- [Narrator] Next, we'll examine a map of Colonial Newport and discover the story behind this 13 star flag, learn about the significance of the actions depicted in this painting, and how this drum played a role in the fight for independence.

These are the stories of the American Revolution, as preserved and told by local institutions in this special edition of "Treasures Inside the Museum."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) On July 4th, 1776, the 13 colonies in North America formally declared their independence from British rule.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) The road to American independence passed throughout the colonies, including here in New England, where so much history was made.

The fight took place in our cities and towns, in small villages and open fields.

The war for independence was fought by a hastily assembled Continental Army and by minutemen called from their homes in the middle of the night.

The events that led up to our independence, and those that followed, are well chronicled in museums and institutions across Southern New England.

Stories are told through exhibits, collections of artifacts, and preserved in the personal writings of our Founding Fathers.

Colonial homes from that era are still dotted all across our region, with more than a few preserved as house museums.

They were once the homes of merchants and farmers, of visionaries and patriots.

One of those patriots was Joshua Babcock, whose story is told here at his home on the original post road in what was then known as Kings County.

Babcock was a doctor and statesman who shared his perspective and ideas in correspondence with Benjamin Franklin.

- [Benjamin] "Dear, sir, I have been favored with yours by your valuable sons, on whose promising worth I congratulate you and the good Mrs.

Babcock.

I should be glad to see them oftener than I do.

The negotiations for a peace in which Canada was to be forever ceded to England are unfortunately broken off.

But there is nevertheless great reason to believe it will not be given up unless some fatal change should happen in our affairs.

I am with some serious esteem and affection.

Dear sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Ben Franklin."

- [Narrator] In addition to their letters, the two men are known to have spent time together at the Babcock home.

- Benjamin made the Babcock House the Westerly post office.

And Franklin was back and forth.

He went to Providence on occasion, and to Newport, and coming from Philadelphia through New York along what was known as the post road when Franklin instituted the postal system, he'd go through Westerly and stop.

- [Narrator] The house itself is a treasure, an outstanding example of Georgian style colonial architecture.

Both the home and grounds have been preserved, highlighted by exquisite detail throughout the house.

- This is an outstanding example of colonial architecture.

There are not too many houses that still survive in this area from this period, certainly not anything of the importance, architecturally, of this house.

- There are four features of this house which make it considered a mansion in the colonial era.

The first is the width of the floorboards, because all wide lumber belonged to the king for ship building, and you had to be someone quite important to get away with having wide floorboards in your house.

The second is the height of the ceilings.

In the colonial era, people were shorter, and ceilings were low because you heated your house with fireplaces, and of course, heat rises.

So it was most unusual to have a house with ceilings this high.

It showed that he was very prosperous, that he could afford to heat a house of this size.

The third reason this house is considered a mansion is the beautiful corner cupboard in the corner, which has triple columns with triple pilasters, a beautiful scallop shell motif in the top.

The fourth thing in this house which is most unusual in a colonial farmhouse is the banister in the front hall, which is a beautiful carved banister.

- [Narrator] Built in 1734, this home is carefully curated with furniture and artifacts and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

30 miles to the north is another house museum that honors one of General Washington's most celebrated officers.

This is the homestead of Major General Nathanael Greene, whose leadership in the early days of the Revolution would earn him the position Commander of the Continental Army.

A single cannon sits outside the home, facing east.

Inside, this original portrait of the general has survived for over 200 years, along with items from his uniform.

(gentle music) - This right here is Nathanael Greene, Major General Nathanael Greene.

He was actually Washington's number two throughout the Revolutionary War, starting at Valley Forge in 1778.

This particular painting right here is the only known portrait that he actually sat for.

(gentle music continues) The red piece that you're seeing right here, most called it a sash.

It started with General Washington.

He actually grabbed a blue one that he called a ribbon, and it was a ribbon to distinguish himself is what he said.

Both General Greene, and Colonel for most of the war, but General later on, Knox, had a red sash that they would wear.

So this red sash is right here, right in front of me.

This is a red silk sash that has actually lasted through the time and been passed down.

So this sash is over 250 years old.

It was made during the Revolutionary War.

And the fact that you could see some red in here is very amazing, 'cause both velvet and silk, and especially the color red, don't last any kind of light hitting on it.

But here we are, we're looking at red, and you can see some of the gold, which much of the color it should be after it fades after a while.

So we're really lucky to have this in the first place, but also have it with the color shown as what he was wearing it.

We're really excited to have it on display here.

And this is Nathanael Greene's actual powder horn that he carried through the Revolutionary War.

