Exhibition
If You Had to Choose: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New Hampshire
Today, we call it a revolution. But in 1775 and 1776, many people referred to it as a civil war, a fight that pitted American against American. No one had the benefit of hindsight during these tumultuous years. People didn't know how the revolution would unfold or how it would end. They just knew they had to make a choice.
The exhibition, If You Had to Choose: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New Hampshire, explores how the American Revolution forced everyone to choose sides. It tells the stories of patriots and loyalists through portraits, objects, and documents, spotlighting 11 New Hampshire people and the decision they made to support Britain or America in the early stages of the conflict.
As a whole, New Hampshirites were fiercely independent. But many were also proud subjects of the British Crown. Great Britain had emerged as the most democratic country in Europe in the 18th century. It had begun to build a vast colonial empire that stretched from North America to India. America may have been full of promise as an independent nation, but by 1775 Britain and its North American colonies had achieved a level of prosperity and freedom that would be hard to give up. Few other people in the world enjoyed it.
As tensions rose between Great Britain and its colonies, political and military unrest forced everyone in New Hampshire to decide where their allegiances would lie in the years to come. Patriot or loyalist? Britain or America? Which would you choose?
If You Had to Choose: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New Hampshire is on view through May 30, 2026.