Boston 1775

Producing a podcast strikes me as a lot of work, but speaking about Boston history on other folks’ podcasts is always fun. Here are three...

In preparation for tomorrow’s talk about Benjamin Thompson ’s early years, I’ve been reviewing the evidence of his affair with Mary (Dill) T...

We left John Hill , his wife Elizabeth (?), and his daughter in the Boston jail in February 1777, suspected of “being Enemical to the Sta...

Yesterday we left William Jackson on the road from Portsmouth, New Hampshire , to Boston, having reached the town of Newburyport on 11 Apr...

When I started to look at the Continental capture of the brig Elizabeth in early April 1776, I didn’t expect to find so much drama and mys...

Capt.-Lt. Archibald Robertson , British military engineer, sailed out of Boston harbor on 25 Mar 1776. Robertson’s ship was an army trans...

Even after the destruction of Castle William , described yesterday, Judge Peter Oliver ’s ship Pacific remained in Boston’s outer harbor, ...

Here’s an account of the siege of Boston first published in 1909 by the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Toronto. It’s said to be “...

I’ve been analyzing a letter from the Thomas Gage Papers at the Clements Library, written by Jonathan Hastings, Jr. , on 11 June 1775. Ha...

On Thursday, 26 February, I’ll return to the Acton 250 lecture series to speak about “Henry Knox’s Trek from Ticonderoga: Myths, Realities,...

Whenever I recount a story at length, I like to add some new sources, connections, or interpretations. I don’t want to just repeat what othe...

According to the Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos website , Basile Boudrot was born in 1739 in Port Royal, which the British had renamed as A...

This weekend brings another set of commemorations of Col. Henry Knox’s artillery train, including a couple of events displaced by last weeke...

America’s History, L.L.C., will hold its thirteenth Annual Conference of the American Revolution in Glen Allen, Virginia, on 27–29 March. ...

By this date 250 years ago , Col. Henry Knox had checked in with his commander, Gen. George Washington , in Cambridge . The artillery th...

In late 1774 the British 7th Regiment, known as the Royal Fusiliers, was stationed southwest of Montréal, guarding the frontier of the Brit...

Sestercentennial commemorations of the progress of Col. Henry Knox ’s artillery convoys across western Massachusetts continue this weekend...

As a prominent gentleman in Connecticut , Israel Putnam couldn’t ignore what “A New-York Freeholder” wrote about him in the New-York Gaze...

On 16 May 1776, Gen. John Sullivan was at Albany, New York , trying to organize the remnants of the Continental Army ’s invasion of Canada ...

As discussed back here , as of 13 Dec 1775 Col. Henry Knox and George Palmer of Stillwater, New York , had agreed on how to transport hea...