250 and Counting

Tag: American Revolution

  • May 11, 1775: The Second Continental Congress Gets to Business

    Cover art for May 11, 1775: The Second Continental Congress in July 1775. Unknown artist, printed by Currier & Ives in 1876.

    When the Second Continental Congress convened, they spent a little time with the formalities of going over credentials and establishing some ground rules. But right after that, they got right down to business. They knew that they were going to move into a wartime footing immediately. They also knew that they wanted to operate in an “official” capacity, so they took the time to review, on the record, the events leading up to and including the battle at Lexington and Concord.

    They then adjourned until the next day, but tabled discussion of the state of America to the following Monday. (May 11 was a Thursday, so this wasn’t terribly out of line.)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 10, 1775: The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

    Cover art for May 10, 1775: "Capture of Fort Ticonderoga" by Alonzo Chappel, 1858

    Mike has done a pretty good job of covering the basic story in today’s episode, so I thought I’d spend a minute with you on the cover art.

    This image, which had to be cropped to fit the parameters of podcast art, is called a “conjectural work”, because it was created many years later based on accounts of people who were there. I’ve also seen the phrase “idealized depiction,” but I think “conjectural work” is more value-neutral.

    The original artist was named Alonzo Chappel, and he created this image in 1858, 78 years after the original event. It was converted to an engraving by Thomas Philbrown. And I know all this because it’s part of the New York Public Library’s Digital Collection.

    How accurate is it to actual events? It may be pretty close, since there are several different images available, each depicting all the same people in similar poses (though one appears to be flipped from the others, so that everyone is facing the other way). So I think there’s a pretty high degree of confidence that it looked a lot like this.

    Enjoy.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 7, 1775: Joseph Wanton is Prevented from Becoming Governor

    Cover art for May 7, 1775: detail of the document officially preventing Governor Joseph Wanton from taking the oath of office.

    Joseph Wanton was elected governor of Rhode Island in 1769, and every year he was re-elected to the position. By all accounts he did a good job and looked out for his constituents.

    Then came the events at Lexington and Concord.

    Wanton wasn’t a Loyalist, but he did think that a war with England wouldn’t be especially productive, and when the General Assembly thought that it was time to raise an army, Wanton refused to do so. Unfortunately for him, he was in the space between his re-election and his taking the oath of office, and the Assembly used the opportunity to run him out of the office.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 4, 1775: How the Gunpowder Incident Ended

    Cover art for May 4, 1775: portrait of Patrick Henry by Thomas Sully, circa 1851. There's another version by another artist emulating this one wherein Henry's eyes are rather sunken and dark.

    As we noted a few days ago, both Payton Randolph and George Washington managed to quell a couple of militia-based riots which would have resulted in the torching of the Royal Governor’s mansion. Both of those riots came from Fredericksburg.

    What nobody counted on, however, was that militia from other parts of Virginia had the same idea to march on Williamsburg and wreak a little havoc. They were led by Patrick Henry, who (let’s face it) extorted payment for the missing gunpowder from Lord Dunmore, and then took off for Philadelphia to deliver the money.

    Dunmore called him out on it, declaring Henry an outlaw, and the Virginia citizens acted accordingly. I’ve said too much here; listen in to see what they did.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 3, 1775: You Can’t Keep a Good Spy Down

    Cover art for May 3, 1775: detail of the Massachusetts Spy from that day.

    More often than not, items that appear in the Bill of Rights derive directly from actions that the British took at one time or another in the past. Ban guns, will you? Here’s a nice Second Amendment. Ban free speech? Here’s your First Amendment.

    And so on.

    Today’s edition could be considered a Part Two to the events of April 16, when the Massachusetts Spy had to pack up shop and hightail it out of Boston down the road some forth miles to Worcester specifically so it could keep publishing. On this day, the Spy sprang back to life.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 2, 1775: Meet Rachel Revere

    Cover art for May 2, 1775: portrait of Rachel Walker Revere by Gilbert Stuart, 1812.

    Rachel Walker Revere was Paul Revere’s second wife. When he married her, he’d only been a widower for a few months, so clearly she made a big impression on him, especially since they remained together until her death in 1813 (one year after the portrait in today’s artwork was painted), and he didn’t remarry after that.

    Rachel was a very supportive wife to Paul, by most accounts, but she was also willing to give him grief when he deserved it, as you’ll learn in today’s episode.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • April 30, 1775: The Fourteenth Colony

    Cover art for April 30, 1775: Detail of a map of the Nova Scotia area c. 1775

    Nova Scotia could have been the fourteenth state, except we ruined it for them over the whole fishing rights thing. And then when push came to shove, they decided that rebellion wasn’t for them, and they sent troops down to Boston to help the British there.

    Ain’t that a kick in the head!

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • April 29, 1775: The Gunpowder Incident, Part 2

    Cover art for April 29, 1775: Payton Randolph by John Wollaston the Younger, 1775.

    Payton Randolph was the Speaker of the House of Burgesses during this period in 1775, and while what was said wasn’t recorded, he managed to put down two riots in which Virginians were ready to trash the Royal Governor’s place with the Royal Governor inside of it.

    He did it twice.

    No question, this man was a patriot who cared deeply about the soul of its people. And if he hadn’t died just a few months later, he would almost certainly have been a name we’d have heard a lot more often in recent years.

    PlayPlay

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

  • April 28, 1775: Jonathan Trumbull Chooses a Side

    Cover art for April 28, 1775: portrait of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, artist unknown but could be his son John Trumbull.

    Jonathan Trumbull was one of only two men to serve as governor of a Colony and of a State. (Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island was the other.) This, to us, gives him a kind of air that perhaps he could be trusted by all parties to act appropriately.

    And when push came to shove, Trumbull found himself in the position of having to support the Colony rather than the crown, as you’ll see in today’s episode. And as things further deteriorated, he became more focal about supporting the Colony, since the British no longer appeared to view the Colonists as subjects of the Crown but as a genuine enemy to be crushed. (Which is exactly how many in Parliament felt, so.)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • April 27, 1775: Skullduggery and Rebellion Here & There

    Cover art for April 27, 1775: Robert Eden, by Florence Mackubin after Charles Willson Peale (1914)

    The war was hot in Massachusetts, but it was still cold elsewhere. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t rebellious activity going on, since by this point everyone knew what was going on up north.

    It manifested itself in different ways. In Maryland, it appeared that Patriots were straight-up lying to the Royal Governor in order to deprive the British troops of some of their arms and gunpowder stores.

    And in North Carolina, the Royal Governor loudly declaimed his disdain for anyone who didn’t agree with him. Unfortunately for him, that included the entire North Carolina Assembly. Their response was to do exactly the opposite of everything he asked.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed