Records of the Revolutionary War consist almost exclusively of paintings, sketches, and writings. However, one book, The Last Men of the Revolution, written by Reverend E. B. Hillard 81 years after the war’s conclusion, does contain photographic evidence of a few individuals who fought for America’s freedom:
“Published in 1864, the 64-page book stands as the only record of its kind, immortalizing Revolutionary War veterans in photographs alongside their tales from the fight for independence. In July 1864, Hillard, accompanied by two photographers, brothers N. A. and R. A. Moore, traveled across New England and New York State to interview and photograph all known surviving veterans, six in total. The images, made on glass plate negatives, were then printed on albumen paper and pasted into the book, along with colored lithographs depicting the veteran’s homes.”
Then, in 1976, journalist Joe Bauman came across Hillard’s photos and figured out that it was likely that some revolutionaries had been captured in daguerreotypes, which became popular in the 1840s and 1850s. He found photos of people that fit into the right age range, and after some extensive digging into their personal histories, he had his subjects:
“His collection, which now includes eight daguerreotypes, took three decades of research to compile and is considered the largest known collection of Revolutionary War veteran daguerreotypes to date. Several years ago, Bauman published the images, along with histories of the men, in an e-book, Don’t Tread on Me: Photographs and Life Stories of American Revolutionaries, not only bringing to light images that had largely gone unseen, but that astonished — and still astonish — people who never imagined that such portraits even existed.”
Read the Remainder and See the Photos at History Buff