Timeline
April 1 — Approximately 1,124 Loyalist refugees from New England arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, marking the start of the migration of 40,000 people during the war.
April 2 — General David Wooster marched from Montreal to Quebec City with reinforcements, superseding General Benedict Arnold. Meanwhile, Arnold fell off his horse and was severely injured.
AHC Notes
- Benedict Arnold (1741–1801) — Arnold was an officer who rose to prominence for his bold leadership in battles such as Quebec, Valcour Island, and Saratoga. Despite his military talent, Arnold was driven by personal grievances and ambition that put him at odds with many of his contemporaries. Feeling slighted by the Patriot Cause, Arnold famously committed treason in 1780 when he tried to turn West Point over to the British. After the plot was discovered, Arnold defected, received a commission in the British Army, and led raids in Connecticut and Virginia. Following the war, he moved to England, where he struggled as a merchant.
- David Wooster (1711–1777) — Wooster was a Connecticut militia leader who served in King George’s War, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution. He died in 1777, during the American Revolution, soon after the Battle of Ridgefield.
April 3 — American Troops in New York City
New York City, New York — Yesterday afternoon, five battalions of the Continental troops now stationed at New York were reviewed by his Excellency General Heath, on the green, near the liberty pole. They made a martial appearance, being well armed, and went through their exercise much to the satisfaction of a great concourse of the inhabitants of the city.
In the evening, a number of Americans visited and set fire to all the buildings on Bedlow’s Island, where the British men-of-war were intrenching and fortifying it as an asylum for the Tory refugees; burnt and brought off all their intrenching tools, with a large number of white shirts and great coats; likewise an abundance of poultry of all sorts.
The Asia fired on them, but not a man was killed or wounded. About the same time, a barge full of men, supposed to be from the men-of-war, landed and endeavored to set fire to the air furnace, but they were timely discovered before much damage was done. It is best to keep a good look-out for the rogues. — New York Packet (April 4, 1776).
AHC Notes
- William Heath (1737–1814) — Heath was an officer in the Massachusetts Militia and Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Although he rose to the rank of Major General, General George Washington lost faith in him. At the time of his death, Heath was the last surviving Major General of the Continental Army.
April 3 — An English View
They are very weak, who flatter themselves that in the state to which things have come, the colonies will be easily conquered by force alone. The persons who now govern the resolutions of what they call the Continental Congress, feel in themselves, at this moment, a degree of importance, which, perhaps, the greatest subjects in Europe scarce feel. From shop-keepers, tradesmen, and attorneys, they are become statesmen and legislators, and are employed in contriving a new system of government for an extensive empire, which they flatter themselves will become, and which, indeed, seems very likely to become, one of the greatest and most formidable that ever was in the world. Five hundred different people, perhaps, who in different ways act immediately under the Continental Congress, and five hundred thousand, perhaps, who act under those five hundred, all feel, in the same manner, a proportionable rise in their own importance. Almost every individual of the governing party in America, fills at present, in his own fancy, a station superior not only to what he had ever filled before, but to what he had ever expected to fill; and unless some new object of ambition is presented, either to him or to his leaders, if he has the ordinary spirit of a man, he will die in defence of that station. — Middlesex Journal (April 6, 1776).
April 4 — Captain Abraham Whipple and the 20-gun frigate Columbus forced the six-gun schooner HMS Hawke to surrender off Block Island, Rhode Island. This marked the first time an American vessel captured an enemy ship at sea.
April 5 — The frigate Alfred, under Commodore Esek Hopkins, seized the British bomb brig HMS Bolton under Lieutenant Edward Sneyd.
AHC Notes
- Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) — Hopkins was a Rhode Island sea captain, privateer, and militia officer. During the American Revolutionary War, he was named the first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy. Congress appointed him to lead the new navy in 1775, and he led a successful raid on Nassau in 1776. Soon after, his service became controversial after his fleet failed to capture the HMS Glasgow. Congress later censured, suspended, and dismissed him, ending his naval career. His brother, Stephen Hopkins, was a Founding Father and Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
April 6 — The Second Continental Congress reacted to the American Prohibitory Act by opening its ports to all nations except Britain. This left Spain, France, and the Netherlands free to engage in commercial activities with the United Colonies. Conservatives who sought reconciliation with Britain warned that rejecting the Navigation Acts was essentially declaring independence.
