Welcome to Project Appleseed

What the RWVA (Revolutionary War Veterans Association) is all about:

History and Heritage

Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills.  Our volunteer instructors travel across the country teaching those who attend about the difficult choices, the heroic actions, and the sacrifices that the Founders made on behalf of modern Americans, all of whom are their posterity.

Our heritage program vividly portrays the Battles of Lexington and Concord with the kind of care and immediacy that is absent from most formal schooling. Modern listeners are confronted with the danger, the fear, and the heartbreaking separations that arose out of the choices made on April 19th, 1775. They are also reminded of the marksmanship skills and masterful organization that ultimately helped set the colonists on the path to success. Those who attend gain a better understanding of the fundamental choices faced by our ancestors as they began to set the stage for the nation we now enjoy.

Marksmanship Clinic

Our rifle marksmanship program complements our history and heritage.  We teach the traditional American marksmanship skills.  There are, however, several aspects of our marksmanship program that deserve special mention. We are particularly proud of our younger attendees. In accordance with applicable local laws, young people with sufficient maturity are welcome to the Appleseed line and can, with parental permission, join the cadre.  The RWVA recognizes the importance of introducing a wide cross section of Americans to their marksmanship heritage. Finally, an important aspect of our marksmanship program is called “Adaptive Appleseed.” Project Appleseed is serious about bringing our heritage and marksmanship instruction to everyone so we’ve committed ourselves to adapting Appleseed to the special needs of those who have certain physical challenges.

Why teach marksmanship?  Because good shooting requires learning positive traits such as patience, determination, focus, attention to detail, and persistence.   Since these skills are likewise key elements of mature participation in civic activities, we urge our students to take what they have learned about themselves as marksmen and apply it to their participation in their communities and in the wider American society in accordance with their own choices about how Americans should govern themselves.

Civic Involvement

There are those who feel that America’s future is grim, that is, that America has lost something special and it can never be regained.   And in their consternation they mutter about “dark choices” and the like.  Appleseed has a message for them.   Just over two hundred years ago our ancestors genuinely faced a tough choice.  They could submit to those they felt were depriving them of their rights as Englishmen or they could fight.  Because they chose as they did, we may never have to face their dilemma because we have a third alternative.

So what must you do with your third choice?  Well, you must roll out of the recliner, cut off the computer, turn down the TV and get involved.  That’s it.  Talk to family, talk to friends, interact with neighbors, take part in local community decisions, and become active in whatever political party best fits your idea of how America should be governed.  Write to your elected representative, attend town halls, correspond with newspaper editors, and wholeheartedly enter the discussion in both online and traditional forums.

Read!  Think!  Debate!  Vote!  And finally, we'd really like your help in shaping America's bright future by participating in this program as a student, as an instructor, or as a volunteer in other support roles.  But even if you never pick up a rifle again, know that you are everything that Project Appleseed works for.  You are an involved, committed American making responsible use of the liberties gifted to us so long ago.  The future is what we make -- YOU make -- of it.

To find out more about Appleseed see our Mission Statement.