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On this day 250 years ago on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean within sight of the Massachusetts shore, Josiah Quincy, Jr. died of tuberculosis. He had traveled to Britain on a secret mission to gather information from supporters of America there, and was returning to report to Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, on the…
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On this day 250 years ago, in Providence, Rhode Island, the General Assembly wrote to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress that it was meeting “to consult and act upon the present distresses into which your Colony and all of New-England are involved” and that Rhode Island was firm and determined. . . . A greater unanimity scarce ever…
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On this day 250 years ago in New Bern, North Carolina, Patriots led by Alexander Gaston and Richard Cogdell, carried off artillery sitting on the grounds of the Governor’s mansion in New Bern. Soon thereafter, Royal Governor Josiah Martin would flee New Bern. Sources: https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/nc_revolution_government_1775.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Martin Also on this day, news of the Battles of…
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On this day 250 years ago, news of the battles of Lexington and Concord arrived in New York City. Upon hearing the news, Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett led a contingent of New York Militia in a raid on the public arsenal. Willett and his men seized and removed weapons. https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/american-revolutionary-war-timeline-1775-january-june/; Lowenthal, Larry, Marinus Willett, Defender…
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On this day 250 years ago, thousands of militia under the nominal command of General Artemas Ward, but in practice acting as independent companies, surrounded Boston. More militiamen were on the march to join them. Most of the men were Massachusetts Militia, but militia from New Hampshire commanded by Col. John Stark had also joined…
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Late at night 250 years ago in Charlestown, South Carolina, Patriot leaders Charles Pinckney (President of the Provincial Congress), Henry Laurens (Chairman of the General Committee), Thomas Lynch (Delegate to the Continental Congress), Benjamin Huger, William Bull and William Henry Drayton, with the assistance of several “mechanics,” including Daniel Cannon, William Johnson, Anthony Toomer, Edward…
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On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia, Governor Dunmore ordered seamen and marines from the HMS Magdalen to seize the gunpowder stored in Williamsburg’s Powder Magazine. Sources: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-gunpowder-incident/; https://www.revwartalk.com/04-20-1775-battles-gunpowder-affair-in-williamsburg-virginia/https://250andcounting.com/; https://daybydayamerica.com/day-by-day/year-1775/april-20-1775/ Tonight and tomorrow night, April 20 and 21, 2025, Colonial Williamsburg is reenacting the Gunpowder Incident at the Powder Magazine where it happened…
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On this day 250 years ago at Lexington and Concord, and at Menotomy (now Arlington), Cambridge, Charlestown and every mile between, the first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. The battle started before daybreak on the Lexington Commons where the badly outnumbered Lexington Militia, only 60 or 70 men, were defeated by the vanguard…
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On this day 250 years ago, the Concord militia received and began executing the order of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety instructing that certain ammunition and supplies stored in Concord be removed from the town or hidden. That order was issued just in time, because on that same day in Boston, General Gage ordered Lt.…
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On this day 250 years ago in New York City, John Jay on behalf of the New York Committee of Sixty wrote to the New Haven, Connecticut Committee: Notwithstanding a small Majority of our House of Assembly have taken no notice of the Proceedings of the Congress the People in general are zealous in the Cause. A…
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