On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington wrote to Major General Philip Schuyler at Fort Ticonderoga, New York to propose the invasion of Canada:
The Design of this Express is to communicate to you a Plan of an Expedition, which has engrossed my Thoughts for several Days: It is to penetrate into Canada, by Way of Kennebeck River, and so to Quebec, by a Rout 90 Miles below Montreal—I can very well spare a Detachment of 1000 or 1200 Men, and the Land Carriage by the Rout proposed is too inconsiderable to make an Objection. If you are resolved to proceed, (which I gather from your last Letter is your Intention) it would make a Diversion, that would distract Carlton and facilitate your Views. He must either break up and follow this party to Quebec, by which he will leave you a free passage or suffer that important Place to fall into our Hands: an Event which would have a decisive Effect and Influence on the public Interests.
. . .
Not a Moment’s Time is to be lost in the Preparation for this Enterprize, if the advices from you favor it.
Source: “George Washington to Major General Philip Schuyler, 20 August 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0233. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 1, 16 June 1775 – 15 September 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985, pp. 331–334.]
And on this day 250 years ago in Arizona, the Spanish Army established the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson. Spain’s later intervention in the Revolutionary War to fight the British was motivated in large part to block British encroachment on Spanish territories in America but contributed significantly to the victory of the United States in the War. This Saturday when the people of Tucson celebrate their 250th anniversary they can also celebrate their community’s contribution to American Independence.
On this day 250 years ago, in Providence, Rhode Island, the General Assembly wrote to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress that it was meeting “to consult and act upon the present distresses into which your Colony and all of New-England are involved” and that Rhode Island was
firm and determined. . . . A greater unanimity scarce ever prevailed in the Lower House than was found in the great questions before them . . . . We pray God that he would be graciously pleased to bring to nothing the counsels and designs of wicked men against our lives and liberties, and grant his blessing upon our righteous contest.
The Rhode Island General Assembly further pledged to raise 1,500 men to
continue in this Colony, as an Army of Observation; to repel any insults or violence that may be offered to the inhabitants; and also, if it be necessary for the safety and preservation of any of the Colonies, that they be ordered to march out of this Colony, and join and cooperate with the Forces of our neighbouring Colonies.
Also on that day in New York City, Scottish immigrant Alexander McDougall mustered hundreds of New Yorkers into service and gave each “a Good firelock, Bayonet, Cartouch Box, and Belt.”
And on that day in Mount Vernon, Virginia, William Johnson, the Muster Master of the Fairfax Independent Company, dined with George Washington and presented him a letter signed by Captain James Hendricks, George Gilpin, and Robert H. Harrison requesting Washington’s direction on whether the Company should “take the Fashion of the Hunting Shirt Cap & Gaiters” as its uniform. Thomas Davis from Fredericksburg also met with Washington at Mount Vernon to pay him £4 16s. to buy gunpowder for the Spotsylvania Independent Company.
Sources: “To George Washington from Fairfax Independent Company, 25 April 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0268. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 344–345.]; “[Diary entry: 25 April 1775],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0005-0008-0025. [Original source: The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, 1 January 1771–5 November 1781, ed. Donald Jackson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978, p. 323.]
On this day 250 years ago in New Bern, North Carolina, the Provincial Assembly, which Governor Josiah Martin had declared “the only lawful Representatives of the people of” North Carolina, merges with the Provincial Congress, which Martin had deemed “highly offensive to the King and dishonorable.” The merger made sense to the members of the North Carolina Assembly and the Congress, if not to Governor Martin, since their membership largely overlapped and both bodies had elected the same man — John Harvey — to lead them.
Norton at pp. 327-29.
On that day in Concord, Massachusetts, the Second Provincial Congress adopts “articles, rules, and regulations for the army, that may be raised for the defence and security of our lives, liberties, and estates.” The 52 Articles adopted by the Massachusetts Congress were based on the 1765 British Articles of War.
On the same day in Boston, General Gage requested that Admiral Graves of the Royal Navy prepare ships to ferry soldiers across the Back Bay to Cambridge.
