Additional Revolution War Quick Links
Prominent Patriots in the Struggle for Independence
John Adams – our second President. This site has his inaugural address.
John Barry – father of the U.S. Navy
Gen. Johann de Kalb was the only American general to die with his troops during the Revolutionary War.
Benjamin Franklin – prominent scientist and statesman.
Bernardo de Gálvez – Governor of Spanish Louisiana (which extended from Texas to Florida and up into Georgia). During the Revolution Spain joined the battle against England and ordered Gálvez to action. He defeated the British in Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola, St. Louis and Fort St. Joseph (Michigan), relieving British pressure on General George Washington’s armies and opening supply lines for money and military goods from Spain, France, Cuba, and Mexico (which included much of what is now the western part of the United States).
Thomas Jefferson – our third President, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
- Thomas Jefferson’s papers at the University of Virginia.
- This site has his First Inaugural Address.
- This site has his Second Inaugural Address.
Col. Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-born architect of American fortifications, later a hero in struggles for independence in several other nations
The Marquis de La Fayette, whose name was Gilbert du Motier was a French officer who volunteered for service in the American Army and served with brilliance throughout the War, rising to the rank of Major General. After the American revolution he returned to France and wrote “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (for more see our documents page). After the French Revolution La Fayette sent George Washington the key to the Bastille. This was where French political prisoners had been kept prior to the French Revolution. The key has been displayed in the entry hall of Mt. Vernon (Washington’s home) for over 200 years.
James Madison – our fourth President – is called the “Father of the Constitution”
James Monroe – our fifth President – was the only President besides George Washington to bear arms in the Revolution.
- The Monroe Doctrine (1823) made it the policy of the United States to prevent further colonization of the American continent by European nations.
Thomas Paine is known as the “Penman of the Revolution”. He also participated in the French Revolution.
General Casimir Pulaski was born on 1747 March 4 in Poland. He joined the Revolution in 1777, was at Valley Forge, and fought at Brandywine and Germantown. He suffered mortal injuries during a heroic charge in the Siege of Savannah GA and died two days later on 1779 Oct 11, now set aside by Congress as Pulaski Day.
Paul Revere was a silversmith and patriot who rode to warn the patriots v of a British troop movement, was arrested in the process, but was nevertheless immortalized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
General Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Von Steuben was the drillmaster of the American army at Valley Forge and provided the essential elements of discipline and confidence to the struggling young army.
George Washington – Commander-in-Chief during the Revolution, and its first President — known as the “Father of His Country”
- Farewell Address to the Congress (1796)
- Papers of George Washington Collection
- Proclamation of the First National Thanksgiving (1787)
