On this day 250 years ago in the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, the British fleet and troops commanded by General Sir Henry Clinton approached Fort Johnston to counter sniping by the Patriots. Fort Johnson was in ruins but Patriot riflemen had been hiding in the ruins while firing upon the nearby British fleet for the past several days. The Patriots were led by Captain Alfred Moore and included his company of the 1st North Carolina Regiment plus Brunswick County Militia.
The Royal Navy moved 200 yards from shore, with the HMS Cruizer, the armed transport Sovereign, the schooner St. Lawrence, and the transport Glasgow Packet all engaged in the battle. The Patriots suffered no casualties but killed two men and wounded two others aboard the Glasgow Packet. The British reported that there were “between fifty and sixty of the Rebels well armed, and draped in caps and hunting frocks.”
On this day 250 years ago in Savannah, Georgia, a new government went into effect under newly adopted Rules and Regulations with Archibald Bulloch as president and commander in chief of the State. In effect, Georgia became Independent.
Source: Searcy, Martha Condray, The Georgia-Florida Contest in the American Revolution, 1776-1778, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press (1985) at p.27
On this day 250 years ago in Pennsylvania the people qualified to vote elected a new provincial assembly that was dominated by large landowners and well-off merchants who favored reconciliation with Great Britain instead of Independence. However the middle class artisans and workmen led by George Bryan, Timothy Matlack, James Cannon, Thomas Young and Thomas Paine, many of whom were not property owners qualified to vote for the assembly, were overwhelmingly in support of Independence.
On this day 250 years ago in Albany, New York, Capt. Jeduthan Baldwin recorded in his journal that he
attended a Treaty between the Indians & Inglish, present a Comtt. of the City & county of Albany, Genl. Thomson & some other officers of the army & about 130 Chiefs & wariers from 2 Tribes of Mohawks, Oniadas, Tuskaroras, onondagos & Kiogos. the Indians were all seated in a large hall, when we went in they arose singly & came round in there turn & Shook hands with all of us, after this serimony was over we were all seated, the chairman of our Comtt arose & welcomd them to this place, was glad to see them in health & peace, & it gave us pleasure to have an opertunity to Smoak a pipe & drink togeather, & then sot down, pipes were brought for every Man with tobaco, then one of the Chiefs arose & said that they were glad to see so many of us there bretheren well & that they had an opertunity to Smoak a pipe with us, then a kind of Quaker meeting lasted near \ an hour, except some little conversation, Drank some Toddy togeather & then the Genl. Said he supposed that they were Tired with there Long Journey, that they had better sit & refresh themselves with some liqhquer that he Should order, that he Should call them togeather tomorrow, to Smoak a pipe togeather & have some further Conversation as Brothers, & then we withdrew from such a sent (proseeding from the Indians & Tobaco smoak, the room being Crowded), as you can have but a faint Idea of. at night the Indians had a great Dance.
Baldwin was an Assistant Engineer who General Washington had ordered to Canada to prepare fortifications for the Continental Army and was on his way north to Canada at that time. He did not know that he had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel but would learn nine days later of his promotion. Later that year Baldwin would be promoted to Colonel and assist in engineering fortifications at Ticonderoga and West Point, serving until the end of the War.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress instructed the Committee of Indian Affairs “to prepare a plan of an expedition against Fort Detroit” and further
Resolved, That no Traders ought to go into the Indian country without license from the agent in the department; and that care be taken to prevent exorbitant prices for goods being exacted from the Indians.
Resolved, That a ton of powder be sent to Mr. G[eorge] Morgan, to be distributed to such Indians as the agent shall be convinced are in our interest.
Resolved, That measures be immediately taken to procure goods to supply the Indians at the treaties ordered to be held with them.
Resolved, That the Line between the Indians and these Colonies, agreed upon at Fort Stanwix, ought to be adhered to, and no Surveys or Encroachments made of their Lands. And that the late Attempt to survey Montours Island on the Ohiom, is unjustifiable and ought immediately to be cancelled.
Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the Continental Congress did not enforce these Resolutions and subsequent Congresses abandoned them altogether.
On this day 250 years ago, Commodore Esek Hopkins and the Continental Navy fleet he commanded sailed into the harbor at New London, Connecticut with the prizes, prisoners, artillery and gunpowder seized in their raid to the Bahamas and return cruise to America.
