250 and Counting

The presence of the British in Staten Island wasn’t a big mystery, but within a month after they first arrived, the number of ships in New York Harbor was well over 100, and still growing. And, as George Washington suspected (along with many others), the British began moving up the rivers surrounding Manhattan, working their […]

The post British Forces Gather in NY–July 29, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Hygiene in the Continental Army was practically nonexistent. As you can imagine, things got pretty ripe around camp, especially in the summer. And when people don’t take good care of such things, they’re probably going to wind up sick. Getting sick when you’re supposed to be on duty likely means that you’re going to do […]

The post Cleaning Up The Act–July 28, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Getting arms and credit wasn’t an overly tough task for Silas Deane. But it wasn’t because the French liked us so much; it was because they were still a little salty about the French and Indian War. So they were willing to do almost anything to embarrass the British. As a delegate to France (essentially […]

The post Credit From France–July 27, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

That Native American relations were considered at all as part of the Articles of Confederation is a little bit of a mystery, but it’s possible that the Congress was just looking for some across-the-board consistency when it came to that sort of thing. After all, you couldn’t have the folks in the Southern States battling […]

The post What To Do With Those Natives?–July 26, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Representatives from each colony were already working on draft Articles of Confederation beginning one day after Thomas Jefferson, et.al. started work on the Declaration of Independence. The first draft Articles were presented to the Congress on July 12, and this day was another day of discussion and debate. The ultimate disposition of the articles discussed […]

The post Drafting A Confederation–July 25, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Philip Schuyler was part of a prominent New York family, enough that if you have any familiarity with that state’s history, you realize that the Schuyler name keeps popping up, especially during and shortly after the Revolution. (Similarly, the names Schermerhorn and Burr also manage to crop up a lot; Burr is probably the most […]

The post The Schuyler Is Falling–July 24, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Huntington, New York, is coincidentally quite close to where I grew up. And frankly, I had no idea that they could celebrate the way they did on this day in history. In addition to being its own little town, Huntington was determined not to let the British take any more of Long Island than they […]

The post Ain’t No Party Like A Long Island Party–July 23, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

That Charles Lee turned out to be giving information to the British is one of those things that feels obvious in retrospect. As Mike notes during the episode, Lee was passed over for command of the Continental Army, and even though he was still in a position of importance and command, things like that can […]

The post When Accusation Is A Confession–July 22, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

David Bushnell came up with the idea for the Turtle submersible only days after Lexington and Concord. He’d been working on several different experiments he’d conducted at Yale College, and found a way to integrate them into a single device to use against the British. The Turtle was revolutionary (heh) in a couple of ways: […]

The post Testing A Turtle–July 21, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Battle of Island Flats was yet another step in the Chickamauga War, or the Cherokee-American War (call it what you like). We first talked about this on July 1, when the first attacks began in earnest. And then again just under a week ago at the Battle of Fort Lindley. The thing about these […]

The post The Battle of Island Flats–July 20, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.