On this day 250 years ago, the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals was signed by Chiefs Oconostota and Attakullakulla of the Cherokees selling Cherokee rights to most of Kentucky and a portion of Tennessee — upwards of twenty millions of acres of land — to the Transylvania Company led by Richard Henderson.
And on this day 250 years ago in Richmond County (not the City of Richmond) the Independent Company sent this letter to George Washington:
The Independant Company of Richmond County present their most respectful Compliments to Colo. Washington and beg leave to inform him that they have unanimously chosen him their Commander, should they be obliged to have recourse to Arms to defend their King and Country; they flatter themselves from their Assiduity they shall be able to make a tolerable appearance some time in the Summer, and should look on themselves as highly honoured if the Colonel would be pleased to review them when most Convenient to him; in the mean time they would be glad to be favoured with any Instructions he should think proper to give and Assure him they are with respect His most hble Servants
Source: “To George Washington from Richmond County Independent Company, 17 March 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0233. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, p. 305.]
On this day 250 years ago at Sycamore Shoals in present-day Tennessee, Tsiyu Gansini (known to the colonists and history as “Dragging Canoe”) withdrew from the negotiations with Richard Henderson and the Transylvania Company at Sycamore Shoals for the sale of the Cherokee hunting grounds in Kentucky and pleaded with his people to resist any further encroachment of their territory by the whites. Tsiyu Gansini also ominously told Richard Henderson and the representatives of the Transylvania Company that their new land would become a “dark and bloody ground.”
Also on this day in Williamsburg, Virginia, Pinkney’s Virginia Gazette published the Augusta Resolves that had been adopted by the freeholders of Augusta County at Staunton, Virginia on February 22:
you may consider the people of Augusta county as impressed with just sentiments of loyalty and allegiance to his majesty king George, whose title to the imperial crown of Great Britain rests on no other foundation than the liberty, and whose glory is inseparable from rhe happiness, of all his subjects. We have also a respect for the parent state, which respect is founded on religion, on law, and the genuine principles of the constitution. On these principles do we earnestly desire to see harmony and a good understanding restored between Great Britain and America. Many of us and our forefathers left their native land, explored this once savage wilderness, to enjoy the free exercise of the rights of conscience, and of human nature: These rights we are fully resolved, with our lives and fortunes, inviolably to preserve, nor will we surrender such inestimable blessings, the purchase of toil and danger, to any minister, to any parliament, or any body of men upon earth, by whom we are not represented, and in whose decisions therefore we have no voice.
We desire you to render, in the most respectful terms, our grateful acknowledgements to the late worthy delegates of this colony, for their wise, spirited, and patriotic exertions, in the general congress, and to assure them that we will uniformly and religiously adhere to their resolutions, prudently and generously formed for their country’s good.
Fully convinced that the safety and happiness of America depend, next to the blessing of Almighty God, on the unanimity and wisdom of her councils, we doubt not you will, on your part, comply with the recommendations of the late continental congress, appointing delegates from this colony to meet in Philadelphia on the 1Oth of May next, unless American grievances be redressed before that time; and as we are determined to maintain unimpaired that liberty which is the gift of Heaven to the subjects of Britain’s empire, we will most cordially join our countrymen in such measures as may be deemed wise and necessary to secure and perpetuate the ancient, just, and legal rights of this colony, and all British America.
As the state of this colony greatly demands that . . . bounties may be proposed by the convention for the making of . . . gunpowder, and that, in the mean time, a supply of ammunition be provided for the militia of this colony. We entirely agree in opinion with the gentlemen of Fairfax county, that a well regulated militia is the natural strength, and staple security, of a free government, and therefore wish it might be recommended by the convention to the officers and men of each county in Virginia to make themselves masters of the military exercise
And on this day in Dumfries, Virginia, George Washington reviews the Prince William County Independent Company of Cadets and lodges with Scottish immigrant Andrew Leitch of the Prince William County Committee. Leitch would serve as a Major in the Continental Army under Washington’s command and be mortally wounded in the service of his country at the Battle of Harlem Heights eighteen months later.
On this day 250 years ago in New York City, the Committee of Sixty met to elect delegates to a Provincial Convention and to issue a circular letter to the counties, drafted by John Jay, which called on the other counties to send delegates to the Provincial Convention and set April 20 for the Convention to convene.
Also on this day 250 years ago, a “full meeting of the Inhabitants” of the Town of Braintree, Massachusetts, voted to approve the recommendation of the Braintree Committee of the Continental Association, chaired by John Adams, that the Town form “three Companies of Minute Men each to consist of Forty one Men including officers”. In addition, the Town unanimously adopted a Covenant that pledged to implement the Continental Association including
to do every thing in our power to confirm and establish that union which at this time so happily Subsists among our Selves not only in this Town and Colony but also throughout the Continent
. . .
