War in Canada, Virginia, and on the Seas
October 2 — Piscataqua Prize
This evening arrived in the Piscataqua river a ship from England intended for Boston. It appears that yesterday she was in company with the Raven man-of-war, bound to the same place, but parted with her in the night.
Meeting a fisherman at the eastward of Cape Ann, the captain inquired the course to Boston. The honest fisherman, pointing towards the Piscataqua, said, “There is Boston.” The crew shaped their course accordingly and soon found themselves under the guns of a battery lately erected by the people of New Hampshire.
The commander of the battery, with a number of men, very humanely went on board to pilot the ship up to Portsmouth. “I cannot go there,” said the captain of the ship, “I am bound to Boston.” “But you must,” replied the other. Then he ordered her to get underway, and soon carried her safe alongside a wharf, where she is taken proper care of.
She has been out eleven weeks from Bristol, in England, and has on board eighteen hundred barrels, and four hundred half barrels, of flour, intended for the use of the besieged army in Boston. — Holt’s Journal (October 12, 1775).
- John Holt (1721–1784) — Holt was a prominent newspaper publisher from Williamsburg, Virginia. His most famous publication was the New York Journal or General Advertiser, or Holt’s Journal. Holt was a member of the New York Sons of Liberty, who helped support his printing operation. He fled New York City when British forces approached it in 1776. He resumed printing operations in Kingston until British forces attacked and burned the town during Clinton’s Highlands Expedition (1777). He resumed publication at Poughkeepsie and died in 1784.
October 3 — Call for a Continental Navy
Philadelphia — Rhode Island delegates at the Continental Congress suggested the construction of a Continental Navy — the first formal call for a national naval force.
October 3 — Vrendenburgh the Barber
The thanks of the worthy New York Sons of Liberty, in solemn congress assembled, were this night voted, and unanimously allowed to be justly due to Jacob Vrendenburgh, barber, for his firm, spirited, and patriotic conduct in refusing to complete an operation vulgarly called shaving, which he had begun on the face of Captain John Croser, commander of the Empress of Russia, one of his Majesty’s transports, now lying in the river; but most fortimately and providentially was informed of the identity of the gentleman’s person when he had about half finished the job.
It is most devoutly to be wished that all gentlemen of the razor will follow this wise, prudent, interesting, and praiseworthy example, so steadily, that every person who pays due allegiance to his Majesty, and wishes peace, happiness, and unanimity to the colonies, may have his beard to grow as long as ever was king Nebuchadnezzar’s. — Upcott Collection of Newspaper Extracts, Vol. 4.
- William Upcott Collection of Newspaper Extracts — A collection of newspaper articles from the era, primarily from British printers.
October 4 — Congress established a committee with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch, and Benjamin Harrison to visit General George Washington at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upon arrival, they asked him about the status of military preparations and encouraged him to capture Boston by December if possible.
October 4 — Dr. Benjamin Church, head of the army medical corps, was court-martialed for treason, having corresponded with the British, and dismissed. He became the first American soldier condemned for acting against the United States. However, General Washington referred the matter of punishment to Congress. Church was replaced by Dr. John Morgan, who supported widespread inoculation of troops against smallpox.
October 4 — An American Parliament
A correspondent at London says, “It is under consideration to form a parliament, or general council, for all the provinces in America, something similar to that of Ireland; the governors and some particular officers to form an upper house.” With due thanks to our aged mother, now debilitated in her mental faculties, for her solicitude in forming a government for us, we would desire her to spare herself that trouble. We, being now of age to manage our own business, shall take care to form a government for ourselves, in which we want no one to interpose, though we shall always have a dutiful regard to our mother, desire to be upon good terms with her, and render her all the help that is consistent with the necessary care of our freedom and interest — which is as much as any reasonable, affectionate mother can expect or desire. — Holt’s Journal (October 5, 1775).
October 5 — Congress authorized General Washington to recruit Marines and sailors for his small fleet of warships off Boston. This was the first instance of “marines” being specifically mentioned by an official body.
October 6 — Colonel Benedict Arnold’s Expedition sailed up the Kennebec River and reached the Norridgewock Falls, where his men had to carry their heavy boats and all supplies.
