Posted on by joelarch

June 30, 1776

The Plot to Kill George Washington

In June, 1776, details about the conspiracy to poison George Washington and decimate the leadership of the rebellion came to be known. The plot rested on convincing members of Washington’s most trusted retinue to turn against him.

“General Washington was among the first that were to be sacrificed,” wrote Army Surgeon (and future Massachusetts governor) William Eustus in horror. After, “every General Officer [including next-in-command General Israel Putnam] and every other who was active in serving his country in the field was to have been assassinated.”  He noted that the conspirators also planned to set fire to New York, destroy warehouses of powder, jam the cannons, and destroy King’s Bridge so no aid could travel along the Boston Post Road.  

British Governor William Tryon coordinated the plot from a warship in New York Harbor, where Loyalist visitors regularly rowed out to meet him in the spring of 1776. Although Washington knew nothing of the conspiracy, he was troubled by this open communication and urged the Committee of Safety and Congress to increase patrols. Efforts to disrupt contact between Tryon and the plotters were half-hearted; in May, Israel Putnam reported that jailed Tories were receiving frequent visitors. “The bad women confined in jail are constantly visited by men of as bad characters.”

The plot began to unravel when Thomas Hickey, an Irish-born Connecticut soldier, was arrested on charges of counterfeiting. Hickey had initially joined the patriot cause and was actually a member of Washington’s trusted Life Guard, but at some point had switched loyalties. While in jail, he bragged about his knowledge of the plot and his success at recruiting others. But as so often happens, he bragged to the wrong person, the plot was revealed, and Hickey was charged with sedition.  On June 28, 1776, he was hanged in New York in front of a crowd of 20,000, thus becoming the first person executed for treason in the (future) United States.

Plotting the ‘Sacricide’ of George Washington, Gary Shattuck,

Journal of the American Revolution.

Image: Getty Images

Posted on by joelarch

June 14, 1776

On this day in 1776, Connecticut chose independence!

Governor Jonathan Trumbull called an emergency session, and the CT General Assembly officially instructed its delegates at the Second Continental Congress to push for freedom from Great Britain:

Resolved unanimously by this Assembly, That the Delegates of this Colony in General Congress be, and they are hereby, instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United American Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and to give the assent of this Colony to such Declaration, when they shall judge it expedient and best, and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, or any plan of operations for necessary and mutual defence; and, also, that they move and promote, as fast as may be convenient, a regular and permanent plan of Union and Confederation of the Colonies, for the security and preservation of their just rights and liberties, and for mutual defence and security, saving that the administration of Government and the power of forming Governments for, and the regulation of the internal concerns and police of each Colony, ought to be left and remain to the respective Colonial Legislatures, and also that such plan of Confederation be laid before such respective Legislatures for their previous consideration and assent.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, President of the Second Continental Congress John Hancock writes to George Washington to provide an update on the latest actions of Congress. Hancock’s correspondence informed Washington of Congress’s efforts to strengthen the colonies’ military readiness and create a more organized structure for directing the war effort, reflecting the increasing realization that the struggle for independence would require not only brave soldiers in the field but also effective leadership and administration behind the lines. With that goal in mind, the Department of War was created on June 12th; a critical step taken to improve the administration, supply, and coordination of the growing Continental Army.

Connecticut General Assembly formal resolution instructing their delegates to support independence
https://www.ccsu.edu/event/ct-1776-revolutionary-event
John Hancock (1737-1793) Signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of the Continental Congress (1775-77), Governor of Mass. (1780-85)
Yale University Art Gallery

Sources:

Pembroke College Oxford
https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/411/resource_item/36198

Ashbrook Center
https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-june-14-1776/