And We do further agree and resolve that We will not have any trade, dealings, Commerce, or intercourse with any District, Town, Colony, or Province in North America which shall not acceed to, or which shall hereafter violate said association of the Continental Congress, but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of Freemen, and as inimical to the Liberties of their Country.
And whereas it is of the utmost importance that the Salutory association of the Continental Congress be effectually executed; and the plans of the foes to America defeated, who aided by Tyrannical power intend to import goods, wares and Merchandize prohibited by said association, by assistance of such Merchants and Traders as to this intent shall basely prostitute themselves; . . .
And whereas it is expresly recommended by the Continental Congress to the Provincial Conventions and to the Committees in the respective Colonies, to establish such farther regulations as they may think proper for carrying into execution their association,
. . . it is strongly recommended to the Committee . . . of this association, that they exert themselves in causing the same to be strictly executed, . . .
And it advised to the inhabitants of this Town that they by no means fail vigorously to assist and Support their Committees in discharging this as well as all other duties of their offices.
. . .
And We Solemnly, individually and Collectively bind our Selves under the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association
Sources: “I. Report of the Braintree Committee on the Continental Association, 15 March 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-02-02-0078-0002. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 2, December 1773 – April 1775, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, pp. 396–402.]; “II. Report of the Braintree Committee respecting Minute Men, 15 March 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-02-02-0078-0003. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 2, December 1773 – April 1775, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, pp. 402–403.
On this day 250 years ago at Sycamore Shoals (then claimed by North Carolina but now in Tennessee) the Grand Council of the Cherokee Nation convened to negotiate with the Transylvania Company led by Richard Henderson for the sale of land in what is now Kentucky and Tennessee.
The Cherokee were led by Atta-Kulla-Kulla (known to the colonists as “The Little Carpenter”), Oconistoto, and Savanooko-Coronoh (“The Raven”) but more than 1200 people of the Cherokee Nation, men, women and children, were encamped at Sycamore Shoals. The Transylvania Company was represented by Richard Henderson, John Williams, Thomas Hart and Nathaniel Hart but several frontiersmen who would have significant roles in the Revolution including John Sevier, Issac Shelby, James Robertson, William Bailey Smith and Nathaniel Gist were also present.
On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore wrote to Lord Dartmouth in London informing him that Virginia was preparing for war.
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, Samuel Adams on behalf of the Boston Committee writes to the Maryland Committee with thanks for a donation of “two hundred pounds Maryland currency, being the amount of a generous collection made by the respectable people of the middle division of Frederick County, for the relief of the sufferers by the Boston Port Bill.” He separately writes to thank the Essex County, Virginia Committee to thank them for a donation of
one thousand and eighty-seven bushels of corn, being part of a very valuable contribution, shipped on board the schooner Sally . . . [that] was by contrary winds driven to th island of St. Eustatia [where] Mr. Isaac Van Dam, a reputable merchant of that place, generously took the care of the corn , and having made sale of it, remitted the amount of the proceeds, ( free of all expense,) being one hundred seventy-one pounds 8 / , New York currency
And also on that day in Boston British Lieutenant Frederick Mackenzie recorded in this diary that
The lenity shown to Rob* Vaughan [of the 52^ Regiment, who had been pardoned the previous day and spared execution for desertion] has not had the effect the General expected, as some Soldiers have deserted since that event; — He has therefore notified to the Army, that as he finds his Clemency has had so little effect in bringing the Soldiers to a sense of their duty to their King and Country, and to reflect seriously on the Sin they commit in deserting the Service of both, this is the last man he will pardon who shall be condemned for desertion.
On this day 250 years ago in what is now Westminster, Vermont, a group of about 100 unarmed Patriots are attacked by a Loyalist posse as they occupy the Westminster Courthouse. Ten men are shot when the posse fires into the crowd and two of them — 21-year old William French of Brattleboro and Daniel Houghton of Dummerston — would die of their wounds. The Westminster Standing Committee of Correspondence had organized farmers from the county to occupy the courthouse to block the court from hearing cases to evict farmers with disputed titles and to collect debts, emulating the counties in adjacent Massachusetts who had similarly blocked courts from sitting during the previous year.
Local historians in Vermont claim the “Westminster Massacre” as the first bloodshed in the American Revolution and French and Houghton as the first martyrs of the Revolution, and that they are neglected in history in favor of the well-known Battles of Lexington and Concord. In fact, there was a long line of violent incidents in the Revolution prior to Lexington and Concord, including the “Battle of Golden Hill” in New York and the Boston Massacre in 1770, the capture and burning of the Gaspee in Rhode Island in 1772, the capture of Fort William and Mary in New Hampshire in 1774, and Leslie’s raid on Salem in February 1775.
