Experiencing Independence: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution
October 2-3, 2026
Firsthand accounts of the American Revolution provide historians, museums, and historic sites with critical details for understanding what it was like to experience independence. To mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Historic Trappe, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and Ursinus College are partnering to convene a symposium, “Experiencing Independence: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution.”
This free symposium will explore the diaries, journals, letters, and material culture made or used by people in the mid-Atlantic region from 1760–1790. Panels will explore family dynamics in the midst of political upheaval, wartime experiences of soldiers and civilians, accounts from different religious perspectives, and new approaches to non-English sources on the American Revolution.
Experiencing Independence Program
Friday, October 2
3:15–3:30
Opening Remarks
3:30–5:00
Plenary Roundtable: Experiences in the Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
5:00–7:00
Opening Reception
Saturday, October 3
8:30–9:45
Panel 1: Soldiers’ Movements and Identities
- Robb K. Haberman, “Creating Community in the Continental Army: The Wartime Experiences of Sergeant James Selkirk”
- Matthew Skic, “Picturing Washington’s Army: Eyewitness Images from the Revolutionary War”
- John Bradstreet Weaver, “‘Hardy and Invincible Natives of the Woods of North America’: Riflemen, Rifle Dress, and Early American Identity
9:45–10:00
Break
10:00–11:15
Panel 2: Reconstructing Wartime Experiences
- Julia Bouwkamp, “Feeling the American Revolution: The Trials and Passions of Grace Growden Galloway”
- Laura A. Macaluso, “Experiencing Independence in a Vanished House: Eyewitness Accounts from Mt. Pleasant, New York”
- Nicole Skalenko, “Recapturing a Revolutionary Past: Widows Pensions and Illuminating the Female Experience During the War for Independence”
11:15–11:30
Break
11:30–12:30
Panel 3: Landscapes of War
- Jen Janofsky and Wade Catts, “Written, Carried, and Remembered: Eyewitness Experiences of a Contested Landscape at Red Bank Battlefield”
- MacLaren M. Remy, “Death as Filth: Disposal of American Soldiers’ Bodies in the American Revolution”
12:30–1:45
Lunch
1:45–3:00
Panel 4: Wartime Letter Writers
- Marie Basile McDaniel, “Connecticut Women Writers of the Revolution”
- Robert Schulte, “Ink and Blood: ‘Notions of Independence’ in the Writings of Captain Jonathan Birge”
- Brie Stoltzfus, “Revolutionary Experiences in the Captain Nicholas Biddle Letterbook”
3:00–3:15
Break
3:15–4:45
Panel 5: Legacies of War
- Mya Rose Bailey, “Revolution Reimagined: Black Autonomy Fueling American Independence”
- Alison R. Bazylinski, Lynn Heidelbaugh, and Daniel A. Piazza, “Experiencing Independence on the Post Road: Revolutionary Change in the Mid-Atlantic, 1773–1778”
- Susan Ellis and Andrew McLeod, “Moravians and the Revolution: Caught in the Crossfire”
4:45–5:00
Closing Remarks
5:00–7:00
Closing Reception at the Dewees Tavern, Historic Trappe
