Revolutionary Roots: VA Hospitals and their Connection to Revolutionary War Sites

In the early hours of September 15, 1776, Gen. Sir William Howe, Commander of British forces in the American Revolution, launched an amphibious assault landing thousands of troops on the island of Manhattan in an area known as Kips Bay. The Continental Army, led by Gen. George Washington, quickly retreated, escaping to fight another day. The operation marked an early salvo in the war, with troop movements by both American and British forces occurring directly around what is today the location of the Manhattan VA Medical Center, itself named after revolutionary figure Margaret Cochran Corbin.

The year 2026 marks the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution. From 1775 to 1781, battles between American and British forces spanned the North American continent and beyond. While the Department of Veterans Affairs did not exist at the time, several present-day VA medical centers (VAMCs), like the facility in Kips Bay, stand on land that was once involved in the fight for independence and have meaningful connections to the Nation’s earliest days. In recognition of the Nation’s 250th birthday, this article highlights some of those sites and their connection to the American cause.

Jamaica Plain (Boston), Massachusetts  

The opening shots of the American Revolution rang out in and around Boston, Massachusetts, and the land just south of the city was vital during the siege of Boston and the Battle of Dorchester Heights. In the summer of 1775, the then rural area of Roxbury, which encompasses the area known today as Jamaica Plain, saw American troops under the command of Gen. Nathanael Greene quartered with the town’s residents. The units protected a vital road leading to an American arsenal in case the British broke the siege of Boston.[1] In 1777, John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, purchased an estate in the area. Today, the same neighborhood is home to the Jamaica Plain VAMC.

 Bronx, New York

The area in and around New York City saw some of the largest engagements of the war. In addition to the Margaret Cochran Corbin Medical Center, two other VAMCs stand on or near land that has significant ties to the fighting. Due to its high elevation, the Bronx was a strategic area during the American Revolution. In June 1776, Washington visited and designated several redoubts, or military forts, in the area, and Fort Number Six was established at the future location of the James J. Peters VAMC. Washington selected the location to help guard the King’s Bridge, now called the Broadway Lift Bridge. In September 1776, the British Army seized control of the area and renamed the fort the “King’s Battery.”[2]

Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn VAMC has been caring for Veterans since 1953. Located in southern Brooklyn and overlooking the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the area bears a direct connection to the Battle of Brooklyn, one of the largest battles of the entire conflict. Due to its strategic location along the Narrows, the area was a critical waterway entering New York Harbor, essential for trade, troop movement, and military operations.

In anticipation of British advances on the area, American forces established batteries on both sides of the East River in Staten Island and Brooklyn. Washington, believing the true target of Howe to be Manhattan, sent only 1,500 troops to Brooklyn to guard against the landing, vastly underestimating the massive force the British would land. In a pivotal move on August 22, 1776, 27,000 British troops and Hessian mercenary forces landed at Gravesend Beach, the largest invasion army ever formed by Great Britain to that date.[3] American forces and defenses quickly fell. British troops advanced after landing, some directly next to the present-day VAMC. Several days later, Washington addressed his troops, writing, “The enemy have now landed on Long Island, and the hour is fast approaching in which the honor and success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding country, will depend.”[4]

Hampton, Virginia

The Battle of Hampton, Virginia, which occurred on October 26 and 27, 1775, was an early naval confrontation between local militia and the Royal Navy. After clashes surrounding supplies and the role of royal authority in the area, British warships sailed into Hampton Roads and shelled the town after colonists refused to provide provisions. American resistance, including riflemen from the Culpeper District Minute Battalion under the command of Col. William Woodford, led to eventual British withdrawal and solidified support for the patriot cause.[5] Ninety-five years later, the area would become home to one of the earliest VA sites, the Southern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, initially caring for Veterans of the Civil War. Today the site is home to the Hampton VAMC.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The present-day site in Pittsburgh of the H.J. Heinz VAMC has several connections to activity both before, during, and after the war, with a particular connection to Washington himself.

 In the 1750s, British land settlement companies and government officials sent surveyors to document the Pittsburgh area, including a 21-year-old George Washington, who was tasked by Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie to survey Western Pennsylvania and deliver messages to the French. During a surveying trip in late 1753, Washington passed through Fort Prince George, located at present-day Pittsburgh’s “Point,” and nearly drowned along with his guide Christopher Gist while crossing the Allegheny River on their return to Virginia. The incident is believed to have occurred near the islands south of the current VAMC.[6]

During the war, Fort Pitt, which currently stands several miles west of Heinz, served as a strategic post. While not engaged in direct conflict, the fort was a vital link to the western frontier at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. The fort defended the region, protected settlers from British-supported Native American raids, and served as an essential supply depot.

