all | people you should know
Artists | British | Colonials | Enslaved People | French | Germans | Natives | Spanish | Others
A
- John Adams – Signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, second President
- Samuel Adams – Boston revolutionary leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Benedict Arnold – Talented Continental Army general who defected to the British
B
- John Burgoyne – British playwright, politician; general who lost the Battles of Saratoga
- Aaron Burr – Continental Army officer, lawyer, Vice President; killed Hamilton in a duel
C
- Henry Clinton – British general; commander-in-chief, 1778—82
- Charles Cornwallis – British general, surrendered with troops at Yorktown
D
- John Dickinson – Lawyer, politician, writer, signer of the Declaration of Independence
F
- Benjamin Franklin – Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat to France
G
- Thomas Gage – British general, Royal Governor of MA, ordered troops to Concord
- King George III – King of Great Britain in 1760, at age 22, until 1820
- George Germain – British lord; American Secretary, 1775—82
- 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
- Sally Hemings – House slave of Thomas Jefferson; mother of at least six of his children
- Patrick Henry – Lawyer, orator, VA governor
- William Howe – Commander-in-chief of British forces, 1775—78
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.
K
- Henry Knox – Continental Army general, chief artillery officer, first Secretary of War
L
- Marquis de Lafayette – French aristocrat, Continental Army officer, like a son to Washington
- King Louis XVI – King of France in 1774, at age 19, until 1791
M
- James Madison – Constitutionalist, congressman, Secretary of State, fourth President
- George Mason – Politician, author, political philosopher, Anti-Federalist
- Daniel Morgan – Militia soldier, military tactician, Continental Army general
- Gouverneur Morris – Merchant, financier; helped draft then stylized the Constitution
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
R
- Paul Revere – Artisan, Boston revolutionary, militia soldier, foundryman
- comte de Rochambeau – Commander-in-chief of French forces
S
- Baron von Steuben – Continental Army general from Prussia, drilled the troops at Valley Forge
- Gilbert Stuart – American painter of quintessential portraits, including George Washington
T
- John Trumbull – American artist, soldier at the Battle of Trenton
V
- comte de Vergennes – French diplomat, Foreign Minister under Louis XVI
W
- George Washington – Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army; first President