October 6 — Kearsley’s Plot Discovered
Philadelphia — The infamous Dr. Kearsley of Philadelphia, not content with his late triumphal procession for his enmity [hostility] to this country, has made a further attempt to injure it today was happily discovered. Some letters of his were intercepted in a vessel bound from here to London, which were filled with the most villainous invectives and scandalous misrepresentations of the first characters in this country, and the public proceedings.
This so enraged the people in general that if it had not been for the humanity of some gentlemen who conducted him to gaol [jail], he would possibly have been very roughly handled. He is as sulky as when exalted on the cart, glories in the mischief he still hopes to do this country, and refuses to give any satisfaction.
This ungrateful son of Galen has acquired a considerable fortune by his practice in Philadelphia, and in manufacturing Keyser’s Pills, which are sold for genuine by a certain Tory bibliopolist in a neighboring province.
- Dr. John Kearsley Jr. was a prominent citizen of Philadelphia and a member of the American Philosophical Society. When the American Revolution started, he openly opposed the Patriot Cause. In 1774, he helped fight smallpox by offering free inoculation. However, in 1775, he conspired with other Loyalists to gather intelligence, which they intended to send to London, along with a request to send troops to Philadelphia. On October 6, 1775, the Committee of Safety intercepted the letters and arrested Kearsley. While he was transported to jail in a cart, a mob attacked and vandalized his home. He spent the next two years in prison, where he died in 1777.
October 7 — Bombardment of Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol, Rhode Island — Admiral Samuel Graves authorized British naval vessels to conduct raids along the New England coast to discourage American privateering operations. A small force under the command of Captain James Wallace arrived off Bristol, Rhode Island, and bombarded the town until it agreed to surrender 40 sheep. The British vessel, HMS Rose, then departed Bristol without further incident, but continued to harass Americans around Narragansett Bay. This incident is known as the Bombardment of Bristol or the Raid on Bristol.
The following letter appeared in the New York Gazette (October 23, 1775):
Yesterday afternoon appeared in sight of Bristol Harbor a very formidable fleet, consisting of sixteen sail, viz: three men-of-war, one bomb ketch, and other armed vessels, all of which, excepting the Glasgow, which ran ashore at Papaquash Point, drew up in a line of battle from one end of the town to the other.
Soon after they had moored, a barge came from the Rose to the head of a wharf, with the lieutenant, who asked if there were any gentlemen on the wharf? William Bradford, being present, answered yes; whereupon the lieutenant informed him that Captain Wallace had a demand to make on the town, and desired that two or three of the principal men, or magistrates, of the town would go on board his ship, within an hour, and hear his proposals; otherwise hostilities would be commenced against the town.
The above gentleman replied, as a magistrate, that, in his opinion, Captain Wallace was under a greater obligation to come ashore and make his demands known to the town, than for the magistrates to go on board his ship to hear them; and added, that if Captain Wallace would come to the head of the wharf the next morning, he should be treated as a gentleman, and the town would consider of his demands.
With this answer, the lieutenant returned on board the Rose. The inhabitants, being made acquainted with the above association, repaired to the wharf and waited with the utmost impatience for a reply from Captain Wallace, till an hour had expired, when the whole fleet began a most heavy cannonading, and the bomb vessel to bombard and heave shells and carcases into the town; which continued, without intermission an hour and a half.
In the mean time, Colonel Potter, in the hottest of the fire, went upon the head of the wharf, hailed the Rose, went on board, and requested a cessation of hostilities, till the inhabitants might choose a committee to go on board and treat with Captain Wallace; which request was complied with; and six hours were allowed for the above purpose.
Colonel Potter returned and made a report to the committee of inspection, who chose a select committee to hear Captain Wallace’s demands, which, after they had gone on board. Captain Wallace informed them were a supply of two hundred sheep and thirty fat cattle. This demand, the committee replied, it was impossible to comply with; for the country people had been in and driven off their stock, saving a few sheep and some milch cows.
