On this day 250 years ago, or maybe the next day, November 20, 1775, Dr. John Connolly, Lt. Allen Cameron and Dr. John Smyth were arrested in Hagerstown, Maryland for plotting to raise an army of Indians and Loyalists to march from Pittsburgh to Alexandria, Virginia. There they planned to meet Governor Dunmore’s flotilla and crush the Patriot uprising in Virginia.
Also on this day 250 years ago, at Ninety Six, South Carolina, approximately1800 Loyalists surrounded a hastily constructed fort erected by 560 Patriot militia commanded by Colonel Andrew Williamson. After Williamson refused to surrender, the Loyalists attacked beginning the first Siege of Ninety Six, or the Battle of Savage’s Old Fields that would continue for the next two days.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin wrote to the Lancaster County Committee on behalf of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety regarding public arms in the County:
We have considered your respectful answer to our application for the public Arms in the County of Lancaster, and are fully satisfied with the reasons you assign for retaining them for the use of the poor Associators in said County, and have only to acknowledge your Zeal in the Public Cause and to desire you will send to us, the names of the persons in whose hands the Arms are left, that it may be known where to apply for them on any Emergency, and that the public property may be taken care of.
Source: “The Pennsylvania Committee of Safety to the Lancaster County Committee, 17 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0157. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London:: Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 265–266.]
On this day 250 years ago, Henry Knox left Cambridge, Massachusetts. to head to Fort Ticonderoga under orders of General Washington. On that same day in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress commissioned Knox as a Colonel in the Continental Army.
Also on this day 250 years ago, the initial two ships of the Continental Navy conducted a raid on Charlottetown, St. John’s Island (now Prince Edwards Island), Canada capturing the Acting Governor and Surveyor General of St. Johns Island.
Tonight, November 17, 2025, PBS is broadcasting Episode 2 of Ken Burns’ American Revolution. This episode covers events that happened 250 years ago today.
On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington ordered Henry Knox
immediately to examine into the state of the Artillery of this army & take an account of the Cannon, Mortars, Shels, Lead & ammunition that are wanting; When you have done that, you are to proceed in the most expeditious manner to New York; There apply to the president of the provincial Congress, and learn of him . . . respecting these things, & Get him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there.The president if he can, will have them immediately sent hither; If he cannot, you must put them in a proper Channel for being Transported to this Camp with dispatch before you leave New York. After you have procured as many of these Necessaries as you can there, you must go to Major General Schuyler & Get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown point, or St Johns— . . . the want of them is so great, that no trouble or expence must be spared to obtain them—I have wrote to General Schuyler, he will give every necessary assistance, that they may be had & forwarded to this place with the utmost dispatch.
At this time Knox was serving as a volunteer aide to General Washington without a commission although Washington had requested that the Congress commission him as a Colonel in the Continental Army in charge of artillery. Washington’s Order to Knox set in motion Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery that would end up driving the British Army out of Boston.
On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, the Treasurer of Virginia Robert Carter Nicholas issued a notice
It being judged necessary that a GENERAL CONVENTION should be speedily held, I have thought fit, pursuant to the directions of the last Convention, to appoint Friday the first day of December for that purpose, when a full meeting of the delegates, at the town of Richmond
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote to Richard Henry Lee:
A Legislative, an Executive and a judicial Power, comprehend the whole of what is meant and understood by Government. It is by ballancing each of these Powers against the other two, that the Effort in humane Nature towards Tyranny, can alone be checked and restrained and any degree of Freedom preserved in the Constitution.
Source: “John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 15 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-03-02-0163. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 3, May 1775 – January 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 307–308.];
On this day 250 years ago at Kemp’s Landing, in Princess Anne County (now the City of Virginia Beach), Virginia, approximately 200 poorly armed Virginia militia were routed by 131 British and Loyalist troops led by Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore. Only one British soldier was wounded, but seven Virginia Militiamen were killed including Pvt. John Ackiss who was the first Patriot whose name was recorded for history who was known to give his life defending Virginia in the Revolution. The British captured 18 Virginians including Cols. Anthony Lawson and Joseph Hutchings, the commanders of the Militia. Hutchings would later die as a prisoner of the British.
Today and tomorrow November 15, 2025, the City of Virginia Beach is commemorating the Battle of Kemp’s Landing at City View Park.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia while attending the Second Continental Congress, John Adams wrote William Tudor, the Judge Advocate of the Continental Army, and his former associate:
Virtue, my young Friend, Virtue alone, is and can be the Foundation of our new Governments
On this day 250 years ago, Continental Army troops,
New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts militia, Green Mountain Boys from Vermont and Canadian volunteers under the command of Irish immigrant, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery occupied Montreal, Canada without firing a shot. British soldiers under Governor Carleton abandoned the city on the approach of the American army. General Montgomery promised the people of Montreal “liberty and security” and the leading citizens of Montreal in turn assured Montgomery
Our chains are broken, blissful liberty restores us to ourselves. … We accept union as we accepted it in our hearts from the moment we learned of the address of
the First Continental Congress in 1774 inviting Canada to send representatives to the next Continental Congress.
On this day 250 years ago in Charlestown harbor, South Carolina, at 4:00 a.m., the HMS Tamar and HMS Cherokee drifted close to the USS Defense. Both British ships commenced to fire broadside shots at the Defense for three hours. The Defense managed to sink the last hulk and then withdrew from the area. The Tamar sent an armed boat to the hulk and set it on fire. It then towed the hulk away from the channel.
The HMS Tamar shot over 100 rounds at the Defense but only struck her three times. Fort Johnson fired three shots at the two British vessels, striking the sails of the British ships.
The Charles Town District Regiment of Militia was called out during the naval battle and remained on station for several hours in anticipation of a land assault that never came.
On this day 250 years ago, the HMS Adamant sailed from Quebec to England carrying Guy Johnson, Joseph Brant and Ethan Allen and 33 other American prisoners.
Source: Nash at 175.
And on that day in Charlestown Harbor, off modern day Mount Pleasant, Charleston, South Carolina, the South Carolina Navy’s Defense, commanded by Capt. Simon Tufts, towed four ship hulks in order to sink them in one of the channels provided British ships access to Charlestown. At 4:30 PM, the HMS Tamar spotted the Defense and fired six shots, and the Defense dropped anchor and fired back. After the Tamar ceased its firing, Capt. Tufts was able to sink three of the hulks in the Hog Island Channel.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress created the Marine Corps. The Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise two Battalions of Marines and Nicholas then went to the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia and appointed Robert Mullan, the tavern owner, as the first U.S. Marine recruiter. Before the end of the Revolution the Tun Tavern burned down but today, a commemorative marker stands on the street where Tun Tavern once stood, denoting the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps.
On This Day In The Revolution 