USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
services were required to be unusually energetic and judicious. A committee of safety was chosen, to devise measures for the alarming emergency. A large and respectable committee was appointed to receive the contributions sent from abroad, and distribute them among the citizens. This was called the Donation Committee, who were in communication with pat- riots from every colony from Canada to Georgia, and even from the western parts of Virginia; and their letters, in reply to those they received, contain descriptions of the sufferings of the inhabitants, and express gratitude for the relief. The committee of correspondence, however, was the great execu- tive of the patriot party, - the mainspring of its movements. It had long acted the part of a faithful sentinel on the watch- tower. It promptly framed important news from abroad, or important action at home, into hand-bills, and despatched them to local committees, to be laid before the town-meetings of an hundred communities. It was the great counsellor of the Whigs. Besides meeting with the selectmen, it often sum- moned the committees of the neighboring towns1 for consul- tation. In this way this admirable machinery was kept in constant play. Thus measures that might startle the timid by their boldness were carefully weighed in their inception, and concert of action with other towns was secured.2
1 One of the notices is as follows :
"Gentlemen, - Our enemies proceed with such rapidity, and execute their measures so successfully, by the assistance of enemies in this and the neighboring towns, that we are constrained to request your presence and advice immediately. Matters of such extreme importance now claim your attention, that the least delay may prove fatal. We therefore entreat your company at Fanueil Hall, at five o'clock this afternoon, with such com- mittees in your neighborhood as you can influence to attend on so short a notice. We are your friends and fellow-countrymen,
" NATH'L APPLETON, " Per order of the Committee of Correspondence. " Boston, Tuesday, September 27, 1774.
" The Committee of Correspondence of Charlestown."
2 The Committee of Safoty chosen July 26, 1774, were : James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, William Phillips, Joseph War- ren, Josiah Quincy.
The Selectmen chosen March, 1774, were : John Scollay, John Hancock,
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BOSTON CLUBS.
Boston was literally full of clubs and caucuses, which were used with great effect to secure unity of action. Here town politics were freely talked over, and political measures were determined upon. A club of leading patriots, mostly lawyers and merchants- such as Adams, Otis, and Molineaux - were accustomed to meet at private dwellings, often at William Cooper's house in Brattle-square. John Adams has given a good idea of the conviviality as well as of the gravity of their meetings. The mechanics had their clubs. One of them often met at the Green Dragon Tavern. One of their import- ant duties at this time was to watch the movements of the troops and the Tories. "We were so careful," Paul Revere writes, " that our meetings should be kept secret, that every time we met every person swore upon the Bible that he would not discover any of our transactions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, Doctors Warren, Church, and one or two more." The engine companies were larger clubs, some of which had writ- ten agreements to "aid and assist" the town "to the utmost of their powers" in opposing the acts of Parliament. The most celebrated of these clubs, however, were three caucuses, - the North End Caucus, the South End Caucus, and the Middle District Caucus. They were rather societies than the public meetings understood by this term at the present time. They agreed who they would support for town officers, who they would name on committees, what instructions they would pass, what important measures they would carry out. Thus the
Timothy Newell, Thomas Marshall, Samuel Austin, Oliver Wendell, John Pitts ; Town Clerk, William Cooper ; Town Treasurer, David Jeffries.
The Donation Committee were : Samuel Adams, John Rowe, Thomas Boylston, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, John Adams, Josiah Quincy, jr., Thomas Cushing, Henderson Inches, William Molineaux, Nathaniel Apple- ton, Fortesque Vernon, Edward Proctor, John White, Gibbins Sharpe, Wil- liam Mackay, Thomas Greenough, Samuel Partidge, Benjamin Austin, Jonathan Mason, John Brown, James Richardson, Thomas Crafts, jr., Henry Hill, Joshua Henshaw, jr., David Jeffries.
The Committee of Correspondence chosen 1772 were : James Otis, Sam- uel Adams, Joseph Warren, Dr. Benjamin Church, William Dennie, William Greenleaf, Joseph Greenleaf, Thomas Young, William Powell, Nathaniel Appleton, Oliver Wendell, John Sweetser, Josiah Quincy, jr., John Brad- ford, Richard Boynton, William Mackay, Nathaniel Barber, Caleb Davis, Alexander Hill, William Molineaux, Robert Pierpont.
