Virginia Marked 1776 Independence With Fireworks on May 16, 250 Years Before U.S. Anniversary
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 23
Virginia Marked 1776 Independence With Fireworks on May 16, 250 Years Before U.S. Anniversary
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 23
May 16, 1776 — not July 4 — marked what the report calls America’s first independence fireworks, when Virginians in Williamsburg celebrated their break with Britain.
112 Virginia delegates had met the day before and unanimously instructed their Continental Congress representatives to propose that the colonies be declared “free and independent states.”
Williamsburg’s celebration featured a militia parade, toasts, a feast, the British flag replaced by the 13-stripe Grand Union Flag, and golden fireworks at night.
The vote followed escalating grievances against British rule, with the report citing Lord Dunmore’s attacks, confiscation threats and the king’s rejection of the Olive Branch Petition.
13 newspapers later carried accounts of the festivities, which the report says helped shape fireworks into a lasting Independence tradition before July 4, 1777 celebrations spread to Boston and Philadelphia.
Why was America's first independence fireworks celebration nearly erased from history?
How did Virginia's early declaration of independence shape the final American Revolution?