On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago, the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire adopted Tea Act Resolves that condemned the tea tax as “unreasonable and unconstitutional” and stated that “it must be evident to every one that is not lost to virtue nor devoid of common sense that [the taxes] will be totally destructive to our…

During this month 250 years ago, students at Princeton (then known as the  College of New Jersey) hosted another tea party. Student Charles Clinton Beatty wrote that “to show our patriotism, we gathered all the Steward’s winter store of Team, and having made a fire on the campus, we there burnt near a dozen pounds,…

On this day 250 years ago, handbills were posted in Boston threatening consignees of East India Company tea who had fled to the protection of the British Army and Navy on Castle Island in Boston Harbor with “such a reception as such vile ingrates deserve.” The handbills were signed by the “Chairman of the Committee for Tarring…

On this day 250 years ago, the Town of Dover, New Hampshire adopted a Resolution praising “the general Exertions, and noble Struggles” of Patriots blocking imports of British East India Company tea.  Source: Norton, Mary Beth, 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at p. 365 n. 54                      

On this day 250 years ago the Massachusetts Spy published an article about how Philadelphia turned away the Polly and lauded “the united spirit” of Patriots in Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston and New York. Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83021194/1774-01-13/ed-1/

On this day 250 years ago Patriots erected a flagpole and unfurled a Liberty Flag at the corner of what is now Church and Union Streets in Schenectady, New York. In 1776 and 1777, the flag was also reportedly carried during the Revolutionary War by the 3rd New York Regiment. Source: https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2023/12/schenectady-liberty-pole-flag/

On this day 250 years ago, Francis Salvador was elected to South Carolina’s Provincial Congress, becoming the first Jew to be elected to public office in America. Salvador would soon become one of the leading Patriots in South Carolina. Within two years he would die in combat fighting for American Independence. Source: https://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Today-in-History-The-first-American-Jewish-patriot-441126

On this day 250 years ago, the people of Concord, Massachusetts held a town meeting to draft a response to a letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence. The Boston Committee asked the people of Concord to resist the Tea Act “in a most zealous and determined manner” and “not to consume any tea in our…

On this day 250 years ago, the Dartmouth set sail from Boston Harbor for London. The ship was carrying a load of whale oil plus the ship’s owner and captain and other witnesses to testify to the British government about the Destruction of its original load of Tea in Boston Harbor. Source: https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/three-ships-tea-party On this…

On this day 250 years ago, Captain Juan Batista de Anza of the Spanish Army left the Tubac Presidio (south of Tuscon in present day Arizona) with a force of 20 soldiers, 3 priests, 11 servants, 35 mules, 65 cattle and 140 horses to establish an overland route to California from Mexico. The Spanish government was…