July 2, 1778 - “Three Revolutionary Soldiers”
The day after the vote to approve the Declaration of Independence, John Adams of Massachusetts wrote home to his wife Abagail: " The Second Day of July 1776 , will be the most memorable Epocha, in the history of America. - I am apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival." On July 2, 1778, a crowd of some 5,000 people had gathered in Worcester, Massachusetts, two years to the day after the Continental Congress resolved "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States..." They had not gathered to celebrate American independence, as Adams had predicted. It was a much darker event that brought them together - a public execution, not one hanging but four, one of the four a woman. All had been convicted of the murder of Joshua Spooner in Brookfield, Massachusetts, on March 1, 1778. How does a 1778 murder tie into the march of the Convention Army? F...