On this day 250 years ago the Continental Colors were raised over the Continental Army’s fortifications on Prospect Hill in what is now Somerville outside of Boston. This flag probably had 13 alternating red and white stripes with the British Union Jack in its upper left quadrant and was also known as the “Continental Union flag.”
Sources: https://nhsar.org/2026/01/01/250-years-later-a-flag-a-hill-and-a-new-years-message-of-independence/; Ward & Burns at p. 147
On this day 250 years ago, four British Navy ships began bombarding Norfolk, Virginia. The British also sent men ashore to seize provisions and burn buildings along the waterfront. In total the British destroyed 19 buildings. While the British were burning buildings on the waterfront, Patriot troops began burning other buildings that had been used by the British and Loyalists during the British occupation and at the end of the day the city of Norfolk was largely destroyed. The British had issued a threat to destroy Norfolk if the Americans did not provide provisions to the British fleet and did not remove their soldiers from the waterfront and had begun the destruction that day. Col. Robert Howe’s official reports did not mention that his men were responsible for most of the burning that day even though he recommended that Norfolk be destroyed so that it could not be reoccupied by the British. American newspapers would go on to blame the destruction of Norfolk on the British and this purported outrage helped to harden Patriot resolve and turn Americans toward Independence. In addition to being a propaganda coup, the destruction of Norfolk wa a strategic victory for the Americans by denying the British a saltwater base for their later operations in Virginia including Cornwallis’s invasion in 1781 and in that way helped result in Britain’s ultimate defeat at Yorktown.
Sources: https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/burning-of-norfolk/; https://allthingsliberty.com/2017/11/norfolk-virginia-sacked-north-carolina-virginia-troops/; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=191491
On this day 250 years ago in the siege lines around Boston, freed slave Peter Salem reenlisted in the 4th Continental Regiment, which had formerly been organized as the 6th Massachusetts Regiment. Salem had already heroically fought the British in their retreat from Concord and at Bunker Hill and would continue to serve until 1780.
On This Day In The Revolution 