Ridgefield CT commemorates America at 250
HISTORY
The history of the United States is similar to a tapestry, a complex work-in-progress that includes a myriad of interconnected threads. There is not a singular narrative that tells the story of our country, but instead it is rich with the stories of numerous courageous individuals, pivotal events, and monumental decisions that shaped the country we are today. Yet, within the story of the United States, lives the equally compelling tale of Ridgefield and Connecticut as a whole.
The below timeline, created by Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center (KTM&HC), The Ridgefield Historical Society and Jack Sanders, offers a side-by-side comparison of national and local histories.
The left side showcases the history of the United States (red font), while the right side showcases the history of the Connecticut and Ridgefield (blue font). By aligning these narratives, the timeline provides an insightful exploration of how national and regional milestones influenced one another in the years leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence (and beyond).
For the best experience, we recommend viewing this timeline on a computer or tablet, where you can see the full side-by-side format. On mobile devices the content adjusts for readability, displaying events in a single-column format. No matter how you explore it, this timeline provides a fascinating look at history.
| History of the United States | History of Connecticut and Ridgefield |
February 10, 1763-Treaty of Paris
Signed by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. Formally ends the the Seven Year’s War (called the French and Indian Wars in North America).
April 5, 1764–Sugar Act
This revenue-raising act by the Parliament of Great Britain increases taxes on sugar and molasses imported into American colonies.
1764
Connecticut’s unique colonial structure of self-governance allows residents to largely ignore the taxes.
1765 – Stamp Act
This direct tax on the colonies to help pay for the French and Indian Wars requires a revenue stamp to be affixed to various documents.
1766 – Declaratory Act
After boycotts hurt the British trade, Parliament uses this act to repeal the Stamp Act while also asserting authority to pass laws on the colonies.
1767 – Townshend Acts
These acts impose indirect taxes on various goods imported to the colonies, such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
1767
Connecticut Colonists protest, boycott British goods, and form resistance groups like the Sons of Liberty to challengethe Townshend Acts.
June 1768 – British troops land in Boston
British troops are deployed to Boston to enforce the Townshend Acts and to quell a riot sparked by the seizure of the sloop Liberty for alleged smuggling.
1769
- Timothy Keeler purchases Lott II on Main Street in Ridgefield.
- Jonathan Trumbull is elected governor of Connecticut. He would be the only colonial governor to take up the Patriot cause.
- Nathan Hale is sent to Yale College.
March 5, 1770 – Boston Massacre
British soldiers fire on a crowd of 300-400 protestors in Boston. Five colonists are killed, and news of the violence increases tension in the colonies.
1770
Timothy Keeler marries Esther Kellogg. They will have twelve children, seven of whom live to adulthood.
April 14, 1772 – Pine Tree Riot
Protesters in Weare, New Hampshire attack a sheriff and deputy who enforced a law prohibiting the cutting of white pine trees large enough to be used as Royal Navy masts. The incident is credited with inspiring the Boston Tea Party.
June 9, 1772 – Gaspee Affair
The HMS Gaspee, a British Royal Navy schooner, is attacked and torched by a group of rebels fueled by resentment toward the ship’s captain’s harassment of Rhode Island merchants.
1772
Timothy and Esther obtain a business permit and turn their home into T. Keeler’s Inn, a tavern and hotel frequented by both townspeople and travelers.
May 10, 1773 – Tea Act
Aimed at helping the struggling British East India Company, this act allows the Company to export tea directly to the thirteen American Colonies without paying the tax they had been charged in Britain. Colonists see the act as a way for Britain to exert control and continue taxing them without representation.
December 16, 1773 – Boston Tea Party
In opposition to the Tea Act, protestors dump a British shipment of 342 chests of East India Company tea in Boston Harbor.
December 22, 1773
Newgate Prison, the first penal institution in Connecticut, receives its first prisoner.
January 1774 – Intolerable (Coercive) Acts
Five laws passed by British Parliament to punish the Massachusetts colony for its defiance and assert greater control over the colonies.
1774
Connecticut actively participates in the First Continental Congress.
October 1774 – Continental Association
Also known as the Articles of Association. A nonimportation, nonexportation, nonconsumption boycott of British goods and exports adopted by the First Continental Congress in response to the Intolerable Acts.
January 30, 1775
Ridgefield asserts loyalty to England by refusing to adopt the resolutions of the First Continental Congress.
April 19, 1775 – Battles of Lexington and Concord
Fighting between the colonies and the British first breaks out in towns outside of Boston when the British sought to seize and destroy colonial military supplies. American forces drive the British back to Boston, beginning the American Revolutionary War.
April 1775
Connecticut quickly receives news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. 46 of Connecticut’s 72 chartered towns rush contingents to defend Boston.
Connecticut legislature authorizes the outfitting of six new regiments. British General Gage requests military assistance from Governor Jonathan Trumbull, who refuses and sides with the Patriots.
