*Editor’s note: The following is the next installment in a historical series written for the America 250 PA celebration*
We’re having a party… everybody’s angry…
Apologies to Sam Cooke, but we are heading straight for a party of sorts, although I don’t think the British regulars were all that impressed with the entertainment.
Before we go to the party, we have to have bloodshed.
One frosty winter afternoon, March 5, 1770, a British soldier was standing guard outside the Boston Customs office when a couple of kids started giving him a hard time, and one of those kids was hurt.
Eventually, nine soldiers, including their commander, Capt. Thomas Preston, faced off with a crowd that grew to 300 to 400 citizens yelling, throwing snowballs, ice or whatever they could get their hands on, and things were getting tense.
A 19-year-old bookseller named Henry Knox (remember that name, he’ll be back) warned the commander that if his soldiers fired, there would be drastic consequences.
There are differing testimonies on why the soldiers fired, but in the end, 11 men were hit. Three died instantly, two died later that day, and a sixth passed away weeks later from his wounds. The people were both horrified and furious.
The soldiers eventually went on trial and at first thought they would never get anyone to fairly represent them. But then a young lawyer from Braintree stepped up and said he agreed they needed a fair shake. John Adams successfully argued the cases, with six soldiers acquitted and two convicted of manslaughter.
Now, I can’t say things were quiet between 1770 and 1773, because they weren’t. There were letters, demonstrations, meetings… but in the interest of keeping things short, we’ll go to the party.
Parliament passed the Tea Act earlier in the year, which required the colonies to buy tea solely from the East India Company, and all the major ports in the 13 colonies refused to let the tea be offloaded.
On Dec. 16, a wild band of indians boarded a ship in Boston and dumped about 340 chests of tea into the harbor… they were, of course, the Sons of Liberty making a loud statement.
Six other colonies, including the ports of Philadelphia, Greenwich, New Jersey, and Edenton, North Carolina (led by women), would have their own parties over the next year.
Parliament responded with the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists, which were aimed mostly at Massachusetts but also hit the other colonies with setting territory boundaries, enforcing the Quartering Act and so on.
The First Continental Congress met from September to October 1774.
And then 1775 dawned with members of Parliament, including William Pitt, attempting to calm things down while others fanned the flames.
It is important to note at this point that the colonists still considered themselves to be British subjects, intent on insisting the government “across the pond” take their grievances seriously.
In April, Gen. Thomas Gage received instructions to disarm the colonists and arrest the leaders of the uprisings, especially John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
Concord was the location of a large store of military supplies and, suspecting the regulars might be up to something, Paul Revere warned them to move the items into hiding.
Revere and his friend William Dawes received the signal of two lights in the belfry the night of April 18 from the sexton of the Old North Church… the regulars were coming by boat up the Charles River. They spurred their horses through the countryside, taking different routes, and warning the citizens, “The regulars are coming out!”
The alarm spread as far as 25 miles away, and throughout the night and the next day, men would respond.
Revere was captured while Dawes and their friend Dr. Samuel Prescott, who had joined them, escaped. Eventually, Revere was released, and he made his way to Lexington to help Hancock and Adams make their escape.
On April 19, some 700 soldiers arrived at Lexington at sunrise, confronted by a group of militia men, and the first shots were fired, killing eight militia and wounding 10.
Around 11 a.m., a portion of the regiment, about 100 regulars, reached the Old North Bridge at Concord to find 400 militia waiting for them.
After exchanging gunfire, the regulars fled, and eventually the entire force, which had been reinforced as had the militia, returned to Charlestown, fighting skirmishes and enduring jeering from the people.
Ultimately, the militia sustained 49 killed, 39 wounded and five missing, while the regulars had 73 killed, 174 wounded and 26 missing.
The militia then placed Boston under siege. By this point, most of the rebels and their families had fled, and the city was mostly populated by soldiers and loyalists.
The Second Continental Congress met on May 10 and officially created the Continental Army on June 14, naming George Washington as general and sending him north as commander of the army.
Before Washington could get there, though, the colonials learned the regulars were getting ready to occupy hills just outside of Boston.
Under the command of Col. William Prescott, 1,200 men quietly occupied Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill, and through the night managed to construct a solid redoubt (earthen fortifications) on Breed’s Hill and more fortifications along the peninsula.
On June 17, the regulars attacked and were repulsed twice, though on the third attempt they captured the redoubt.
Abigail Adams and her nearly 8-year-old son, John Quincy, would watch the battle from a hill near their home.
Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson would write a “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms,” and the Congress would send an Olive Branch Petition to King George III, who promptly proclaimed the colonies to be in rebellion.
Washington sent Gen. Henry Knox (remember him?), then 25, to Fort Ticonderoga in New York (captured by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys that spring) to bring back the cannons.
Amazingly, Knox and his men left Dec. 5 and returned Jan. 24 during a harsh winter with 59 captured cannons, which were used the spring of 1776 to shell the British garrison in Boston, forcing evacuation on March 17.
So here we are, just months from the most epic breakup letter ever written, that would literally change the course of history, change the world in fact, and begin an experiment that has lasted 250 years.
Further Resources
- John Adams by David McCullough
- Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara
- Killing England by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
- Sons of Liberty series, The History Channel
- Blood on the Bridge, hosted by Kelsey Grammer, Fox Nation
