USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston notions; being an authentic and concise account of "that village," from 1630 to 1847 > Part 15
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It became apparent that Mr. Rotch rather lingered in his preparations to return in the Dartmouth to London : the twenty days being nearly gone since his arrival, after which
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the collector might seize the ship and cargo : Mr. R. was summoned before the committee and stated to them, that it would prove his entire ruin if he should comply with the resolutions of the 20th. and 30th. of Nov. and therefore he should not do it.
A meeting of the people assembled at the Old South on Tuesday, P. M., Dec. 14th., when Mr. Roich appeared and was enjoined forthwith to demand a clearance ; it being as- certained that a clearance could not be obtained till the next day, this meeting was adjourned to Thursday : on that day there was the fullest meeting ever known; 2000 at least, were from the country ; Samuel P. Savage, of Weston, was appointed moderator ; Mr. R. then reported that the collec- tor would not give him a clearance : he was then ordered upon his peril to get his ship ready for sea that day, enter a protest immediately against the Custom House, proceed di- rectly to the Gov. then at Milton and demand a pass for his ship to go by the Castle.
An adjournment then took place to 3 P. M. from which time io 5 o'clock. they waited patiently for Mr. Rotch and then they began to be very uneasy; they soon called for a dissolution of the meeting and finally voted for it ; but some more judicious, fearing the consequences, begged for a re- consideration of that vote " for this reason ; that they ought 'to do every thing in their power to send the Tea back, ac- cording to their resolves : " this touched the pride of the as- sembly and they agreed to remain together another hour.
This interval was improved by Josiah Quiney, Jr. to ap- prize his fellow citizens of the importance of the crisis and directed their attention to the probable results of this contro- versy : he succeeded in holding them in attentive silence, till Mr. Roteh's return at 1-4 before 6 o'clock : the answer which he brought from the Gov. was, "that for the honor of ' the laws and from duty towards the King, he could not ' grant the permit until the vessel was regularly cleared."
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A violent commotion immediately ensued : a person who was in the gallery, dressed like an Indian, shouted at this junction the war ery of that people, and it was answered by about thirty persons at the door. disguised in like manner : the meeting was dissolved in the twinkling of an eye and all rushed to Griffin's (Liverpool) whart: the Indian-dressed in- dividuals boarded the ship, and in less than two hours, 240 chests and 100 half chests of Tea were staved and emptied into the dock : it was all done withont any inmult and no damage made to the vessels or any other articles.
This was accomplished in the vicinity of several ships of war lying in the harbor, and almost under the guns of the Castle, where there was a large body of troops at the service of the commissioners : conjecture only can be exercised for reasons, why no opposition was made to this bold and daring adventure : the names of the men who accomplished this feat have never yet been published ; perhaps one or two may yet be living : they had the honor to bear a part in the most important act which brought the King and his Parlia- meut to the decision that America should be subdued by the King's troops.
When the news of this transaction reached London, the Lords and Gentry were extremely excited : a member of the house of commons exclaimed " Delenda est Carthage" "the 'town of Boston ought to be knocked about their ears and ' destroyed. I am of opinion you never will meet with that ' proper obedience to the laws of this country, until you have ' destroyed that nest of locusts : " a large majority of Parlia- ment were of the same sentiments, and the Boston Port Bill received the sanction of the King. on March 31, 1774, clos- ing the port of Boston from receiving any vessels or goods, from and after the first of June : information of this Act was received in Boston, May, 10th. : on the 13th, a town meet- ing was held which passed the vote following.
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" Voted, That it is the opinion of this town, that if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importations from G. B. and exportations to G. B. the same will prove the salvation of N. 'merica and her liberties. On the other hand, if they continue their exports and imports, there is high reason to fear, that freud, power, and the most odious oppression will rise triumphant over right, justice, social happiness and free- dom. " Ordered, " That this cote be transmitted by the moderator, to all our sister colonics, in the name and behalf of this town .??
Gov. Gage arrived here the same day, May 13th. as Gov. and Vice Admiral of the Provinces : Gov. Hutchinson hav- ing received permission, at his own request, to return to England ; there he was in high repute, for the petition for his removal from office, with that of Oliver from the general court of the colony, had been acted on in privy council and they were honorably acquitted.
