Revolutionary War 250
@revwar250.bsky.social
Posts from 1775! The American Revolution and War of Independence and the world in which they happened, 250 years ago.
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20 NOVEMBER 1775, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS BAY: Washington orders the confiscation of the firearms of any soldier upon his discharge from the Continental Army, including weapons that are the soldier’s private property.
“I hope I and all my townsmen shall have virtue enough to stay all winter as volunteers, before we will leave the line without men. For our all is at stake, and if we do not exert ourselves in this Glorious Cause, our all is gone.”
November 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
“I hope I and all my townsmen shall have virtue enough to stay all winter as volunteers, before we will leave the line without men. For our all is at stake, and if we do not exert ourselves in this Glorious Cause, our all is gone.”
25 NOVEMBER 1775, BOSTON SIEGE LINES: The Continental Army’s continued reenlistment crisis: “Our people are almost bewitched about getting home,” Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins writes to his wife, Sarah, as the expiration of their original enlistments approaches.
November 25, 2025 at 5:58 PM
25 NOVEMBER 1775, BOSTON SIEGE LINES: The Continental Army’s continued reenlistment crisis: “Our people are almost bewitched about getting home,” Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins writes to his wife, Sarah, as the expiration of their original enlistments approaches.
Washington “order’d Provision to them till they can be remov’d, but” he is “under dreadful apprehension’s of their communicating the small Pox as it is Rief in Boston,” so he bans them from camp. Main sources: Thomas B. Allen, TORIES; David McCullough, 1776
November 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Washington “order’d Provision to them till they can be remov’d, but” he is “under dreadful apprehension’s of their communicating the small Pox as it is Rief in Boston,” so he bans them from camp. Main sources: Thomas B. Allen, TORIES; David McCullough, 1776
General William Howe is making room for reinforcements expected from the British Isles, but there are rumors in Patriot territory that he is also hoping to infect the Continental Army with smallpox.
November 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
General William Howe is making room for reinforcements expected from the British Isles, but there are rumors in Patriot territory that he is also hoping to infect the Continental Army with smallpox.
25 NOVEMBER 1775, BOSTON: Redcoat authorities send three hundred sickly and poor Bostonians across Back Bay in several boats, landing them on the shore near Cambridge. They’re in “a most Shocking Condition … one dead and another Just Dieing upon the Beach Sevral other very Sick.”
November 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
25 NOVEMBER 1775, BOSTON: Redcoat authorities send three hundred sickly and poor Bostonians across Back Bay in several boats, landing them on the shore near Cambridge. They’re in “a most Shocking Condition … one dead and another Just Dieing upon the Beach Sevral other very Sick.”
Main source: Orville T. Murphy, CHARLES GRAVIER, COMTE DE VERGENNES
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Main source: Orville T. Murphy, CHARLES GRAVIER, COMTE DE VERGENNES
“At the present moment England could not, and ought not want to, make war on the two crowns.” Vergennes believes the rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies will be a “long-winded affair,” leaving Britain unwilling to get involved in a European war.
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
“At the present moment England could not, and ought not want to, make war on the two crowns.” Vergennes believes the rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies will be a “long-winded affair,” leaving Britain unwilling to get involved in a European war.
Spain has also argued that attacking Portugal will provoke a war with Great Britain, Portugal’s oldest ally, allowing France to humble the country that defeated her in the Seven Years War. But Vergennes finds that the least convincing argument of all:
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Spain has also argued that attacking Portugal will provoke a war with Great Britain, Portugal’s oldest ally, allowing France to humble the country that defeated her in the Seven Years War. But Vergennes finds that the least convincing argument of all:
Spain has offered France Brazil after a successful Portuguese war, but Vergennes tells Aranda that the South American colony “does not tempt the King, my master, at all.” Furthermore, he disapproves of an unprovoked attack on Portugal as dishonorable.
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Spain has offered France Brazil after a successful Portuguese war, but Vergennes tells Aranda that the South American colony “does not tempt the King, my master, at all.” Furthermore, he disapproves of an unprovoked attack on Portugal as dishonorable.
25 NOVEMBER 1775, PARIS: Foreign minister Vergennes must be diplomatic in his letter to the Count of Aranda, the Spanish ambassador to France, but must nevertheless make it clear that France does not find Spain’s proposal to go to war against Portugal compelling.
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 PM
25 NOVEMBER 1775, PARIS: Foreign minister Vergennes must be diplomatic in his letter to the Count of Aranda, the Spanish ambassador to France, but must nevertheless make it clear that France does not find Spain’s proposal to go to war against Portugal compelling.
Ben’s son William, the royal governor, sees this as further proof that his efforts to reconcile the colony to the Crown are working; a new colonial agent must mean the assembly do not intend to pursue independence from Great Britain. Main source: Sheila L. Skemp, WILLIAM FRANKLIN
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Ben’s son William, the royal governor, sees this as further proof that his efforts to reconcile the colony to the Crown are working; a new colonial agent must mean the assembly do not intend to pursue independence from Great Britain. Main source: Sheila L. Skemp, WILLIAM FRANKLIN
24 NOVEMBER 1775, BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY: The provincial assembly votes to ask London merchant Dennys DeBerdt, Jr., (brother-in-law of Washington’s military secretary Joseph Reed) to succeed Benjamin Franklin as their agent in London.
