The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. This project is supported, in part, by a grant from the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission. Find all our stories from this project on the Cardinal 250 page. You can sign up for our monthly newsletter:

Feeling oppression from the British crown and longing for freedom in their new land, a group of leaders gathered to sign a historic document stating their intention to break ties with England and fight for independence.

However, this pivotal moment in the American Revolution was not what you might expect — it occurred more than a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and it didn’t happen at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

This declaration of liberty was the Fincastle Resolutions, signed in January 1775, right here in Southwest Virginia.

A new PBS documentary, “Resolved to Live and Die,” was filmed on location throughout the region and brought to life through historical reenactments “that vividly capture the peril, passion, and patriotism” of those fighting for freedom during the Revolutionary War era in Southwest Virginia, according to the filmmakers.

The film’s goal is to honor the region’s pivotal — and often overlooked — role in shaping the Revolution.

The documentary is part of the ongoing Virginia 250 celebration, focusing on the state’s involvement in the American Revolution. It is a co-production of Blue Ridge PBS, PBS Appalachia, the Wilderness Road Regional Museum in Dublin and the Willowbrook Jackson/Umberger Homestead Museum in Wytheville. 

The film debuts at 7 p.m. Sunday on Blue Ridge PBS.

“I hope people will realize that Southwest Virginia played a huge part in the fight for independence,” said Michael Gillman, manager of historic sites for Wytheville Museums. “From 1776-1781, all major events in Virginia were west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

At the time, Southwest Virginia was the western edge of the colonies.

The 15 frontiersmen who signed the Fincastle Resolutions did so in support of the Continental Congress’ boycott of British goods in protest of the Intolerable Acts. It was written as an address to Virginia’s delegates to the First Continental Congress.

“These men, many of them frontier leaders and militia captains, risked everything — family, land and even their lives — by publicly defying the British Crown,” Blue Ridge PBS said in an announcement of the documentary’s premiere. “Their commitment would ripple through history and contribute directly to the birth of the United States.”

The title of the film is taken directly from the closing words of the Fincastle Resolutions. The document defended the colonists’ “inestimable privileges” as rightful British subjects, which they swore “never to surrender … to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives … These are our real, though unpolished sentiments, of liberty and loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live and die.”

April Martin of the Wilderness Road Regional Museum said the two museums involved “have written, arranged, filmed, edited, recruited all the living historians for scenes, organized all the filming locations, and in general are the two organizations responsible for the documentary.”

She and Gillman are partners in the production.

Martin said her museum had worked with Blue Ridge PBS previously on the “Story of the New River” documentary, and a producer asked Martin if she had other ideas.

“I immediately offered up this one,” she said.

Coincidentally, Gillman also had contacted PBS Appalachia at the same time about a short documentary on the Fincastle Resolutions. So, they joined forces to create “Resolved to Live and Die.”

“I started the ball rolling on some VA250 sponsorship money, which came through,” Martin said. “Pulaski County came through [with funding] and Wytheville Museums had some sponsors and grants, as well, to help the project along.”

They also received some money from Virginia Tech’s history department, along with other sources from Blue Ridge PBS and PBS Appalachia.

A war on many fronts

Martin said the film touches on a variety of topics related to the war — the Tory Uprising, the pivotal Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780, the Guilford Courthouse Campaign — as well as other aspects of life from that period, such as religious freedom on the frontier, what life was like for the common soldier, the experiences of women and enslaved people, the Cherokee War of 1776, and the importance of Southwest Virginia resources such as lead and gunpowder for the war effort.

(See previous Cardinal 250 stories on many of these topics, including King’s Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, the Cherokee War, the role of women and enslaved people.)

“We also explore life in the area, from settlers moving into the area to having to choose sides in the war. … I also think it’s very interesting to see the war through the viewpoint of the enslaved and native Americans,” said Carol Jennings of Blue Ridge PBS, producer of the documentary.

Leaders such as William Christian, William Preston, William Campbell, William Ingles, James McGavock, Joseph Cloyd, George Pearis, William Madison, Hugh Crockett and many more were included in the filming, Martin said.