On April 21, 1775, word of the battles of Lexington and Concord reaches New Haven at noon, and one Yale student writes that once the news had reached campus, it was impossible “to attend our studies with any profit.” Ridgefield gets pressure from Hartford to support the boycott but holds a second vote where they reaffirm their original position and allegiance to England.
David Wooster, a Stratford, CT native, turns down an offer from the British Army.
May 10, 1775
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a small force of Green Mountain Boys to capture Fort Ticonderoga.
May 10, 1775
David Wooster assists in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and is later appointed Brigadier General for the following campaigns in Canada.
June 14, 1775
Congress creates the Continental Army and John Adams nominates George Washington to serve as the army’s Commander-in-Chief.
June 17, 1775 – The Battle of Bunker Hill
The British army, led by Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton seize the Charlestown Peninsula, although they suffer massive casualties.
June 17, 1775
Connecticut sends reinforcements to Massachusetts, including two infantry regiments. Many of these men later serve in the newly formed Continental Army.
While no soldier from a Ridgefield militia serves at Bunker Hill, Jeremiah Rockwell, who was born in Ridgefield, does.
July 5, 1775 – Olive Branch Petition
The Thirteen Colonies make one final attempt to avoid war with Great Britain by requesting the king’s intervention to prevent further conflict and resolve grievances.
September 17, 1775 – The Siege of Fort. St. Jean
The Continental Army gains control over territory in present-day Quebec.
September 17, 1775 – The Siege of Fort. St. Jean
800 men from Connecticut militias, led by Gen. David Wooster, arrive at Fort St. Jean to assist in the ultimately successful siege.
October 1775 – The Burning of Falmouth
In retaliation for raids against British ships, the British navy attacked Falmouth, Maine (today’s Portland) but was unable to end Patriot resistance in the area.
November 1775 – The Raid on Charlottetown
The Raid on Charlottetown: American privateers ransacked the St. John’s Island town and captured British officials.
Dunmore’s Proclamation: The royal governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, declares martial law.
November 1775
The Connecticut General Assembly votes to “seize upon… Tories” in an attempt to punish those who don’t support the Revolutionary
cause.
December 17, 1775
In an annual town meeting led by Colonel Philip Burr Bradley, the freemen of the Village of Ridgefield vote yes on the boycott.
December 31, 1775
American forces are defeated at the Battle of Quebec.
December 31, 1775
Benedict Arnold is wounded during the failed attack on Quebec. Gen. Wooster assumes command of all forces in Quebec following the death of Richard Montgomery.
January 10, 1776
Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense a persuasive pamphlet advocating for American independence, in Philadelphia.
March 2, 1776
Congress appoints Connecticut resident and native Silas Deane as a secret envoy to France, with the mission of inducing the French government to grant financial aid to the colonies.
March 4, 1776 – The Fortification of Dorchester Heights
Henry Knox arrives in Boston with heavy artillery acquired in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.
March 17, 1776
The British evacuate Boston.
May 15, 1776
The Maryland delegation of the Second Continental Congress walks out due to instructors from the Annapolis Convention which hoped formed a reconcilation with Britain.
June 11, 1776
The Committee of Five – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman – is formed with the intention of drafting a declaration of independence. Jefferson takes the lead and writes a first draft, which was heavily revised and debated. Among other edits: a passage banning the slave trade was taken out to avoid angering the Southern colonies.
June 11, 1776
Roger Sherman, a Connecticut statesman, helps draft the Declaration of Independence as part of the Committee of Five. Sherman is the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States (Continental Association, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution).
June 14, 1776
The Connecticut Assembly instructs delegates to vote for independence.
June 14, 1776
The Second Continental Congress approves the design for the first American flag.
July 1, 1776
56 delegates from the Second Continental Congress convene at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to vote on the resolution for independence. Nine colonies vote in favor; Pennsylvania and South Carolina vote against; New York abstains; and Delaware is deadlocked.
July 1776
David Wooster returns home to Connecticut and is appointed the first major-general of the militia of Connecticut.
Connecticut-born Nathan Hale is commissioned as as a first lieutenant in the 7th Connecticut Regiment.
July 2, 1776
The vote on the resolution for independence is retaken. 12 of the 13 colonies vote in favor; New York abstains. Congress declares the resolution to be in effect.
July 2-4, 1776
Congress debates the content of the Declaration of Independence.
July 4, 1776 – Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approves the Declaration of Independence, which states that the Thirteen Colonies should be regarded as independent sovereign states no longer under British rule.
The document articulates the anger that the colonists have towards King George III and emphasizes their right to self-govern. It demands rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and its adoption was a unifying act for the colonies.
Connecticut’s delegates to the Continental Congress – Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott are among the 56 signatures on the document.
July 19, 1776 – Treaty of Watertown
Representatives from the Wolastoquey and Mi’maq Nations met with governors of the state of Massachusetts Bay and sign a “Treaty of Alliance and Friendship.” The agreement outlines terms of enlistment for a new regiment of soldiers to join Washington’s army.
