Bentley-B

250 YEARS AGO: General Washington invites the Black poet Phillis Wheatley to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He wants to publish the poem she wrote about him, to boost public morale for the war, but Washington worries that such an effort will make him look vain.

250 YEARS AGO: Colonel Caswell and 1,000 Patriots are waiting on the east side of this North Carolina bridge when 900 Loyalists attack at dawn. The Scots' charge falls apart from Patriot rifle fire and blasts from two cannon! Patriots win the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge and capture 850 Loyalists.

250 YEARS AGO: The chase continues! A Patriot group reaches the river crossing at Corbett's Ferry before the Loyalist group does, blocking this path to the coastline. What next?! With each passing day, more Loyalists return home rather than keep up this tiring bob-and-weave through the woods. . .

250 YEARS AGO: Loyalist Donald MacDonald leads about 1,600 volunteer soldiers trying to reach Wilmington, N.C., to meet a Royal fleet. Patriot militia units are racing to several river crossings to stop the Loyalists. One group digs in to defend a bridge about 18 miles from Wilmington . . .

250 YEARS AGO: The ground is too frozen to dig into on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. Surveyor Rufus Putnam's solution: pre-make sections to be quickly snuck up there and then bolstered with stones. These wooden frames filled with hay, straw or stick bundles are called "chandeliers."

250 YEARS AGO: for every man who has volunteered to live in the siege lines around Boston or to march to Canada or to report for militia duty in the Carolinas, there are family members who wait for their return and keep households and businesses running during the wait …

250YEARS AGO: Patriots assemble near Rockfish Creek in central North Carolina, 7 miles from where Loyalists are camped and waiting for Redcoat soldiers to land. The leaders of the two groups trade ultimatums. Neither surrenders! So the game begins: can Loyalists get around Pats and reach the coast?

250 YEARS AGO: NC has been quiet in the first 10 months of revolution because it has many Loyalists. These Loyalists muster near modern-day Fayetteville on rumors that 2,000 Redcoats will soon land to retake control of the Southern colonies. But they argue about where to meet the Royal troops . . .

250 YEARS AGO: The Continental Congress continues to directly manage military operations in Canada, in Boston -- and now in New York. There is a growing sense that if Washington can push the Redcoats out of Boston, their next stop will be New York City and the Loyalist areas on Long Island.

250 YEARS AGO: Washington and Knox explore high ground where they might use the cannon and mortars that Knox dragged from Fort Ticonderoga. This won't be easy -- the winter ground is frozen hard, and the Redcoats have a defensive work that controls Boston Neck, the southern route into the city.

250 YEARS AGO: A military move that doesn't seem like a big deal. But it 1) confirms the Crown's commitment to staying near Norfolk and regaining control of Virginia and 2) demonstrates how dangerous smallpox is to unvaccinated populations that are mixing in the chaos of war.

250 YEARS AGO: A new delegate is riding to the Second Continental Congress with John Adams. He’s been chosen because he is in favor of declaring full independence. (And if you are concerned about gerrymandering in the American republic in 2026, yes, it’s THAT Gerry 👀👀👀)

Historians have long examined just how literate the Revolutionary generation was. Here’s a great overview of the topic —

research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/j...

250 YEARS AGO: “Common Sense” is going viral! Printed copies are selling above normal pamphlet sales, and public readings of Thomas Paine’s bold, everyday language extend his ideas to less literate people. A broad section of America’s population is now debating what “freedom” means exactly.

250 YEARS AGO: Friendship begins between Virginia's leading couple and the young couple from Boston who met in Knox's bookstore.

250 YEARS AGO: There is a lull in the action, so Chester has time to visit his fellow crustacean wintering off the New England coast . . .

250 YEARS AGO: General Washington congratulates 25-year-old Henry Knox on dragging 60 tons of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga in New York all the way to Framingham, Massachusetts. Now the Patriots must decide where and how to move the pieces around Boston for maximum effect.

Thanks!

250 YEARS AGO: John Adams, on his way from Boston back to Philadelphia for the Continental Congress, visits Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery." The train has become more and more famous the closer it gets to Boston!

Wow —no other mention!?? Ok, I’ll do it. JIM APARO!

250 YEARS AGO: Yes, Paine's "Common Sense" is full of political theory. But it also comes as a specific reaction to the Royal government's violence in 1775: "(I) disdain the wretch that ... can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul."

250 YEARS AGO: ARE WE THERE YET????

250 YEARS AGO: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Martha Washington makes choices that give shape to this new life of colonial rebellion. People are unsure how to treat her in this shifting situation. Martha declines the fanciest treatments and spends much of her time organizing supplies for the soldiers.

250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox reunites with his 19-year-old bride. Lucy Flucker Knox comes from a wealthy family. Her brother serves in the Royal army. In the early days of the war, Knox was pressured to join General Gage's Redcoats but refused. The couple fled Boston. The Fluckers have disowned Lucy!

250 YEARS AGO: General George Washington writes to ask for more volunteer soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire to bolster the failing Quebec force. He has too few men to attack Boston, and sending men from the Boston siege to the Quebec siege would weaken his force further!

250 YEARS AGO: Henry Laurens is president of the Council of Safety, which organizes Patriot actions in South Carolina. With Royal warships gone, Laurens and the Council pay to build a fort to guard Charles Town Harbor when the Redcoats return.

250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox's men have done this in other little towns along their way (Otis, Westfield) and gotten free cider and warm lodgings for the show. Many of these Americans have never seen a cannon fire before!

250 YEARS AGO: A week after King George III's agents make a deal with the German Duke of Brunswick for 4,200 soldiers, they make a much bigger deal with another German prince. There is no time limit put on how long these soldiers will fight the American Patriots.

Thanks! Will do. We are in a unique moment for “political cartooning” — when the timelines overlap so closely that the “news” becomes timeless truths.

I marvel at your hiking — KEEP GOING!!! 👏👏👏👏