Cardinal News 250

The story of the Henrico County teenager is featured in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. He served as a trumpeter in the British army, then escaped to Canada after the war.

Washington and the Continental Army were about to be bottled up by the British beside the East River in New York, but then, the fog rolled in.

Short of British troops, King George III has turned to an uncle who rules over a small German principality.

Seven Virginians signed the document. Some are famous, others not so much. Here’s who they were.

Lord Dunmore set up on Gwynn’s Island, but disease swept through his ranks. Then Andrew Lewis arrived with cannons.

Legend says that Ramsay was so esteemed for her fundraising that she was named treasurer of Fairfax County and Alexandria. That can’t be confirmed, but she was a prolific fundraiser.

The Declaration of Independence gets the attention, but there were four events, in quick succession in late June and early July 1776, that all constituted acts of independence: Virginia adopted a constitution that declared a formal break, Congress voted for independence, Congress then adopted a Declaration of Independence, and, finally, Virginia’s royal governor was driven away following a battle by the Chesapeake Bay.

Our Cardinal 250 series has shared stories about lesser-known people who helped Virginia, and the nation, secure independence.

There was only one newspaper in Philadelphia that published on Friday, July 5, 1776. It was a German-language newspaper and got the scoop about what the Continenal Congress had done the day before.

Benjamin Harrison was known for being a steadying influence at the Continental Congress and was respected enough that he was chosen to preside over the debates on independence. He also had a wit and a taste for food and drink that offended some New Englanders.