On this day 250 years ago, the county militias of Massachusetts were organizing for war. The Worcester County, Massachusetts militia elected Artemas Ward as their Colonel, even though he had been previously been removed from office by the Royal Governor of Massachusetts due to his ardent Patriotism. The Town Meeting of Framingham “Voted — that there be two militia companies, besides the Troop, in this town; and that each company choose such officers as they judge best to have command at this day of distress in our public affairs.” The Town Meeting of Acton moderated by Captain Samuel Hayward elected Ephraim Hapgood, Francis Faulkner, John Hayward, Mark White, and Captain Samuel Hayward as a Committee of Correspondence for the town, Josiah Hayward as a representative to the General Court if the Governor were to convene a meeting of that body, and Francis Faulkner and Ephraim Hapgood as delegates to a Provincial Congress to be held at Concord on the second Tuesday of October. All these men were committed Patriots and Acton would field a heroic battalion of Minutemen at the battle in nearby Concord in the next year.
Sources: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/artemas-ward/; https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/lexington-and-concord-framingham-militia/
On this day in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress debated Richard Henry Lee’s proposed resolution to “to apprise the public of danger, and of the necessity of putting the colonies in a state of defense” but voted not to adopt it. Instead the Congress passed a resolution stating “that the militia, if put upon a proper footing, would be amply sufficient for their defense in time of peace; [and] that they are desirous to put it on such a footing immediately.”
Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/act-i-monday-october-3-1774/
Also on this day in Boston, General Gage wrote to British Secretary of War Lord Barrington in London to request reinforcements explaining that to quell the brewing rebellion in New England “you must conquer her, and to do that effectually . . . you should have an Army near twenty Thousand strong.” That of course would turn out to be an underestimate.
On This Day In The Revolution 