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In a bar decorated with bird tail in Elmsford, New York, a customer requests a glassful of “those cock tails” from barmaid Betsy Flanagan.
This is the first time that a drink has been called a “cock tail.”
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With British vessels threatening Narragansett Bay, the Brown University library is moved to a secret location for safekeeping.
Troops under Continental General Hugh Mercer raid Cuckold’s Town, Staten Island, temporarily securing the town and taking prisoners.
However, a British counterattack retakes the town, and Mercer is compelled to retreat to New Jersey.
Many of the prisoners are killed.
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Any youth who wishes to fife for the Independent Company of Boston are requested to apply to Henry Jackson.
If any-body is on Long Island and has seen a young tall negro who answers to the name York, he is a run-away and you shall receive eight dollars if you return him to Charles Arding of Jamaica, Long Island.
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A group of 20 Maine militiamen sail from Machias to attempt to capture Nova Scotia with help from Acadians and local Indians.
90 flatboats sail up the East River with more than 4,000 British soldiers. They land at Throgg’s Neck, a peninsula on Long Island Sound.
Howe’s plan is to march across to Manhattan and trap the Continental Army between his troops and the other British troops at the southern end of Manhattan, with the Hudson River at Washington’s back.
Washington’s scouts observe the landing at Throgg’s Neck and destroy a bridge leading from the peninsula to the mainland.
Once this is complete, Howe’s troops are trapped on the island.
Credit to @CharliesWhiskey for the story
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On today’s GeoHistory: cradle of revolution, cradle of donuts.
Think you know geography and history? Not until you’ve played GeoHistory! Try today.
GeoHistory · Oct 12th
968 / 1,000
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The attack:
Turtle, a “sub-marine” vehicle invented by David Bushnell and piloted by Sgt. Ezra Lee, attacks the British 64-gun ship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
However, the explosives fail to detonate and the attack fails.
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Sgt. Ezra Lee is commissioned as an ensign in the Continental Army for his heroism in piloting the submersible “Turtle” in August.
On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold.
Despite the defeat, Arnold prevents the British from marching on Albany, New York.
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William Paterson is appointed as the first Attorney General of New Jersey.
Irish Inventor Charles Clagget patents a new fingerboard for violin and other stringed instruments, marked to show positions of tones and semitones.
Spanish missionaries in California dedicate a small chapel by a large bay that they call the Mission San Francisco.
15-year-old Jonathan Dayton leaves his courses at The College of New Jersey to fight in the Continental Army.
The university awards him a degree anyway.
Thomas Jefferson returns from his assignment to Continental Congress to take office as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, so that he can draft Virginia’s state constitution.
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Prince Paul, Tsarevich of Russia, marries Sophia Dorothea of Wüttemberg, who takes Russian name Maria Feodorovna.
16-year-old Peter Francisco joins the 10th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army.
Francisco was a Portuguese orphan abandoned in 1765, and was raised by Patrick Henry’s uncle Anthony Winston.
He worked as a blacksmith from age 12 onwards, and he now stands over six feet four inches tall - bigger than most full-grown men.
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An embarrassed John Hancock returns £16,000 of Harvard College’s money after holding onto it for almost two years in a rush of fervor for revolution.
Hancock had been entrusted as treasurer of Harvard in 1773, but since early 1775, he has been retaining £16,000 of Harvard’s money at his private residence.
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Swedish portrait painter Georg Desmarées dies in Munich, Bavaria. He was 78.
Here are some of his works:
