On this day 250 years ago, the first ship of the Continental Navy, the schooner Hannah, was chased by the sloop HMS Nautilus and ran aground off the coast of Beverly, Massachusetts. The Nautilus was unable to capture the Hannah because it was defended by the Hannah’s own guns and the guns of a small fort onshore. However, the Hannah was decommissioned after this event thus ending the service of the Continental Navy’s first vessel after only one month.

Sources: https://ship.spottingworld.com/USS_Hannah_(1775); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholson_Broughton

On this day 250 years ago, Rev. Ezra Stiles recorded in his diary that Captain James Wallace and his fleet continued bombing Rhode Island towns on Narragansett Bay:

The infernal Wallace with 3 Men o’ War, 2 or 3 more armed Vessels of which one Bomb with several Transports — a fleet of perhaps 8 sail is fireing away to the Northward & spreading or aim to spread Terror through the Bay. 

He anchored at Bristol on Saturday Evening & ordered the Magistrates to come aboard & bring 300 sheep in one hour, else he would fire upon the Town — where near 100 persons lye sick of the Dysentery & some lie dead. 

Instead of complying the people set about remove the sick. At IX o’clock at Night he began & continued a Canonade of the Town for an hour. At length upon a promise of 40 sheep he desisted & promised he would fire no more. But…he turned to Popasquash a part of Bristol & canonaded that. 

And now this day at XI A M. he is cannonaded Portsmouth on this Island, i.e. the Houses at Bristol Ferry. And in the Afternoon some of his ships came down the Bay firing as if they would fill the Heavens with Thunder; & some went round the North End of the Island towards Tiverton. 

At length one went over to Canonicut & fired away upon Jamestown, where the Governor had sent Men to guard the stock. The Evacuation of this Town still continues. It is judged that Two Thirds of the Inhabitants are removed up the Island. No passing Bristol Ferry to day.

Sources: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/narragansett-bay-operations-1775/; https://archive.org/details/diaryezrastiles01stiluoft/page/n633/mode/2up

On this day 250 years ago, the HMS Canceaux and three smaller ships commanded by Lieutenant Henry Mowat sailed north from Boston Harbor. Mowat had orders from Admiral Samuel Graves to “chastise” ten named towns north of Boston, starting with nearby Marblehead and ending with Machias, close to the Canadian border. Mowat was ordered

to lay waste, burn and destroy such seaport towns as are accessible to his Majesty’s ships. . . . go to all or to as many of the … named Places as you can, and make the most vigorous Efforts to burn the Towns, and destroy the Shipping in the Harbours.

Sources: Gratwick, Harry, The Maritime Marauder of Revolutionary Maine, Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2015 at p. 77; https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/09/a-tale-of-two-cities-the-destruction-of-falmouth-and-the-defense-of-hampton/

Although, there were no reported deaths from the bombardment of Bristol, Rhode Island, the day before, on this day 250 years ago in Newport, Rhode Island, Rev. Ezra Stiles recorded in his diary one death he attributed to the attack:

This Morning we heard that Captain Wallace with his Fleet fired on the Town of Bristol last Night. An inhuman Wretch! This Evening hear that the Reverend Mr. [John] Burt of Bristol was this forenoon found dead in a Cornfield about 25 Rods from his House. After sending away his Wife & family he was escaping himself, & it is supposed he was seized by a fit & expired instantly. He had been sick of the Dysentery & was still confined with it. The Surprize & hasty flight from the savage Canonade of Wallace undoubtedly occasion his Death

Source: https://archive.org/details/diaryezrastiles01stiluoft/page/n633/mode/2up

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

Resolved, That the several provincial Assemblies or Conventions, and councils or committees of safety, arrest and secure every person in their respective colonies, whose going at large may endanger the safety of the colony, or the liberties of America

Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-october-6-1775/

Also on that day in Philadelphia, John Adams reported to Josiah Quincy that the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety had prepared defenses for the Delaware River. Specifically, they had completed “seven Row Gallies”, and three rows of Chevaux De Frize (large timbers barbed with iron set in frames of timber sunk with stone) to be sunk in the channel of Delaware River. In addition, Adams memorably wrote:

That a great Revolution, in the Affairs of the World, is in the Womb of Providence, Seems to be intimated very Strongly, by many Circumstances: But it is no Pleasure to me to be employed in giving Birth to it. The Fatigue, and Anxiety, which attends it are too great. Happy the Man, who with a plentifull Fortune an elegant Mind and an amiable Family, retires from the Noises, Dangers and Confusions of it. However, by a Train of Circumstances, which I could neither foresee nor prevent, I have been called by Providence to take a larger share in active Life, during the Course of these Struggles, than is agreable either to my Health, my Fortune or my Inclination, and I go through it with more Alacrity and Chearfullness than I could have expected. I often envy the silent Retreat of some of my Friends. But if We should so far succeed as to secure to Posterity the Blessings of a free Constitution, that alone will forever be considered by me as an ample Compensation for all the Care, Fatigue, and Loss that I may sustain in the Conflict.

Source: John Adams to Josiah Quincy, 6 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-03-02-0095. [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. 186–188.]

On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington informed the Continental Congress that “I have directed 3 Vessels to be equipped in order to cut off the Supplies, & from the Number of Vessels hourly arriving it may become an Object of some Importance.”

