250 and Counting

Let’s talk state vexillology. Believe it or not, there are people who are very passionate about state flags. (Not me, he said, about to go into a mini-rant.) Most states have a very utilitarian purpose. They kind of lean in, announce themselves, and lean out again. Some flags are weirdly cluttered (New York, New Jersey, […]

The post September 13, 1775: A Flag Makes Its Debut appeared first on 250 and Counting.

We mentioned a while back that John Adams had siblings, as did George Washington. This wasn’t one of them, and as far as anyone can tell, it’s more of a cousin-type relationship. William Washington essentially won a bet with his brothers, and his prize was the ability to join the militia in Virginia to fight […]

The post September 12, 1775: Another Washington Enters the Fray appeared first on 250 and Counting.

As the winter of 1775 approached, George Washington had to think about the state of the siege of Boston. In short, housing and clothing thousands of men in a New England winter is a very different proposition than doing it in the summer. So Washington convened his War Council to discuss the possibility of breaking […]

The post September 11, 1775: One Siege Begins, Another Continues appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The riflemen in the Continental Army were a special breed of soldier. They weren’t subject to all the drudge work that most of the other soldiers had to endure. The downside to this is, they knew it and they took advantage of it. So when one rifleman got himself in trouble, word got out and […]

The post September 10, 1775: A Mutiny in Cambridge appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Independence Hurricane from September 2 is still going strong, and on this day it made landfall again, this time in Newfoundland, Canada. The devastation was immense, and perhaps would have been worse had it happened in modern times (we get it, there are satellites and stuff now). It remains Canada’s worst natural disaster and […]

The post September 9, 1775: Landfall in Newfoundland appeared first on 250 and Counting.

As late as the 1970s, pioneers like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone had achieved a kind of mythical status, largely because of fictionalized stories created about them by the folks at Disney. Sometimes it gets tough to determine what’s fiction and what isn’t, since they tend to embellish things that may have actually happened for […]

The post September 8, 1775: Daniel Boone Moves to Kentucky appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Turtle, or the American Turtle as it’s often called, was invented by a man who thought it should be possible to stealthily attach a bomb to a ship and then detonate it shortly thereafter, by approaching the ship from under the waterline. The Turtle was a brilliant idea in concept, if not in execution. […]

The post September 7, 1775: Submarine Warfare is Revolutionary appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Second Continental Congress tried appealing to the Canadian leadership in order to get support for the Independence cause, but they apparently weren’t biting. So George Washington tried a different tack: write to the Canadian people themselves. He reasoned that the folks in charge were mostly wealthy landowners who were doing all right financially under […]

The post September 6, 1775: Washington Appeals Directly to Canadians appeared first on 250 and Counting.

American forces began to move on Fort St. Jean in Canada. Unfortunately they ran into a couple of unexpected obstacles on the way, so they had to adjust their approach. This led to a six-week siege of the fort.

The post September 5, 1775: Setback in Canada appeared first on 250 and Counting.

An invasion of Canada seems a little absurd on its face, but when you think about it in the context of the Revolution, it actually starts to make sense. After all, Canada was also a few British colonies in the North American continent, but they were a little more obedient to the whims of Parliament […]

The post September 4, 1775: The Offensive in Canada Grows appeared first on 250 and Counting.