250 and Counting

At this point, Americans were fighting a two-front war. More accurately, they were fighting two wars against different enemies: the Cherokee in the southwest areas of the country (so far), and the British…well, practically everywhere else. But today we’ll focus on the British in New York. After yesterday’s disaster in the Ninety-Six District of South […] The post Escalation Everywhere–August 1, 17...

As I mentioned very early in this podcast, Francis Salvador’s life was especially notable for two things: the day he was elected to public office, and the day he died. And in his case, the dates were notable largely for the fact that Francis Salvador was a Sephardic Jew, making him the first man of […] The post Farewell, Francis–July 31, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

Both Dr. Benjamin Franklin and the Reverend John Witherspoon made good points when they discussed state representation in Congress under the Articles of Confederation they were trying to put together. The interesting thing is that the debate sounds very much like a modern-day discussion with regard to the nations that participate in NATO. Smaller nations […] The post Getting The Finer Details–July...

The presence of the British in Staten Island wasn’t a big mystery, but within a month after they first arrived, the number of ships in New York Harbor was well over 100, and still growing. And, as George Washington suspected (along with many others), the British began moving up the rivers surrounding Manhattan, working their […] The post British Forces Gather in NY–July 29, 1776 appeared first on...

Hygiene in the Continental Army was practically nonexistent. As you can imagine, things got pretty ripe around camp, especially in the summer. And when people don’t take good care of such things, they’re probably going to wind up sick. Getting sick when you’re supposed to be on duty likely means that you’re going to do […] The post Cleaning Up The Act–July 28, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counti...

Getting arms and credit wasn’t an overly tough task for Silas Deane. But it wasn’t because the French liked us so much; it was because they were still a little salty about the French and Indian War. So they were willing to do almost anything to embarrass the British. As a delegate to France (essentially […] The post Credit From France–July 27, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

That Native American relations were considered at all as part of the Articles of Confederation is a little bit of a mystery, but it’s possible that the Congress was just looking for some across-the-board consistency when it came to that sort of thing. After all, you couldn’t have the folks in the Southern States battling […] The post What To Do With Those Natives?–July 26, 1776 appeared first on 2...

Representatives from each colony were already working on draft Articles of Confederation beginning one day after Thomas Jefferson, et.al. started work on the Declaration of Independence. The first draft Articles were presented to the Congress on July 12, and this day was another day of discussion and debate. The ultimate disposition of the articles discussed […] The post Drafting A Confederation–J...

Philip Schuyler was part of a prominent New York family, enough that if you have any familiarity with that state’s history, you realize that the Schuyler name keeps popping up, especially during and shortly after the Revolution. (Similarly, the names Schermerhorn and Burr also manage to crop up a lot; Burr is probably the most […] The post The Schuyler Is Falling–July 24, 1776 appeared first on 25...

Huntington, New York, is coincidentally quite close to where I grew up. And frankly, I had no idea that they could celebrate the way they did on this day in history. In addition to being its own little town, Huntington was determined not to let the British take any more of Long Island than they […] The post Ain’t No Party Like A Long Island Party–July 23, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

That Charles Lee turned out to be giving information to the British is one of those things that feels obvious in retrospect. As Mike notes during the episode, Lee was passed over for command of the Continental Army, and even though he was still in a position of importance and command, things like that can […] The post When Accusation Is A Confession–July 22, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting...

David Bushnell came up with the idea for the Turtle submersible only days after Lexington and Concord. He’d been working on several different experiments he’d conducted at Yale College, and found a way to integrate them into a single device to use against the British. The Turtle was revolutionary (heh) in a couple of ways: […] The post Testing A Turtle–July 21, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Count...

