On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress received a report from Gen. George Washington that a British fleet, including six ships-of-the-line, was transporting five regiments of Royal Marines to America, and that four heavily armed ships and two transports with 600 men, two mortars, four howitzers, and several other artillery pieces, were preparing to sail from Boston. In addition, the Congress received another report from General Washington that he had authorize three schooners to cruise off Massachusetts in order to intercept and capture British supply ships. In response to these reports from General Washington the Congress

Resolved, That a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible dispatch, for a cruise of three months, and that the commander be instructed to cruise eastward, for intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies, and for such other purposes as the Congress shall direct.

That a Committee of three be appointed to superintend the fitting the said vessel to prepare an estimate of the expense, and lay the same before the Congress, and to contract with proper persons to fit out the vessel. That another vessel be fitted out for the same purposes, and that the said committee report their opinion of a proper vessel, and also an estimate of the expense.  

The Congress further resolved that a committee “bring in regulations for” the navy and named Silas Deane, John Langdon, and Christopher Gadsden as the initial members of the Navy Committee, although the Committee would soon add more members including John Adams. Because of these actions that day, October 13, 1775 is generally considered the birthdate of the United States Navy, although the case can be made that the Navy was born in the previous month when General Washington commissioned the Hannah to go to sea.

Sources: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-october-13-1775/; https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history/2025/october/birth-navy

On this day 250 years ago at the Great Carrying Place in Maine, Col. Benedict Arnold wrote to General Washington reporting that his entire command, which had been reduced to 950 men from the 1100 who started out, had left the Kennebec River and were engaged in hauling their bateaux on trails and over three ponds to the Dead River. Arnold predicted that in eight or ten days the men and their provisions would be on the Chaudiere River in Canada. Although Arnold acknowledged that “you would have taken the Men for amphibious Animals, as they were great Part of the Time under Water, add to this the great Fatigue in Portage,” he also claimed that “the Officers, Volunteers and privates in general have acted with the greatest Spirit & Industry.” Arnold’s report to Washington was entirely too optimistic, and the expedition would soon face calamity as they learned the distance to the Chaudiere River was much further than they had anticipated, torrential downpours would soak the men, provisions would run out and wash away in the flood, men would fall ill and be sent back to Fort Western to recuperate, and an entire division of the force would turn back against orders.

Source: “Colonel Benedict Arnold to George Washington, 13 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0145. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 155–156.]; https://www.americanrevolution.org/arnolds-expedition-march-into-the-wilderness/

This past weekend in October 2025, the Arnold Expedition Historical Society conducted a reenactment of the march of Arnold’s force on the Great Carrying Place Trail that follows the historical route of the trails and ponds for the portage between the Kennebec River and the Dead River in Maine. You can hike the route today to commemorate the brave men (and a few women) of Arnold’s Expedition. https://www.facebook.com/groups/475361355497753/; https://arnoldsmarch.org/; https://www.mainetrailfinder.com/trails/trail/great-carrying-place-trail

On this day 250 years ago in Pennsylvania, Irish immigrant William Thompson was commissioned as Colonel of the rifle companies raised in western Pennsylvania which became known as the1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment. Thompson would soon be promoted to Brigadier General but would be captured in early 1776 in Canada and would spend most of the War as a prisoner of the British albeit on parole rather than confinement. Also on this day 250 years ago in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a recent immigrant from Northern Ireland, James Dougherty, enlisted in Captain Matthew Smith’s Company of the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment. Private Dougherty was also captured in Canada but was paroled after 4 months of confinement and immediately reenlisted serving through the end of the war in 1782.

Sources: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2225%20June%201775%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=10&sr=; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thompson_(general); https://patriotshistoryusa.com/teaching-materials/bonus-materials/james-dougherty-revolutionary-war-soldier/

On this day 250 years ago, General George Washington passed through Newark, New Jersey, on his way to New York City where among other duties he inspected militia in the City including a 25-man company of young volunteers commanded by a 20-year old immigrant from the West Indies named Alexander Hamilton. This evening, June 25, 2025, the Newark Public Library is hosting a commemoration of Washington’s journey through Newark.

Sources: https://www.npl.org/250th-anniversary-of-the-american-revolution-virtual-program/; http://daybyday.gwpapers.org/content/25-june-1775; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hamilton-takes-command-74722445/

And on this day in Braintree, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams wrote a detailed report to her husband of the war effort in their town south of Boston:

We live in continual Expectation of Hostilities. Scarcely a day that does not produce some, but like Good Nehemiah having made our prayer with God, and set the people with their Swords, their Spears and their bows we will say unto them, Be not affraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and terible, and fight for your Breathren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.

. . .

Mr. Rice joins General Heaths regiment to morrow as adjutant. Your Brother is very desirous of being in the army, but your good Mother is really voilent against it. I cannot persuaid nor reason her into a consent. Neither he nor I dare let her know that he is trying for a place. My Brother has a Captains commission, and is stationd at Cambridge. I thought you had the best of inteligence or I should have taken pains to have been more perticuliar. As to Boston, there are many persons yet there who would be glad to get out if they could. Mr. Boylstone and Mr. Gill the printer with his family are held upon the black list tis said. Tis certain they watch them so narrowly that they cannot escape, nor your Brother Swift and family. Mr. Mather got out a day or two before Charlstown was distroyed, and had lodged his papers and what else he got out at Mr. Carys, but they were all consumed. So were many other peoples, who thought they might trust their little there; till teams could be procured to remove them. The people from the Alms house and work house were sent to the lines last week, to make room for their wounded they say. Medford people are all removed. Every sea port seems in motion.—O North! may the Groans and cryes of the injured and oppressed Harrow up thy Soul. We have a prodigious Army, but we lack many accomadations which we need. I hope the apointment of these new Generals will give satisfaction. They must be proof against calumny. In a contest like this continual reports are circulated by our Enimies, and they catch with the unwary and the gaping croud who are ready to listen to the marvellous, without considering of consequences even tho there best Friends are injured.—I have not venturd to inquire one word of you about your return. I do not know whether I ought to wish for it—it seems as if your sitting together was absolutely necessary whilst every day is big with Events.
Source: “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 25 June 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0155. [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. 230–233.]