This week we celebrate another important anniversary in the lead up to America’s 250th birthday. On July 3, 1775, George Washington assumed command of the newly created Continental Army at their headquarters in Cambridge, and Mike Troy of the American Revolution podcast is going to tell us how it happened. Mike was our guest last week, but this week he’s allowing me to play clips from two of his classic shows. I’m going to play part of episode 64 of the American Revolution Podcast, which was titled “The Second Continental Congress Begins,” and all of episode 67, “Washington Takes Command.” Both these episodes originally aired on the American Revolution Podcast in the fall of 2018, and they will allow us to understand why the Continental Army was created, how George Washington was chosen as our first Commander in Chief, and the challenges Washington faced upon taking command in Cambridge 250 years ago this week.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/330/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Mike Troy and the American Revolution Podcast

Mike Troy is the host of the American Revolution Podcast, which has been taking an incredibly broad view of the Revolutionary Era since 2017. It’s a chronological look at the struggle for independence that spans the entire era, from the start of the Seven Years War, through the ratification of the US Constitution, and he shows no sign of stopping. Along with a weekly episode, now that we’re firmly in the season of 250th anniversary celebrations, there are mini-episodes at least once a week to remind us of events in the American Revolution that took place 250 years ago today. Big thanks to Mike Troy this week for allowing us to air his material while I’m going to the beach and taking one of my closest friends on a Freedom Trail pub crawl for his first visit to Boston in decades.

Episode 064: The Second Continental Congress Begins

• Companion blog post, with sources, illustrations, and a transcript


• Spotify


• Apple Podcasts

Episode 067: Washington Takes Command

• Companion blog post, with sources, illustrations, and a transcript


• Spotify


• Apple Podcasts

George Washington Assumes Command

• Minutes of the Second Continental Congress for June 15, 1775 when they voted to appoint George Washington as Commander in Chief


• General Washington’s Address to the Continental Congress, 16 June 1775


• George Washington’s commission as General and Commander in Chief, June 19, 1775 (transcription)


• John Adams and the Massachusetts delegation accompany Washington for the first few miles of his journey to Boston


• A letter Sam Adams wrote to Elbridge Gerry introducing George Washington to Massachusetts


• George Washington’s first orders to the Continental Army given at Cambridge, July 3, 1775


• The Boston Gazette publishes the Provincial Congress’s welcome and Washington’s response


• Header image via Currier & Ives

The Washington Elm

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• How much truth is there to the legend of the Washington Elm?


• A Washington Elm at the University of Washington


• At the Washington state capitol


• A Washington Elm in Golden Gate Park


• At the Nevada state capitol


• A Washinton Elm at the hospital in Oakland, Maryland


• More on Dawes Island in Harvard Square