On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago, more than 6000 Patriots gathered in Philadelphia to let the captain of the Polly know how they would react if he unloaded his cargo of tea. This was the largest meeting in Colonial America up to this point. The next day the Polly and its cargo of tea would…

On Christmas Day 250 years ago, the Polly sailed up the Delaware River to dock at Chester, 20 miles south of Philadelphia. The Polly was carrying 697 chests of tea and its captain would learn the next day the greeting that awaited him in Philadelphia. Source: https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-tea-party-christmas-1773-chester-american-revolution-history/ Merry Christmas All!

On this day 250 years ago, Paul Revere carried news of the Boston Tea Party to Philadelphia. Source: https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/04/paul-reveres-other-rides/

On this day 250 years ago, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-letter published an article describing the Destruction of the Tea six days earlier. This is one of the best contemporaneous descriptions of the Boston Tea Party. Source: https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/pf/declaring/bostonTeaParty.cfm

On this day 250 years ago Royal Customs officials in Charleston seized 257 chests of tea from the London for non-payment of duties. The tea was stored in the basement of the Exchange building, where it would remain until combat began in the Revolution. Source: https://www.powdermagazinemuseum.org/history250

On this day 250 years ago John Hancock wrote his agent in London about the dumping of the tea in Boston Harbor: “No one circumstance could possibly have taken place more effectively to unite the colonies than this maneuver of the tea.” Source: https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-boston-tea-party/

On this day 250 years ago Paul Revere was on horseback carrrying important news to his fellow Patriots. Longfellow wrote a poem about only one of his many rides but Revere was the main rider who carried news from the Boston Committee of Correspondence to other Committees. He rode out of Boston on December 17…

On this day 250 years ago at midnight, Patriots in Marshfield, Massachusetts confiscated tea from the Ordinary as a protest against the Crown, emulating the actions of their fellow Patriots in Boston three days earlier. The Ordinary is still standing in Marshfield today, located at 2000 Ocean Street. After taking the tea, the Patriots knelt…

On this day 250 years ago, the North Carolina Assembly organized its Committee of Correspondence, naming Cornelius Harnett as Chairman and John Harvey, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes, Samuel Johnston, and William Hooper as members. These men all ended up leading the Patriots and were the Founding Fathers of North Carolina. Sources: https://www.ncpedia.org/committees-correspondence https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/deep-dives/committees-of-correspondence/

On this day 250 years ago mass meetings were held in both Charleston and New York City to make plans for blocking the sale of British East India Company tea.  A general meeting of the inhabitants of Charleston chaired by George Gabriel Powell met in the Exchange to address the tea aboard the ship London…