Blue Ridge PBS notes that Campbell and Crockett “emerged from this rugged landscape to lead Virginian Overmountain Men in the decisive 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain, defeating British Major Patrick Ferguson and helping turn the tide of the war.”

Jennings said that Fincastle leader William Preston “is a thread that runs through the doc … which helps tie things together. He was definitely a mover and shaker of the era.”

Preston was a military commander, politician, surveyor and planter. During the war, he held British loyalists, known as Tories, from an uprising in Southwest Virginia, and later fought Cornwallis’ British troops in the Carolinas.

Gillman said the film doesn’t focus on specific people as much as “a group of prominent men from the area who united to join the fight for independence. It will touch on their struggles with the natives and the British crown and what ethnicities settled in this area. It will also share the story of Loyalists in the area who remained loyal to England.”

That America’s rebellion against England was not supported by all colonists is often glossed over in historical accounts of the Revolutionary War.

“For me, I think the most compelling aspect is that the war was truly a civil war, where families and people who were once friends found themselves on opposite sides of a very thorny issue — to support the crown or not,” Jennings said.

Reenacting the Revolution

“It was a challenge to come up with the visuals for the program,” Jennings said. “Photography didn’t come along until the mid-1800s and so there is limited imagery for the Revolutionary War period.”

When it came time to film reenactments, though, the museums found they had plenty of resources available.

“Luckily, both museums had many knowledgeable living historians eager to help out and many contacts for land access and filming privileges,” Martin said.

On Jan. 18 — just two days shy of the event’s 250th anniversary — the kitchen house at the Willowbrook Jackson/Umberger Homestead Museum in Wytheville was converted to the Fincastle Courthouse to film the Jan. 20, 1775, signing of the Fincastle Resolutions. Later, the museum was transformed into McGavock’s Tavern for a recreation of a trial of suspected Tories.

At the Abingdon Muster Grounds, the crew filmed a scene of the Overmountain Men mustering to march to King’s Mountain.

At the Wilderness Road Regional Museum, a skirmish between Patriots and Tories was filmed, in addition to a Tory conspiracy meeting and scenes of women doing 18th-century activities, Jennings said.

The film crew shot various scenes with an actor playing William Preston at Historic Smithfield. 

Other sites filmed included Ingles Tavern, Belle-Hampton Farm, Howe/Hoge Cemetery, McGavock Cemetery, St. John’s Church, New Dublin Presbyterian Church, Fort Witten and Fotheringay, as well as highway markers, cemeteries, memorials “and so many other places throughout Southwest Virginia that were once part of Fincastle County,” Martin said.

Until she sees the final version of the film, though, Martin doesn’t know which scenes will be used.

“These cinematic scenes immerse viewers in the tension of the times, where even fellow colonists were divided — Tories loyal to England clashing violently with patriots seeking independence,” according to Blue Ridge PBS. “This rift often escalated into brutal vigilante justice, reminding us that the revolution was not only fought on battlefields, but also in backyards and town halls.”

Understanding the region’s role

The filmmakers said they hope to shine a light on the essential but little-known contributions of people from Southwest Virginia to the fight for freedom.

Jennings expects that some viewers will get a geography lesson, as she did.

“Before working on this project, I had no idea that Fincastle County had ever existed,” she said. “I suspect I’m not the only one. I think most people would assume the Fincastle Resolutions are tied to the present-day town of Fincastle in Botetourt County, when they’re not. Fincastle County only lasted four short years and covered a huge area.”

(See our previous Cardinal 250 story on Fincastle County.)

She also hopes the audience “will come to appreciate how difficult it was to pick sides.”

Martin said she wants viewers to gain an understanding of what this region’s people stood for during the war.

“I want people to learn that our region was an active part of the Revolution and an oftentimes dangerous place with mixed loyalties,” she said. “And how the war impacted the multicultural melting pot of Appalachia during that time. It wasn’t just Patriots versus the British, but layers of complicated history that need to be remembered and understood in order to better understand the larger context of the overall war.”

She hopes they come away with “an appreciation of what the people of Southwest Virginia did for our new nation.”

Related stories