The Clash Between Patriots and Loyalists Intensifies
March 1 — Old Women’s Petition
This “Old Women’s Petition” appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal on March 1, 1775. It mockingly asked for old women and men to be excused from adhering to the provisions of the Continental Association.
“The following ‘Petition’ came to my hand by accident; whether it is to be presented to the Assembly now sitting at Philadelphia, the next Congress or Committee, I cannot say. But it is certainly going forward, and must convince every thinking person that the measures of the late Congress were very weak, wicked, and foolish, and that the opposition to them is much more considerable and respectable than perhaps many have imagined:
The Petition of divers Old Women of the city of Philadelphia; humbly sheweth: —
That your petitioners, as well spinsters as married, having been long accustomed to the drinking of tea, fear it will be utterly impossible for them to exhibit so much patriotism as wholly to disuse it. Your petitioners beg leave to observe, that, having already done all possible injury to their nerves and health with this delectable herb, they shall think it extremely hard not to enjoy it for the remainder of their lives.
Your petitioners would further represent, that coffee and chocolate, or any other substitute hitherto proposed, they humbly apprehend from their heaviness, must destroy that brilliancy of fancy, and fluency of expression, usually found at tea tables, when they are handling the conduct or character of their absent acquaintances.
Your petitioners are also informed, there are several old women of the other sex, laboring under the like difficulties, who apprehend the above restriction will be wholly insupportable; and that it is a sacrifice infinitely too great to be made to save the lives, liberties, and privileges of any country whatever.
Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray the premises may be taken into serious consideration, and that they may be excepted from the resolution adopted by the late Congress, wherein your petitioners conceive they were not represented; more especially as your petitioners only pray for an indulgence to those spinsters, whom age or ugliness have rendered desperate in the expectation of husbands; those of the married, where infirmities and ill behavior have made their husbands long since tired of them, and those old women of the male gender who will most naturally be found in such company. And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, etc.”
- Continental Association (1774) — The Continental Association was an organization created by the First Continental Congress to enforce the Articles of Association — a trade boycott against British merchants — unless Britain repealed the Coercive Acts.
- Pennsylvania Journal — First published by William Bradford in 1742, the Journal supported the Patriot Cause. Bradford famously printed a masthead with the “emblem of the Effects of the Stamp Act” on October 31, 1765, the day before the Stamp Act took effect. He also printed key documents issued by the Continental Congress and Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis.
March 2 — Loyalists in Dutchess County, New York
Rivington’s Gazette, a Loyalist newspaper, reported that Loyalists in Dutchess County were considering establishing a port to receive shipments of British goods. They wanted to have an alternate port available in case merchants closed the port in New York City, per the requirements of the Continental Association.
“It is said that some people in Dutchess County, New York, and others on the opposite side of Hudson River are engaged in a scheme for establishing a port in that part of the country. They have a place in contemplation, where they say a few hundred pounds, properly bestowed, in building docks and quays, will accommodate fifty top-sail vessels.
This plan, it seems, was projected some years ago, but was neither prosecuted nor made public. A suspicion, that the misconduct of the city merchants, under the influence of the Congress, may soon cause the only port of the province to be shut up, has now revived it.
Should we bring upon ourselves this punishment, it is imagined there will be no difficulty in obtaining the privilege of a custom house for the river; the consequence of which will be, that all the country beyond it will be much benefited, and all the estates within twenty miles of it will be vastly increased in their value, and New York will finally and irrecoverably lose one-half of its commerce.
A large majority of the inhabitants of the upper counties are well affected to government, and it is thought that the above-mentioned scheme will soon make proselytes of all the rest.”
- James Rivington (1724–1802) — Rivington was the publisher of a Loyalist newspaper called Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, or simply Rivington’s Gazette. This made him a target for the New York Sons of Liberty, who forced him to cease publication in 1783. Despite his public support for Britain, historians have speculated that he had ties to the Culper Spy Ring and provided intelligence to General George Washington.
March 2 — North and South Joined in Support of the Patriot Cause
An article appeared in Rivington’s Gazette, expressing surprise that Virginia and Maryland had taken up the Patriot Cause in support of the New Englanders.
“Nothing has surprised people more than the Virginians and Marylanders joining, with so much warmth, with the New England Republicans, in their opposition to the ancient constitution, which has been the glory of an Englishman in every part of the world. As there are certainly no nations under the heavens more opposite to each other than the inhabitants of these colonies, it would be very difficult to account for it on the principles of religion or sound policy, had not the Virginians plainly discovered their indifference to both; so highly revered by their illustrious ancestors.”
- British Constitution — The “ancient constitution” refers to the British Constitution, a collection of laws, customs, and legal precedents established over hundreds of years.
March 2 — Criticism of New York Loyalists
A report was issued criticizing Governor Cadwalader Colden and government officials in New York City for celebrating the anniversary of the erection of the statue of King George III on Bowling Green near Fort George. The report also attacked the New York Legislature for abiding by the terms of the Quartering Act of 1765.
“New York, after being one of the most refractory cities on the continent, is become the most submissive and obedient, for the people have not only built excellent barracks for the army, but also supply the troops with every necessary of life.
- AHC Note — The New York Assembly built the barracks for British troops and provided necessities to comply with the first Quartering Act (1765).
Lately the Assembly voted money for the current year, and, notwithstanding the passing the Stamp Act, and duties on paper, glass, painters’ colors, and on tea, and their assembly annihilated by tyranny, yet that very assembly, when afterwards suffered to meet, immediately granted fifteen hundred pounds to be invested in an equestrian statue of his Majesty, on the arrival of which it was erected on a square near the fort.
- AHC Note — The statue of King George III was erected in 1770 to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act. It was torn down on July 9, 1776.
Yesterday being the anniversary day of its erection. Governor Colden, with his wretched council and assembly, the mayor, and aldermen, with the military, went in procession to the spot, where, after surrounding the leaden horse and his rider, the common crier made proclamation for the whole company to be uncovered, when an oration was made by the town clerk, in which he recited the many blessings they enjoy under this pious reign, after which they drank his Majesty’s health, and returned to their respective homes amidst the hisses of the people.
The wretches above mentioned met in council and assembly, have by a majority voted not to obey the General Congress resolution, but to protest against and oppose all the continent of America, who are making so noble a stand in defence of their liberty, while the people wish to do the same. But they are unhappily in the hands of dependent placemen, contractors, informers, a refugee Roman Catholic family, and others, the veriest reptiles on earth. New York, therefore, is the only colony on which the British junto must rely to enslave America.”
- Quartering Act (1765) — Parliament passed the first Quartering Act, which required Colonial Legislatures to help pay for supplies and housing for British troops. The New York Assembly refused to comply, which led to the New York Restraining Act (1767). Eventually, Loyalist leaders devised a scheme to provide money, which led to the Battle of Golden Hill (1770).
- Cadwallader Colden — Cadwallader Colden was a Scottish-born Loyalist, historian, and scientist. He served in key political roles, supported British policies during the American Revolution, and wrote History of the Five Indian Nations. Colden served as Governor of New York twice, including during the Stamp Act Crisis. He died in 1776.
