Celebrating SC's Drive for American Independence
A Charleston museum debuts SC-centric Revolutionary War exhibit
A Charleston museum debuts SC-centric Revolutionary War exhibit
A new Revolutionary War exhibit in the Holy City is one of several museum displays anticipated to go live this year ahead of the American conflict’s 250th anniversary.
The South Carolina Historical Society Museum will kick off the celebration early when it debuts “Voices of the Revolution in South Carolina” on Sept. 5. The exhibit will highlight new Revolutionary War stories from Charleston and other areas across the state, documenting various groups during their fight for independence from Britain and the founding of the country.
It will be on display inside the Meeting Street museum until the summer of 2027.
CEO Elizabeth Chew described the new exhibit as a tribute to the significant impact of the American Revolution on South Carolina residents.
“People often think of the Revolution as having begun in Massachusetts with Paul Revere or the battles of Lexington and Concord,” Chew said. “But that sentiment was already here. Some of the earliest rebellions and push-backs to British rule happened here. These events impacted the turnout of the war.”
The exhibit tells interwoven stories of battles, women’s actions, the complexities of Loyalism, and the impact of the war on enslaved people and Indigenous tribes who found themselves forced to choose sides as a means of survival or freedom.
There are first-hand accounts documented by Revolutionary War soldiers and women in occupied Charleston, maps and papers detailing major battles including the…