all | people you should know
Artists | British | Colonials | Enslaved People | French | Germans | Natives | Spanish | Others
A
- Abigail Adams – Wife of John Adams, mother of John Quincy Adams
- John Adams – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, second President
- John Quincy Adams – Diplomat, senator, sixth President, congressman
- Samuel Adams – Boston revolutionary leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- William Alexander, Lord Stirling – Continental Army general — one of Washington’s best
- Ethan Allen – Farmer, businessman, patriot, politician, founder of the state of Vermont
- John André – British officer, hung for his involvement in Benedict Arnold’s treason
- Benedict Arnold – Talented Continental Army general who defected to the British
B
- Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais – French playwright, spy, arms dealer
- Joseph Brant – Mohawk leader siding with Great Britain
- Mather Brown – American-born painter, active in England
- John Burgoyne – British playwright, politician; general who lost the Battles of Saratoga
- Edmund Burke – Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, author, and political philosopher
- Aaron Burr – Continental Army officer, lawyer, Vice President; killed Hamilton in a duel
C
- Guy Carleton – Governor of Quebec; British commander-in-chief, 1782—83
- Charles Carroll of Carrollton – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, senator
- King Charles III – King of Spain, 1759—88
- chevalier de Chastellux – French general, liaison between Rochambeau and Washington
- George Clinton – Soldier, politician, NY governor, vice president
- Henry Clinton – British general; commander-in-chief, 1778—82
- John Singleton Copley – American painter, principally active in London after 1774
- Charles Cornwallis – British general, surrendered with troops at Yorktown
D
- Silas Deane – Merchant, Continental congressman, diplomat to France
- John Dickinson – Lawyer, politician, writer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Carl Emil von Donop – German general; died at the Battle of Fort Mercer.
E
- Ralph Earl – American painter, principally of portraits
- William Ellery – Signer of the Declaration of Independence from RI
- comte d’Estaing – French admiral, unsuccessful against British fleet at Newport
F
- Benjamin Franklin – Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat to France
- William Franklin – Royal Governor of NJ, Loyalist, son of Benjamin Franklin
G
- Thomas Gage – British general, Royal Governor of MA, ordered troops to Concord
- Horatio Gates – Continental Army general, won the Battles of Saratoga
- King George III – King of Great Britain in 1760, at age 22, until 1820
- George Germain – British lord; American Secretary, 1775—82
- Elbridge Gerry – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, vice president under Madison
- comte de Grasse – French Admiral, defeated British fleet at Chesapeake Capes
- Nathanael Greene – Continental Army general; key to winning the war in the South
H
- Alexander Hamilton – Washington’s aide-de-camp, lawyer, Secretary of the Treasury
- John Hancock – Merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence, MA governor
- James Hemings – Slave of Thomas Jefferson
- John Hemings – Slave of Thomas Jefferson
- Sally Hemings – House slave of Thomas Jefferson; mother of at least six of his children
- Patrick Henry – Lawyer, orator, VA governor
- Earl of Hillsborough (Wills Hill) – American Secretary, 1768—72
- Jean-Antoine Houdon – French sculptor who sometimes created his works from life-masks
- Richard Howe – British admiral, brother of William Howe
- William Howe – Commander-in-chief of British forces, 1775—78
- Samuel Huntington – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, CT governor
- Thomas Hutchinson – Last Royal Governor of MA
I
- Ralph Izard – Financier, Continental congressman, U.S. senator
J
- John Jay – Lawyer, diplomat, Continental congressman, first Chief Justice
- Thomas Jefferson – Lawyer, polymath, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, third President
- John Paul Jones – Naval commander for the U.S.