March 2 — Rivington’s Gazette reported, “A few days ago, as the thirty-eighth regiment were marching out of Boston, by way of exercising their men, a countryman drove his horses right across the street in front of the ranks. One of the officers (Lieutenant House) putting his hand to the horses’ heads to turn them, the countryman made a blow at him, missed him, and struck one of the soldiers. On their march back, the soldier seeing the same man, returned his compliment with the soft end of his firelock, upon which the fellow, bleeding like a pig, roared out, ‘Gentlemen, you see what I suffer for the cause of liberty.’”
March 2 — New York Elections for the Second Continental Congress
New York City — Holt’s Journal published an advertisement asking eligible voters to meet and elect a committee for the Second Continental Congress.
“To the freeholders and freemen of the city and county of New York: As the last Congress held at Philadelphia, recommended that another Congress should be convened at the same place on the tenth day of May next, and the election of delegates ought not to be longer delayed, most of the other colonics having already appointed them: and as the committee has no power, without the approbation of their constituents, to take any measures for that purpose: They therefore request that the freeholders and freemen of the city and county of New York, will be pleased to assemble at the Exchange on Monday, the sixth instant, at twelve o’clock, to signify their sense of the best method of choosing such delegates; and whether they will appoint a certain number of persons to meet such deputies as the counties may elect for that purpose, and join with them in appointing, out of their body, delegates for the next Congress.”
- John Holt (1721–1784) — Holt was a prominent newspaper publisher from Williamsburg, Virginia. His most famous publication was the New York Journal or General Advertiser, or Holt’s Journal. Holt was a member of the New York Sons of Liberty, who helped support his printing operation. He fled New York City when British forces approached it in 1776. He resumed printing operations in Kingston until British forces attacked and burned the town during Clinton’s Highlands Expedition (1777). He resumed publication at Poughkeepsie and died in 1784.
March 4 — Holt’s Journal reported that New York Loyalists were planning to oppose the plan to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. The Loyalists were led by John Thurman. However, “friends of constitutional liberty” learned of the plot and were determined to make sure the meeting scheduled for April 20 took place as planned.
“Last evening a number of persons who disapprove of the proposal made by the committee for the city and county of New York, met at the house of Widow De la Montagne, in that place, and after choosing Mr. John Thurman chairman, proposed attempting to get the business intended for next Monday, postponed until the twentieth of April; and published a hand-bill desiring those who were of their sentiments to meet them there on Monday the sixth instant, at ten o’clock, and to proceed from thence to the Exchange. A number of the friends of constitutional liberty, hearing of the maneuver, and apprehending a scheme was on foot to defeat the design of sending delegates to the Congress, met this evening and determined to support the committee, of whose virtue and patriotism they have had ample experience.”
- AHC Note — On the same day, John Holt printed and distributed a broadside that criticized Thurman and expressed support for the selection of delegates to Congress. Identified as Broadsides — SY1775 no.51, it is available through the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library and is part of the collection called Revolutionary Era Broadsides, 1763–1783.
March 6 — Joseph Warren Speaks at the Boston Massacre Memorial
Boston — At the Boston Massacre Memorial, Joseph Warren delivered a passionate speech. British officers in attendance loudly booed him. The Memorial was held on Monday, March 6, because the 5th fell on a Sunday. The following report about the Memorial appeared in Rivington’s Gazette on March 16.
“This day the old South Meeting-house in Boston was crowded with mobility and some gentlemen. The selectmen with Adams, Church, Hancock, Cooper, and others, assembled m the pulpit, which was covered with black, and we all sat gaping at one another above an hour expecting!
- AHC Note — According to accounts of the event, the Meeting House was so crowded that Warren had to climb in through a window.
At last a single horse chair stopped at the apothecary’s opposite the meeting, from which descended the orator of the day, (Warren,) and entering the shop, was followed by a servant, with a bundle, in which were the Ciceronian Toga, etc.
Having robed himself, he proceeded across the street to the meeting, and being received into the pulpit, was announced by one of his fraternity to be the person appointed to declaim on the occasion. lie then, putting himself into a Demosthenian posture, with a white handkerchief in his right hand, and his left in his breeches, began and ended without action.
He was applauded by the mob, but groaned at by the people of understanding. One of the pulpiteers (Adams) then got up, and proposed the nomination of another to speak next year, on the Bloody Massacre, (the first time that expression was mentioned to the audience,) when some officers cried. Oh fie, fie, fie!
The gallerians apprehending fire, fire, bounced out of the windows, and swarmed down the gutters, like rats, into the street. The forty-third regiment returning accidentally from exercise, with drums beating, threw the whole body into the utmost consternation. There were neither pageantry, exhibitions, processions, or bells tolling as usual, and tonight is remarked for being the quietest these many mouths past.”
- Boston Massacre Memorial — The Memorial was held each year on March 5 to commemorate the “Bloody Massacre” that took place on March 5, 1770. James Lovell delivered the speech at the first Memorial in 1771. He was followed by Warren (1772), Benjamin Church (1773), and John Hancock (1774).
- James Lovell (1737–1814) — Lovell was an educator and politician from Boston. He served in the first Continental Congress and signed the Articles of Confederation.
- Benjamin Church (1734–1778) — Church was a prominent Boston physician and active in the Boston Sons of Liberty. He was the first Chief Physician & Director General of the Continental Army. However, he was suspected of being a spy by Paul Revere and others, which was eventually confirmed. Church was removed and eventually disappeared during a voyage to the Caribbean.
- Joseph Warren (1741–1775) — Warren was one of the prominent leaders of the Patriots in Boston. Closely aligned with Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, Warren was involved in the Committee of Correspondence and Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He was the author of prominent documents, including the Suffolk Resolves.
- John Hancock (1737–1793) — A leader of the Patriot Cause in Massachusetts, President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and President of the Second Continental Congress. He was also aligned with the Sons of Liberty. Hancock is widely regarded as one of the wealthiest men in the colonies.
March 6 — The New York Union Flag and Meeting at the Exchange
New York City — A report was published regarding a meeting at the Exchange in New York, where Patriots and Loyalists gathered to determine whether or not a committee should be established to select delegates to the Second Continental Congress.
“Early this morning preparations were made for the meeting at the Exchange in New York. A union flag with a red field was hoisted on the liberty-pole, where at nine o’clock the friends of freedom assembled, and having got into proper readiness, about eleven began their march to the Exchange. They were attended by music, and two standard-bearers carrying a large union flag, with a blue field, on which were the following inscriptions: On one side, George III. REX, AND THE LIBERTIES OF AMERICA; NO POPERY. On the other, THE UNION OF THE COLONIES, AND THE MEASURES OF THE CONGRESS.
- AHC Note — The “Exchange” was the Royal Exchange building in New York City. It was located near the intersection of Broad Street and Water Street. The United States Supreme Court held its first session in the Exchange from February 2–10, 1790. The building was torn down in 1799.
- AHC Note — The Liberty Pole was likely located in the area known as “The Fields,” which is present-day City Hall Park.
Some time after they had arrived at the Exchange, came also another company who had met at the widow De la Montagne’s, among whom were some officers of the army and navy, several of his Majesty’s council, and those members of the House of Representatives who had refused taking into consideration the proceedings of the Congress; together with the officers of the customs, and other dependents on the court. Soon after the parties met, some confusion arose, but it subsided without any bad consequences.
The chairman of the committee then proceeded to explain the design of the meeting; after which he proposed the following questions:
First, Whether a certain number of persons shall be appointed and authorized to meet such deputies as the counties may elect, and join with them for the sole purpose of appointing out of their body on the twentieth of April next, delegates for the next Congress?