The Battle of Island Flats was yet another step in the Chickamauga War, or the Cherokee-American War (call it what you like). We first talked about this on July 1, when the first attacks began in earnest. And then again just under a week ago at the Battle of Fort Lindley. The thing about these […] The post The Battle of Island Flats–July 20, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

As I explained during the episode, “engrossing” was the practice of having a formal document written out in a larger hand for public presentation. This often had different purposes: some were engrossed to make them more attractive; this was typically called illuminating, and the most typical examples are the ornate Bible pages you see from […] The post Engrossing–July 19, 1776 appeared first on 25...

Coming up with a model treaty wasn’t John Adams’ idea, but it turned out to be a very good idea that he was responsible for implementing. Once Adams had it in his head, he began to work on the model treaty along with the committee, and while it was intended to be used for commercial […] The post Adams’ Model Treaty–July 18, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

That George Washington agreed to meet with Colonel James Patterson was a bit of a surprise. He’d turned down the opportunity to meet with his British counterparts on multiple occasions, but when asked if he’d meet with one of those men’s officers, Washington accepted the offer. Once the meeting was set, Washington was more gracious […] The post No Way, No Howe–July 17, 1776 appeared first on 250 a...

John Alsop was born in 1724 in New Windsor, Orange County, in the British Province of New York. He was the son of John Alsop, Sr. and Abigail Sackett. His father was a lawyer in New Windsor and later New York City, where he was largely interested in real estate. As a young man he […] The post John Alsop Steps Out–July 16, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting .

The raids along the Catawba River in North Carolina we talked about on July 1 were just the beginning of the Cherokee-American Wars; the next major effort was an attack on Fort Lindley, not far from modern-day Greenville, South Carolina. It’s not entirely clear when Fort Lindley was first constructed; there are indications here and […] The post The Battle of Fort Lindley–July 15, 1776 appeared fir...

One of the most common things written about George Washington is that he always behaved like a gentleman, and expected others to behave the same way; following protocol was very, very important to him. When he was sixteen years old, he copied out by hand 110 rules of Civility & Decent Behavior inCompany and Conversation, […] The post You Don’t Mess Around With George–July 14, 1776 appeared first o...

That the Southwick Broadside version of the Declaration of Independence isn’t as famous as the Dunlap Broadside shouldn’t be a surprise, since the Dunlap is the first one, and the one on which all the others are based. The the Southwick has the wrong date on it is an interesting nugget of information. It’s worth […] The post Rhode Island Gets The Declaration–July 13, 1776 appeared first on 250 and...

In the play/film 1776, John Dickinson is portrayed as a Loyalist from the Pennsylvania Colony whose goal is to obstruct any efforts at achieving Independence. When his efforts fail, he resigns from the Congress and leaves, though John Adams publicly admires his integrity before Dickinson departs. (Leave us alone; 1776 is a delightful film and […] The post The Constitution’s First Draft–July 12, 17...

White Plains, New York, calls itself the birthplace of the State of New York , and this day in 1776 is the reason why. The provincial congress, having fled New York City to White Plains, received a copy of the Declaration of Independence and immediately approved it, then resolved to change their name from “The Provincial Congress of the Colony of New York” to “The Convention of R...

Samuel Powell is another one of those early Representatives in our government about whom little is known from a legislative standpoint. We have odd details noting that he became a lawyer “prior to 1800” because we don’t really know how he got there. And another detail that we have about Samuel Powell is that, after his one and only term, he was not a candidate to be renominated i...

When a statue of King George III was pulled down in New York, it was a good sign for the city, since there were times that it felt that the spirit of Independence was rather squashed by the sight of the British fleet, which was still arriving. A brief digression: several years ago (ugh, longer ago than I care to remember) I took the opportunity to visit the City of the Museum of New York. It&#8217...

The Battle of Gwynn’s Island doesn’t seem to get much attention these days, which is a shame because it was rather important at the time. First, Lord Dunmore, the former Royal Governor of Virginia, had been there since May, having retreated there after the bombardment of Norfolk in January. The Patriots made their lives very difficult, so after a few weeks the British bailed out of Nor...