250 and Counting

After the Pyrrhic victory at Bunker Hill, the fact that General Gage was about to be replaced probably came as a surprise to nobody. That he was replaced by William Howe…well, that also probably wasn’t a surprise. Howe had experienced success in the Seven Years’ War. And while he was known to have shown some sympathy with the Colonies (he’d voted against the Intolerable Act...

The Second Continental Congress was having a busy week, with the worries about the trade embargo going on, and whether ships from other nations could get in/out safely. And John Adams was worried, too–worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand for gunpowder for the soldiers. One of the components of gunpowder is saltpeter, and while it isn’t hard to make, it&#821...

In the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Falmouth (then Massachusetts, now Maine), naturally there was a great deal of concern when it came to defending our shores from the British Navy. After all, the Brits had the most powerful navy in the the world, and the Americans…well, they’d barely gotten started putting theirs together. A couple of the colonies had started their own na...

There were two events marked today. One of them involves the continuation of a ban on exports of weapons to America. This was something that had to be formally declared every few months. Meanwhile down in South Carolina, a brief fight between two ships in the Charleston Harbor got local leaders thinking about the best way to keep the harbor protected. Their solution: set it up that the only way yo...

George Washington was a pretty smart guy. He knew exactly what his army needed, in all aspects. He had a handle on discipline, on supplies, on tactics and any number of other things. Washington surrounded himself with people who were smart, too. This went a long way toward ensuring his success. So when his army started to fall apart because some basic needs weren’t getting met, Washington to...

Okay, first off, it’s only appropriate that I apologize for the stupid title. I really shouldn’t write when I’m low on sleep. Manley’s beginnings were murky (e.g. his year of birth is approximate) but he was a quick study and it’s no wonder that George Washington selected him as one of his first captains in the Revolutionary War. Just a few months later he was promote...

To be clear, the actual burning of Falmouth took place on October 18, but the events that led directly to it happened on this day. Captain Henry Mowat had been captured by patriots in Falmouth some time earlier. When he returned, he brought five gunships with him. When he demanded that the locals swear allegiance to King George III, he gave the command that laid waste to the town. The post The Bur...

Fort St. Jean was a relatively soft target compared to Boston. Plus, it wasn’t as well fortified because the British weren’t holed up there. Sooner or later something would come along to break up the stalemate. On this day, a couple of somethings arrived, from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The big guns that Montgomery had hoped for finally arrived. And not long behind that, Montgom...

Programming Note: Mike came down with a case of electronic laryngitis, so you’re getting me again for today’s episode. But Mike wrote it, so there’s that. John Dabney Terrell Sr. was…not one of our best and brightest Americans, but the work he did will lead us to a bigger story some time down the road. Much of what he did laid down the foundation for the event that became k...

It’s Cake and Candles for the US Navy, born this day in 1775. The Continental Congress initially authorized the purchase and retrofitting of two ships. But before long they saw the wisdom of having a navy, and soon many more ships were purchased, and commissioned into service. The Continental Navy, to be honest, didn’t have a huge impact on the war. Many ships were lost to British atta...

Although Lyman Beecher could be considered famous just for being the father of several prominent writers and ministers, he also had some achievements in his own right. Beecher first became known for a sermon which was published shortly afterward on the evils of duelling. Because it was in the wake of Alexander Hamilton’s death, it proved quite popular. Beecher next turned his eyes to intempe...

Benedict Arnold and Company are still on the move toward Quebec. Over a three-week period they’ve moved fewer than 90 miles, with only…300 to go. Today they’ve reached The Great Carrying Place, a 13-mile walk alternating between woods and knee-deep mud, all while carrying everything they’ll need to get to Canada. Back in the Colonies proper, General Gage is being replaced b...

That’s an interesting goof I made with today’s cover art, with the tiny black stripe down the right. It’s a mistake, but it looks like the picture has a shadow, so I’m keepin’ it. The Second Continental Congress was a very serious, thoughtful body of men who did not shirk their duties. They often worked very long hours, six days a week, and might have gone for seven h...

By now the British appear to accepted the fact that the war was going to go on for much longer than they thought. They thought that fighting the colonies would be a cake walk. They discovered that it was quickly becoming a quagmire. Fortunately they recognized it and began to make plans. Lord Dartmouth and General Howe started drawing something up that involved isolating Washington’s army fr...

When the war first started, the Continental Army took on all comers, largely because they didn’t have a lot of choice. Frankly, they needed whatever bodies they could get. But it was around this time in 1775 that George Washington and his advisers decided that they could afford to get choosier about their recruits, So they decided not to take on any more Black soldiers. What’s more, so...

While Boston was under siege, the British were having a hard time getting food and other supplies. But they still controlled the water, so British naval vessels went in search. Captain James Wallace was especially good at procuring supplies, largely because he harassed people until they gave in, or he would threaten to shoot up the place. This second tactic was the one he chose for Bristol, Rhode...

We actually touched on this once before, but George Washington was known for being quite the gentleman, but he did have a temper, especially when things weren’t handled in a gentlemanly way. Cross the lines of civility and he was hoisting the Jolly Roger, my friend. In a previous episode we noted that Washington wrote to General Gage about the treatment that captured American soldiers were r...

Thomas Walker was born in England and emigrated to Boston in 1752. In 1763 he moved to Montreal and became a merchant. When the war broke out in the Colonies, both Walker and his wife’s sympathies remained with the Americans. So it was that he agreed to assist with the invasion of Montreal. The plan never got to the point where his task came in, but since he was known to be part of it, the w...

It’s actually kind of curious that Benedict Arnold gets all the “traitor” press when there were other spies and turncoats doing their thing during the Revolution. Of course there were! There were Loyalists among the Patriots! It was practically a civil war. Dr. Benjamin Church, essentially our first Surgeon General (but that wasn’t a thing yet, so), was a Loyalist in Patrio...

It’s often tough to remember that when the fighting first broke out, it wasn’t a bid for independence from Britain. It was an attempt to protect and defend rights that the Colonists thought they had as part of their relationship with Britain. Reconciliation was (amazingly) still on the table, even six months after Lexington. So while many colonies had created their own small navies (wi...

It was not so very long ago that some of us sought directions from Mapquest. Then we printed them out in order to make a trip of some kind. It was only a little bit longer ago that we depended on physical maps to get places. In fact, if you’re a fan of the HBO show The Wire , you may recall a plot point that revolved around printed maps. A secret code led to a point on the map. Back in the 1...

We have two fun events for you today: first up, North Carolina reaches an important deadline it had set back in August. Then, by sheer coincidence, John and Abigail Adams each wrote a letter to the other. Of course, they wrote to one another quite frequently, so this probably happened more often than you’d think. But remember also that any news they received was probably two weeks old by the...

Robert Adrain is one of those names that most people wouldn’t recognize, but back in the day he was a mathematical scholar in a place where there really weren’t any. At least, none of special note. Adrain made education his entire life, teaching youngsters while still pretty much a child himself, being 15 when he started. After moving to America, he resumed his teaching career and beca...

During the episode we noted that not much is known about David McConaughy’s early life. Even his adult life isn’t especially well-documented. We don’t even know who painted the portrait in today’s cover art. But there’s no question that, even if the man himself is a bit of a cypher, his legacy at Washington College is not. Meanwhile, another couple of Washingtons are...

First off: let me apologize for not tutoring Mike in the correct pronunciation of “Iroquois.” I’d make him record that part again but he’s at a podcasting conference and away from his studio. (It only looks like a French word, Mike; it’s not pronounced like one.) Of course, I grew up in New York so those tribes were kind of beaten into us during Social Studies classes...