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The American Revolution Timeline Thread v.2
1763-1787
*Links/citations/further readings in the comments of each tweet.
1763-1787
*Links/citations/further readings in the comments of each tweet.
February 10, 1763
The French and Indian war (Seven Years' war) ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The French cede area east of Mississippi as the Colonials were eager to move into the fertile region and begin settling the land west of the Appalachian mountains.
The French and Indian war (Seven Years' war) ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The French cede area east of Mississippi as the Colonials were eager to move into the fertile region and begin settling the land west of the Appalachian mountains.
April 27, 1763- A meeting near Fort Detroit takes place between Odawa chief Pontiac and 17 other tribal leaders of the region; on the need to attack British garrisons and forts along the frontier. A surprise attack on the Fort is planned but the British are alerted to it.
May 9, 1763- After two unsuccessful attempts at luring the British into a trap the days before, Pontiac and several hundred warriors from various regional tribes begin laying siege to Fort Detroit. British who were caught outside the fort walls were slaughtered and cannibalized.
May 16, 1763- Wyandotte Tribal leaders seek council with the military commanders at Fort Sandusky but then attack the confused British soldiers and kill all fifteen inside.
May 25, 1763- The British garrison at Fort St. Joseph is attacked and overran by a Potawatomi war party aligned with Ottawa chief Pontiac. 14 British soldiers are killed and the commander is taken prisoner and brought to the siege at Fort Detroit.
May 27, 1763- The British commander of Fort Miami is lured out of the fort walls by his Indian mistress and attacked by a Miami war party. The leaderless fort is quickly taken as 9 British soldiers are killed and 4 others are taken prisoner to Pontiac at the siege on Fort Detroit
June 1, 1763- Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten warriors who were on friendly terms with the British command at Fort Ouiatenon, were able to convince the commander to relinquish his command with no bloodshed spilled.
June 2, 1763- Uninformed British soldiers at Fort Michilimackinac watch a Chippewa lacrosse game that began outside the walls. The players are handed over weapons from their women's blankets and the fort is quickly overwhelmed. 21 British soldiers are killed and others scalped.
June 16, 1763- Fort Venago is attacked by Seneca and Mingo war parties in the Pennsylvania colony. The entire garrison of about a dozen men are killed and the commander, Lieutenant Francis Gordon, is burned on the stake along with the entire fort.
June 18, 1763- Seneca and Mingo war parties attack Fort Le Boeuf and burn it down. Survivors from the attack seek shelter at nearby Fort Venago only to find that had been destroyed days earlier.
June 19, 1763- The 60 man British garrison at Fort Presque Isle is put under siege by a Ojibway war party and falls after three days with surrender and then burned. The prisoners are brought to Fort Detroit to be used as ransom but many are killed en route.
Correction to timeline-May 22, 1763- A 20 bateaux resupply convoy unaware of the ongoing siege at Fort Detroit is attacked while camping for the night on the shores of Point Pelee. 60+ British soldiers are killed. Their boats/bodies are floated down the river by Fort Detroit.
June 22, 1763- Delaware and Shawnee/Mingo war parties attack the heavily armed Fort Pitt. War parties had been attacking British farms and settlements near the fort for the past few weeks but finally attempt to lay siege to the fort.
July 4, 1763- Ojibwa chief Wasson, whose nephew was killed in a skirmish outside Fort Detroit, takes revenge on a well liked captured British officer Major Donald Campbell. The body of the officer is dismembered and his heart is cannibalized, which shocks the colonies on the word
July 31, 1763- 250 British troops, whom had just arrived at Fort Detroit on sloops too large to attack with canoes, launch a foolish surprise night attack on Pontiac's camp, a mile from the fort. An ambush leaves 25 British soldiers dead and 34 others wounded.
Aug 5, 1763- 500 British troops, marching towards Fort Pitt in an effort to relieve the siege, are attacked in an ambush and lose 50 men and have 25 more wounded. The battle would later be known as Bushy Run as the soldiers would make it to the fort in relief, the next day.
