250 and Counting

The career of John Paul Jones, or Captain Jones, as he became on this day, is marked by both brilliance and controversy. Jones was born in Scotland and sailed on merchant ships before coming to America and joining the nascent navy here. Through the Revolutionary War, he was involved with several key battles, many times […]

The post Captain Jones–August 8, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

I promised you a postscript for the Christopher French story, but let me offer up some broader context first. In July 1776, French wrote to George Washington from Connecticut, where he was being held as a prisoner of war. The purpose of the letter was to request parole from his confinement. Washington’s reply reads: Sir: […]

The post A Gift For George, None For Chris–August 7, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

We didn’t spend a whole lot of time talking about John Morton, who comes up as part of today’s episode, and he does have an important part in the quest for Independence. John Morton’s father died the same year he was born. John had very little formal schooling; most of what he learned, he learned […]

The post Confederation Talk And A Trade–August 6, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Charleston Liberty Tree has something in common with its more famous counterpart in Boston: neither tree made it to the end of the Revolutionary War. The Boston Liberty Tree was cut down by Loyalists in 1775, and the Charleston Liberty Tree was burned down by the British in 1780. In researching these trees and […]

The post The Charleston Liberty Tree–August 5, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When it came to army discipline, George Washington had some definite opinions. The punishments we hear about were rather harsh by modern standards, but Washington had some problems with his recruits that modern armies don’t tend to have. Specifically, (and we’ve mentioned this before), the Continental Army had a relatively short enlistment period, which meant […]

The post Laying Down The Law–August 4, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

George Washington had a deep-set sense of right and wrong, and sometimes his sense of Army decorum could get in his way. Our July 14 episode demonstrated that to a certain extent. Other times it demonstrate the high expectations he placed on himself and others. He wanted his officers to be behavior models, especially because […]

The post It’s Only Proper–August 3, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The approval of the Lee Resolution was July 2, the Declaration was approved July 4, the signingof the Declaration was (mostly) on August 2. Which date would you have considered for Independence Day if you were in charge back then? Ah, who are you kidding. You’d have picked the Fourth as well. The approval of […]

The post Sign Here, Please–August 2, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

At this point, Americans were fighting a two-front war. More accurately, they were fighting two wars against different enemies: the Cherokee in the southwest areas of the country (so far), and the British…well, practically everywhere else. But today we’ll focus on the British in New York. After yesterday’s disaster in the Ninety-Six District of South […]

The post Escalation Everywhere–August 1, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

As I mentioned very early in this podcast, Francis Salvador’s life was especially notable for two things: the day he was elected to public office, and the day he died. And in his case, the dates were notable largely for the fact that Francis Salvador was a Sephardic Jew, making him the first man of […]

The post Farewell, Francis–July 31, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Both Dr. Benjamin Franklin and the Reverend John Witherspoon made good points when they discussed state representation in Congress under the Articles of Confederation they were trying to put together. The interesting thing is that the debate sounds very much like a modern-day discussion with regard to the nations that participate in NATO. Smaller nations […]

The post Getting The Finer Details–July 30, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.