On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Irish immigrant Stephen Moylan of Philadelphia was commissioned as Muster Master General of the Continental Army.
Sources: “General Orders, 11 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0189. [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, p. 287.]; https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/stephen-moylan-the-irishman-who-coined-united-states-of-america/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Moylan
On that day in New York, Brigadier General David Wooster dispatched120 Continental Army soldiers from Oyster Ponds Point at the end of Long Island’s North Fork to raid nearby Plumb Island (now called Plum Island) by boat. The Continentals landed on the island but returned to Oyster Ponds Point when they came under attack by British troops on Plumb Island and an enemy man-of-war. No casualties were reported on either side. This attack has been claimed as the first amphibious assault by American Armed Forces, but in fact as this blog has reported, the Continental Army launched amphibious assaults on Great Brewster Island, Massachusetts on July 21 and 31, 1775.
Also on that day in Braintree, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams wrote her husband John that his brother Captain Elihu Adams had died of dysentery he contracted during the Siege of Boston. Elihu Adams had commanded a company of Braintree militia at Cambridge. Although we rightly honor his brother as one of our Founding Fathers, we should remember Elihu’s sacrifice for American Liberty.
Source: “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 10 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0175. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 272–273.]; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-03-02-0016-0026
And 250 years ago today Peter Edes recorded in his diary that in the British prison in Boston
Amas Fisk died. He was a prisoner taken at Bunker Hill; and the provost utterred the most horrible Speeches of what would become of his Soul and body.
I have searched using Google and my books for information about Amas (or more likely, “Amos”) Fisk but have found nothing. If anyone knows anything about Amas Fisk, please let me know and I will update this blog. At any rate, today we should remember and honor his sacrifice for American Liberty and Independence.
Postscript — I found more information about Mr. Fisk. His name was “Amasa Fisk” and little is known about him except that he was from Pepperell, Massachusetts and he fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill as unassigned Private — he was not part of any militia company but showed up as volunteer to fight for American Liberty.
Sources: https://town.pepperell.ma.us/144/Bunker-Hill-Memorial-Bench; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=191832
On This Day In The Revolution 
2 responses to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — August 11, 1775”
Maybe his name was “Amasa”? In the Northern Illinois University Digital Library, there is an “Amasa Fisk” of “Pepperell” (Massachusetts) in a “List of Persons now in Boston Jail.” This includes “Prisoners taken at Bunker’ s Hill, JUNE 17, 1775” where it shows him as “Dead.” The document from Cambridge is dated September 14, 1775.
https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A94912
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Thanks Ron. I found the same reference and updated the post.
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