Notwithstanding their casualties on this day 250 years ago, the Westminster Massacre was not a defeat for the Patriot cause. The next day 400 armed militia from other Vermont towns as well as nearby Walpole, New Hampshire and Northampton, Massachusetts pored into Westminster. They arrested the Loyalist County Sheriff and the members of his posse who had remained in town as well as the judges of the court. All of the prisoners were released a few days later, but the Royal court of Westminster County would never hear another case and would be replaced by a court organized by an independent Vermont during the Revolution.
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Samuel Adams wrote:
I never had the least doubt in my Mind but that the Colony of South Carolina, which has distinguishd itself through all our Struggles for the Establishment of American Liberty, would approve and support the proceedings of the Continental Congress. . . . There are a Set of infamous & atrociously wicked Men, here & there in this Continent, who have been endeavoring to make the Appearance of Divisions among us, in order that our Enemies in Britain may avail themselves of it, and thereby prevent the good Effects of the Decisions of the Congress; but every impartial Man who has gone from America must be able to convince the Nation that no human Law has ever been more observd than those resolutions.
On this day 250 years ago, Dixon and Hunter’s Virginia Gazette publishes the Botetourt Resolutions adopted by the freeholders of Botetourt County, Virginia. These Resolutions were addressed to Col. Andrew Lewis and Mr. John Bowyer, Botetourt County’s representatives to the Virginia Convention and pledged
the most dutiful affection for our Sovereign, of whose honest heart we cannot entertain any diffidence; but sorry we are to add, that in his councils we can no longer confide. A set of miscreants, unworthy to administer the laws of Britain’s empire, have been permitted impiously to sway. How unjustly, cruelly, and tyrannically, they have invaded our rights, we need not now put you in mind. We only say, and we assert it with pride, that the subjects of Britain are ONE; and when the honest man of Boston, who has broke no law, has his property wrested from him, the hunter on the Allegany must take the alarm, and, as a FREEMAN of America, he will fly to his Representatives and thus instruct them: Gentlemen, my gun, my tomahawk, my life, I desire you to tender to the honour of my King and country; but my LIBERTY, to range these woods on the same terms my father has done is not mine to give up; it was not purchased by me, and purchased it was; it is entailed on my son, and the tenure is sacred. Watch over it, Gentlemen, for to him it must descend unviolated, if my arm can defend it
Irish-born Andrew Lewis would go on to become a Brigadier General in command of the Virginia Militia that drove Royal Governor Dunmore and his British and Loyalist soldiers from Virginia. John Bowyer would serve in the Virginia legislature throughout the War.
On this day 250 years ago in Lebanon, Connecticut, Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote to British Secretary Lord Dartmouth in London:
It is with particular concern and anxiety that we see the unhappy situation of our fellow subjects in the town of Boston. . . . where we behold many thousands of His Majesty’s virtuous and loyal subjects reduced to the utmost distress by the operation of the Port Act
On this day 250 years ago, Daniel Boone leads a party of axmen from the Long Island of the Holston (present day Kingsport, Tennessee) to cut a road into Kentucky in order to establish the proposed colony of Transylvania. Boone would soon be followed by Richard Henderson, the organizer of the the Transylvania Land Company, after he completed negotiations with the Cherokees to purchase the land. Although the Colony of Transylvania was never recognized by the British government or the other colonies, Boone’s Trace would open up Kentucky for settlers and lead to combat with Native Americans as part of the Revolutionary War. A number of commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the opening of Boone’s Trace and the first white settlements in Kentucky are scheduled for later this year.
On this day 250 years ago in New Bern, North Carolina, Royal Governor Josiah Martin writes to warn Lord Dartmouth in London about Richard Henderson’s Transylvania Land Company:
It is an enterprise which threatens the worst consequences, in my opinion, and the more as Henderson is industriously persuading the people that purchases from the Indians are good in law against the crown as well as for any other Claimant, and I shall be glad to receive his Majesty’s commands upon this point
Changing subjects, Martin also warned Dartmouth that, in reaction to the King’s Speech rejecting American protests, the colony’s “seditious leaders . . . talk of resorting to violence instead of submission.”
On this day 250 years ago, the New York General Advertiser reports
A Union Flag, with a red field was hoisted on the Liberty Pole by the Friends of Freedom assembled, and having got in proper Readiness, about 11 O’clock, the Body began their March to the Exchange. They were attended by Music; and two Standard Bearers carried a large Union Flag, with a blue Field, on which were the following Inscriptions: On one Side, GEORGE III. REX AND THE LIBERTIES OF AMERICA. NO POPERY.[35] On the other, THE UNION OF THE COLONIES, AND THE MEASURES OF THE CONGRESS.
