250 and Counting

While the Declaration of Independence was still about 15 months away, a small community in the far western reaches of Pennsylvania decided not to wait around for it to happen, and they took matters into their own hands. The Hanna’s Town Resolves was probably the most direct challenge to British rule to date, if you […]

The post May 16, 1775: The Hanna’s Town Resolves appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Second Continental Congress has only been convened for about five days and things are already heating up for them. Delegates are still arriving. Lexington and Concord has upset their original plans so they’re making alternate plans. And even the alternate plans they made five days ago are being amended. And then Virginia comes in […]

The post May 15, 1775: The Continental Congress Toughens Up appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Thirteen Colonies didn’t have a lot in the way of a navy to help them with their battles, especially not against perhaps the biggest and best navy ever up until then. What they did have was people who were willing to act in lieu of a navy. Some of them did it out of […]

The post May 14, 1775: Don’t Mess With Fairhaven appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Dr. Lyman Hall gets a little name recognition because he was a strong supporting character in the play/film 1776, but he was more involved in the Revolution than that. While Georgia (eventually) sent five delegates to the Continental Congress, Hall was one of the three who regularly attended and signed the Declaration of Independence. For […]

The post May 13, 1775: Lyman Hall Joins the Continental Congress appeared first on 250 and Counting.

A fort was built at Crown Point in 1730 by the French. The British attacked it twice before the French finally destroyed it in 1759. That same year the British began building a new fort for defending against the French. In 1773 it was partially destroyed in a fire. Since nobody had seriously threatened the […]

The post May 12, 1775: The Taking of Fort Crown Point appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When the Second Continental Congress convened, they spent a little time with the formalities of going over credentials and establishing some ground rules. But right after that, they got right down to business. They knew that they were going to move into a wartime footing immediately. They also knew that they wanted to operate in […]

The post May 11, 1775: The Second Continental Congress Gets to Business appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Mike has done a pretty good job of covering the basic story in today’s episode, so I thought I’d spend a minute with you on the cover art. This image, which had to be cropped to fit the parameters of podcast art, is called a “conjectural work”, because it was created many years later based […]

The post May 10, 1775: The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When it comes to the War of 1812, Baltimore and the Fort McHenry get to eat for free for a long time, because they get most of the good stories: the star-spangled banner and Francis Scott Key, the battle at North Point, the Shot Tower being briefly the highest structure in America, and so on. […]

The post May 9, 1775: Jacob J. Brown appeared first on 250 and Counting.

If you’re like me, you’ll hear a less-common name from history and have yourself a moment of “Wait…I should know that name, but from where…?” William G. Weld was one of those names, but it turns out that William wasn’t necessarily the famous one here; it’s just that he was a direct ancestor of so […]

The post May 8, 1775: William G. Weld appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Joseph Wanton was elected governor of Rhode Island in 1769, and every year he was re-elected to the position. By all accounts he did a good job and looked out for his constituents. Then came the events at Lexington and Concord. Wanton wasn’t a Loyalist, but he did think that a war with England wouldn’t […]

The post May 7, 1775: Joseph Wanton is Prevented from Becoming Governor appeared first on 250 and Counting.