And 250 years ago at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington writes to his old friend and comrade George Mercer, then in London, that
A great number of very good companies were raised in many Counties in this Colony, before it was recommended to them by the Convention, & are now in excellent training; the people being resolved, altho’ they wish for nothing, more ardently, than a happy & lasting reconciliation with the parent State, not to purchase it at the expence of their liberty, & the sacred compacts of Government.
Washington’s letter to Mercer mostly deals with properties that Washington had purchased from Mercer including 1200 acres on Four Mile Run in present-day Arlington that George Mercer had jointly owned with his brother James Mercer. The purchase was very complicated for many reasons including that the brothers were estranged — perhaps because James was an ardent Patriot and George was a Loyalist. James Mercer would go on to serve on the Virginia Committee of Safety, as a delegate to the Continental Congress and as Judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals, throughout the Revolution. George Mercer, on the other hand, would remain in London and never return to Virginia.
Washington’s correspondence indicates, however, that the falling out between the brothers was more personal than political. In the same letter to George Mercer, Washington writes
I could wish most sincerely that the unhappy jealousies which seem to prevail between you, were removed, & the confidence which I believe both of you are entitled to, restored. You do not, if I may be allowed to give my opinion, make proper allowances for the situation of each other. The great distance you are apart—miscarriage of Letters, & various other incidental causes have, I dare say, lead each of you into conjectural mistakes which might be explained at a personal interview, but scarce possible in an epistolary way, after the mind is corroded with unfavourable suspicions.
On the same day Washington writes to a lawyer representing another party in the complicated land transactions:
It gives me much pain to find two Gentln, brothers, who individually stand high in the esteem of their Countrymen, imbibing unfavourable impressions, and, to their joint Friends, mu[tu]ally arraigning the conduct of each other, when I am satisfied that both think themselves right, and that neither hath made proper allowance for the situation of the other. . . . the uneasiness I feel at seeing two Brothers, accustomed to live in perfect amity, now bickering, & accusing each other of hardships occasioned by the other, led me into this digression, for which I ask your pardon.
“From George Washington to George Mercer, 5 April 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0251. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 326–328.]; “From George Washington to Edward Montagu, 5 April 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0252. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, pp. 328–330.]
At any event, because of the falling out between the Mercer brothers, whether it was tied to their views on the Revolution or only personal, George Washington acquired a large tract of land in present-day Arlington. Every year I lead a tour of George Washington’s property in Arlington for the Arlington Historical Society, and this year it will be on May 10, 2025.
On this day 250 years ago, in Alexandria, Virginia, George Washington wrote in his diary that he “Went up to Alexandria to a review of the Independant Company & to choose a Com[mitt]ee for the County of Fairfax.” George Mason accompanied Washington to Alexandria for the Committee of Safety meeting. Washington was the Commander of the Independent Company and Mason had been the primary organizer of the Company. The Fairfax Committee had been organized in the prior year with Washington and Mason as members, but the original members and new members of the Committee were elected in this meeting.
On this day 250 years ago in Fairfax County, Virginia, George Washington purchased 1168 acres of land west of Four Mile Run from the brothers George and James Mercer. The purchase was very complicated and involved agents representing George Mercer, who was then in England, and Washington’s bond to pay off certain debts of George Mercer. Washington was not able to survey the property to close the purchase before the Revolutionary War broke out and Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army a few months later. As a consequence, Washington did not close on the purchase and receive title to the property until 1787.
This transaction had multiple connections to the Revolutionary War. George Mason, author of the Fairfax Resolves and organizer of the Fairfax Militia, was a cousin of the Mercers and wrote Washington to inform him that they were interested in selling the property. James Mercer would go on to serve in the Continental Congress. His brother George, however, had agreed to be the Stamp Act collector for Virginia in 1765 and was ostracized as a Loyalist for that decision. George Mercer had fled to England a few years earlier and would die there without ever returning to Virginia.
On Saturday, December 14, 1774, I will be leading a walking tour of Washington’s property in what is now Arlington County, Virginia to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of his purchase of the land.
On This Day In The Revolution 