PALO ALTO, Calif. – It is no coincidence that Palo Alto, Calif., resident Dick Alexander’s home, cell phone, office and fax numbers all end with the digits “1776.”

The personal injury attorney’s penchant for the Revolutionary War is reflected on the walls of his San Jose, Calif., office, where he displays what he believes is “the largest collection of prints of the American Revolution this side of Philadelphia.”

In years past, Alexander took some of his 50 prints and historical memorabilia from his Waverley Street home to set up an office display for the Fourth of July. But this year, he said, the display will remain, lining the lobby, hallway and meeting rooms of Alexander Hawes, the law firm he founded 22 years ago.

“It’s a good reminder for me because I fight the red-coats,” said Alexander, who represents clients with catastrophic losses against major corporations and insurance companies in court. He is currently in trial representing a 12-year-old boy brain-damaged after he was hit by a woman allegedly speeding through a school zone.

When clients walk into Alexander’s sixth floor office, he greets them with a $2 bill.

“Jefferson is on the $2 bill. It carries a lot of the history of the U.S. Revolution,” Alexander said, demonstrating how the back of the bill displays the same print that hangs on his office hallway, John Trumbull’s “Declaration of Independence.”

Alexander started his collection in 1990, shopping for prints while in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Paris. Several of his prints depict George Washington in heroic, if not quite feasible, situations, he noted.

“Here he is in another untenable position,” Alexander said in front of a print showing Washington charging from the front line.

A few oil paintings and replicas such as the flag flown by John Paul Jones on the “Bonhomme Richard” ship – the only American flag with blue stripes – round out his display.

Alexander’s interest in early American history dates back to his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended Paul Revere Elementary School, Nathaniel Hale Middle School and John Adams Senior High School.

“It’s always been a part of me,” said Alexander, who attended the University of Chicago Law School before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

“California has its own history, but the essence of this country was forged by a small group of well-educated people – mostly lawyers – who were well-read in the philosophy of the time,” he said.

Together, they created a government that has sustained a “stunning success of human rights,” Alexander said.

For his part, Alexander said he tries to follow the spirit of the founding fathers by making as much of his case information public, on his Web site, http://www.alexanderinjury.com.

“All of my clients have to agree that any matter of common public value will be published,” he said.

And he worries that children no longer learn in school the fundamentals of history, such as the contents of the Bill of Rights or the significance of France’s contributions to the Revolutionary War’s victory.

When asked about the similarity between a red early American flag showing a pine tree on a white square and the Stanford emblem, Alexander said he had heard that question often “from people who don’t know anything about American history.”

Still, Alexander said his passion for the Revolutionary War does not consume his personal life with his wife of 40 years and two children. They do not take historical-themed vacations, for example. Recently, he has been reading books on 20th century history and working on his Web site’s blog. And he counters any attempt to be labeled a Revolutionary War buff.

“I just have a great respect for the people who founded the country and had the courage to do the right thing at the right time,” he said.

And in this case, it is a true coincidence that Alexander and his wife moved to Palo Alto in 1976, the country’s bicentennial.

“That was just happenstance,” he said.