On this day 250 years ago, General Gage, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, retrieved from the commander of the local militia the key to the storehouse (called the Powder House) where the King’s gunpowder was stored in Charlestown (now Somerville). Gage ordered a detachment of Redcoats to depart early the next morning in boats across the bay to remove the gunpowder from the Powder House and take to it Boston so rebellious Patriots could not the seize the powder. This order would bring the colony to the brink of war with Britain.

Sources: https://thehistoryjunkie.com/powder-alarm-facts/

The National Park Service, History Cambridge, the Somerville Museum, and other Massachusetts organizations will be commemorating the Powder Alarm at the Powder House and other locations in Cambridge and Somerville starting tomorrow through Wednesday. https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/news/events-in-cambridge-and-somerville-mark-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-powder-alarm.htm

Also on this day 250 years ago at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George and Martha Washington had dinner (served at mid-day in the 18th Century) with Edmund Pendleton and Patrick Henry and his neighbors and friends George Mason and Thomas Triplett. Following dinner George Washington, Pendleton and Henry departed to travel together to Philadelphia where they would join the rest of the Virginia delegation to the First Continental Congress. Pendleton would later write:

I was most pleased with Mrs. Washington and her spirit. She seemed ready to make any sacrifice and was cheerful though I knew she felt anxious. She talked like a Spartan mother to her son going to battle. “I hope you will stand firm – I know George will,” she said. The dear little woman was busy from morning to night in domestic duties, but she gave us much time in conversation and affording us entertainment. When we set off in the morning, she stood in the door and cheered us with the good words, “God be with you gentlemen.”

This blog will cover more contributions in the Revolution by the Washingtons, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry and George Mason in the future, but I may not mention Triplett again. Triplett was also a Patriot and served on the Fairfax Committee of Safety with George Washington and George Mason. He would subsequently become a Captain in the Continental Army serving in Northern Virginia, primarily recruiting. Washington ordered that the Continental Army be inoculated against smallpox and unfortunately Triplett developed smallpox from his inoculation in 1777 and never joined the Army. He died at an unknown date in 1778 and is buried in an unmarked grave, but should be remembered for his service in the Revolution.

Sources: https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2024/08/31/god-be-with-you-gentlemen-to-philadelphia/; https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2231%20August%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=; https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2230%20August%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=; https://www.fairfaxresolvessar.org/content/ffx_patriotic_patriotgravemarking/william_triplett.html