Bentley-B
@bentley-b.bsky.social
History cartoonist. Nonprofit communications professional. Former journalist. Dad.
250 YEARS AGO: John Adams, on his way from Boston back to Philadelphia for the Continental Congress, visits Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery." The train has become more and more famous the closer it gets to Boston!
January 25, 2026 at 8:41 PM
250 YEARS AGO: John Adams, on his way from Boston back to Philadelphia for the Continental Congress, visits Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery." The train has become more and more famous the closer it gets to Boston!
250 YEARS AGO: Yes, Paine's "Common Sense" is full of political theory. But it also comes as a specific reaction to the Royal government's violence in 1775: "(I) disdain the wretch that ... can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul."
January 24, 2026 at 3:32 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Yes, Paine's "Common Sense" is full of political theory. But it also comes as a specific reaction to the Royal government's violence in 1775: "(I) disdain the wretch that ... can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul."
250 YEARS AGO: ARE WE THERE YET????
January 23, 2026 at 7:19 PM
250 YEARS AGO: ARE WE THERE YET????
250 YEARS AGO: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Martha Washington makes choices that give shape to this new life of colonial rebellion. People are unsure how to treat her in this shifting situation. Martha declines the fanciest treatments and spends much of her time organizing supplies for the soldiers.
January 22, 2026 at 6:16 PM
250 YEARS AGO: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Martha Washington makes choices that give shape to this new life of colonial rebellion. People are unsure how to treat her in this shifting situation. Martha declines the fanciest treatments and spends much of her time organizing supplies for the soldiers.
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox reunites with his 19-year-old bride. Lucy Flucker Knox comes from a wealthy family. Her brother serves in the Royal army. In the early days of the war, Knox was pressured to join General Gage's Redcoats but refused. The couple fled Boston. The Fluckers have disowned Lucy!
January 20, 2026 at 2:24 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox reunites with his 19-year-old bride. Lucy Flucker Knox comes from a wealthy family. Her brother serves in the Royal army. In the early days of the war, Knox was pressured to join General Gage's Redcoats but refused. The couple fled Boston. The Fluckers have disowned Lucy!
250 YEARS AGO: General George Washington writes to ask for more volunteer soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire to bolster the failing Quebec force. He has too few men to attack Boston, and sending men from the Boston siege to the Quebec siege would weaken his force further!
January 19, 2026 at 6:55 PM
250 YEARS AGO: General George Washington writes to ask for more volunteer soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire to bolster the failing Quebec force. He has too few men to attack Boston, and sending men from the Boston siege to the Quebec siege would weaken his force further!
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Laurens is president of the Council of Safety, which organizes Patriot actions in South Carolina. With Royal warships gone, Laurens and the Council pay to build a fort to guard Charles Town Harbor when the Redcoats return.
January 18, 2026 at 2:27 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Laurens is president of the Council of Safety, which organizes Patriot actions in South Carolina. With Royal warships gone, Laurens and the Council pay to build a fort to guard Charles Town Harbor when the Redcoats return.
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox's men have done this in other little towns along their way (Otis, Westfield) and gotten free cider and warm lodgings for the show. Many of these Americans have never seen a cannon fire before!
January 17, 2026 at 5:41 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox's men have done this in other little towns along their way (Otis, Westfield) and gotten free cider and warm lodgings for the show. Many of these Americans have never seen a cannon fire before!
250 YEARS AGO: A week after King George III's agents make a deal with the German Duke of Brunswick for 4,200 soldiers, they make a much bigger deal with another German prince. There is no time limit put on how long these soldiers will fight the American Patriots.
January 15, 2026 at 7:09 PM
250 YEARS AGO: A week after King George III's agents make a deal with the German Duke of Brunswick for 4,200 soldiers, they make a much bigger deal with another German prince. There is no time limit put on how long these soldiers will fight the American Patriots.
250 YEARS AGO: Knox's "noble train of artillery" continues to work up and down the steep pathway through the mountains in western Massachusetts. The teamsters from New York are tired and grumbling -- and Knox worries that they'll abandon the mission to return to their homes any day now.
