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250 YEARS AGO: Battle on Lake Champlain erupts! Royal gunboats swarm and sink the Royal Savage, one of Benedict Arnold's biggest ships. But then rebel gunboats damage HMS Carleton badly, forcing its retreat. Other ships join the fray -- which is as messy and grinding as Arnold had planned . . .

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 7h

250 YEARS AGO: While Royal Navy warships go north on the Hudson, Canadian Royal Governor Guy Carleton's fleet of 33 vessels slowly moves south on Lake Champlain to link with them. Carleton knows the Patriots have a fleet somewhere on the lake - but he passes Valcour Island without seeing them there!

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The HMS Phoenix, HMS Roebuck and HMS Tartar make it past the Patriot defenses "without the least difficulty," Washington writes to Congress. Now they may block supplies to Washington's army in Harlem -- or block his army's retreat if they lose to the Howe brothers again.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

250 YEARS AGO: George Morgan got to Fort Pitt (where the Ohio River forms from the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers) in April. He spent the summer visiting indigenous nations in the Ohio Valley, asking them to ally with the new United States. Morgan hopes to get a formal treaty at this council...

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

250 YEARS AGO: THERE IS NO LAW IN NYC! Suspected arsonists can't be tried in Royal courts because there are none operating. The Howes don't want military court trials because that may inflame more people to rebellion. So the prisoners languish in the Provost's 12 cells and 3 basement vaults . . .

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Royal control of NYC has stabilized so much that Loyalists from the tri-state region are migrating in. George Washington writes to Congress about his frustration trying to track whether nearby civilians are friendly or not. One Patriot leader is mad at his own Loyalist family in NYC!

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: These Patriots tuck themselves into a channel 1 mile wide and 3 miles long, with rocky shoals at the northern end that block an attack there. Royal forces will have to attack from the south, so Arnold anchors his "fleet" in a line there and hopes Royal ships will attack one at a time.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: So many Pennsylvania troops are deserting the army in New York that Congress has pleaded with Pennsylvania's state leaders to take action to return the men. Writer Thomas Paine goes toward the fight: Fort Lee is in NJ, across the Hudson River from Washington's headquarters in Harlem.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The snag in this promotion: Morgan is on parole! He was just released by the Redcoats on the promise he won't fight again unless an officer of equal rank is released to the Royal Army. So Morgan is going to his home in Virginia to check on his family -- and wait for a parole exchange.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Scouts have told Benedict Arnold the King's forces have twice as many vessels on Lake Champlain as Arnold does. So rather than fight the Royals directly, Arnold plans a delaying tactic. He will set a trap with one of Champlain's 80 islands -- one right by the main shipping channel.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Congress boosts its relationship with France. Silas Deane is already in Paris, paying for weapons to smuggle. Thomas Jefferson is in Virginia and will decline this job. Ben Franklin (who served American interests while in London for many years before the war) accepts the assignment.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Virginia rifleman Daniel Morgan returns to Elizabethtown, N.J., after almost nine months captive to the Royal Army. While captive, the Redcoats flattered Morgan and offered him the rank of colonel in their army, but he refused to switch sides and be known as a "scoundrel."

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Since Patriots ran from Canada in June, both Royal and rebel forces have been building boats for a battle to control Lake Champlain. The Royals carried their 180-ton warship in pieces over 10-mile-long rapids and reassembled it at St. Johns in 28 days! Now the battle grows near . . .

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: 21-year-old Nathan Hale's short spy career ends in shame. But before death, the former Connecticut teacher and Yale grad paraphrases a line from Joseph Addison's play "Cato," which was popular with American revolutionaries. (Patrick Henry's speeches were colored by "Cato" lines.)

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Witnesses (even Patriot soldiers in Harlem Heights!) see the Great New York Fire start in several locations. It consumes the first Trinity Church! Only by tearing down nearby buildings do people get the fire under control by noon. Much of the city west of Broadway is destroyed.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: In five days since capturing NYC, Redcoats have found several suspicious objects that could be used to start a fire. Rumors say some rebels have stayed behind in the city, turning their coats to hide evidence of their service in Washington's army. Then, at the southern tip of NYC...

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Nathan Hale is bad at spying! Royal agent Robert Rogers (an American and a hero of the French & Indian War) has been looking for the man recently put on Long Island by a rebel ship. He finds Hale and begins to befriend him, pretending to be a fellow Patriot stuck among the Redcoats...

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: General Washington's army settles in behind the defensive works at the north end of Manhattan Island. The Redcoats now control New York City, but they seem unwilling to attack uphill at the Patriot lines. A young Alexander Hamilton busies his unit to prepare for the next attack.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: A morning skirmish between scouting parties turns into a running battle. Each side sends reinforcements. Artillery opens fire! The Redcoats are surprised to see the Patriots stay and fight for hours. Royal troops retire to their lines. Washington's defensive line in Harlem has held!

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: As afternoon fades, a third of Washington's army is still south of the Royal Army's position. General Israel Putnam's aide knows a dirt road along the Hudson River! Putnam's troops sneak to Patriot fortifications in Harlem. Troops there cheer their arrival - a good end to a bad day.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: General Washington hears the attack at Kip's Bay around 11 am and rides in from his headquarters at Harlem Heights. He finds ALL his troops in the area -- even reinforcements called after the attack began -- in panic. And Washington's anger blinds him to the danger of being captured.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Royal forces land on Manhattan Island -- almost unopposed! The 500 Connecticut soldiers defending at Kip's Bay are inexperienced and have only a shallow ditch for protection. Some of them don't even have muskets! So they flee as the Royal forces land and begin marching inland.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Nathan Hale is a 21-year-old Patriot who has served in Connecticut units in the early war. When Colonel Thomas Knowlton asks for someone to spy on the Royal Army, none of his rangers volunteer because spying is considered dishonorable and is punishable by hanging. But Hale stepped up!