Second, Whether this meeting will authorize the committee to nominate eleven deputies for their approbation?
Both of which were carried in the affirmative.
The meeting and the majority which determined these questions are supposed to have been the most numerous and respectable ever known in New York, on the decision of any public proposal. The business of the day being finished, the friends of freedom paraded through one of the principal streets, to the liberty pole, and then dispersed in the most quiet and orderly manner.”
Historian William Gordon provides more information on this meeting in his History of the American Revolution. Gordon’s account provides details on the violence that occurred between Patriots (Whigs) and Loyalists (Tories).
“When assembled in a body, there was a confused cry of ‘Congress or no Congress?’ After much altercation, the Tories had a recourse to compulsive reasoning, and began dealing about their blows. The Whigs were in the worst situation, not being provided with similar arguments, till two of their party repaired to an adjoining cooper’s yard, from whence they drew forth to the assistance of their friends a number of hoop-sticks, which they reduced to a proper length, and forwarded to the combatants.
The Whigs, being thus supplied, soon carried the day by club law, and beat their opponents off the ground. The Tories being worsted, and not a little terrified, lest the fury of Captain Sears (whom they termed, in a way of reproach, ‘King’) should lead him to head a mob, and do them some capital injury, promoted a provincial convention, which otherwise would not have existed.”
- Isaac Sears (?–1786) — Sears was a prominent leader of the Patriot Movement in New York City, along with McDougall and John Lamb. Sears was involved in various incidents, including the Battle of Golden Hill.
The committee members selected at this meeting were Philip Livingston, John Jay, James Duane, John Alsop, Isaac Low, Francis Lewis, Abraham Walton, Abraham Brasher, Alexander McDougall, Leonard Lispenard, and Isaac Roosevelt.
- Philip Livingston (1716–1778) — Philip Livingston was a successful merchant from Albany, New York. He is a Founding Father because he signed the Declaration of Independence and participated in key events that shaped the American Revolution, including the Stamp Act Congress, First Continental Congress, and Second Continental Congress.
- John Jay (1745–1829) — Jay was a Founding Father and the First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Jay represented New York in the Continental Congress and was an author of the Federalist Papers. He wrote the Constitution of New York and served as Governor from 1795 to 1801. He also helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the Jay Treaty (1794).
- James Duane (1733–1797) — Duane was a merchant and politician. He represented New York in the Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress. He signed the Articles of Association and the Articles of Confederation.
- John Alsop (1724–1794) — Alsop was a merchant and politician. He represented New York in the First and Second Continental Congress and signed the Articles of Association. He was away from Philadelphia when Congress declared independence in July 1776.
- Isaac Low (1735–1791) — Low was a merchant who represented New York in the First Continental Congress. Although he signed the Articles of Association, he eventually turned away from the Patriot Cause and became a Loyalist.
- Alexander McDougall (1732–1786) — McDougall was a prominent leader of the New York Sons of Liberty and served as a General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. McDougall is most famous for his role as a leader of the Patriot Cause in New York City. In 1769, he wrote a broadside called “To the Betrayed Inhabitants of New York” that triggered the Golden Hill Riots.
- Leonard Lispenard (1714–1790) — Lispenard was a wealthy landowner from New York City. He participated in the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, supported the Patriot cause throughout the American Revolution and War for Independence, and was a prominent member of the New York Sons of Liberty.
March 6 — Loyalists Attacked by New York Patriots
New York City — Rivington’s Gazette reported the account of William Cunningham and William Hill, two Loyalists who were harassed by a mob of Patriots.
“This afternoon, at New York, as William Cunningham and John Hill, were coming from the North river, they stopped near the liberty-pole, to see a boxing match, but had not stood long, when Cunningham was struck at by Smith Richards, James Vandyke, and several others; called Tory, and used in a most cruel manner by a mob of above two hundred men.
Mr. Hill coming up to his assistance, was beaten and abused most barbarously, though neither of them gave the least offence, except being on the king’s side of the question at the meeting this morning. The leaders of this mob brought Cunningham under the liberty pole, and told him to go down on his knees and damn his Popish king George, and they would then set him free; but on the contrary, he exclaimed, ‘God bless King George.’
They then dragged him through the green, tore the clothes off his back, and robbed him of his watch. They also insisted on Hill’s damning the king, but he refusing, was used in the same manner, and were it not for some of the peace officers, viz., Captain Welsh, John Taylor, William Dey, and Joseph Wilson, together with Goldstream, who rescued them from the violence of this banditti, and brought them to the jail, for the security of their persons from further injuries, they would inevitably have been murdered.”
On March 10, Holt’s Journal published a different version of the story:
“Among numerous misrepresentations in Mr. Rivington’s Gazetteer of yesterday, are many notorious ones, mixed with sundry absolute falsehoods, in a paragraph to which the names of William Cunningham and John Hill are aflixed as subscribers.
In this extraordinary paragraph, above two hundred men of New York are represented as having united in abusing those two inoffensive gentlemen, and in that disorderly, riotous company, two inhabitants of that city [Smith Richards and James Van Dyck] are particularly mentioned by name, and positively charged, not only with abusing the two harmless innocents before mentioned, but with robbery and high treason.
On reading this account we were naturally led, by several circumstances, to inquire into the characters of the two persons accused, and of their accusers. The two first we find to be citizens, bred if not born in New York, peaceable, inoffensive men of property, and of irreproachable characters.
- AHC Note — This refers to Richards and Van Dyke, and defends their character.
The two last strangers here, (especially Cunningham,) almost entirely unknown, except by the little specimens they have lately exhibited of their characters, which are not much in their favor.
As to Hill, we have heard, and therefore shall say but little about him. He has brought himself upon the stage as a companion, an associate of Cunningham, and a volunteer with him in the glorious expedition, wherein their defeat has afforded them an opportunity of making conspicuous figures in Rivington’s Gazetteer.
As to Cunningham, his former character is unknown to us, but we may reasonably suppose it was not inconsistent with the specimen he has given us during the short space of time we have been favored with his company. His first exhibition was in the character of a Son of Liberty; that is, a friend and asserter of the rights of the people, and the English Constitution, a warm patriot, and opposer of the tyrannical acts and pretensions of the British Parliament.
- AHC Note — Cunningham is accused of pretending to be a Son of Liberty.
But in a few days, touched, not with Ithuriel’s spear, but with an impulse from a spirit of a quite opposite nature, he starts up at once in his true character, a finished emissary of tyranny, officiously distinguishing and thrusting himself forward, to execute the orders and promote the designs of the enemies of his country, to destroy its constitution, and reduce it to a state of slavery.
His first appearance that we have heard of, was to interpose in preventing the departure of the Scotch ship, and thereby cause a violation of the solemn association of the British American colonies, agreed on last year by the delegates in general Congress at Philadelphia. But in this being unable to effect any thing, except showing his principles and disposition, fame had little to say of him, till this exploit in the fields, except that he has often been heard blustering in behalf of the ministry, and that his behavior had recommended him to the favor of several men of eminence, both in the military and civil departments — that he has often been seen, on a footing of familiarity, at their houses, and parading the streets on a horse belonging to one of the gentlemen, who, doubtless, is not displeased with the conduct of the rider.
