Timeline
February 1 — Lord Germain’s Plan for Subjugation of the Colonies
The plan which Lord George Germain has laid down for the operations of the next campaign in North America, is for the main army to take the march along the line of coast, and utterly to destroy every city, town, and village, on both sea and great rivers, to which a ship of any burden can come up, which will entirely cut off all the naval designs of the Americans, and perhaps prove the .most effective means of putting an end to the war. Several members of the cabinet seconded the opinion, and it is imagined it will prove the prevailing one — Lord North is against it.
Letters by the packet declare, that on an epilogue being spoken by Ridesdale, after the Beggar’s Opera, which was acted in Dublin for a public charity, the audience were so much offended at a line in it, where the Americans were styled rebels, and made so great a disturbance, that the major thought it prudent to omit the exceptionable passage, when he spoke the epilogue again a few nights afterwards. — Middlesex Journal (February 23 and 29, 1776).
AHC Notes
- George Germain (1716–1785) — Germain was the 1st Viscount Sackville. He replaced William Legge, Lord Dartmouth, as Secretary of State for the Colonies in November 1775. Germain believed that military force was necessary to restore peace in the American Colonies, and he is often referred to as being the chief architect of the British war effort.
February 4 — Charles Lee Arrives in New York City
New York City — A detachment of the Continental Army under General Charles Lee occupied New York City just as the British Expedition led by General Henry Clinton arrived in the harbor.
The following appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on February 6, 1776:
This afternoon, between two and three o’clock, General Lee arrived at New York from the eastward. He was escorted into town by Captain Leary’s New York troop of light horse and a great number of the inhabitants. About the same time, General Clinton arrived from Boston, in the ship-of-war Mercury, in company with a transport brig. The Committee of Safety met immediately, and we expected something like a commencement of hostilities, but the mayor went on board the Mercury, where the general assured him that not a man is to be landed. Clinton is going to the southward, probably Virginia. Lee says he will send word on board the man-of-war, that if they set a house on fire in consequence of his coming, he will chain one hundred of their friends together by the neck, and make the house their funeral pile.
AHC Notes
- Charles Lee (1732–1782) — Lee was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He helped defend Charleston during the American victory at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island but fell out of favor with George Washington. Lee was critical of Washington, tried to help the British win the war, and was then relieved of command during the Battle of Monmouth.
- 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.
February 6 — Aftermath of the Burning of Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia — Colonel Robert Howe abandoned Norfolk, Virginia, after burning all remaining structures to the ground.
The following article appeared in the Constitutional Gazette on February 28, 1776.
The Virginia forces, under Colonel Howe, abandoned Norfolk this morning, after removing the poor inhabitants, with such effects as they could carry along with them, and demolishing the intrenchments, which Lord Dunmore threw up a little before he fled on board the fleet, now lying before that place. What few houses remained after the late bombardment were likewise destroyed, after being valued, to prevent the enemy’s taking shelter in them. Thus, in the course of five weeks, has a town which contained upwards of six thousand inhabitants, many of them in affluent circumstances, a place that carried on an extensive trade and commerce, consequently affording bread to many thousands, been reduced to ashes, and become desolate, through the wicked and cruel machinations of Lord North and the junto, aided by their faithful servants, my Lord Dunraore, with his motley army, and the renowned Captain Bellew, commodore of his Britannic Majesty’s fleet in Virginia, and his generous and valiant crew. Truly may it be now said,
“Never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc’d so deep.”
The troops are now stationed at Kemp’s Landing, the Great Bridge, and in and about Suffolk.
AHC Notes
- Robert Howe (1732–1786) — Howe was a North Carolina planter and Patriot who rose to the rank of Major General in the Continental Army. He held commands in both the Southern Department and the Hudson Highlands and presided over significant events such as the court-martial of John André and suppression of the New Jersey Mutiny. Despite military setbacks like the failed Florida Expedition and the Capture of Savannah, he remained an influential officer.
- Burning of Norfolk (January 1, 1776) — The Burning of Norfolk was the result of a British attack on the town that took place for roughly 25 hours. Nearly two-thirds of the buildings in Norfolk were destroyed by fires that were initially set by the British. However, American forces were responsible for most of the destruction after setting fire to buildings owned by Loyalists. American involvement was downplayed, and the incident was used to rally support for the Patriot Cause.
February 7 — Colonel William Alexander, Lord Stirling, arrived in New York City with 1,000 New Jersey troops to reinforce the American garrison.
AHC Notes
- William Alexander (1726–1783) — Alexander was a Major General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He rose to prominence for his brave defense of the American retreat at the Battle of Long Island and helped expose the Conway Cabal. He referred to himself as the Right Honorable William, Earl of Stirling, or Lord Stirling, because he believed he was the rightful heir to the title.