Armed and Equipped at Continental Expense: The Birth of the Continental Navy

On that same day, the Continental Congress received letters from London reporting that two transports laden with stores and ammunition for the British Army had sailed for America, and the Congress appointed a committee to prepare a plan for intercepting the two vessels. The “Naval Committee” would eventually have seven members, with John Adams the leading member.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1975/october/birth-navy

These two events laid the groundwork for the creation of the United States Navy.

On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington convened a Council of War of all the generals serving in the siege of Boston to interrogate Dr. Benjamin Church:

The General communicated to the Board a Discovery of a Correspondence carried on with the Enemy by Dr Church by Letter in Characters which was decyphered by the Revd Mr West & laid the sd Letters before the Members of this Council.

. . .

Dr Church being sent for & shewn the Letter in Characters was asked—Whether the sd Letter was written by him—To which he answered he believed it was.

He was then shewn the Explanation of sd Letter as decyphered—& asked whether it was a true one.

To which he answered in the Affirmative.

Dr Church then explained his Intentions in writing sd Letter as calculated to impress the Enemy with a strong Idea of our Strength & Situation in order to prevent an Attack at a Time when the Continental Army was in great Want of Ammunition & in Hopes of effecting some speedy Accommodation of the present Dispute & made solemn Asseverations of his Innocence.

The General then asked the Opinion of the Council severally whether it did not appear that Dr Church had carried on a criminal Correspondence with the Enemy—to which they unanimously answered in the Affirmative.

A Question was then proposed & discuss’d what were the proper Steps to be taken with Respect to him—& after examining the Regulations of the Continental Army & particularly the Articles 28 & 51—

It was determined from the Enormity of the Crime, & the very inadequate Punishment pointed out that it should be referr’d to the General Congress for their special Direction & that in the mean Time he be closely confined, & no Person visit him but by special Direction.

Source: “Council of War, 3–4 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0083. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 82–85.]

On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington received a deciphered copy of the coded message that Dr. Benjamin Church had attempted to deliver to the British in Boston. The letter showed that Church was reporting to the British the troop strength of the Continental Army in New York and other intelligence. On that day Church wrote a letter to Washington upon learning “that the indiscrete Letter is decyphered,” claiming that he had been providing exaggerated intelligence to the British in a misguided attempt to prompt them into providing intelligence in return. Church admitted

That this foolish Affair was conducted with Irregularity and may have sundry passages equally exceptionable is probable, but I can honestly appeal to Heaven for the purity of my Intentions; that I have much of folly, precipitation and Indiscretion to be forgiven I candidly confess, that forgiveness I most humbly intreat, . . . I condemn my heedless Folly most sincerely; [and] implore the magnanimous the compassionate General Washington to shield me from undeserved Infamy

Washington did not reply to Church’s letter but instead appointed Dr. Isaac Foster to replace Church as superintendent of the Continental Army’s General Hospital

Sources: “Benjamin Church to George Washington, 3 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0084. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 85–87.]; “General Orders, 3 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0082. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 81–82.]; https://justinmuseum.com/tjoschultz/baker.html

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Committee on Trade submitted a report to the Continental Congress recommending that the Congress encourage immigration from Ireland and trade with Ireland:

As the Cessation of the American Trade with Ireland originated in Policy dictated by Principles of self Preservation and may be attended with Distress to a People who have always manifested a Noble Regard to the Rights of Mankind and have ever been friendly to these much injured Colonies, Your Committee are of opinion that great Kindness and Attention ought to be paid to such of that oppressed Nation as have or may come to settle in America, and that it be earnestly recommended by this Congress to the good People of these Colonies to let them have Lands at a cheap Rate, and on easy Terms, and that the several Conventions and Assemblies and Committees through out these confederate Countries, afford them Aid and to them every friendly office. And it having been represented to your Committee that the withholding Flax seed from Ireland will be attended with a much greater Degree of Distress and Ruin to the poor of that Kingdom, than the Congress apprehended, they are of opinion that our Friends and Fellow Subjects in Ireland should be admitted to take Flax seed from these Colonies in Exchange for all such Powder and other military Stores and woolen Yarn of their Manufacture as they shall bring to America.

Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-october-2-1775/

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson returned to take his seat in the Continental Congress.

Source: https://www.loc.gov/collections/thomas-jefferson-papers/articles-and-essays/the-thomas-jefferson-papers-timeline-1743-to-1827/1774-to-1783/

On this day 250 years ago, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Lt. Col. Loammi Baldwin wrote to General Washington that a party of Continentals had crossed to Noddles Island in a skiff to capture a horse and a canoe

but could not discover any person on the Island. This occasions a conjecture in my mind whether some Evil-minded person from the Country has not taken a Boat from the Marshes and made his escape (perhaps with intelligence) to the enemy I would therefore humbly propose to your Excellency that all the Boats scattered for miles together on the Marshes be collected and put under the care of a Sentry.

Source: “Lieutenant Colonel Loammi Baldwin to George Washington, 1 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0072. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 77.]

And on this day 250 years ago in Maine, Col. Benedict Arnold’s men were struggling along the Kennebec River to portage their bateaux and supplies around the Falls of Skowhegan, “Bumbazee’s rips,” and Norridgewock Falls, having travelled only fifty miles from their base of supplies at Fort Western, which they had left five days earlier. The journey would get only worse from here.

Source: https://www.americanrevolution.org/arnolds-expedition-ascent-of-the-kennebec/