Bentley-B
@bentley-b.bsky.social
History cartoonist. Nonprofit communications professional. Former journalist. Dad.
250 YEARS AGO: The contractor that was supposed to provide sleds, horses and oxen to Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” still hasn’t delivered. The cannon are stuck at Fort George! So Knox sets off for Albany to see if the wealthy General Schuyler can get things moving.
December 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The contractor that was supposed to provide sleds, horses and oxen to Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” still hasn’t delivered. The cannon are stuck at Fort George! So Knox sets off for Albany to see if the wealthy General Schuyler can get things moving.
250 YEARS AGO: Patriots get revenge for the November fight at Ninety Six. Loyalist leaders are hiding on Cherokee land--but are easy to find because on these damp winter days they are burning cane stalks that POP! Patriots take 130 prisoners and end the backcountry clashes. For now . . .
December 22, 2025 at 7:52 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Patriots get revenge for the November fight at Ninety Six. Loyalist leaders are hiding on Cherokee land--but are easy to find because on these damp winter days they are burning cane stalks that POP! Patriots take 130 prisoners and end the backcountry clashes. For now . . .
250 YEARS AGO: The American Revolution has grown out of issues from the French & Indian War a decade earlier. Now it's a giant question: What will France do in this new war in North America? Benjamin Franklin and other Congress members get some good news in Philadelphia. . .
December 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The American Revolution has grown out of issues from the French & Indian War a decade earlier. Now it's a giant question: What will France do in this new war in North America? Benjamin Franklin and other Congress members get some good news in Philadelphia. . .
250 YEARS AGO: This raid is an immediate answer to a British warship taking off the island more than 20 Blacks who had escaped slavery. But in other ways, this fight matches skirmishes this year on many New England islands -- a fight to deny Redcoats any water, livestock or supplies.
December 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
250 YEARS AGO: This raid is an immediate answer to a British warship taking off the island more than 20 Blacks who had escaped slavery. But in other ways, this fight matches skirmishes this year on many New England islands -- a fight to deny Redcoats any water, livestock or supplies.
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal warships hovering just outside Charlestown Harbor use Sullivan's Island for a watering station. Many Blacks who have escaped slavery also live on the island, and there are rumors that Loyalists use the island to raid Patriot plantations on the mainland at night.
December 18, 2025 at 2:51 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Royal warships hovering just outside Charlestown Harbor use Sullivan's Island for a watering station. Many Blacks who have escaped slavery also live on the island, and there are rumors that Loyalists use the island to raid Patriot plantations on the mainland at night.
250 YEARS AGO: (Indulge me. I create in a time when A.I. is stealing human creativity & destroying the pay structure for new art. The values of the Enlightenment are under attack from several directions. My answer: to honor the human creativity that transformed Enlightenment ideas into action.)
December 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
250 YEARS AGO: (Indulge me. I create in a time when A.I. is stealing human creativity & destroying the pay structure for new art. The values of the Enlightenment are under attack from several directions. My answer: to honor the human creativity that transformed Enlightenment ideas into action.)
250 YEARS AGO: The local boats of various sizes have now straggled in to the fort at the southern end of Lake George in New York. Their work is done! But Henry Knox STILL doesn't have sleds, horses or oxen to drag all the artillery pieces the rest of the way to the Patriot army outside of Boston ...
December 15, 2025 at 8:46 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The local boats of various sizes have now straggled in to the fort at the southern end of Lake George in New York. Their work is done! But Henry Knox STILL doesn't have sleds, horses or oxen to drag all the artillery pieces the rest of the way to the Patriot army outside of Boston ...
250 YEARS AGO: The Fourth Virginia Convention (Patriot leaders call their meetings "conventions") issues a public statement against Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (which offers freedom to enslaved people who escape their Patriot owners). Dunmore's actions are convincing moderates to join the rebellion.
December 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Fourth Virginia Convention (Patriot leaders call their meetings "conventions") issues a public statement against Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (which offers freedom to enslaved people who escape their Patriot owners). Dunmore's actions are convincing moderates to join the rebellion.