Following the American Revolution, land in Pennsylvania was used as currency to pay returning soldiers through “depreciation certificates,” generally sold to businessmen who bought several lots as investments or for renting land to farmers. The H.J. Heinz VAMC is situated on the land acquired by Senator James Ross, an attorney for prominent Pittsburgh families who managed the legal affairs of George Washington in Pennsylvania.[7]

Charleston, South Carolina

The siege of Charleston Harbor between March and May 1780 signaled a major shift in the fighting from the north to the south and resulted in a major victory for the British, leading to their occupation of the city. Charleston served as a vital port and was essential to both sides to control. Today, the Ralph A. Johnson Medical Center sits just north and west of the main bombardment area where Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton blockaded the city, leading to American Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s eventual surrender, the largest of the war. Several blocks to the south and east of the medical center sit several more sites of importance, including Clinton’s headquarters during the British occupation.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, often referred to as the birthplace of the American Revolution, is best known as the city where the Founding Fathers drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. After the American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, British forces occupied the city for 10 months. During this time, many residents remained loyal to Great Britain, among them William Hamilton, a wealthy landowner whose estate would one day become home to the Michael J. Crescenz VAMC.

Born into a prominent Philadelphia family, Hamilton inherited the 240-acre estate across the Schuylkill River in West Philadelphia at the age of 21 in 1766 from his father Andrew Hamilton. Throughout the American Revolution, Hamilton remained loyal to the British Crown and was even later tried for treason for aiding British forces during their occupation of the city. Despite his loyalist stance, he nevertheless maintained a close friendship with Thomas Jefferson, who wrote to him many years after the war had ended that, “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”[8]

After the end of the war, Congress granted pensions to almost all Veterans who served in the war, laying the foundation of the benefits system that serves over six million Veterans and their family members today. While these hospitals were centuries away from existing, their locations maintain a vital link between the past and the present. The spaces where patriots once fought are now spaces where patriots are cared for.

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[1] Jamaica Plain Historical Society, “A Guide to Jamaica Plain,” accessed February 3, 2026, https://www.jphs.org/jp-history/2005/4/10/a-guide-to-jamaica-plain.html#gsc.tab=0.

[2] Stephen Jenkins, The Story of the Bronx 1639-1912 (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1912), accessed February 13, 2026, https://lccn.loc.gov/12023119.

[3] “General Orders, 23 August 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed January 30,2026,  https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0100. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, 13 August 1776–20 October 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase and Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994), 109–111.]

[4] Old Stone House & Washington Park, The Battle of Brooklyn, August 27-29 1776: A Walking Guide to Sites and Monuments (Self Published).

[5] Encyclopedia Virginia, “The Battle of Hampton (October 26–27, 1775),” accessed February 10, 2026, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-battle-of-hampton-october-26-27-1775/.

[6] Township of O’Hara, O’Hara Township, PA: Portrait of an American Community (self-published, 2008).25

[7] Township of O’Hara, O’Hara Township, PA: Portrait of an American Community, 47.50-70.

[8] Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, April 22, 1800, Founders Online, National Archives, accessed February 13, 2026, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-31-02-0445.  [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 31, 1 February 1799 – 31 May 1800, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), 533–535.]

Sources:

American Revolution Sites, Events, and Troop Movements in Detail. Accessed [2/13/26]. http://www.elehistory.com/amrev/SitesEventsTroopMovements.htm?start=1780-10-12.

Encyclopedia Virginia. “The Battle of Hampton (October 26–27, 1775).” Accessed February 10, 2026. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-battle-of-hampton-october-26-27-1775/.

Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. 100-Year History Sketch: H. John Heinz III Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Prepared under an interagency agreement with the Veterans Affairs History Office. June 2025.

Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. 100-Year History Sketch: James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Prepared under an interagency agreement with the Veterans Affairs History Office. January 2026.

Jamaica Plain Historical Society. “A Guide to Jamaica Plain.” Accessed February 3, 2026. https://www.jphs.org/jp-history/2005/4/10/a-guide-to-jamaica-plain.html#gsc.tab=0.

Jenkins, Stephen. The Story of the Bronx 1639-1912. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1912. Accessed February 13, 2026. https://lccn.loc.gov/12023119.

Old Stone House & Washington Park. The Battle of Brooklyn, August 27-29 1776: A Walking Guide to Sites and Monuments. Self Published.

“General Orders, 23 August 1776.” Founders Online, National Archives. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0100.  [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, 13 August 1776–20 October 1776, edited by Philander D. Chase and Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, 109–111.]

Jefferson, Thomas. “Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, April 22, 1800.” Founders Online, National Archives. Accessed February 13, 2026. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-31-02-0445.  [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 31, 1 February 1799 – 31 May 1800, edited by Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004, 533–535.]