After some hours had expired, during the negotiation, without coming to any agreement. Captain Wallace told them: “I have this one proposal to make: if you will promise to supply me with forty sheep, at or before twelve o’clock, I will assure you that another gun shall not be discharged.”
The committee, seeing themselves reduced to the distressing alternative, either to supply their most inveterate enemy with provisions, or to devote to the flames the town, with all the goods, besides near one hundred sick persons, who could not be removed without the utmost hazard of their lives; I say, seeing themselves reduced to this dreadful dilemma of two evils, reluctantly chose the least, by agreeing to supply them with forty sheep at the time appointed, which was punctually performed.
The Reverend Mr. John Burt, having been confined to his house by the camp distemper, when the cannonading began, left his habitation to seek some place of safety, and today was found dead in a neighboring field. It is conjectured that, being overcome with fear and fatigue, he fell down and was unable to raise himself up, and so expired. A child of Captain Timothy Ingraham, having been removed in the rain, is also dead.
What equally challenges our admiration and gratitude to God is that no more lives were lost, or persons hurt, by such an incessant and hot fire; the streets being full of men, women, and children, the whole time. The shrieks of the women, the cries of the children, and the groans of the sick would have extorted a tear from even the eye of a Nero.
October 8 — A council of General Officers declared that African Americans, neither free nor slave, would not be allowed to join the Continental Army. Shortages of soldiers would eventually force them to change the policy.
October 8 — Governor William Campbell Flees
Charleston — Lord William Campbell, Govemor of South Carolina, has fled with the utmost precipitation on board the man-of-war in the harbor; the committee of Charleston having very fortunately discovered that his excellency had employed one Cameron, an Indian commissary in the interior parts of that province, to engage the Indians in the ministerial service. He had actually enlisted six hundred of them, and furnished them with every necessary in order to butcher the inhabitants of the back country. This plan was discovered by a gentleman who seized the express on its way from said Cameron to the Governor, whom he knew to be disaffected to the American cause, and conveyed the despatches to the provincial committee. The gentleman disguised himself in a drover’s habit, and attended the express to the governor’s house, heard the conversation between them, and then discovered the whole plot to the committee. — Gaine’s Mercury (October 9, 1775).
- Drover’s Habit — A drover is someone who works in the beef industry. In this case, the “gentleman” was dressed as a cattle herder.
- Hugh Gaine (c. 1726–1807) — A New York printer who published the New York Mercury and the New York Royal Gazette. He held a neutral view of the American Revolution, which created conflicts with Loyalists and Patriots. In November 1775, the New York Sons of Liberty threatened to destroy his print shop. During the war, Gaine’s position shifted, depending on who was perceived to be winning.
October 10 — General Thomas Gage sailed back to London. He was replaced as commander-in-chief by General William Howe.
- William Howe (1729–1814) — A veteran of the French and Indian War, Howe was a cautious yet skilled British officer. He played a central role early in the war, leading British forces during the Siege of Boston, the New York Campaign, the New Jersey Campaign, and the Philadelphia Campaign. Despite notable victories, his strategic hesitations, logistical challenges, and flawed leadership hindered British success and led to his removal.
October 10 — The armed schooner Hannah under Captain Nicholson Broughton encountered Captain John Collins of the British sloop HMS Nautilus and fled to Beverly Harbor, Massachusetts, grounding there. The tide quickly ebbed, and while Nautilus tried to escape, it also ran ashore. Militiamen under Colonel Henry Herrick fired on the British vessel for four hours before it refloated and escaped with one killed and one wounded.
October 11 — Reverend Ezra Stiles recorded in his journal: “…the News from Europe is that the Court of Great Britain are hiring 4000 Hanoverians & a Body of Russians to come to America; & that the Ministry continue obstinately fixed for prosecuting their plan of subjugating America.”
October 12 — Hearing of ongoing financial issues in Congress, General Washington cautioned members not to reduce soldiers’ pay, fearing it would trigger an angry backlash.
October 12 — Holt’s Journal reported: It is said General Gage has actually sailed from Boston for England: — General Howe, since he took command of the butchering army, in order to show his skill in the art militaire, on Friday last began a smart cannonade, when ninety-three shot were fired from the several batteries at Boston on the army at Roxbury, without doing any other damage than wounding one man in the arm and killing two cows.
