This week, Family Search is having their annual RootsTech program.  One of the tools that Sons of the American Revolution have at their disposal is Fold3.  Fold3 is a tool/offering of Ancestry.com

Note that if you have an Ancestry.com membership, Fold3 use is included.  My wife has an active ancestry membership, however I wanted to see how the free membership enrollment would work.  I signed up for a free basic membership.   I was successful. Not sure this is the preferred permanent solution or how long it will last, however worth discovering the Fold3 potential for your compatriot search.

Sharing some information about Fold3 from their website:

About Fold3^®

Fold3® provides convenient access to military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served.

The records at Fold3 help you discover and share stories about these everyday heroes, forgotten soldiers, and the families that supported them. On Fold3, you can combine records found on the site with what you have in your own albums and shoeboxes to create an online memorial for someone who served.

Fold3 is perfect for:

• Historians
• Genealogists
• Researchers
• Enthusiasts
• Family Historians
• Teachers
• Veterans & their families
• Institutions —Learn more

Why the name Fold3?

The Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world.

Below is the site info for the American Revolutionary War. 

https://www.fold3.com/collection/us-revolutionary-war-us/description

Some brief history of the Revolutionary War captured from the Fold3 site:

US Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War formally began on April 19, 1775, at Lexington, Massachusetts. Colonists felt they were being unfairly taxed by Great Britain, and when negotiations failed to produce a solution, a militia gathered to fend off a munitions seizure by British troops at Lexington and Concord. Within a few months, George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army, and the conflict spread from North Carolina and Charleston in the south to Canada in the North. The Revolutionary War lasted eight years, during which the colonies would unite under the Declaration of Independence as the United States of America. The war ended on September 3, 1783, when Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris and recognized the independence of the US.

In order to pay off debts accrued during the French and Indian War, Britain began to levy taxes on the American colonies in early 1763. Taxes, such as the Stamp Act or the Tea Act, enraged colonists, who believed that they did not have fair representation in Parliament. Despite numerous negotiations and discussions over the ensuing years, Great Britain and the colonies were not able to come to any agreement for the regulation of taxes and the problem of representation.

On April 19, 1775, British soldiers arrived in Lexington during a raid to seize munitions; however, due to the efforts of Patriot spies such as Paul Revere, they were met by a local militia, the “minutemen”, who were assembled in anticipation of their arrival. There were skirmishes in Lexington and nearby Concord, and though there is not one shot that can receive full credit for the moniker, the initial shots fired during these encounters have been labeled the “Shot Heard Round the World”.

With the war officially underway, the colonists were in desperate need of political and military leadership. George Washington was named Commander in Chief and later assumed command of the Continental Army, a ragtag group of volunteers and experienced soldiers that joined the fight on land and on sea. The army faced its first defeat at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where British forces were able to drive the colonists away from Breed’s Hill, in spite of heavy casualties. Unwilling to abandon their cause, the Continental Army went on the offensive and drove British troops out of Boston.

While the army fought on the battlefield, some of the brightest political minds of the era gathered in the Second Continental Congress to coordinate the colonies’ efforts and interests. Members of this congress participated in committees to oversee finances and track military operations, as well as to maintain foreign relations with France and Great Britain. Although they initially advocated for peace with Great Britain and created the Olive Branch Petition, sentiment changed as the war continued. By the summer of 1776, the Continental Congress no longer sought resolution but independence, and on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved and signed by members of the congress.

With the Continental Congress as a provisional government, the war continued. Under General Washington, the Continental Army saw important victories at Trenton and Princeton, which bolstered the troops’ morale. The US then gained a decisive victory at Saratoga, which led France agree to an alliance with the US in 1778. With the aid of the French Navy, the US surrounded Cornwallis’ British troops at Yorktown, VA, and forced a surrender on October 19, 1781. Nearly two years later, Great Britain and the US signed the Treaty of Paris, where Britain formally recognized the colonies’ independence and agreed to withdraw troops from American soil.

Throughout the war, records were kept of captured vessels, imprisoned soldiers, and the operation of the Continental Army, and when the war ended, qualified soldiers were given pensions or vouchers for the service that they provided in the war effort.