250 and Counting

Category: American Revolution

  • Helping New York Help Itself–February 21, 1776

    Cover art for February 21, 1776: "Bowling Green, Broadway," by artist James Dakin and engraved by the firm Barnard and Dick, 1831. The house on the left became Washington's headquarters when he came to New York.

    There’s a line in the play 1776 about how everyone in the New York Legislature is very loud and talks very fast and as a result nothing ever gets done. This was likely a side effect of the fact that New York was so politically mixed at the time. Everyone hollering at rather than talking to each other means that nobody is truly connecting with anyone else. Thank goodness we’ve moved past THAT! <eyeroll>

    But New York and the Hudson Valley in particular held great strategic value for the various parties involved in the conflict we call the American Revolution. Britain taking that area would separate New England from the other Colonies. What’s more, George Washington knew it. So he devoted a lot of energy into ensuring that that territory remained defended, even while the British were nowhere in sight, because he knew it was a matter of time.

    And he was right: the British did show up ready for battle. It didn’t happen when he expected it to happen, and we’ll talk about that when things start heating up.

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  • From Connecticut To Georgia–February 20, 1776

    Cover art for February 20, 1776: Portrait of Connecticut Founding Father Oliver Wolcott by the American painter Ralph Earl, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Museum of Connecticut History.

    Oliver Wolcott was one of our Founding Fathers in that he was one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, but while he never achieved prominence on the level of Franklin or Adams, he nevertheless served an important role as a member of the Second Continental Congress.

    As the Revolution began, Wolcott was made a commissioner of Indian affairs, largely to work on ensuring that the northern tribes remained neutral. He was considered qualified for that position because he worked in that part of the continent during the French and Indian War.

    He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, and although he was quite ill for a chunk of 1776, he did sign the Declaration of Independence, although it was some time later than everyone else. He was also a signatory to the Articles of Confederation, but he did not sign the US Constitution because by then he was the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, becoming governor in 1796. A year later he died at the age of 71.

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  • Fort Moultrie–February 19, 1776

    Cover art for February 19, 1776: Diagram of Fort Sullivan (later Fort Moultrie) on June 28, 1776. From Edward McCrady's South Carolina in the Revolution 1775-1780, published 1902

    Today we’re looking at Fort Moultrie.

    I know, it wasn’t that long ago that I was gushing about Fort McHenry, but I live in Baltmore so it’s kind of the law around here to pump up the local history. Also, Fort, McHenry is a cool place to visit.

    And so is Fort Moultrie! In fact, Fort Moultrie itself was built several times, including its original Fort Sullivan incarnation, and as a result there are extensive historic exhibits throughout the park. The various forts went through three wars against America (see, I did a thing there), and consequently there are a lot of stories to tell here.

    And when you’re through touring the fort and the grounds, make sure you have your fishing pole with you, because there’s a fishing dock there (it’ll re-open sometime this spring); I hear the fishing is pretty good because of the location.

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  • Things Heat Up in Wilmington–February 15, 1776

    Cover art for February 15, 1776: A map depicting troop movements in mid-February of 1776. Base map originally published in 1794, from the North Carolina Collection at UNC; overlay created by Wikipedia contributor Thomas Kitchin.

    We should confess that by the time we actually get to the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, it’s not going to be as big a battle as anyone thought it was going to be. But the buildup was something else again. It seemed pretty clear to everyone involved that this was going to be epic and a veritable cast of thousands would be involved.

    But, things happen. Motivations change. Cynicism and even capriciousness sets in. And there’s still a battle, but it involves hundreds, not thousands. So from a battle standpoint, it wasn’t a lot. But by many other standards, which we’ll explore a little further down the line, there was a huge lasting impact.

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  • Washington Goes Mail-Order Shopping–February 14, 1776

    Cover art for February 14, 1776: an engraving of George Washington (artist unknown) based on a painting of him by Alonzo Chappel in 1862.

    There were many reports from George Washington over the course of the Revolutionary war, but for the most part I think they were carefully crafted and frankly not always worthy of the reactions they proposed.

    The careful craftsmanship does makes sense, though, because Washington was a diligent collector and reader of books. As an autodidact, he was constantly learning, and he was the teacher. It’s just a huge shame that when Washington died, his book collection was broken up and sold off. In recent years, author Kevin Hayes tracked down a huge portion of those books, largely to see what kind of notes he’d left in the margins, as he was prone to doing.