October 12 — The Virginia Gazette reported: A party of young men in London lately went to one of the temporary cook-shops in Covent Garden, when one of them said to his companions: — “I’ll show you how the Americans intend to serve Boston. Yon must suppose that pan over the charcoal fire to be the town, and the sausages in it to be General Gage and the king’s troops; and then,” says he, “they will he served thus” — when he threw a paper with some gunpowder in it under the pan, which immediately blew the sausages, etc., into the air. “There,” cries he, “now you may see where Boston is, and also how the Americans will leave General Gage and his soldiers to fly without wings!” He then gave the woman a guinea for the loss of her goods, and left her very well satisfied about the matter.
October 13 — The debate over the establishment of an American Navy carried on in Congress and was, according to John Adams, “loud and vehement.”
- Congress authorized Colonel John Glover to convert several transport vessels into warships and also approved the construction of two armed warships as the core of a new Navy.
- Congress appointed a Marine committee consisting of Silas Deane, Christopher Gadsden, and John Langdon to oversee the Navy. These actions officially established the United States Navy.
- Congress authorized the purchase of two ships: Katy, from Rhode Island, and Minerva, from Connecticut.
October 17 — Burning of Falmouth
Royal Navy warships HMS Canceaux, eight guns, and Halifax, six guns, under Captain Henry Mowat, dropped anchor off Falmouth (Portland, Maine), Massachusetts, and sent an ultimatum ashore, demanding the town’s surrender. When refused, Mowat bombarded the town for nine hours, and landing parties went ashore to complete the destruction. Ultimately, the fire engulfed 400 buildings and 15 vessels. The extent of destruction outraged New Englanders and increased resentment against Great Britain.
- Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Mowat and the Canceaux were at Falmouth. The Brunswick Militia captured him and held him prisoner for a brief time. Mowat was released, but was humiliated by the incident, which is known as “Thompson’s War.” Some historians believe Mowat’s Burning of Falmouth was in retaliation for his earlier treatment.
October 17–18 — Surrender of Fort Chambly
Quebec — The British position at Fort Chambly was defended by Major Joseph Stopford and 88 men. On the night of October 17, Major John Brown, Colonel James Livingston, and Colonel Timothy Bedel led troops in an attack on the small stone fort at Chambly, while American gunboats fired on the British. Stopford surrendered on October 18. The capture of Fort Chambly provided General Richard Montgomery with the gunpowder needed for a ground assault on Fort St. John.
- Afterward, morale among the troops improved, and Montgomery ordered the artillery batteries to be constructed on the north side of the fort.
- On the 18th, with the help of Canadians, the Americans captured the town of Chambly, nearly 90 British troops, and stores of gunpowder.
- By capturing Chambly, the Americans severed the British supply line that ran from Fort St. John to Quebec City.
October 18 — Governor William Tryon of New York escaped to the safety of HMS Duchess of Gordon in New York Harbor to avoid arrest. The ship served as his headquarters for most of the next year.
October 19 — Death of Michael Cresap
Yesterday, at New York, departed this life, of a fever, Michael Cresap, Esq., eldest son of Colonel Thomas Cresap, of Potomac, in Virginia, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. He was the captain of a rifle company now in the Continental Army before Boston. He served as a captain under the command of Lord Dunmore, in the late expedition against the Indians, in which he eminently distinguished himself, by his prudence, firmness, and intrepidity, as a brave officer; and in the present contest between the parent state and the colonies, gave proofs of his attachment to the rights and liberties of his country. He has left a widow and four children to deplore the loss of a husband and a father; and by his death his country is deprived of a worthy and esteemed citizen. Today he was interred at Trinity Church. His funeral was attended from his lodgings by the independent companies of militia, and the most respectable inhabitants, through the principal streets to the church. The grenadiers of the first battalion fired three volleys over his grave. The whole was conducted with great decency and in military form. — Rivington’s Gazette (October 28, 1775).
