Colonel Samuel Griffin, a Virginia lawyer and officer in the Continental Army, played a key role in the 1776 campaign, leading militia units in New Jersey and engaging the Hessians near Mount Holly. Stricken by illness during critical battles, he later served as mayor of Williamsburg and a U.S. congressman after the war.
A wealthy merchant and political leader from Massachusetts, Hancock was a key figure in the American Revolution, serving as president of the Second Continental Congress, signing the Declaration of Independence, and later serving as governor of Massachusetts.
Drury Harris, a free Black man, served as a private in the 3rd South Carolina Regiment during the American Revolution, fighting in key battles like Savannah, Charleston, and Cowpens, where he was wounded; after the war, he settled in South Carolina, married, and was later granted a pension, living until 1834.
Peter Harris, a Catawba Indian who survived a devastating smallpox epidemic as a child, served bravely in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, fighting in key battles like Stono Ferry and Rocky Mount; despite his contributions, he later petitioned South Carolina for a pension, poignantly describing himself as "one of the lingering embers of an almost extinguished race," and was granted $60 a year just before his death in 1823.
Uncovering History
We invite you to visit the preserved locations along the Liberty Trail and to immerse
yourself in the extraordinary events that determined the fate of a nation.
Completed in 1771, the Old Exchange Building is a Charleston landmark and the site of some of the most important events in South Carolina history. Over the last two and a half centuries, the building has been a commercial exchange, custom house, post office, city hall, military headquarters, and museum.
Used by both sides during the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Munroe Tavern, it was most famously used Hugh Percy during his relief march to aid the retreating British column from Concord.
Nassau Hall, once the largest stone building in the colonies, housed the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton. During the Battle of Princeton in 1777, British troops fortified the building as a last stand defense.
The Old Barracks Museum is located in Trenton, New Jersey and stands as one of the last military structures dating back the French & Indian War and the American Revolution.
Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to die in the Revolutionary War, was a London-born pioneer who moved to South Carolina in 1773. A vocal supporter of independence, he became the first Jewish person to hold political office in the state. Known as the "Southern Paul Revere," Salvador warned of attacks during the war but tragically died in an ambush in 1776 at just 29 years old, leaving behind a legacy of courage and commitment to freedom.
The location of George Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware, the site is now a state park that offers historical interpretation and several recreational activities.
This building was the home of the captain of the Lincoln Minutemen, William Smith, who led his men at the Lexington Green on April 19, 1775.
The Dey Mansion, built around 1770, served as General George Washington’s headquarters in 1780 during a pivotal time in the American Revolution. As one of his surviving field headquarters, it offers a lasting connection to the strategic decisions, military challenges, and historic events that shaped the fight for independence.
Owned and operated by German immigrants, this site once housed one of the largest ironworks in the colonies that supplied the Continental Army. Started in 1766, it was in operation for over a century.
Completed in 1713, The Powder Magazine is South Carolina's oldest government building.
A strategic location for the defense of New York's harbor, the Continentals failed to reinforce this peninsula, leading to the city's capture in August of 1776. A lighthouse dating to 1764 still operates there today, once serving as a Loyalist fortification.
An architectural treasure in its own right, the South Carolina Historical Society Museum is housed in a National Historic Landmark building and features interactive exhibits on the people, places, and movements that shaped the state and nation.