February 10 — Thoughts on Independence
The following is an extract from a letter that was written on February 10, 1776. It was printed in the New York Packet on April 3, 1776. The author was a member of the Virginia Convention.
Some people among us seem alarmed at the name of Independence, while they support measures and propose plans that comprehend all the spirit of it.
Have we not made laws, created courts of judicature, established magistrates, made money, levied war, and regulated commerce, not only without his Majesty’s intervention, but absolutely against his will? Are we not as criminal in the eye of Britain for what we have done as for what we can yet do? If we institute any government at all, for heaven’s sake, let it be the best we can.
We shall be as certainly hanged for a bad as a good one, for they will allow nothing for the waverings of filial tenderness. It will all be placed to the account of blundering ignorance. If, therefore, we incur the danger, let us not decline the reward.
In every other instance. Independence raises an idea in the mind that the heart grasps at with avidity, and a feeling soul never fails to be stricken and depressed with the very sound of dependence.
If in a private family the children, instead of being so educated as to take upon them the functions of good citizens, should be brought to years of maturity under the apparel, food, and discipline of infancy, what laws, natural or civil, would acquit the parents of the child of infamy and criminality? A set of great lounging infants tied to mamma’s apron at two-and-twenty, with long bibs and pap-spoons, would put a Sybarite to the blush.
Now, as every moral virtue or vice is vastly enhanced when considered in relation to a community as well as individuals, I insist upon it that he who would keep a community in a state of infantile dependence, when it became a fit member of the great republic of the world, would be vastly more criminal and infamous than the imaginary family mentioned before.
Whenever I have been an advocate for dependence, I have felt a conscious want of public virtue. I own it arises from laziness in me. I was willing to brush through life as I began it, and to leave the rooting out the thorns and thistles, as well as the harvest of the laurels, to posterity, and this, I think, was the case of most of us; but now that we have gone through the rough work, to desert the glorious prospect it opens to us, would be heretical, damnable, and abominable, even to a sensible Pope.
It is a duty of much moment to us as men, and of the last degree of magnitude as citizens, to maintain, at every risk, a perfect independence of every thing but good sense, good morals, good laws, good government, and our good Creator.
AHC Notes
- Virginia Convention — The Virginia Convention was the Patriot government that opposed and then replaced Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor, and the House of Burgesses. The First Virginia Convention was convened in 1774 to protest the Intolerable Acts and to show support for the people of Boston.
February 14 — Attack on Dorchester
Boston — About four o’clock this morning, a large party of ministerial butchers, supposed to be about one thousand, were discovered crossing the ice from Boston Neck to Dorchester Neck. The sentry immediately discharged his piece at them, and ran for the guard house to inform Captain Barnes, (commander of the guard,) who had aleady taken the alarm by the sentries firing their pieces; and, from inforamtion he could get of the course they were steering, judged their design was to cut offf the retreat of the guard, which consisted only of sixty men.
Captain Barnes immediately marched his guard off the neck to the edge of the marsh, and just escaped them, and lest the guns that had just been fired should not alarm the camp, he sent off several messengers.
The enemy marched along with two field-pieces, and posted themselves in so advantageous a manner, that Captain Barnes could not attack them with the least hope of success, and he was obliged to wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
In the mean time the cut-throats improved every minute of their time in setting fire to the buildings on Dorchester Neck, while they still moved toward the castle, where boats were ready to receive them. But our troops were so close upon them, that they put out the fire of six or seven of the buildings, and gained the point next to the castle, before the sons of Belial had reached their lines. They made prisoners of six of the guard and one old man, an inhabitant. — Pennsylvania Journal (March 6, 1776).
AHC Notes
- Pennsylvania Journal — First published by William Bradford in 1742, the Journal supported the Patriot Cause. Bradford famously printed a masthead with the “emblem of the Effects of the Stamp Act” on October 31, 1765, the day before the Stamp Act took effect. He also printed key documents issued by the Continental Congress and Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis.
February 15 — Lieutenant Colonel Donald MacDonald organized 1,400 Loyalist Highlanders at Cross Creek, North Carolina, and started marching to the coast, where he intended to join British forces that were on their way from Ireland. Roughly one-third of MacDonald’s men were armed.
February 16 — General George Washington met with his officers in Cambridge and proposed sending the Continental Army across the frozen waters of Boston Harbor to attack British forces. The officers disagreed and suggested seizing Dorchester Heights and placing the newly arrived artillery there and at other locations around Boston. This move was intended to force General William Howe to either leave his defensive positions and fight or evacuate the city. Washington agreed with the proposal to seize Dorchester Heights.
February 17 — Congress appointed General Charles Lee to succeed General Philip J. Schuyler as head of the Northern Department.
