250 and Counting

Tag: American Revolution

  • Dunmore Assembles Two Regiments–November 30, 1775

    Cover art for November 30, 1775: "A Light Infantry Man and Huzzar of the Queen's Rangers," ca. 1780. From John Graves Simcoe's Military Journal.

    Back on November 14 we told you about the Royal Ethiopian Regiment, which was assembled following Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation. The proclamation offered freedom to slaves belonging to Patriot owners who chose to fight on the British side in the Revolution.

    Dunmore was putting together another band of soldiers at the same time, called “The Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment,” which suggests that he knew something about George III that wasn’t common knowledge. (Heh, kidding.)

    They both fought in the Battle of Kemp’s Landing, which went very well for the British, but Dunmore took the win as a sign that the Patriots were weak, so he went in to the Battle of Great Bridge, as we’ll see in just a few days.

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  • Thomas Jefferson Has Bad News–November 29, 1775

    Cover art for November 29, 1775: portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown, 1786.

    Thomas Jefferson wasn’t as prolific with the letters as John Adams was with his own wife (over ten thousand letters between them during the course of the Revolution!), nor as much as George Washington, but he was still a deep thinker and he did write well and with purpose.

    In today’s example he has to convey some unfortunate news to a political rival; specifically that the rival’s brother had died unexpectedly. His letter to John Randolph about Peyton’s death was rather brief and matter-of-fact. He also wrote Randolph his analysis of the battle at Hampton and the overall effect he thought it was having on attitudes in general toward Loyalists and the British. Most of this he pins on King George III, whose behavior he felt was inappropriate and is only going to push the Colonies farther away from England.

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  • The Capture of the Nancy–November 28, 1775

    Cover art for November 28, 1775: Wood blcck engraving of John Manley, 1782. Artist unknown. Via Peabody Essex Museum.

    The capture of the British brigantine Nancy wasn’t Captain John Manley’s first (it was perhaps his third), but it was probably one of his most significant, considering the cargo. It was also probably the first British ship of any real consequence to be captured by any American.

    Overall, Manley’s effectiveness as a Navy captain was rather variable. He was a big risk/big reward kind of sailor, and so when he was successful, he was very successful, and when he wasn’t, he wound up imprisoned. And frankly, there were a few times he wasn’t successful.

    But that doesn’t take away from his successes. Between 1775 and 1783 Manley was the sole ship captain for the capture of ten ships, and was an active participant in the capture of five others.

    The US Navy has named three ships after him, the most recent a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer which was decommissioned in 1983 after 26 years of service.

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  • Prelude To Battle–November 27, 1775

    Cover art for November 27, 1775: Portrait of William Woodford in the late 1770s when he was a general. Artist does not appear to be known.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Many people celebrate the day by watching the parade, or some football, or some special episodes of television shows, or Thanksgiving-themed movies.

    Personally I like a combination: I’ll watch the parade, then play an episode or two of The West Wing (there are two Thanksgiving episodes), and then get in a little football. I live in Baltimore and the Ravens are playing tonight, so I’ll be parked in front of the TV for that.

    For the last few years I’ve hosted Thanksgiving, so all of this is going on while I’m cooking during the day, so this is the first time in a bit that I’ll actually be paying attention to what’s on the tube.

    Meanwhile, back in the Revolution, we have the events that precipitated what is probably one of the most overlooked battles of the Revolution, which is a shame because many future events hinged on this happening, and Colonel William Woodford (later a General) is also rather overlooked these days.

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  • Escape To The War–November 26, 1775

    Cover art for November 26, 1775: colorized image of slaves being corralled by British soldiers (yeah, we cheated on this one.) via NYPL digital archives.

    As we’ve mentioned a couple of times before, Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation offering freedom to Patriot-owned slaves who fought for the British created a stir that was felt in all thirteen colonies.

    Huge numbers of people showed up, not just men, but women and children as well. And of course, because most of them had escaped to join the British forces, that meant that the slave-hunting business experienced a huge boom.

    And, of course, the company formed by these escapees only fought in one battle of any note; many of the soldiers died of illness, some were sent back to their plantations of origin. Very few of them remained free.

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  • The Fate of War and Some Refugees–November 25, 1775

    Cover art for November 25, 1775: a manuscript map of Boston showing Point Shirley to the far right, away from the city. (It's under the "fu" in "refugees")

    It’s hard to emphasize just how remote Point Shirley is compared to the Boston. Let me try anyway. On most maps of Boston, Point Shirley isn’t even on the map. It’s so far to the east that it’s nearly in the ocean. I’m not sure it’s even possible to see Boston from Point Shirley.

    And given Point Shirley’s location at a place between the bay and the ocean, and the fact that it’s November, and you’ve got a cold, windy place where you’ve just dumped 300 sick, destitute people without provisions or a means of getting warm.

    Here’s a weird coincidence: if you look closely at this “manuscript” map from 1775, Point Shirley is at the center right. Need another hint? It’s just under the “fu” in the word “Refugees.” And if anyone got a big FU from the British, it was this group.

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  • The 1st Canadian Regiment–November 20, 2025

    Cover art for November 20, 1775: Portrait of James Livingston by Archibald Robertson, c. 1795.

    Robert Livingston now enters the picture in the broad tapestry of the American Revolution.

    Given that the cover art today comes from an image from twenty years after the war; we can assume that he was quite young during the war, plus he held up pretty well in the interim.

    At any rate, this isn’t the last we’ll hear from Robert Livingston; we’ll be back to visit him next month.

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  • The Siege of Ninety Six–November 19, 1775

    Cover art for November 19, 1775: memorial plaque commemorating the Siege of Ninety-Six.

    The Siege of Ninety-Six is considered to be the first land battle of the Revolution in the South. And believe it or not, we might be talking about this town again in fairly short order.

    This past Saturday, Governor McMaster officially proclaimed today through Thursday the 250th Anniversary of the battle. And while this battle lasted three days before mutual cessation of hostilities, it was just the beginning of a series of skirmishes between the two factions for for about six years.

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  • SC Troops Get Organized–November 18, 1775

    Cover art for November 18, 1775: the 2nd Couth Carolina Regiment.

    In retrospect, it appears that most of the action in the early days of the Revolution took place in Massachusetts and South Carolina.

    What was so important about South Carolina? New York wasn’t a big city yet, nor was it strategically important (yet). Baltimore was a small-time port at the time; so was Norfolk. Georgia was deeply divided. North Carolina and New Hampshire didn’t have any strategic advantage. Pennsylvania was inland. Neither Delaware nor New Jersey nor Connecticut were especially important yet. Rhode Island saw some action but not as much as the others.

    But Charleston was a huge port city, as was Boston. The Charleston Bay was ideal for moving materials in and out of the area, which made it fiscally and strategically important.

    The South Carolina Provincial Congress figured this out, and also realized that they had about thirteen militia groups moving in about thirteen different directions. It was time to get everyone moving in the same direction.

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  • The Prize Court Committee–November 17, 1775

    Cover art for November 17, 1775: a British prize court from World War I. From The Times History of The War (1914). Artist unknown.

    A Prize Court is a formal organization dedicated to the disposition of items captured from an enemy.

    Because the Colonies were more or less building it all from the ground up, much of what they adopted came directly from the British. As a result the Prize Court and its structure is a British institution that made its way over here. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world, though in the early 20th Century an International Prize Court was proposed and established, but it was never ratified or implemented.

    So it’s still just the British, which maintains a formal court, and the United States, which largely followed the original committee recommendation by largely leaving it up to the individual states.

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