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On this day 250 years ago, in Providence, Rhode Island, Samuel Ward wrote to his fellow Member of the Continental Congress and Postmaster General, Benjamin Franklin: On my Return I found the People of Connecticut in Arms for sixty Miles, a Fleet of twelve Sail of Men of War and Transports had been at the…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Irish immigrant Stephen Moylan of Philadelphia was commissioned as Muster Master General of the Continental Army. Sources: “General Orders, 11 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0189. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 1, 16 June 1775 – 15 September 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University…
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On this day 250 years ago in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Navy ship Katy removed the final cannon from Fort George on Goat Island to make sure that they could not be used by the British. The Katy carried the two 18 pounders to Providence where they could be guarded by the militia. Sources: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/narragansett-bay-operations-1775/;…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, a broadside was posted around town appealing to women to support the defense of American liberty:’ To the Spinners in this City, the Suburbs, and County: Your services are now wanted to promote the American Manufactory, at the corner of Market and Ninth-streets, where cotton, wool, flax, &c˙, are delivered out. Strangers who…
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On this day 250 years ago, the 14-gun sloop HMS Falcon sailed into Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts to seize two schooners sailing from the West Indies as part of the Royal Navy’s blockade of cargo that could be used to supply the Continental Army besieging Boston, and in order to impress American crewmen into the British…
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On this day 250 years ago off St. Augustine, West Florida, the South Carolina Navy sloop Commerce, commanded by Capt. Clement Lempriere, captured the HMS Betsy. The Betsy was carrying a huge supply of gunpowder to St. Augustine and the crew of the Commerce immediately began unloading the gunpowder from the Betsy onto the Commerce. They were able to transfer about…
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On this day 250 years, Captain Daniel Morgan’s company of Virginia riflemen arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and reported to General Washington at the completion of their famous “Beeline March” from Winchester, Virginia. Morgan’s company of 96 riflemen had marched over 484 miles in 21 days, an amazing pace of 23 miles per day. Morgan’s riflemen…
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On this day 250 years ago, the sloop of war HMS Falcon sailed into Squam Harbor at the mouth of the Annisquam River in Massachusetts and dispatched a barge with about fifty Royal Navy sailors and marines ashore to capture a flock of sheep. Major Peter Coffin of West Gloucester gathered about half a dozen armed…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington wrote letters to the heads of government in New Hampshire (the New Hampshire Committee of Safety), Connecticut (Governor Jonathan Trumbull) and Rhode Island (Deputy Governor Nicholas Cooke) to inform them that our Necessaties in the Articles of Powder, Lead & Flints are so great…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington conducted a Council of War with Major Generals Charles Lee, Artemas Ward and Israel Putnam, Brigadier Generals John Thomas, John Sullivan, Joseph Spencer, Nathaniel Greene, Horatio Gates and William Heath, Washington’s aide Lt. Col. Joseph Reed and presumably his aide Major Thomas Mifflin and…