Descendants of those who fought and assisted during the American Revolution learnt about the island’s contributions to the conflict at the Bermuda Historical Society Museum yesterday.

Tim Rogers showed the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution a copy of a letter of thanks from George Washington, the first President of the United States, to the people of Bermuda.

Washington, then Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, requested gunpowder from Bermuda in September 1775.

His letter was written one month after Bermudians plundered more than 3,100 lb of gunpowder from a magazine near St George.

The ammunition was smuggled down to Tobacco Bay, where it was loaded on to the American Ship Lady Catherine, with some of the supply ultimately making it to Washington’s troops in Boston.

More than 20 Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution arrived on the island from Britain, where they visited as part of the group’s annual international trip, on Monday. They stopped by Tobacco Bay earlier yesterday.

Michael Elston, Sons of the American Revolution president-general, last visited Bermuda and Tobacco Bay with the group in 2015.

He explained: “Gunpowder was very scarce in British North America.

“The British wanted to get it out of the hands of the citizens because they knew tensions were rising and there was nowhere in British North America where gunpowder was made.

“That’s why George Washington wrote this letter and tried to get gunpowder wherever he could find it.”

Mr Elston highlighted how the flag of South Carolina, where Bermudian gunpowder was also used during the 1776 Battle of Sullivan’s Island, included a palmetto tree.

He said: “The port at Sullivan’s Island was made out of palmetto trees and legend is that British cannonballs just bounced off the palmetto.

“All of this is connected to Bermuda. It is intricately connected to our stories but we don’t talk about that in the United States much.”

Mr Elston added: “When Americans hear ‘American Revolution’, they think of old White English guys, but it was so much more than that. It was an international effort.”

Every member of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution is a descendant of someone who fought or assisted during that war.

Mr Elston said: “It wasn’t [local merchant] Henry Tucker who was hauling the barrels of gunpowder down Tobacco Bay. Undoubtedly, they were enslaved persons.

“There are a whole host of Bermudians of African descent who are eligible for our organisation if they can prove they’re a descendant from one of the guys who helped in that incident.”