On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago The Pennsylvania Gazette published an anonymous letter from London dated February 19, 1774, that some scholars speculate was written by Franklin himself, recounting Benjamin Franklin’s mistreatment by the Privy Council on January 29, 1774. [See my prior post for that day.] The letter began: The Ministerial People here are…

On this day 250 years ago in London Edmund Burke delivered his famous speech “On American Taxation” in Parliament. To no avail, Burke urged Parliament to repeal the Townshend Act and the duties it imposed on tea. This speech included many memorable passages including: Could anything be a subject of more just alarm to America,…

On this day 250 years ago, the last of the seven ships dispatched from London to carry East India Company tea (698 cases) finally made it to the shores of America. The Nancy, commanded by Captain Benjamin Lockyer, had been blown off course and badly damaged during the Atlantic crossing. After landing at Sandy Hook, New…

On this day 250 years ago, Virginia militia from the area around Fort Pitt were searching for the band of Cherokees who had ambushed the traders on the Ohio River on April 15. At this time both Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed the Pittsburgh area and both colonies had officials exercising authority in the area. Source:…

On this day 250 years ago in London, Benjamin Franklin wrote to inform Thomas Cushing, the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, of new bills introduced in Parliament to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party: The Torrent is still violent against America. A Bill is brought in to alter the Charter, appointing the Council by…

On this day 250 years ago, at Beaver Creek in what is now West Virginia, three traders were camped after canoeing down the Ohio from Pittsburgh in order to trade with the Shawnee for pelts. That morning the traders were attacked by party of four Cherokee without warning. One of the traders named Murphy was…

On this day 250 years ago in Savannah, Governor Wright of Georgia met with the Creek Indian Chiefs Emistisiguo, Alleck, and the second man of Little Tallassee. In this meeting Governor Wright urged Emistisiguo and the other Creeks not to attack British colonists, but Emistisiguo would later lead raids on the Georgia colonists at the…

250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia, Clementina Rind, publisher of the Virginia Gazette, executed a Deed of Trust for her printing press and household items to secure a loan from the Mayor and three other prominent citizens of Williamsburg. This loan enabled Rind to continue publication of the Virginia Gazette as the favored publication for…

On this day 250 years ago, the courts of Virginia closed. The law that set court fees expired, and Virginia courts need the fees to operate. Lord Dunmore will end up dissolving the Virginia Assembly before the Assembly can enact a new law in its upcoming session, all the courts remain closed until 1776. In…

On this day 250 years ago the Newport Mercury in Rhode Island published the open letter condemning slavery that the formerly enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley had written to the Reverend Samson Occom, a member of the Mohegan tribe of Native Americans, who was similarly preaching abolition. The open letter had been published previously and I…