Tag: Ammunition Crisis

  • August 3, 1775: The Ammunition Crisis, Part 2

    Cover art for August 3, 1775: print of a relief image of one of Washington's Councils of War. This one took place before the Battle of Monmouth.

    As noted, two days ago we told you about how George Washington got the bad news that he didn’t have nearly as much gunpowder and ammunition as he thought he did.

    It was on this day in history that he and his team of generals put their heads together and came up with some rather solutions. Some of them depended on deception while others depended on dumb luck. Fortunately things worked out quite well.

  • August 1, 1775: The Ammunition Crisis

    Cover art for August 1, 1775: Portrait of Elbridge Gerry

    For those of you who are coming here from Hamilton Radio for the first time: welcome to 250 and Counting!

    Each day we spend just a couple of minutes telling you about some event that took place exactly 250 years ago today, to give you an idea of some of the events leading up to, and then beyond, our nation’s 250th birthday next year.

    For those of you who aren’t new to the show, you may remember a couple of days ago, when the British tried to break out of the Siege of Boston by launching an attack at Charlestown Neck. Their attempt failed, but George Washington and the Continental Army got very lucky, because they had no idea that they were low on gunpowder and the raw materials needed to make ammunition. In a couple of days we’ll learn what they did to address the problem.