Gen. Gage stopped at Castle Island for a day or two; when the council made provision for his grand entre into Boston, with military honors : he was received at the end of Long Wharf and escorted to the Town house to partake of a public dinner: his Excellency met the two houses of As- sembly, May 26th. and in his speech, advised them " to de- 'spatch the business of the session as speedily as possible, 'because it was made his duty to remove the court to Salem 'on the 1st. of June : " when that day arrived the court was adjourned : all business at the Custom house ceased and the port was closed against all vessels that offered to enter.
The next day, June 2d. intelligence was received that acts were then maturing in Parliament, totally subverting the charter of the province : transferring the trial of all criminal offences to the courts in England : these acts wore severely felt by the whole province, but most severely in Boston : all business was here at an end; the deprivations of the common class of citizens were onerous and often distressing.
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but the generosity of the citizens from neighboring towns, with contributions for their necessities, comfort and relief, ex- hilerated the almost desponding spirits of those most distress- ed.
Confiding in the patriotie sympathy of their countrymen. the Boston committee of correspondence framed a sol ma hague and covenant, whereby all who signed it bound themselves from henceforth. to suspend all commercial intercourse with G. Britain, until a restoration of their charter rights : this league was sent to every part of the province and thousands signed their names to it, and faithfully complied with its ob- ligations in despite of a proclamation from Gov. Gage, de- nouncing the authors of it, cautioning all persons to beware of entering into this traitorons combination.
The general court met at Salem: and entered on their rec- ords a formal protest against their removal by the Gov., and on the 17th. of June, elected Messis. Bowdoin, Cushing, S. & J. Adams, and Robt. Treat Paine. as delegates to the Con- tinential Congress to be holden at Philadelphia on the 1-t. of Sept. and on this day Gov. Gage dissolved the general court by proclamation.
During the months of June. July and August, numerous troops arrived and were quartered in the town. and Gen. Gage employed them in constructing barracks and fortitica- tions on Boston Nech, with the old fortification gates across the road ; the town's people would not aid or assist on these works and persons from other places were obtained to do that, which the soldiers did not understand.
On the 1st. of Sept. 200 troops in 13 boats went from Long Wharf up the Mystic River and took from the powder- house on Quarry-hill. 212 half barrels of powder, which be- longed to the province, and another squad from the same corps went to Cambridge and brought off two field pieces ; these excursions caused great alarm and the next day sov-
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eral thousand persons assembled with muskets in the vicin- ity of Cambridge ; not meeting there with any foe, they laid aside their guns and in a body went to the houses of several who sided with the Crown, and compelled them to recant and forswear all concern in any offices or give any protection or support to the power of the British : the same thing was so effectually done in other counties that Gov. Gage had scarce- ly a mandamus counsellor left, except a few residing in Bos- ton under his special protection : jurors refused to serve un- der judges paid by the crown : thus the province was al- most in a state of anarchy.
The late colonial Charter of this year 1774, proclaimed town meetings unlawful, except those for elections in March and May, without the previous approbation of his Excellen- cy : the people of Boston being denied assembling together in their own town, held a meeting in Dedham, Sept. 6th, but then adjourned to Milton, where on the 9th, they passed several spirited resolutions : these were forwarded to the Congress then sitting in Philadelphia : that congress unani- mously approved them and recommended them for univer- sal adoption.
To evade the law against town meetings, the May meet- ing would be adjourned from time to time and in this man- ner, meetings were held until March meeting in 1775.
Gov. Gage issued orders for convening the general court on the 5th. of Oct. 1774, in Salem, but on account of the vari- ous tumults and opposition movements daily taking place, he countermanded that order Sept. 28th : the representatives however appeared and after waiting a day for the Governor's notice, they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, chose a chairman and clerk, and adjourned to meet at Con- cord on the 11th. : this provincial congress continued their session till Oet. 29th. : during which time they 'proposed to the people to take measures for an efficient organization of
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the militia and a supply of ammunition to the town stores : they appointed a treasurer and receiver general in the place of Mr. Gray, and advised all persons to refrain from paying the public monies to the latter and they also denounced the mandamus counsellors as rebels to the state.