In return for the Wolastoqey and Mi’maq’s military service, Massachusetts promotes to restore trade and resupply a nearby truck house at Machias. This is the United States’ first international treaty. In the years that follow, the country violently displaces and takes the land of these and other native peoples.
August 27 – September 15, 1776 – Battle of Long Island & Landing at Kips Bay
September 1776
Nathan Hale volunteers to go behind enemy lines and report on troop movements. He was hanged on September 22, 1776 by the British in New York City.
Connecticut Militia suffers heavy losses at Battle of Brooklyn Heights, triggering a rapid process of disaffection in the colonies.
October 28, 1776
The British defeat Washington at White Plains, NY.
October, 1776
Danbury Depot establishes and the Connecticut General Assembly passes a new statute against treason.
October 31, 1776
Parliament reconvenes and King George III responds to the Declaration of Independence. His speech to both houses expresses discontent with the colonists as well as reassurance that British victories will continue. The king promises to continue the “calamities of war” until his order is restored.
December 14, 1776
Washington writes to Governor Trumbull, stating a “lucky blow” against the enemy would “most certainly rouse the spirits of the people, which are quite sunk by our misfortunes.”
December 20, 1776
The Continental Congress abandons Philadelphia and moves to Baltimore.
December 25, 1776
Washington crosses the Delaware River to launch a successful surprise attack on Hessian soldiers stationed in Trenton, New Jersey.
March 1777
British troops raid and destroy a rebel supply depot in Peekskill.
March 1777
Benjamin Hoyt Jr., Timothy Keeler’s uncle, is temporary jailed in Fairfield for “Loyalist behavior”
April 27, 1777 – The Battle of Ridgefield
The only inland battle of the Revolutionary War fought in Connecticut. Described as a “battle” by American sources; a “skirmish” by British sources.
British troops, returning to their ships off Compo Beach (part of today’s Westport) after destroying rebel military supplies in Danbury, encounter 700 patriot militiamen in Ridgefield. The militia, led by General Benedict Arnold and Gold Selleck Silliman, meet the British at a barricade erected across the town’s Main Street but can not hold off the British advance.
As the British advance south, they fire a cannonball at T. Keeler’s Inn, where it remains lodged in one of the building’s corner posts to this day.
June 14, 1777
British General Burgoyne retakes Fort Ticonderoga
September-October 1777 – The Battle of Saratoga
An American victory and crucial turning point in the war. It convinced France to ally with the United States, providing much-needed military and financial support.
December 1778
Washington splits the Continental Army, strategically detaching elements of the army for specific purposes, primarily due to the British withdrawing from Philadelphia and shifting their focus south.
December 1778
Major General Israel Putnam chooses Redding, Connecticut as the winter encampment for his 3,000 troops. Some historians have dubbed this encampment “Connecticut’s Valley Forge.”
July 1779 – Tryon’s Raid (Fairfield, New Haven, Norwalk)
Benedict Arnold, to this point a Patriot, secretly begins providing the British with confidential military information, including intelligence on Continental Army troop movements, supply locations, and the defences of key locations like West Point.
April 1780
Washington publicly rebukes Benedict Arnold for “imprudent and improper” conduct following Arnold’s court-martial for misbehavior including financial irregularities.
June 29, 1780
Washington gives Benedict Arnold command of West Point, a strategic fort on the Hudson River which Arnold would later attempt to surrender to the British.
September 1780
Benedict Arnold is exposed as a traitor. Washington and French military commander Rochambeau are introduced in Hartford.
May 1781
Washington and Rochambeau plan the Siege of Yorktown at the Joseph Webb house in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
September 3, 1783 – The Treaty of Paris
Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States, officially bringing the war to an end.
March 4, 1789 – The Constitution of The United States
After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies convene at the Constitutional Convention to form a new governing document.
Key compromises were made over issues regarding proportional representation, as smaller states felt they would not have as much of a say. The Connecticut Compromise resolved this by creating a House of Representatives based on population and a Senate with two senators from each state.
Delegates also discussed slavery, as enslaved people made up large portions of the populations of southern states. The Three-Fifths Compromise counts 3/5 of each state’s enslaved population towards that state’s total population, despite enslaved people not being allowed to vote.
To achieve ratification – approval of the document by at least nine of the thirteen states –Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison seek to persuade citizens by writing and publishing The Federalist Papers. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution, with Connecticut becoming the fifth state on January 9, 1788.
Sources that were used to build the above timeline include: “The Battle of Ridgefield” by Keith Marshall Jones III; “New England Soldiers” by Robert A. Geake; Declaration of Independence Timeline, Independence National Historic Park, September Highlight: Extravagant and Inadmissible Claim of Independency | Declaration Resources Project, American Association for State and Local History: Making History at 250, Museum of American Revolution: Timeline of American Revolution, and America 250 | CT Commission.