- AHC Note — The Prohibitory Act was enacted in December 1775.
April 6 — Battle of Block Island
Block Island, Rhode Island — An American naval squadron under Commodore Hopkins engaged Captain Tyringham Howe and the Royal Navy’s 20-gun frigate HMS Glasgow off Block Island, Rhode Island. After a three-hour battle, the Americans failed to capture the ship. The sloop Cabot was severely damaged, and Alfred’s steering was compromised. Howe eluded the Americans, putting into Newport. Although the outcome of the battle is considered an American victory, Hopkins was censured by Congress for allowing the Glasgow to escape, and he was removed from command in March 1777.
April 6 — Battle of Brunswick Town
Brunswick Town, North Carolina — Following the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, James Moore was appointed Brigadier General and was given command of all North Carolina forces. After learning about the arrival of British ships on the Cape Fear River, Moore led roughly 1,800 troops to the area, intending to block the British from landing troops. Upon arrival, Moore’s men built defensive fortifications and placed obstructions in the river.
Despite the presence of Moore’s forces, General Henry Clinton was able to land foraging parties, resulting in a skirmish at Brunswick Town. The British drove the Americans away and took a small number of prisoners.
Afterward, Clinton issued a proclamation, offering pardons to anyone who reaffirmed their allegiance to the Crown, except for Robert Howe and Cornelius Harnett. These two were branded as outlaws for organizing militia forces to oppose the British.
AHC Notes
- Henry Clinton (1730–1795) — Clinton was a British soldier and General during the American Revolutionary War. He was placed in command of British forces in 1778. Despite early success, he was unable to defeat American forces, which led to the Surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.
April 8 — Joseph Warren Reinterred
Boston, Massachusetts — This day, the remains of the brave General Warren were re-interred at Boston. Colonel Phinney’s regiment marched first, with drums and fifes, in mourning, then the freemasons, the remains, the relations, friends, and the town’s people. They repaired to the King’s chapel; Dr. Cooper prayed; Mr. Morton delivered a funeral oration; closed with a solemn funeral dirge. The general’s remains were found on the fourth instant, about three feet under ground on Bunker’s Hill. They were known by two artificial teeth fastened in with gold wire, and by being found under the remains of a person buried in trowsers, agreeable to the account given by one who was well acquainted with that circumstance. — Constitutional Gazette (April 24, 1776).
AHC Notes
- Joseph Warren (1741–1775) — Warren was one of the prominent leaders of the Patriots in Boston. Closely aligned with Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, Warren was involved in the Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He was the author of prominent documents, including the Suffolk Resolves. Warren was killed during the Battle of Bunker Hill, as American forces withdrew from the redoubt on Breed’s Hill.
April 8 — Putnam Arrives in New York
New York City, New York — General Putnam arrived at New York, from the camp at Cambridge, last Wednesday evening. On Friday, he issued an order, enjoining the soldiers to retire to their barracks and quarters at tattoo-beat, and to remain there until the reveille is beaten. He also desired the inhabitants to observe the same rule, and to-day, he says that it has become absolutely necessary that all communication between the fleet and the shore should immediately be stopped, and, for that purpose, has given positive orders that the ships shall no longer be furnished with provisions. Any inhabitants or others who shall be taken, that have been on board, near any of the ships, or going on board after the publication of the order, will be considered as enemies, and treated accordingly. These are hard times for quiet people. Putnam has appointed Jerry Alner superintendent of arrivals and departures, under the new rules; and, as he will have full sway among the Jersey oystermen, it is probable he will have a way of giving the oysters, as well as the dealers, a fair clearance. Confiscate if you can’t pay; that’s his rule. — New York Packet (April 11, 1776).
AHC Notes
- Israel Putnam (1718–1790) — Putnam was a military veteran who was affectionately known as “Old Put.” He served bravely at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but fell out of favor with George Washington after he failed against British forces in New York and Philadelphia.
