On this day 250 years ago in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Navy ship Katy removed the final cannon from Fort George on Goat Island to make sure that they could not be used by the British. The Katy carried the two 18 pounders to Providence where they could be guarded by the militia.

Sources: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/narragansett-bay-operations-1775/; https://daybydayamerica.com/day-by-day/year-1775/august-10-1775/

On this day 250 years ago Captain Hugh Stephenson’s Company of 98 riflemen from Berkeley County Virginia arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts. Among the riflemen in Stephenson’s Company was 22-year old Private Henry Bedinger. His diary is one of the best resources for the famous 484-mile Beeline March. Bedinger would serve in the Continental Army for the entire length of the War rising to the rank of 4th Sergeant, but was a prisoner of war in New York City from 1777 to 1781.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-a-relentless-484-mile-march-from-virginia-to-massachusetts-fueled-the-legend-of-the-dashing-frontier-rifleman-180986953/; https://historicshepherdstown.com/portfolio-item/day-book-of-henry-bedinger/

And on this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington issued these General Orders:

It is a matter of exceeding great Concern to the General, to find, that at a time when the united efforts of America are exerting in defence of the common Rights and Liberties of mankind, that there should be in an Army constituted for so noble a purpose, such repeated Instances of Officers, who lost to every sense of honour and virtue, are seeking by dirty and base means, the promotion of their own dishonest Gain, to the eternal Disgrace of themselves, and Dishonour of their country—practices of this sort will never be overlooked, whenever an Accusation is lodged, but the Authors brought to the most exemplary punishment:

The several Pay Masters are immediately to ascertain, what pay was due to the different Regiments and Corps, on the first day of this Instant, that each Man may receive his respective due, as soon as the Money arrives to pay them. It is earnestly recommended that great Exactness be used in these settlements, First, that no man goes without his pay, and next, that not one farthing more be drawn than what is justly due; after this the pay may be drawn once a Month, or otherwise, as shall be found most convenient, in the mean while the Soldiers need be under no Apprehension of getting every Farthing that is justly their due: It is therefore expected that they do their duty with that cheerfulness and alacrity, becoming Men, who are contending for their Liberty, Property and every thing that is valuable to Freemen, and their posterity.

Source: “General Orders, 10 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0182. [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. 281–282.]