For these and other overt acts, Cov. Gage proclaimed the Provincial Congress an unlawful assembly, with whose ad- vice or recommendations it would be dangerous for any one to comply : but this did not deter them from meeting again in December, and furthering other measures of defence, and also for carrying out the plans of the Congress at Philadel- phia; they also created a body termed the Committee of Safety, which became the real executive of the province, the members of which were elected anew at every session, to watch over the safety and interests of the Commonwealth, and advise the Congress of measures for the general benefit, and especially, to assemble the militia. as they judged ne- cessary and station them where most contributing to the de- fence and service of the colony.
Dec. 19. Cheering information was received from Ports- mouth, N. H., that a body of their people had attacked the fort at New Castle on the 15th of December, scaled its walls, disarmed the commander and his men, and taken off 97 barrels of powder, GO stands of muskets, and 16 pieces of cannon, and conveyed the whole to a safe retreat in the country. This acquisition made a gratifying offset to the loss at Cambridge.
The Governor of N. H. Colony proclaimed the act to be "open hostility and direct oppugnation to his Majesty's ' Government." The affairs around Boston were pretty fast approaching to an important crisis ; evertions were making to procure the arms and ammunition recommended by the colony Congress, as nearly all those articles were in Boston only ; they were there often obtained, to be removed to
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places of safety in the country, and that was to be done by deceiving the King's troops on the Neck. Cammon, balls, and other war implements were carried through the fortifica- tion gates in carts apparently loaded with manure, powder in the panniers of the market men, and cartridges in candle boxes.
At the close of the year 1774, Gov. Gage had eleven reg- iments of infantry, and four companies of artillery, under his command; five handred were daily ou duty ; the be- haviour of the troops was generally peaceable ; some of the officers were gentlemen of the best standing in society, and licentiousness received from them thus far, no countenance or support. But they did not conduct so orderly through the winter; for in Jan., 1775, several riotous acts were commit- ted in which the officers bore a part. On the 22d a detach- ment of an hundred men was sent to Marshfield, for the pro- tection of some of his Majesty's liege subjects; But they found nothing to do there, and met with no resistance; another clau was sent to Salem, to take possession of some brass cannon there or in that neighborhood; this was on Sunday, Feb. 20. ; they landed at Marblehead from a trans- port, and immediately took up their line of march to Salem ; but as information had preceded them of their probable de- signs, the people had raised the draw of the bridge so that they could not advance any farther ; the Commander de- sired that the draw might be let down, but that request was refused, saying that it was a private road and he had no au- thority to demand a passage that way ; he then decided 10 ferry some few men over in gondolas, as two of that craft were on the river's bank, but the people seutiled them be- fore he could effect his purpose : finally the ciffer .sil Lo
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been on the bridge then for an hour and a half, and every thing being secured, the people directed the draw to be lowered. The military passed over, marched a few rods leaving a party on the bridge for safety till they returned, which they did soon and with great expedition marched back again to Marblehead and re-embarked on board the transport between 8 and 9 o'clock that evening. This great expedition of the King's troops afforded much merriment for the wits of the day, and no little chagrin to the royalists.
The King's soldiers wreaked their vengeance on Thomas Ditson for this defeat. He was from Billerica for the pur- chase of a gun, and, supposing that a soldier would be likely to know where it could be purchased, he accosted one in the street, who beguiled him to his own quarters, and then pretended to sell him a gun for five dollars; on receiv- ing the money, he set up a hue and cry that here was a rebel purchasing arms of a King's soldier and enticing him to desert. On this, Ditson was forcibly seized and hurried to the barracks : there they tarred and feathered him from head to foot and escorted him to Liberty Tree, Col. Nesbit commanding, and then set him free : the selectmen of Billerica demanded satisfaction of Gen. Gage for this out- rage, but there is no information that any was given.