January 15, 2026 at 2:19 AM
250 YEARS AGO: Knox's "noble train of artillery" continues to work up and down the steep pathway through the mountains in western Massachusetts. The teamsters from New York are tired and grumbling -- and Knox worries that they'll abandon the mission to return to their homes any day now.
250 YEARS AGO: The path through the frozen mountains is rough -- teamsters often must cut down trees to widen the space for the oxen and sleds carrying the artillery pieces. Sometimes the path runs next to cliffs that plunge 200 feet -- a real danger to any man or animal that missteps.
January 11, 2026 at 7:10 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The path through the frozen mountains is rough -- teamsters often must cut down trees to widen the space for the oxen and sleds carrying the artillery pieces. Sometimes the path runs next to cliffs that plunge 200 feet -- a real danger to any man or animal that missteps.
250 YEARS AGO: Almost all political pamphlets printed in America are written by well-educated lawyers or ministers. But this new tract that appears in Philadelphia is different -- it is written in "rude," "vulgar," everyday language that is easy for uneducated workers to understand.
January 10, 2026 at 12:36 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Almost all political pamphlets printed in America are written by well-educated lawyers or ministers. But this new tract that appears in Philadelphia is different -- it is written in "rude," "vulgar," everyday language that is easy for uneducated workers to understand.
250 YEARS AGO: Immigrant Thomas Paine has a printer for "Common Sense." This first printing will not use Paine's name but simply say the pamphlet is "written by an Englishman."
January 9, 2026 at 12:45 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Immigrant Thomas Paine has a printer for "Common Sense." This first printing will not use Paine's name but simply say the pamphlet is "written by an Englishman."
250 YEARS AGO: A new feeling of patriotism rescues Henry Knox's cannon. Residents of Albany who had not yet joined the revolutionary cause decide that today they will add their backs, their fresh animals (and some pulleys!) to the quest to deliver cannon to the Patriot siege of Redcoats in Boston.
January 8, 2026 at 10:24 PM
250 YEARS AGO: A new feeling of patriotism rescues Henry Knox's cannon. Residents of Albany who had not yet joined the revolutionary cause decide that today they will add their backs, their fresh animals (and some pulleys!) to the quest to deliver cannon to the Patriot siege of Redcoats in Boston.
250 YEARS AGO: Daring the ice again, Henry Knox loses one of the largest cannon from Fort Ticonderoga -- one the men nickname "Big Bertha!" Again, no men or oxen are lost, but Knox wants this cannon to reach Boston. His men spend hours trying to pull it back up, but nightfall comes without success.
January 7, 2026 at 6:44 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Daring the ice again, Henry Knox loses one of the largest cannon from Fort Ticonderoga -- one the men nickname "Big Bertha!" Again, no men or oxen are lost, but Knox wants this cannon to reach Boston. His men spend hours trying to pull it back up, but nightfall comes without success.
250 YEARS AGO: After four months of blockading Charlestown harbor, Royal warships leave for a friendlier colonial port -- and they carry the Royal governor of South Carolina with them. Patriots are now in firm control of South Carolina.
January 6, 2026 at 1:48 PM
250 YEARS AGO: After four months of blockading Charlestown harbor, Royal warships leave for a friendlier colonial port -- and they carry the Royal governor of South Carolina with them. Patriots are now in firm control of South Carolina.
250 YEARS AGO: One of the cannon in Henry Knox's "noble train" goes through the ice in the middle of the Hudson! Fortunately, no men or horses are lost, and one of the tow lines is kept afloat so the cannon can be pulled out later. But with warming weather, Knox's train is stalled ... again.
January 5, 2026 at 1:04 PM
250 YEARS AGO: One of the cannon in Henry Knox's "noble train" goes through the ice in the middle of the Hudson! Fortunately, no men or horses are lost, and one of the tow lines is kept afloat so the cannon can be pulled out later. But with warming weather, Knox's train is stalled ... again.
250 YEARS AGO: Knox finally has the snow, the sleds and the animals to drag 59 artillery pieces a few miles overland to the banks of the Hudson River. But to cross the Hudson, Knox needs its ice to be 7 inches thick to safely support a 5,000 pound cannon, plus the men, the animals and the sled!
