Today in Johnson City History, Thursday, September 18, 2025

Gov. McMillan, the complete History of Johnson City, the mysterious Oswald and more

Monday, September 18, 1775: Two hundred and fifty years ago today, “Congress established what became one of its principal institutions for waging the war, the secret committee. Its nine members, Franklin among them, were elected the next day. Their chief responsibility was to obtain arms and ammunition, and the methods of doing so had been worked out some months earlier. Nonexportation had been relaxed to permit produce, with a few exceptions, to be carried abroad whenever the ship returned with war material of equivalent value; and Congress had made contracts with individual merchants to import gunpowder at a set commission. The committee thus moved into a sphere of action in which the rudiments of procedure had been established.