- Michael Cresap (1742–1775) — Cresap was a frontiersman from Oldtown, Maryland, who hunted and traded in the Ohio Country. In 1774, he led a militia force into the Ohio Country, with the intention of establishing settlements near present-day Wheeling, West Virginia. This led to Cresap’s War, a series of skirmishes with Native American Indians. An attack on a party of Indians at Yellow Creek (Yellow Creek Massacre), which included the wife and sister of Chief Logan, a Mingo warrior, was initially blamed on Cresap. The massacre triggered Lord Dunmore’s War.
- James Rivington (1724–1802) — Rivington was the publisher of a Loyalist newspaper called Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, or simply Rivington’s Gazette. This made him a target for the New York Sons of Liberty, who forced him to cease publication in 1783. Despite his public support for Britain, historians have speculated that he had ties to the Culper Spy Ring and provided intelligence to General George Washington.
October 19 — Punishment for the Patriots
London — An English paper says: “As every rebel who is taken prisoner in America has incurred the pain of death by the law martial, it is said government will charter several transports, after their arrival in Boston, to convey the culprits to the East Indies for the Company’s service; as it is the intention of the government to punish only the ringleaders and commanders capitally and to suffer the inferior rebels to redeem their lives by entering into the East India Company’s service. This translation will only render them more useful subjects than in their native country.” — How these traitors arrogantly presume upon the execution of their schemes of villainy, as if they possessed a real omnipotence, and could command future events. — Holt’s Journal (October 19, 1775).
October 22 — Death of Peyton Randolph
Philadelphia — On October 24, the Pennsylvania Journal reported: Last Sunday, died of an apoplectic stroke, at Philadelphia, in the sixty-third year of his age, the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq., of Virginia, late President of the Continental Congress, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses in Virginia; a gentleman who possessed the virtues of humanity in an eminent degree, and, joining with them the strongest judgment, was the delight of his friends in private life, and a most valuable member of society; having long filled, and with great ability and integrity discharged, the most honorable public trusts. To the truth of this, his family, his friends, and his country bear mournful testimony. This afternoon, his remains were removed from Mr. Benjamin Eandolph’s to Christ Church, where an excellent sermon on the mournful occasion was preached by the Rov. Mr. Duche, after which the corpse was carried to the burial ground, and deposited in a vault till it can be conveyed to Virginia.
October 23 — In Philadelphia, Congress upheld the ban on African Americans from serving in the Continental Army.
October 24–25 — Battle of Hampton
Hampton — Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore, landed six small ships at Hampton Creek, Virginia, in an attempt to destroy Norfolk. After bombarding and capturing nearby Hampton, they were met and driven off by riflemen led by Colonel William Woodford.
On November 9, Rivington’s Gazette reported:
After Lord Dunmore, with his troops and navy, had been for several weeks seizing the persons and property of his Majesty’s peaceable subjects in Virginia, on Wednesday night last (25th) a party from an armed tender landed near Hampton, and took away a valuable negro man slave and a sail from the owner; next morning there appeared off the mouth of Hampton River a large armed schooner, a sloop, and three tenders, with soldiers on board, and a message was received at Hampton from Captain Squires, on board the schooner, that he would that day land and bum the town; on which a company of regulars and a company of minute men, who had been placed there in consequence of former threats denounced against that place, made the best disposition to prevent their landing, aided by a body of militia who were suddenly called together on the occasion. The enemy accordingly attempted to land, but were retarded by some boats sunk across the channel for that purpose; upon this they fired several small cannon at the provincials, without any effect, who, in return, discharged their small arms so effectually, as to make the enemy move off, with the loss of several men, as it is believed; but they had, in the mean time, burnt down a house belonging to a Mr. Cooper, on that river.
On intelligence of this reaching Williamsburg, about nine at night, a company of riflemen was dispatched to the aid of Hampton, and the colonel of the second regiment was sent to take the command of the whole; who, with the company, arrived about eight o’clock next morning.
The enemy had, in the night, cut through the sunken boats and made a passage for their vessels, which were drawn up close to the town, and began to fire upon it soon after the arrival of the party from Williamsburg; but as soon as ovir men were so disposed as to give them a few shot, they went off so hastily that our people took a small tender with five white men, a woman, and two slaves, six swivels, seven muskets, some small arms and other things, a sword, pistols, and several papers belonging to a Lieutenant Wright, who made his escape by jumping overboard and swimming away, with Mr. King’s negro man. They are on shore, and a pursuit, it is hoped, may overtake them.