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Joseph Warren was reburied. After the British evacuated Boston, Warren’s body was disinterred from the unmarked grave on Breed’s Hill where he had been killed. The body was identified by Warren’s brothers and his friend Paul Revere from toothwork Revere had fashioned. Doctor Warren’s remains lay in state in the Massachusetts Provincial State House in Boston for three days before an elaborate funeral. A few days later, Abigail Adams would write to her husband John about the funeral:
The Dr. was Buried on monday the Masons walking in procession from the State House, with the Military in uniforms and a large concourse of people attending. He was carried into the Chaple, and their a funirel Dirge was played, an Excellent prayer by Dr. Cooper, and an oration by Mr. Morton which I hope will be printed. I think the Subject must have inspired him, a young fellow could not have wished a finer opportunity to have displayed his talents. The amiable and heroick virtues of the disceased recent in the minds of the Audience, the noble cause to which he fell a Martir, their own Sufferings and unparrelled injuries all fresh in their minds, must give weight and energy to whatever could be deliverd upon the occasion, the Dead Body like that of Caesars before their Eyes, whilst each wound, “like dumb mouths did ope their ruby lips, and beg the voice and utterance of a Tongue.”
On this day 259 years ago the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina convened in Halifax. As one of its first orders of business the Congress named a committee of seven members to investigate “the usurpations and violences . . . by . . . Great Britain against America.” The President of the North Carolina Provincial Congress, Samuel Johnston, would soon write that “all our people are up for independence.”
On this day 250 years ago in the Atlantic Ocean, the American fleet commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins returning from their capture of Nassau, Bahamas captured the HMS Hawk.
On this day 250 years ago, General Washington departed his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts to head first to Providence, Rhode Island and then to New York City. Before departing, General Washington wrote John Hancock the President of the Continental Congress
I was honoured with your favours of the 21st and 25 Ulto . . . I heartily wish the Money had arrived sooner, that the Militia might have been paid as soon as their time of Service expired — the disappointment has given them great uneasiness & they are gone Home much disattisfied, nor have I been without severe Complaints from the other Troops on the same account—When I get to New York I hope a sufficient Sum will be there ready to pay every claim.
It is not in my power to make report of the deficiency of Arms in compliance with the direction of Congress at this time, as some of the Regiments are at & most of the others on their march to New York; nor do I know that It wou’d answer any good purpose If it were, having made repeated applications to the Several Assemblies and Conventions upon the Subject and constantly received for Answer that they cou’d afford no releif.
. . .
Nine of the Regiments which have Marched to New York, have only received 500£ each towards their pay for the Months of Feby & March and Six others not one farthing) I hope therefore this matter will be considered by Congress and the result Transmitted me as soon as done.
Sources: “Timeline of a Revolution: The Die Is Cast,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon (Spring 2016) at 34; “George Washington to John Hancock, 4 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0027. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 4, 1 April 1776 – 15 June 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 30–34.]
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, wrote to General George Washington:
It gives me the most sensible Pleasure to convey to you, by Order of Congress, the only Tribute, which a free People will ever consent to Pay; the Tribute of Thanks and Gratitude to their Friends and Benefactors.
The disinterested and patriotic Principles which led you to the Field, have also led you to Glory: and it affords no little Consolation to your Countrymen to reflect, that, as a peculiar Greatness of Mind induced you to decline any Compensation for serving them, except the Pleasure of promoting their Happiness, they may, without your Permission, bestow upon you the largest Share of their Affections and Esteem.
Those Pages in the Annals of America, will record your Title to a conspicuous Place in the Temple of Fame, which shall inform Posterity, that under your Directions, an undisciplined Band of Husbandmen, in the Course of a few Months, became Soldiers; and that the Desolation meditated against the Country, by a brave Army of Veterans, commanded by the most experienced Generals, but employ’d by bad Men in the worst of Causes, was, by the Fortitude of your Troops, and the Address of their Officers, next to the kind Interposition of Providence, confined for near a Year, within such narrow Limits, as scarcely to admit more Room than was necessary for the Encampments and Fortifications, they lately abandoned.
Accept therefore, Sir, the Thanks of the United Colonies, unanimously declared by their Delegates, to be due to you, and the brave Officers and Troops under your Command: and be pleased to communicate to them, this distinguished Mark of the Approbation of their Country.