Tarring and feathering, was humorously termed, an Act; and it had often been threatened to the tories, as a terrorum, by the liberty men : but never but once resorted to and that was for a flagitious offence.
The provincial Congress held their sessions in Feb. March and April without molestation : appointed general officers for the command of the minute men who should be subject to the orders of the committee of safety, and appropriated funds for the purchase of warlike stores : In April, intelli- gence from England was received that Massachusetts had been declared in a state of rebellion and that Gov. Gage
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would receive onions to sene caldine of the popular leaders and send them to England for trial : on the 11th. official notice of these facts was handled to Gov. Gage : on the 13th of April the Congress adjourned.
For several months then past, there had been an associa- tion chiefly of mechanics in Boston, as a conduittee, for the purpose of watching the movements of the British : towards spring they frequently took turns, two and two, to watch the soldiers, patrolling the streets all night : about 12 o'clock on the 15th of April they observed that the boats of the trans- ports were all launched and under the sterns of the men-of- war : and the grenadiers and light infanny were all off from duty : on Tuesday the 18th, the light infantry and grenadiers were on Boston common at half past 10 P. M. Col. Francis Smith with about 800 soldiers embarked in boats and landed at Lechmere's point in Cambridge, and took up their line of march from thouce about 12 o'clock.
The object of his expedition was for the destruction of war- like stores in Concord : profound secrecy had been observed in the camp. but information of their movements had pie- coded them to Concord: Lexington is 12 miles N. West from Boston, and Concord 18 miles in the same direction ; the British arrived in Lexington at the dawn of day and they had the unexpected sound of a drum there beating to anis, and they soon came in sight of an American company of about 60 men, paraded in posture of defiance.
The British troops were halted at about 100 rods distance : ordered to load : double their ranks : and march at double quick time : the Lexington company were now commanded to load with ball : to stand their ground but not to fire unless they were attacked ; they heard the order of the British oficer to them. to disperse, but they did not move : heard his command to fire: and receiving it unkant, stood their ground, till another discharge proved fatal to several of their
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number : when most of them returned the fire and then dis- persed in various directions : the British formed on Lexing- ton common, fired off a volley: gave three cheers, and after a short halt, resined their march for Concord where they arrived at about 9 o'clock, A. M.
The main body was here set to searching for warlike stores, and a detachment was sent forward to secure the bridge at the north part of the town : information of their de- sign had reached Concord early in the morning, but of the fracas in Lexington they had not heard of, and they made no attack on the British troops. lest they should be considered as aggressors : the British on, approaching a party at the bridge opened a fire upon them, killing and wounding sev- eral : the fire was returned with some damage to the troops : the detachment soon after joined the main body, and all pre- pared at 12 o'clock to return to Boston, they having partially effected their object in the destruction of some stores and provisions.
But in place of the high and lofty confidence with which they wheeled into the streets of Concord, they left with faces anxiously directed to the surrounding heights, which indi- cated a consciousness of the dangers they were exposed to on the long road before them : and their apparent apprehen- sions were not groundless, for as soon as their return march commenced, a volley was sent to them from a barn, and as they advanced, volley succeeded volley, and musket echoed musket from behind every cover that offered to the yeoman- ry : at first these assailants were little regarded : a brisk charge and a smart fire, never failing to disperse them ; but the alarm of the preceding night had gathered the people from a large extent of country, to the assistance of their friends.
There was no order and no concert among the Americans ; each party as it arrived, dashed into the affray. hanging on
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the skirts of the troops or making spirited though ineffectual efforts to stop their progress; on either side of the high-way, along the margin of every wood or orchard ; in the open field ; from every house or barn or cover in sight, the flash of fire arms was to be seen : and the shouts of the British were more feeble at every sound : the utmost confusion seized their ranks: they began to run : the officers at- tempted to form them but to no purpose : their confusion increased : at last, after passing Lexington village, the offi- cers gained their front, charged bayonet, and told them if they advanced they should die : upon this they tried to form under a pretty heavy fire from the Americans : they must no doubt have soon surrendered, had they not been then reinforced with a thousand men, under Brig. Gen. Lord Percy, with two field pieces.
