250 and Counting

Category: Pennsylvania History

  • Thwarted On The Delaware–May 8, 1776

    Cover art for May 8, 1776: The HMS Roebuck (center right) during a different conflict in nearly the same place, in 1777. Drawn on the spot & engraved by Lieut. W. Elliott. via the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

    The HMS Roebuck was a ship that tangled with the Americans numerous times. One advantage that she had over other British ships was a relatively shallow draught (vertical distance between keel and waterline), which proved helpful when it came to navigating some of the shallower waters off the American coast.

    The HMS Roebuck had already had an encounter just south of today’s events back in March. She was also involved in the Battle of Long Island, which took place during the summer, in a battle on the Hudson River in October 1776, and then in 1777 during another attempt to take Philadelphia, this time as part of a successful assault.

    There were other small battles that went on for another couple of years before she was finally recalled to England for a refit, after which she returned to America, successfully engaging again with the Americans. I

    In 1783 HMS Roebuck finished her war service and was recommissioned as a hospital ship for the French Revolutionary Wars. In the late 1790s she was recommissioned as a warship and participated in the Anglo-Dutch War and then the Napoleonic Wars. Once the Treaty of Amiens was ratified, Roebuck was was used as a guardship, then a receiving ship. Finally in 1811 she was formally decommissioned and broken up.

    HMS Roebuck was in action–most of it battles–for 37 years, a relatively long time for any ship of that era. Even though they were on the enemy side of the war, we can’t help but admire her record, which was quite glossed-over in this relatively small space.

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  • The Pennsylvania Thirteenth–March 6, 1776

    Cover art for March 6, 1776: Pennsylvania State Regiment, 13th of the Pennsylvania Line. Uniform dates to about 1777. Created by Lt. Charles M. Lefferts for "Uniforms of the Armies in the War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783."

    The Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment, also known as Miles’ Regiment, also known as the Pennsylvania 13th Regiment first came about when the Pennsylvania State Battalion of Musketry merged with Miles’ Reigment. We know it’s confusing, largely because there were so many names involved and that’s not even where the names ended.

    Samuel Miles was their commander when they were first raised, and he was their commander in 1777 at the Battle of Long Island. It’s especially notable because he allowed himself to be captured by British troops who thought he was George Washington, a ruse that allowed the real George Washington and many of his troops to escape. It was nearly two years before he would be released in a prisoner exchange.

    As for the regiment itself, that eventually got absorbed into the Continental Army in June of 1777, but they were still informally called the Pennsylvania 13th.

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  • Innis Green–February 26, 1776

    Cover art for February 26, 1776: Detail of Innis Green's headstone in Dauphin Cemetery, Dauphin County, PA. Via findagrave.com.

    Innis Green served as a Jacksonian Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 20th (1827–1829) and 21st (1829–1831) Congresses, essentially holding the party’s populist line.

    But he did deviate from party alignment on May 26, 1830, when Green voted nay on H.R. 287, the Indian Removal Act. Despite this, the bill passed narrowly, 102-97. This stance positioned him among Pennsylvania Jacksonians influenced by local Quaker and moral opposition to forced tribal relocations, contrasting with southern and western Democrats who prioritized land acquisition for white settlement.

     Green’s vote highlighted intraparty tensions over executive-driven policies, though it did not derail his Jacksonian credentials amid broader support for Jackson’s anti-bank rhetoric and vetoes of federal internal improvements like the Maysville Road in 1830.

    The short version of all that is, while Green was a fairly reliable guy when it came to upholding Jacksonian politics, he often acted with his actual constituents in mind: if it wasn’t going to poorly affect the people in his district, he could get behind it. Otherwise, he would be willing to vote against it.

    Perhaps he didn’t make a huge splash politically, but there are some behavior lessons in there.

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  • John M. Snowden–January 13, 1776

    Cover art for January 13, 1776: Portrait of John Maugridge Snowden, Third Mayor of Pittsburgh. From the Snowden Family Collection via Wikimedia Commons.
    Portrait of John Maugridge Snowden, Third Mayor of Pittsburgh. From the Snowden Family Collection via Wikimedia Commons.

    What can I say about John M. Snowden that I didn’t tell you about in the episode itself?

    The truth is, he’s not a well-documented man, nor is his family, even though (as I noted) his wife was an advisor to George Washington for awhile.

    I can note that I foreshortened his career a little bit, in that he had done a little public service before he was the mayor of Pittsburgh. He also spent some time as the Allegheny County Recorder and Treasurer before he was elected mayor. It should be noted, however, that until 1835 mayors were appointed by the City Council. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could lend itself to corruption. And the incumbent won the first election, so chances are the process wasn’t too bad.

    We also spend a little time with Henry Knox, who (you might remember) began the Noble Train of Artillery journey back on December 17. His arrival in Cambridge is still about two weeks out; we don’t know a lot about what happened during that time because today is the day that his diary stops. But when he arrives, we’ll all be there to greet him.

