On this day 250 years ago at Massachusetts, Corporal Moses Sleeper recorded in his diary that

Last night the Cannonding began about 9 O Clock & & held till 7 o Clock this Morning The Congress Split at the Chamber Good Encouragment to split 3 Mortars In two Nights Cannonading

“The Congress” was an old cannon that Col. Henry Knox had carried to the siege of Boston in his “Noble Train of Artillery” from Fort Ticonderoga. The explosion that caused “the Congress” to “Split at the Chamber” killed several Continental soldiers manning the gun. Unfortunately, I cannot find the names of the soldiers who gave their lives for American Liberty in the explosion of the Congress.

Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/revolutionary-war-diary-of-moses-sleeper.htm

On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington issued orders that

The several Surgeons, of the Hospitals at Cambridge, and every regimental Surgeon in the left, and centre divisions of the army, are directed to meet at five O’Clock this evening, at Brown’s Tavern in Cambridge, to take directions from the Director General of the hospital, relative to the immediate disposition of their sick, and in what manner they, and their Mates are to be posted.

The College to be forthwith appropriated to the reception of the regimental sick, and such as may be wounded—That suitable Barracks at Prospect-hill, or any other part of the Camp, which the Director General of the hospital shall advise, be got in immediate readiness for the reception of at least, one hundred wounded, in case of need, and such a number of men, as he may think sufficient, be ordered to assist in carrying wounded men to the hospital—Hand-barrows, and other proper means to be provided for their removal.

It was left unsaid in the written Order, but Washington was preparing for a bad outcome of the action that he had also ordered for that evening.

Late at night on this day 250 years ago immediately south of Boston, more than 2000 Continental soldiers commanded by Brig. Gen. John Thomas secretly occupied Dorchester Heights and began erecting fortifications. Dorchester Heights comprises two hills at an elevation of 118 feet that overlooked Boston and Boston Harbor. Because the ground was frozen, the soldiers could not dig entrenchments, so instead they used 800 oxen and 360 carts to haul prefabricated fortifications, including chandeliers (wooden frames) and fascines (bundles of woody material), to the top of the hills. They also hauled to the fortifications about 20 of the longest-range cannon from the “noble train of artillery” that Col. Henry Knox had hauled to the siege from Fort Ticonderoga. In order to disguise the sound of the march and the construction of the fortifications, the Continental Army continued the bombardment of Boston for a third night and the soldiers used hay to muffle the sound of the wheels of the oxcarts. The British would not learn that the Continental Army had occupied Dorchester Heights until they awoke the next morning to see forts on both hills.

Sources: “General Orders, 4 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0300. [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. 411–412.]; https://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/1776-skirmish/; https://revolutionarywar.us/campaigns/1774-1776-boston-campaign/; https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/fortifying-dorchester-heights.htm#_ftn3; https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/March-4/american-forces-occupy-dorchester-heights; https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/gen-thomas-and-son-at-dohe.htm; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26921; Fiore, Jordan D. & Susan E. Schruth, “The Noble Train of Artillery”, 200 Years Ago and Today, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bicentennial Commission (1976) at p. 21

[Editor’s note — I purchased the Fiore & Schruth booklet on a visit to Boston shortly after the Bicentennial. I think it was on a Boy Scout trip as a teenager in about 1978 but it could have been during a subsequent visit ten years later. The booklet provides a brief (32 pages) history of Knox’s Noble Train and then a 22-page report of the Bicentennial commemorations and reenactment of the Noble Train in 1976. The booklet includes detailed directions for the reenactment route including a list of all the historical markers marking the route. I remembered at the time wishing I had participated in the commemoration and looking forward to one day tracing the route (which I still have not done but still hope to do). I cannot say that as a teenager I looked ahead to celebrating the Semiquincentennial when I was in my 60s, but in many ways this booklet was an inspiration for this blog. In writing my previous posts about Knox’s Noble Train, I rummaged through my disorganized library trying to find the booklet, and of course I only found it in time to cite it for my final post on the culmination of the train as it reached Dorchester Heights. But better at the last minute than not at all.]

Today in 2026, you can visit the National Park Service’s Dorchester Heights site to see the Monument marking the location where the Continental Army won the Siege of Boston. See https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/historyculture/dohe.htm; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=17958; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=18515; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=290515

On this day 250 years ago in the Bahamas, the Continental Marines commanded by Capt. Samuel Nicholas without firing a shot captured the capital city Nassau and its Government House and Fort Nassau as well as Governor Montfort Browne and 12 other high-ranking officials, additional cannon from Fort Nassau to add to the cannons already captured at Fort Montagu, 38 casks of gunpowder, and a Loyalist sloop.

Sources: https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/battle-of-nassau/; https://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/1776-skirmish/

On this day 250 years ago off the coast of Georgia, a small British fleet anchored off Big Tybee Island after being driven out of the Savannah River by the Patriots in the Battle of the Rice Boats the previous day. Brig. Gen. Lachlan McIntosh had ordered a fire ship to be launched into the rice boats that the British were assembling at Hutchinson’s Island to bring to Boston, destroying at least four of the boats by catching them on fire and causing two of the boats to flee up river where they were captured by the Patriots. Although the British were able to escape out to sea with10 rice boats they had to dump some of the rice from the heavily laden ships to make their escape, two of the British warships were damaged by Georgia militia cannon on Yamacraw Bluff, and the British lost at least six men while only three of the Georgia and South Carolina militia were wounded.

Sources: https://allthingsliberty.com/2026/01/the-american-revolution-comes-to-georgia-the-battle-of-the-riceboats-1776/; https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/battle-of-the-rice-boats-1776/; https://chsgeorgia.org/about-battle-of-the-rice-boats-more/