On this day 250 years ago in Braintree, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams with her views that liberty was not a right to be enjoyed only by white men:
I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us.
. . .
I long to hear that you have declared an independency … and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.
Unfortunately, it would be many years before most of the people of the United States would endorse the enlightened views of Abigail Adams, and some reject her wisdom still today.
Sources: “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241. [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. 369–371.];
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress appointed two immigrants from Germany — John Gaspar Stadler and Lt. Felix Lewis Massenbach — as Engineers for the Southern Department reporting to Major General Charles Lee. John Gaspar Stadler had come to America before 1758 and was farming in Spotsylvania County, Virginia at the time of his appointment. He would participate in the Battle of Gwynn’s Island and in the construction of fortifications in Virginia until October 1777 when he resigned from Virginia service because of unpaid salary and returned to his farm. Felix Lewis Massenbach was a young German nobleman who had recently immigrated to join the Continental Army and had been commissioned in a Maryland artillery regiment but then rode south with General Lee to work on the defenses of Charles Town, South Carolina. Massenbach would die in service in Charles Town in August 1777.
On this day 250 years ago fifty miles east of Cape Ann, Nova Scotia, the British ship Elizabeth was captured by the American ship Hancock and two other privateers after a brief fight. In addition to the ship and its captain and crew, the privateers captured 13 British soldiers, 46 Loyalists, four people who were enslaved by the Loyalists, and the Elizabeth’s cargo. From the privateers’ perspective the most valuable part of the capture was a large store of rum, but the cargo also included eighteen full barrels of flour and essentially all the cloth and linen in Boston.
As part of his departure plans, General Howe had ordered that cloth and linen be seized from Boston merchants so they would not be used for uniforms for the Continental Army. In the days prior to their departure from Boston, Crean Brush and four other Loyalists on board the Elizabeth, had with the backing of British troops seized: from merchant Samuel Dashwood, nine large trunks and two large chests of silks and cloth “with great force and violence” and at “terror of myself and family” from their threat that “if any person should presume to interrupt . . . they would thrust their bayonets into such a person”; “the Value of Twenty Two hundred & Sixty Pounds Sterling . . . in Linens, Checks & Woolens”; from merchant John Rowe; and additional clothing goods from merchants Samuel Austin, Cyrus Baldwin, John Barrett, Samuel Partridge, and John Scollay. Crean Brush was already wanted in both Vermont and New York for outrages against Patriots and he would end up imprisoned for almost two years years for stealing these goods and other crimes.
Source: Eric Wiser, “Hell’s Half-Acre: The Fall of Loyalist Crean Bush”, Journal of the American Revolution (Jan. 19. 2022) accessed at
On this day 250 years ago, in one of his final acts at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington issued orders to most of his command to march the New York as the expected next target of the British fleet that departed Boston. He left only “four or five regiments” behind under the command of Major General Artemas Ward to guard against a return of the British to Boston or elsewhere in New England.
Sources: “George Washington to Major General Artemas Ward, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0422. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, p. 561.]; “Orders and Instructions for Major General Israel Putnam, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0421. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 560–561.]; “General Orders, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0420. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 559–560.]
Also on that day in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail Adams of the death of his friend and Delegate from Rhode Island, Samuel Ward:
We have this Week lost a very valuable Friend of the Colonies, in Governor Ward of Rhode Island, by the small Pox in the natural Way. He never would hearken to his Friends who have been constantly advising him to be inoculated ever since the first Congress began. But he would not be perswaded. Numbers, who have been inoculated, have gone through the Distemper, without any Danger, or even Confinement, but nothing would do.—He must take it in the natural Way and die.
I hope that Americans today will join John Adams in remembering Samuel Ward as “a stedfast Friend to his Country upon very pure Principles.” But unlike Ward, I hope that they will be persuaded by Adams’ advice to be vaccinated rather than risk contracting “the small Pox . . . in the natural Way and die.”
Source: “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0238. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, p. 366.]
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress recorded in its Journal:
Information being given to Congress that some prisoners in the gaol of this city have meditated an escape, and are near carrying their plan into execution:
Resolved, That the gaoler be directed to confine John Connolly, J. Smith, and [Moses] Kirkland, in separate apartments, and suffer no person to converse with any of them, without special orders of Congress.
Resolved, That the sheriff of the city and county of Philadelphia be directed, by Mr. [Thomas] M’Kean, to call to his assistance a guard of fifty men from the barracks of this city for the defence of the gaol; and that the sheriff be farther directed to keep secret any intimation given him of a design to rescue his prisoners, andemploy every means to discover and apprehend those concerned in such design.
