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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 2h

250 YEARS AGO: In 1775, each of the 13 American colonies legally allows one human being to own another.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 14h

YES! We will see that in just a few weeks: a Royal governor offering legal freedom to enslaved people who will run to the Redcoat camps to volunteer!

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 22h

250 YEARS AGO: Washington and his commanders make a deliberate choice to reject the help of some soldiers who fought at Bunker Hill. Their choice makes clear the hypocrisy of white men fighting for freedom while also continuing a system of legalized slavery of people of African descent.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 1d

250 YEARS AGO: Another escalation in five months of coastal skirmishes! In Rhode Island, Captain James Wallace has used five Royal ships to control Newport Harbor for several weeks. When he moves the ships to confront Patriots in Bristol, SPARKS FLY.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 3d

250 YEARS AGO: Patriot General Montgomery gets a big mortar that he hopes will do more damage to the defenders of Fort St. Jean than what his smaller mortars have done so far in the siege that is delaying his invasion of Canada.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 4d

250 YEARS AGO: Days are getting colder, smallpox cases are rising, and worries are growing that the Redcoats are specifically letting smallpox patients leave Boston to infect the rebel soldiers circling the city.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 5d

250 YEARS AGO: Washington and nine of his generals are unanimous in deciding that Dr. Church has spent the summer acting as a spy, sending military info to the Royal forces in Boston! Washington writes that Patriots are "exceedingly irritated" at this stunning betrayal so early in the war.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 5d

250 YEARS AGO: The detained surgeon general of the Patriot army outside Boston today writes to General Washington to claim his innocence. Dr. Church says that the military info he has been sneaking to the Redcoats was really just to scare the Redcoats into NOT attacking!

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 6d

250 YEARS AGO: Colonel Benedict Arnold's force reaches a significant snag on their trip toward Canada. The soldiers will need to "portage" -- carry the boats and the cargo on land around these falls in the river.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 9d

250 YEARS AGO: Five months after the first shots at Lexington --and with winter near -- colonists wonder how long this shooting war will last. Winthrop is married to a Harvard math professor who is also the great-grandson of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 10d

250 YEARS AGO: Skenandoa travels with his friend, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, from central New York to meet Washington. The meeting causes Washington to write to the Massachusetts General Court and urge that Patriot leaders extend diplomatic courtesies to Skenandoa.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 12d

250 YEARS AGO: A letter written in code is causing whispered questions about the Patriot army’s surgeon general . . .

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 14d

250 YEARS AGO: Colonel Arnold’s force of 1,100 troops begin their journey into the dense wilderness of Maine . . .

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 14d

250 YEARS AGO: General Montgomery sent Ethan Allen to hold the south side of the St. Lawrence River, across from Montreal. Allen hears that few Redcoats defend the city. He crosses the river and attacks! But the Canadians that he recruited abandon him in the fight, and Allen is captured.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 16d

250 YEARS AGO: The Redcoats inside Fort St. Jean are well prepared for a siege! They began strengthening the fort in May, and now 750 troops and an armed schooner, the Royal Savage, defend it. This has not been the easy victory that General Montgomery thought it would be.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 17d

250 YEARS AGO: Colonel Arnold's force of 1,100 men have made it from Newburyport, Massachusetts, over to the river that they plan to take north to Canada. Arnold thinks the river boats on hand are too small and orders MORE. No Royal ships have made an effort to stop these rebels -- so far.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 18d

250 YEARS AGO: General Montgomery is determined to capture the Royal fort guarding a main waterway into Canada. His men are building positions that are sturdy enough to support mortars (a kind of artillery that can fire high in the air and into Fort St. Jean).

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 22d

250 YEARS AGO: An ill General Schuyler has returned to Fort Ticonderoga and left General Montgomery in charge. No surprise, Montgomery goes AGAIN to capture Fort St. Jean on the Richelieu River. The Americans easily surround the fort. But the Royal troops inside have prepared for a long siege!

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 22d

Thank you to @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social for reposting! Those of us who have spent significant years in Williamsburg know how vital Mr. Wythe is to the Founding story. I promise to keep him in the forefront as we move day by day through AmRev250! 👏👏👏

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 23d

250 YEARS AGO: Seeing the rebels inside Fort Johnson, Royal Governor Campbell orders his two British ships at the mouth of Charleston Harbor to sail in close enough to shell the fort. The fort is in bad shape-- it would fall quickly under cannon fire. But nature saves the Patriots!

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 23d

250 YEARS AGO: Things are moving quickly in South Carolina. As Patriots recover the cannon that British troops had tossed (but not smashed!) last night, Royal Governor Campbell closes Royal government offices, declares the lawmaking Assembly disbanded and goes onboard the HMS Tamar for safety.

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 24d

250 YEARS AGO: Patriots confront the Royal Governor of South Carolina in front of his house in the morning! The governor, Lord William Campbell, is now convinced the political differences cannot be settled without violence. With too few Redcoats to hold Fort Johnson, he orders the cannons disabled.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 25d

250 YEARS AGO: The Second Continental Congress has a quorum to restart after a short summer break. Georgia has sent a delegation for the first time. Virginia has replaced George Washington and Patrick Henry with Thomas Nelson Jr. and George Wythe (who taught law to Thomas Jefferson).

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 26d

250 YEARS AGO: On a flat map, Benedict Arnold's plan for a second march into Canada seems like a reasonable way to push Royal troops away from New England. But his plan is based on an old map drawn by a Royal engineer who intentionally left out some key details along the way ...

Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27d

250 YEARS AGO: More than 1,100 soldiers are on the march to meet up for Benedict Arnold's plan to make a second move into Canada. They march through woods well north of Boston to avoid detection by any of the King's troops.