250 and Counting

In past episodes (quite recently, in fact) we’ve talked about the Colonists’ need to move caches of gunpowder and other weaponry when they got wind of an imminent British seizure. By the time April of 1775 rolled around, it wasn’t just the explosive weapons that the British were after; it was the press as well. […]

The post April 6, 1775: Stop the Presses! appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Up until now, we’ve presented General Thomas Gage as rather a hard liner who was looking to subjugate the Colonies somehow. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, he like being a light-hearted guy, and when he became the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, he discovered exactly what kind of mess he’d stepped […]

The post April 5, 1775: The British Gear Up For War appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The title kind of buries the bigger story, but we wanted to ensure that you understood what a big deal Elizabeth Gooking Greenleaf was. Elizabeth was dead by the time 1775 rolled around, but her family continued to run the apothecary shop for many years, and they were instrumental in ensuring that the Massachusetts Patriots […]

The post April 4, 1775: America’s First Female Pharmacist appeared first on 250 and Counting.

In the play and film 1776, one of the delegates from New York says that in the state legislature, everybody talks very loud and very fast and never seems to get anywhere. This may or may not be true, but the fact is, they did have some specific instructions for their delegates to the Second […]

The post April 3, 1775: The New York General Assembly Hangs It Up appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Calvin Jones may have looked like an unassuming fellow, but that unassuming look concealed a very powerful mind and a strong moral compass. And today we’ve got Cake and Candles for him, since this day in 1775 was the date of his birth. Jones was a physician before his teenage years ended, and he began […]

The post April 2, 1775: Calvin Jones–Physician, Soldier, Benefactor appeared first on 250 and Counting.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Thomas Gage was kind of a weird bird. In our cover art he’s defending children who were using Boston Common for sledding and skating. This was just a couple of months before today’s events. But other times, he was a little on the lazy side, often […]

The post April 1, 1775: Thomas Gage is Steps Behind appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Today’s episode marks the end of Women’s History Month. We’ve noted a few episodes since this adventure first started that involved women taking political action as groups, but Mercy Otis Warren was one of the most influential individual women to take a political stand in the Revolution era. She was self-educated, and married a man […]

The post March 31, 1775: Mercy Otis Warren, Ignoring the Rules appeared first on 250 and Counting.

In the past we’ve talked about the New England Restraining Act; today was the day that King George III actually put it into action. To mark that day, Mike takes you through some of the details of the act and its impact on the trade in the Colonies, and the political impact in Britain.

The post March 30, 1775: King George III Restricts Trade appeared first on 250 and Counting.

There are plenty of scholarly books and articles out there regarding American History, but there are elements of British history that stick out, too. General Gage giving the order today that his troops begin to march on Roxbury. It was a relatively small gesture at the time, but many, many colonial events can be traced […]

The post March 29, 1775: The Brits Head to Roxbury appeared first on 250 and Counting.

One of the interesting things about many of the British officials who were around during the early days of the American Revolution is that most of them were actually pretty good at their job. It’s just that they were given rather thankless tasks to do which wound up backfiring on them. And then there’s John […]

The post March 28, 1775: Lord Dunmore Makes Noise appeared first on 250 and Counting.