From Breeds Hill Institute
June Revolutionary Calendar
June 1, 1779
Benedict Arnold is court-martialed
This is most likely the moment when the great hero of the revolution began his fundamental transformation into its greatest villain. Washington allowed his friend Arnold to be charged with 13 counts of misbehavior, including misusing government wagons and illegally buying and selling goods, confident that Arnold would be cleared of all wrongdoing. Arnold's resentment over this order and the perceived failure of the American Army to sufficiently recognize his service fueled his traitorous decision.
June 2, 1731
Martha (Dandridge, Custis) Washington is born.
June 4, 1754
A 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington begins construction of Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War.
June 7, 1776
The Resolution of Independence
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes a resolution for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Lee's resolution reads: "That these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together."
June 9, 1772
The Burning of The Gaspee
The Britsih customs schooner Gaspee was pursuing American Captain Thomas Lindsey's packet from Newport, when it ran aground in Narragansett Bay on June 9. That evening, John Brown, an American merchant angered by the British Townshend Acts, took eight longboats with muffled oars and 67 men to seize control of the ship. After capturing the ship, the Americans set the Gaspee on fire.
June 10, 1775
Adams Proposes an Army
John Adams proposes a Continental Army be created from the men currently laying siege to Boston and that it should be led by a General selected by the Congress.
June 11, 1776
Declaration of Independence Committee
Congress appoints "Committee of Five"-- Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston of New York--to draft the Declaration of Independence.
June 13, 1777
Lafayette's Arrival
A 19-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de Lafayette, arrives in South Carolina with the intent to serve as General George Washington's second-in-command.
June 14, 1777
The Flag Resolution
The Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that 'the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white' and that 'the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.'
June 15, 1776
Delaware Declares Independence
Delaware declares itself independent of British and Pennsylvanian authority, thereby creating the state of Delaware. Twenty days later the Congress would declare all the colonies independent.
June 17, 1775
Battle of Breed's Hill (Bunker Hill) begins
British General William Howe lands his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, and leads them against Breed's Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill, on this day in 1775.
June 18, 1778
British abandon Philadelphia
On this day in 1778, after almost nine months of occupation, 15,000 British troops under General Sir Henry Clinton evacuate Philadelphia, the former U.S. capital.
June 30, 1775
War Resolution Adopted
Congress impugns Parliament and adopts Articles of War explaining its rationale for taking up arms against Great Britain.
Thanks gunville. I always enjoy these vignettes. I must admit, I hadn't even thought of the Gaspee affair in years!