On this day 250 years ago in South Carolina, Capt. Samuel Boykin’s company of 25 Catawba Indians skirmished with 20 British regulars across Breach Inlet between Sullivan’s Island and Long Island (now Isle of Palms). Because the inlet was 180 yards wide there were no reported casualties on either side. However, this was only a prelude to a significant battle the next day.

Sources: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/june-1776/; https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/battle-breach-inlet

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Lt. Col. Hugh Stephenson of Virginia was promoted to Colonel in command of an expanded rifle regiment. Earlier in 1776 General Washington had recommended then-Captain Stephenson for promotion to lieutenant colonel because “[h]e is in my opinion the fittest person in this Army for It, as well as the oldest Captain in the service,” although Stephenson was only 38 or 39 years old. Unfortunately, Col. Stephenson would die a couple of months later from an illness in Virginia while recruiting for his regiment.

Source: “George Washington to John Hancock, 13 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0338. [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. 461–465.]