD growing up, now it's on YouTube for free. There are some major actors playing different characters in this show.

This is also the reason I know the Spanish were part of the War.

I like this show so much!

As accurate as I could get for a shot pouch and horn used by a frontier rifleman or militiaman around the 1770’s.

People usually treat American independence like it became inevitable after Lexington and Concord.

It really wasn’t.

By spring 1776, many colonial leaders still hoped reconciliation with Britain was possible, especially in the South. And no colony mattered more than Virginia.

Virginia was the largest and most politically influential colony in British America. Its elite had deep economic and social ties to Britain, and many of its leaders had far more to lose from revolution than the average patriot in Boston.

That’s why the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg was such a huge moment.

In May 1776, Virginia officially moved toward independence and instructed its delegates in Philadelphia to support separation from Britain. Figures like Thomas Nelson Jr. helped make that transition possible.

A few weeks later, Richard Henry Lee introduced the resolution declaring that the colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

I made a video about this overlooked turning point because it genuinely feels like one of the moments where the Revolution stopped being resistance and started becoming a new nation.

Video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/qq5nF_hrJR8

https://www.tiktok.com/@virtualwayback/video/7639374243783920904

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYR_i9IBzV7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18kVJVcj5e/

https://history-maps.com/boards/uniforms-of-the-american-revolution
The figures in white coats are soldiers from the Spanish Louisiana Regiment, and those in red coats are from the Company of Free Blacks of Havana.

https://history-maps.com/boards/uniforms-of-the-american-revolution

An early Revolutionary War moment in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 22, 1775, just after news of Lexington and Concord reached the town.

The mounted officer in red is Benedict Arnold, before his later betrayal of the American cause. At this point he was a Patriot militia captain, leading the Governor’s Second Company of Guards, also called the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guards. Their red uniforms can make them look like British troops, but here they are American Patriot militia, not British regulars.

The scene takes place outside Beers Tavern, where New Haven’s selectmen were gathered. Arnold needed ammunition before marching to join the Patriot forces near Boston, but the town’s powder house was locked and the officials had the keys. The painting captures the confrontation: Arnold and his armed men press the civilian authorities to hand over access to the powder, flints, and ammunition.