January 4, 2026 at 12:41 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Knox finally has the snow, the sleds and the animals to drag 59 artillery pieces a few miles overland to the banks of the Hudson River. But to cross the Hudson, Knox needs its ice to be 7 inches thick to safely support a 5,000 pound cannon, plus the men, the animals and the sled!
250 YEARS AGO: After the terrible defeat at Quebec, about 100 Patriot troops immediately go back to Montreal. Colonel Benedict Arnold rallies a few hundred to stay and blockade Quebec again. But what now? Will the American commander in Montreal send more troops to try another attack on Quebec???
January 3, 2026 at 3:58 PM
250 YEARS AGO: After the terrible defeat at Quebec, about 100 Patriot troops immediately go back to Montreal. Colonel Benedict Arnold rallies a few hundred to stay and blockade Quebec again. But what now? Will the American commander in Montreal send more troops to try another attack on Quebec???
250 YEARS AGO: After Lord Dunmore ends his shelling of Norfolk, Virginia, Patriot militia men are seen torching homes! Soon the whole town is engulfed in flame. Virginia leaders report to the Congress in Philadelphia that Dunmore destroyed Norfolk, stoking American memories of Falmouth's burning.
January 2, 2026 at 2:59 PM
250 YEARS AGO: After Lord Dunmore ends his shelling of Norfolk, Virginia, Patriot militia men are seen torching homes! Soon the whole town is engulfed in flame. Virginia leaders report to the Congress in Philadelphia that Dunmore destroyed Norfolk, stoking American memories of Falmouth's burning.
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal governor of Virginia orders his four warships in Norfolk harbor to fire on the warehouses along Norfolk's waterfront, 100 yards away. The bombardment lasts into the evening. But when it stops, the town beyond the wharves seems to be relatively undamaged. . .
January 1, 2026 at 8:24 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal governor of Virginia orders his four warships in Norfolk harbor to fire on the warehouses along Norfolk's waterfront, 100 yards away. The bombardment lasts into the evening. But when it stops, the town beyond the wharves seems to be relatively undamaged. . .
250 YEARS AGO: Virginia frontiersman Daniel Morgan and his men repeatedly try to overcome Quebec's defenders. But after several hours, their gunpowder is too wet to fire, and Royal troops surround them. Morgan is the last to give up. He is among more than 400 Patriots captured in this major defeat.
December 31, 2025 at 9:31 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Virginia frontiersman Daniel Morgan and his men repeatedly try to overcome Quebec's defenders. But after several hours, their gunpowder is too wet to fire, and Royal troops surround them. Morgan is the last to give up. He is among more than 400 Patriots captured in this major defeat.
250 YEARS AGO: Arnold's force gets into Quebec, not knowing that Montgomery's force is already retreating. At a critical moment, Arnold discovers that his men left their cannon in a snowdrift. He charges forward anyway and is badly wounded. Will anyone carry forward the American attack on Quebec???
December 31, 2025 at 5:23 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Arnold's force gets into Quebec, not knowing that Montgomery's force is already retreating. At a critical moment, Arnold discovers that his men left their cannon in a snowdrift. He charges forward anyway and is badly wounded. Will anyone carry forward the American attack on Quebec???
250 YEARS AGO: Canadian sentries on the walls of Quebec notice lanterns off in the dark, in the middle of a blizzard. They alert the city's defenders, who get ready for the Americans approaching from the west to attack the "Lower Town." The death of Montgomery ends one half of the Patriots' attack.
December 31, 2025 at 1:15 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Canadian sentries on the walls of Quebec notice lanterns off in the dark, in the middle of a blizzard. They alert the city's defenders, who get ready for the Americans approaching from the west to attack the "Lower Town." The death of Montgomery ends one half of the Patriots' attack.
250 YEARS AGO: The attack on Quebec FINALLY begins! Months of marching and struggle in the cold have come to this: a daring plan that hopes some Canadians inside the high walls of the town, seeing the bold attack in a blizzard, will quickly convince General Guy Carleton to surrender.
December 30, 2025 at 3:46 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The attack on Quebec FINALLY begins! Months of marching and struggle in the cold have come to this: a daring plan that hopes some Canadians inside the high walls of the town, seeing the bold attack in a blizzard, will quickly convince General Guy Carleton to surrender.