So, two of the things that he carried for the whole eight years when he was in the war is right here on this table.

- [Narrator] Much of what we know about Nathanael Greene comes from letters written in correspondence with other leading patriots.

- This piece here is actually a desk that was owned by the General himself.

He's said to have sat here and wrote many of letters to friends, to the General, to George Washington.

- [Nathanael] "March 18th, 1781.

Dear sir, Lord Cornwallis will not give up this country without being soundly beaten.

I wish our force was more competent, but I am in hopes by little and little to reduce him in time.

His troops are good, well found, and fight with great obstinacy.

With esteem and regard, I am your most obedient, humble servant, Nathanael Greene."

- And to think that we have something that he would sit here at and study and read and write all of these wonderful letters, such as this one here, it's just really cool to think that this was personally used by him at some of his most hard times, and even good times.

I think some of the simplicity in this desk is the fact that they did kind of, being a Quaker family, Quakers weren't flashy people, so they weren't very often, you know, with the most fancy things, and I think that really was just the simplicity and the use of just, it's a desk.

It doesn't need to be an elaborate, grand, beautiful thing.

- [Narrator] At the Nathanael Greene Homestead, there are countless examples of original period pieces, many original to the home, and many very personal.

Each item a reflection from a different chapter of the American story in the colonial era.

In Sudbury, Massachusetts, just a few miles from Lexington and Concord, a small campus includes a one room schoolhouse, a chapel, a stone grist mill, and Longfellow's Wayside Inn.

Previously known as Howe's Tavern, the inn is still open and includes a museum with artifacts connected to the Revolutionary War.

- This inn itself was built around 1702, and the first family that ran the tavern was David and Hepzibah Howe, and David is the one who's responsible for actually building the inn.

A son of David and Hepzibah was a man named Colonel Ezekiel Howe.

He's probably one of the most well known of the Howe family innkeepers.

And this was his hunting sword.

And he's probably most well known for his involvement in the Revolutionary War.

On April 19th, 1775, when the British had walked from Boston to Concord to try and seize military supplies from the American colonists, a Concord express rider had come and sounded the alarm, and so Sudbury received the alarm around 3:00 or 4:00 AM, and immediately, all the men mustered into service.

And so Colonel Ezekiel Howe led two of these companies, and by 9:00 AM, they had reached Concord.

And so we have his hunting sword here.

This is different from a military sword in that it was smaller and much lighter, and would've been just used on any type of hunting expedition.

But it also kind of was used for ceremonial and decorative purposes, so you have a really beautiful ornate handle.

We also have a silver pocket watch.

This belonged to Colonel Ezekiel Howe's son, Ezekiel Jr.

He did also participate in the Revolutionary War.

And so one of the most pivotal battles was the Battle of Saratoga in Upstate New York in 1777.

And according to family lore, Ezekiel Jr.

was severely injured in that battle.

And fearing that he would die, he purchased this pocket watch from an officer in Burgoyne's army for 30 silver dollars with the intention of sending it back to his betrothed, Sarah Read.

But of course, he did not die, he recovered and returned home, and they were married.

We can't verify the accuracy of that story, but we're so glad to be able to put this on display so people can see it.

- [Narrator] The watch and sword are another example of how museums use physical objects to turn the American Revolution from abstract story into something tangible.

Ordinary items are made extraordinary by context, helping to explain the human experience of the war.

(gentle music) At the Rhode Island State House, a much more extraordinary artifact stands out for being one of the most progressive documents in colonial America.

It outlines ideologies and principles that would help shape the mindset that led to the American Revolution.

The document is so precious that it now lives in a special room inside the Rhode Island State Capitol.

- The State Charter Museum on the first floor tells the story of the founding of Rhode Island.

But the feature is the charter itself, and it's in remarkable condition.

The charter was attained by Roger Williams from King Charles II in 1663.

It is an unbelievable document, so unbelievable that it served as our state constitution till 1842.

So all the other original colonies after the Declaration of Independence wrote their own constitutions within 10 years, and we did not do so until 1842 because this charter was so groundbreaking.

It allowed for religious freedom, obviously.

It was the place where the wall of separation of church and state was erected in America.

But it also allowed for self-government, full self-government, to elect not only the governor, but the members of the General Assembly.

It allowed for freedom of conscience, freedom of speech.

So it was really groundbreaking, not just here in America, but across the world.

And so that was replaced in 1842, but Rhode Islanders and people from around the world, around the country, can visit that charter and take a look at the majesty, really, around that document.

(gentle music continues) I think Rhode Island is known as the birthplace of religious freedom in America.