The Congress have ordered a Golden Medal, adapted to the Occasion, to be struck, and when finished, to be presented to you.
On this day 250 years ago in Braintree, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams with her views that liberty was not a right to be enjoyed only by white men:
I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us.
. . .
I long to hear that you have declared an independency … and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.
Unfortunately, it would be many years before most of the people of the United States would endorse the enlightened views of Abigail Adams, and some reject her wisdom still today.
Sources: “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 369–371.];
On this day 250 years ago fifty miles east of Cape Ann, Nova Scotia, the British ship Elizabeth was captured by the American ship Hancock and two other privateers after a brief fight. In addition to the ship and its captain and crew, the privateers captured 13 British soldiers, 46 Loyalists, four people who were enslaved by the Loyalists, and the Elizabeth’s cargo. From the privateers’ perspective the most valuable part of the capture was a large store of rum, but the cargo also included eighteen full barrels of flour and essentially all the cloth and linen in Boston.
As part of his departure plans, General Howe had ordered that cloth and linen be seized from Boston merchants so they would not be used for uniforms for the Continental Army. In the days prior to their departure from Boston, Crean Brush and four other Loyalists on board the Elizabeth, had with the backing of British troops seized: from merchant Samuel Dashwood, nine large trunks and two large chests of silks and cloth “with great force and violence” and at “terror of myself and family” from their threat that “if any person should presume to interrupt . . . they would thrust their bayonets into such a person”; “the Value of Twenty Two hundred & Sixty Pounds Sterling . . . in Linens, Checks & Woolens”; from merchant John Rowe; and additional clothing goods from merchants Samuel Austin, Cyrus Baldwin, John Barrett, Samuel Partridge, and John Scollay. Crean Brush was already wanted in both Vermont and New York for outrages against Patriots and he would end up imprisoned for almost two years years for stealing these goods and other crimes.
Source: Eric Wiser, “Hell’s Half-Acre: The Fall of Loyalist Crean Bush”, Journal of the American Revolution (Jan. 19. 2022) accessed at
On this day 250 years ago, in one of his final acts at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington issued orders to most of his command to march the New York as the expected next target of the British fleet that departed Boston. He left only “four or five regiments” behind under the command of Major General Artemas Ward to guard against a return of the British to Boston or elsewhere in New England.
Sources: “George Washington to Major General Artemas Ward, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0422. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, p. 561.]; “Orders and Instructions for Major General Israel Putnam, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0421. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 560–561.]; “General Orders, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0420. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 559–560.]
Also on that day in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail Adams of the death of his friend and Delegate from Rhode Island, Samuel Ward:
We have this Week lost a very valuable Friend of the Colonies, in Governor Ward of Rhode Island, by the small Pox in the natural Way. He never would hearken to his Friends who have been constantly advising him to be inoculated ever since the first Congress began. But he would not be perswaded. Numbers, who have been inoculated, have gone through the Distemper, without any Danger, or even Confinement, but nothing would do.—He must take it in the natural Way and die.
I hope that Americans today will join John Adams in remembering Samuel Ward as “a stedfast Friend to his Country upon very pure Principles.” But unlike Ward, I hope that they will be persuaded by Adams’ advice to be vaccinated rather than risk contracting “the small Pox . . . in the natural Way and die.”
Source: “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0238. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, p. 366.]
On this day 250 years from his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington reported to John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress that:
When I had the honor to address you the 19th Instt upon the evacuation of the Town of Boston by the Ministerial army, I fully expected as their retreat and embarkation were hurried and precipitate, that before now they wou’d have departed the harbour, and been far in their passage to the place of destination: But to my surprize and disappointment the Fleet is still in Nantasket road. The purpose inducing their stay, is altogether unknown, nor can I suggest any satisfactory reason for It; On Wednesday night last before the whole of the Fleet fell down to Nantasket, they demolished the Castle & Houses belonging to It by burning them down, and the several Fortifications—they left a great number of the Cannon, but have rendered all of them, except a very few, entirely useless by breaking off the Trunnions, and those they spiked up, but may be made serviceable again; some are allready done
Sources: “George Washington to John Hancock, 24 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0390-0001. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 522–525.];
On this day 250 years ago in Paris, France, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg wrote to Benjamin Franklin to recommend a volunteer from France, Gilles-Jean Barazer de Kermorvan, to the Continental Army:
I very seriously think that the Chevalier de Kermorvan is one of the best Men your Country can acquire, he has already embraced its sentiments, and neither demands nor has the ambition of obtaining any Rank, untill his Zeal and talents have been experienced. He is even willing to devote himself to all dangers as a simple Volunteer with as good and Chearfull a Will as if he had the cheif Command, besides he appears to me well instructed in the Military Art
Kermorvan would arrive in America in June and be commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army’s Corps of Engineers. He managed the construction of fortifications on the Delaware River and designed fortifications at other locations on the Atlantic Coast before joining Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen and serving heroically at Saratoga. Lt. Col. Kermorvan would return to France in 1778.
