The day after the British landed on Long Island, George Washington was disheartened to learn that army provisioning wasn’t at the level he’d expected, despite his orders only a week earlier. It was bad enough that he’d been caught a little flatfooted by both the magnitude and the direction of the British movement, now he […] The post Reacting to Brooklyn–August 23, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
The advantage of having a large military force, as the British did, is that they were able to concentrate on multiple places at once with experienced soldiers. So while they had one group getting ready to move in on New York, they had others preparing to take on the southern states. Enter Sir Peter Parker […] The post Two Men To The Carolinas–May, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
As we noted back in July, a day of prayer, humiliation and fasting wasn’t new to the Continental Congress. (Go back to that episode’s show notes to see my explanation of the word “humiliation” in this context.) And, as Mike notes in the episode, it wasn’t even close to the last for this Congress. That’s […] The post A Special Proclamation–March 16, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
George Washington was a good leader in the sense that he knew what his troops needed, but he was also a good leader because he sought the counsel of others before making decisions. Washington would call a Council of War before he made big movements, and the Boston Council of War was no exception. Washington […] The post A Council of War–January 16, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
We’ve done several episodes about the Battle of Great Bridge, and there’s a reason for that. Bunker Hill gets all the press, but remember we LOST that battle. Great Bridge was the first real Patriot victory, it was the first major battle in Virginia, and therefore it poked the Virginia Convention into adopting the first […] The post Colonel Woodford’s View–December 15, 1775 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
The siege and battle at Ninety Six managed to end abruptly, largely because the leaders on both sides were convinced that something was about to happen the would benefit the other side. What a gentlemanly way to go out! For all that shooting, hardly anyone was seriously hurt. There was one death on each side, […] The post The End of the First Siege at Ninety Six–November 22, 1775 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
Montgomery had done his thing at Fort St. Jean. Benedict Arnold had finally made it through the Maine (heh.) Now it was time to move in on Montreal. What the Canadians didn’t count on was the possibility that Americans weren’t moving on Quebec, but Montreal. Americans can walk and chew gum at the same time, […] The post Erm…now what?–November 13, 1775 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
During the episode we noted that not much is known about David McConaughy’s early life. Even his adult life isn’t especially well-documented. We don’t even know who painted the portrait in today’s cover art. But there’s no question that, even if the man himself is a bit of a cypher, his legacy at Washington College […] The post September 29, 1775: David McConaughy appeared first on 250 and Counting.
Note: we inadvertently posted the January 20 episode yesterday. That episode has been replaced with the correct one, so if you want to hear the real January 19th episode, scroll down to the previous post and listen “again.” Apologies for the error and any confusion. It’s Cake and Candles today for André-Marie Ampère. He was […] The post 250 and Counting: January 20, 1775 appeared first on 250 and Counting.
