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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…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lt. Col. William Tudor, the Judge Advocate General of the Continental Army, wrote to his former boss, John Adams to update Adams on the state of the siege of Boston. The entire letter is worth reviewing but the big news of the day was the final…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety submitted a report to the Pennsylvania Assembly prompted by a meeting two days earlier of the soldiers who had volunteered for the Pennsylvania Association (Pennsylvania’s militia): The Military Association entered into by Numbers of the good People of this Province, has received…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Oneida chief Skenandoah accompanied by Rev. Samuel Kirkland, visited General Washington’s headquarters and inspected the Continental Army. Washington reported that He has come on a Visit to the Camp principally to satisfy his Curiosity: But as his Tribe has been very friendly to the Cause…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Secret Committee of the Continental Congress entered into a contract with Thos. Willing & Robert Morris & Co. to with the utmost speed & secrecy send a ship or vessel to some part of Europe & there purchase at the cheapest rate they can a thousand…
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On this day 250 years ago at Fort Western, Massachusetts (now Augusta, Maine), the main body of soldiers of Col. Benedict Arnold’s expedition under the command of Lt. Col. Christopher Greene began paddling up the Kennebec River in bateaux. In total the expedition set out with 220 of these flat-bottomed boats loaded with food, ammunition,…
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On this day 250 years ago at Longue-Pointe near Montreal, Canada, Ethan Allen in command of 37 Americans and 60 Canadians was attacked and defeated by a larger force of British Army and loyalist Canadian militia assembled by the Governor of Canada. American General Richard Montgomery had dispatched Allen and Massachusetts Major John Brown north…
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On this day 250 years ago, Benedict Arnold’s troops were encamped at Fort Western, Massachusetts (in today’s Augusta, Maine) the last settled outpost before Arnold’s expedition would enter the Maine wilderness on their way to Quebec. The encampment included approximately 1100 Continental soldiers, 220 bateaux, 500 bushels of corn, pork, flour, and 60 barrels of…
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On this day 250 years ago on the Kennebec River at Reuben Colburn’s home in Gardinerstown, Massachusetts (now Pittston, Maine) and at nearby Pownalborough, the 1100 men of Col. Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec were encamped after disembarking and unloading supplies from the 11 transport ships that had ferried them from Newburyport, Massachusetts. On that…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Seven . . . to take into consideration the state of the trade of America, and report their opinion. The following members were elected: Benjamin Franklin, John Rutledge, John Jay, Peyton Randolph, Thomas Johnson, Silas Deane, and Thomas Willing. The…