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On this day 250 years ago in New York City the “Mechanics in Union and their Associates” published a list of 21 candidates that they recommended “as fit men to represent the city and county of New-York, in the next Provincial Congress.” Most of the candidates on the list would win election to the Provincial…
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On this day 250 years ago in New York City, General George Washington wrote Brigadier General John Thomas commanding the Continental Army in Canada about his Concern at the great deficiency of the Regiments destin’d for Canada, but as I am sensible of the necessity of having a respectable body of Troops in that Country,…
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On this day 250 years ago off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the American merchant ship Polly captained by Silas Henry carrying co-owner James Buchanan and a cargo of hominy corn and hogshead components from Edenton, North Carolina to Madeira, was captured by the Loyalist armed sloop Lilly commanded by Captain John Goodrich, Jr. Later that…
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On this day 250 years ago in New York, General George Washington and his staff crossed King’s Bridge onto Manhattan Island and into New York City where Washington established his headquarters for the next four months awaiting the British invasion. Most of the Continental Army units redeployed from Boston were already in New York or…
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On this day 250 years ago in Halifax, North Carolina, the Fourth Provincial Congress authorized North Carolina’s delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. As part of the first official action by a colony to call for the end of British rule and independence for America, the 83 delegates assembled at Halifax unanimously adopted…
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On this day 250 years ago in Connecticut, General George Washington and his staff arrived in New Haven, on their ride from Boston to New York. They had started their day in Lyme, Connecticut where they had spent the previous night at the home of John McCurdy. The John McCurdy House is still standing in…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress delivered the following reply to the speech of Captain White Eyes or Koquethagechton (spelled “Coquataginta” in the Journal of the Continental Congress), the chief of the Delawares: Brothers, the Delawares, At the council fire, at Pittsburg, last fall, and since by our brother Captain…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Congressman Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia replied to a letter from Landon Carter questioning whether the Congress was debating a declaration of independence from Great Britain: Who in the name of Heaven, could tell you, that Independency had been 3 times thrown out of Congress? You may…
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On this day 250 years ago, Commodore Esek Hopkins and the Continental Navy fleet he commanded sailed into the harbor at New London, Connecticut with the prizes, prisoners, artillery and gunpowder seized in their raid to the Bahamas and return cruise to America. https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/battle-of-nassau/ On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Joseph…
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On this day 250 years ago, off the Virginia Capes (in other words the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay), the brig USS Lexington, with about 20 guns and a crew of around 100 men commanded by Captain John Barry captured the smaller British sloop HMS Edward after an hour-long fight. Two American sailors were killed and…