Also on that day in Philadelphia, Congressman Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut wrote to Connecticut lawyer Samuel Lyman:
G. Britain will proceed doubtless upon their usual Governmental Maxims–Violence and Corruption–but neither I hope will succeed against America….Some few Americans may wish to support a Monarchy which is lavish in its Bounties, hoping to Share in the oppressions of Power. Some may be timid and fearful of entering upon untried Scenes and others who have supported the Distinctions of an Aristocracy may fear the Prevalency of a Republican Spirit. But God has evidently Appeared to Vindicate the Rights of this People… The Expulsion of the Troops from Boston is a great Event, it has brought a Disgrace on the British Arms which they had not to so such a Degree suffered for a long Time.
Wolcott would sign the Declaration of Independence and continue in public service for the rest of the War. Lyman would be elected to Congress from Massachusetts after the War.
On this day 250 years ago in Newbury, New Hampshire (now Newbury, Vermont) Captain Thomas Johnson, Frye Bailey, Abial Chamberlain, Silas Chamberlain, and John McLean of the Newbury militia guided by Bill Heath of Rumney, New Hampshire set out on snow shoes to blaze a route to St. Johns, Lower Canada, (now Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec) following Indian trails. This was the beginning the beginning of the Bailey-Hazen Military Road, originally authorized by General Washington as a supply route to the Continental Army in Quebec. Johnson recorded in his diary:
Tuesday, March 26. Set out from Newbury, lodged at the last inhabitant’s. . . . waited half a day for the rest of the soldiers to come up; good land for a road. Wednesday, 27. Marched a mile, good country
Frye Bailey and Abial Chamberlain would go on to distinguished service as officers in the Continental Army for the remainder of the War.
On this day 250 years ago in Nantasket Roads off the coast of Massachusetts, the British fleet at long last departed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, never to return in force. The British left only a few ships behind to intercept any supply ships from Britain headed for Boston to redirect them to Halifax, and to cruise for American ships to capture.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Samuel Ward died of smallpox. Ward was a delegate from Rhode Island in the Second Continental Congress and an early advocate for Independence. He was a fearless defender of American liberties who worked assiduously to create our Nation and should be honored as one of our Founding Fathers even though he died before he could sign the Declaration of Independence.
On this day 250 years ago in Charlestown, the South Carolina Provincial Congress adopts a Constitution for the state and transforms itself into the South Carolina General Assembly. In effect, South Carolina declared Independence. It was the second of the original 13 colonies to make itself Independent of Great Britain.
On this day 250 years ago at the Battle of Saint-Pierre in Quebec Province, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, the Americans defeated the British, although most of the men on both sides were Canadien. About150 Canadiens led by Clement Gosselin and Pierre Ayotte fighting alongside 80 Continental Army soldiers led by John Dubois, defeated and captured 46 Canadien Loyalists who were advancing on the Continental Army’s fortification at Pointe-Levis across the river from Quebec City. The Canadien Loyalists lost three to six men killed and ten wounded. Only a few of the Loyalist Canadiens escaped. The Patriots captured most of the Canadien Loyalists, but released all but 21 men who they marched off as prisoners.
Six men on the Patriot side were killed, but I have not been able to identify their names. Ayotte would be captured a couple of months after the battle but Gosselin would join the 2nd Canadian Regiment and serve in the Continental Army until 1783.
On this day 250 years ago, on Tybee Island, Georgia, Archibald Bulloch, former representative of Georgia in the Continental Congress who would soon become the first Governor of independent Georgia, led a party of 30 Creek warriors and at least 40 but maybe as many as 100 Georgia militia, on a raid to capture slaves who had runaway to join the British. The HMS Hinchinbrook, HMS Cherokee and other British warships were anchored off the island and a party of 12 Royal Marines was onshore cutting wood with the assistance of escaped slaves, although most of the runaway slaves on the island were able to escape before the raid. The Hinchinbrook and Cherokee opened fire on Georgia militia during the raid, but Bulloch’s men killed two or three Royal Marines and one Loyalist, an unknown number of marines, Loyalists and slaves were wounded, the Georgia militia captured 12 or 13 runaway slaves, one British marine and one Loyalist, and drove away the British warships with no loss of American life, except that one of the Creek warriors was killed in a drunken brawl with a militiaman.