- Ona Judge – Personal attendant to Martha Washington
- Jupiter (Evans?) – Slave of Thomas Jefferson, both born in 1743
K
- Henry Knox – Continental Army general, chief artillery officer, first Secretary of War
- Wilhelm von Knyphausen – German general, served in America 1776 - 82
- Tadeusz Kosciuszko – Polish patriot, fought seven years in the American Revolution
L
- Marquis de Lafayette – French aristocrat, Continental Army officer, like a son to Washington
- Henry Laurens – Merchant, planter, slave trader, president of Continental Congress
- John Laurens – Continental Army officer, aide-de-camp to Washington, son of Henry Laurens
- Arthur Lee – Diplomat to France, Continental congressman
- Charles Lee – Continental Army general, formerly a British officer
- Francis Lightfoot Lee – VA politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Henry Lee III – ”Light Horse Harry”; Continental Army officer, VA governor
- Richard Henry Lee – VA revolutionary, signer of the Declaration of Independence, senator
- William Lee – Mercantilist, diplomat
- William (“Billy”) Lee – Slave-valet to George Washington
- Philip Livingston – NY merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Robert R. Livingston – NY lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- King Louis XVI – King of France in 1774, at age 19, until 1791
M
- James Madison – Constitutionalist, congressman, Secretary of State, fourth President
- John Marshall – Soldier, lawyer, politician, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
- George Mason – Politician, author, political philosopher, Anti-Federalist
- James Monroe – Soldier, lawyer, VA governor, diplomat, fifth President
- Richard Montgomery – Irish-born Continental Army general, formerly a British officer
- Daniel Morgan – Militia soldier, military tactician, Continental Army general
- Gouverneur Morris – Merchant, financier; helped draft then stylized the Constitution
- Robert Morris – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, “Financier of the Revolution”
N
- Frederick North – British Prime Minister during the Revolutionary War
O
- James Otis, Jr. – Lawyer, politician, Boston revolutionary
P
- Thomas Paine – Author, revolutionary, political philosopher
- Charles Willson Peale – American painter, soldier; created first American museum
- Rembrandt Peale – American painter, son of Charles Willson Peale
- Charles Pinckney – Soldier, Constitutional Convention delegate, South Carolina governor
- Charles Cotesworth Pinckney – Lawyer, soldier, delegate to the Constitutional Convention
- Israel Putnam – Militia general, fought with distinction at the British at Bunker Hill
R
- Johann Gottlieb Rall – German colonel, mortally wounded during the Battle of Trenton
- Edmund Randolph – Lawyer, VA governor, Constitutional Convention delegate
- Peyton Randolph – Lawyer, VA politician, first president of Continental Congress
- George Read – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, senator for DE
- Paul Revere – Artisan, Boston revolutionary, militia soldier, foundryman
- Friedrich Adolf Riedesel – Hessian general in command of Germans during the Saratoga campaign
- comte de Rochambeau – Commander-in-chief of French forces
- Betsy Ross – Philadelphia seamstress and upholsterer
- Benjamin Rush – Philadelphia doctor, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- William Rush – American sculptor
- John Rutledge – SC governor, second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
S
- Philip Schuyler – Continental Army general, U.S. Senator for NY
- Roger Sherman – Lawyer and politician from CT; signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Arthur St. Clair – Continental Army general, surrendered Fort Ticonderoga to the British
- Baron von Steuben – Continental Army general from Prussia, drilled the troops at Valley Forge
- Richard Stockton – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Gilbert Stuart – American painter of quintessential portraits, including George Washington
- John Sullivan – Continental Army general, Continental Congress delegate, NH governor
- Thomas Sully – British-born painter, mainly of portraits
T
- Banastre Tarleton – British officer of the cavalry, notorious for his exploits in the South
- Tench Tilghman – Aide-de-camp to Washington throughout the Revolutionary War
- John Trumbull – American artist, soldier at the Battle of Trenton
V
- John Vanderlyn – American artist, protégé of Aaron Burr
- comte de Vergennes – French diplomat, Foreign Minister under Louis XVI
W
- Joseph Warren – Boston doctor, revolutionary, militia general
- Mercy Otis Warren – Playwright, historian, sister of James Otis, Jr., wife of James Warren
- George Washington – Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army; first President
- Martha Washington – Wife of George Washington, First Lady; 1731—1802
- Anthony Wayne – Continental Army general, defeated the British at Stony Point
- Benjamin West – American-born painter who moved to England in 1763
- James Wilson – Lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Supreme Court justice
- John Witherspoon – College of NJ president, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- George Wythe – Lawyer, teacher, scholar, signer of the Declaration of Independence