This charter charts that course.

And we wanna make sure it's preserved correctly.

So the Charter Museum, because of its lighting, temperature control, the safety around the document itself, allows us to not only preserve the document, but make it accessible to the people.

- [Narrator] 100 years later, on May 4th, 1776, Rhode Island was the first colony to declare its independence from the King of England with the passing of an act of renunciation.

- So this is an act that the General assembly passed, renouncing the King of England.

We were the first colony to do this.

And I love it because it's a messy document.

You know, there's beautiful handwriting, but the whole first paragraph is actually crossed out, but you can still read what it said, and you can see people's thought processes.

Like, we started really inflammatory, and then we wrote into the second paragraph, and then the third.

And then somebody went back and said, "You know that first paragraph?

It's a little bit too much over the edge.

Let's taper it down."

And so crossed it out.

And so you see the messiness that government is in this one document, which turns out preceded pretty much everybody else in saying, "We want to be our own people.

We're no longer under this king."

- [Narrator] This document set the tone and precedent, essentially encouraging other colonies to take similar steps.

Two months later, the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence.

Upon its completion, each colony received an official copy.

In Rhode Island, that document is part of the collection at the State Archives.

- The State Archives has a really wide collection of documents and records, most of which are some form of paper.

One of the biggest things people would like to see the most is typically colonial documents.

(door beeps) This is a broadside or a printing of the Declaration of Independence that Rhode Island received as an announcement that it happened, essentially.

So it was printed.

And on the very bottom of this document, you can actually see it says, "A true copy," signed by John Hancock, and he's confirming that this is what happened, and this is the information they should be going on, essentially.

Because it's printed, you can see a little bit clearer, all of the signers in Rhode Islands are right here.

And it's Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery.

- [Narrator] The State Archives is home to more than 10 million letters, photographs, and documents, with additional records located in the library on the second floor of the Rhode Island State House, including documentation that references the official copy of the Declaration of Independence.

- We are a special collections library, but open to the public, so the materials just need to be used here.

And I've pulled a couple of our most historic items.

For the state of Rhode Island, our oldest item is the 1750 acts and resolves of the General Assembly.

Here's our very earliest printed volume.

It's the 1750 acts and resolves for the state of Rhode Island.

You can see it's in pretty good condition given its age.

This was somebody's personal copy, we're not sure whose, but they have their hand annotations written, their notes from the item from that assembly, and that was in Newport in May 1st, 1750.

And one of the things that I think is really neat about these volumes is that you can actually see history happening within them.

So for example, at the very end of the entry, they would close the session, and in this case, because it's colonial government, you can see that they're closing it with the phrase, "God save the King."

But if you look at our volume for July, 1776, again, you can see how government is changing in the record itself.

We open up, and in the very first pages, you see that they are signing on to the Declaration of Independence.

They're announcing that they're gonna read it in public in Newport the very next day, that they've asked for it to be printed and distributed around the state.

Within this General Assembly session, they're authorizing the continental currency.

They are declaring that loyalists are traitors and will be imprisoned.

So you're seeing the acts of independence happening in the moment.

And then as they close the session, you can see it ends with, "God save the United States" for the very first time.

So, objects like this are in our state library that anybody can access, come and see them, and engage with both the history of our state, as well as contemporary government as well.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] When words turned into actions, one of the first violent acts of resistance by American colonists against British authority took place in Rhode Island.

(fire roaring) (soldiers yelling) Having occurred more than a full year before the Boston Tea Party, the event is memorialized in this painting, exhibited by the Rhode Island Historical Society at the John Brown House.

(gentle music) - This piece is a rendition, a very famous rendition of the ship, Gaspee.

It's a British ship that was detailed to patrol the Narraganset Bay, and it's a forgotten, or I'd say, a lesser known event outside of Rhode Island.

Inside of Rhode Island, this, of course, is a very famous defining event for the state, as the first, I would say, our Boston Tea Party.

(fire roaring) (soldiers yelling) This painting was painted in 1892 by an artist named Brownell.

It is one of many paintings of the Gaspee, but it is the most famous.

The relation of the Gaspee to sugar is quite close.

In fact, the whole reason that the Gaspee was patrolling the sea coast was because of the Sugar Act of 1764.

In 1763, the British government commissioned the Navy to enforce customs, basically, the customs tax that was placed on sugar.

And so they sent something like 20 ships of war to the coast of the British colonies to patrol up and down, and to essentially seize cargoes that had not been declared.

Now, at this point, Rhode Island is... Rhode Island's economy depends on the rum trade.

