National Museum of the US Army brings Revolutionary War to life

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - When the shot heard round the world was fired on April 19th 1775, the first American soldiers took up arms, fighting for the independence of our young nation.

“You can read about the history of the Revolutionary War in a book, and it gives you, you know, a great kind of overview, a perspective from a historical,” said chief curator Paul Morando. “But how do you connect and how do you understand who these people were then?”

For the past 4 years, Morando and his team have collected more than 287 artifacts from the 13 original colonies.

That includes surrender flags, and George Washington’s original guns.

“We have objects coming from Canada or came from Canada, England, . So logistically, that was difficult,’ said Morando.

One of their biggest challenges was literally putting a face to these soldiers.

“We don’t have photographs of of these soldiers who serve. So we have to figure out a who are the individual is what their story is and how do we want to interpret that story?” Said Morando.

For months, a studio in Brooklyn New York made casts of actual human actors to portray these soldiers.

That includes William Seymour, who’s detailed diary gave a valuable chronology of the war.

“We had so much fun working on these individual cast figures - Because I think it brings such a human element to this story,” said Morando.

They put in their blood, sweat, and tears - creating a revolutionary take on the revolution.

This exhibit will be open through June 2027. The museum is open 7 days a week, and ission is free.

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