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
North End Caucus -the original records of which are before me - voted, October 23, 1773, that they " would oppose with their lives and fortunes the vending of any tea" that might be sent by the East India Company. Again, on the 2d of November, after appointing a committee of three to wait on the committee of correspondence and desire their attendance, and another committee of three to invite John Hancock to meet with them, the caucus voted that the tea shipped by the East India Company should not be landed. A good under- standing was kept up with the other two caucuses, and com- mittees of conference were often appointed to communicate their proceedings and desire a concurrence.1
' The records of the North End " caucos " extend from March 23, 1772, to May 17, 1774. On the first leaf is the memorandum, " Began 1767 - records lost." On the cover, under the date of March 23, there is a list of sixty persons, probably the members of the caucus. The Adamses, Warren, Church and Molineaux, were members ; but the names of Hancock, Bow- doin, or Cushing, are not on the list. On the 3d of November, a commit- tce was chosen to get a flag for Liberty Tree.
The clubs, however, were of earlier date than 1767. I am indebted to Hon. C. F. Adams for the following extracts from the diary of his grand- father, John Adams, in relation to their meetings :
Boston, Feb. 1, 1763. - This day learned that the caucus club meets at certain times in the garrett of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regi- ment. He has a large house, and he has a movable partition in his garrett, which he takes down, and the whole club meet in one room. There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the garrett to the other. There they drink flip, I suppose, and there they choose a moderator, who puts questions to the vote regularly ; and selectmen, assessors, collectors, war- dens, firewards, and representatives, are regularly chosen before they are chosen in the town. Uncle Fairfield, Story, Ruddock, Adams, Cooper, and a rudis indigestaque moles of others, are members. They send committees to wait on the Merchant's Club, and to propose and join in the choice of men and measures. Captain Cunningham says they have often solicited him to go to these caucuses, - they have assured him benefit in his business, &c.
Dec. 23, 1765. - Went into Mr. Dudley's, Mr. Dana's, Mr. Otis's office, and then to Mr. Adams's, and went with him to the Monday night club. There I found Otis, Cushing, Wells, Pemberton, Gray, Austin, two Waldos, Inches, (Dr. Parker?) and spent the evening very agreeably. Politicians all at this club.
Jany. 15, 1766. - Spent the evening with the Sons of Liberty at their own apartment in Hanover-square, near the Tree of Liberty. It is a compt- ing room in Chase and Speakman's distillery - a very small room it is.
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THE BOSTON PRESS.
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The press was used by the patriots with great activity and effect. The Boston Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy were the principal Whig journals, of the five weekly newspapers printed this year in Boston. The Gazette had for a long time been the main organ of the popular party ; and it was through its columns that Otis, the Adamses, Quincy, and Warren, addressed the public. In fact, no paper on the continent took a more active part in politics, or more ably supported the rights of the colonies. Its tone was generally dignified, and its articles were often elaborate. The Massachusetts Spy was more spicy, more in the partisan spirit, less scrupulous in matter, and aimed less at elegance of composition than at clear, direct, and efficient appeal. In two years after its estab- lishment it had the largest circulation of any paper in New England. Its pungent paragraphs annoyed the loyalists. The soldiers at home threatened its editor with tar and feath- ers, - the Tories abroad burnt him in effigy. The boldness, firmness, and ability of these journals did invaluable service to the cause of freedom. The Tories acknowledged the effect of them. "The changes," says the Tory Massachusettensis, "have been rung so often upon oppression, tyranny, and slavery, that, whether sleeping or waking, they are contin- ually vibrating in our ears." They are yet vibrating in the world.1
John Avery, distiller or merchant, of a liberal education ; John Smith, the brazier ; Thomas Crafts, the painter ; Edes, the printer ; Stephen Cleverly, the brazier ; Chase, the distiller ; Joseph Field, master of a vessel ; Henry Bass, George Trott, jeweller, were present. I was invited by Crafts and Trott to go and spend an evening with them and some others. Avery was mentioned to me as one. I went, and was very civilly and respectfully treated by all present. We had punch, wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and cheese, &c. I heard nothing but such conversation as passes at all clubs among gen- tlemen about the times. No plots, no machinations. They chose a com- mittee to make preparations for grand rejoicings upon the arrival of the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act.
