From the Vault: Celebrating the 4th with a Bang

Periodically, we will dig back into our archive of blog posts to bring back moments, documents, and perspectives from the Papers of the War Department team over the years. Today, to commemorate Independence Day, we bring you this blog post originally published by Megan Brett in 2012. 

The Society of the Cincinnati in Providence, Rhode Island, made sure to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in an explosive manner. That year, 1787, they cajoled Jeremiah Olney, inspector of public and military stores, to give them twenty-four pounds of gunpowder from the public magazine. The powder was damaged and might not have been good for use in guns, but it certainly worked for shooting off cannon to celebrate Independence.