National Cemetery Administration

The American Revolution (1765–1783) was an ideological and political movement in the Thirteen Colonies in what was then British America. The revolution culminated in the American Revolutionary War, which began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775. The war between the colonies and the Kingdom of Great Britain continued for eight years.

Leaders of the American Revolution were colonial separatist leaders who, as British subjects, initially sought incremental levels of autonomy, but later embraced the cause of full independence and the Revolutionary War. They formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in 1775.

August 2^nd 2026 was the 250^th anniversary of the day when most delegates actually signed the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by the Continental Congress a month earlier, on July 4, 1776. The Department of Veterans Affairs held ceremonies to honor 49 Veterans of the Revolutionary War who are interred or memorialized in VA national cemeteries or VA-administered soldiers' lots within private cemeteries.

"Service, sacrifice and patriotism are qualities displayed by our Veterans going back to the very founding of our nation," said VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown. "Two hundred and fifty years later, we remain inspired by those who first took up arms in defense of liberty, and who, like the signers of the Declaration of Independence, risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to establish the United States of America."