250 and Counting

Setting new Continental Army rules was oftentimes rather tough, because at that time the enlistments were relatively short. Soldiers would get trained, of course, but because they were undisciplined they didn’t always stay trained, and then their enlistment would be up and now it’s time to train the next set of guys and hope some […]

The post New Rules For The Army–June 30, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, more commonly known as the Virginia Constitution, was formally adopted on this day in 1776, after months of work. Most of the credit for its overall structure goes to James Madison and George Mason, both of whom also worked on the US Constitution in later years. And like […]

The post Virginia Adopts A Constitution–June 29, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Battle of Sullivan’s Island was part of Great Britain’s first attempt to take the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Unfortunately for the British, too many things went wrong for them, and there were logistical problems that they somehow hadn’t accounted for as well. Sullivan’s Island was (is, really) not an impressive piece of land. […]

The post The Battle of Sullivan’s Island–June 28, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Today’s episode covers a couple of events that took place today, and a couple that will take place tomorrow, largely because there isn’t a ton to say about any of them but they are noteworthy. Also, I wanted to clear the deck a little bit so that Mike can concentrate on events in South Carolina. […]

The post Notes From Around The Colonies–June 27, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

That New York had a strong contingent of Loyalists was never a secret in 1776, but chances are that George Washington never thought one of his bodyguards, Thomas Hickey, was one of them. Hickey was a private in the Continental Army, which meant that he was part of a group that not only protected George […]

The post Hickey Leaves A Bad Mark–June 26, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The big story today is about the Pennsylvania Delegation finally getting new orders, but I admit that I buried the lede on this one, largely because the Board of War and Ordnance had a lot going on, and the Pennsylvania story was a relatively simple one to tell. But as you can tell in today’s […]

The post A Busy Day In Congress–June 25, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

As Mike notes, we haven’t talked about the Royal Governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, in quite some time. But matters were quickly coming to a head, and it was decided that he needed to be imprisoned. The biggest reason for this is that he not only remained loyal to the Crown, he actively reported […]

The post Prison For Governor Franklin–June 24, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

That Admiral Richard Howe maintained some sympathies for the Colonists in the earlier years of his career might be overselling it a little bit. Howe did have some sympathies, but when he and his brother, General William Howe, met with the Committee of Safety headed by Benjamin Franklin, the idea was to quash the idea […]

The post Howe Readies For NY–June 23, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

How the Jersey Five got its name isn’t especially mysterious, but what’s interesting is that one of the Five, Abraham Clark (pictured in the cover art), was not a new delegate to the Continental Congress. In fact, he was the only one retained because he was also the only delegate who was in favor of […]

The post New Jersey Votes Yes–June 22, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

We’ve spent a bunch of episodes describing a day in the life of the Second Continental Congress, and many of them were almost exclusively dealing with military matters. In January 1776 George Washington recommended that the Congress designate a specific office for these dealings, and Edward Rutledge picked up the idea and suggested it to […]

The post Board of War and Ordnance–June 21, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.