April 8 — Captain Vandeput, of the Asia man-of-war, having heard at Boston that Lord Percy had received the king’s leave to come home, and intended to accept it, waited on his lordship and told him what he had heard; adding, that he wished the Asia might have the honor to afford him a passage; to which his lordship returned the following answer: “‘Tis true I have the king’s leave to return when I please, but upon my honor, whilst there is a grain of powder to be burnt in America for old England, Lord Percy will not leave it.”
Head this, ye Macaronies and Scavoir Vivres, warriors who strut in parks, and frequent masquerades, operas, &c., but are ready to resign in the hour of danger, when your country’s welfare is at stake. — Middlesex Journal (April 11, 1776).
AHC Notes
- Hugh Percy (1742–1817) — Percy was a British officer who is most famous for leading the British expedition from Lexington to Boston during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
April 9 — Congress adopted a resolution mandating an end to the Slave Trade.
April 9 — The American schooner Wasp seized the British brig Betsey in Christina Creek, Delaware Bay.
April 12 — The North Carolina Provisional Congress passed the Halifax Resolves, authorizing delegates to the Continental Congress to endorse independence. This marked the first time a governing body issued resolutions instructing its delegates to vote in favor of independence.
AHC Notes
- The Resolves stated: “Resolved that the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the other delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign alliances, resolving to this Colony the sole, and exclusive right of forming a Constitution and Laws for this Colony and appointing delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general Representation thereof) to meet the delegates of the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out.”
April 13 — General George Washington arrived in New York from Boston and started preparing the city’s defenses, fearing that the British capture of the city would cut communication lines between the New England Colonies and Southern Colonies.
April 14–17 — Naval Engagements in Ocracoke Inlet
Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina — William Goodrich Sr. was transporting 1,400 pounds of gunpowder from the West Indies to Patriot forces in North Carolina. When Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore, learned of it, he seized the ship and arrested Goodrich.
As punishment to the Goodrich Family, Dunmore required Goodrich’s father, William Goodrich Sr., and his brother, William Goodrich Jr., to report to him on a monthly basis. Over time, this convinced them to support the Crown, and John Goodrich Jr. was given command of the Lilly to stop and search ships sailing into Ocracoke Inlet.
On April 14, 1776, the American merchant ship, Polly, sailed through the Outer Banks. The Lilly hailed the Polly, and Goodrich ordered Captain Silas Henry to board his ship so he could inspect his papers. Goodrich then declared he was seizing the Polly as a prize.
Later that night, another British ship, Fincastle, approached the Polly, boarded it, and plundered the cargo. The Fincastle’s commander, Lieutenant John Wright, left men to guard the ship and then proceeded to seize two more ships in the area.
Three days later, on April 17, a group of Americans led by Benjamin Bonner retaliated by seizing the Polly and the Lilly. In these actions, Goodrich Jr. was taken as a prisoner, as was Captain George Blair of Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. The ships were sent to New Bern, where they were put into service for the North Carolina Navy as the King Tammany and the Pennsylvania Farmer.
April 15 — The warships Warren and Providence were launched and commissioned at Providence, Rhode Island.
April 16 — Incident with the Asia
Staten Island, New York — Day before yesterday, as the Asia man-of-war was passing through the Narrows, she was hailed by the riflemen on the Staten Island side, and desired to haul too. Some of the Asia’s people on deck asked, “for what?”
“Because,” answered the riflemen, “our orders are to suffer no boats to pass without a permit from General Putnam.”
The Asia, still keeping underway, the riflemen fired upwards of forty shots at her, which the Asia returned by firing two pieces from her upper tier. — Constitutional Gazette (April 20, 1776).
April 16 — France declares she will not assist the American colonies until they dissolve their connection with Great Britain. Should that event take place, France would probably involve England in a war with Germany. America was conquered in that country in the last war. In the present war, she might, in the same country, be restored to liberty. The whole of the troops sent by England to America (where so much was at stake) did not amount to fifteen thousand men. The colonies at one time had twenty-five thousand in pay, who bore the heat and burden of the war, but shared in no part of its glory or advantages. Americans, beware of reconciliation! Ye can protect yourselves. — Pennsylvania Journal (April 17, 1776).
