On this day 250 years ago, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell arrived in Philadelphia and dined at the City Tavern. They would take their seats in the Continental Congress the next day. Washington, Lee and Harrison stayed at the home of Joseph Reed, who would become Washington’s aide in the Continental Army through 1776, a Member of the Continental Congress in 1777 and then President of Pennsylvania for the remainder of the War.
Sources: “[Diary entry: 9 May 1775],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0005-0010-0009. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, 1 January 1771–5 November 1781, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978, pp. 328–329.]; https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/revolutionary-war/five-days-philadelphia; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=227599
On this day 250 years ago in Charlestown, South Carolina, news arrived of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. By the end of the day the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal published an account of the battles copied from the Essex Gazette under the headline “we have the following alarming Intelligence” that
Last Wednesday, the 19th of April, the Troops of his Britannick Majesty commenced Hostilities upon the People of this Province, attended with Circumstances of Cruelty not less brutal than what our venerable Ancestors received from the vilest Savages of the Wilderness
Source: https://sc250charleston.org/lexconnews/
On this day 250 years ago in Falmouth, Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine), militia commanded by Samuel Thompson, an innkeeper and ardent Patriot who chaired the Falmouth Committee to enforce the Continental Association, seized Lieutenant Henry Mowatt and Dr. Beattie of the HMS Canceaux, along with Anglican minister and outspoken Tory Rev. John Wiswall, as they were leaving church. The second-in-command of the Canceaux threatened to fire on the town if his commander Lt. Mowatt was not immediately released. Thompson refused and the Canceaux fired two rounds into the town, causing no damage but a lot of noise. Hundreds of militia from Falmouth and the neighboring towns of Gorham, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and Windham pored into Falmouth to defend the town and guard Mowatt from any rescue attempt. By the end of the day leading citizens of Falmouth convinced Thompson to release Lt. Mowatt. Thus began the bloodless “Thompson’s War” that would force British forces and Loyalists out of Maine.
Sources: https://www.founderoftheday.com/founder-of-the-day/samuel-thompson; Gratwick, Harry, The Maritime Marauder of Revolutionary Maine, Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2015 at pp. 60-67
And on this day 250 years ago in Shoreham, Vermont, the Green Mountain Boys and Massachusetts and Connecticut Militia commanded by Ethan Allen rendezvoused for their assault on Fort Ticonderoga. There they were joined by Benedict Arnold who demanded to take command of the assault. The Green Mountain Boys refused but Ethan Allen agreed to let Benedict Arnold join him at the front of the column when they stormed the fort. They were also joined in Shoreham by the spy Capt. Noah Phelps who reported that the fort was poorly defended and undermanned. Because his force greatly outnumbered the Redcoats, Allen gave the order for the men to move out to Hands Cove that evening so they could board boats to cross Lake Champlain to Fort Ticonderoga, even though there were not enough boats to ferry all the men across the lake.
Source: Tonsetic at 30-35
Today, May 9, 2025, Fort Ticonderoga and the Town of Castleton, Vermont will host reenactments of the Green Mountain Boys’ march and the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.
On This Day In The Revolution 