The Raid on Bermuda That Saved the American Revolution
How colonial allies in the Caribbean pulled off a heist to equip George Washington’s Continental Army with gunpowder
By Matt Jancer
For most of 1775, Revolutionary troops under the command of George Washington had the British Army trapped in Boston, but it was hard to say who was at the mercy of whom. By July, after three months of skirmishes against the Redcoats, Washington’s soldiers had only enough gunpowder for nine bullets per man. The year prior, as tensions in the colonies worsened, George III banned the import of firearms and gunpowder from Europe, and had been confiscating them in a bid to disarm the rebellion. The only American gunpowder mill, the Frankford Powder-Mill in Pennsylvania, wasn’t producing enough to fight a war. Knowing their guns were close to becoming useless, the Americans began equipping themselves with wooden pikes and spears for hand-to-hand combat.
They needed gunpowder, however they could get it.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/raid-bermuda-saved-american-revolution-180970375/