1 The five newspapers printed in Boston, in 1774, were as follows : The Boston Evening Post, on Monday mornings. It was first an evening paper. It was printed by Thomas and John Fleet. This journal contained many articles from the pens of the Whigs, but it appears also to have been employed by the government. The Boston News-Letter was published by Margaret Draper, widow of Richard Draper, and her partner, Robert Boyle, 3*
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
The patriots did not carry their measures without oppo- sition. The Revolution was no unanimous work; and the closer it is studied, the more difficult and more hazardous it will be found to have been. In Boston, the opposition, the Tories, were respectable in number, and strong in character and ability. General Gage expected much from them; 1 for though they were comparatively inactive when he arrived, yet he was assured that, after his troops were concentrated so as to afford them protection, many would come out boldly for the government who had been intimidated by "the faction." One of the last rallies of the Tory party-one of their strongest contests with the Whigs- was at a town-meeting held in June, when one of their number made a motion to censure and annihilate the committee of correspondence. They were patiently heard in support of it, -Samuel Adams leaving the chair, and mingling in the debate. No reports of town-meeting speeches are extant; but the Tory speaker would be bold and vehement against this busy committee. " This is the foulest, subtlest, and most venomous serpent that ever issued from the eggs of sedition. It is the source of the rebellion. I saw the sinall seed when it was implanted; it was as a grain of mustard. I have watched the plant until it has become a great tree; the vilest reptiles that crawl upon the earth are concealed at the root; the foulest birds of the air rest upon its branches. I now would induce you to go to work immediately with axes and hatchets, and cut it down, for a two-fold reason :- because it is a pest to society, and lest it be felled suddenly by a stronger arm, and crush its thou-
in Newbury-street. They separated before the commencement of hostilities, when John Howe became her partner, and remained in business with her until the British troops left Boston, when the News-Letter ended. It was tbe only paper printed in Boston during the siege. The chief organ of the government party was the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, published by Mills and Hicks. It was patronized by the officers of the crown, and attracted the most notice from the Whigs. The Boston Gazette and Country Journal was printed by Benjamin Edes and John Gill. The Massachusetts Spy was printed by Isaiah Thomas. - Thomas' History of Printing.
1 See Gage's Letter, on page 7.
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BOSTON LOYALISTS.
sands in the fall."1 And great must have been the patriot, Samuel Adams, in reply to such a strain. He was not only the father, but he was the soul, of this committee; and his deepest feelings would be aroused to defend it. "On such occasions," John Adams writes, "he erected himself, or rather nature seemed to erect him, without the smallest symptom of affectation, into an upright dignity of figure and gesture, and gave a harmony to his voice, which made a strong impression on spectators and auditors, - the more lasting for the purity, correctness, and nervous elegance of his style." The meeting began in Faneuil Hall, and it ended in the Old South. The committee, instead of being annihilated, were thanked for their patriotic action. One hundred and twenty-nine of the citizens made their protest against the proceedings. An oppo- sition that could muster so strong was one not to be despised. "A number of the better sort of people," General Gage writes, July 5, "attended town-meeting in Boston with a design to make a push to pay for the tea, and annihilate the committee of correspondence, but they were outvoted by a great number of the lower class."
The Tories were severe in their condemnation of the pat- riot cause, and confident of the power of Great Britain to crush it. "The annals of the world," Massachusettensis says, "have not yet been deformed with a single instance of so unnatural, so causeless, so wanton, so wicked a rebellion." Should hostilities commence, "New England would stand recorded a singular monument of human folly and wicked- ness." Then nothing short of a miracle could gain the patri-
1 Massachusettensis. Edition 1819, pp. 159, 165.
This was by far the ablest of the Tory writers. Trumbull says it was the last combined effort of Tory wit and argument to write down the Revolution. Hence in McFingal the poet writes :
Did not our Massachusettensis For your conviction strain his senses ; Scrawl every moment he could spare From cards and barbers and the fair ; Show, clear as sun in noon-day heavens, You did not feel a single grievance ; Demonstrate all your opposition
Sprung from the eggs of foul sedition ?
