On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Koquethagechton, the war chief and chief sachem of the Lenape Nation (often called the Delaware Indians), who was usually referred to by Americans as “Captain White Eyes” or “White Eyes” addressed the Continental Congress and proposed that the Lenape ally with the Americans in return for recognition by the Congress of Lenape land claims in Ohio. The Congress did not enter into a treaty with the Lenape at this time but agreed to send a “minister, a school teacher [and] a sober man to instruct [the Lenape] in agriculture.” Koquethagechton would remain firmly committed to friendship with America and would later lead the Lenape in signing a treaty with America in 1778 but would be murdered by an American militia officer in Michigan while he was serving as a guide and negotiator for a Continental Army expedition against the British at Fort Detroit.

Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7CdRePB7D4; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Eyes; Herman Wellenreuther, “White Eyes and the Delaware’s Vision for an Indian State”, Penn State Libraries Open Publishing at 151-52 downloaded at https://journals.psu.edu › phj › article › download › 25676 › 25445 › 0

Also on this day 250 years ago at Fort George, at the southern end of Lake George, in New York, the last cannon in Colonel Henry Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery were unloaded from boats before the lake froze over. Knox had been encamped at Fort George since December 11 and would remain there for several more days gathering oxen and sleds and waiting for the snow to fall so they could begin their march to the siege of Boston.

Now in 2025, you can visit the site of Fort George and monuments for the Noble Train of Artillery (plus several other sites from the Revolution and French and Indian War) within the Lake George Battlefield Park in New York.

Sources: https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/documents/d/guest/theknoxtrail-history; https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/documents/d/guest/the_knox_trail_2017_update_vanburen; https://www.lakegeorge.com/things-to-do/walking-tour/#Stop (tour stops 11 & 16)