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A celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence via events, exhibits, and presentations throughout 2026 This is an apolotical page for positive celebration only

10/13/2026

On October 13, 1776, the final day of the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, British forces pursued and destroyed or captured the remaining American fleet commanded by General Benedict Arnold.

Key Events of October 13, 1776:

• The Scuttle and Retreat: After slipping past the British blockade in the fog the night before, Arnold's exhausted and damaged American fleet was caught up by the British near Split Rock.

• Running Aground: To keep the vessels out of enemy hands, Arnold ran his remaining small craft and his flagship, the Congress, aground on the New York/Vermont shore, stripped them of weapons and supplies, and set them ablaze.

• March to Crown Point: About 200 surviving American crew members marched overland to Fort Crown Point. Finding the position untenable, Arnold ordered the fort destroyed and retreated further south to Fort Ticonderoga.

• Strategic Outcome: Although it was a tactical defeat and a loss of ships, the heavy resistance bought by Arnold's fleet stalled General Guy Carleton's British invasion force, pushing the campaign into winter and saving the strategic Hudson River valley for that year.

10/12/2026

On October 12, 1776, British General William Howe launched an amphibious flanking maneuver during the American Revolutionary War, landing 4,000 British and Hessian troops at Throgs Neck in the Bronx, New York, to trap George Washington's Continental Army on Manhattan Island.

10/11/2026

The Battle of Valcour Island took place on October 11, 1776, marking one of the earliest naval engagements of the American Revolutionary War.

Key Details

• Location: Valcour Bay on Lake Champlain, between New York and Vermont.

• Commanders:
• American Force: Brigadier General Benedict Arnold
• British Force: General Guy Carleton and Captain Thomas Pringle

• The Action: Arnold positioned a smaller, hastily built American fleet in a narrow strait to ambush and stall a vastly superior British invasion fleet.

• The Outcome: The Americans lost most of their ships and suffered around 60 casualties, but the fierce resistance successfully delayed the British advance southward for the winter. This delay gave Patriot ground forces critical time to fortify their position and eventually win the Battles of Saratoga.

10/10/2026

On October 10, 1776, Connecticut formally ratified the Declaration of Independence and resolved to continue civil government under its existing 1662 royal charter.

10/09/2026

On October 9, 1776, two major historical events occurred on opposite coasts of North America:

• The Founding of San Francisco: On the West Coast, Spanish Franciscan missionaries Father Francisco Palóu and Father Pedro Benito Cambón officially dedicated Mission San Francisco de Asís (popularly known as Mission Dolores). This date marks the official founding of the city of San Francisco, California. The mission's chapel, completed later in 1791, remains the oldest intact building in the city.

• The Battle for New York (Hudson River Engagement): On the East Coast, amid the American Revolutionary War, British Royal Navy warships (Phoenix, Roebuck, and Tartan) forced their way up the Hudson River. They successfully bypassed the American artillery garrisons at Fort Washington (Manhattan) and Fort Lee (New Jersey). During this action, the British inflicted several American casualties and destroyed numerous colonial vessels, including a transport ship carrying the early American submarine, the Turtle.

10/08/2026

On October 8, 1776

• Military Orders: General Nathanael Greene ordered that soldiers' barracks be built at least 50 rods (825 feet) away from the fort or past Dead Bridge Brook in New Jersey/New York areas.
•
Correspondence: John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, describing the grim military retreats from Long Island and New York, while condemning public avarice and venality as major threats to the American cause.

• A Death in Camp: Philip Vickers Fithian, serving as a chaplain for a New Jersey militia regiment, passed away after contracting dysentery.

10/07/2026

On October 7, 1776, • The newly formed Commonwealth of Virginia officially began its legislative session at the Capitol in Williamsburg, marking a major step in the transition to constitutional self-government.

Military Actions: British warships bombarded and burned the town of Bristol, Rhode Island, heightening tensions a

10/06/2026

On October 6, 1776, General George Washington wrote a letter from the Heights of Harlem to his cousin Lund Washington, detailing British ship movements on the North River and a recent skirmish to secure grain supplies.

Washington noted that British forces had moved ships up the North River near New York, expecting a potential attack on American positions.

A successful Continental Army operation deployed 1,000 men to retrieve grain under the threat of British troop movements.

The Continental Congress hardened its stance against Loyalist sympathizers, moving to arrest individuals deemed dangerous to American liberties.

William Shepard was officially commissioned as colonel of the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment.

10/05/2026

On October 5, 1776, General George Washington wrote a critical letter to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, detailing the severe crisis and near-dissolution facing the Continental Army in New York amidst the Revolutionary War.

10/04/2026

On October;, 1776, • Continental Congress Action: Meeting in Philadelphia, the Journals of the Continental Congress record that they received a petition from the officers and crew of the brig Andrew Doria. Congress resolved to have Philadelphia agents calculate estimates for captured prize ships so the crew could be paid. They also reviewed letters sent by General George Washington.

• Movements at Fort Ticonderoga: Colonel Anthony Wayne (stationed at Fort Ticonderoga, New York) wrote a detailed letter to Sharp Delany describing the freezing, wet conditions his 4th Pennsylvania Battalion faced while living in tents and reinforcing the fort's earthworks ahead of an anticipated British advance.

• The New York Campaign: General William Howe dispatched a letter to General George Washington amidst the ongoing, tense maneuvers of the New York and New Jersey campaign.

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7 Waverly Avenue
Portland, CT
06480

Telephone

+12038874018

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