April 17 — Lexington-Edward Engagement
Virginia Capes, Virginia — While cruising off the Virginia Capes, Captain John Barry and the 16-gun brig Lexington captured the British sloop Edward after an intense, four-hour battle. This marked was the first time an American vessel captured an enemy ship at sea, during a ship-to-ship battle.
AHC Notes
- John Barry (1745–1803) — Barry was a prominent officer in the Continental Navy and the U.S. Navy. He commanded a Continental Navy vessel in the first and last naval battles of the war. Afterward, he was the first commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy and oversaw the construction of its first frigate, the United States, and commanded it during the Quasi-War. Barry led U.S. naval forces during the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams and the early years of Thomas Jefferson.
April 18 — The first ships of Commodore Peter Parker’s fleet reached Cape Fear, North Carolina.
AHC Notes
- Peter Parker (1721–1811) — Parker was a British Admiral who served in the British Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Appointed Commodore in October 1775, he escorted Charles Cornwallis’s transports to America and later worked with Henry Clinton in the attack on Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776. He also supported British operations at New York and Rhode Island, commanded the Jamaica Station, backed expeditions to Honduras and Nicaragua, received a baronetcy in 1783, and later rose to Admiral of the Fleet.
- Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805) — Cornwallis was a British officer during the American Revolutionary War who led several successful campaigns but ultimately surrendered to American and French forces at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, effectively ending major fighting. Despite this defeat, Cornwallis maintained political influence and later served as the Governor General of India and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
April 19 — British Preparations to Send Foreign Troops
By a late arrival from England, we have the following, which are but the old lies renewed: — Government proposes to have in America, in the spring, foreign troops, consisting of Hessians, Brunswickers, Hanoverians, and Waldeckers, seventeen thousand; British troops, sixteen thousand. Press warrants are sent out to Admiral Graves to press all American seamen. Press warrants are expected to be issued out soon, as the captains of all the outward-bound ships have been very solicitous to procure protections. Orders have been sent to Plymouth for all the guardships there to take on board their full complement of men, as in time of war. Orders have been sent to all the outposts to be very cautious and strict in examining all persons and vessels, &c, that may be judged the least suspicious. Orders are given for a quantity of beef and pork, sufficient for ten ships of the line for six months, to be got ready as soon as possible.
A compact was lately signed between the court and three Northern powers, by which the latter have stipulated to furnish Great Britain, between them, with 60,000 troops, the better to enable the latter to carry on the continental war. The government has sent over to Germany to engage 1,000 men called Jaegers, people brought up to the use of the rifle-barrel guns in boar hunting. They are amazingly expert. Every petty prince who hath forests keeps a number of them, and they are allowed to take apprentices, by which means they are a numerous body of people. These men are intended to act in the next campaign in America, and our ministry plume themselves much in the thought of their being a complete match for the American riflemen. — Constitutional Gazette (April 20, 1776).
April 19 — Opposition to Reconciliation
This is not a time to trifle. Men who know they deserve nothing from their country, and whose hope is on the arm that sought to enslave ye, may hold out to you, as Cato hath done, the false light of reconciliation. There is no such thing. ‘Tis gone! ‘Tis past! The grave hath parted us — and death, in the persons of the slain, hath cut the thread of life between Britain and America. Conquest, and not reconciliation, is the plan of Britain. But admitting even the last hope of the Tories to happen, which is that our enemies, after a long succession of losses, wearied and disabled, should despairingly throw down their arms and propose a reunion. In that case, what is to be done?
Are defeated and disappointed tyrants to be considered like mistaken and converted friends? Or would it be right to receive those for governors, who, had they been conquerors, would have hung us up for traitors? Certainly not.
Reject the offer then, and propose another, which is that we will make peace with you as with enemies, but we will never reunite with you as friends. This effected, and ye secure to yourselves the pleasing prospect of an eternal peace. America, remote from all the wrangling world, may live at ease. Bounded by the ocean, and backed by the wilderness, who hath she to fear but her God?