The Americans gave way as the two detachments joined and the artillery being opened upon thein ; the troops here halted to rest for half an hour : but the instant the guns were limbered, and the line of march resumed, balls flew from every quarter with redoubled animation : at almost every step of the retreating troops, they met with a new cluster of enemies annoying them till they reached Charles- town neck, at 7 P. M.
Gen. Percy took his station at Bunker Hill : the man-of- war boats were here first employed in removing the wounded, and after that some of the troops : fresh soldiers were sent over to stand guard during the night, and the next day the remaining forces were all returned to Boston ; the loss of Americans was 49 killed, 3 missing and 36 wounded ; and of the British 73 killed, 26 missing, 174 wounded.
The account of this transaction spread with great rapidity, and in the course of two days, so large a number of provin- cial militia was collected in this vicinity that the British officers acknowledged themselves "fairly blocked up in Boston."
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The situation of the people of Boston at this time, April, 1775, was any thing but agreeable; all intercourse wah the country ceased, and the citizens and troops were redneed to the necessity of subsisting on the provisions then on hand. A town meeting was held on the 22d, and a conference had with Gen. Gage, when he proposed to permit such of the cit- izens to leave the town as would surrender then arms. This proposition was accepted at an adjourned meeting on the next Sabbath. Many persons deposited their arms at the place appointed, but the Governor perceiving that by a de- parture of the citizens, he was depriving himself of the best security from destruction, found a pretext for detaining the largest number and compelled the few he did let go, to leave in town their most valuable effects.
On the 5th of May the Provincial Congress resolved that Gov. Gage had by late transactions and many others, " ut- 'terly disqualified himself from serving the colony as Gov- 'ernor, or in any other capacity, and that therefore no obe- 'dience was in future due to him."
On the 17th, in the evening, a store south of the Town Dock, used as a barrack, took five by the bursting of some cartridges, and that, with about 30 warehouses and dwell- ings were destroyed with nearly all their contents ; some of which were donations to the town for the relief of the in- habitants, oppressed and impoverished by the Boston Port Bill.
Towards the end of May large reinforcements of troops arrived, and on the 25th. Generals Howe. Clinton and Bur- goyne. Gen. Gage now prepared to act with more effect and decision. His troops had been skirmishning on the islands in the harbor, and the provincial. had gained a vie- tory over them in every distance. News arrived that the Americans had attacked Tienderes and Grown l'ont, and we're completely succes ful . The . Hans added not a high
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to the-enthusiasm of our people. Gen. Gage, on the 12th of June, issued a proclamation of pardon to all persons except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and proclaimed martial law throughout the colony. The Congress contemplated a reply to it, but were engaged by movements of greater im- portance. The British army "burned" for a fair trial of their prowess against the "rebels" in open fight; "we want more room," they said.
The American army consisted of about 15,000 men, under Gen. Artemus Ward. Information being conveyed to the officers, that the British intended posting themselves on Bun- ker's Hill, it was immediately resolved to make an effort to defeat their design. Accordingly, on the 16th of June, 1775, orders were issued for a detachment of 1,000 men to march that evening to Charlestown to entrench on that Hill : just before 9 o'clock they started from Cambridge, and marched to Breed's Hill, situated on the eastern part of that Peninsula, nearest to Boston ; for by some mistake, this hill was marked for the entrenchment, instead of Bunker's Hill : the works were commenced to be thrown up at 12 o'clock ; and by dawn of day they had formed a redoubt about 8 rods square : at this time a heavy cannonade was opened on them from the Glasgow man-of-war; from a battery on Copps' Hill, at the north part of Boston, and from five other British craft, which soon joined their force by water.
The American forces were solely composed of infantry : the Massachusetts men in the fort were under Col. Prescott, who had the supervision of the whole; the eastern part of the Hill, by troops from Connecticut, under Gen. Putnam ; and the N. Hampshire militia under Gen. Stark. An inces- sant shower of shot and bombs was rained upon the Hill from daylight, yet the Americans continued their labor till they had thrown up breast-works on the eastern side of the redoubt, towards the bottom of the Hill ; but at last were
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