We did not know until we saw this account in Rivington’s paper that these same gentlemen helped to make up the group of woeful countenances of the minor party at the Exchange on the memorable sixth of March; a day which our heroes doubtless intended to make as famous by their achievements in the afternoon, as it was by the defeat in the morning of the party under which they enlisted. And this may reasonably account for their conduct at the liberty-pole, as well as their design in going there, where they say they were so cruelly attacked by a mob of about two hundred men.
Messrs. Hill and Cunningham appeared and made part of the minority at the Exchange on the sixth. Their business was to prevent the execution of the measures recommended by the Continental Congress for the preservation of our constitutional rights and liberties, and consequently to promote the designs of the British Ministry, in subjecting America and all the British empire to a despotic government.
And these men for thus appearing, or perhaps bullying a little, have the modesty to pretend that they appeared on the king’s side, though opposed to the very principles on which he holds his crown. As a further proof of their modesty they call upwards of two hundred men, assembled at the liberty-pole, who were probably part of the respectable majority from the Exchange, a mob.
A great body of the majority from the Exchange returned to the liberty-pole, when Cunningham and Hill came among them. The behavior of this majority at the Exchange demonstrated their peaceable disposition; and having succeeded in all they intended, they were in high good humor, and less disposed to quarrel than before.
It is therefore highly improbable that they should have been the aggressors in quarrelling with Cunningham and Hill, or have used them in the unfair, abusive manner they have represented.
These two men, on the contrary, having shared in the disappointment of their party, were probably soured in their temper, and went among the other party with a design to quarrel and raise disturbance. When upon such an occasion and in such a company they began a quarrel, it is no wonder they were roughly treated, but rather that they escaped so well.
- AHC Note — Cunningham and Hill are accused of starting the fight between the Patriots and Loyalists that led to the injuries they suffered.
They have, in their improbable, inconsistent account, expressly charged two of the company with robbing them of a watch, and requiring them to curse the king; for assertions scandalous assertions, under their Land, it is said suits are commenced against them, and ample damages will doubtless be recovered; as from a great number of depositions of creditable persons who were present, it appears that the report against Messrs. Richards and Van Dyck is entirely groundless. It is said that Cunningham has declared that he should not have published the account, if he had not been urged to it by one or more gentlemen of the minor party.”
March 8 — Thomas Ditson Tarred and Feathered
Boston — Thomas Ditson of Billerica was in Boston and made the mistake of asking where he could buy guns. After an agreement to buy a gun fell apart, Ditson was detained. The next day, the British troops tarred and feathered him. After that, they paraded him through the streets. An outraged mob of Bostonians gathered, forcing the British to load and prepare their weapons to defend themselves. Ditson was released, and the incident ended.
The following report was published in Holt’s Journal on March 30:
“As the populace of Boston have thought fit to repeal the tarring and feathering act, the king’s troops have thought fit to revive the said statute: and in consequence of such a determination, to-day they gave us a specimen of a royal mob.
Tlie soldiers have been encouraged by their officers to take every method of tricking the unwary. Yesterday, an honest countryman was inquiring for a firelock, when a soldier hearing him, said he had one he would sell.
Away goes the ignoramus, and after paying the soldier very honestly for the gun, (which was only an old one without a lock,) was walking off when half a dozen seized him and hurried the poor fellow away under guard, for a breach of the act against trading with the soldiers.
After keeping him in duress all night, this morning, instead of carrying him before a magistrate, who on complaint would have fined him, (as has been the case in several instances,) the officers condemned him without a hearing, to be tarred and feathered, which sentence has been executed.
After stripping him naked and covering him with tar and feathers, they mounted him on a one-horse truck, and surrounding the truck with a guard of twenty soldiers with fixed bayonets, accompanied with all the drums and fifes of the regiment, (forty-seventh,) and a number of officers, negroes, and sailors, exhibited him as a spectacle through the principal streets of the town.
They fixed a label on the man’s back, on which was written AMERICAN LIBERTY, OR A SPECIMEN OF DEMOCRACY; and to add to the insult they played Yankee Doodle: — Oh Britain, how art thou fallen! Is it not enough that British troops, who were once the terror of France and Spain, should be made the instruments of butchering thy children! but must they descend also to exploits too infamously dirty for any but the meanest of the mobility to practice? What a wretched figure will the Boston expedition hereafter make in the historic page!”
March 8 — Harassment of Loyalists in Massachusetts
Boston — A resident wrote to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and provided lengthy details regarding the harassment of Loyalists in Massachusetts. This appeared in Rivington’s Gazette.
“Your assuming the government of Massachusetts Bay, makes it unnecessary for me to make any apology for addressing you in this public manner, further, than by acquainting you that it is to represent to you the distresses of some of those people, who, from a sense of their duty to the king, and a reverence for his laws, have behaved quietly and peaceably; and for which reason they have been deprived of their liberty, abused in their persons, and suffered such barbarous cruelties, insults, and indignities, besides the loss of their property, by the hands of lawless mobs and riots, as would have been disgraceful even for savages to have committed.
The courts of justice being shut up in most parts of the province, and the justices of those courts compelled by armed force, headed by some who are members of your Congress, to refrain from doing their duties, at present it is rendered impracticable for those sufferers to obtain redress, unless it be by your interposition, or the aid of military force, which will be applied for in case this application fails.
- AHC Note — By this time, many of the courts were closed in protest of the Intolerable Acts.
A particular enumeration of all the instances referred to, is apprehended unnecessaiy, as many of your members are personally knowing to them, and for the information of any of you who may pretend ignorance of them, the following instances are here mentioned.
In August last, a mob in Berkshire forced the justices of the court of Common Pleas from their seats, and shut up the court-house. They also drove David Ingersoll from his house, and damaged the same, and he was obliged to leave his estate; after which his enclosures were laid waste.
At Taunton, Daniel Leonard was driven from his house, and bullets fired into it by the mob, and he obliged to take refuge in Boston, for the supposed crime of obeying his Majesty’s requisition as one of his council for this province.
Colonel Gilbert, of Freetown, a firm friend to government, in August last being at Dartmouth, was attacked at midnight by a mob of about an hundred, but by his bravery, with the assistance of the family where he lodged, they were beaten off.
The same night Brigadier Ruggles was also attacked by another party, who were routed after having painted and cut the hair off of one of his horse’s mane and tail. Afterwards he had his arms taken from his dwelling-house in Hardwick, all of which are not yet returned. He had at another time a very valuable English horse, which was kept as a stallion, poisoned, his family disturbed, and himself obliged to take refuge in Boston, after having been insulted in his own house, and twice on his way, by a mob.
- AHC Note — “Brigadier Ruggles” refers to Timothy Ruggles, a Loyalist who had been appointed by Governor Thomas Gage to be a Massachusetts Mandamus Councillor.
The chief justice of the province in Middleborough, was threatened to be stopped on the highway in going to Boston court, but his firmness and known resolution, supporting government in this as well as many other instances, intimidated the mob from laying hands on him; he was also threatened with opposition in going into court, but the terror of the troops prevented. The whole bench were hissed by a mob as they came out of court.
In September, Mr. Sewall, his Majesty’s Attorney-General for Massachusetts Bay, was obliged to repair to Boston for refuge. His house at Cambridge was attacked by a mob, and his windows were broken, but the mob was beaten off by the gallant behavior and bravery of some young gentlemen of his family.
