THANK YOU SO MUCH, MY BELOVED PEEPS!

You made Rebellion 1776 a New York Times Bestseller. Huzzah!

#Rebellion1776 #RevWarDaily @ssedlib.bsky.social @simonkidsuk.bsky.social

a woman in a green dress is dancing on a stage next to another woman in a brown dress . ALT: a woman in a green dress is dancing on a stage next to another woman in a brown dress .

HUZZAH!!!! Thank you so much!!
#Rebellion1776 #RevWarDaily
@ssedlib.bsky.social

Sources:

1775 newspapers:
Boston Evening Post
Massachusetts Spy
Boston Gazette

Journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts

The Minutemen & Their World, updated, by Robert A. Gross

Natick Historical Society

Boston 1775 blog, by @boston1775.bsky.social

#RevWarDaily 7/7

But the war was drawing closer.

Militia men were training twice a week instead of four times a year. Patriot committees tried to find ways to make gunpowder, and spied on the British army.

And a Boston man was selling homemade buttons inscribed UNION AND LIBERTY IN ALL AMERICA.

#RevWarDaily 6/7

Also on King St, Elizabeth Perkins - recently widowed with 8 children - advertised "a fresh Parcel of choice CHESHIRE CHEESE" for sale.

A stone's throw from Elizabeth's store, newly widowed Rosanna Maxwell (no kids) was selling cheese from Rhode Island, spices, booze and more.

#RevWarDaily 5/7

(I'll post about Patience's incredible father next week)

What else was in the paper 250 years ago?

John Collier, an apprentice boy at a hairdressing shop in King Street, had run away from his job. His masters offered a five-shilling reward for his return.

#RevWarDaily 4/7

On Feb 23 Thomas was arrested for encouraging enslaved people in Natick to free themselves next time the militia was called out.

He was jailed in Concord until May, when a court ruled there was no evidence & freed him.

Boston 1775 has much more on the case! tinyurl.com/y4f8ey27

#RevWarDaily 3/7

Like Patience Nichols, whose husband accused her of fornication in the paper on Feb 13

Patience, mother of 3 young kids, was part of a free, mixed-race family in Natick, whose roots were Native American, African & European.

I bet her family was not happy with her husband.

#RevWarDaily 2/7

#RevWarDaily - Feb 13

You could write an entire novel based on just one day's news in Boston in early 1775.

I'm not talking about just The Big News; the British military occupation and growing resistance movement.

I'm focused on the day-to-day stories and lives of regular people. 1/7

Sources:

Papers of Benjamin Franklin franklinpapers.org

This Month in Physics History tinyurl.com/5xf6hf2e

Monticello blog tinyurl.com/49xeykmn

Harvard U Declaration Resources Project
tinyurl.com/pxfnwtv8

Instagram pic from @bfranklin_philly
tinyurl.com/vuskbmjj

#RevWarDaily 5/5

In a 1784 sly attack on the Cincinnati Society, Ben did criticize their use of a bald eagle in their insignia.

But this proves that he was a true son of Philadelphia who'd be rooting for the Eagles. Most of us are birds of bad moral character; we're from Philly, we don't care.

#RevWarDaily 4/5

When on the committee to design the official US seal, Ben wanted it to show Moses about to drown the Egyptian Pharaoh. Not a turkey or eagle.

John Adams wanted Hercules. Tom Jefferson sorta liked Ben's idea, but wanted Saxon kings on the other side.

Congress hated their designs.

#RevWarDaily 3/5

Ever the gastronome, Ben wondered if an electrocuted turkey would taste better than one killed with a hatchet.

In 1750, he set up his electrical apparatus to test this theory, but electrocuted himself, instead of the bird.

Bro tazed himself - BIG strike against turkeys.

#RevWarDaily 2/5

#RevWarDaily - Superbowl Sunday - Feb 9

Would Benjamin Franklin be rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Superbowl today?

Didn't he want a turkey to be the national symbol, instead of an eagle? Wouldn't that make him a Kansas City Chiefs fan?

Let's go to the sources!