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  • When The North Went South–December 4, 1775

    Cover art for December 4, 1775: a 1776 map of Pennsylvania and surrounding colonies.

    While the premise of today’s episode seems a little far-fetched, if you look closely at the map in today’s cover art, you’ll see it makes a lot of sense. In the mid-1700s, neither Pennsylvania nor Virginia had well-defined western borders. In fact, Virginia was occasionally thought to continue northward all the way to Lake Erie. Some maps even have a Pennsylvania boundary somewhere east of Pittsburgh.

    The point is, there have been times when the borders have been blurry, and others where they’ve overlapped, and still others (before West Virginia was a thing) when the two colonies had well-defined borders AND were neighbors. And now we’ve brought the South into the realm of mutual commitment.

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  • George Kremer–November 21, 1775

    Cover art for November 21, 1775: a hand-colored engraving depicting George Kremer reading a journal headlined "Reform". It's thought to be a sarcastic image. Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives, accession number 2012.052.001

    While George Kremer is depicted in today’s artwork as a sophisticated “man of the people”, it’s thought that the artwork was meant to be sarcastic, since Kremer’s colleagues didn’t respect him very much, thinking he was a kind of bumpkin back-bencher.

    And indeed, George Kremer’s political legacy, at both the state and Congressional level, is fairly thin, with the exception of the allegations he made against Henry Clay. At that time, if there was no clear majority winner of the presidential election, the House of Representatives chose the winner. Clay backed John Quincy Adams, who came in second to Andrew Jackson in the vote count. When Adams won and Clay became Secretary of State, that got a few people suspicious.

    It’s actually not unlike what was thought to have happened in the 1970s when Richard Nixon resigned, Gerald Ford became President and then pardoned Nixon. When Ford became Vice President, the Watergate scandal was already brewing, so it was thought that perhaps Ford cut a deal with Nixon: “appoint me VP, and if you resign I’ll pardon you.” This probably didn’t happen, however, since Congressional leaders gave Nixon almost no choice in the matter.

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  • August 27, 1775: Frederick Graff

    Cover art for August 27, 1775: an 1804 portrait of Frederick Graff, painted by James Peale. Note the Center City Waterworks in the background.

    Frederick Graff feels like one of those guys who gets so little credit for what he did, you wind up feeling pretty badly for him.

    But the fact is, if not for him, over three dozen cities in the US wouldn’t have adequate water systems. So good on Frederick! Hoist your favorite beverage in his honor! (Though, in this case, it really should be water.)

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  • July 19, 1775: John Andrew Shulze

    Cover art for July 19, 1775: photo of John Andrew Shulze, date and photographer unknown. via Wikimedia Commons.

    John Andrew Shulze was the sixth governor of Pennsylvania and a member of the Muhlenberg political clan. So this was a guy with some heavy firepower behind him, and he managed to use some of it in righteous ways.

    Shulze wasn’t completely successful with all of his endeavors, but even when he failed, he laid the groundwork for someone after him to succeed at it.

    After retiring from his job as governor, he was a delegate to the Whig Party’s first convention in 1839 and was president of Pennsylvania’s Electoral College in 1840, when William Henry Harrison became President of the United States.

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  • May 19, 1775: From Sam Adams to Samuel Purviance

    Cover art for May 25, 1775: Portrait of Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copney. Adams is probably wondering why everyone is offering him a beer these days.

    Baltimore has a lot of historic pride in its street names. Nearly all of them can be traced back to an historic figure or event: Key Highway, named after Francis Scott Key. (Also the Key Bridge, but we’re all still sad about that.) Fort Avenue, leading to Fort McHenry. And while I’m at it, McHenry Street, about two miles from the fort. The town also has John Street, Eager Street and Howard Streets, all of them named after John Eager Howard. one of the earliest governors of the state.

    During the revolution, a prominent family in the city of Baltimore was the Purviance Family, led by brothers Robert and Samuel Purviance. They were both well-known for their activities to support the Colonists’ side during the Revolution. Where are they memorialized?…Listen in and find out.

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    P.S. I do have theories about this but I’m hoping to explore those in a later episode.

  • May 16, 1775: The Hanna’s Town Resolves

    Cover art for May 16, 1775: One of several re-created houses on the former Hanna's Town site. (via Wikimedia Commons)

    While the Declaration of Independence was still about 15 months away, a small community in the far western reaches of Pennsylvania decided not to wait around for it to happen, and they took matters into their own hands.

    The Hanna’s Town Resolves was probably the most direct challenge to British rule to date, if you don’t count the stuff that involved shooting.

    Unfortunately, in the end the entire town paid the price and it was destroyed. However, on the same site you can visit reproductions of several of the structures that originally stood.

    Likewise, the original document of the Hanna’s Town Reserves was never recovered (and was probably destroyed in the fires that took out the town), but the text was reproduced in the Pennsylvania Gazette in August of that year, which is the only reason we know about it today.

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