So, lots of Rhode Island captains were running rum, and it was the basis of the Rhode Island economy in the mid 18th century, more than any other colony on the Eastern Seaboard.

And so one of the things that those British captains really were looking for was to make money, because a captain who seized illicit cargo would profit from that.

So, when we have Captain Duddingston of the Gaspee patrolling Narragansett Bay, he was looking to enforce law like a good British soldier or British Navy person, but he was also looking to line his pockets as much as possible.

So, what you have then is, essentially, someone who, you know, is making problems for Rhode Islanders, and Rhode Islanders didn't like it.

- [Narrator] The oil painting is significant because it shows what happened.

The burning of the Gaspee wasn't just vandalism, it was an organized act of defiance against British authority, and helped to put a target on the area.

At the time of the American Revolution, Newport was a significant strategic location, and would change hands more than any other major seaport in North America.

The stories of that period are preserved throughout the city in the many old homes that are still standing 250 years later, and in the institutions that remain.

The Redwood Library was one of the first lending libraries in America, but that community service was disrupted when occupying British troops used the building as a barracks.

Many of the books were damaged, but today, the original building serves in part as a gallery for colonial era portraits.

- We're not just poetry readings and leathery books.

We're also a museum.

So, that's very important.

We have two exhibition spaces.

And we show material.

- [Narrator] The Redwood is also home to special collections that include an early map that has survived.

- This is a map of Newport that was made in 1758 by Ezra Stiles.

Ezra Stiles was the librarian of the Redwood Library just before the Revolutionary War.

And in 1758, Ezra Stiles walked through the town, paced out his steps, and made this detailed map of all of these streets in this old quarter of Newport.

These are the wharfs running along Fame Street, extending out into the water.

Here is Long Wharf.

And there is a key for all of his notations.

Everywhere there is a two, it is a two story house.

Where there is a one, it is a one story house.

If there is an S, it is a shop, a store, or some other business.

And where there is a two with a slash through it, there is a two story house with two chimneys.

He's very precise in that.

One of the easiest ways to orient yourself when looking at the map is to find the old stone mill, and that tells you kind of exactly where you are when you're starting.

Here is Bellevue Ave, curving down into Touro, and turning into Fame Street along the way here.

(gentle music continues) This map gives us a good idea of where the structures in Newport were prior to the Revolutionary War.

When the revolution happened, the British occupied Newport, a lot of homes were destroyed, used either as firewood or for some other purpose.

So, the physical structure of Newport changed from the time before the revolution to after.

This map is usually in our vault.

We have a copy that is always on display in our reading room so that researchers can look at it.

Having the original in the vault protects it, preserves it for longer.

But it's very useful for anyone studying early Newport, so we have a very high quality copy that researchers can use.

- [Narrator] Just down the street from the Redwood Library is the Artillery Company of Newport, a company that actually predates the revolution.

- Newport Artillery Company was chartered in 1741 under the colonial government of King George II.

We've been here for 282 years.

The Armory was built for us in 1836.

It's actually a national historic landmark.

The ground floor is basically our museum.

- [Narrator] Collections here help visitors trace the military history of our nation.

And in the rich tapestry of the American narrative, few symbols represent an idea more powerfully than this rare item.

- So this flag is the Pine Tree Flag, otherwise known as Appeal to Heaven Flag.

It was used during the revolution by General George Washington to identify his frigates.

So it's actually considered one of the first US Navy flags.

- An appeal to heaven is an appeal to a higher power than the King, to God himself, to get us through the revolution.

The pine tree represented all the lumber the King was taking back to England to build his navy.

Our pine trees here in this country were taller, they were stronger.

So it's symbolic of the cause during the revolution.

If you look at the Boston Tea Party, they dumped the tea into the harbor.

That was symbolic.

It was mainly meant to stir up the patriots' opposition to the British government.

So an appeal to heaven is an appeal to a higher power.

- The flag is made of silk, and the branches of the trees are individually stitched.

This is the only one we see.

Any time we Google it and we look in the images, it's our flag.

- [Narrator] Two and a half centuries later, this flag continues to represent a moral compass, guiding Americans towards a more perfect union.

In Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the local historical society maintains a museum campus that is home to farming equipment, textiles, artifacts, and archives.

The collection includes several flags, but one in particular stands out.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - It's a 13 star flag.

This one is rare because of the way the stars are formatted.

If you are looking at a colonial revival flag, you might see the Betsy Ross formation, which is the circle formation.

This is different in the fact that it's a 4-5-4 star display of 13 stars.

This was actually, believe it or not, more common during the Revolutionary War.

