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On this day 250 years ago in Boston, James Warren wrote to John Adams in Philadelphia: When you are Informed, that on the variety of Changes that have taken place in this Town, it is now become A Great Hospital for Inoculation, you will wonder to see A Letter from me dated here, but so…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: I am informed that you were about taking the Small Pox, with all the Children. . . . It is not possible for me to describe, nor for you to conceive my Feelings upon this Occasion. Nothing, but the critical…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, James Cannon, an immigrant from Scotland, became a member of the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania, and was put in charge of drafting the instructions for Pennsylvania’s delegates to Congress. The Convention also made him a Justice of the Peace for the state of Pennsylvania, and appointed him to serve as a member of the Council of Safety from July 24, 1776 to December 4, 1777. Cannonis regarded as one of the two principal draftsmen of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, the most progressive state constitution of the Revolution. Sources: Hogeland, Declaration at 181; https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/2137578
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On this day 250 years in New York, brothers Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe, the British Naval and Army commanders in America sent a messenger under a flag of truce in a small boat from Staten Island to Manhattan. The message offering a “pardon” to all who would pledge allegiance to Great Britain…
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On this day 250 years ago in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, 300 militia commanded by Col. Richard Barnes guarded the shore opposite St. Georges Island. The previous day the militia had captured a small British boat with five crewmen and learned that the British fleet commanded by Royal Governor Dunmore of Virginia and Royal Governor…
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On this day 250 years ago in New York, the HMS Phoenix with 40 guns and HMS Rose with 20 guns sailed up the Hudson River to Tarrytown firing at the Continental Army’s batteries on Manhattan along their way. Six American artillerymen lost their lives in the cannonade, although most of the American losses were…
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On this day 250 years ago off Gwynn’s Island, Virginia, Governor Dunmore’s fleet weighed anchor and sailed out into the Chesapeake Bay. The British fleet which had numbered more than 100 ships, was reduced to 96 ships because of damage from Patriot cannon fire and lack of experienced seamen, but the Virginians were able to…
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On this day 250 years ago the Virginia Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Brig. Gen. Andrew Lewis occupied Gwynn’s Island, Virginia. They first drove off the remaining British ships guarding the island with artillery, and took canoes to capture the damaged sloop Lady Charlotte, its longboat and a pilot boat and…
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On this day 250 years ago at White Plains, the Fourth Provincial Congress of New York convened and declared the State of New York independent. On the same day on the Commons in New York City, the Declaration of Independence was read by George Washington to the Continental Army and local citizens. The crowd then proceeded to the…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Colonel John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence to a crowd in the State House Yard (now known as Independence Square) in the first public reading of the Declaration. After the reading the crowd shouted “God bless the free states of North America!” three times and then…
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