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
ots one battle, and hence there was but one step between them and ruin. The Tory descriptions of the men "whose ambi- tion wantonly opened the sources of civil discord" were equally severe. They were called "the faction," consisting of "calves, knaves, and fools," and not numbering "a fourth part of the inhabitants." Their motives were described as the most selfish and unworthy. The majority were "an ignorant mob, led on and inflamed by self-interested and profigate men." "The town-meeting was the hot-bed of sedition." Incessant were the sneers in the British journals and pamphlets against "the Boston saints." "The venerable forefathers of the loyal saints of Boston" were rebels when they deposed Andros, and " their hopeful progeny" were reb- els against George III. Long had the Bostonians cherished a desire of independence : "Many years'observation has con- vinced me," one in 1774 writes, " that the Bostonians wanted to throw off the authority of Great Britain." The merchants were characterized as smugglers, and " the smugglers were the main body of the patriots." "The merchants," a Boston let- ter says, "form a part of those seditious herds of fools and knaves which assemble on all important occasions in Faneuil Hall, in the House of Representatives, or in the Council Chamber, at Boston ; in which places, with the most sanctified countenances, they preface their wise and learned harangues, and their treasonable votes and resolves, with humbly beseech- ing the Almighty to stand forth the champion of rebellion." "The generality of young Bostonians are bred up hypocrites in religion, and pettifoggers in law." In a word, Boston was represented as the seat of all the opposition to the ministry ; and this opposition was represented as confined to "the fac- tion" in Boston. "The demons of folly, falsehood, madness, and rebellion, seem to have entered into the Boston saints, along with their chief, the angel of darkness." These phrases may be thought unworthy to be introduced here. But it was the information that was sent to England concerning the character, motives, and extent of the patriot party ; and it was the information on which the British ministry chose to rely.1
! These phrases are taken from the newspapers, and a sharply written pamphlet, entitled " Letters, &c.," " Humbly inscribed to the very loyal and
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BOSTON DAILY NEWS.
How vivid would be the picture of Boston in this eventful period, - of its hopes and fears, of its intense mental life, - could the daily news be given as it was spoken in groups in the streets, or in the social gathering ; and could the feelings with which it was received be realized ! Eagerly would the inhabitants devour up each new report. "Samuel Adams writes that things go on in the Continental Congress, without any motion of our members, as perfectly to his liking as if he were sole director." "John Adams writes, there is a great spirit in the Congress, and that we must furnish ourselves with artillery, and arnis, and ammunition, but avoid war if possible - if possible." "The members of our General Court, though Gage dissolved them, mean to stick to the charter, and have resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress." "Their proceedings are carried on in secret ; but Dr. Warren says, the debates are worthy of an assembly of Spartans or ancient Romans, and their votes are worthy of a people determined to be free." "Our friends abroad say that Great Britain is determined to force the regulating act down our throats, and that the people have too generally got the idea that Americans are all cowards and poltroons." "Josiah Quincy, jr., writes for us to prepare for the worst, for it is a serious truth in which our friends there are all agreed, that our countrymen must seal their cause with their blood." "Our old Louis- burg soldiers laugh at the newly erected fortifications, and say they are mud walls in comparison with what they have subdued ; and that, if necessary, they would regard them no more than a beaver dam." "Our woollen manufactory is getting along finely, and has just turned out a large quantity
truly pious Doctor Samuel Cooper, pastor of the Congregational Church in Brattle-street." "Boston : Printed by order of the selectmen, and sold at Donation Hall, for the benefit of the distressed patriots, 1775."
The London Chronicle, 1774, thus describes the patriots, after the Port Bill had arrived : "The faction of Boston are now in the same condition that all people feel themselves in after having committed some signal outrage against the laws ; at first they support one another by talking over their spirited exertions, and praising each other's bravery ; but these vain notions soon evaporate, and the dread of punishment takes possession of their minds, upon which they become as low-spirited and dastardly as they were before outrageous and overbearing."