AHC Notes
- Philip Schuyler (1733–1804) — A wealthy New York patroon and one of the four original major generals of the Continental Army. He played a key role in the American victory in the Battle of Saratoga and in maintaining relations with the Six Nations.
February 17 — First Cruise of the Continental Navy
Commodore Esek Hopkins, having sailed from Philadelphia a month earlier, finally reached open water with a small squadron of eight armed and refitted merchant ships. On this first cruise of the Continental Navy were the Alfred (24-gun frigate), the Columbus (20-gun frigate), the Cabot (14-gun brig), the Andrew Doria (14-gun brig), the sloops Providence and Hornet, and the schooners Fly and Wasp. Hopkins was ordered by Congress to drive Lord Dunmore’s fleet out of the Chesapeake and search the southern coastline for British privateers. Hopkins, at his own discretion, decided to attack Nassau in the Bahamas.
February 18 — A Loyalist force of 1,500 men under Lieutenant Colonel Donald MacDonald, en route to Brunswick, North Carolina, engaged Patriot forces at Rockfish Creek. The Loyalists used boats to cross the river upstream and continued on their march.
February 19 — Cornwallis’s Expedition
Annapolis, Maryland — This day, the ship Hope, from Bristol, in England, arrived at Annapolis. By her we learn, that Lord Cornwallis, with five regiments, was to sail about the middle of December last, to rendezvous in Virginia, and a part or all of his forces to proceed to South Carolina. Cornwallis is to resign the command when at Williamsburg (if he ever arrives there) to General Clinton, and is there to act under that officer, or command a detachment, as the exigency of affairs may require.
The commissioners would sail about the middle of January, and were to be followed by as large an armament of ships and troops as was possible for Britain to raise in her present state. The ministry breathe nothing but murder, and it is thought that the commissioners are only sent out as a stop-gap, while they have time to raise troops or try the arts of corruption.
Among the commissioners, it is said, are Lord Howe, Lord Littleton, Captain Barrington, Governor Pownal, Governors Johnston and Gage, who are all to come out in an eighty or ninety gun ship. — Constitutional Gazette (March 2, 1776).
AHC Notes
- 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.
February 23 — The Condition of America
The following is an extract of a letter written on February 23, 1776, which was printed in the Middlesex Journal on March 30.
Whatever may be reported by the ministerial agents spread through the country, rest assured that the accounts of American weakness contain not one syllable of truth. The Congress have in nothing taken greater pains than in making themselves perfect masters of the resources of the whole continent; they know that matter completely, and having gained it, upon the very best authority have rejected the offers they have certainly received, both from France and Spain.
It is no secret at Philadelphia that such offers were made; the agents were known, and they had several repeated conferences upon the offers they brought from the house of Bourbon, to become mediators in the quarrel between England and her colonies. What the answer precisely was, is not known; but the offers were certainly civilly refused for the present, till the further conduct of the mother country should be experienced.
Certain it is there is no apprehension in any part of America, of not being able to resist the whole force of Great Britain; and this confidence is founded on the determination to sacrifice every city of America to the same fate which Norfolk has experienced, rather than to submit to political permanent evils, esteemed much worse evils than any that can accrue from the passing mischiefs of burning and destroying.
They have certainly objects at stake of much greater consideration than houses and towns, and they will defend them upon that idea. Besides, if government was to be successful in conquering, in what manner are the Americans to be kept in subjection?
Nothing less than an army, almost equal to that which effects the conquest, could do this; and what would be the benefit of these provinces to Great Britain, kept in such a manner and at such an expense? No truth appears clearer to the best informed people in all parts of America, than the absurdity of the conduct of the British Parliament and Ministry.
February 23 — Loyalists under Lieutenant Colonel Donald MacDonald advanced toward Brunswick, North Carolina, but were blocked by Patriot militia under Colonel Richard Caswell at Corbett’s Ferry. MacDonald’s men built a temporary bridge across the Black River and continued their march. MacDonald, who was 80 years old, fell ill and was replaced by Captain Alexander Macleod.
February 24 — Impact of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
This critique of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, was printed in the Constitutional Gazette on February 24, 1776:
The pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” is indeed a wonderful production. It is completely calculated for the meridian of North America. The author introduces a new system of politics, as widely different from the old as the Copernican system is from the Ptolemaic.
The blood wantonly spilt by the British troops at Lexington gave birth to this extraordinary performance, which contains as surprising a discovery in politics as the works of Sir Isaac Newton do in philosophy.
This animated piece dispels, with irresistible energy, the prejudice of the mind against the doctrine of independence, and pours in upon it such an inundation of light and truth, as will produce an instantaneous and marvellous change in the temper — in the views and feelings of an American.
