250 and Counting

There are lots of times when historians have to pull a lot of small pieces together to get a decent picture of events. They use oddball clues such as artifacts in paintings to determine someone’s state of health, for instance. They have to take into account that published reports could be propaganda in nature. But […]

The post June 25, 1775: Peter Brown Saw It All appeared first on 250 and Counting.

With the war in full swing and a Commander-in-Chief on his way to Boston, the Continental Congress took the next step of finding a way to organize the troops. So naturally they formed a committee. The Committee of Seven (maybe all the good names were taken?) worked diligently for about three weeks to put together […]

The post June 24, 1775: The Committee of Seven appeared first on 250 and Counting.

While the Green Mountain Boys were very successful so far in their military exploits, they were still just some unaffiliated militia group. At best they were considered Patriot-sympathetic, but not much else. After the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point, two of their leaders decided that it was time to get official recognition. […]

The post June 23, 1775: Green Mountain Boys Get Legit appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Here’s a hard economic reality: if you want to break away from a parent nation, you need to stop using their currency. Here’s another one: if you’re going to issue currency, you certainly need to have the capital to back it up. And you also don’t want to make it easy to counterfeit.

The post June 22, 1775: Continental Cash appeared first on 250 and Counting.

New Jersey’s Provincial Congress first convened in May, but by now they’d gotten a bunch of stuff done. They’d already made arrangements to remove the Royal Governor from power, and resolved to do it like gentlemen (it didn’t work out that way, unfortunately). At this point the colony had only one delegate to the Continental […]

The post June 21, 1775: New Jersey Gets in the Game appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Mike has already mentioned the location of the historical marker in today’s art. It’s tough to read even when you’re standing there, so here’s the text: At or near this placeever since known as“Liberty Point”was promulgated inJune 1775,by patriots of the Cape FearA Declaration of Independenceof the British Crown. This was an extremely historic neighborhood, […]

The post June 20, 1775: The Liberty Point Resolves appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Sometimes when you’re watching a movie or listening to music, you find yourself in the awkward position of separating the artist from the work, because it turns out that the artist has some shady stuff going on in the past, or even in the present. But the song/movie/book is just so good that you need […]

The post June 19, 1775: The Father of Greenville appeared first on 250 and Counting.

It’s Cake and Candles today for a future State Representative of a future state. Orsamus Cook Merrill was born in Connecticut but moved to Vermont coincidentally the same year that the Vermont Republic was admitted to the Union as our fourteenth state. He spent the rest of his life in the Bennington area, working in […]

The post June 18, 1775: Orsamus Cook Merrill appeared first on 250 and Counting.

In the long run, the Battle at Bunker Hill Breed’s Hill was a tactical win for the British, but they incurred heavy losses and it took three tries to get that win. So why is it one of the battles that so many Americans seem to remember all these years later? We’re speculating here, but […]

The post June 17, 1775: The Battle at Bunker Hill appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Yesterday, George Washington was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Today he officially accepted the position. He won’t take actually begin until early July (we’ll get to that episode in a few weeks), but take a look at this image here. He’s already in the blue coat, and his hair is whiter […]

The post June 16, 1775: Washington Officially Accepts Command appeared first on 250 and Counting.