The Revolutionary War was a civil war that caused divisions even within families.

One of Maryland’s favorite sons, Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman, came from a politically divided household. His father was arrested for being a loyalist; his next oldest brother joined the East India Company to avoid getting caught up in the war; and a younger brother ran away to the Royal Navy.

In her course, Dr. Jessica Sheets, oral historian with the Marine Corps History Division in Quantico, Virginia, will share insights from Tilghman family letters — including several written by the sisters — to reveal how political loyalties shaped relationships, choices, and family dynamics. Would the Tilghman family bonds survive these political rifts? And why do Americans today often overlook the Revolutionary War as a civil war?