On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington wrote to Major General Philip Schuyler at Fort Ticonderoga, New York to propose the invasion of Canada:

The Design of this Express is to communicate to you a Plan of an Expedition, which has engrossed my Thoughts for several Days: It is to penetrate into Canada, by Way of Kennebeck River, and so to Quebec, by a Rout 90 Miles below Montreal—I can very well spare a Detachment of 1000 or 1200 Men, and the Land Carriage by the Rout proposed is too inconsiderable to make an Objection. If you are resolved to proceed, (which I gather from your last Letter is your Intention) it would make a Diversion, that would distract Carlton and facilitate your Views. He must either break up and follow this party to Quebec, by which he will leave you a free passage or suffer that important Place to fall into our Hands: an Event which would have a decisive Effect and Influence on the public Interests.

. . .

Not a Moment’s Time is to be lost in the Preparation for this Enterprize, if the advices from you favor it. 

Source: “George Washington to Major General Philip Schuyler, 20 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0233. [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. 331–334.]

And on this day 250 years ago in Arizona, the Spanish Army established the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson. Spain’s later intervention in the Revolutionary War to fight the British was motivated in large part to block British encroachment on Spanish territories in America but contributed significantly to the victory of the United States in the War. This Saturday when the people of Tucson celebrate their 250th anniversary they can also celebrate their community’s contribution to American Independence.

Sources: https://tucson.com/news/local/history/article_36d65de4-0fbb-4029-ab56-3e61c7ef8b98.html; https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Government/Office-of-the-City-Manager/Tucson-250-Celebration