Be not deceived. It is not a little that is at stake. Reconciliation will not now go down, even if it were offered. ‘Tis a dangerous question, for the eyes of all men begin to open. There is now no secret in the matter; there ought to be none.
It is a case that concerns every man, and every man ought to lay it to heart. He that is here, and he that was born here, are alike concerned. It is needless, too, to split the business into a thousand parts and perplex it with endless and fruitless investigations. This unparalleled contention of nations is not to be settled like a school boy’s task of pounds, shillings, pence, and fractions.
The first and great question, and that which involves every other in it, and from which every other will flow, is happiness. Can this continent be happy under the government of Great Britain, or not? Secondly. Can she be happy under a government of our own?
To live beneath the authority of those whom we cannot love is misery, slavery, or what name you please. In that case, there will never be peace. Security will be a thing unknown, because a treacherous friend in power is the most dangerous of enemies.
The answer to the second question — can America be happy under a government of her own, is short and simple, viz.: As happy as she pleases; she hath a blank sheet to write upon. Put it not off too long.
Painful as the task of speaking truth must sometimes be, yet we cannot avoid giving the following hint, because much, nay, almost everything, depends upon it; and that is, a thorough knowledge of the persons whom we trust.
It is the duty of the public, at this time, to scrutinize closely into the conduct of their committee members, members of the assembly, and delegates in Congress, to know what they do and their motives for so doing. Without doing this, we shall never know who to confide in, but shall constantly mistake friends for enemies, and enemies for friends, till in the confusion of persons we sacrifice the cause. — Pennsylvania Journal (April 24, 1776).
April 20 — Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot was commissioned as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
AHC Notes
- Marriot Arbuthnot (1711–1794) — Arbuthnot was a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the 18th Century and held major commands during the American Revolutionary War. After earlier service in the Seven Years’ War, he became Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and later Commander in Chief of the North American Squadron.
April 21 — The British ship, Scarborough, anchored at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and unloaded numerous Loyalist refugees, including James Wright, the Royal Governor of Georgia.
AHC Notes
- James Wright (1716–1785) — Wright was the Royal Governor of Georgia and one of the most important Loyalist officials in the Southern Colonies during the American Revolution. Wright worked to enforce the law, maintain order on the frontier, and preserve British authority in Georgia. Wright was forced to leave Georgia in 1776, but returned after the British recaptured Savannah in 1779. Following the war, he lost much of his property and spent his final years in England.
April 22 — Congress Approves Privateering
We have all the debates in Parliament, by which it appears that the determination of the court is, first to conquer, and then to grant pardons to those they choose, and for this purpose only are the commissioners declared to be sent. This is the ostensible plan, but we are informed they are to bribe through thick and thin, to procure the betraying of America; so that it behooves all men to watch, with the most attentive consideration, the conduct of those entrusted with the public concerns, whether colonial or continental.
The last act of Parliament is a curious piece of retrospective injustice. After declaring the thirteen colonies in rebellion, and without his Majesty’s protection, and our property made seizable wherever found on the water, it goes on to give legal sanction to all the violences and robberies, &c, that their people had committed previous to their passing that act. The Congress has, in consequence of this, recommended the fitting out privateers to cruise on British property.
It may be depended upon as fact, that the agents of the Scotch factors have been desired by the administration to make no noise about their debts in America; for that they, the ministry, will see their debts paid by forfeiting American estates. Thus we may account for the meaning of tlie intercepted letter lately published in the Virginia Gazette, wherein the factor is desired to make out a list of debts and send them to Scotland; and thus these harpies, after having already pillaged a great part of the property of Virginia, are now making out accoimts, under court auspices, by which all the remaining property of the country is to become theirs. — Pennsylvania Evening Post (May 14, 1776).
April 29 — A committee that included Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll arrived in Montreal to encourage Canadians to join the Patriot Cause. The Canadians, being Catholic and French-speaking, were not convinced and remained loyal to the Crown.
