Earl Averill In 1776 , expecting the British to arrive at any moment, Washington  directs engineers to press the works forward with “every possible dispatch,” calling for additional men to complete New York’s defenses. The city fills with arriving soldiers from several colonies, swelling the ranks but also heightening concerns about discipline. With no clear distinction between citizen and soldier, enforcing order remains a constant challenge. In 1787, the first American com

First American School for the Deaf In 1528, Pánfilo Narváez, a Spanish conquistador, arrived in Florida with 350 men to a hostile reception from native indians. In 1715, the Pocotaligo Massacre of four South Carolina representatives triggered the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina. In 1774, Benjamin Franklin’s satirical open letter to Prime Minister Lord North was published. In 1776, Washington spent the day in a flurry of correspondence from his New York hea

In 1756, the Governor Glen of South Carolina protested against 900 Acadia Indians. In 1775, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition , is founded in Philadelphia on April 14, 1775. In 1776, Washington spent his first full day at his New York headquarters, a townhouse on Broadway, where he began taking charge of the city’s defenses. In the day’s  orders , he thanks Major General  Charl

Cigarette Tax In 1776, Washington paused briefly in New Haven while traveling to New York. He  writes to Samuel McKay, a British prisoner, responding to McKay’s plea for relief. Washington explains that he has repeatedly asked General  William Howe for a prisoner exchange but has received no answer. If McKay remains confined, Washington says, the responsibility lies with Howe. In 1776, Major General Artemas Ward  writes from Boston with intelligence: Captured sailors claim

Arbor Day and the First Safety Pin In 1607, the British colonial expedition that would found Jamestown departed Puerto Rico for the American mainland. In 1778, South Carolina issued its own money. It was printed on thin paper from engraved copper plates. In 1834, a fire at the LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans , Louisiana , led to the discovery of a torture chamber where Delphine LaLaurie routinely brutalized enslaved workers. In 1841, the New York Tribune began publishing unde

Ray Kroc In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle , claimed the Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana . In 1768, Customs officials tried to board one of John Hancock‘s ships, the Lydia, without a warrant. Hancock refused to let them search and had one officer physically thrown off the ship, starting a legal battle about search and seizure rights. In 1776, Washington reached New London, Connecticut, at about 1 p.m., as evidenced by an  expense account

Ribbon Creek NY Times Article In 1775, Samuel Adams and John Hancock left Boston as their spies had warned of upcoming trouble. In 1776, Washington arrived in Norwich, Connecticut, on his hurried journey south to New York. He consults with Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull Sr., a key ally of the Continental cause. In 1776, Gurdon Saltonstall, the New London patriot leader,  wrote to Washington at 2 p.m., reporting that Continental Commodore Esek Hopkins had just arrived

Albert B. Fall In 1776,  a small, 14-gun American warship, the Lexington, captured the sloop H.M.S. Edward off the coast of Virginia, right in front of the British Naval Blockade. In 1776, Washington’s army marches steadily through southern New England, its columns stretching for miles along muddy spring roads.  In 1776, from Albany, Major General  Philip Schuyler   writes that the American army in Canada is dangerously weak and urges Washington to send reinforcements quickl

Dartmoor Prison Massacre In 1712, the New York Slave Revolt of 1712 began near Broadway. The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City of 23 enslaved Africans who killed nine whites and injured another six. More than three times that number of blacks, 70, were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 were convicted and executed. After the revolt, laws governing the lives of blacks in New York were made more restrictive. In 1776, in th

Daniel Bakeman: Last Revolutionary War soldier to die In 1614, Pocahontas , a Powhatan, married Virginia planter and colonial official John Rolfe . In 1621, the Mayflower departed for England after having deposited 102 Pilgrims at what became the American colony of Plymouth (Massachusetts). In 1764, George Grenville, Prime Minister of Britain and First Lord of the Treasury, proposed the Sugar Act (also called the American Act of 1764, the American Revenue Act, and the Plan