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Discipline is disintegrating among Patriot soldiers crowded by Royal forces. Militia men are trying to sneak off Manhattan Island; General Washington orders officers at Kingsbridge to stop them by force. When Redcoats attack, will troops of such low morale torch NYC on their way out?

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The Continental Congress has confirmed to General George Washington that it is completely his choice whether to defend or to abandon New York City. After being badly mauled in the Battle of Long Island two weeks ago, his army is getting skittish about staying in lower Manhattan.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Oh, SNAP! The Continental Congress sent Ben Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge to meet with Howe on Staten Island to see if peace is possible. The three hour talk stalls on the same issue of the past 14 months: Patriots won't "submit" to just being colonized "subjects" anymore.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: About 1,000 of the King's troops land on an island in the East River, well above where New York City sits on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The 20 Patriot soldiers who guard this tiny island quickly leave it. (On modern maps, the tiny island has become "Randalls Island.")

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

GOOD! THANK YOU! We must all resist -- artists and academicians at the core, but ALL must resist. My dad was an art professor and part of the avant garde movement that included Nam June Paik; Dad loved his work; I understand how we got here. But now we are crossing over the event horizon

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

One of my cartooning mentors is longtime Baltimore Sun & Economist cover artist KAL. Sun kicked him out & is now posting AI images that they claim are political cartoons — but are vapid space fillers. VERY depressing! My resistance is to just keep scratching ink on paper as long as the robots let me

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The strange Patriot attack on a Royal Navy warship in New York Harbor fails. (The tools couldn't pierce the hull.) Accounts of this attempt are from Americans. Loyalists suspect this tale is just morale-boosting propaganda for people discouraged by the Redcoats capturing Long Island.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Completely toxic. Just saw post from a journalist I follow in which she showed her publication using her name on an AI story without her permission, while she was away on holiday. If we don't own our own selves anymore, AI is a clear threat to humanity. They're stealing what makes us human.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

250 YEARS AGO: It is the first attempt in real warfare to prove David Bushnell's theory that a submersible craft can even the odds in the naval scene of the Revolutionary War. In August, Bushnell trained volunteers to operate the Turtle in the Connecticut River. Now can it sink a Royal warship?

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The Battle of Long Island ends in a chaotic scramble for safety. Some Patriots drown in the marshland near Brooklyn. Those who make it to the fortifications on high ground are now trapped between the British Army and Navy. On the day, 300 Patriot soldiers die, and 1,000 are captured.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: In the Battle of Long Island, General John Sullivan's force gets trapped between Hessians in front and the main Redcoat force attacking from their side. Sullivan tries to organize a retreat to the Patriot defenses on Brooklyn Heights, but the fight turns chaotic, and he is nabbed.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The Battle of Long Island begins! The signal cannon comes from the 10,000 Redcoats who snuck through Jamaica Pass last night. The Hessians are a distraction, meant to hold the Patriots' attention while General William Howe's main force gets behind the American lines.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Just before midnight, a Redcoat attack force led by General Henry Clinton reaches Howard’s Tavern, a few hundred yards from Jamaica Pass. They capture the militia men guarding the pass— all five of them. General William Howe’s plan to sneak around Patriot defenses is going smoothly.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: THE INVASION OF NEW YORK BEGINS. Loyalists on Long Island welcome the Redcoats with open arms. The Patriots on Long Island decide they don’t have enough soldiers to contest the landing or to fight toe-to-toe with the 40 artillery pieces that also come ashore. So there is no skirmish.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: George Washington must replace one of his most trusted generals, on the eve of invasion!!!! Greene has been ill for almost a week. Today he goes to Manhattan to recover. Washington expects the Redcoats to attack Long Island — but that it will be just a diversion from the main attack.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The Patriot gunner looking over New York Harbor guesses correctly: ANOTHER fleet of ships has come from England with about 3,000 Redcoat and 8,000 Hessian troops. The Howe brothers now have about 400 ships in the area, including 73 warships, to attack George Washington’s army.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: This “Ring Fight” becomes desperate, with hand-to-hand fighting. It is one of the most vicious battles of this summer’s war between the Cherokee and American settlers. Pickens loses 11 men but escapes the ambush; the Cherokees lose 65 killed and 14 wounded.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: The Cherokee people are divided, too. Hundreds of Patriot militia are roaming the Appalachian frontier, burning dozens of Cherokee towns in raids they call revenge. False rumors fly! But neither American leaders nor the Cherokee warrior Dragging Canoe will negotiate in peace talks.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: For months, rumors and false accusations about the Cherokee have flown across the Carolina frontier between Loyalists and Patriots. A warrior named Dragging Canoe convinces other young warriors that now is the time to push back American settlers. Attacks have raged for three weeks!

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Lord Dunmore sends three ships of his ragtag fleet to Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. But his Loyalists and some of his Ethiopian Regiment cannot hold even the beach. This is the last landing the cantankerous Dunmore will try in his grasps to retake control of Virginia.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

250 YEARS AGO: Washington himself claims 20,000 acres in the Ohio River Valley! Britain granted him many of those acres for service in the French and Indian War — but then angered him and other Americans by banning settlement there under the Proclamation Line of 1763. It’s a major cause of THIS war.

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🥰 … and more important than ever, the way things are going on this side of the pond (😢)

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

@moffski.bsky.social telling ALL the history of all the peoples! 😉

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Bentley-B @bentley-b.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

250 YEARS AGO: After collecting water for several days and winning a skirmish with Virginia militiamen yesterday, Lord Dunmore is about to leave the mouth of Aquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia, when three of Washington’s servants row out to HMS Roebuck, chasing their freedom.

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