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On this day 250 years ago, George Washington arrived back home at Mount Vernon, Virginia from his service at the First Continental Congress. Source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2230%20October%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=1&sr=
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On this day 250 years ago in Newport, the Rhode Island Assembly issued charters for two militia companies in Kent County. The First Independent Company Kent County based in East Greenwich had been organized a month before as the “Kentish Guards” and retained that name through distinguished service in the Revolutionary War and is still…
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On this day 250 years ago in Newport, the Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the formation of the 100-strong Newport Light Infantry. Source: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_433170 Also on this day 250 years ago in Boston. James Lovell wrote to his good friend Josiah Quincy, Jr. who was then onboard a ship sailing to England on a secret…
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On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Committee of Safety of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress named Artemas Ward, Jedediah Preble and Seth Pomeroy as Generals to command the Massachusetts Militia. Sources: https://revolutionarywarjournal.com/general-artemas-ward-americas-first-commander-in-chief-in-the-war-for-independence/; https://revolutionarywarjournal.com/seth-pomeroy-forgotten-founder-and-the-first-brigadier-general-of-the-continental-army/; Also on this day 250 years ago in Boston, Isaiah Thomas published another issue of The Massachusetts Spy. Under…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the First Continental Congress adjourned with plans to reconvene in May of the next year. As its final two acts the Congress forwarded the “Humble Petition” adopted the previous day to Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee and William Bollan in London for delivery to the King, and approved…
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On this day 250 years ago the women of Edenton, North Carolina, led by Penelope Barker met to sign a resolution pledging to adhere to the North Carolina Provincial Congress’s ban on imports from Britain including linen and tea. This was the first organized action by a group of women in support of the Revolution.…
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On this day 250 years ago the Boston Evening Post published an article saying “We have just received the following intelligence from Taunton, [Massachusetts] ‘that on Friday last a Liberty Pole of 112 Feet long was raised there, on which . . . a Union Flag flying, with the Words LIBERTY and UNION thereon” and…
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On this day 250 years ago in London, Member of Parliament John Burgoyne declared in an address in the House of Commons that “should the American colonists rebel against the treatment accorded them by His Majesty’s Government, I, for one, would not blame them.” Burgoyne would later become more famous in American history as the…
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On this day 250 years ago, William Molineux died after an unexpected illness. Although little known today, at the time of his death Molineux was known to both the Loyalists and the Patriots as the leader of the Boston crowds who agitated against the British. Molineux participated in the Boston Tea Party and in almost…
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On this day 250 years ago in Taunton, Massachusetts the “Liberty and Union” flag was raised for the first time. https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/before-old-glory-there-was-the-taunton-flag Also on this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted its Address to the People of Great Britain. The Address laid out the arguments for repeal of the Intolerable Acts and…