Museum Feature: A Revolution in Crisis

A New Exhibit at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum

By Weldon Svoboda

Article published on: September 1, 2025 in the Army History Fall 2025 issue

Read Time: < 3 mins

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army and the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Corps, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum on Fort Lee, Virginia, unveiled a temporary exhibition illustrating American Revolutionary War ordnance operations. The museum created the exhibition in conjunction with the opening of the Fort Lee Museum enclave, which now allows visitors direct access to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, the U.S. Army Women’s Museum, and the U.S. Army Ordnance Training Support Facility.

The exhibit, titled A Revolution in Crisis, provides an overview of the dire situation facing the patriots in the Revolutionary War regarding the supply of artillery, guns, gunpowder, and other types of ordnance in their bid for independence against the British. In addition to educating the public on issues surrounding procurement and production, the display also details the technical aspects of the weapons involved. For example, the exhibition teaches visitors the difference between a field gun, a howitzer, and a mortar, as well as the functions and capabilities of the different types of artillery ammunition produced for these weapons.

The exhibition concludes by looking at logistics at the tactical level. One effective strategy for winning a conflict involves disrupting the adversary’s supply and logistical lines, which are essential to sustain combat capabilities, while simultaneously safeguarding and maintaining your own and those of your allies. The concept is expounded by the example of the French Navy successfully obstructing the British Royal Navy from accessing the Chesapeake Bay. This maneuver held significant strategic importance as it thwarted Britain’s ability to either resupply or evacuate their forces entrenched at Yorktown, Virginia, in the autumn of 1781. Subsequently, the Royal Navy’s withdrawal to New York enabled the French to gain control over the maritime routes, thereby providing the Franco-American forces with vital siege artillery and additional troops. These contributions played a pivotal role in the British surrender at Yorktown, which ultimately secured independence for the American colonies.

Views of the A Revolution in Crisis exhibit

This British 3-Pounder Field Gun was called the “Galloper” or “Grasshopper” cannon, as it was significantly lighter than most field guns and cannons of the time. Its reduced size and weight allowed it to be moved by a single horse or pack animal, or even carried by soldiers, which made it ideal for deployment in rough terrain. British forces often embedded these cannons with infantry units for close combat support. This gun was one of the 240 artillery pieces captured at the siege of Yorktown.

A 24-Pounder American howitzer produced during the colonial period.

A French-made 9-inch mortar shell

Many period muskets are on display, including this British Long Land Pattern “Brown Bess” Musket (Wilson Contract). Many of these older-pattern smoothbore muskets were stored in British armories located throughout the colonies. At the outbreak of the revolution, patriot colonists raided these armories, supplying the American forces with much-needed weapons. Richard Wilson of London made the rare variant of musket shown here. Wilson made it on contract for the colony of New Jersey during the French and Indian War (1754–1763).

This saber is characterized by a curved, single-edged blade, etched with “Grenadeer of Virginia” on one side and “Victory or Death” on the other.

Included in this display is a French saber produced under contract for the State of Virginia. The French “Grenadier of Virginia” saber refers to a specific type of short sword copied from the French Model 1767 Grenadier Hanger. France produced them and exported them to Virginia in 1779 and the state of Virginia subsequently issued them to militia troops during the Revolutionary War.