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
of baizes, and we see that we can make any kind of linens or woollens." "Mrs. Cushing says she hopes there are none of us but would sooner wrap ourselves in sheep-skins and goat-skins than buy English goods of a people who have in- sulted us in such a scandalous manner."1 " Two of the great- est military characters of the age are visiting this distressed town, - General Charles Lee, who has served in Poland, and Colonel Israel Putnam, whose bravery and character need no description." "The collectors have begun to pay the pub- lic moneys to the people's treasurer ; and the king's treasurer, Gray, gives notice (October 31) that he shall soon issue his distress warrant to collect the taxes from the constables and collectors." "Peters, the Tory minister, writes (September 28) that six regiments, with men-of-war, are coming over ; and as soon as they come hanging work will go on, and that destruction will begin at the seaport towns, and that the lintel sprinkled on the side-posts will preserve the faithful." " Last week, at the field-day at Marblehead, the regiment did not fire a single volley, nor waste a kernel of powder." " Another regiment of red-coats marched proudly up King- street to-day, music playing, colors flying, bayonets gleaming, and encamped on the common." "John Adams says that the great Virginia orator, Patrick Henry, on being told that it was Major Hawley's opinion that ' We must fight, and make prep- aration for it,' solemnly averred, 'I am of that man's mind.' " Such phrases now are mere words. Then they were things. And as they went into happy homes, they made the father
1 This expression is taken from a Ms. letter written by the wife of Thomas Cushing, then in Congress, dated Boston, September 21, 1774. She writes : " My spirits were very good until one Saturday, riding into town, I found the Neck beset with soldiers, the cannon hoisted, - many Tories on the Neck, and many more going up to see the encampment with the greatest pleasure in their countenances, which, I must confess, gave a damp to my spirits which I had not before felt. But I hope the rod of the wicked wont always rest upon us, and that the triumph will be but short. None of our friends think of moving themselves or house furniture at present. When it is necessary, I doubt not I shall have many good friends to advise and assist me. I hope there are none of us but what would sooner wrap themselves in sheep and goat-skins than buy English goods of a people who have insulted them in such a scandalous manner."
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BOSTON SUFFERING.
thoughtful and solemn, and the mother's heart throb with intenser anxiety. It was felt that the shadows in the horizon were not to pass away as the summer cloud, but were length- ening and deepening, and gathering with angry portent. They heralded the coming of that terrible calamity, civil war.
While such was the mental life of Boston, how changed had become its material aspect ! How still its streets, how deserted its wharves, how dull its marts ! The Port Bill not only cut off its foreign trade, but the whole of its domestic trade by water. Did a lighter attempt to land hay from the islands, or a boat to bring in sand from the neighboring hills, or a scow to freight to it lumber or iron, or a float to land sheep, or a farmer to carry marketing over in the ferry-boats, the argus-eyed fleet was ready to see it, and prompt to cap- ture or destroy.1 Not a raft or a keel was allowed to approach the town with merchandise. Many of the stores, especially all those on Long Wharf, were closed. In a word, Boston had fairly entered on its season of suffering. Did its inhab- itants expostulate on the severity with which the law was carried out ? The insulting reply was, that to distress thiem was the very object of the bill. As though the deeper the iron entered into the soul, the sooner and the more complete would be the submission. Citizens of competence were reduced to want ; the ever hard lot of the poor became liarder. To maintain order and preserve life, at so trying a season, called for nerve and firmness. Work was to be provided when there was no demand for the products of labor, and relief was to be distributed according to the circumstances of the applicants. The donation committee sat every day, Sun- days excepted, to distribute the supplies. An arrangement was made with the selectmen, by which a large number were employed to repair and pave the streets, and hundreds were employed in brick-yards laid out on the Neck.2 Manufactories
1 Boston Gazette, October 17, 1774: 2 Report of the donation committee. One seventh of all the contributions were assigned to Charlestown. The letters of this committee are among the Mss. in the cabinet of the Mass. Hist. Society. Contributions continued to be received in Boston until the com- mencement of hostilities ; they were also made for the poor of Boston a long time afterwards.
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COLONIAL POLITICS.
of various kinds were established ; the building of vessels and of houses and setting up blacksmith-shops were among the projects started. The means to carry on all this business were derived from the contributions. This forced labor, how- ever, ill compared with that voluntary activity which had so long characterized the metropolis; and a visiter to it, during the gloomy winter of 1774-5, would have seen little of that commerce which had raised "the great town" to its high prosperity.
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