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Revolutionary War 250

@revwar250.bsky.social

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Posts from 1775! The American Revolution and War of Independence and the world in which they happened, 250 years ago.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 7d

7 OCTOBER 1775, LONDON: “My dear children underwent their operation with all possible and more than expected Heroism,” Queen Charlotte writes to the princes’ and princesses’ governess, Lady Charlotte Finch, about their inoculation against smallpox.

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, painted in 1779 by Sir Joshua Reynolds

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 15h

14 OCTOBER 1775, GUNSTON HALL, VIRGINIA: “I never was in so disagreeable a Situation, and almost despaired of a Cause which I saw so ill conducted”: George Mason writes to George Washington about squabbling among delegates at the Virginia Convention.

Founders Online: George Mason to George Washington, 14 October 1775

George Mason to George Washington, 14 October 1775

founders.archives.gov

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 20h

Knowing the inevitable outcome once he saw the Continentals’ second emplacement under construction, Royal Savage’s captain has deliberately ordered her anchored in a position where her materiel and munitions can be recovered by the fort’s defenders.

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 20h

14 OCTOBER 1775, FORT ST. JEAN, QUEBEC: Within a day of opening fire from a second cannon emplacement, besieging Continental forces sink the warship Royal Savage, positioned beneath the walls to aid in the defense of the fort.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

13 OCTOBER 1775, NEW YORK: Fearing a kidnap plot by Patriots, royal governor William Tryon takes refuge aboard the Duchess of Gordon, a transport ship in New York harbor.

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

“add to this the great Fatigue in Portage, you will think I have pushed the Men as fast as they could possibly bear.”

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

“When you consider the badness & weight of the Batteaus and large Quantity of Provissions &c. we have been obliged to force up against a very rapid Stream, where you would have taken the Men for amphibious Animals, as they were great Part of the Time under Water,

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

“Since I left Fort Western, … we have had a very fatigueing Time, the Men in general not understanding Batteaus, have been obliged to wade and hawl them more than half Way up the River. …

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

13 OCTOBER 1775, SECOND PORTAGE FROM KENNEBEC TO THE DEAD RIVER, MAINE: “Your Excellency may possibly think we have been tardy in our March, as we have gained so little”: Benedict Arnold’s report to George Washington hints at the hardships his expedition to Canada is enduring.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

Main source: Julie Flavell, THE HOWE DYNASTY

Cover of The Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain's Wars for America by Julie Flavell

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

John Wentworth Loring himself will go on to serve as an officer in the Royal Navy, accruing a distinguished record against the French as captain of HMS Niobe during the Napoleonic Wars and being knighted and promoted to admiral later in his career.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

If the two were to begin their affair in Boston, therefore, the child’s birth thus begins a five month window during which Lizzie would need to recover sufficiently from childbirth and then start a relationship with Howe.

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

Loring, in the city with her husband and father-in-law (both named Joshua Loring), was already four months pregnant when Howe arrived in Boston in May. Between June & September, Howe was posted at Bunker Hill, so the two would have had no opportunity to begin an acquaintance.

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

13 OCTOBER 1775, BOSTON: Twenty-three-year-old Loyalist refugee Elizabeth Loring gives birth to a son, named John Wentworth Loring after New Hampshire’s governor. Though Elizabeth’s affair with William Howe is typically assumed to have begun in Boston, the birth is one reason that’s unlikely.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

“and other Supplies for our Ennemies, and for such other purposes as the Congress shall direct.”

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 1d

13 OCTOBER 1775, PHILADELPHIA: The birthday of the United States Navy: The Continental Congress orders two small warships “be fitted with all possible dispatch, for a Cruize of three months … for intercepting such Transports as may be laden with warlike Stores,

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

“And abject in proportion to his affectation of Intrepidity, for no true Fortitude can subsist in a Mind Devoid of these principles which Leads to some Higher hopes.”

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

“The Culprit Assumes an air of Inocence, and with the Confidence usual to Veterans in Iniquity Complains that He is unjustly Restraind. But I imagine when he has no further hopes, left of Imposing on the Friends of his Country, he will be mean,

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

“And the man has thrown of the Restraints Both of Honour and Conscience with Regard to His own Domestic Conduct, what Dependance is to be Made on the Rectitude of His public Intentions.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

“I was Ever sorry that there should be one among the Band of patriots Whose Moral Character was Impeachable for when the Heart is Contaminated, and the Obligations of private Life Broken through,

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

12 OCTOBER 1775, WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS: Mercy Otis Warren writes to John Adams about coming to terms with the news that Benjamin Church is a British spy: founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...

Founders Online: Mercy Otis Warren to John Adams, 12 October 1775

Mercy Otis Warren to John Adams, 12 October 1775

founders.archives.gov

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

Decades from now, when his service to the Elector of Bavaria earns him a noble title of the Holy Roman Empire, he will choose the title Count Rumford, after the town where he was first married.

Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

Thompson leaves behind his wife and daughter—as it happens, permanently. He will spend the next several years recruiting and leading Loyalists fighting for the Crown.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

Thompson has already been engaged in clandestine Loyalist activity; he is the most likely candidate to be the “confidant” who sanitized Benjamin Church’s room before it could be searched by Continental authorities after Church was apprehended as a spy.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

Thompson, who secured his fortune by marrying a wealthy widow, has already been conducting experiments with heat and corresponding with other scientists. But he’s also a known Loyalist, and his house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has recently been attacked by a mob.

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Revolutionary War 250 @revwar250.bsky.social · 2d

12 OCTOBER 1775, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND: Twenty-two-year-old New Hampshire scientist Benjamin Thompson, from Rumford (modern Concord), arrives from the Continental Army lines and boards a Royal Navy ship for Boston, to take refuge with the British command.

Benjamin Thompson, painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1783

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