Captain Samuel Peck had a busy year in 1775. On May 1, 1775, he was commissioned as a captain in Colonel David Wooster’s 1st Connecticut Regiment. His regiment spent the summer on Long Island and in Harlem, then marched to Canada, stopping at Fort Ticonderoga along the way. After the siege and fall of Fort St. Jean, they traveled north to Montreal, then to the […]

On April 29, 1776—250 years ago today—the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table ordered that Colonel John Strong be paid 16 shillings, 6 pence “for Expence of a Guard from Chamblee with Prisoners”. The prisoners may have been Fort Chambly’s garrison of 84 soldiers and 100 women and children, who surrendered on October 18, 1775. Strong likely waited for up to six months to be […]

On April 20, 1776—250 years ago today—Captain John H. Wendell received his marching orders. Wendell was a lawyer and a lifelong resident of Albany, NY. When war came, like many of his Albany neighbors, Wendell chose to support the American cause. On March 1, 1776, he was commissioned as a captain in Colonel Cornelius Wynkoop’s 4th New York […]

Continental Army officers crisscrossed Pennsylvania in early 1776, working to recruit thousands of soldiers for the colony’s six new regiments. The quicker these soldiers could be found, the better, as they were needed urgently to reinforce the American army in New York City and in Canada. The recruiters filled their companies to fighting strength, but […]

On April 7, 1776—250 years ago today—Abigail Robbins Holcomb was trying to settle her late husband’s estate. In 1766, a month before her 18th birthday, she had married Timothy Holcomb. The couple settled in the northwestern corner of Connecticut and had at least four children together, although several died young. The Revolutionary War brought their life together to an abrupt halt and changed both of […]

In the early months of the Revolution, the majority of Americans were not fighting for independence. Many still saw themselves as British subjects loyal to King George III and believed that their quarrel was only with Parliament. They hoped to defend their rights with arms, then negotiate with Britain for a more equal union. As the war […]

On March 29, 1776—250 years ago today—the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table was at work. The committee was responsible for Connecticut’s military finances, authorizing payments for war expenses and settling accounts for supplies purchased by the government. Three members—Thomas Seymour, Ezekiel Williams, and Oliver Ellsworth— signed this order, which directs that Yale Bishop be paid for feeding sick riflemen who had been […]