Boston 1775

As I quoted yesterday , in July 1775 the Massachusetts Provincial Congress officially deemed the provincial fortification of Breed’s Hil...

Yesterday I quoted Samuel Gray ’s 11 July 1775 description of the Battle of Bunker Hill , based on what he called “my own knowledge.” Gra...

In the spring of 1776, Dr. Preserved Clap was forty-five years old. He had a wife and young children back in Amherst . And in Boston he w...

In 1787, the Confederation Congress was meeting in New York , at City Hall and the Fraunces Tavern (shown here). When Henry Howell Willi...

For a presentation this week that didn’t come off, I picked out three extracts from the letters of young teenager Anna Green Winslow to her...

For Thomas Seward , his military service in the Continental artillery , rising from lieutenant to brevet major over eight years, remained an...

Thomas Seward (1740-1800) was born in Boston and grew up to be a hatter. He married Sarah Colter at the Rev. Andrew Eliot ’s New North Meeti...

The challenges of managing Lt. Col. Abijah Brown drew me away from the episode that initially drew my attention to him—Col. Richard Gridley...

Abijah Brown was born in Watertown in 1736, and on 24 May 1758, at the age of twenty-one, he married Sarah Stearns of Waltham . Their fi...

Yesterday I discussed Richard Gridley ’s petitions to the post-war Continental Congress to keep compensating him for the loss of his Crown...

Last year I wrote two postings about Maj. Scarborough Gridley ’s attempt to wring some money from the Continental government after he was ...

Scarborough Gridley didn’t just write to Elbridge Gerry seeking back pay in February 1784, as I quoted yesterday . Gridley first went ...

As I recounted yesterday , Gen. George Washington dismissed Maj. Scarborough Gridley from the Continental Army on 24 Sept 1775. Dealing...

On 24 Sept 1775, Maj. Scarborough Gridley ’s career in the Continental Army came to an end. Gridley was the fourth-ranking officer in t...

On 13 Aug 1775, Gen. George Washington issued orders for a court-martial to take place the following day with Gen. Nathanael Greene pres...

As I quoted yesterday , the earliest newspaper reports on the British Coffee-House brawl between James Otis, Jr. , and John Robinson said...

This is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill . For an overview of the action this year, I’m pointing to the Angry Staff Officer’s ...

I’ve often wondered how Gen. Artemas Ward reacted to the letters he received from the headquarters of his commander, Gen. George Washingt...

On 3 Mar 1776, Gen. George Washington followed up his short note to Gen. Artemas Ward (quoted yesterday) with a full set of orders for m...