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
24 NOVEMBER 1775, BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY: The provincial assembly votes to ask London merchant Dennys DeBerdt, Jr., (brother-in-law of Washington’s military secretary Joseph Reed) to succeed Benjamin Franklin as their agent in London.
“& the Condition of the Fortifications, Docks, Yards, the Quantity of Artillery & Warlike stores, & the number of Soldiers, Sailors & Ships of War there, & Transmit the earliest Intelligence to General Washington.”
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
“& the Condition of the Fortifications, Docks, Yards, the Quantity of Artillery & Warlike stores, & the number of Soldiers, Sailors & Ships of War there, & Transmit the earliest Intelligence to General Washington.”
24 NOVEMBER 1775, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Washington issues instructions to Aaron Willard and Moses Child, on a mission to Nova Scotia “to inquire into the state of that Colony, the disposition of the Inhabitants towards the American cause, founders.archives.gov/documents/Wa...
Founders Online: Instructions to Aaron Willard and Moses Child, 24 November 1775
Instructions to Aaron Willard and Moses Child, 24 November 1775
founders.archives.gov
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
24 NOVEMBER 1775, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: Washington issues instructions to Aaron Willard and Moses Child, on a mission to Nova Scotia “to inquire into the state of that Colony, the disposition of the Inhabitants towards the American cause, founders.archives.gov/documents/Wa...
The local paper blames the imperial government for her death: “The authors of American oppression and the whole public calamity are accountable for her death, and that of thousands more.”
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The local paper blames the imperial government for her death: “The authors of American oppression and the whole public calamity are accountable for her death, and that of thousands more.”
Her family moved her to Dedham, where friends could watch over her and she could be treated by Dr. John Sprague, but that has been unsuccessful.
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Her family moved her to Dedham, where friends could watch over her and she could be treated by Dr. John Sprague, but that has been unsuccessful.
“She saw too clearly the life of danger and hardship upon which her husband and her favorite brother had entered, and it overcame her strong, but too sensitive mind.” Periods of “calm tranquility and composure” were broken by bouts of “great and surprising pain and distortion.”
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“She saw too clearly the life of danger and hardship upon which her husband and her favorite brother had entered, and it overcame her strong, but too sensitive mind.” Periods of “calm tranquility and composure” were broken by bouts of “great and surprising pain and distortion.”
As her brother John will put it, she “found herself surrounded, not by ‘the pomp and circumstances of glorious war,’ but in the midst of all its horrible realities.
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
As her brother John will put it, she “found herself surrounded, not by ‘the pomp and circumstances of glorious war,’ but in the midst of all its horrible realities.
Huntington’s brothers, husband and brother-in-law are all serving as officers in the Siege of Boston. She was a member of a group of officers’ wives who embarked on a visit to the camp only to arrive just in time to witness the intense carnage of 17 June 1775.
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Huntington’s brothers, husband and brother-in-law are all serving as officers in the Siege of Boston. She was a member of a group of officers’ wives who embarked on a visit to the camp only to arrive just in time to witness the intense carnage of 17 June 1775.
24 NOVEMBER 1775, DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS: Faith Huntington, daughter of Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull, commits suicide by hanging, having suffered bouts of depression ever since she happened to arrive on a visit to the Continental camp on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
24 NOVEMBER 1775, DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS: Faith Huntington, daughter of Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull, commits suicide by hanging, having suffered bouts of depression ever since she happened to arrive on a visit to the Continental camp on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Before departing, Sears leaves behind a bill indicating Rivington should charge the cost of the destroyed printing press to Lord Dunmore, known to have confiscated a Patriot press in Norfolk, Virginia, two months ago. Main source: Paul R. Misencik, THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN SPIES
November 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Before departing, Sears leaves behind a bill indicating Rivington should charge the cost of the destroyed printing press to Lord Dunmore, known to have confiscated a Patriot press in Norfolk, Virginia, two months ago. Main source: Paul R. Misencik, THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN SPIES
Sears and his men enter town from Connecticut as night falls. A cordon of men with fixed bayonets keep the house surrounded while the rest destroy the interior. A crowd gathers to watch; it’s divided between those who support the action and those who don’t.
November 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Sears and his men enter town from Connecticut as night falls. A cordon of men with fixed bayonets keep the house surrounded while the rest destroy the interior. A crowd gathers to watch; it’s divided between those who support the action and those who don’t.
23 NOVEMBER 1775, NEW YORK: An armed force of 75 Patriots organized by Isaac Sears surround the (empty) home and press of Tory printer James Rivington, ransack the home, steal his papers, systematically destroy the press beyond repair and steal his imported lead type.
November 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
23 NOVEMBER 1775, NEW YORK: An armed force of 75 Patriots organized by Isaac Sears surround the (empty) home and press of Tory printer James Rivington, ransack the home, steal his papers, systematically destroy the press beyond repair and steal his imported lead type.
It allows Bermuda to pay for the imports in salt, though is also happy to accept the same payment it is requiring of any other trading partner: weapons, ammunition, gunpowder or cannon.
November 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
It allows Bermuda to pay for the imports in salt, though is also happy to accept the same payment it is requiring of any other trading partner: weapons, ammunition, gunpowder or cannon.
The Congress specifies exactly how much produce each of six different colonies may ship to Bermuda, so that no one colony disproportionately benefits from the trade.
November 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
The Congress specifies exactly how much produce each of six different colonies may ship to Bermuda, so that no one colony disproportionately benefits from the trade.