On this day 250 years ago at Fort George, New York, Col. Henry Know wrote to General Washington:

I have had made forty two exceedingly strong sleds & have provided eighty yoke of oxen to drag them as far as Springfield where I shall get fresh cattle to carry them to camp – the rout will be from here to Kinderhook from whence into Great Barrington Massachusetts Bay & down to Springfield. There will scarcely be any possibility of carrying them from here to Albany or Kinderhook but on sleds the roads being very gullied – at present the sledding is tolerable to Saratoga about 26 miles; beyond that there is none – I have sent for sleds & teams to come here & expect to begin move them to Saratoga on Wednesday or Thursday next trusting that between this & then we shall have a fine fall of snow which will enable us to proceed further & make the carriage easy – If that should be the case I hope in 16 or 17 days to be able to present your Excellency a noble train of artillery the inventory of which I have inclosed

This letter was the source of the name “Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery” that historians usually use to refer to Knox’s expedition hauling artillery to Boston from Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

Sources: https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/documents/d/guest/theknoxtrail-history; https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/henry-knox-brought-me-cannon

Also on this day 250 years on the front lines of the siege of Boston, Captain Richard Dodge reported to General Washington intelligence he had received from people who were able or were permitted to escape from British-occupied Boston including that

Thusday 7 the Foy man of war 20 Guns Mountigue Commander Brought in the Brige Washington one Martendell Commander mounted 10 Guns and ten Swivells 72 men the Capt. and all the men was Put on Bord the Priston. Munday Last—General Washington—Prisners was Put on bord the Tarter man of war To be Sent Hom for Triel as Pyrets.

General Washington was able to translate Captain Dodge’s idiosyncratic spelling and grammar or learned details from other sources because he made multiple efforts over the next couple of years to obtain the release of Captain Sion Martindale and the crew of the brigantine Washington that had been captured by HMS Fowey. Captain Martindale, his officers and the 72 crewmen of the Washington were all Continental Army soldiers with maritime experience who had been ordered by General Washington to man the first American warship to carry his name. Nevertheless, they were not accorded prisoner of war status by the British but were imprisoned on charges of piracy and then shipped off to London aboard the HMS Tartar to stand trial. The conditions on board the Tartar were horrendous with more than half of the prisoners dying from smallpox on the trip to England, and 15 pressed into service by the Royal Navy. Only two dozen of the crew of the Washington, including Captain Martindale, Sailing Master Consider Howland, First Mate Jacob Taylor, and Lieutenant Moses Turner would survive to return to America.

Sources: “Enclosure: Intelligence from Boston, 17 December 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0512-0002. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 557–558.]; https://historicaldigression.com/2025/08/10/the-ordeal-of-the-privateersmen-of-the-brigantine-washington/; https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2007/12/endeavourd-to-escape-by-flight.html

[Note — if anyone knows names of the unidentified crew of the Washington who died in captivity in the fight for American liberty, please let me know. These men deserve to be remembered today.]