This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, rumors and anxieties swirl over reports that 12,000 Hessian mercenaries from Germany are on their way to support British lines. At the same time, the Colony of Rhode Island was the first to declare independence while a meeting of delegates in Virginia is moving toward the same motion.
On May 10, 1776, General George Washington writes his cousin and manager of his estate of Mount Vernon Lund Washington, informing his manager, cousin, and friend that “I am not able to form any idea of the time of my return.” He then thoroughly outlines the repayment procedure he expects of Lund for various debts to other neighboring estates or business partners. He finishes, “The many matters which hang heavy upon my hands at present do not allow me time…”
On May 11, in response to fears over the arrival of thousands of Hessians, Washington proposes to John Hancock “may it not be advisable and good policy to raise some companies of our Germans to send among ‘em when they arrive, for spirit of disaffection and desertion?” Washington hopes bands of German-speaking American soldiers can convince the Hessians to either stand down or switch sides.
On May 12, Washington’s General Orders inform carpenters, boat builders, and painters in New York to be ready the next morning at sunrise. They are being called upon to assist in the fortification efforts of the city.
On May 13, John Adams speaks in front of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The delegate from Massachusetts calls on Pennsylvania to not dismantle their government, but to for a new one, separate from the Crown. He adds, “We can’t go upon stronger reasons, than that the King has thrown us out of his protection. Why should we support governments under his authority?”
Pushes away from the authority of the Kingdom of Great Britain seemed to be spawning across the empire, with the town of Maugerville, Nova Scotia voting against the rule of the Crown. In a meeting attended by most residents of the Canadian settlement, eight resolutions were passed to both condemn rulings by the British Parliament and express desire to be under the government of Massachusetts, formally requesting protection from the Commonwealth. The people of Maugerville voted to “share with them the event of the present struggle for liberty.”
The next day, in response to Rhode Island’s formal declaration of independence, the Fifth Virginia Convention meets in Williamsburg. Delegates from across the colony vote unanimously “to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependency upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain.”
That same day, the motion John Adams had been advocating for was passed by the Congress, though the delegation from Maryland left the vote in protest. The passage of this “preamble” would serve as the foundation of a later certain declaration. On the vote, Adams would say, “This day the Congress has passed the most important resolution that ever was taken in America.”
This Week in Revolutionary War History
By Sam Bishop