Feb. 15, 1776: An ad in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, Philadelphia: "TO BE SOLD, a likely healthy NEGRO FELLOW, about twenty-two years of age, has had the smallpox and measels, and been used to do house work and wait on a table, he also knows something of the hatters business."

Feb. 15, 1776: Jean-Pierre Boyer, a leader of the slave revolution that freed Haiti from France and later president of the country for a record 25 years, is born to a white father and Black slave mother in Port-au-Prince. He agreed to an 1825 indemnity payout to France that crippled Haiti's economy.

Feb. 15, 1776: Georgia’s Safety Council President Archibald Bulloch appeals to South Carolina for assistance in defending Savannah from eight British warships offshore. He seeks to “overawe such men as would sell their birthright for a mess of pottage." In fact the British plan no attack here.

Feb. 15, 1776: North Carolina patriot militia under Col. James Moore fortify an encampment at Rockfish Creek with over 1,000 men and five artillery pieces. Their presence after a quick muster and march blocks a loyalist Scottish Highlander force from a route it plans to march to the coast.

Feb. 15, 1776: "The Runaway," a comedy play by Hannah Cowley about the pitfalls of two young couples, premieres at Drury Lane in London. For the 32-year-old Cowley, this is her first effort at writing drama; she submitted it to the acting great David Garrick, who produces it. 1/3

Feb. 15, 1776: Congress appoints a three-member commission led by Benjamin Franklin to travel to Canada and salvage the American effort to win over that British possession. The Army's advance was halted by defeat at Quebec City and the hoped-for enlistment of Canadians hasn't happened. 1/3

Feb. 15, 1776: Gen. George Washington convenes his officers for a war council to discuss whether and how to attack the British in Boston before spring. "As the Militia are now daily arriving in Camp," notes Brig. Gen. Horatio Gates, American strength is rising even as the enemy feels squeezed. 1/3

Feb. 14, 1776: The South Carolina Provincial Congress, many of whose members are eager for Charleston to reopen as a trading port, take note that the Continental Congress’ ban on imports only lasts through March 1. 1/2

Feb. 14, 1776: “Our dispute with Britain grows serious indeed,” writes Congress’ John Penn to a fellow North Carolina patriot. “Matters are drawing to a crisis. They seem determined to persevere and are forming alliances against us. Must we not do something of the like nature?”

Feb. 14, 1776: Christian Nees von Esenbeck, a German botanist and zoologist with an immense life’s work, including the identification of 7,000 plant species, is born in Reichelsheim, Hesse. He was president of the Leopoldina, Germany’s national science academy, for 40 years.

Feb. 14, 1776: The provost marshal of the Army is ordered to "suppress all Riots” and be “attentive to the behaviour of all the Suttlers in, and about Cambridge, and see that they shut up their houses at Tattoo beating, and do not offer, upon any Account, to sell a drop of Liquor after that hour.”

Feb. 14, 1776: Thomas Paine publishes a new edition in Philadelphia of his pamphlet “Common Sense,” which has become a best-seller in a little over month with its argument for independence. ”The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,” he writes in the introduction. 1/4

Feb. 14, 1776: George Washington is unhappy to learn that Scottish landowner Lord Drummond has been carrying on unofficial peace talks with members of Congress, led by Thomas Lynch of South Carolina. “His conduct in this Instance is premature and Officious.” 1/3

Feb. 14, 1776: The British carry out a nighttime raid across the siege lines of Boston. A detachment of six companies each of light infantry and grenadiers from the peninsula known as Boston Neck over a frozen stretch of the harbor to Dorchester Hill. 1/3

Feb. 13, 1776: A North Carolina patriot reports on the march of loyalist troops from Cross Creek toward the coast. “I am of the opinion they will get well flog’d before they reach Cape Fear.”

Feb. 13, 1776: John Dickinson, a moderate on the question of independence, is militant in defending the patriot cause. The congressional delegate from Pennsylvania takes up the post of brigadier general of militia. 1/2

Feb. 13, 1776: With British forces sailing to North Carolina, Congress names a committee to “consider into what departments the middle and southern colonies ought to be formed, in order that the military operations of the colonies may be carried on in a regular and systematic manner.”

