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On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — April 4, 1776

April 4th, 2026

On this day 259 years ago the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina convened in Halifax. As one of its first orders of business the Congress named a committee of seven members to investigate “the usurpations and violences . . . by . . . Great Britain against America.” The President of the North Carolina Provincial Congress, Samuel Johnston, would soon write that “all our people are up for independence.”

https://www.ncpedia.org/provincial-congresses‘; https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/historic-halifax/history/halifax-historic-district-importance/halifax-and-revolution

Next week, April 10-12, 2026, the Town of Halifax will be commemorating the critical events that occurred there 250 years ago.

https://www.visithalifax.com/halifax-day-and-prelude-to-revolution

On this day 250 years ago in the Atlantic Ocean, the American fleet commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins returning from their capture of Nassau, Bahamas captured the HMS Hawk.

Source:

https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/battle-of-nassau/

On this day 250 years ago, General Washington departed his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts to head first to Providence, Rhode Island and then to New York City. Before departing, General Washington wrote John Hancock the President of the Continental Congress

I was honoured with your favours of the 21st and 25 Ulto . . . I heartily wish the Money had arrived sooner, that the Militia might have been paid as soon as their time of Service expired — the disappointment has given them great uneasiness & they are gone Home much disattisfied, nor have I been without severe Complaints from the other Troops on the same account—When I get to New York I hope a sufficient Sum will be there ready to pay every claim.

It is not in my power to make report of the deficiency of Arms in compliance with the direction of Congress at this time, as some of the Regiments are at & most of the others on their march to New York; nor do I know that It wou’d answer any good purpose If it were, having made repeated applications to the Several Assemblies and Conventions upon the Subject and constantly received for Answer that they cou’d afford no releif.

. . .

Nine of the Regiments which have Marched to New York, have only received 500£ each towards their pay for the Months of Feby & March and Six others not one farthing) I hope therefore this matter will be considered by Congress and the result Transmitted me as soon as done.

Sources: “Timeline of a Revolution: The Die Is Cast,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon (Spring 2016) at 34; “George Washington to John Hancock, 4 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0027. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 4, 1 April 1776 – 15 June 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 30–34.]
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — April 3, 1776

April 3rd, 2026

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Members of the Continental Congress from Massachusetts — John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine and Elbridge Gerry — wrote to James Warren — the President of the Council of Massachusetts who also served as the President of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. In the letter they requested reinforcements and arms from the colony for the Continental Army and suggested that Massachusetts impose restrictions on the private ownership of firearms:

We think it necessary to Inform the Genl. Assembly that in some of the Colonies all Persons whatever are Prohibited from Purchasing or selling Fire Arms to be carried from the same. The safety of the Eastern district may Possibly require the like Precaution.

We rejoice at the Success Attending the Measures of Massa: Bay for promoting the Manufacturing of Military Stores and think that a steady perseverance in the same Plan is the wisest Mode that the Colonies can Adopt for a permanent Establishment of their Rights and Liberties; We therefore hope that diligent Enquiry will be made for all the Manufactories of Fire Arms in the Colony, Who from Want of Means or other Circumstances are unemploy’d in this Business, and that Publick Works will be Erected for them with suitable Encouragement to engage them in the Service.

Source: “The Massachusetts Delegates to the President of the Council, 3 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0034. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 104–106.]

On this day 250 years ago in Watertown, Massachusetts, Mercy Otis Warren wrote to John Adams with this wish and prayer:

May the great guardian of the universe . . . inspire with vigour and unanimity the patriots of America. May he make the decision of the present contest, the establishment of virtue, liberty, and truth, fixed on too firm a basis to be undermined by future despots!

May her wish inspire Americans today.

Source: “Mercy Otis Warren to John Adams, 3 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0036. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 108–109.]
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — April 2, 1776

April 2nd, 2026

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, wrote to General George Washington:

It gives me the most sensible Pleasure to convey to you, by Order of Congress, the only Tribute, which a free People will ever consent to Pay; the Tribute of Thanks and Gratitude to their Friends and Benefactors.