It dispels some myths about how a 13 star flag should look.

There were actually many different formations for 13 star flags.

And 13 star flags were used from the Revolutionary War on to contemporary, to this time period, and they were used for a variety of different things.

And that's why the analysis is crucial, so we can really pinpoint the date of this flag.

There are historians that might be able to say, "Okay, I can date this flag," but usually, you wanna collaborate that with science, with scientific evidence.

So, that's why you do things like fiber ID identification, what is the flag made of?

And you do that under a microscope.

You can also do dye analysis in a laboratory.

You can do soil analysis.

From all of those things, it gives you more... It checks off the boxes as far as the provenance in dating the textile.

Ultimately, this flag isn't gonna last forever, but the goal of a conservator is to give it more time and to preserve its longevity.

- [Narrator] Preserving and conserving this kind of flag can be a challenge for any museum, but even more so for a small organization like the Portsmouth Historical Society.

The southern end of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is home to Fort Rodman, a Civil War era structure built to protect the area from confederate aggression.

The threat never materialized, but there's a lot of military history here at the nearby Fort Taber-Fort Rodman Military Museum.

While the museum primarily focuses on servicemen and women, there's also a significant collection of arms.

- We have weapons from the Revolutionary War up through the current time.

- [Narrator] Piecing together the provenance of a 250-year-old weapon can be a difficult task unless you know where to look.

- This is the oldest gun we have in the museum, an actual non-replica gun.

It's an actual militia musket.

Was issued to the militia during the Revolutionary War and on.

I had to go down, look at it, check out all the the markings, who manufactured it.

The lock is from Lane & Reed outta Boston, who were making locks for all different rifles, to include the militia muskets.

And this pattern, you look at the pattern that's designed here, and that's what tells you approximately when it was made.

Because you had a lock maker that made this part of the rifle.

Then you had a barrel maker who made this part of the rifle.

Then you had a stock that was made by someone else.

And that goes the old terminology, "Lock, stock, and barrel."

It has half cock.

You fill the pin with powder, you close it down, you would put it to full cock, then you would fire.

The flint will hit the pin, knocking it forward, and ignited the powder.

It goes into a little hole that goes into the powder that's within the barrel, and then it fires.

It is something that you don't see very often.

You see plenty of replicas, and we do have replicas in our cases, because you just can't find them.

And we happen to have this one hanging on the wall.

And I thought it was a replica right when I first saw it.

And it was unbelievable that it was an actual rifle.

This was not only a military weapon, it was also what the farmers and other people in Mass used to feed their families.

They would hunt with these.

And if anybody's ever shot one of these know, they were some good shots back then.

- [Narrator] The town of Bristol, Rhode Island, not only celebrates American history, but actually played a role in the American Revolution.

On nearby State Street, you can find a direct lineage to that period at the Bristol Train of Artillery.

- The Bristol Train of Artillery came into being in February 12th, 1776, and at that time, were ordered to and funded to bring a artillery unit together, and to recruit, to defend Bristol and Bristol Harbor.

- [Narrator] That unit has been active continuously ever since.

Today, they're most often seen with two of their prized cannons.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) - A lot of these cannons were captured by the American forces and stored after the Revolutionary War.

The history of these two cannons here, they were given to the Bristol Train of Artillery in 1797 for ceremonial purposes, and they've been used that way ever since.

We actually have five artillery pieces.

Four of them are on wheels, two of them are the brass cannons that you're looking at now.

We still use these brass cannons in parades, supporting the URI football games, and spend a lot of time maintaining and caring for them, even though we're using them today.

They are such wonderful, historical pieces.

- [Narrator] Thousands of cannons were used during the American Revolution by both the Continental Army and British forces, and many of them survived, since they were made out of durable materials like iron and bronze.

What makes some more valuable than others is when they can be tied to a specific battle or provenance.

That's the case in the Artillery Company of Newport, where a collection of four early American cannon were famously cast in Boston.

- These first four cannons here are our crown jewels.

They are four cannons cast by Paul Revere in the late 1700s.

- Every cannon on the floor still operates.

We're proud to have every piece.

And every piece in here has a piece of history.

There's a story behind it.

- So we know these cannons here were made by Paul Revere, because the state of Rhode Island paid an extra dollar to have the state seal cast into the barrel.

They're also serial numbered on the trunnions, and the serial numbers match up to a receipt from the Revere Foundry that is in the State Archives.

- [Narrator] The Paul Revere cannon can be examined up close at the museum, but throughout the year, there are special occasions when you can see them in action.

- Fire!

(cannon booming) Fire!