250 YEARS AGO: Montgomery has left some Patriots to guard Montreal and brought about 300 soldiers to Arnold's force trying to capture Quebec. But the combined force is still fewer than 1,000 troops. And Royal Governor Guy Carleton in Quebec has rejected any negotiations for surrender.
December 13, 2025 at 6:38 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Montgomery has left some Patriots to guard Montreal and brought about 300 soldiers to Arnold's force trying to capture Quebec. But the combined force is still fewer than 1,000 troops. And Royal Governor Guy Carleton in Quebec has rejected any negotiations for surrender.
250 YEARS AGO: Knox is the first of his cannon caravan to reach the fort at the southern tip of Lake George. But there are still hundreds of miles to go in his mission to get cannon to George Washington, and Knox's force is already in danger of falling to pieces!
December 12, 2025 at 8:15 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Knox is the first of his cannon caravan to reach the fort at the southern tip of Lake George. But there are still hundreds of miles to go in his mission to get cannon to George Washington, and Knox's force is already in danger of falling to pieces!
250 YEARS AGO: At George's invitation, Martha Washington arrives at the Patriot camp outside of Boston. Before this, she has never traveled north of Baltimore! But Martha makes the month-long journey with many trunks of possessions, five enslaved servants and a determination to help the soldiers.
December 12, 2025 at 3:14 AM
250 YEARS AGO: At George's invitation, Martha Washington arrives at the Patriot camp outside of Boston. Before this, she has never traveled north of Baltimore! But Martha makes the month-long journey with many trunks of possessions, five enslaved servants and a determination to help the soldiers.
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox (and his brother William!) are moving carefully through the icy lake so that the heavy cannon and mortars don't capsize their transport boats. It will probably take this group several days to row south against the winter wind. . .
December 10, 2025 at 5:15 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Henry Knox (and his brother William!) are moving carefully through the icy lake so that the heavy cannon and mortars don't capsize their transport boats. It will probably take this group several days to row south against the winter wind. . .
250 YEARS AGO: The Redcoats charging across the narrow bridge make an easy shooting gallery for the Patriots standing behind strong earthworks. The battle is over in half an hour, and Lord Dunmore and his troops soon retreat back to their warships anchored in Norfolk, Virginia.
December 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Redcoats charging across the narrow bridge make an easy shooting gallery for the Patriots standing behind strong earthworks. The battle is over in half an hour, and Lord Dunmore and his troops soon retreat back to their warships anchored in Norfolk, Virginia.
250 YEARS AGO: The real fog of war! Dunmore hears the rumor of rebel cannons -- but doesn't know the guns are inoperable. Rebels hear Dunmore has Highlanders -- but most of the Scots are refugee women and kids! Dunmore plans to attack with former slaves-- but they are elsewhere, on assignment.
December 8, 2025 at 9:02 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The real fog of war! Dunmore hears the rumor of rebel cannons -- but doesn't know the guns are inoperable. Rebels hear Dunmore has Highlanders -- but most of the Scots are refugee women and kids! Dunmore plans to attack with former slaves-- but they are elsewhere, on assignment.
250 YEARS AGO: "John Paul Jones" officially joins the Continental Navy! He was born John Paul on the southwest coast of Scotland in 1747 and went to sea as a teenager. As a captain in the British trade in the West Indies, Paul had several legal troubles in the 1770s. He snuck into Virginia in 1773.
December 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
250 YEARS AGO: "John Paul Jones" officially joins the Continental Navy! He was born John Paul on the southwest coast of Scotland in 1747 and went to sea as a teenager. As a captain in the British trade in the West Indies, Paul had several legal troubles in the 1770s. He snuck into Virginia in 1773.
250 YEARS AGO: Seven months before another declaration, the Second Continental Congress declares to King George III why the colonies are NOT "in rebellion." Their reasons lean heavily on Enlightenment ideas and on their understanding of centuries of English law (as it frames royal privileges).
