What is Project Appleseed?

[Appleseed]

The Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA) is a 501.c.3, non-profit, all volunteer organization incorporated in 2004.

It was started by some average American rifle owners who recognized the uniquely American skill of being a marksman, a master of his rifle, is slipping away in our culture today.  Who understood marksmanship was not only unique as a traditional skill to America, but also instrumental in the founding and preservation of our nation.  It was the "can do, will do" spirit of the early Americans which established this nation, and that same spirit which is needed to sustain this nation in the spirit of liberty won for us by our forebears.  They understood the American Rifleman is a wonderfully unique American Tradition, which became a rich Heritage by being instrumental in preserving and establishing our nation.  The spirit of the American Rifleman runs in the veins of each American, each American who chooses, can be a Revolutionary War Veteran...

The traditional "Rifleman's Quarter Mile" is the ability accurately shoot targets out to 500 yards - or more.  Our Rifleman ancestors were capable of 250-yard "pumpkin shots" from the first days of the Revolutionary War, and with the arrival of smokeless powder, that skill was extended out to 500 yards. It's a uniquely American skill, something recognized by sharpshooters around the world throughout the last 230+ years of American History.

Neither Riflemen nor marksmanship exist in a vacuum. The RWVA also has the goal of preservating our American Heritage, the one which began on April 19th, 1775.  Far too many modern Americans have no appreciation or understanding of the choices and sacrifices made on that day on their behalf by the Founding Generation.  While we may have learned a little in school about the Founding Fathers, some big names in history, we have very little knowledge and appreciation of what the average early Americans did for us. 

These "average Americans" (they were far from average by our standards today) were the farmers, mechanics, blacksmiths, cobblers, teachers and preachers of their time.  They would be your neighbors, if they lived today.  They made choices, on our behalf, which secured the Freedoms and Liberties we enjoy today.  These choices seem right and natural to us today, and even taken for granted, as we have the hindsight of 230+ years to view them through.  Those Americans who stood on Lexington Green and advanced on Concord's North Bridge did not have the benefit of hindsight to guide their actions.  They relied upon their understanding of their natural Rights, and the hope their actions would decide the future for millions to come in the generations after theirs.

The volunteers of RWVA are dedicated to preserve and spread our Rifleman Traditions and Heritage across the nation through the Appleseed Project.  You can learn more about the Appleseed Project by reading on and following the links below.

This remarkable program has established not only a track record but an amazing growth record over just the past four years:
     *2006, the first year of the Appleseed Project, there were 18 Appleseed events, nation-wide, with just over 1000 participants.
     *2007 saw 47 Appleseed events and nearly 1900 participants.
     *2008 had 138 Appleseed events, nation wide, and about 3700 participants.
     *2009 will see nearly 400 Appleseed events, in 46 different states, and an anticipated 10,000 participants.

     For the future, the goal is to more than double each and every year.  With millions of Americans who are longing to connect to their Heritage and Traditions (some of whom may not even know what that "emptiness" is that they feel), the volunteers of Appleseed are dedicated to bring the spirit of the Revolutionary War Veterans to those across this nation.

As the RWVA volunteers continue to share our American Traditions and Heritage with other volunteer Americans all across this nation, we gather more dedicated Americans who, like those first Americans, and the first volunteers of RWVA, have an appreciation of our Traditions and Heritage.  These average Americans step up, in each state of the nation, to help bring Project Appleseed to their fellow Americans, their friends and neighbors. 

Through this 100% volunteer effort, the RWVA hopes to share that early American Rifleman's Spirit with as many Americans as we can reach, in as short a period as possible.  We expect there will be nearly 800 Appleseed events in 2010, with more than 20,000 Americans joining us at the ranges and in the fields across America, to honor and preserve the very spirit and Heritage which we share with our Founding Generation.

What is Project Appleseed, to you?

       *It's a chance to learn to shoot like your forefathers did, and could.

        *It's a chance to peek into the history and the tradition, and find that, by becoming a rifleman, you're becoming part of something far greater than yourself - part of a magnificent tradition, one dating right back to the origins of this country.

       *It's a chance for you to volunteer to teach other Americans what they need to know about their history and heritage, an opportunity to repay some of the debt you find out you owe to the founders of this nation.