(guns firing) - We do take them out from time to time and use them for different ceremonies.

You'll see them at the Gaspee Parade, three of them.

(cannon booms) You will also see all four of them on the 4th of July down here in Newport, we do a 21 gun salute to the nation, as well as some other events throughout the state.

- [Narrator] The cannon are easily the most prized possession at the company's historic armory in Newport.

At the time of the American Revolution, artillery men were considered elite troops and were often distinguished on the battlefield by their unique caps.

Today, those caps are rare, but several museums do have variations in their collection, like at the Varnum Armory Museum.

- I think a lot of people, when they think of a military museum, they just think of guns and flags and uniforms.

But that's not where the magic is, in my view.

It's the stories behind them.

It's the people that use them.

And fortunately, for a lot of our collection, we know who used them, and it allows us to be able to give a much richer experience and really make a connection with people today to the past.

(gentle music) - These objects aren't just cold pieces of wood and steel, or, you know, painted silk on a flag.

They represent very real people, people who are just like them, who had the same needs and wants that they do.

They cared about their children, they got cold when it was cold out, and they got wet when it rained on 'em, and they answered their country's call.

They made enormous sacrifices.

And they didn't necessarily do it for themselves, they did it for other people.

- We have the provenance that tells us who used the object, who did it belong to, what events that it was a participant in or a witness to.

And it allows us to tell a much richer story about an object.

(gentle music) This you could arguably say is the historically most significant object in our entire collection.

It's a leather artillery helmet worn during the American Revolutionary War by Captain Lieutenant Benajah Carpenter of Providence, Rhode Island.

He was an officer in the United Train of Artillery Militia.

They were formed April 22nd, 1775, literally three days after the shot heard round the world at Lexington and Concord that touched off the American Revolution.

So you could look at this object and say you're looking at the beginnings of the American military.

It's an unusual design.

On the front of the bill, underneath, so you have the Rhode Island fouled anchor on the front, and underneath it, in Latin, it says, "In God, we hope."

Now, this is the traditional Rhode Island militia motto at the time, and later is shortened to, "Hope."

That's where our state motto comes from today.

- [Narrator] At the Old Colony History Museum in Massachusetts, their story covers almost 400 years.

Collections here include reflections of everyday life, a painting of a local revolutionary hero, and three 18th century hats.

One in particular is an example of how some soldiers customized their uniforms.

- This is one of the best stories in our collection.

This is a front piece of a cannoneer's miter, which is a hat, back to the American Revolution, and this was worn by a man named Toby Gilmore.

And he was born in Africa, sold into slavery, and eventually was working for the Gilmore family in Raynham, which is just one town over.

And at the time of the American Revolution, he enlisted, became a cannoneer, which is how he got this hat, and he served for a number of years.

He was at Valley Forge in 1777, and he survives the war.

This hat is bright red, and it would, again, it would be the front piece to his hat because he was a cannoneer, and cannoneers needed to be very visible on the battlefield.

And at the conclusion of the war, it was a policy in Massachusetts that counties received a few pieces of artillery.

And so Taunton received a cannon, and it was affectionately named Old Toby in honor of Toby.

He was well known.

Legend has that it was placed on Taunton Green and fired on the 4th of July 14 times, 13 for each of the colonies, and then one more time for George Washington.

- [Officer] Fire!

(cannon booms) - The front of the hat has stitching.

Here it says, "Federalism," and underneath, "Liberty," which was not uncommon for people to add patriotic slogans to their uniforms, just to sort of distinguish their commitment to the cause they were fighting for.

He actually earned his freedom by enlisting and fighting.

And he went back two more times, so he reenlisted when he could have just gone home and been a freed man.

He gets married.

He purchases some land.

His family kept his canteen, his hat, they kept it.

He had eight kids, he lives to be 80, and lived the rest of his life in Raynham, back here, but as a freed man.

- [Narrator] Telling the stories of museum artifacts through personal stories transforms objects from old things into meaningful human experiences.

The narrative becomes more immersive, and visitors are more engaged.

It's a practice embraced by museums of all sizes.

- The Carpenter Museum is one of the most fabulous small town museums in Massachusetts.

It has a collection of over 6,000 pieces.

It started in 1884 with a minister, George Tilton.

And when you come in, there's all kinds of different and interesting pieces to look at.

(gentle music) This right here is I think one of the most interesting pieces in our collection.

This is a Revolutionary War drum, and it was owned by Joseph Hiram Pierce.

He was a teenager when he used it in the Revolutionary War, and he was under Colonel Carpenter's regiment.