There were in the vessel two men mortally wounded; one is since dead, and the other near his end; besides which, nine men were seen to be thrown overboard from one of the vessels. We had not a man even wounded. The vessels went over to Norfolk, and the whole force from thence is intending to visit Hampton today. If they come, we hope our brave troops will be prepared for them.
October 25 — The Arnold Expedition struggled to cross the flooded countryside and freezing weather in the vicinity of Dead River. Colonel Roger Enos and his division of 300 men voted to abandon the mission and return to New England.
October 26 — General David Wooster reinforced the siege of Fort St. John with 335 Connecticut troops and was soon joined by Major Barnabas Tuthill with an additional 225 New Yorkers.
- 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.
October 27 — A congressional committee continued to organize the Continental Navy and recommended the construction or purchase of five frigates of 32 guns, five of 28 guns, and three with 24 guns.
October 28 — Arnold’s Expedition reached the divide between the St. Lawrence and Atlantic watersheds. Arnold decided to push forward toward Quebec City even though some of his men were reduced to eating dogs and shoe leather.
October 28 — General William Howe issued a proclamation forbidding all Boston inhabitants from leaving the city under penalty of death. Further, all men of military age were required to enroll in militia companies for the city’s defense.
October 28 — Retrieval of Captain Barnes’s Sloop
Rhode Island — Captain Barnes’s sloop, one of the four prizes taken by the Viper sloop-of-war, some time ago, has been retaken by the following strategem:
A midshipman and four men from the Viper were put on board, with two of Captain Barnes’s crew, and the master of another vessel, lately taken by the enemy, was shipped as a pilot.
Their orders were to carry the vessel to Boston, but, if separated from the others, to take her into Newport. They parted the first night, and the night following made Rhode Island.
The pilot was carrying her in at the east side, and on the midshipman’s expressing his surprise at not seeing the lighthouse, he was informed that the Sons of Liberty had burned it.
They soon came to an anchor at Howland’s Ferry; the midshipman inquired for the man-of-war, when the pilot, pointing to the lights on the shore, told him they were the ships.
Early next morning, the pilot, assisted by Captain Barnes, nailed up the companion door and beckoned a number of people on board from the shore, who released the pirates from their confinement and conducted them to headquarters on the island, from whence they were carried to Providence and safely lodged in gaol. — Constitutional Gazette (November 8, 1775).
October 30 — Battle of Longueuil
Quebec — General Guy Carleton, seeking to end the siege of Fort St. John, advanced with 800 soldiers and Native American Indians and tried to cross the St. Lawrence River at Longueuil, Quebec. Lieutenant Colonel Seth Warner and the Green Mountain Boys engaged Carleton, forcing him to withdraw.
- Guy Carleton (1724–1808) — Carleton was a prominent British officer and politician during the 18th Century. He is most famous in America for being the Governor of Quebec during the American Revolutionary War and commanding British forces during the Invasion of Canada (1775–1776).
- Seth Warner (1743–1784) — Warner was an officer in the Continental Army during the war and led the Green Mountain Boys. He led his men during the Canada Campaign and fought in the Battle of Hubbardton and the Battle of Bennington, which led to the surrender of the British army at Saratoga.
- Green Mountain Boys — A militia group formed by Ethan Allen and others to keep the New Hampshire Grants from becoming part of New York. During the American Revolutionary War, they captured Fort Ticonderoga. The group was eventually added to the Continental Army and commanded by Seth Warner.
October 30 — Arnold’s Expedition reached Sertigan, Quebec, where supplies were purchased for the hungry, exhausted soldiers.
October 30 — Establishment of the Continental Navy
Philadelphia — Congress authorized the construction of a 36-gun and a 20-gun frigate. It also expanded the Naval Committee by adding four new members: John Adams, Joseph Hewes, Stephen Hopkins, and Richard Henry Lee.
