In the early morning hours of this day 250 years ago on Charlestown Neck outside Boston, about 80 Continental Army rifleman attacked British sentries barricading the neck to prevent the Continental Army from reoccupying the Charlestown Peninsula. Both the British and the Americans added troops to the skirmish and the British bombarded the Continental lines, but at the end of fighting the Americans had retaken possession of the Charlestown Neck, and had killed several British soldiers and captured two, with the loss of only one Continental soldier killed.

Sources: https://250andcounting.com/2025/07/30/july-30-1775-a-battle-at-charlestown-neck/; https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2230%20July%201775%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=6&sr= at n.3

Also on this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington explained that

issst would not be consistent with my duty to detach any Part of the Army now here on any Particular Provincial Service. It has been debated in Congress and Settled that the Militia or other Internal Strength of each Province is to be applied for Defence against those Small and Particular Depredations which were to be expected, & to which they were Supposed to be competent. This will appear the more Proper, when it is considerd that every Town & indeed every Part of our Sea Coast which is exposed to these Depredations would have an equal Claim upon this Army: It is the Misfortune of our Situation which exposes us to these Ravages, against which in my Judgment no such Temporary Relief would possibly secure us—The great Advantage the Enemy has of transporting Troops by being Masters of the Sea will enable them to harrass us by Diversions of this kind; & Should we be tempted to pursue them upon every Alarm, The Army must either be so weaken’d as to Expose it to Destruction or a great Part of the Coast be Still left unprotected: Nor indeed does it appear to me that such a Pursuit would be attended with the least Effect: The first Notice of Such an Incursion would be it’s actual Exicutio⟨n⟩ & long before any Troops could reach the Scene of Action—the Enemy would have an Oppy to accomplish their Purpose & retire—It would give me great Pleasure to have it in my Power to extend Protection & Safety to every Individual, but the Wisdom of the General Court will anticipate me in the Necessity of Conducting our Operations on a General and impartial Scale, so as to exclude any first Cause of Complaint & Jealousy.

Washington would follow this strategy for the remainder of the War, and as a result, the defense of America from British ships raiding the coast, Native American raiding parties on the Frontier, and Loyalist uprisings in the interior of the 13 soon-to-be States, fell to the Militia of each State rather than the Continental Army. Most of the engagements in the Revolution were fought by the Militia and not Continental soldiers.

Source: “George Washington to James Warren, 30 July 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0123. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 1, 16 June 1775 – 15 September 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985, pp. 195–197.]

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