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Don't miss - this Friday at the AHM, 2:00pm to 3:30pm, special Speaker Series presentation by Ashlen Hyatt Nunnery. 'Mud Pies and War Planes' is a powerful and intimate memoir with raw honesty and deep emotion that captures what it means to grow up in the shadow of war, and the quiet ways it reshapes everyone it touches. Ashlen is the daughter of Capt. Leo G. Hyatt, who became a Vietnam POW at the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison. She will have her father's uniform and artifacts on display that will be put into AHM's Hanoi Hilton exhibit. ... See MoreSee Less
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LINK: ahmus.me/love35 - Enter the Road to Victory WWII Jeep Sweeps before 2/14 and you're entered to win an RC Jeep PLUS $500 worth of Bonus Tickets! Click the link for 35% more in bonus tickets for our FB followers too! Again, enter at ahmus.me/love35 ... See MoreSee Less
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The Legion III Cyrenaica Roman Re-enactor group has rescheduled their exhibition from this Saturday to Saturday, February 21st. ... See MoreSee Less
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The Soviet IS-2 and it's Massive Cannon!#AmericanHeritageMuseum #VisitMA #militaryhistory #historymuseum #WWII #ww2 #WorldWarII #worldwar2 #army #tanks #worldoftanks #tanknerd #122mm #IS2 ... See MoreSee Less
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The Romans are coming! Legion III Cyrenaica returning to American Heritage Museum Saturday, February 21st. Re-enactor displays and exhibitions from 11am to 4pm. ... See MoreSee Less
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Speaker Series: A Perfect Frenzy by Author Andrew Lawler

April 12, 2025 @ 1:00 pm, ending 2:30 pm

Free with standard museum admission

Join us on Saturday, April 12th for a talk by nationally best selling author Andrew Lawler about his book A Perfect Frenzy – A story that will forever change our understanding about the American Revolution.

As the American Revolution broke out in New England in the spring of 1775, dramatic events unfolded in Virginia that proved every bit as decisive as the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill in uniting the colonies against Britain. Virginia, the largest, wealthiest, and most populous province in British North America, was led by Lord Dunmore, who counted George Washington as his close friend. But the Scottish earl lacked troops, so when patriots imperiled the capital of Williamsburg, he threatened to free and arm enslaved Africans—two of every five Virginians—to fight for the Crown.

Virginia’s tobacco elite was reluctant to go to war with Britain but outraged at this threat to their human property. Dunmore fled the capital to build a stronghold in the colony’s largest city, the port of Norfolk. As enslaved people flocked to his camp, skirmishes broke out. “Lord Dunmore has commenced hostilities in Virginia,” wrote Thomas Jefferson. “It has raised our countrymen into a perfect frenzy.” With a patriot army marching on Norfolk, the royal governor freed those enslaved and sent them into battle against their former owners. In retribution, and with Jefferson’s encouragement, furious rebels burned Norfolk to the ground on January 1, 1776, blaming the crime on Dunmore.

The port’s destruction and Dunmore’s emancipation prompted Virginia’s patriot leaders to urge the Continental Congress to split from Britain, breaking the deadlock among the colonies and leading to adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Days later, Dunmore and his Black allies withdrew from Virginia, but the legacy of their fight would lead, ultimately, to Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

Chronicling these stunning and widely overlooked events in full for the first time, A Perfect Frenzy offers a striking new perspective on the American Revolution that reorients our understanding of its causes, highlights the radically different motivations between patriots in the North and South, and reveals the seeds of the nation’s racial divide.

Details

Date:
April 12, 2025
Time:
1:00 pm, ending 2:30 pm
Cost:
Free with standard museum admission
Event Categories:
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CLOSED due to Winter Storm

The American Heritage Museum is closed as of 12:30pm on Sunday, January 25th due to the Winter Storm. The museum will reopen on Wednesday, January 28.