Bentley-B
@bentley-b
History cartoonist. Nonprofit communications professional. Former journalist. Dad.
250 YEARS AGO: Washington himself claims 20,000 acres in the Ohio River Valley! Britain granted him many of those acres for service in the French and Indian War — but then angered him and other Americans by banning settlement there under the Proclamation Line of 1763. It’s a major cause of THIS war.
250 YEARS AGO: After collecting water for several days and winning a skirmish with Virginia militiamen yesterday, Lord Dunmore is about to leave the mouth of Aquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia, when three of Washington’s servants row out to HMS Roebuck, chasing their freedom.
250 YEARS AGO: Several people are working on the idea of a small attack boat that can even the odds in New York Harbor. George Washington gave money to aid Bushnell’s version because last year Bushnell proved his method for detonating an explosive underwater works! Will his sub design also work?
250 YEARS AGO: Abigail Adams and her four children are in quarantine after being inoculated a week ago. Her own reaction leaves her in “excruciating pain in my head and every limb and joint,” and her eldest, daughter Nabby, is sore with pox all over her body. The three Adams boys have mild cases.
250 YEARS AGO: The Howes try again! But the aide carries a letter addressed to “George Washington, etc. etc. etc.,” and GW refuses it, saying he must be addressed in his public role as general, not as a private citizen. The aide tries to salvage the meeting, but the two sides talk past each other.
250 YEARS AGO: So far, the Redcoats are not making a giant camp on Staten Island for all the troops that have arrived on Royal Navy ships. But the island gives them a place to take in Loyalist volunteers and survey Patriot defenses. Militia watching from New Jersey are too weak to attack them.
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal warships Phoenix and Rose and two support ships got past Washington’s NYC cannon batteries with slight damage four days ago. Now they threaten Washington’s supply lines and escape routes from the city. Britain’s overwhelming naval force in NY is tightening the noose . . .
250 YEARS AGO: Chaos is rising on New York City's streets. Black people (some free, some enslaved) were 14 percent of the city’s population on the eve of war. That’s about 4,000 people now caught in the tumult between Patriots and Loyalists, as a huge Royal Navy fleet looms just offshore.
250 YEARS AGO: With the new fleet’s arrival this week, General William Howe now has as many troops to attack New York City as the city’s prewar population! But the brothers send their peace letter to “George Washington, Esquire,” and it is refused because the Howes didn't use GW's title of General.
250 YEARS AGO: The Virginia Patriots find horror at the camp that Lord Dunmore evacuated last night. Mass graves. Some bodies, dead from smallpox, lying on the open ground. Some of Dunmore’s force are still alive but too sick to move themselves. Dunmore’s ragtag fleet of 96 ships left them behind.
250 YEARS AGO: The 4,000-pound gilded lead statue was placed in 1770 to celebrate England’s victory in the French and Indian War. An iron fence circled it in 1773 to stop vandalism. Today, the throng in Bowling Green topples the statue and breaks it into pieces — perhaps to make lead musket balls???
250 YEARS AGO: In the five weeks since the Royal governor’s force moved to tiny Gwynn’s Island, more of his troops have died of smallpox and the rebels have carefully built cannon placements. Today the cannon roar! After several hours of bombardment, Dunmore’s force begins evacuating the island.
250 YEARS AGO: The Declaration matters little if everyday people can’t read it. But literacy among city dwellers in 1776 is very high! Here’s a good overview of colonial literacy rates: research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/j...
250 YEARS AGO: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”
250 YEARS AGO: Congress debates language in the Declaration. Jefferson’s sentences on slavery try to blame England’s king for forcing Americans to start slavery (untrue!) — and also for asking enslaved people to run away and fight their masters in this war. Congress cuts most of the complex issue.
250 YEARS AGO: The VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE!! New York abstains and overnight arm-twisting makes today’s count 12-0 to formally break from Great Britain. Tomorrow the whole Congress will discuss edits to Jefferson’s explanation of today’s vote. John Adams calls today the true Independence Day.
250 YEARS AGO: Today’s vote in Congress on Lee’s June resolution for independence is MESSY. New York delegates abstain because their home assembly is busy fleeing the Royal invasion there. SCarolina and Pennsylvania vote NO. Delaware’s delegation is split and needs someone to break their tie!!!
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal forces gathering near the mouth of the Hudson River appear to be overwhelming. It’s not too late for the Patriots to listen to peace plans. Independence has not yet been declared!! What will General Washington do in this precarious moment —-???
250 YEARS AGO: Virginia Patriot leaders approve a new state constitution on the republic model. And they immediately vote for their first non-Royal governor. Just 15 months after he said “Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry gets the keys to the governor’s mansion in Williamsburg.
250 YEARS AGO: The invasion force has arrived in New York!!!! Sentries report more than 45 ships are making their way toward Sandy Hook, facing the mouth of the Hudson River. General Washington can only guess how many troops are on board all these ships.
250 YEARS AGO: The palmetto logs that form the rebel fort on Sullivan's Island absorb Royal Navy's shots without splintering! Other shots sink harmlessly into the island sand. Three frigates move to fire on another side of the fort--and run aground on a sandbar. The Patriots HOLD on for the win!
250 YEARS AGO: With no meaningful support of ground troops available, Royal Navy warships sail close to Sullivan’s Island and begin bombarding the incomplete rebel fort that guards the entrance to Charlestown Harbor. . .
250 YEARS AGO: The draft of the Declaration of Independence is submitted to the Second Continental Congress for its consideration.
250 YEARS AGO: The residents of Charlestown have spent these past three weeks clearing their waterfront of wooden buildings and flammable debris, to reduce any firestorm that may come from a Royal Navy shelling. But anxiety remains high. WHEN will Sir Peter Parker’s squadron attack!?!!??
250 YEARS AGO: The court martial of one of Washington's Life Guards concludes. Hickey joined the elite unit after it was formed in March. He was jailed for passing counterfeit money; another prisoner heard him bragging about recruiting Loyalists to capture General Washington-- or maybe kill him???
250 YEARS AGO: The revolution continues LOCALLY! A meeting of 108 city tradesmen, militiamen and frontier farmers demands power shift to them statewide, away from the wealthy Penn family, tied to the royal government for generations. The demands are shaped by ideas in Thomas Paine's "Common Sense."
250 YEARS AGO: Thomas Jefferson shares his draft with other committee members. Even changing the word "subjects" to "citizens" makes the Declaration a stronger claim that Americans deserve the rights that wealthy men in England already have.