On This Day In The Revolution

On Christmas Day 250 years ago in London, Benjamin Franklin met Lord Richard Howe at the home of his sister Caroline Howe. Lord Howe was a cousin of King George III, a prominent Whig in the House of Lords known for his sympathy to the Americans, and a senior Admiral in the Royal Navy. Franklin…

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore wrote to Lord Dartmouth that: Authority…and policy are both insufficient to restrain the Americans; they do and will remove as their avidity and restlessness incite them. They acquire no attachment to place: But wandering about seems ingrafted in their nature; and it is…

On this day 250 years ago, a justification for the seizure of the cannon and military stores from Fort William and Mary written by “A Lover of Order” was published in the New Hampshire Gazette. On or about the same day, John Sullivan wrote a rhetorical question to justify the seizure: I must here beg…

On this day 250 years ago in Greenwich, New Jersey, about forty Patriots disguised as Indians, entered the cellar of Daniel Bowen’s house, where a cargo of tea from the Greyhound had been stored. They seized the whole cargo of tea, carried the tea chests into an adjoining field, piled them together and burned the…

On this day 250 years ago in Pennsylvania, “the Freeholders and Freemen of the County of Northampton qualified to vote for Representatives in the Legislature, a very respectable number of them met at the Court House in Easto” to elect three men as judges to oversee elections.  Another 26 men, about one from each township…

On this day 250 years ago the 20-gun frigate HMS Scarborough arrived off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Together with the HMS Canceaux there were now more than 80 Royal Marines to defend Fort William and Mary and Governor Wentworth. Source: https://nhsar.org/the-raid-on-fort-william-and-mary-in-1774/#[132] Also on this day the 70-gun ship-of-the-line HMS Somerset arrived in Boston Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3278509&seq=36

On this day 250 years ago in Cohansey, Cumberland County, New Jersey, Philip Vickers Fithian recorded in his journal that Early last week a Quantity of Tea said to be shipped at Rotterdam was brought & privately stored at Dan. Bowens in Greenwich—-A pro Tempore Committee was Chosen to secure it till the County Committee…

On this day 250 years ago, late in the evening the 16-gun sloop HMS Canceaux arrived from Boston off Portsmouth. The sloop carried a small contingent of Royal Marines intended to relieve Fort William and Mary but arrived too late to protect the fort from its capture by the Patriot militia or to recover the…

On this day 250 years ago in New Hampshire, during the early morning hours New Hampshire militia commanded by Major John Sullivan removed 16 cannon (15 four-pounders and a nine pounder), 10 carriages, approximately 50 damaged muskets in need of repair, 42 serviceable muskets with shot, one barrel of gunpowder and other miscellaneous military supplies…