On this day 250 years ago in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, one of the town’s minutemen who had marched to Salem on February 26 to confront Colonel Leslie’s troops, Joseph Newhall, died “by a violent seizure after a few days illness suppos’d to be occasioned by a cold taken when he went out upon an alarm, in the 52nd year of his age.” The Town of Lynnfield claims Newhall as the first American casualty of the Revolution. Another minuteman from Lynnfield — Daniel Townsend — would soon be killed fighting the British on their retreat from Concord on April 19.
Also on this day 250 years ago in Wilmington, Massachusetts, the Town formed a Minuteman Company that included 24 men. The Minutemen elected Cadwallader Ford Jr. as their Captain. However, this Minutemen Company was not the only company of Wilmington Militia that was ready to fight when the shooting would begin. Two other militia companies commanded by Captain Timothy Walker and by Captain John Harnden also mustered in Wilmington on this day. The following month, over 100 men from Wilmington turned out to fight the British on the retreat from Concord, and 260 men from the town would join the fight for American Independence.
And on this day 250 years ago in Boston, British Lieutenant Frederick Mackenzie recorded in his diary that
Rob* Vaughan, the Soldier of the 52ed Reg* who was apprehended the night of the 3rd Ins*, attempting to desert, by way of Charlestown ferry, was tried on the 6th and 7th , and being found guilty, was ordered to be shot for the same, as this morning; but about 9 oClock last night it was notified to the Troops, that his Execution was respited till further orders.
Immediately after Lexington and Concord, Robert Vaughn would desert again, and that time he would not be caught.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Magazine publishes an anonymous article titled “African Slavery in America.” This article was one of the first publications in America proposing freedom for African-American slaves and the abolition of slavery. Thomas Paine was the editor of the The Pennsylvania Magazine and is often credited with writing the article because Benjamin Rush many years later identified him as the author. However, modern analysis indicates that Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Newport, Rhode Island was most likely the author.
Also on this day in Boston, Thomas Ditson, Jr. of Billerica, Massachusetts is arrested for attempting to purchase a musket from a British soldier. Instead of being jailed, Ditson was tarred and feathered and then marched around town by soldiers of the 47th Regiment before being released as a warning to other Patriots.
British Lieutenant Frederick Mackenzie recorded in his diary that
This matter was done with the knowledge of the Officers of the Regiment . . . and it gave great Offense to the people of the town . . . . Arms of all kinds are so much sought after by the Country people, that they use every means of procuring them; and have been successful amongst the Soldiers, several of whom have been induced to dispose of Arms, or such parts of Arms, as they could come at. Perhaps this transaction may deter the Country fellows from the like practices in future.
Thomas Ditson’s treatment by the British Army would provoke outrage from the people of his town and other towns across Massachusetts, and was another factor leading to war the following month. It also cemented Ditson’s commitment to the Patriot cause. He would join the fight against the British in their retreat from Concord and at Bunker’s Hill, and then enlist in the Continental Army where he became a Sergeant and fought at the Battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights and White Plains around New York. After losing an eye from smallpox while in Continental Army service he returned to Massachusetts but continued in service in the Corps of Invalids in command of guards for British prisoners until 1780.
Also on that day in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Rev. Oliver Noble delivered “Some Strictures upon the Sacred Story Recorded in the Book of Esther” quoting both the Book of Esther in the Bible and Patriot writer Josiah Quincy:
Awake! arise Americans! and prepare for the event, by no means strike the first, but be ready to strike the second blow, to advantage. Had we not better die gloriously in the cause of GOD, of Liberty and our Country, than to dishonour GOD and human nature by submitting to ignoble slavery
. . .
“Trials and conflicts you must, therefore, endure;—hazards and jeopardies—of life “and fortune—will attend the struggle. Such is the fate of all noble exertions for public liberty and “social happiness—Enter not the lists without thought and consideration, lest you arm with timidity “and combat with irresolution. Having engaged in the conflict, let nothing discourage your vigour, “or repel your perseverance:—Remember, that submission to the yoke of bondage is the worst that “can befall a people after the most fierce andunsuccessful resistance” . . .“therefore, dedicate yourselves at this day to the service of your Country;” (and let me add, to the fear and service of your GOD, “and henceforth live A LIFE OF LIBERTY AND GLORY:”
And on that day in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fielding Lewis wrote his brother-in-law George Washington that he had been informed that Washington could supply the Spotsylvania County Independent Company “with a quantity of Powder having imported more than you had occasion for in your County; I am directed to request that you will reserve Ten Barrells for the use of this County.” Fielding Lewis would go on to serve as member of the Virginia legislature, as a Colonel in the Virginia militia and as a supplier of arms, ammunition and other supplies for the Continental Army but die in 1780 of illness in the service of his country.
Source: “To George Washington from Fielding Lewis, 8 March 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0225. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, p. 297.]
On This Day In The Revolution 