In the Revolutionary War, a drummer boy had a very important job.

His job was to communicate troop movements on the battlefield.

So his drum call could be heard over people shouting, over people screaming, over gunfire.

And his role was to take what the commander was telling him and transfer that information with his drum call to the soldiers on the battlefield.

(drums beating) And in camp, his role was very important.

He would have to do drum calls for people to get up, to come to meals, to do drills, to go to bed.

His job was so important that he actually had something on him, he carried a satchel, and that satchel had a cat of nine tails, which was a whip.

And if you've ever heard the expression, "Don't let the cat out of the bag," it comes from the drummer boy times.

So, if he didn't have his drum with him when he was sleeping, if he didn't have his drum with him at any time, that cat of nine tails would be used to lash him.

He would get whipped.

So, the expression, "Don't let the cat out of the bag," was what soldiers would say to tease the drummer boy, and to remind him that he had to have this drum, Joseph had to have this drum with him at all times.

I think it's a fantastic piece.

I think it's just amazing that this drum was used by a Rehoboth native, who went on and lived in Rehoboth and had children in Rehoboth after the Revolutionary War, and we get to be the keepers of this drum.

- [Narrator] Preserving historical accounts of the American Revolution doesn't fall to any single group or institution.

It's a responsibility shared by archives and libraries, by museums, scholars, and historic sites.

Local historical societies are often the keepers of regional stories that might otherwise be overlooked.

Such is the case in Little Compton, where it seems all history is local.

- This is an imagined portrait of a woman who lived during the American Revolution.

Her name is Sarah Tompkins.

The painting was done by Dora Milliken, who read Sarah's story and was inspired to create this portrait.

And what we love about Sarah Tompkins is that she was a working class woman whose personal story during the revolution happened to be preserved because she filled out her husband's Revolutionary War pension application.

This is what Sarah wrote in her pension application.

(gentle music) - [Sarah] "Nathaniel was much in the service before as well as after our marriage, before the close of the war.

When my husband was away in the service, I had to do, and did, many things out of doors that women in this town think they cannot do.

We suffered great privation at that time."

- So part of what I love about this and her words is that we have this misconception of farm work being men's work.

And really, that's just not true.

I think a lot of families tried to pretend that the men did the work and the women were preserved, or saved, for more indoor work, but time and time again, we have evidence of women, even from much wealthier families, having to go out in the fields and work alongside their fathers, their brothers, their enslaved men, their indentured servants, in order to get the farm work done, as if you didn't complete your farm work, you didn't survive the winter.

- [Narrator] Another painting in this series depicts an enslaved woman named Jane.

During the revolution, while hiding from the British, her son, Caesar, volunteered to serve a three year term in the army in exchange for his freedom.

Caesar was killed before completing his service, making Jane what would today be considered a Gold Star Mother.

Portrait paintings give people a way to connect emotionally with history by turning a name into a human presence.

Arguably the most important portraitist of early American history was Gilbert Stuart.

His legacy is remembered at his birthplace in North Kingstown in a gallery next door, and at the Rhode Island State House, where a portrait of his most notable subject hangs in a prominent place.

- Well, what we have here in our State Capitol is one of two monumental sized portraits of our Founding Father and first president, George Washington.

On March 1st, 1800, the Rhode Island General Assembly commissioned the two portraits be created to recognize our founder and our first president.

So, today what we have are the two original portraits, one at our State House here in Providence, and the second at what we call the Old Colony House, Newport State Capital Building in Newport.

What's most important to recognize is that the painter, Gilbert Stuart, is a Rhode Island born citizen.

He's born in what is today Kingston, Rhode Island.

His father operated a snuff making business.

It failed, and then they relocated to Newport when he was a young boy.

In Newport, the family operated a retail business on the waterfront, but it also gave the young Gilbert Stuart an opportunity to learn the arts.

He was proficient in music, and he loved to draw.

One of the great folk tales that carries on to this day is the fact that the time that Gilbert Stuart was living in pre-American Revolutionary War in Newport, a significant percentage of the population were enslaved free Africans.

In fact, many of the Africans that were enslaved in Newport worked in trades.

And as a part of those trade skills, they had an intimate and extraordinarily important contribution to the economy.

One young enslaved man by the name of Neptune Thurston, who's enslaved in the household of Gardiner Thurston, who's not only the pastor of the First Baptist Church, he's also a cooper or a barrel maker.

And this young Neptune Thurston learns the art of not only making barrels, but carving onto those barrels images, images of parrots and hogs and different wildlife and animals.

