Delaware

Delaware was a small but culturally layered colony—settled in turn by the Dutch, Swedish, and English—that had to declare independence twice, separating first from Pennsylvania in June 1776 and then from Britain weeks later. Loyalism ran deep and was never fully suppressed, erupting in uprisings like the Black Camp Rebellion and making the conflict a genuine civil war within many communities. Delaware's leaders—Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, and John Dickinson—often served without pay while building a new state. Women nursed soldiers, sewed uniforms, with many following the Delaware Regiment during the Revolutionary War. In some instances, their contributions were recorded by name.  Men of color served throughout the war despite no promise of freedom. The Revolutionary history of the Lenape and Nanticoke nations is poorly documented, and scholars are still at work trying to better understand the war’s impact on them.