Winning our independence

Teaching Film Custodians classroom film of excerpts from the 1940 Columbia Pictures feature film, “The Howards of Virginia”, based on the novel, "The Tree of Liberty" written by Elizabeth Page. The story of the American revolution from the viewpoint of Matthew Howard, a farmer of the Virginia backwoods and a friend of Thomas Jefferson. Elected a Virginia Burgess, Howard participates in debates on the Stamp Tax precipitated by Patrick Henry and later serves on the colonial Committee of Correspondence. When the Revolution begins, he joins Washington's Army and serves throughout the war, enduring the hardships of Valley Forge and ultimately returning to his Virginia farm after taking part in the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown., An abridged version of the feature film Howards of Virginia, Matthew Howard, interested only in his immediate possessions, gradually becomes concerned with the American colonies' fight for independence. He leaves his family in Virginia while he takes an active part in the Revolutionary Army.