December 6, 2025 at 10:41 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Seven months before another declaration, the Second Continental Congress declares to King George III why the colonies are NOT "in rebellion." Their reasons lean heavily on Enlightenment ideas and on their understanding of centuries of English law (as it frames royal privileges).
250 YEARS AGO: Former bookseller Henry Knox has made it 300 miles from Washington's camp to the Patriots holding Fort Ticonderoga in New York, in about three weeks. Now Knox has to go back 300 miles with as many artillery pieces as he can drag through the snow!
December 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Former bookseller Henry Knox has made it 300 miles from Washington's camp to the Patriots holding Fort Ticonderoga in New York, in about three weeks. Now Knox has to go back 300 miles with as many artillery pieces as he can drag through the snow!
250 YEARS AGO: Stung by their defeat two weeks ago at nearby Kemp's Landing, Patriot leaders send hundreds of militiamen to try again to push the Royal governor out of Norfolk and to recapture formerly enslaved people. But the militia are blocked at a bridge nine miles south of the port city.
December 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Stung by their defeat two weeks ago at nearby Kemp's Landing, Patriot leaders send hundreds of militiamen to try again to push the Royal governor out of Norfolk and to recapture formerly enslaved people. But the militia are blocked at a bridge nine miles south of the port city.
250 YEARS AGO: A new flag! But even this design shows how the Patriots still think of themselves as British. It simply adds six white stripes to the red field of the ensign flown by British merchant ships. This design is already flown by the East India Company!
December 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM
250 YEARS AGO: A new flag! But even this design shows how the Patriots still think of themselves as British. It simply adds six white stripes to the red field of the ensign flown by British merchant ships. This design is already flown by the East India Company!
250 YEARS AGO: A woman who has made ensigns for ships since December 1774 is now working on a flag for the largest of the ships that the Continental Congress is outfitting for its new navy.
November 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
250 YEARS AGO: A woman who has made ensigns for ships since December 1774 is now working on a flag for the largest of the ships that the Continental Congress is outfitting for its new navy.
250 YEARS AGO: A liberal immigrant journalist is also making friends in Philadelphia — and thinking about writing a political piece that will describe America in the middle of revolution.
November 29, 2025 at 1:02 PM
250 YEARS AGO: A liberal immigrant journalist is also making friends in Philadelphia — and thinking about writing a political piece that will describe America in the middle of revolution.
250 YEARS AGO: The Patriots capture their biggest Royal Prize yet — a British supply ship bound for Boston.
November 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Patriots capture their biggest Royal Prize yet — a British supply ship bound for Boston.
250 YEARS AGO: Enslaved people in Virginia continue to emancipate themselves. Today, four men escape a plantation in Prince George County on the south side of the James River, using a boat to try to get to Lord Dunmore’s Royal base in Norfolk.
November 26, 2025 at 12:26 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Enslaved people in Virginia continue to emancipate themselves. Today, four men escape a plantation in Prince George County on the south side of the James River, using a boat to try to get to Lord Dunmore’s Royal base in Norfolk.
250 YEARS AGO: The Scotsman "John Jones" appeared in Virginia in 1773. He settled affairs for his late brother in Fredericksburg and acquired land in Virginia. As revolution explodes in 1775, Jones goes to Philadelphia to urge his Virginia friends in Congress to commission him in their new navy.
November 25, 2025 at 2:12 PM
250 YEARS AGO: The Scotsman "John Jones" appeared in Virginia in 1773. He settled affairs for his late brother in Fredericksburg and acquired land in Virginia. As revolution explodes in 1775, Jones goes to Philadelphia to urge his Virginia friends in Congress to commission him in their new navy.
250 YEARS AGO: Royal General Sir William Howe takes steps to control the smallpox epidemic in Boston. Sick Redcoat soldiers are quarantined, healthy residents are allowed to do inoculations to build immunity (though many fear the process), and already-sick residents are banished from the city.
November 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
250 YEARS AGO: Royal General Sir William Howe takes steps to control the smallpox epidemic in Boston. Sick Redcoat soldiers are quarantined, healthy residents are allowed to do inoculations to build immunity (though many fear the process), and already-sick residents are banished from the city.