       *It's a chance to improve yourself, to become a better person - a more competent person with a rifle, a more competent person as a citizen.

       *It's a chance to become an important person. A person who's no longer adrift in life. A person who can do something different from most Americans: someone who can take charge, and make things happen. No longer a subject. A citizen. Of a free nation.

       *It's a chance to discover you're not alone. That there are many other Americans who care about their country, and the direction it's going - and want to change that direction. It's a chance to meet new friends, friends different from those you currently have. Friends who will be friends thru good weather and bad. True friends. Fellow Americans...

       *It's a chance to be part of something larger than yourself. Something you can be an important part of making happen. Something which can give meaning to your life...
   
Some Heritage for you to consider:

Project Appleseed (sponsored by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association [RWVA]) is designed to preserve and pass on the Traditions and Heritage which our Founding Fathers first passed on to us.

The uniquely American traditional skill of the Rifleman, of being able to shoot a rifle accurately, is no longer being passed on from generation to generation, as it has been from the country's beginnings. 

Rifle marksmanship instruction received at an Appleseed is not new, it is not revolutionary, in fact part of it is hundreds of years old.  Information about traditional American skills, which our forefathers learned from their fathers, and passed on to their children.  In fact, some of it is information which would have been passed on by Isaac Davis, Samuel Whittimore and Hezekiah Whyman to their children, and they to theirs.  (If you don't know who these great Americans are and what they did for your Liberty, then you'll find out - at an Appleseed!)   

Throughout America's history, right from the very beginning on April 19th, 1775, the marksmanship of Americans has stood out as being vastly superior to others.  From that fateful day in April, when the Colonials were forced to face the British army, one thing which enabled our first Americans to boldly defend their way of life was their superior skills in marksmanship. 

Throughout the Revolutionary War, and indeed throughout America's history, the skill of the American rifleman has been both unique and of a higher caliber than other nations. 

"...they apprehend a Rifleman grows naturally behind each Tree and Bush on the Continent."
-Captain Thomas Pinckney, Commenting on the British Fear of Rifleman, 1775

"I have many times asked the American backwoodsman what was the most their best marksmen could do; they have constantly told me that an expert rifleman, provided he can draw good and true sight, can hit the head of a man at 200 yards.  I am certain that provided an American rifleman was to get perfect aim at 300 yards at me standing still, he most undoubtedly would hit me, unless it was a very windy day..."
-Colonel George Hanger, To All Sportsman and Particularly to Farmers and Gamekeepers, 1814

This is the tradition RWVA wishes to preserve for the generations to come. 

The American Rifleman spirit is a uniquely American Heritage critically important in the birth of our nation, and has been present throughout the generations and events in our history.  This Heritage, one which has its roots in those who took the field on April 19th, 1775, is something which has carried America through times that have seen other nations fall.

The British who faced the Colonials of 1775 were confident they were better trained, equipped and supported.  They possessed all that the text books would require for a victory in America.  However, what they were unaware of, and did not anticipate, was the spirit of the American Rifleman.  Many British officers remarked at the determination, persistence and will of those they faced on Battle Road.  Many had their low opinions of the Colonials changed in the course of just one day, as a result of this very American Rifleman Spirit:

"The enemy entertain a most fortunate apprehension of American Riflemen"
Gen Charles Lee, 1776

"...thirty riflemen, behind a pile of wood, for several hours held up the advance of four thousand British troops with fieldpieces, and probably did a great deal to save Washington's whole army".
Description of Colonel Hand's riflemen at Throg's Neck in the Long Island Campaign
from Scheer and Rankin Rebels and Redcoats

"They are a picked corps, well used to rifles and to wood's fights, commanded by officers of distinguished bravery"
Colonel Alexander Hamilton describes Morgans' Corps in 1777

Project Appleseed is about passing on these very Traditions and Heritage which our Founding Fathers used in a way uniquely American, on April 19th, 1775, "Where marksmanship met history and the Heritage began..."

To see exactly how the RWVA does this, click here to see what your Appleseed Shoot experience will be like, as you read about a typical day at an Appleseed Weekend Shoot:

Your Instructor's notes to you, what to expect at your Appleseed Shoot

Reports from those who have attended Appleseed Shoots, perhaps one near you