250 and Counting

…but the situation was not excellent, for the American side, anyway. George Washington got a wake-up call in the form of a letter from Congress. In that letter he was told that it was not a good idea to burn down New York City; what’s more, they weren’t quite so invested in his holding the […]

The post All Under Heaven Is Chaos–September 7, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

I’ve brought this up in the past, but Maryland appears to have an extraordinary grasp of its own history, even when it comes to naming Maryland counties. As Mike notes today, Maryland has the first two counties established by local representatives, and the first counties named after popular Americans. But even in Maryland, when the […]

The post Redrawing Maryland Maps–September 6, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The American Army has evacuated Brooklyn. Reports are coming in from all over that the Loyalists are being rather sore winners over the event. Refugees are coming into Connecticut from across the Long Island Sound. George Washington, literally the last man out of Brooklyn, is trying to figure out his next move, and that of […]

The post More Brooklyn Aftermath–September 5, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When Nicholas Emery was born, the state in which he did most of his important work didn’t yet exist. At the time of his birth, Maine was still considered part of Massachusetts, which is a vast oversimplification, since New Hampshire also had claim to a lot of this land (and that partially explains why New […]

The post Nicholas Emery–September 4, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The HMS Rose was a British ship that we first discussed a little over a year ago. Her job was largely to patrol the waters off southern New England to prevent smuggling activity on the part of the Americans. In July 1776 the Rose was dispatched—like many, many other British ships—to New York Harbor for […]

The post Down By The Bay–September 3, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

General John Sullivan had been captured only a few days before by the British, during the Battle of Long Island. Now, Mike tells us in this episode that the Howes talked him into approaching the Continental Congress with their peace offering, but equally likely is that Sullivan simply agreed to deliver the message because it […]

The post A British Offer–September 2, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

If nothing else, Ezekiel Bacon was a fairly reliable Representatvie in Congress, given how often he voted with his party, and the fact that he had a good attendance record as well. Bacon became a representative in Massachusetts when his predecessor, Barnabas Bidwell, resigned from the state legislature over irregularities in the Berkshire County books […]

The post Ezekiel Bacon–September 1, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Washington wrote two letters today: one to General William Heath, and the other to Congress. To Heath, he basically gave a little bit of an “attaboy” in agreeing with Heath’s assessment regarding the British Army’s next move. So he recommended that chevaux de frise be sunk in the waters nearby the next likely target (Huntspoint), […]

The post Washington Is Back To Business–August 31, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Even though George Washington was in charge of the whole Continental Army, he still had people to answer to. Most directly that would be the Continental Congress and that will happen very soon, but in the meantime there were also some local officials he had to placate. Which brings us to today’s episode, in which […]

The post GW Explains His Exit–August 30, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Maryland 400 (who got that name because “The Maryland 270 ” was too awkward?) was directly responsible for keeping the American losses relatively low, considering how badly the battle went for them. In the final accounting, about 300 soldiers were dead, another 650-800 were wounded and 1100 were captured. British and German casualties numbered […]

The post The Maryland Heroes–August 29, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.