Mapping the American Revolution: Maps from the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection

Exhibit Details

The Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection at Mount Vernon is a highly curated collection of nearly 300 rare printed maps and unique manuscript maps. The ten maps currently on display trace key moments from the Revolution.

The first case focuses on the war’s early years, when most of the major battles took place in the northern colonies. American forces proved themselves able to hold the field of battle against better-trained and better-equipped British Army regulars. This success culminated in the American victory at Saratoga in October 1777, which convinced the French to formally ally with the Americans. The alliance offered the Patriots a real prospect of victory, but with the British firmly in control of New York City, the war appeared at a stalemate.

The maps in the second case highlight the war’s later years, when the center of conflict shifted to the southern colonies. Under General Lord Charles Cornwallis, the British enjoyed a series of major victories in Georgia and South Carolina, but American forces under General Nathanael Greene succeeded in stopping the British advance. Cornwallis then marched to Yorktown, Virginia, to rendezvous with British ships, but instead found himself trapped between the allied American and French armies on one side and the French navy on the other, forcing his surrender on October 19, 1781.

The maps on display include:

• Map of the Battles of Saratoga drawn by Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 1777
• Map of the Battle of Monmouth, drawn by Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy, the Marquis de Lafayette’s mapmaker
• Plan of the Siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779
• A sketch of the battle near Camden in South Carolina, August 16, 1780
• A plan of the military operations against Charlestown, from an original drawing sent by an officer in the army
• Manuscript map of the New York area, with the position of the combined armies at Phillipsburg, July 6–August 19, 1781
• Map of the Battle of Yorktown, October 19, 1781

Exhibit Dates

On display inside the Gilder Lehrman Gallery in the exhibition Mount Vernon: The Story of an American Icon through March 2023.

Gilder Lehrman Gallery

• Ten maps from the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection, including a map of the Battles of Saratoga drawn by Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 1777, and the Marquis de Lafayette’s map of the Battle of Monmouth, 1778.