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 in New York City, General George Washington wrote Brigadier General John Thomas commanding the Continental Army in Canada about his
Concern at the great deficiency of the Regiments destin’d for Canada, but as I am sensible of the necessity of having a respectable body of Troops in that Country, I am now preparing to send you four of the strongest Regiments in the Service and you may rely upon it, no time shall be lost in getting them forward as fast as possible, they will amount to about 2000 Rank & file and will go to Albany by Water . . .
I most sincerely wish you Success equal to the importance of the Cause
That same day Washington ordered
The Quarter Master General is immediately to provide Transports to convey four Regiments to Albany. Poor’s, Patterson’s, Greaton’s, and Bonds Regiments, are to hold themselves in readiness to embark, at an hours warning—They are to take with them their Camp-Equipage, which the Quarter Master General will furnish
General John Thomas and Colonel William Bond would not survive the campaign. Thomas died of smallpox less than two months later, and Bond died of typhoid fever in August. Colonel Enoch Poor would be promoted to brigadier general but would not survive the War, also taken by typhoid fever, in 1780. Colonel John Greaton survived the War but just barely dying in 1783 a few months after the Treaty of Paris. Of these officers Washington ordered to Canada, only Colonel John Paterson lived to enjoy our new nation after the War.
Also that day in Philadelphia, the Members of Congress were writing of Independency. For example, Samuel Adams wrote to Joseph Hawley in Massachusetts:
I am perfectly satisfied with the Reasons you offer to show the Necessity of a public & explicit Declaration of Independency. I cannot conceive what good Reason can be assigned against it. Will it widen the Breach? This would be a strange Question after we have raised Armies and fought Battles with the British Troops, set up an American Navy, permitted the Inhabitants of these Colonies to fit out armed Vessels to cruise on all Ships &c belonging to any of the Inhabitants of Great Britain, declaring them the Enemies of the united Colonies, and torn into Shivers their Acts of Trade, by allowing Commerce subject to Regulation to be made by ourselves with the People of all Countries but such as are Subjects of the British King. It cannot surely after all this be imagined that we consider ourselves or mean to be considered by others in any State but that of Independence.
Carter Braxton of Virginia wrote to Landon Carter in Virginia:
Independency & total Separation from Great Britain are the interesting Subjects of all ranks of Men & often agitate our Body. . . . It is an Object to be wished for by every American; when it can be obtained with Safety & Honor. That this is not the moment I will prove by Arguments that to me are decisive & which exist with certainty. . . .
When these necessary Steps are taken & I see a Coalition formed sufficient to withstand the Power of Britain or any other, then am I for an independent State & all its Consequences, as then I think they will produce Happiness to America. It is a true saying of a Wit- We must hang together or separately.
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 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress declared economic independence from Great Britain by resolving that Americans could ship exports to every nation except Great Britain. The Congress also
Resolved, That no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies.
In the early morning hours of this day 250 years ago off Block Island, Rhode Island, the HMS Glasgow, a 20-gun frigate carrying dispatches to Charles Town, South Carolina, sailed into the midst of the entire fleet of the Continental Navy. Commodore Esek Hopkins commanded his flagship USS Alfred, as well as the Columbus, Cabot, Andrew Doria, Providence, Wasp, and Fly returning to America from their raid on Nassau, Bahamas and escorting several merchant ships they had captured in the Bahamas and during the return cruise.
Although the American ships greatly outnumbered and outgunned the Glasgow, the British ship was able to escape, and the Americans suffered more casualties than the British. Ten American sailors were killed and 14 were wounded, including Captain John Burroughs Hopkins, the Commodore’s son. In contrast, the British had only one man killed and three wounded. The crew of the HMS Glasgow threw overboard the dispatches it was carrying to Gen. Henry Clinton in Charles Town and the Glasgow was badly damaged and had to abort its mission and return to port in Newport, Rhode Island for repairs. In addition, the Americans captured the Glasgow‘s tender.