Feb. 13, 1776: The Earl of Granville, the absentee proprietor of nearly half the land in North Carolina, dies at 54 in England. His title and property deeds pass to his nephew in the Carteret family but the land will be confiscated in 1777 by the new state government.

Feb. 13, 1776: The sloop Hornet and the schooner Wasp, two new ships of the Continental Navy that were fitted out in Massachusetts, join the main part of the fleet in the Delaware River off Philadelphia.

Feb. 13, 1776: Aboard the man-of-war Scarborough, Georgia Gov. James Wright tells his Council that he fled Savannah because he couldn’t obtain assurances that the British fleet would be allowed to purchase supplies for their ships. He says the vessels will maintain a peaceful stance off the port.

Feb. 13, 1776: The Continental Congress hears James Wilson read his draft of a proposed address to the people of the colonies. His chief argument—that the Americans have no wish for independence but are merely asserting rights—had once been a consensus opinion. But times have changed. 1/8

Feb. 12, 1776: Mary Pickersgill, the maker of the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore and withstood the British bombardment of 1814, becoming the “Star-Spangled Banner” of the national anthem, is born (as Young) in Philadelphia. She later ran a benevolent society for distressed women.

Feb. 12, 1776: The first stone is laid by Duke Charles Alexander of Lorraine for the neoclassical Church of St. James on Coudenberg, meant to be the main building on Brussels’ Place Royale. The square on the ruins of a burned palace will be completed in 1782 and the church is consecrated in 1787.

Feb. 12, 1776: Washington observes with “astonishment” that 17 men in one week have been discharged from the Army. He declares that if any colonel should “presume in future to discharge a man without proper Authority, for so doing, he will be put in Arrest and tried for disobedience of orders.” 1/2

Feb. 12, 1776: “Mr. Istwan Horwath, Knight of St. Louis, and formerly Captain of the Hussars in the French service, died at Sar-Albe, in Lorrain, aged 112 years…He retained all his senses, and a good state of health, to the last; he was particularly fond of hunting, and always bathed after it.”

Feb. 12, 1776: The Continental Congress resolves to bolster Maj. Gen. Charles Lee’s force in New York City. It asks Pennsylvania and New Jersey to send four battalions to serve under him, and directs the Secret Committee to turn over a ton of gunpowder for his use.

Feb. 12, 1776: After having put a scare into the people of New York City by the presence of his man-of-war and transport in the harbor, Gen. Henry Clinton and his force of 200 redcoats sail away. They are bound for North Carolina to assist a loyalist move against the colony’s government.

Feb. 12, 1776: From outside Quebec City, Benedict Arnold tells Congress: “We have been reinforced with only one hundred and seventy-five men; our whole force is about eight hundred effective men. We have about two hundred sick and unfit for duty, near fifty of them with the small-pox."

Feb. 12, 1776: The Committee of Chester County, Pa., selects three men to visit the saltpeter works in Philadelphia to obtain "a knowledge of the method of making that article" and teach the art to local residents. A second group is named to purchase all saltpeter made in the county.

Feb. 12, 1776: The 40-ship fleet sent by Britain to begin taking back the colonies departs Cork, Ireland, under the command of Adm. Peter Parker. Within a day it runs into a severe storm and nearly one-fourth of the ships must return to port, their sails torn and masts splintered. 1/5

Feb. 11, 1776: James McCormick, tried by court martial in Cambridge, Mass., for "assaulting, beating and robbing Samuel Marston...is found guilty by the Court, the sentenced to receive 30 lashes and ordered four Pounds to be stopped out of his pay, to reimburse Serjeant Marston.”

Feb. 11, 1776: Stung by criticisms of how he is handling the occupation of Montreal, American Gen. David Wooster writes to Congress offering to let them send a committe to provide guidance. He denounces the “cavalier” treatment he has received from his commander, Philip Schuyler.

