News
Ebenezer Conant: A Commission, A Pocketbook, An Orderly Book, A Legacy
Posted on June 20, 2026
On June 20, 1776—250 years ago today—Ebenezer Conant received a long-awaited commission. Conant, a miller from Ashburnham, MA with four children, was not new to military service. He had...
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“Under Many Disadvantages”: The American Retreat from Canada
Posted on June 19, 2026
On June 19, 1776—250 years ago today—Lieutenant William Walker was on Ile aux Noix, an island in the Richelieu River just above the north end of Lake Champlain. His journey had taken him far...
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“Every Thing in this Country Seems Against Us”: Captain John Bigelow and the Canadian Retreat
Posted on June 12, 2026
On June 12, 1776—250 years ago today—Captain John Bigelow was fed up. He had served as captain of an independent company of Connecticut artillery since January, and the company’s service in...
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From St. Jean to Bound Brook: British Officers on Parole in America
Posted on June 11, 2026
By June 1776, the British prisoners captured at the sieges of Fort Chambly and Fort St. Jean had been in custody for over half a year, facing long journeys, local tensions, and unpleasant conditions....
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Chaos in Canada: General Schuyler Sends Instructions North
Posted on June 6, 2026
On June 6, 1776—250 years ago today—the situation in Canada was in such upheaval that when General Philip Schuyler wrote to the army in the field, he could not be entirely sure who the...
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The Disaster at the Cedars: Two Depositions, Two Different Perspectives
Posted on June 4, 2026
On May 19, 1776, the 400-man American garrison at the Cedars, near Montreal, surrendered to a British and Haudenosaunee force. On May 20, a 140-man relief force on its way to the Cedars was...
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War News, Thomas Paine, and Remedies for Drowning in a Massachusetts Newspaper
Posted on June 1, 2026
On June 1, 1776—250 years ago today—the new issue of Newburyport printer John Mycall’s Essex Journal and New-Hampshire Packet had war on its mind. The issue includes an excerpt from a...
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Reverend Samuel West Preaches Independence
Posted on May 29, 2026
On May 29, 1776—250 years ago today—Massachusetts was celebrating Election Day. This holiday, actually the opening day of the year’s legislative session, was one of the colony’s few...
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Keeping the Army Armed: Maintaining and Repairing Continental Firearms
Posted on May 28, 2026
Outfitting the army with firearms was a challenge for the American colonies in the early years of the Revolutionary War, but it was just the first step. To keep a unit’s firepower at full...
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Smallpox and Struggle at Sorel: The American Army’s Retreat from Canada
Posted on May 21, 2026
By May 1776, the invasion of Canada that had begun with high hopes in September 1775 was nearing a disappointing end. After a long siege of Quebec City marked by the death of General Richard...
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“Time Never Looked so Long as it Hath Since You Was at Home”: Sarah Knapp Allen on the Home Front
Posted on May 20, 2026
250 years ago today—May 20, 1776—Sarah Knapp Allen was missing her husband. She had married Noah Allen in Norfolk, CT close to twenty years before, and had recently moved with him to the small...
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John Harper, A Pennsylvania Quartermaster at Work
Posted on May 10, 2026
250 years ago today—May 10, 1776—most of the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion was finally fully armed, clothed, and in the field. Five of the companies were serving on Long Island, strengthening...
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