On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago in Boston, General Thomas Gage boarded a ship and departed the city. With his departure, General William Howe assumed command of the British Army in North America. Sources: Ketchum, Richard M., Decisive Day: The Battle of Bunker Hill, New York: Owl Books, 1999 at p. 213; https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-howe On this…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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.” On that same day, the Continental Congress received…

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…

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 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…