Feb. 11, 1776: The Southern colonies are in a “deep Anxiety” and “thoughtfull Melancholly” that will likely last “untill late in the Spring, When some critical Event will take Place, perhaps sooner,” John Adams writes to Abigail Adams. 1/2

Feb. 11, 1776: The South Carolina Provincial Congress, holding a rare Sunday meeting, votes to name a committee to form a new nonroyal government. Its members include John Rutledge, Henry Laurens, Christopher Gadsden and cousins Charles Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

Feb. 11, 1776: Given the persistent shortage of firearms and gunpowder, Benjamin Franklin says, “I would add Bows and Arrows.” He writes to Lt. Gen. Charles Lee: “Those were good Weapons, not wisely laid aside,” and were used by the British to win the Battle of Crecy in 1346. 1/3

Feb. 11, 1776: The troops of Gen. Charles Lee begin taking possession of the cannon at New York’s Battery and Fort George. The act is carried out in defiance of royal authority and under the guns of Royal Navy ships, which hold their fire. 1/2

Feb. 11, 1776: Georgia’s royal Gov. James Wright, who has been confined to his house on parole since being arrested by the colony’s patriotic government on Jan. 18, escapes. He slips away after being allowed to leave his house in Savannah and visit his nearby Bonaventure Plantation. 1/2

Feb. 10, 1776: The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has been robbed of £100 in gold coins, medals and jewelry by an embroidery teacher named Le Maitre who sold some of the loot and is bound for London. “Proper persons are in pursuit of the offender, and it is hoped he will not be able to escape justice.”

Feb. 10, 1776: Ioannis Kapodistrias, the founder of the modern Greek state, is born on the Venetian-ruled island of Corfu. After serving as the Russian czar’s chief foreign adviser he toured Europe seeking support for the Greek War of Independence and was the country’s first president.

Feb. 10, 1776: A newly formed committee meets in Lancaster, Pa., “considering the necessity there may be for linen for bandages, &c. for the use of the army.” It asks the women of the region to collect as much linen as they can for the cause.

Feb. 10, 1776: Having “been Informed of many Tories being disarmed,” Gen. Washington requests of Pierre Van Cortlandt, head of the New York Safety Committee, that some of the guns and bayonets be sent to the Army. He also tells Massachusetts he’ll pay $12 for each musket with bayonet it can supply.

Feb. 10, 1776: The Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment commanded by newly promoted Brig. Gen. Donald MacDonald begins its march from Cross Creek, N.C. (now Fayetteville) against the patriot government in Wilmington. A separate unit under Donald McLeod will attempt to rally Tories in the upcountry. 1/2

Feb. 10, 1776: Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler vents his frustrations over the Canada campaign in a letter to Congress. He lacks guns, blankets, medicines and trade goods for the Indians, while sexually transmitted diseases and desertion have reduced one company to a "small body.” 1/2

Feb. 10, 1776: “If, under these disadvantages, I am able to keep above Water (as it were) in the esteem of Mankind I shall feel myself happy,” Washington writes to his aide-de-camp Joseph Reed. 1/2

Feb. 9, 1776: Royal Navy Vice Adm. James Young, commanding at Antigua, orders that Capt. Samuel Graves convoy two transports to Boston for bring badly needed provisions to the besieged towns. The ships, the Killingworth and Layton, had been blown off course to the West Indies.

Feb. 9, 1776: "This war is disliked by every one," the French ambassador, the Duc de Guines, writes from London. "Recruits for the army as well for the fleet are difficult to find." He says Lord George Germain gains influence by representing "rays of hope" at a time of popular discouragement.

Feb. 9, 1776: Two men are being sought for a burglary at Great Coggeshall in Essex, England, after making off with "divers quantities of china, and other goods." A 5-guinea reward each is offered for the capture of Henry Emery and John Buck.

Feb. 9, 1776: Congress resolves that all available saltpeter acquired by its Secret Committee be converted to gunpowder. It also acts to make duplicates of British naval signals that were recently captured by Capt. John Manley off Massachusetts and send them to the individual colonies.

Feb. 9, 1776: Lt. Francis Nichols, an American captured at the battle of Quebec City on Dec. 31, remarks on the humane treatment of the prisoners from Gov. Guy Carleton: 1/2

Feb. 9, 1776: The Continental Congress seats Massachusetts’ representatives, including Congress President John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine and Elbridge Gerry. 1/2