On this day 250 years ago in Needham, Massachusetts, Private Alexander Quapish passed away after a long illness that he had contracted during the Siege of Boston. Quapish was a Native American originally from Yarmouth, Massachusetts who was living in Dedham, Massachusetts in May 1775 when he enlisted in Capt. Daniel Whiting’s company of Col. Jonathan Brewer’s regiment. The details of his last days are described in a petition subsequently filed in the Massachusetts General Court:
That one Alexander Quapish a Poor Indian Belonging to this State who was taken Sick in the Army Near Cambridge and was Dismissed Came to the House of your Petitioner in Said Needham in a Suffering Condition on the 15th Day of November 1775 and Remained there Sick untill the 23rd Day of March 1776 and then Died, and your Petitioner was at Great Trouble & Charge in Boarding Nursing, and Burying Said Indian.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress authorized owners of privateers to seize British vessels and the cargo the vessels carry, and to keep a share of the value of the ship and cargo. Before the end of the War nearly 800 ships were commissioned as privateers and they would capture about 600 British ships.
On this day 250 years ago in Charlestown (now Charleston), the General Assembly of South Carolina named Thomas Lynch Jr. to the Continental Congress as a sixth delegate to join and eventually replace his father Thomas Lynch, Sr. who was recuperating from a stroke. Thomas Lynch Sr. was a supporter of Independence but would be too ill to sign the Declaration. A blank line would be left where Thomas Lynch Sr. would have signed and Thomas Lynch Jr. would sign the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Lynch Sr. and Thomas Lynch Jr. were the only father and son to serve successively in the Continental Congress, but neither would survive the Revolution. Thomas Lynch Sr. would pass away in Annapolis on his return trip home later in 1776 and Thomas Lynch Jr. would be lost at sea in 1779.
On this day 250 years ago in New York City, an effigy of Royal Governor Tryon was paraded through the streets and then hung from a gallows. A paper was attached to the effigy that read:
William Tryon, late Governor of this province, but now a professed rebel and traitor to its dearest rights and privileges, as well as to his native country, who, in order to extinguish every spark of American liberty, and recommend himself to the favor of a brutal tyrant, and an insidious court, did illegally, unjustly, and cruelly, shed the blood of an innocent and worthy citizen, when he had the command in North Carolina. For which, and his numberless traitorous practices against the liberties of this country, he is to suffer the just demerits of his atrocious villany, as a warning to all others,
“Calm thinking villains, whom no faith can fix, Of crooked counsels, and dark politics.”
Secondly. –Behold the bloody tool of a sanguinary despot, who is using his utmost efforts to enslave you!–”With how secure a brow, and specious form he gilds the secret traitor!“
Thirdly. –Tories take care!!!
Governor Tryon was not in the city but had fled to the protection of a British warship in New York Harbor.
On this date 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress issued a commission to Captain William Shippen to command a ship “as a privateer, in order to guard and cruize on the coast of Virginia” and also agreed to sell gunpowder to Shippen for the ship. This was the Congress’s first authorization of a privateering — for profit naval actions where the privateers were allowed to retain the proceeds of the cargo of British ships that they capture.
On this day 250 years ago three miles northeast of Fort Johnson, off the coast of Charlestown, South Carolina, the sloop Comet of the South Carolina Navy commanded by Capt. Joseph Turpin captured the larger brig HMS General Clinton and its crew that included the pilots that the British needed to navigate in Charlestown Harbor. This was the first time the South Carolina Navy captured a British warship.
On This Day In The Revolution 