William Sydney Porter In 1651, Anthony Johnson, a free African American, receives a grant of 250 acres in Virginia. In 1758, George Washington is elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, representing Frederick County. In 1776, Congressional President John Hancock scolds Major General Philip Schuyler. In a letter, Hancock accuses the officer of tolerating discord among soldiers from different states under his command. Disappointed, Hancock told Schuyler that Congress was “c

Douglas Corrigan In 1754, King’s College opened in New York City. The Anglican academy would later grow into the venerable Columbia University. The ten students of the college met for their first classes, in Latin and Greek, in a schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall streets. In 1775, the Third Virginia Convention met in St. John’s Church in Richmond after Royal Governor Lord Dunmore had fled, effectively becoming the governing power in Virginia. In 1776,

Alexander Butterfield In 1585, A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reached Roanoke Island, North Carolina. In 1776, in the aftermath of the British dash up the North River, Washington works to keep a bold naval maneuver from becoming a strategic disaster. In today’s orders, he rebukes the officers and soldiers who, at the alarm, leave their posts to stare from the riverbank. Washington calls their conduct “unsoldierly.” In 1776, off Staten Island,

In 1630, New Amsterdam’s governor bought Gull Island from Indians for cargo and renamed it Oyster Island. It later became Ellis Island. In 1774, Citizens of Carlisle, Penn., passed a declaration of independence. In 1776, Admiral Richard Howe’s fleet of 82 ships arrived at Staten Island. This fleet, along with other ships arriving before and after, carried the largest British expeditionary force ever to be assembled. In 1776, Washington meets with his council of war in New Yor

Declaration of Arms 1775 In 1775, one day after restating their fidelity to King George III and wishing him “a long and prosperous reign” in the Olive Branch Petition, Congress set “forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms” against British authority in the American colonies. The declaration also proclaimed their preference “to die free men rather than live as slaves.” In 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was announced on the front page of the Pennsy

In 1652, Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth. In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties on each of the products — except for tea.) In 1776, delegates to the fifth Revolutionary Convention in Virginia adopted the state’s first independent constitution and selected Patr

Parris Island Marine Corp Recruiting Depot In 1721, with the support of Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Zabdiel Boylston began the first smallpox vaccinations in the American colonies. In 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles. In 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia strikes Union General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, beginning the Seven D

Battle of Jones Creek Historical Marker In 1611, English explorer Henry Hudson—who earlier had tried to discover a short route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic Ocean—was set adrift with his son and seven others in Hudson Bay by mutineers. In 1775, Congress authorized the issue of $2 million in bills of credit known as Continental Currency. In 1776, from Philadelphia, John Hancock writes that Congress believes there has been “very gross Misconduct” in the Canada campaign

Envelope Folding Machine In 1607 1st Protestant Episcopal parish in America was established at Jamestown. In 1776, A threat inside New York is coming to light. A secret committee of the New York Provincial Congress issues a warrant for David Mathews, Loyalist mayor of New York City. Mathews stands accused of “dangerous designs and treasonable conspiracies” against the American cause. Washington forwarded the warrant to Nathanael Greene, directing him to execute it with precis

In 1633, the Charter for Maryland was given to Lord Cecil Baltimore. In 1675, Abenaki, Massachusetts, Mohegan, and Wampanoag Native Americans formed an anti-English front under Metacom. In 1775, the Liberty Point Resolves, also known as “The Cumberland Association”, was signed by fifty residents of Cumberland, North Carolina, protesting the actions of Great Britain following the battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1779, the Battle of Stono Ferry was fought near Charleston, S

Pierre Jean De Smet In 1586, English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island, North Carolina. In 1776, Hard labor continued in New York City as defensive works were built. Washington directs a working party of 900 men to parade tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. “On the present emergency, all working parties to work ’till Six o’Clock in the afternoon,” he writes. In 1776, John Hancock writes that he has urged New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut to authorize Washington to call out mili

Earl K. Long In 1778, after almost nine months of occupation, 15,000 British troops under General Sir Henry Clinton evacuated Philadelphia, the former U.S. capital. In 1798, President John Adams oversaw the passage of the Naturalization Act, the first of four controversial pieces of legislation collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Strong political opposition to these acts undermined the Adams administration, helping Thomas Jefferson win the presidency in 1800. I

SS G.P. Griffith In 1700, Massachusetts ordered priests to leave the colony. 1745, American colonials captured Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, from the French In 1775, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought. However, it was mostly fought on Breed’s Hill, not Bunker Hill - this mistake occurred because of a newspaper reporter who wrote the information down incorrectly. In 1776, Washington sent Congress a letter from Brigadier General Sullivan and judged that Sullivan wanted the

Nez Perce Tribe In 1624, Virginia became an English crown colony following the bankruptcy of the London Company. In 1775, Congress authorized the creation of the post of chief engineer for the army, in anticipation of upcoming battles with British forces. In 1776, Washington confronted the Revolution’s financial strain. In New York, he sends Congress a warning from the paymaster general: Impending costs will nearly empty the military chest. Washington asks for more money. In

Bessie Coleman In 1648, Margaret Jones became the first person executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to appoint George Washington as the leader of the Continental Army, which had been authorized just one day earlier. In 1776, the Assembly of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania declared itself independent of British and Pennsylvanian authority, thereby creating the state of Delaware. In 1776, New York Harbor is

Brigadier General John Sullivan In 1665, New Amsterdam was legally incorporated as an English colony and renamed New York after the English Duke of York. In 1775, the Battle of Machias was the first naval battle of the American Revolution. Citizens of Machias, Maine (then part of Massachusetts) captured the armed British schooner HMS Margaretta when it threatened their town. In 1776, Virginia’s Constitutional Convention adopted the final version of the Declaration of Rights,

Battle of Trevilian Station In 1742, Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin stove, a metal-lined fireplace insert that improves indoor heating and uses less wood than an open hearth. In 1776, the Second Continental Congress selected Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a Declaration of Independence. In 1776, John Hancock writes Washington that

Alice Huyler Ramsey In 1628, the first deportation from what is now the US: Thomas Morton was deported from Massachusetts. In 1732, a Royal charter for Georgia was granted to British military officer and philanthropist James Oglethorpe. In 1772, the first naval attack of the Revolutionary War took place in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1772, the first Protestant church west of Pennsylvania (in Ohio) held communion. In 1776, Unbeknownst to Washington, the British fleet had begu

General William Sherman In 1637, the English and their Mohegan allies slaughtered as many as 600 Pequot Indians [in the area of Connecticut]. The survivors were parceled out to other tribes. Those given to the Mohegans eventually became the Mashantucket Pequots. American settlers in New England massacred a Pequot Indian village. In 1776, Washington was traveling from Philadelphia to New York, returning from consultations with Congress. In New York, rumors swirl that he has go

Ford and the Quadricycle In 1776, before departing Philadelphia for New York, Washington writes to Burwell Bassett, his brother-in-law, that Martha has undergone smallpox inoculation and is doing well: Her fever has passed, and only “about a dozen” pustules have appeared on the 13th day. In 1776, in a letter to his brother, John Augustine Washington, Washington welcomes Virginia’s move toward independence and dismisses hopes of British peace commissioners as deception. He ur