1/5

Sources:

Pics from the National Park Service

Vital Records, Lexington MA

1759 Will of Moses Burdoo / Burdeet

1832 Pension application of Silas Burdoo

Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors in the US Revolution

BIPOC MONADNOCK blog www.bipocmonadnock.org/blog/burdoo

#RevWarDaily 5/5

After the war Silas & his brothers Moses & Aaron moved to NH. Silas moved on to Reading VT where he lived for 55 years, collecting his Revolutionary War pension for the last five of them.

Moses died young, but the heroic Amos Fortune helped his children.

We don't know Eli's fate.

#RevWarDaily 4/5

On Apr 19, 1775, Eli and Silas served in the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

The cousins fought the British at the North Bridge in Concord that morning, and again in the afternoon, as the British tried to escape back to Boston. Both served later in the war as well.

#RevWarDaily 3/

All the Burdoos of Lexington were born free, thanks to the incredible efforts of their grandparents in the early 1700s. Eli was raised on the family farm there by his Uncle Philip, surrounded by love.

He and his cousin Silas trained with the Lexington militia.

#RevWarDaily 2/

#RevWarDaily - Feb 7

Moses Burdoo, a free Black man of Lexington MA, fought for the British in Canada during the French & Indian war. So did his brother Aaron.

Moses wrote a heart-breaking will in 1759 as he lay dying near Quebec. He knew his death would leave his 4 yr old son Eli an orphan. 1/5

We have another big day coming up this Sunday - the Superbowl. #GoBirds.

That means it's time for me to find another theme for the Selected Sources portion of each #RevWarDaily post.

Let me know if you have any requests!

4/4

Since we're ten weeks away from April 19 (the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord), I'll be posting stories of the ordinary people trying to survive the extraordinary events of that day, like the Burdoo cousins, who I'll post about tomorrow.

#RevWarDaily 3/4

The farmers, teachers, blacksmiths, seamstresses, tavern keepers, widows, milkmaids, clerks, poets & dancing instructors back then loved their kids. They were frustrated by politics, confused about science and worried about the future. Just like us.

Their stories are important.

#RevWarDaily 2/4

#RevWarDaily - Feb 6

Most Americans are bored to death by the Revolutionary War. All they can remember are the names of a few battles run by a dude with wooden teeth, and rich politicians in funny wigs.

That's why I research and write about ordinary people, the families who made America.

1/4

I just came across Laurie Halse Anderson’s #RevWarDaily posts-wonderfully informative and engaging.

She’s also got a new book coming out - Rebellion1776! #america250

Sources:

First Family: George Washington's Heirs and the Making of America, by Cassandra A. Good

"John Parke Custis" by Mary V. Thompson tinyurl.com/yxxuv4cb

Photo: Kim Mento, whose students at Boyertown Middle School East students made that Eagle out of 183 Rubik's Cubes.

#RevWarDaily 5/5

Over the next seven years, the couple had seven children (incl twins), four of whom made it to adulthood. Jacky also fathered at least one son with an enslaved women whom he raped.

Jacky blew through much of his inheritance by the time he was 26, when died of dysentery.

#RevWarDaily 4/5

Jacky, a lazy, born-on-third-base failson, hated school. But he loved dogs, racing horses, and guns.

Most of all, he loved Eleanor Calvert. Against George Washington’s wishes, his stepson dropped out of college and got married on Feb 4, 1774.

Jacky was 20. Eleanor was 17.

#RevWarDaily 3/5

Jacky's bio-dad, Daniel Custis, died before the lad turned three.

When Washington married widow Martha Custis in 1759, Jacky was barely 4 years old. The boy was already an enslaver, having inherited nearly 300 enslaved people from his father, as well as land, houses & cash.

#RevWarDaily 2/5

#RevWarDaily - Feb 4

George Washington led America’s fight against the British for seven years, helping to create the United States of America.

But he couldn’t get his stepson, John "Jacky" Parke Custis, to do his homework.

In fact, he couldn't get the boy to do much of anything.

1/5

Sources:

Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...

Letters and diary of John Rowe, Boston merchant, 1759-1762, 1764-1779, by John Rowe, ed. Anne Rowe
archive.org/details/lett...

Eagle pic from the Elmwood Zoo in Norristown PA.
#GoBirds

#RevWarDaily 4/4