On this day in 1794, the United States begins building the first ships for its Navy. They weren’t the first ships built for an American Navy, of course, but they were the first since the Constitution had been adopted.   Would you be surprised to hear that the Continental Navy created during the American Revolution did not have universal support?   “It is the maddest idea in the world,” Samuel Chase of Maryland stormed, “to think of building an American fleet . . . we should m

At about this time in 1783, George Washington brings the so-called Newburgh Conspiracy to an end. The potential military coup had been festering for a while. At this juncture, the war was basically over, but a peace treaty between Britain and America had yet to be signed. As the soldiers waited, they grew restless. They had been paid only on an irregular basis throughout the war. They were ready to mutiny. On March 10, someone called for a meeting of soldiers. An anonymous le

On this day in 1770, tensions in Boston erupt. Five Bostonians are killed by British soldiers. Others are wounded. The event, as you know, would come to be known as the Boston Massacre.   Tension had been mounting for years. Parliament wanted to establish its authority to tax the colonies, and it had approved a series of duties: the much-hated Townshend Acts. Naturally, the colonists didn’t think too much of THAT. What right had Parliament to tax them when the colonists had n

On this day in 1839, Sybil Ludington Ogden, the so-called female Paul Revere, passes away.   You know about Revere’s ride, but you may not have heard of Sybil’s. She made it in April 1777, when she was only 16 years old. She rode more than twice as far as Revere did—and through rockier roads and more sparsely settled country! Her goal? To tell the men in her father’s regiment that the British had raided the town of Danbury, Connecticut. The regiment, then on leave, was needed

On this day in 1779, George Rogers Clark demands that the British surrender a fort in modern-day Indiana. Wait. Indiana? A portion of the Revolutionary War was fought in Indiana?!   You are used to hearing about Revolutionary War battles in the east, but there were conflicts on the western frontier, too. The British lacked manpower to defend both areas, so they fostered alliances with Indian tribes to help their efforts in the west. Thus, the problem of British-funded Indian

On this day in 1726, William Prescott is born in Groton, Massachusetts. He is best known for his role in the Battle of Bunker Hill. You may remember that Americans besieged the British in Boston following the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. A few months into the siege, Americans became worried that British General Thomas Gage might try to possess the Charlestown peninsula. They decided to beat Gage to the punch. On June 16, Prescott was thus told to proceed “t

At about this time in 1776, General George Washington notifies his troops of a new policy regarding chaplains’ pay. He’d set out to get better treatment for his chaplains—and he’d succeeded.   Yes, you read that right. Washington wanted MORE public money to be used for religious purposes. He did not want to skimp on something as important as military chaplains.   Hmm. So much for separation of church and state?   Depicted is the “Fighting Chaplain,” James Caldwell. At the Bat

On this day in 1781, Americans lose the Battle of Cowan’s Ford. They also suffer a devastating incident at nearby Torrence’s Tavern. It was a low point for the Patriot cause. Nevertheless, you’ll love the patriotic heroine who makes an appearance at the end of the story!   At this point in the Revolution, British forces led by General Charles Cornwallis were working to establish a base in the South. Cornwallis was then opposed by General Nathanael Greene, commander of the sou

On this day in 1832, Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, one of the patriotic women behind the folk hero “Molly Pitcher,” dies in Pennsylvania.   Who on earth is Molly Pitcher?! Have you ever heard of her?   The story of Molly Pitcher is partly legend, which makes it difficult to tell where the real story ends and the mythology begins. But the legend appears to be based on the stories of two women: Margaret Cochran Corbin and Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley.   In 1778, Mary was married to h

On this day in 1770, the Battle of Golden Hill occurs. The incident has been called “the first bloodshed of the Revolution.” Yes, you saw that date correctly. The “shot heard ‘round the world” at Lexington and Concord was still more than five years in the future. The seeds for conflict were planted in 1766. The Stamp Act had been repealed, and the people of New York wanted to celebrate! Thus, they erected a Liberty Pole on the King’s birthday, June 4. Their pole carried a fla

On this day in 1784, the Treaty of Paris is approved by American officials. Great Britain would soon also ratify the treaty, officially bringing the American Revolution to an end.   It had been more than two years since George Washington’s 1781 victory at Yorktown.   Peace talks between Great Britain and the United States opened in April 1782, with British negotiator Richard Oswald on one side and Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams on the other.   The negotiations we

On this day in 1776, General George Washington wins the Battle of Trenton. 1776 had been a difficult year. The victory provided a much-needed morale boost. As discussed in yesterday’s post , the beginning of December found Washington and British General William Howe on opposite sides of the Delaware River. As the weather deteriorated, Howe had decided to go into winter quarters. Washington, instead, decided to make a difficult crossing of the Delaware. His plan was to arrive

On this day in 1776, General George Washington makes a harrowing trip across the Delaware River, in the dead of night. The tremendous feat came just when it was needed most. Washington’s army was reeling from a series of crushing defeats: The British had won important battles in New York and had chased Americans across New Jersey. Early in December, a defeated American army had narrowly escaped across the Delaware River. That river provided a barrier from further British atta

On this day in 1783, General George Washington resigns his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the American army. Okay. So we’ve all heard this story about Washington before. We’ve heard it so often, perhaps it is easy to gloss over the astonishing nature of Washington’s action. Let me emphasize: What Washington did during this week 242 years ago is almost unheard of. Other military leaders have seized power and refused to let it go. But Washington would not be one of these m

On this day in 1773, a group of American colonists boards three ships in Boston Harbor and throws 46 tons of tea overboard. Yes, you guessed it. The anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party is this weekend!   It’s the semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, of this landmark event. These colonists were protesting the Tea Act of 1773, enacted by Britain earlier that year. Believe it or not, the Tea Act did not raise taxes on the colonists. Americans had been paying taxes

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress flees Philadelphia, fearing a British advance. Things had not been going well for the Patriot cause.   “From the last week of August to the last week of December,” historian David McCullough writes, “the year 1776 had been as dark a time as any in the history of the country.”   Indeed, the Continental Army was reeling from a series of crushing defeats: Losses at Brooklyn Heights, New York City, and White Plains had sent American f

On this day in 1787, New Jersey’s state ratification convention begins. It would quickly approve the then-new U.S. Constitution, making New Jersey the third state to join the union.   New Jersey’s quick action is interesting, if only because the state’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention had expressed doubt about the earliest draft of the Constitution.   They definitely were not on board with that  idea! When the Constitutional Convention opened in the summer of 1787,

On this day in 1748, James Armistead is born. He began life as a slave, but he would become an important spy during the American Revolution. He ended his life as a free man and a farmer in Virginia. Armistead was the slave of a Virginia official named William Armistead. In 1781, he received permission to leave and join the American Army. Once there, he was soon tasked with a special mission: The Marquis de Lafayette wanted Armistead to pose as a runaway slave and infiltrate t

On this day in 1783, George Washington says his final goodbye to a group of officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York. New York had served as the British headquarters throughout the long years of the American Revolution. It was the last city to be evacuated when the war was over! On November 25, however, the British finally left , and George Washington entered the city. Despite the celebrations and elaborate dinners that ensued over the course of the next week, the British hadn

On this day in 1776, American forces arrive on the banks of the Delaware River. They’d been retreating from the British—yet again! Surely George Washington was beginning to get tired of it all?   If only he and his men could have known that the miraculous victory at Trenton was just around the corner.   Mere weeks before, a few thousand Americans had been trapped and forced to surrender at Fort Washington, close to Manhattan. At the time, Washington was across the river with