On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago in Ohio, 400 frontier militia under the command of Major Angus MacDonald were marching back to Fort Fincastle, Virginia (now Wheeling, West Virginia) after destroying the Shawnee village of Wakatomika and nearby Shawnee and Mingo villages. MacDonald’s expedition spared nearby Delaware villages because the Delaware were not at war…

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia, the first Virginia Convention concluded. Among other actions, the Virginia Convention elected Peyton Randolph, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton as delegates to the First Continental Congress to be held the following month in Philadelphia. The Virginia Convention…

On this day 250 years ago George Washington’s close friend Bryan Fairfax wrote to Washington expressing concern that the Fairfax Resolves were too radical. Fairfax tried to remain neutral during the Revolution and refused to pledge loyalty to either the Patriots or the British, but he remained friends with Washington until Washington’s death. Source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%225%20August%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=5&sr=

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Clementina Rind reported in her Virginia Gazette on additional Resolutions adopted by Virginia Counties: “The Northumberland, Orange, King George, Amelia, Frederick, Lancaster, Mecklenberg, Lunenberg, Accomack, King William, Warwick, and a few other resolves, we have received, but couldn’t possibly insert them.” Source: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/672b0c83-5d0c-4bed-85f0-57599c7a60b1/content Glanville at pp. 73-75;…

On this day 250 years ago, the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence named delegates to the First Continental Congress. Two months earlier the Connecticut House of Representatives had delegated responsibility to the Committee of Correspondence to name the delegates to the Congress. The three delegates who actually attended the First Continental Congress were Silas Deane, Eliphalet…

On this day 250 years ago in Charleston, the South Carolina House of Commons electted Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Christopher Gadsden and Edward Rutledge as delegates to the First Continental Congress. All would continue in leadership roles for South Carolina and the United States throughout the Revolution. Source: https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/south-carolina-delegates-first-continental-congress/

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg the first Virginia Convention convened. Although the Virginia Convention met at the Capitol where the Virginia House of Burgesses (or Assembly) would usually meet, in contrast to the Assembly, the Virginia Convention was not officially sanctioned by the Governor or the King, but was instead organized and…

On this day 250 years ago, Lt. Gov. William Bull of South Carolina (who would end up a Loyalist) wrote to Lord Dartmouth that South Carolina considered the dispute between the Colonies and the British Government to be a choice between “liberty or slavery”. Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27567931

On this day the people of the Town of Biddeford, Massachusetts (now Maine) met at the First Parish Meetinghouse to adopt resolutions opposing the closure of the Port of Boston and the Intolerable Acts. The inhabitants of the town pledged their persons and fortunes to the Patriot cause and to hold as an enemy of…

On this day 250 years ago Thomas Jefferson is sick at home in Monticello and unable to travel to Williamsburg to attend the Virginia Convention. However, Jefferson had completed his pamphlet on A Summary View of the Rights of British America and dispatched a servant to ride to Williamsburg to deliver a copy to Peyton…