Jackie Mitchell In 1681, King Charles II of England officially proclaimed the charter he had granted in March to William Penn for the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania in North America. In 1776, Washington oversaw an army beginning to move after nearly a year fixed around Boston. From headquarters, he issues  orders shifting regiments and relieving those on Dorchester Heights as units prepare to march south toward New York.  In 1776, George Mason   writes to congratulate Wa

In 1776, Washington was not lingering over Boston’s triumph. He is, as he tells  Joseph Reed , “hurried in dispatching one Brigade after another for New York.” In the same  letter , he reflects on politics as well as war, observing that “ Common Sense ” is working “a powerful change” in Virginia minds.  In 1789, the first U.S. House of Representatives, meeting in New York City, reached a quorum and elected Pennsylvania Representative Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg as it

Thomas Peterson-Mundy In 1774, the Boston Port Act was passed by the British Parliament, demanding repayment for the tea destroyed four months earlier during the Boston Tea Party. It was the first of what the British themselves called the Coercive Acts (in America, the Intolerable Acts), intended to bring the 13 colonies to heel. In 1776, in a letter ,   Abigail Adams  writes to her husband, John Adams , urging him and the other members of the Continental Congress not to forg

Kansas Election 1855 In 1775, Hoping to keep the New England colonies  dependent on the British, King George III  formally endorsed the New England Restraining Act. In 1776, Washington continued organizing the army’s next move. He directs that a detachment from the artillery regiment commanded by Colonel Henry Knox be ready to march on Monday, the same artillery Knox had delivered to Boston from Fort Ticonderoga, whose cannon helped force the British evacuation. In 1822, the

Leon Thrasher In 1774, Britain passed the second Coercive Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, which revoked the Massachusetts colonial charter and removed certain democratic elements of the government. In 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza, one of the great western pathfinders of the 18th century, arrived at the future site of San Francisco with 247 colonists. In 1776, Washington reflected on the British departure from Boston in a  letter to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Reed . Gen

Cherry Blossoms, Washington DC (VisitMontgomery image) In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida. In 1775, Future President Thomas Jefferson  was elected to the second Continental Congress . In 1776, Report s pour into Washington’s headquarters: The British fleet has finally abandoned the coast of Boston. He immediately  writes John Hancock to report that “the whole of the Ministerial Fleet besides three or four Ships” has gotten underway and is “standing

In 1776, Washington remained at Cambridge , studying the movements of the lingering British fleet. From Braintree, Josiah Quincy sends close, journal-like  reporting : red ensigns, blue flags, and pendants shift repeatedly from Vice Admiral Molyneux Shuldham’s flagship. “I wish it was in my Power to construe it,” Quincy confesses, unable to read the admiral’s intent. In 1776, from Gloucester, Winthrop Sargent  reports that 70 ships passed Cape Ann at sundown. Washington weig

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire In 1634, the first group of settlers landed in what is now southern Maryland, an event commemorated each year on Maryland Day. In 1776, the Battle of Saint-Pierre, Canada, took place. A battered American force under the command of Colonel Benedict Arnold that had recently been defeated at the Battle of Quebec, attacked the British headquarters at Blais house and took the location. In 1776, at Tybee Island, Georgia, a raiding party of 30 Creek

Wendell Phillips In 1629, the first game law was passed in the American colonies by Virginia. In 1664, a charter to colonize Rhode Island was granted to Roger Williams. In 1688, Governor Edmund Andros issued an order placing the militia of the New England colonies under his own direct control. In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to 10,000 British soldiers in public and private buildings. In 1776, in his  order

First Picture of the moon In 1713, the capture of the Tuscarora tribe’s stronghold of Fort Nohuke by South Carolinian forces ended the Tuscarora raids. The tribe moves northward and joins the Iroquois Confederacy as the Sixth Indian Nation. In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered the “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech in Richmond, Virginia. In 1776, at Cambridge, Washington remains wary. He  directs Colonel Henry Knox , the army’s chief of artillery, to lay out a battery at