As a result of the failure to capture the HMS Glasgow, Hopkins and the Providence‘s captain would later be relieved of command. However, one officer in the Continental Navy — Lieutenant John Paul Jones — distinguished himself in the engagement and would soon earn a captain’s commission and go on to lasting fame.
On this day 250 years ago in Brunswick Town, North Carolina, General Sir Henry Clinton landed foraging parties from the force of 700 British Regulars on board the military transports in his fleet anchored offshore. Col. James Moore commanded 120 men of the 2nd North Carolina Regiment, 449 men of the 1st North Carolina Regiment and local militia, with a combined total of 1,847 men in Wilmington and along the Cape Fear River to oppose the British landing. Nevertheless the British were able to capture one Patriot officer with five men near Brunswick Town and pick up a few Loyalist survivors of the battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge. General Clinton issued a proclamation pardoning everyone who would reaffirm their allegiance – except for Patriot leaders Cornelius Harnett and Robert Howe. Few Loyalists came in to claim Clinton’s pardon and the British would soon depart North Carolina. In 1781, however, Harnett was captured by the British and although he was not executed, Harnett died as a result of his ill treatment in British captivity.
On this day 250 years ago in Watertown, Massachusetts, John Winthrop, who was the Professor of Mathematics and several times acting president of Harvard College, member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, the Judge of Probate of Middlesex County, and an advocate for Independence wrote to John Adams:
We have intire confidence in the wisdom and firmness of the Congress. The fate of America is in their hands, and it cannot be in better hands. We have no doubt, but they will seize this opportunity of establishing the Liberties of America on a foundation that cannot be shaken. Is it possible to come to a reconciliation with people that have treated us with so much barbarity? Tis the wish of many, I believe most, of our people, that they would throw off that dependence which has been the source of all the evils we have suffered, and which, as long as it continues, must be productive of the same, if possible of greater evils. If we must still be subject to a K’s governors, vested with all the powers of nominating, negativing, &c. &c., and directed by Instructions, what can we expect but a repetition of the same scene? But it is needless for me to suggest any thing to a Gentleman who has so comprehensive a view of affairs and consequences. Source: “John Winthrop to John Adams, 5 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0037. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 109–111.]
On this day 250 years ago in the Atlantic Ocean, the fleet commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins captured the HMS Bolton, and its cargo of armaments and gunpowder.
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 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 ago at the Battle of Saint-Pierre in Quebec Province, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, the Americans defeated the British, although most of the men on both sides were Canadien. About150 Canadiens led by Clement Gosselin and Pierre Ayotte fighting alongside 80 Continental Army soldiers led by John Dubois, defeated and captured 46 Canadien Loyalists who were advancing on the Continental Army’s fortification at Pointe-Levis across the river from Quebec City. The Canadien Loyalists lost three to six men killed and ten wounded. Only a few of the Loyalist Canadiens escaped. The Patriots captured most of the Canadien Loyalists, but released all but 21 men who they marched off as prisoners.
Six men on the Patriot side were killed, but I have not been able to identify their names. Ayotte would be captured a couple of months after the battle but Gosselin would join the 2nd Canadian Regiment and serve in the Continental Army until 1783.
On this day 250 years ago, on Tybee Island, Georgia, Archibald Bulloch, former representative of Georgia in the Continental Congress who would soon become the first Governor of independent Georgia, led a party of 30 Creek warriors and at least 40 but maybe as many as 100 Georgia militia, on a raid to capture slaves who had runaway to join the British. The HMS Hinchinbrook, HMS Cherokee and other British warships were anchored off the island and a party of 12 Royal Marines was onshore cutting wood with the assistance of escaped slaves, although most of the runaway slaves on the island were able to escape before the raid. The Hinchinbrook and Cherokee opened fire on Georgia militia during the raid, but Bulloch’s men killed two or three Royal Marines and one Loyalist, an unknown number of marines, Loyalists and slaves were wounded, the Georgia militia captured 12 or 13 runaway slaves, one British marine and one Loyalist, and drove away the British warships with no loss of American life, except that one of the Creek warriors was killed in a drunken brawl with a militiaman.
On This Day In The Revolution 