Aug 20, 1763- The siege on Fort Pitt is withdrawn as hunting season and winter approach and many of the war parties began to disperse after the British relief and resupply came to the fort in the week prior.
September 14, 1763- A wagon supply convoy is attacked near the river by Fort Niagara in area called Devil's hole. The British dispatch two units of soldiers but both are attacked in an ambush, as the British lose more than 100 men in the costliest battle/attack of Pontiac's war.
October 7, 1763- King George III issues The Proclamation of 1763 to the colonies, which forbids settlement west of the Appalachian mountains. This angers the Colonials whom were eager to homestead the fertile land along the Ohio river valley and saw this as an insult.
October 31, 1763- Pontiac's siege on Fort Detroit is lifted as Pontiac and many other warriors withdraw but do not lay down their arms as small skirmish will continue over the next few years and many farms and settlements along the frontier would be burned and destroyed.
December 14, 1763- A vigilante group of Scot-Irish Penn colony frontiersmen angry over Philadelphia's inaction on Pontiac's war, attack a peaceful Conestoga village and murder six as they destroy the entire village. The remaining 16 villagers would be put in protective custody.
December 27, 1763- A group of Paxton boys in Lancaster track down the remaining Conestoga that were in protective custody at a work house near the prison and murder the entire group of adults and children. A rewarded is offered but nobody is ever charged.
April 5, 1764- The British Parliament modifies The Sugar Act, which tightens the reigns on the American Colonies trade of sugar, lumber, wine, coffee and many other foreign products in an effort to pay down the Royal debt. This reduced much of the trade that Colonials relied on.
April 19, 1764- British Parliament modifies the Currency Act which forbids Colonial paper currency to be used as "legal tender" for debts. This angered many Colonials because gold and silver were in short supply in the new world and it threatened the stability of the economy.
July 26, 1764- Four Delaware warriors enter a schoolhouse in central Pennsylvania colony belonging to schoolmaster named Enoch Brown and massacre him and most of the 15 children inside the school. A pregnant woman and her unborn child were victims to the callous carnage as well.
August 1, 1764- 44 Native Indian nations sign the Treaty of Fort Niagara "convenant chain" with Great Britain and end hostilities that had arisen from the French and Indian war. Several nations aligned with Pontiac such as Ottawa, Wyandot and Shawnee refuse to attend the council
March 22, 1765 - British Parliament passes the Stamp Act which levies a tax on all paper goods and requires payment directly from the colonist and not just merchants. Newspapers, magazines, playing cards as well as many other goods must have watermarks proving taxes were paid.
March 24, 1765 - British Parliament renews and modifies The Quartering Act which forces Colonials to give billet and feeding for British soldiers in inns, alehouses and other public housing at the Colonies expense. Private residences for quartering is prohibited but anger swells.
BACKTRACK- July 9, 1764- Colonials of Rhode Island under Governor Stephen Hopkins (fumed by the Sugar Acts infringement on rum production as well as forced British navy recruitment called "impressment") take control of Fort George on Goat Island and fire upon the HMS St John.
May 29-30, 1765 - "Virginia Resolves" not to comply with the Stamp Act and begins resolutions to fight against it. Patrick Henry addresses the Virginia House of Burgesses and says "If this be treason, make the most of it."
Colonial anger begins to boil over over the Stamp Act.
Colonial anger begins to boil over over the Stamp Act.
August 14, 1765- Samuel Adams and newly formed "Sons of Liberty" meets under the "Liberty Tree" in Boston where they hung an effigy of a Stamp Act collector and later caused destruction to his home. This man would publicly resign his position several days later as a result.
August 26, 1765- A mob of unruly Bostonians angered by the upcoming implementation of the Stamp Act ransack several houses owned by prominent Massachusetts politicians including the home of Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson which takes the destruction's brunt
October 7-25, 1765- Nine of the thirteen colonies meet up at City Hall in New York (Stamp Act Congress) after the Massachusetts delegation suggests the colonies unify a voice against the Stamp Act. Organized protest begin to grow louder against "Taxation without Representation".
November 1, 1765- Administration of the Stamp Act begins in the Colonies amid large boycotts of British goods and vocal protests.
