250 and Counting

First: let me apologize for the slight change in sound quality for today’s episode. I’m not in my usual recording space and I’m not especially happy with the equipment I brought. At worst you’ll have to put up with it just one more time. Next: George Washington was a gentleman through and through, so the […]

The post Preparing To Take Back Boston–March 13, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Of course it’s coincidental, but it’s kind of cool that we’re able to bring you this episode during Women’s History Month and the same week as International Women’s Day. Believe it or not, Mike and I have struggled with the fact that there’s very little representation of anyone from this era who isn’t a white […]

The post Baltimore Celebrates Women–March 12, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The focus today up in Cambridge, while waiting for the British to hightail it out of Boston, was getting the men ready to move to New York, and putting together Washington’s personal guard. Washington didn’t really need a personal guard in Cambridge, at least not much of one, because he was in the driver’s seat […]

The post Getting Ready To Move–March 11, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

For a guy who’s technically on the wrong side of history, Crean Brush was a pretty interesting character. Mike mentions in the episode that Brush was jailed for some time during the Revolution, but time didn’t allow him to tell you how Brush managed to get out of jail. I’m not going to spoil it, […]

The post Laundry Day–March 10, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The occupation of Dorchester Heights, just across the river from Boston, was perhaps the final step that George Washington needed to end the siege that had gone on for nearly a year. Of course, it wasn’t just occupying Dorchester Heights; Washington could have pretty much done that at any time. It was occupying them with […]

The post The Big Guns In Boston–March 9, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When Samuel Tweedy moved from Dutchess County, NY to Danbury, CT, it was a fortuitous time to do something like that. Danbury was undergoing an economic expansion as part of a post-war boom, which gave him extra opportunities to gain access to trade and manufacturing that he never would have seen back in New York, […]

The post Samuel Tweedy–March 8, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Congress had a lot of military-related activities to tend to, and one of them was Isaac Melchior. (If you look him up you’ll see an alternate spelling of him as “Melcher.” We’re sticking with “Melchior” because we saw that first.) March 7 was a Thursday, so the Congress was figuring out what do do about […]

The post Congress and Military Matters–March 7, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment, also known as Miles’ Regiment, also known as the Pennsylvania 13th Regiment first came about when the Pennsylvania State Battalion of Musketry merged with Miles’ Reigment. We know it’s confusing, largely because there were so many names involved and that’s not even where the names ended. Samuel Miles was their […]

The post The Pennsylvania Thirteenth–March 6, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

So here’s a fun story about Charles Carroll. As I’ve mentioned many times before, lots and lots of place names in Baltimore have strong historical connections and Charles Carroll is no exception. There is, of course, a Carroll Street, which starts in the southeast neighborhood of Morrell Park. It doesn’t go quite through that neighborhood […]

The post Taking Canada’s Temperature–March 5, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Colonel Henry Knox took about ten weeks to get from Ticonderoga to Cambridge rather than the two he anticipated. But his arrival meant the siege’s end in Boston would come soon. Knox had brought something like 60 tons worth of material overland using hand-built sledges and carts drawn by oxen. The last leg of the […]

The post Beginning of the End in Boston–March 4, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.