As he was led to the gallows, Hale's famous last words—inspired by a line from Joseph Addison's popular play, Cato, reportedly were—"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Hale allegedly spoke these words to British Captain John Montresor, chief engineer of His Majesty's Forces in North America and aide-de-camp to British General William Howe, while the preparations for his ...
There is not a famous painting of this river crossing on the night of August 29/30, 1776 unlike the crossing of the Delaware before the Battle of Trenton four months later (see The Jersey Campaign) but it was just as important for achieving American independence. In March 1776 the British abandoned Boston, sailing away to Nova Scotia. There, they were reinforced and developed a plan to ...
In December 1775, British Colonel William Faucitt and Hessian minister Martin Ernst von Schlieffen drafted a treaty promising the Hessian Landgraf Friedrich II a large sum of money in return for soldiers.[1] The British had spent the fall of 1775 offering subsidies to German states of the Holy Roman Empire they were allied with in return for manpower.[2] The Germans who “were used to being sent outside their ...
Members of Congress affixed their signatures to an enlarged copy of the Declaration of Independence a month after Congress had approved the declaration of independence from Britain. Fifty-six congressional delegates in total signed the document, including some who were not present at the vote approving the declaration. The delegates signed by state from North to South, beginning with Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire and ending with ...
Samuel Adams, one of the most ardent of the Founding Fathers in his desire for independence from England, delivered this speech to a numerous audience at the State House in Philadelphia on August 1, 1776. Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, also served as Delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1794. Abridged. Our forefathers, 'tis ...
At the beginning of the American War of Independence, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists. He had known Benjamin Franklin since late 1774 and was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to attempt a reconciliation. My Lord, I received safe the Letters your Lordship so kindly forwarded to me, and beg you to accept my Thanks. The ...
When the Declaration of Independence was written, a copy was rushed out to Washington, who was fortifying New York City. He had it read to his troops, then ordered chaplains placed in each regiment, stating July 9, 1776: “The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties ...
When the First Continental Congress adjourned in October of 1774, the delegates agreed to meet again in Philadelphia on May 5, 1775. Between the First and the Second Continental Congress, many events happened that increased the tensions between the British and the Colonists. The battles of Lexington and Concord, the Colonist defeat in Quebec. The Colonists tried to establish their rights and to fight against the British oppressive taxation ...
Second United American Republic is founded: The United States Continental Congress (USCC) was formed by 12 colonies with the passage of the Resolution for Independency on July 2nd, 1776 and expired on February 28th, 1781, with the Articles of Confederation’s enactment on March 1st, 1781. There was no constitution and the republic was governed under the acts passed by the Continental Congress with each State having one ...
On July 2, 1776, from his headquarters in New York, General Washington issued his general orders: “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness ...
