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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…
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On this day 250 years ago, at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gen. George Washington dictated a letter to John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress. The letter read in part: The Connecticut & Rhode Island Troops stand engaged to the first of December only, & none longer than to the 1st January. A…
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On this day 250 years ago, eight American transport ships under the command of Captain James Clarkson sailed through fog and heavy rain into the Kennebec River of present-day Maine to anchor at Parker’s Flats off Georgetown, Maine (then Massachusetts). The fleet carried the troops of Col. Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec. Two other transports…
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On this day 250 years ago from Newburyport, Massachusetts, the 1100 volunteers from the Continental Army led by Col. Benedict Arnold set sail with “colors flying, drums and fifes playing, the hills all around being covered with pretty girls weeping for their departing swains.” That night they anchored off of Wood’s Island, Massachusetts (now Maine)…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress formed a “secret committee” with the primary mission of obtaining arms and ammunition for the Continental Army. Source: “Editorial Note on the Secret Committee, 18 September 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0127. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed.…
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On this day 250 years ago, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, an immigrant from Ireland, led 1400 Continental soldiers, New York and Connecticut militia, and Green Mountain Boys from Vermont to assault Fort Saint Jean (also called Fort Saint John), Canada. Like four earlier assaults during the previous week, the Americans were repulsed but instead of…
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On This Day In The Revolution 