Episodes

Ben Franklin and Gabriel de Borbón had corresponded with one another previously, so while the letter that is the subject of today’s episode has a very specific (and relevant) ask in it, it was also just another in a chain of correspondence between the two. For his part, Prince Gabriel was probably receptive to Franklin’s suggestions, but he wasn’t likely to be in a position to act on them in the way that Franklin hoped. As the fourth son of Charles III, the throne was a long way off, though he ...

Most of the portraits we see of Martha Washington were made when she was older, so we have (I think) this image of her as a bit of a crabby old frump. And maybe she was, by the time her husband got to be President. She didn’t really love the life of the public spouse and charming party hostess. But it turned out she was good at it, and if it made her crabby, nobody who mattered knew about it on a firsthand basis. In fact, Martha Washington was known to be fashionable, calm, outgoing and easy t...

Conanicut Island isn’t much of an island to look at, but they had supplies of some kind, and the British were looking. Admiral Graves had the task of finding supplies for the British who were under siege in Boston, and he decided to move beyond the local waters, and went into Narragansett Bay. In some towns (such as Newport, which was Loyalist) he was able to just buy supplies. But if the locals resisted, that’s when he broke out the guns. Conanicut Island looked like a vulnerable place to get...

Note once again that the map is drawn with North on the bottom. Hover to get the guide to the markers. The Battle of Great Bridge is a little bit overlooked these days, and more’s the pity. It was the first battle in Virginia, it was a big victory for Patriot troops, the Royal Governor and his crowd got pushed out altogether, and nobody died on the Patriot side. On the British side, about 100 soldiers were dead. The last time the British lost a substantial number of troops, it was at Bunker Hil...

The siege of Quebec was an event that was months in the making, and it was still just the penultimate act of the play. Benedict Arnold and his troops thought they could get to the American side of the St. Lawrence River within 21 days; instead it took several weeks. Along the way they lost about a third of their troop strength. Some of the men died of illness en route, but most of them finally gave up altogether and headed home. When they finally arrived they realized they didn’t have nearly w...

The map in today’s cover art might be a little confusing to people who live and work in the modern-day Norfolk area. That’s because it’s oriented with North at the bottom. What’s not known is why this was done in this particular case. North/Up South/Down is, of course, the usual convention, and there are arguments that there’s a psychological component to this (e.g. north/up is somehow “better” than south/down). From a cartography standpoint, there isn’t much difference between a map oriented o...

There are a couple of things that it’s kind of important to remember about American history. First, by this point Independence was still NOT on the table for the Continental Congress. That’s not to say that there wasn’t talk about it, but little of it was in earnest. Americans were fighting the British because of all the business that was going on in Boston. If everybody just settled down then the decision to politically separate wouldn’t have been made. Second, once the war did start, it was ...

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia was a frequent target of raids throughout the Revolution. Indeed, most of Nova Scotia was harassed from both land and sea by Americans. This had a huge impact on the maritime economy there. But all those attacks—mostly by American (and probably some French) privateers—inflicted lots of disruption on British supply lines the entire time. On the downside, all these attacks pretty much put an end to any trade between America and Nova Scotia. But the Raid on Yarmouth, as the ...

While the premise of today’s episode seems a little far-fetched, if you look closely at the map in today’s cover art, you’ll see it makes a lot of sense. In the mid-1700s, neither Pennsylvania nor Virginia had well-defined western borders. In fact, Virginia was occasionally thought to continue northward all the way to Lake Erie. Some maps even have a Pennsylvania boundary somewhere east of Pittsburgh. The point is, there have been times when the borders have been blurry, and others where they’v...

John Paul Jones was born in Scotland as John Paul and began his maritime career at 13 when he was hired as an apprentice. In 1770 he was involved in an incident wherein a crew member was flogged after a failed mutiny. The crew member later died, and it was clear that his reputation had taken a big hit. So John Paul left Scotland and took command of a British vessel. Again, however, he put down a mutinous sailor, this time killing him with a sword in Tobago. Before he could be tried, however, he...

All of the men who were part of the Second Continental Congress were serious men who had businesses of their own back at home. So spending so much time in Philadelphia had to have been taxing on them, especially since the days were so long. Of course many of them were going to be homesick. Read the letters between John and Abigail Adams as an excellent example. And remember: to go home to, say, Boston could take about a week in 1775. So they’d be away for two weeks at a minimum, and that’s enti...

The events at Lexington and Concord were only about a month in the rear-view mirror when it occurred to both the Americans and the British that the Canadian provinces were colonies, too, and that they might have some kind of interest in the activities going on further south. Quebec, being perhaps the largest city close to the border, was the natural target for everyone involved. So it was always in the back of minds in the Thirteen Colonies, and in England. And slowly, each side began to think ...

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...

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...

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 f...

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, s...

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...

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...

Two days ago, Mike had a case of the Martian Flu or something, so I needed to record in his place. today he sounds as good as ever. Since I could never bounce back from anything affecting my voice that quickly, I think it’s necessary to hurl invective his way. But I won’t ’cause I’m classy. Where were we? Oh yeah. One of the interesting things about the American Revolution is that even though there were major, busy ports up and down the coast, only a few of them captured Britain’s attention. Bo...

November 23, 1775 was at least the fifth time that a day of Thanksgiving was declared in North America. It might be the sixth, but the documentation for one of them is kind of thin, It might be the first Thanksgiving held on a Thursday, but again it’s tough to know for sure. It’s certainly the third held in New England. This is my first Thanksgiving in a few years in which I’m not the person cooking the meal, so I’m a little bit at loose ends this weekend; usually I’m already in pre-game mode....

The siege and battle at Ninety Six managed to end abruptly, largely because the leaders on both sides were convinced that something was about to happen the would benefit the other side. What a gentlemanly way to go out! For all that shooting, hardly anyone was seriously hurt. There was one death on each side, and most of the others who were injured had the ability to get treated right away. But for the second important battle of the Revolution in South Carolina, and the first one to get someon...

While George Kremer is depicted in today’s artwork as a sophisticated “man of the people”, it’s thought that the artwork was meant to be sarcastic, since Kremer’s colleagues didn’t respect him very much, thinking he was a kind of bumpkin back-bencher. And indeed, George Kremer’s political legacy, at both the state and Congressional level, is fairly thin, with the exception of the allegations he made against Henry Clay. At that time, if there was no clear majority winner of the presidential elec...

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. The post The 1st Canadian Regiment–November 20, 2025 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

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. The post T...