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  • A More Organized War–February 13, 1776

    Cover art for February 13, 1776: a posthumous portrait of Patrick Henry by Thomas Sully, 1815. Sully was clearly cribbing much of this painting from a portrait of Captain Cook by his brother, made 20 years earlier.

    So nearly a year ago, in March 1775, Patrick Henry said “Give me Liberty or give me death.” Today the Continental Congress said “Bet,” and sent him to lead troops in Virginia.

    That was a coincidence, of course: practically anyone who showed any real leadership skills was given the opportunity to lead troops. Henry had the leadership and the oratory skills to get his troops into shape.

    We mentioned the various committees and their reports today. One of them was the committee that was directed to draft an address to the Colonies. John Dickinson wrote the first draft; James Wilson wrote the second. His version was much like the first, except he added the part about preparing for eventual separation from England. Dickinson was still mostly in denial about that but while Wilson wasn’t a strong personality, he was pragmatic in the end and figured he could see that ending coming.

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  • Troop Movement in North Carolina–February 11, 1776

    Cover art for February 11, 1776: image believed to be a portrait of Richard Caswell as Governor of North Carolina. via Wikimedia.

    Richard Caswell was in charge of the Minutemen in New Bern, North Carolina until the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge. Not long after that, the Provincial Congress did away with the Minutemen in favor of a more broadly-trained milita. From that point, his position in the Continental Congress was pretty much over for good.

    Caswell remained active in the military throughout the Revolution, and was in charge of the Provincial Congress when it came time to write their first State Constitution. Shortly thereafter he became the state’s first governor. And after a couple of one-year terms, he stepped down from that position, since he was term-limited. But he remained active in state politics until he died in 1789 at the age of 60.

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  • Common Sense Comes to NC–February 10, 1776

    Cover art for February 10, 1776: Portrait of John Penn, ca. 1776. Artist unknown. Now at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. via Wikimedia.

    As the ideas behind Common Sense spread through the country, it’s an interesting coincidence that Common Sense came to both North and South Carolina a day apart. What’s curious is the way it caught on very quickly in South Carolina, but was more of a slow burn in North Carolina.

    It’s possible that the difference is as simple as Christopher Gadsden presenting the pamphlet orally before the Provincial Congress, whereas John Penn took more of a backdoor approach, giving a copy to a colleague and hoping word gets out. Sure enough it did, and while there was no hard line of “Wow! We need to act on this!,” it proved to be quite the influential pamphlet that led to a gradual changing of minds regarding whether or not the Colonies should be free from England.

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  • A New Job For John Adams–February 9, 1776

    Cover art for February 9, 1776: John Adams as portrayed by Mather Brown in 1788.

    One of John Adams’ stronger talents was being able to see the motivation behind the action, and because of this he was usually able to thwart unattractive actions somehow.

    In today’s case, he was able to thwart people who opposed him by simply agreeing with them. As a newly-minted Chief Justice of Massachusetts, some Loyalist (if not Loyalist, then certainly in the Don’t Declare Independence crowd) delegates from Maryland suggested that because he worked for Massachusetts, he had an inherent conflict of interest and therefore couldn’t vote in Congress.

    Now, at that time a colony’s quorum was exactly one delegate, so if he was the only person from Massachusetts attending that day, Massachusetts wouldn’t be able to cast a vote. So, Adams did the sensible thing and agreed with the Marylanders. Then he resigned from the position they thought he’d never give up.

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  • Gadsden, Come Home–February 8, 1776

    Cover art for February 8, 1776: portrait of Christopher Gadsden, ca. 1760-1770 by Jeremiah Theus. via Wikimedia.

    Christopher Gadsden is famous almost entirely for the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. But even for that, most people don’t know that the flag was named after a person. And those who do, don’t necessarily know Gadsden’s first name.

    And yet, he was instrumental in getting America to break away from England.

    Christopher Gadsden was the one who got South Carolina more excited about Independence. He was a Brigadier General in that colony during the war. He helped draft a state constitution and was then elected Lieutenant Governor. When Charleston was overrun by the British, Gadsden stuck around so he could surrender the city like a gentleman.

    For his gentlemanly act, he was allowed to return home on parole. But when the next British leader came in and broke the parole by arresting him, he refused new parole because they’d already lied to him about the first one, so why believe them now? That cost him the better part of a year in solitary confinement.

    In short, he was a badass. Go listen to part of the reason why.

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