Soldier Life of the American Revolution
A 360° Virtual Reality Experience
Experience America's founding conflict with the American Battlefield Trust’s latest virtual reality experience. Step back in time and experience the Revolutionary War from a soldier's perspective.
Watch the Video
Soldier Life of the American Revolution
Experience the Revolutionary War as never before with the American Battlefield Trust’s virtual reality experience. In this first American Revolution 360° video, experience panoramic views of camp life, battle and the painful aftermath of fighting. (Runtime 2:48)
Please note: For the most immersive experience, view this video with your virtual reality headset or cardboard viewer. To get started, launch the video with the YouTube app. Select the VR headset icon on the lower right part of the screen and put your smartphone into the cardboard viewer (not needed for headsets).
Additional Viewing Tips
Get ready to be transported back to the Revolutionary War, where you’ll experience the atmosphere of a military camp, the chaotic nature of woodland fighting and the perilous horrors of late 18th-century medicine and warfare. You can watch this video on desktop, mobile or — for the most immersive experience — with your Virtual Reality headset.
No matter where you watch:
- Connect to WiFi to avoid data charges.
- If possible, wear headphones. If you do not have headphones, turn up the volume on your device.
- There’s something to see in every direction, so make sure to look around.
Desktop:
- Use your cursor to pan the scene in 360° to see all the action
Mobile:
- Use your finger to move and swipe the scene in 360°.
- Pinch-and-zoom to get a closer look
Virtual Reality Headset or Cardboard Viewer:
- Using a virtual reality headset allows you to simply turn your head to move around the scene
- Not only are the VR videos viewed on a headset immersive, but they use the full potential of the directional sound — the audio adjusts to the way you are facing.
- There’s a viewer for every budget! You can purchase a viewer at Knox Labs.
- Do you have an Oculus headset? Download the Experience from the store here.
About This Project
The American Battlefield Trust has long worked to educate individuals by building bridges into the past through historically rich experiences. In recent years, the nonprofit has made use of groundbreaking VR technology to transport viewers to another time and place, conveying a sense of up-close emotion that other methods cannot. Following the success of Civil War 1864: A Virtual Reality Experience — which has amassed 40 million YouTube views since its November 2019 launch — the Trust recognized an obvious opportunity to take its audience even further back in American history. Thus, the idea for Soldier Life of the American Revolution took root.
Seeking to pursue, experiment, and build a foundation for an education-oriented VR collection, the Trust turned to its longtime partners at Wide Awake Films, a Kansas City, Mo.-based creative media group focused on innovative, efficient execution of historical, commercial and corporate films. With their expert skill set proven time and again, the media group remained dedicated to producing footage with an authentic feel.
In this Revolutionary-era VR iteration, audiences are met with panoramic views of camp life, battle and the painful aftermath of fighting. Not only through the eyes of Patriot soldiers does the audience witness these occurrences — but also through the perspective of British troops and female nurses. Those using a virtual reality headset or cardboard viewer can take advantage of the product’s directional sound, while mobile devices enable users to pinch-and-zoom for a closer look at specific details. Either method gives viewers a degree of control to explore the scenes from the angle that most interests them while tuning in to the narrator’s insightful commentary. While not every student of history can grasp the reality of life amid the Revolutionary War from a book, many will find the sensory-filled digital resource to be a refreshing tool that enhances history education.
Credits
The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 50,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War.
Wide Awake Films is a creative media group focused on innovative, efficient execution of historical, commercial and corporate video and film production. The production company excels in producing compelling and powerful corporate messages, as well as Emmy award-winning historical content for museums, documentaries and television programming.