So, the folk story goes that a young Gilbert Stuart on the waterfront one day learned the art of caricatures and portraits from this Neptune Thurston, that he would carry forward, and by the end of the American Revolution into the 18th century, he would become America's great portrait painter.

And his great contribution to Rhode Island are these two portraits of George Washington.

- [Narrator] The Washington portraits are more than artwork, they're symbols of the founding of the United States.

In fact, anything with a direct connection to Washington is revered as an important part of our history.

(gentle music) At the Washington Masonic Lodge No.

3 in Warren, Rhode Island, their collection includes a set of tricorne hats from the colonial era.

- So, this opens this way.

- [Narrator] But it's an artifact from the first commander-in-chief that holds special value.

(gentle music continues) - Before me here is probably our lodge's most prized possession.

This is a pitcher that was used by George Washington in the Continental Army Headquarters during the American Revolution.

So, my hands are shaking just looking at it.

It dates from 1775, and it comes to us through our first secretary of our lodge.

His name was Nathanael Phillips.

And he was the quartermaster for General Washington during the revolution.

So he was in charge of basically moving all of the command staff equipment from one camp to the next.

This item was taken by him at the conclusion of the war, and it remained in his family, and it was passed down through his family, who then donated it to Washington Lodge in 1925.

(gentle music) That's pretty much a common practice for all wars in all armies across all different time periods.

You would take souvenirs from wherever you were.

Especially at the conclusion of the war, George Washington was already a very revered mythic figure, really, so that anything that would've been used by him would almost be like a secular, holy relic.

It's clearly hand-blown because there are different irregularities in the glass.

The one side here is particularly higher than this side.

There's also air bubbles in the glass itself.

This very object bore witness to the founding of our country, really, the struggle for our very freedoms.

So, to be able to have a tangible piece of that is really fascinating, and it's really powerful.

There aren't really many relics that you can look at, that you can see and touch, that are so connected to that very crucial period in our history, when we were becoming who we would become.

- [Narrator] Everyday objects are especially valuable treasures.

They offer evidence of how people lived and survived.

At the Newport Historical Society, their collections are rich with colonial history, and include everything from an early American clock to letters and manuscripts that are frequently curated into different exhibits.

(gentle music) - The Newport Historical Society has a wealth of documents and manuscripts from the 17th centuries onwards that really tell a very detailed story about the history of Newport during this early period.

As researchers, when we take a holistic view of our manuscript archive, in particular, a page by page study of these documents, there really is a wealth of information that can be uncovered about these communities during this period of time.

(gentle music continues) I think exhibits like this help the viewer realize that the past is not so distant from us, and the people that we're learning about in our history textbooks and school are people just like us.

- [Narrator] The Newport Historical Society is also the custodian of a carefully preserved chair with a connection to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

(energetic music) - This is a really wonderful piece.

It is the William Ellery chair.

Some time in the middle to late 18th century.

What's remarkable about this piece is not so much the chair itself, which is a mahogany chair with ball and cloth feet, kind of classic Rhode Island form, but what's wonderful about it, you can't help but miss this incredible crewelwork embroidery.

The embroidery is reminiscent of what we call the tree of life pattern.

Similar to an Indian print of a Palanpur is what this looks like, and it's these kind of, like, gorgeous climbing floral pattern.

And what might look striking to you is the red outline along the flowers.

And what that says to us is that this crewelwork has been reapplied to the chair.

The needlework has taken off of the chair, not once, but twice, and it leaves a couple of mysteries for us.

So, the date of this chair is about 1789, 1790, and that dates to when the owner of this chair got married.

And we know that through family lore.

So a lot of the items that are given to the Newport Historical Society have passed down through the generations, and this chair came to our collection in 2006 and had been in the descendants of William Ellery, one of Rhode Island's signers of the Declaration of Independence, since the chair came through the family.

It was embroidered by Abigail Ellery, who was William Ellery's wife, and then passed through the generation.

I think one of the wonderful things about studying decorative arts and studying material culture is that our research is always evolving as we learn more about different objects and as more pieces come to light.

You know, we may have thought that there were only four or five of these crewelwork chairs existing, and then another one comes up for auction.

And then you may find a label or a story that comes with an object, and then you might learn about a few other ones that exist in the country, and then you may come to know a bit more.

- [Narrator] The Newport Historical Society, like other museums, continues to revisit and research objects, because artifacts can still reveal new information long after they were discovered.

These institutions give us a better understanding of where events took place and insight into the people who were involved.

All of these items from the museums featured here, and from so many more in our region, are just a sample of the mosaic of artifacts that collectively tell the story of the American Revolution.

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