- AHC Note — This refers to Jonathan Sewall, who served as Attorney General from 1767 to 1775. After the attack, Sewall fled to England. He was close friends with John Adams. However, they became estranged over their political differences.
About the same time the Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, president of his Majesty’s council, was attacked at Cambridge, by a mob of about four thousand, and was compelled to resign his seat at the board, since which, upon further threats, he has been obliged to leave his estate, and take refuge with his family in Boston.
- AHC Note — Lieutenant-Governor Oliver is Andrew Oliver, who was famously burned in effigy from the Boston Liberty Tree during the Stamp Act Crisis.
At Worcester, a mob of about five thousand collected, prevented the court of Common Pleas from sitting, (about one thousand of them had fire-arms.) and all drawn up in two files, compelled the judges, sheriffs, and gentlemen of the bar, to pass them with cap in hand, and read their disavowal of holding courts under the new acts of parliament, not less than thirty times in their procession.
Daniel Oliver, Esq., of Hardwick, was disarmed by a mob, and has been obliged to take refuge in Boston, to the total loss of his business.
Colonel Phips, the very reputable and highly esteemed sheriff of the county of Middlesex, by a large mob was obliged to promise not to serve any processes of courts, and to retire to Boston for protection from further insults.
Colonel Saltonstall, the very humane sheriff of the county of Essex, has been obliged to take refuge in Boston, to screen himself from the violence of the mob.
The court of Common Pleas was forbidden to sit at Taunton, by a large mob, with a justice acting as one of their committee.
At Middleborough, Peter Oliver, Esq., was obliged to sign a paper, not to execute his office, under the new acts.
At Springfield, the courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the peace, were prevented sitting by a large mob, who kept the justices from entering the court-house and obliged them, the sheriff, and gentlemen of the bar, to desist, with their hats off, from holding any courts.
Colonel Edson, one of his Majesty’s council, has been driven from his house in Bridgewater, and kept from it ever since last August, for being a friend to government, and accepting his Majesty’s appointment as counsellor.
- AHC Note — Josiah Edson, Esquire, a Mandamus Councilor.
The courts of General Session of the Peace and inferior courts of Common Pleas for the county of Plymouth, have been shut up.
In August, Colonel Putnam of Worcester, a firm friend to Government, had two fat cows stolen and taken from him, and a very valuable grist-mill burnt, and was obliged to leave a fair estate in Worcester, and retire to Boston, where he has been ever since, for his protesting against riots, etc.
Colonel Murray, of Rutland, one of his Majesty’s council, has been obliged to leave a large estate in the country, and repair to Boston to save himself from being handled by the mob, and compelled to resign his seat at council board. His house has been attacked, his family put in fear.
- AHC Note — John Murray, Esquire, a Mandamus Councilor.
Colonel Vassall, of Cambridge, from intolerable threats, and insolent treatment by mobs of his friends and himself, has left his elegant seat there, and retired to Boston, with his amiable family, for protection.
John Borland, Esq., is in the same predicament with Colonel Vassal.
Honorable John Chandler, Esq., judge of probate, etc., for the county of Worcester, has been obliged to retreat to Boston for protection, and leave his business, and a numerous family of hopeful youths behind him, with great reluctance, and who, before he came away, was ordered by the mob to hold his office till further orders.
The Plymouth protesters, addressers, and military officers were compelled by a mob of two thousand, collected from Plymouth and Barnstable counties, to recant and resign their military commission.
Thomas Foster, Esq., an ancient gentleman, was obliged to run into the woods, and had like to have been lost, and the mob, although the justices, with Mr. Foster, were sitting in the town, ransacked his house, and damaged his furniture. He was obnoxious as a friend to government, and for that reason they endeavored to deprive him of his business, and to prevent even his taking the acknowledgment of a deed.
Richard Clark, Esq., a consignee of the tea, was obliged to retire from Salem to Boston, as an asylum; and his son Isaac went to Plymouth to collect debts, but in the night was assaulted by a mob and obliged to get out of town at midnight.
- AHC Note — Clark was appointed by the British East India Company to sell its tea during the Tea Crisis in 1773.
Jesse Dunbar, of Halifax, in Plymouth county, bought some fat cattle of Mr. Thomas the counsellor, and drove them to Plymouth for sale; one of the oxen being skinned and hung up, the committee came to him, and finding he bought it of Mr. Thomas, they put the ox into a cart, and fixing Dunbar in his belly, carted him four miles, and there made him pay a dollar, after taking three more cattle and a horse from him. Tlie Plymouth mob delivered him to the Kingston mob, which carted him four miles further, and forced from him another dollar, then delivered him to the Duxborough mob, who abused him by throwing the tripe in his face, and endeavoring to cover him with it to the endangering his life. They then threw dirt at him, and after other abuses carried him to said Thomas’s house, and made him pay another sum of money, and he not taking the beef, they flung it in the road and quitted him.
- AHC Note — “Mr. Thomas” is Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Esquire.
Daniel Dunbar, of Halifax, an ensign of militia there, had his colors demanded by the mob, some of the selectmen being the chief actors. He refused; they broke into his house, took him out, forced him upon a rail, and after keeping him for two or three hours in such abuses, he was forced to give his colors up to save his life.
A constable of Hardwick, for refusing to pay his collections, directly contrary to the oath of his office, was bound and confined six and thirty hours, and threatened with being sent to Simsbury mines. His wife being dangerously ill, he was released after signing a something which one of the mob had prepared for him.
The mob committee of the county of York, ordered that no one should hire any of Sir William Pepperell’s estates, buy no wood of him, or pay any debts due to him.
In February, at Plymouth, a number of ladies attempted to divert themselves at their assembly room, but the mob collected, (the committee having met previous thereto,) and flung stones which broke the shutters and windows, and endangered their lives. They were forced to get out of the hall, and were pelted and abused to their own homes. After this the ladies diverted themselves by riding out, but were followed by a mob, pelted and abused, with the most indecent Billingsgate language.
- AHC Note — “Billingsgate Language” is a term used to describe course or foul language.
These things happened at the time when some of the people of Plymouth, in conjunction with the committee men from other towns in that county, aided and assisted by four dissenting clergymen, were presenting to General Gage, by their memorial, the peaceable state they were in before the arrival of a party of soldiers at Marshfield, in that county.
The Honorable Israel Williams, Esq., one who was appointed of his Majesty’s new council, but had declined the office through infirmity of body, was taken from his house by the mob in the night, carried several miles, put into a room with a fire, the chimney at the top, the doors of the room closed, and kept there for many hours in the smoke, till his life was in danger; then he was carried home, after being forced to sign what they ordered, and a guard placed over him to prevent his leaving the house.
- AHC Note — Williams was appointed to be a Mandamus Councillor, but after this incident, he refused to take the oath.
To recount the suffering of all from mobs, rioters, and trespassers, would take more time and paper than can be spared for that purpose. It is hoped the foregoing will be sufficient to put you upon the use of proper means and measures for giving relief to all that have been injured by such unlawful and wicked practices.”
March 9 — John Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet reported that nearly 15,000 men responded to the Salem Gunpowder Raid in February 1775.