On this day 250 years from his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington reported to John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress that:
When I had the honor to address you the 19th Instt upon the evacuation of the Town of Boston by the Ministerial army, I fully expected as their retreat and embarkation were hurried and precipitate, that before now they wou’d have departed the harbour, and been far in their passage to the place of destination: But to my surprize and disappointment the Fleet is still in Nantasket road. The purpose inducing their stay, is altogether unknown, nor can I suggest any satisfactory reason for It; On Wednesday night last before the whole of the Fleet fell down to Nantasket, they demolished the Castle & Houses belonging to It by burning them down, and the several Fortifications—they left a great number of the Cannon, but have rendered all of them, except a very few, entirely useless by breaking off the Trunnions, and those they spiked up, but may be made serviceable again; some are allready done
Sources: “George Washington to John Hancock, 24 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0390-0001. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 522–525.];
On this day 250 years ago in Paris, France, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg wrote to Benjamin Franklin to recommend a volunteer from France, Gilles-Jean Barazer de Kermorvan, to the Continental Army:
I very seriously think that the Chevalier de Kermorvan is one of the best Men your Country can acquire, he has already embraced its sentiments, and neither demands nor has the ambition of obtaining any Rank, untill his Zeal and talents have been experienced. He is even willing to devote himself to all dangers as a simple Volunteer with as good and Chearfull a Will as if he had the cheif Command, besides he appears to me well instructed in the Military Art
Kermorvan would arrive in America in June and be commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army’s Corps of Engineers. He managed the construction of fortifications on the Delaware River and designed fortifications at other locations on the Atlantic Coast before joining Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen and serving heroically at Saratoga. Lt. Col. Kermorvan would return to France in 1778.
On this day 250 years ago in Needham, Massachusetts, Private Alexander Quapish passed away after a long illness that he had contracted during the Siege of Boston. Quapish was a Native American originally from Yarmouth, Massachusetts who was living in Dedham, Massachusetts in May 1775 when he enlisted in Capt. Daniel Whiting’s company of Col. Jonathan Brewer’s regiment. The details of his last days are described in a petition subsequently filed in the Massachusetts General Court:
That one Alexander Quapish a Poor Indian Belonging to this State who was taken Sick in the Army Near Cambridge and was Dismissed Came to the House of your Petitioner in Said Needham in a Suffering Condition on the 15th Day of November 1775 and Remained there Sick untill the 23rd Day of March 1776 and then Died, and your Petitioner was at Great Trouble & Charge in Boarding Nursing, and Burying Said Indian.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress authorized owners of privateers to seize British vessels and the cargo the vessels carry, and to keep a share of the value of the ship and cargo. Before the end of the War nearly 800 ships were commissioned as privateers and they would capture about 600 British ships.
On this day 250 years ago in Charlestown (now Charleston), the General Assembly of South Carolina named Thomas Lynch Jr. to the Continental Congress as a sixth delegate to join and eventually replace his father Thomas Lynch, Sr. who was recuperating from a stroke. Thomas Lynch Sr. was a supporter of Independence but would be too ill to sign the Declaration. A blank line would be left where Thomas Lynch Sr. would have signed and Thomas Lynch Jr. would sign the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Lynch Sr. and Thomas Lynch Jr. were the only father and son to serve successively in the Continental Congress, but neither would survive the Revolution. Thomas Lynch Sr. would pass away in Annapolis on his return trip home later in 1776 and Thomas Lynch Jr. would be lost at sea in 1779.
On this day 250 years ago in New York City, an effigy of Royal Governor Tryon was paraded through the streets and then hung from a gallows. A paper was attached to the effigy that read:
William Tryon, late Governor of this province, but now a professed rebel and traitor to its dearest rights and privileges, as well as to his native country, who, in order to extinguish every spark of American liberty, and recommend himself to the favor of a brutal tyrant, and an insidious court, did illegally, unjustly, and cruelly, shed the blood of an innocent and worthy citizen, when he had the command in North Carolina. For which, and his numberless traitorous practices against the liberties of this country, he is to suffer the just demerits of his atrocious villany, as a warning to all others,
“Calm thinking villains, whom no faith can fix, Of crooked counsels, and dark politics.”
Secondly. –Behold the bloody tool of a sanguinary despot, who is using his utmost efforts to enslave you!–”With how secure a brow, and specious form he gilds the secret traitor!“
Thirdly. –Tories take care!!!
Governor Tryon was not in the city but had fled to the protection of a British warship in New York Harbor.
On this date 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress issued a commission to Captain William Shippen to command a ship “as a privateer, in order to guard and cruize on the coast of Virginia” and also agreed to sell gunpowder to Shippen for the ship. This was the Congress’s first authorization of a privateering — for profit naval actions where the privateers were allowed to retain the proceeds of the cargo of British ships that they capture.
On this day 250 years ago three miles northeast of Fort Johnson, off the coast of Charlestown, South Carolina, the sloop Comet of the South Carolina Navy commanded by Capt. Joseph Turpin captured the larger brig HMS General Clinton and its crew that included the pilots that the British needed to navigate in Charlestown Harbor. This was the first time the South Carolina Navy captured a British warship.
On This Day In The Revolution 