Rhode Island has been proactive about the war effort ever since the events at Lexington and Concord. And one thing you’re going to learn today is just how much coastline there is to Rhode Island, and why having a navy was important to them.
But it’s important to get an outsider’s view of things, and this wasn’t necessarily the Continental Congress’ viewpoint. It took a long while before any real action was taken.
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Today we take a look at two letters composed today:
The first was an account of the activities around the Battle of Bunker Hill, from the time they were assigned to protect the hill, to the time they were finally defeated by the British—because they were out of ammunition.
In the other letter, Thomas Jefferson composes a letter to a fellow Virginia politician in which he writes very specific prose, knowing that sooner or later it will fall into British hands. The intent was that the letter go public and let people who weren’t politicians that their leaders might not be telling the whole truth.
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Fraunces Tavern is an historic landmark and the oldest and most historic bar in New York City.
That’s what it says on their website, so.
At various points in its history, Fraunces Tavern served as a headquarters for George Washington, a venue for peace negotiations with the British, and housing federal offices in the Early Republic.
The building is still open to the public (there’s a museum there that’s open on weekends), though reservations are recommended if you want to eat in the restaurant. It’s a little on the pricey side but then again it’s not way out of line for New York City.
Here’s the dirty secret: the building has fallen victim to fires a couple of times and been rebuilt, plus the top two floors were added in the late 1800s. So it’s not 100% clear that the building looks the way it did when George Washington was getting his drink on. But swing by anyway, you’ll have some fun.
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When the Olive Branch Petition arrived in England, its contents hardly even mattered.
There were elements of Parliament who were strongly disposed toward punishing the Colonies, and punishing them hard. The folks who were still pro-American were dwindling in number, because of the way it could affect their political futures.
In short, the King had decided what he thought, and how he was going to handle it, and everyone else either bowed to it or faced losing their position. And it didn’t matter that he was a little bit crazy; he was the King and what he says, goes.
Presumably we’ve learned the lesson behind that kind of thinking.
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Things were heating up all over, but it was still especially prevalent in the northeast. This time around, problems are cropping up in New Hampshire.
The HMS Scarborough was designated to keep the peace by patrolling the mouth of the Piscataqua River, but when relations broke down between the British and the colonists there (and with good reason), when the ship ran out of supplies they had to re-locate. So naturally they headed to…um, Boston.
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We have two events taking place on this day. First, Rhode Island allows the death penalty for certain activities at sea.
Next, word goes out that the Continental Army is in need of supplies…lots of supplies. It’s looking like General Washington isn’t seeing an end to the Siege of Boston anytime soon.
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In 1681, John Dryden said in his poem “Absalom and Achitophel”:
Beware the fury of the patient man.
I hear ya, Dryden, because that’s how I operate.
And apparently George Washington operated the same way, because he initially took the high road, assuming that rumors about how American prisoners were being treated were just that, and giving General Gage the benefit of the doubt.
But when the rumors began that Washington was mistreating his prisoners…oh, that didn’t sit well with the General at all.
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Philip Schuyler served as a delegate from New York to the Continental Congress until June 1775 when he was appointed a major general to the Continental Army. We’ll hear more about him as we start to delve into the Invasion of Quebec later this year.
Schuyler was on his way to Saratoga, NY when he got word that the tribes of the Six Nations—the Mohawks, Oneidas, Tusscaroras, Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Senekas (spelled that way then)—had taken Congress up on its offer of a summit and were on their way to Albany. What’s more, he was needed for the summit.
What happened next came as a surprise to…well, nobody, really. But at least everyone knew where everyone else stood. And if that was the locals’ attitude, it wasn’t their fault; the Speech to the Six Nations laid out their argument for them.
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Just a couple of days ago we told you about the efforts on the part of the Continental Congress to get around its own rules in order to provide Washington’s army with the materials they needed to maintain the Siege of Boston.
This time around, John Adams takes steps to do what he needs to do without running afoul of the Intolerable Acts.
It’s like the legal equivalent of the obnoxious game your siblings played with you: “I’m not touching you…I’m not touching you…”
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We do seem to be spending a lot of time with George Washington this week.
It stands to reason, though: Washington was a very busy guy at this time, what with getting his army organized. That meant finding the men who were smart and reliable, to get the ones who weren’t into fighting shape. It also meant figuring out what resources he had and what he needed.
What we’re learning is that the men that he did promote would eventually go on to prosper, whether in the military or in politics or just their personal lives after the war. There were only a few who did not, and oftentimes there was a reason. Not all of them didn’t prosper out of incompetence; some of them simply had to deal with things like illness or lingering effects of injuries inflicted during the conflict.
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