“Colonel Leslie’s ridiculous expedition to Salem, Massachusetts, on the twenty-sixth of last month, occasioned such an alarm, that the people of all the neighboring towns, as well as those of thirty and forty miles distant, were mustering, and great numbers actually on their march for that place; so that it is thought that not less than twelve or fifteen thousand men would have been assembled in that town within twenty four hours after the alarm, had not the precipitate retreat of the troops from the drawbridge prevented it.”
- John Dunlap (1746–1812) — An Irish-born printer, Dunlap was the publisher of the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser. He is famous for printing the first copies of the Declaration of Independence, known as the “Dunlap Broadsides.” He also served in the Continental Army and was involved in the Battle of Trenton (December 26, 1776) and the Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777). Dunlap also printed and published the first copies of the United States Constitution.
March 10 — Criticism of the Sons of Liberty and Patriot Ministers
Rivington’s Gazette printed the following:
“A letter in Messrs. Mill’s and Hick’s paper,” signed, ‘A Son of New England,’ appears to be the produce of a distempered brain, which, like many others in Boston and the neighboring towns, are raving after liberty; a word they have got by rote like a parrot, without knowing the meaning of it; and when Massachusettensis, or any other unprejudiced writer, endeavors to make them sensible of their error, and clearly prove it is not liberty but licentiousness they are running after, they immediately fly into abuse, calling them the enemies of their country, not considering that they themselves, the imaginary supporters of liberty, are the real enemies of this country, by spiriting up the people, by every delusive method, to forfeit everything that is dear to them in this world, and to merit the curses of their children from generation to generation.
It is to be hoped that there are very few who think that the fate of Britain depends on the liberties of America, or that the mother country will ever suffer the colonies to dictate to her. She has been long tender of the rod, but be assured the time approaches when she will exercise it with severity, and show the stubborn sons of New England that she will not any longer bear with their degenerate behavior.
If every man had thought for himself, and not been led by the nose by a Cooper or an Adams, all might have been happy; but these inconsiderate people have made themselves idols, viz., liberty trees, newspapers, and congresses, which by blindly worshipping have so engrossed their minds, that they give not the least attention to their several occupations, but attend at taverns, where they talk polities, get drunk, damn king, ministers, and taxes, and vow they will follow any measures proposed to them by their demagogues, however repugnant to religion, reason, and common sense.
It is a remark that the high sons of liberty consist but of two sorts of men. The first are those who by their debaucheries and ill conduct in life, are reduced almost to poverty, and are happy in finding a subsistence, though it is even on the destruction of their country; for on the turbulence of the times, and the heated imaginations of the populace, depends their existence.
The latter are the ministers of gospel, who, instead of preaching to their flocks meekness, sobriety, attention to their different employments, and a steady obedience to the laws of Britain, belch from the pulpit liberty, independence, and a steady perseverance in endeavoring to shake off their allegiance to the mother country. The independent ministers have ever been, since the first settling of this colony, the instigators and abettors of every persecution and conspiracy.”
March 10 — Daniel Boone left Fort Chiswell, Virginia, leading a group of men toward the Cumberland Gap to pass into Kentucky. These men cut the Wilderness Road, which was initially called “Boone Trace” or “Boone’s Road.”
March 11 — Botetourt Instructions
This report was published in Williamsburg, Virginia, on March 11 and then reprinted in Holt’s Journal on March 20. In it, the “Freeholders” in Botetourt County, Virginia, announced their intention to uphold the Continental Association and pledge their support for the people in Boston.
“This day the ‘freeholders of Botetourt,’ in Virginia, instructed their representatives as follows:
We require you to represent us with hearts replete with the most grateful and loyal veneration for the race of Brunswick, for they have been truly our fathers; and at the same time the most dutiful affection for our sovereign, of whose honest heart we cannot entertain any diffidence, but sorry we are to add, that in his councils we can no longer confide.
A set of miscreants unworthy to administer the laws of Britain’s empire, have been permitted impiously to sway. How unjustly, cruelly, and tyrannically they have invaded our rights we need not now put you in mind.
We only say, and we assert it with pride, that the subjects of Britain are one, and when the honest man of Boston, who has broken no law, has his property wrested from him, the hunter of the Alleghanies must take the alarm, and as a freeman of America, he will fly to the representatives, and thus instruct them:
‘Gentlemen, my gun, my tomahawk, my life, I desire you to tender to the honor of my king and country; but my Liberty to range these woods upon the same terms my father has done, is not mine to give up. It was not purchased by me, and purchased it was. It is entailed upon my son, and the tenure is sacred. Watch over it, gentlemen, for to him it must descend unviolated, if my arm can defend it; but if not, if wicked power is permitted to prevail against me, the original purchase was blood, and mine shall seal the surrender.
That our countrymen, and the world may know our disposition, we choose that this be published.
And we have one request to add, that is, that the Sons of WORTH and FREEDOM, who appeared for us at Philadelphia, will accept our most ardent grateful acknowledgments. And we hereby plight them our faith, that we will religiously observe their resolutions, and obey their instructions, in contempt of power and temporary interest; and should the measures they have wisely calculated for our relief fail, we will stand prepared for every contingency.’”
March 11 — Holt’s Journal reported: “A trial about a disputed horse race that has been run on Rye flats, came on to-day before Peter Guion, Esq., at Besley’s tavern, at New Rochelle. One of the parties demanded a jury and the justice accordingly issued a process. A number of the inhabitants were summoned and appeared, but unanimously refused to be sworn, declaring that as ihorse-racing was contrary to the Association of the Congress,’ they would never serve as jurors in any such cause, and that if the judge thought proper to commit them, they would go to jail. In short, the justice was obliged to try the cause himself.”
March 13 — The New York Gazette published a report about a former tax collector in Pennsylvania who overstepped his authority and was subsequently punished by the locals.
“A few days ago, a certain Byrns, a young man lately from England, who has acted in the capacity of a tax-gatherer, near Georgetown, Pennsylvania, but who lately sold his commission, and probably spent the money, stopped two wagons, on their way from Duck Creek, Cross Roads, to the head of Chester, and seized them as forfeited to the king, for reasons best known to himself, and made their drivers follow him with them to Downes, tavern.
Stepping in there to get a drink, he presently came out, and missing the wagons, pushed after, soon overtook them, and was returning, when several young men met him, knocked up his heels, and then took his gun, laid it in the road, and made the wagons drive over it twice or thrice, till they had rendered it entirely useless.
They then tied a grape vine, provided for that purpose, about his neck, and dragged him to a mill, not far distant, where they primed him over a little, not having a sufficient quantity of varnish to give him a complete gloss, then gently sprinkling the feathers of an old pillow over that, they led him into Georgetown, where they drenched him with Newberry rum and water, taken from a duck-hole, until it began to work unpleasantly.
They then led him like a victim, unto a duck-hole, where they launched him in with such swiftness, that the other shore brought him up. In this situation they had him some time; at last they made him fast with a grape vine, and brought him to a confession. He damned Bute, North, and all their brethren and followers, and said that the Americans were a generous, spirited, and much injured people.
They then gave him a terrestrial absolution on condition that he would immediately transport himself to Europe, and there speak the sentiments now delivered; which being agreed to, he set out the same evening for Boston.”