The ineffable delight with which it is perused, and its doctrines imbibed, is a demonstration that the seeds of independence, though imported with the troops from Britain, will grow surprisingly with proper cultivation in the fields of America.
The mind indeed exults at the thought of a final separation from Great Britain, whilst all its prejudices and enchanting prospects in favor of a reconciliation, like the morning cloud, are chased away by the heat and influence of this rising luminary, and although the ties of affection and other considerations have formerly bound this country in a threefold cord to Great Britain, yet the connexion will be dissolved, and the gordion knot be cut. “For the blood of the slain, the voice of weeping nature cries it is time to part.”
AHC Notes
- Thomas Paine (1737–1908) — Paine was a Founding Father, a philosopher of the American Revolution, and a true revolutionary. His essays and pamphlets, especially Common Sense, were noted for their plain language and resonated with the common people of America, rousing them to rally behind the movement for independence. Following the American Revolutionary War, Paine immigrated to Europe, where the British government declared him an outlaw for his anti-monarchist views, and where he actively participated in the French Revolution.
February 27 — Expansion of the Continental Army
Philadelphia — The Second Continental Congress established the Northern, Middle, and Southern Departments for the Continental Army.
February 27 — Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge
February 27 — An American force of 1,900 men under Colonels James Moore, Alexander Lillington, John Ashe, and Richard Caswell confronted 1,500 Scottish Loyalists under Captain Donald MacLeod at Moore’s Creek Bridge, near Wilmington, North Carolina.
Macleod and his men assaulted the bridge, only to find that the the Patriors had removed the planks and greased the poles to prevent a crossing. The Patriots, who were in hiding, fired on the Loyalists, killing Macleod and 30 of his men. The Americans suffered one killed and one wounded in the short battle.
The defeat forced the British to abandon plans for establishing Wilmington as a base of operations and prevented Governor Josiah Martin from reestablishing his government. With the Loyalists defeated, General William Howe sent General Henry Clinton further south to attack Charleston. This led to the Battle of Sullivan’s Island (June 28, 1776).
The following report on the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on March 22, 1776, and the New York Packet on March 28:
This morning, the North Carolina minute men and militia, under the command of Brigadier-General James Moore, had an engagement with the Tories, at Widow Moore’s Creek bridge.
At the break of day, an alarm gun was fired, immediately after which, scarcely leaving the Americans a moment to prepare, the Tory army, with Captain McCloud at their head, made their attack on Colonels Caswell and Lillington, posted near the bridge, and finding a small intrenchment vacant, concluded that the Americans had abandoned their post. With this supposition, they advanced in a most furious manner over the bridge.
Colonel Caswell had very wisely ordered the planks to be taken up, so that, in passing, they met with many difficulties. On reaching a point within thirty paces of the breastworks, they were received with a very heavy fire, which did great execution. Captains McCloud and Campbell were instantly killed, the former having nine bullets and twenty-four swan shot through and into his body.
The insurgents retreated with the greatest precipitation, leaving behind them some of their wagons, &c. They cut their horses out of the wagons and mounted three upon a horse. Many of them fell into the creek and were drowned.
Tom Rutherford ran like a lusty fellow: — both he and Felix Keenan were in arms against the Carolinians, and they by this time are prisoners, as is Lieutenant-Colonel Cotton, who ran at the first fire.
The battle lasted three minutes. Twenty-eight of the Tories, besides the two captains, are killed or mortally wounded, and between twenty and thirty taken prisoners, among whom is his Excellency General Donald McDonald. Thus, we think, will effectively put a stop to Toryism in North Carolina.
AHC Notes
- Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge (February 27, 1776) — Fought between the United Colonies and Great Britain, near Wilmington, North Carolina, during the American Revolution. It was the first battle of the war that took place in North Carolina, and also the first battlefield victory for American forces in the war.
- Richard Caswell (1729–1789) — Caswell was a prominent North Carolina Patriot during the American Revolution. He is most famous for being the first Governor of North Carolina.
- John Ashe (1720–1781) — Ashe was a soldier and politician from North Carolina who led Patriot forces in the early part of the American Revolutionary War. Ashe contributed to the key victory at Moore’s Creek Bridge in 1776 but was embarrassed by British forces at the Battle of Briar Creek in 1779.
February 28 — General George Washington wrote a letter to Phillis Wheatley, thanking her for a poem she wrote in his honor.
AHC Notes
- Phyllis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) — Wheatley was a poet who became the first African American to have their work published in America. Captured in Africa as a child and enslaved in Boston, she received her education in the Wheatley household and produced poetry that impressed readers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her diverse work, which touched on religious themes, patriotic messages, and race.
February 29 — Congress deliberated the chances of establishing formal trade agreements with France and Spain, knowing this could only work if independence was achieved. Although the debate lasted for several hours, there was no clear resolution.