The disinterested and patriotic Principles which led you to the Field, have also led you to Glory: and it affords no little Consolation to your Countrymen to reflect, that, as a peculiar Greatness of Mind induced you to decline any Compensation for serving them, except the Pleasure of promoting their Happiness, they may, without your Permission, bestow upon you the largest Share of their Affections and Esteem.

Those Pages in the Annals of America, will record your Title to a conspicuous Place in the Temple of Fame, which shall inform Posterity, that under your Directions, an undisciplined Band of Husbandmen, in the Course of a few Months, became Soldiers; and that the Desolation meditated against the Country, by a brave Army of Veterans, commanded by the most experienced Generals, but employ’d by bad Men in the worst of Causes, was, by the Fortitude of your Troops, and the Address of their Officers, next to the kind Interposition of Providence, confined for near a Year, within such narrow Limits, as scarcely to admit more Room than was necessary for the Encampments and Fortifications, they lately abandoned.

Accept therefore, Sir, the Thanks of the United Colonies, unanimously declared by their Delegates, to be due to you, and the brave Officers and Troops under your Command: and be pleased to communicate to them, this distinguished Mark of the Approbation of their Country.

The Congress have ordered a Golden Medal, adapted to the Occasion, to be struck, and when finished, to be presented to you.

Sources: Journals of the Continental Congress at 248-49 accessed at https://archive.org/details/us_congress_continental/lljc004/page/248/mode/2up; John Hancock to George Washington, 2 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0001-0005. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 10–11.]

Also on that day in Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Magazine: or, American Monthly Museum, published, at the suggestion of Joseph Reed:

Verses . . . written by the famous Phillis Wheatley, the African Poetess, and presented to his Excellency Gen. Washington.

The poem ended with the lines

Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,

Thy ev’ry action let the goddess guide.

A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,

With gold unfading, Washington! be thine.

Source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%222%20April%201776%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=2&sr=

See my blog for February 28, 1776 for the entire poem. https://kevinsrevolutionarywarchronology.com/2026/02/28/on-this-day-250-years-ago-in-the-revolution-february-28-1776/
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — April 1, 1776

April 1st, 2026

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress resolved

That a treasury office of accounts, accountable to the standing committee for the treasury, shall be created. That an auditor general shall be appointed by Congress, “for stating, arranging, and keeping the public accounts.”

Also on this day 250 years ago, the Congress appointed Jacob Kemper, Jr. as an ensign in the 1st New Jersey Battalion. Kemper had joined the Continental Army in November 1775 and would serve continuously until June 1783.

Sources: Journals of the Continental Congress at 244-46 accessed at https://archive.org/details/us_congress_continental/lljc004/page/244/mode/2up; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-32-02-0408
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 31, 1776

March 31st, 2026

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.];

Offering of the Ladies: Esther Reed’s Sentiments, Washington’s Objections
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 30, 1776

March 30th, 2026

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.

Sources: Journals of the Continental Congress at 241; Felder at 221; Wrike, Peter Jennings, The Governors’ Island, Gwynn’s Island, Virginia: Gwynn’s Island Museum (1993) at 141; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0037 ; https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000011/pdf/am11–148.pdf; https://leefamilyarchive.org/history-papers-letters-transcripts-gw-delegates-div0276/; https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000011/pdf/am11–148.pdf
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 29, 1776

March 29th, 2026

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

Hell’s Half-Acre: The Fall of Loyalist Crean Brush

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 the Revolution — March 28, 1776

March 28th, 2026

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, and employ every means to discover and apprehend those concerned in such design.

Source: Journals of the Continental Congress at 239-40 accessed at https://archive.org/details/us_congress_continental/lljc004/page/238/mode/2up

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.

Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-march-28-1776/
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 27, 1776

March 27th, 2026

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.

Sources: https://sites.google.com/site/histsocorg1/bayley-hazen-military-road; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=87961; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayley_Hazen_Military_Road

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.

Sources: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/fortifying-dorchester-heights.htm#_ftn3; Lengel, Edward G., General George Washington: A Military Life, New York: Random House (2005) at 126
On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 26, 1776

March 26th, 2026

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.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Ward_(Rhode_Island_politician); https://www.founderoftheday.com/founder-of-the-day/ward

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.

https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/south-carolina-becomes-an-independent-state.html; https://www.powdermagazinemuseum.org/history250; https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sc01.asp