March 13 — Westminster Massacre
The New York Gazette reported on an incident that occurred in Westminster, New York, which is now present-day Vermont. A Patriot mob took possession of the courthouse and refused to disperse. The sheriff fired warning shots, and the mob returned fire, wounding one of the men with the sheriff. The sheriff and his men responded by rushing to the building and forcing their way in, killing William French in the process.
“Yesterday afternoon several riotous and disorderly persons, to the number of between eighty and ninety, assembled at Westminster, Cumberland county, in the province of New York. They took possession of the court house, with an avowed intent of preventing the court from being held.
Many of them had arms, and those who were unprovided for, collected arms and ammunition with all possible despatch. Many of the magistrates being present, it was thought advisable that the sheriff should make the usual proclamation against riotous assemblies, and demand possession of the court house and jail, which being refused several times, about nine o’clock at night a party assembled in order to disperse the rioters.
These proceeded with the sheriff and some magistrates to the court house, where proclamation was again made by the sheriff for the rioters to disperse, and sundry attempts were made to get in, without using fire-arms, but this proving ineffectual, threee guns were fired over the door, in hopes the rioters would be intimidated and retire; but so determined were they in their undertaking, that the fire was immediately returned from the court house, by which one of the magistrates was slightly wounded, and another person shot through his clothes.
The magistrates seeing the imminent danger they were in, so well exerted themselves that they forced the front door, and after a very smart engagement, wherein one of the rioters was killed, and many persons on both sides wounded, the court house was cleared, and proper measures were taken to preserve the peace.
This morning all was tumult and disorder; the judges, however, opened the court at the usual hour, and adjourned till three o’clock this afternoon; but by that time the body of rioters beginning to assemble in large parties, from New Hampshire and places adjacent, and particularly from Bennington, in the neighboring county of Albany, with a hostile appearance, the court, foreseeing no probability of being able to proceed to business, adjourned till next June term.
The body of rioters, which soon amounted to upwards of five hundred, surrounded the court house, took the judges, the justices, the sheriffs, the clerk, and as many more of their friends as they could find, into close custody, and sent parties out, who are returning with more prisoners.
The roads and passages are guarded with armed men, who indiscriminately lay hold of all passengers, against whom any of the party intimates the least suspicion, and the mob, stimulated by their chief leaders to the utmost fury and revenge, breathe nothing but blood and slaughter against the unfortunate persons in their power; the only thing which suspends their fate, is a difference of opinion as to the manner of destroying them.
And from the violence and inhumanity of the disposition apparent in the rioters, it is greatly to be feared that some of the worthy men in confinement will fall a sacrifice to the brutal fury of a band of ruffians before timely aid can be brought to their assistance.”
- AHC Note — Various newspapers reported the prisoners were taken to the jail at Northampton, Massachusetts, but were later released and returned to their homes.
March 16 — The Fate of America
Rivington’s Gazette printed a portion of a letter from London, which accused Congress of pushing for independence. The writer indicated Parliament was discussing measures that would appease the Americans but also believed the New York Assembly was the best hope for reconciliation.
“This is the important crisis which will determine the fate of America. The bold resolves of your Congress have pushed matters to an extremity, and render a complete decision of the dispute inevitable.
Whether America shall be independent of, or subordinate to Parliament, is now the question.
I wish the prospect was clearer of an amicable settlement. The leaders of government were heartily disposed to fall in with any proposals of accommodation which might have secured your liberties and preserved the sovereignty in the British legislature, which is essential to the welfare of the empire; but hot men among you have extended your claims so far as to make it impossible for Parliament to comply, without relinquishing every shadow of its authority.
The merchants have met on the subject. They are to petition Parliament for redress; but are neither to find fault with the late measures, nor to propose any mode for your relief, but to submit it entirely to Parliament. This intelligence is from two respectable merchants, who are of the committee.
What particular measures will be adopted by Parliament, on its ensuing meeting, no one can precisely determine; but this may be depended on, that there will be no relaxation with respect to Boston.
The strongest hope which we have yet left, is, that the assembly of New York will firmly and dutifully state their grievances, unembarrassed with points foreign to the subject, and free from an undistinguishing approbation of the measures of others. Such a petition will assuredly be honorably received, and in all probability open the way for a lasting accommodation of the present differences. How little do they seem sensible of the uncertainty and miseries of a civil war, which would plunge headlong into violence rather than sacrifice a punctilio!”
March 19 — Trouble with Soldiers in Boston
Holt’s Journal printed a report about the ongoing trouble between the inhabitants of Boston and the British troops. This included vandalism of John Hancock’s mansion near Boston Common.
“Since the army have found the season has passed for nature’s forming a bridge from Boston, they become abusive and insulting. They are now finishing their fortifications on the Neck, by picketing each side.
- AHC Note — General Gage ordered his men to build fortifications at Boston Neck after the Powder Alarm (September 1, 1774).
Thursday last being recommended by the Provincial Congress to be a day of fasting and prayer, on the morning of that day the society at the west end of Boston were greatly disturbed by a party of officers and soldiers of the fourth or the king’s own regiment.
When the people were assembling, they brought two marquee tents, and pitched them within ten yards of the meeting house, then sent for three drums and three fifes, and kept them beating and playing till the service was over.
In the evening of the next day. Colonel Hancock’s elegant seat, situated near the common, was attacked by a number of officers, who, with their swords, cut and hacked the fence before his house in a most scandalous manner, and behaved very abusively, by breaking people’s windows, and insulting almost every person they met.
Yesterday the Neck guard seized a quantity of musket cartridges with ball, (we suppose through the information of some dirty scoundrel, many of which we now have among us,) and about three thousand pounds of ball, which were being carried into the country.
This was private property. The owner applied to the General first, but he absolutely refused to deliver it. They abused the teamster very much, and run a bayonet into his neck.
The same evening a number of officers heated with liquor, (as it is said,) with drawn swords ran through the streets, like what they really were, madmen, cutting every one they met.
The stage coach just arrived from Providence, passing by, they attacked it, broke the glass, and abused the passengers. The driver being a smart fellow, jumped off his seat, caught one of them, Captain G., and some blows passed, when the officer retired not much to his credit.
To-day Colonel Hancock was again much insulted by a number of inferior officers and privates, who entered his inclosures, and refused to retire after his requesting them so to do; telling him that his house, stables, &c., would soon be theirs, and then they would do as they pleased.
However, on his application to the General, he immediately sent one of his aide-de-camps to the officer of the guard at the bottom of the common, to seize any officer or private who should molest Colonel Hancock, or any inliabitant, in their lawful calling.”
March 20 — General Gage issued new orders to Captain William Brown and Ensign Henry De Berniere. This time, they were told to go to Concord, “examine the road and situation of the town,” and gather “information…relative to what quantity of artillery and provisions.” While conducting their mission, the two spies were informed there were 14 cannons hidden in Concord, along with other military supplies.
March 20 — Gage, Rivington, and the Threat of Violence in Boston
Holt’s Journal reported that General Gage was using colonial taxpayer money to buy copies of Rivington’s Gazette and give them away. Further, the reported hinted that the conduct of British troops in Boston would inevitably lead to violence.
“It is said that General Gage has four hundred of Rivington’s papers regularly sent him every week by the post, which are distributed among the army, navy, and such others as are thought most proper to promote the infamous plan of enslaving this country.
These papers are, doubtless, paid for out of the American revenue. Thus, Americans, you already begin to see your own money employed for enslaving yourselves and your children.