November 16, 1765- Dr. William Houston arrives in Wilmington, NC and learns of his new position as the Regional Stamp distributor. A protest of 300-400 colonials with drums and flags crowd around his inn and watches as he publicly resigns the position on the spot to great cheer.
November 28, 1765- The HMS Diligence carrying Stamp paper, sails into the Wilmington, NC port and is greeted by an angry militia at the docks who refuse to allow them to dock. The ship was forced back up the Cape Fear river and anchored for months without delivering any stamps.
February 17 or 18, 1766- Two merchant sloops named the Dobbs and the Patience are seized by the British ship HMS Viper; near the Cape Fear Inlet, for not having proper stamps. The ships and captains were set to stand trial in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
February 20, 1766 - Nearly 500 angry citizens led by John Ashe, Cornelius Harnett, James Moore, Captain Robert Howe and Col Hugh Waddell surround Gov. Tyron's mansion and place him on House Arrest. Tyron orders Fort Johnston to spike cannons so they couldn't fire on British ships
March 18, 1766 - Boycott and protest in the colonies as well as an appeal from Benjamin Franklin to the House of Commons helps repeal of the Stamp Act. Parliament signs Declaratory Acts the same day and declares control and ability to tax the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
May 1766- The New York Provincial Assembly refuses to abide by the Quartering Act as 1500 British soldier arrive at port and await billeting. The soldiers are turned back to their ships for a lengthy time.
June 4, 1766- The Sons of Liberty erect a liberty pole in Manhattan near Broadway to protest British taxation without representation on King George's 28th birthday. The tall pole was topped with a red Phrygian cap and was purposely erected near the barracks of British soldiers.
August 10, 1766- British Soldiers from the 28th regiment, cut down the Liberty pole that was erected in June. On the following day, The Sons of Liberty attempt to put up a new pole near Chambers Street but are attacked the 28th and Isaac Sears and John Berrien are severely hurt.
December 1766- The North Carolina Legislature authorizes £5000 to build the Governors palace (Tryon's Mansion) in New Bern, North Carolina. Governor Tryon would object to the small amount (almost $1 mil in 2020) and told them that taxes on citizens would need to be raised to pay
June 15–July 2, 1767- A series of four acts passes in Parliament which levies taxes on all glass, silk, lead, paper, paint and tea. In response, the colonies begin to discourage importation of British goods in protest. Anger reaches a boiling point across the colonies.
February 11, 1768- Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr. write the Massachusetts Circular Letter which condemns the Townsend Acts, and the letter is sent to the other 12 colonies. The British demand the letter be revoke or the Mass. legislature will be disbanded and Marshal law imposed
June 30, 1768- Samuel Adams and 91 other House Representatives of Massachusetts vote to NOT revoke the letter that was sent to the other Colonies. The Sons of Liberty publicly vilify and intimidate the 17 "Rescinders" through cartoon and vow to work to vote them out the next year
July 1, 1768- In response to the refusal to revoke the letter, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Sir Francis Bernard disbands the Massachusetts Legislature, as Parliament prepares to send military units to snuff the rebellion that they assume is contained within Boston.
October 1, 1768- 2 British regiments (4000 troops) arrive in Boston (a city of 10,000) to quell the unrest and maintain order in the city. This action infuriates the already angry colonies. The British will soon discover the small faction is widespread among many of the Colonists
May 16, 1769- The House of Burgesses adopts resolves that condemn taxation and assert that only the Virginia legislature had the right to tax the colony. and condemns the proposal of sending malcontents to England for trial. The Virginia Governor dissolves the body the same day.
March 5, 1770- British soldiers surround a group of unruly ice ball throwing Colonialist and open fire, killing 5 and wounding 6 others. Paul Revere's colored engraving about the event was circulated through the colonies and used as a rallying cry against what they saw as tyranny
April 9, 1770- The Townsend Acts are repealed by Parliament due to the loss revenue caused by Colonial boycott of British goods. The taxes on tea however remains and used to show the colonies that the British still had control over them and could tax whenever they saw fit.
