Better still, Hillard not only preserved their stories, he captured their images, using the newly emerging technology of photography. In 1864, he published a book that resulted from interviews he conducted with six veterans of the War for Independence.
That reality led Elias Brewster Hillard, a congregational church pastor from Connecticut, to do his level best to preserve their stories. They vacated quarters, walked off battlefields, exchanged uniforms for civilian gear and went back to their families and their trades.Īs the 18th century ebbed, the number of Revolutionary War veterans understandably began to dwindle. When the Revolutionary War finally drew to a close, the American men and women comprising our military forces returned home.