We are constantly agitated by hearing complaints from different persons of the more than savage barbarity of the soldiers in Boston, encouraged and often joined and headed by the officers. They are now become so insolent that it is hardly safe to walk the streets at noonday, and there seems to be no check or control.
But they are rather countenanced and encouraged by their superiors, in their lawless outrages. They appear to be a banditti of lawless freebooters, just let loose upon us, for the innocent and laudable purposes of robberies, rapes, and murders; nor can we at present see any prospect of avoiding these calamities, but by a general evacuation of the town.
The late news seems to increase their insolence, which was barely tolerable before. The reason is obvious. The common soldiers and their wives have frequently and loudly complained of the fallacy and injustice of the officers, who promised them fine houses, rich plunder, and a thousand other gratifications, which they hoped to be in possession of long before this.
These expectations have undoubtedly prevented the desertion of hundreds. But they grow more and more impatient, so that we fear violence will, sooner or later, take place, let what will be the determinations in England, unless some method can be adopted to prevent or restrain them, tantamount to leaving the town, as the people in general do not seem inclined to go out.”
March 21 — Poughkeepsie Flag and Liberty Pole
Holt’s Journal reported on a Liberty Pole that was erected at Poughkeepsie, New York: “A few friends of liberty at Poughkeepsie, New York, met at the house of Mr. John Bailey, about three miles out of that town, and erected a pole on his land, with a flag on it, bearing on one side, THE KING, and on the other, THE CONGRESS AND LIBERTY; but the sheriff of Dutchess county, attended by a judge of the inferior court, and two of his Majesty’s justices of the peace, and a constable, with some others, friends to constitutional liberty and good order, cut the same down as a public nuisance.”
March 21 — Handbills in New York
A diary entry mentioned, “The method lately used in New York to post up inflammatory handbills, was the same used in England at the time of the Pretender. It was done by a man who carried a little boy in a box like a magic lantern, and while he leaned against the wall, as if to rest himself, the boy drew back the slide, pasted on the paper, and shutting himself up again, the man took the proper occasion to walk off to another resting place.”
March 22 — The Massachusetts Provincial Congress reconvened in Concord and continued to prepare to defend the province against British military aggression.
March 22 — In the House of Commons, Edmund Burke protested the New England Restraining Act. He also denounced “taxation without representation” and argued that only the colonial legislatures had the authority to levy taxes on the colonies. Burke urged Parliament to “restore order” between Britain and the colonies.
March 23 — Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death
Virginia — The Virginia Convention of Delegates, reacting to events in Massachusetts, discussed defense strategies. Patrick Henry was appointed Colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment. He condemned Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore’s actions and declared, “Forbid it, Almighty God—I know not what course others may take; but as for me—give me liberty or give me death!”
March 25 — The Virginia Convention ordered each county in the province to raise, equip, and train a company of infantry or cavalry.
March 28 — Holt’s Journal printed criticism of the British troops in Boston for the treatment of Thomas Ditson: “By the late proceedings in Boston, it seems that those sent over to repeal, or make null and void, the good and wholesome law of tarring and feathering, and to establish a new-fangled form of government in the Massachusetts Bay, strange to tell, have adopted the very laws they were sent to abolish! Is it possible that the omnipotent Iving, Lords, and Commons of Great Britain should send a powerful fleet and army, three thousand miles, at the expense of millions of money, only for the purpose of tarring and feathering a poor, harmless countryman?”
March 28 — Holt’s Journal reported that British officials were considering the organization of an army “…in Canada, to join the king’s regular forces in fighting against, and enslaving the other British colonies, the Canadians were greatly alarmed, and took the best method in their power to secure themselves from the service. And as, by the laws of France, married men cannot be compelled to serve in the militia, the Canadians considered marriage as a protection, to which, since their new laws, they have so universally had recourse, that, it is said, there is hardly an unmarried man to be found in all the country.
March 30 — New England Restraining Act
London — King George III approved the New England Restraining Act. The act prohibited the New England Colonies from trading with anyone but England and from fishing in certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean. The act also included any colony that joined the Continental Association. It was set to go into effect on June 1, 1775.
March 30 — Percy’s March
Boston, Massachusetts — In a show of strength, General Thomas Gage dispatched 1,200 British soldiers led by Colonel Hugh Percy from Boston along the Charles River. The alarm was raised in the countryside, and local militia took defensive positions at river crossings and removed planks from bridges to block the British march. Upon arriving at Watertown, the British were met with two unmanned cannons at the bridge. Rather than risk conflict, Percy returned to Boston. The incident led the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to issue rules for raising the alarm and assembling the militia to act as an “Army of Observation.”
The following is an extract of a letter from Boston, which was printed in the Pennsylvania Journal on April 1, 1775.
“This morning at daylight, the troops at Boston beat to arms, and five regiments marched out, with Earl Percy at their head. It was supposed they were going to Concord, where the Provincial Congress is now sitting. A quantity of provisions and warlike stores are lodged there.
Several expresses were immediately sent away to give notice of their marching. Important consequences were apprehended; but, happily, they only went a few miles out, and then returned.
The town and country were alarmed, and many of them got equipped for a march. It has given such uneasiness, that committees from twelve of the near towns have met upon it; and intend sending a petition to the Provincial Congress, representing this affair to them, and desiring they will take up the matter, and remonstrate with the General upon it.
The troops went out of the common road, marched over the people’s land, where their grain was sown, and tln-ough their gardens; broke down their fences, walls, &c., and did other injuries. It is thought such proceedings will bring on bad consequences, if not prevented.
Tlie late conduct of the regulars in Boston, in tarring and feathering a countryman, headed by one of their colonels, and other officers, and the spirited remonstrance it occasioned from the selectmen of the town of Billerica, to General Gage, has made much talk.
The military spirit and resolution prevailing in this province, in support of their liberties and constitution, is astonishing. We hope we shall soon have some good news from home, to prevent any breaking out, which we begin to fear, especially if the troops continue their marchings out. It is said that forty or fifty of the troops were so fatigued by their march, that they could not keep up with their fellow soldiers, on their return. It is also said they are intending to go out again soon.”
- AHC Note — The Massachusetts Provincial Congress responded to this march by ordering that any time 500 or more British troops marched out of Boston, an “Army of Observation” should assemble right away to “…act solely on the defensive…”
March 30 — Holt’s Journal reported there was talk of reconciliation, “It has been intimated to some considerable merchants in England, that the ‘ministry will be ready to meet any conciliatory measures that may be proposed with respect to America.’ — It is nonsense to talk of proposing conciliatory measures. The Americans have no terms to propose, nor can they hear any. They only insist upon the enjoyment of their inherent rights, and cannot give up a tittle of them, without being absolute slaves, which they are determined never to be, so long as they have hearts to feel, and hands to fight.”
March 30 — The Pennsylvania Packet reported the New York Assembly had sent a petition to the King and letters to Parliament: “The sloop Charming Peggy, Captain Tilley, sailed for Bristol. In this vessel was transmitted by the Honorable the General Assembly of New York, an humble, firm, dutiful, and loyal petition to his Majesty; as also a memorial to the Lords, and a representation and remonstrance to the Commons of Great Britain, requesting their mutual endeavors for a settlement of the present disputes subsisting between the mother country and the colonies.”
