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Lynn in the Revolution
Chapter II.
Beginning of the Revolution -
Early Patriotic Votes of the Town
and Measures
Taken |
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A Very Special Thanks To The Lynn Public Library
For The Use Of This Important
Resource.
Transcribed by Shaun Cook
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transcribe or submit information, please e-mail Shaun
Cook |
IN the autumn of 1768 the first
British soldiers arrived in the town of Boston. They were sent by vote of the
Parliament of Great Britain in order that the king's rebellious subjects
might be overawed. Word reached Boston in September that they were on their
way, and the news was not long in travelling over the road to Lynn, for we find
that almost immediately the following notification appeared in conspicuous
places in the town: -
"Notification For Town meeting Sept. 16th -1768
"The Inhabitants of this
Town are hereby Notified, to attend
a town meeting at the Old meeting house in sd town on Mun-
day ye 19th Instant at 3 of
the Clock after noon To Se if
the Town will chuse a person or such Persons
as they may
think fitt to attend a convention to be held at Boston at
Funels hall on Thursday the 22d Instant. To Consult Just
Reasonable
& Proper Measures to be Taken For the Secur-
ing the Crown and
Government & also the Constitutional
Rights & Privileges of the
Inhabitants which they ought to
Enjoy by Charter - By order of the
Selectmen
"EBENEZER BURRILL Town Cleric"
The meeting was held in due time, with Deacon Daniel Mansfield as
moderator, and chose Ebenezer Burrill by a great majority as the delegate.
We are accustomed to the thought that all New England
[ 7
]
was more or less excited by the intelligence of
an armed force having arrived on her shores, and every school-boy has studied
the history of the stirring times which followed. The names of Boston,
Charlestown, Cambridge, Salem, Concord, and Lexington are inseparably linked in
the thought of those times, but we look in vain for the name of "Lynn," the
pleasant town lying close to the shore of the bay and in the thoroughfare
between Boston and Salem, Marblehead, and Portsmouth. Certain it is that no
notable event took place within her borders, and no name of national
importance can be credited to her records, yet we need nothing more than the
fact of this meeting to realize that she was keenly alive to the welfare of the
colony and stood ready to do her share in maintaining it.
We are not able
to tell specifically what was done in the little town during the seventeen months
that the two obnoxious regiments were quartered in the neighboring town
of Boston. We can only imagine that the prevailing topics of conversation by
the fireside, on the farm, and in the shop were the all-absorbing ones of the acts
of the British ministry, of taxation, of charter rights, of the arrogance of
Governor Bernard and the toryism of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson. We have no
further record, however, until after the Boston Massacre, when we find, under date
of May 24, 1770, the following: -
" 1. Voted we will Do our Endevor to
Discountenance the use of foreign tea.
"2. Voted no person to Sustain any
office of profit that will not Comply with the above vote.
"3ly. Voted
no Taverner or Retaler Shall be Returned to Sessions that will not assist
in Discountenancing the use of sd tea & ye Selectmen to give it as Reasons
to ye Sessions.
[ 8 ]
"4ly. Voted unanmously that we will use our Endevor to promote our own
manufacturing among us,
"Lastly voted a committee Be
chose to Inspect the Conduct of all Buyers & Sellers of tea in this town
and take Subscriptions - accordingly ye following Gentmen wee chose.
Zachcus Collins, Salvenas Husey, John Mansfield, Increase Newhall & Joseph
Newhall. Committee to report to ye Selectmen ye first Monday in July next."
This interesting
record is found written in the handwriting of the town clerk, Ebenezer
Burrill, but unsigned. The hated Stamp Act was indeed a thing of the past, and
the two British regiments were withdrawn from Boston, yet there still remained
heavy grievances against the government. The fact that a promise had been
made that there should be a repeal of all duties except that of the tax on tea
was a long way from satisfying the hardheaded and far-seeing colonists, who
were contending for a principle. It would seem that in the little community
at Lynn there must have been discussed at this time the possibility of armed
resistance, for the people were looking to their arms and ammunition, voting in
town meeting on the very day of the Boston Massacre that "The Town Stock of
Ammunition be moved from ye meeting house. Voted ye Selectmen should have ye
care of it and provide some place to Secure ye same as soon as may be."
We wonder to-day at the short-sightedness and
obstinacy of the British ministry during these years of controversy
and disagreement between Englishmen on either side of the Atlantic. The
inevitable result of its policy, which appears so plain to us to-day, seemed to
be at that time discerned only by a Pitt or a Burke. Again and
[ 9 ]
again did Lord Chatham come from his retirement back
to the House of Lords, and with all the strength of his great mind plead for the
colonies, urging that milder measures be taken and greater wisdom and
understanding be shown in dealing with Englishmen across the sea. It was
only he and a very few others in Parliament who could comprehend the spirit
which breathed in every town and hamlet in the thirteen colonies, and could say,
"I rejoice that America has resisted." In spite of the debates which took place
in Parliament at this time, its policy became more and more vexatious. Nearly
every colony suffered in some way. The promise of the repeal of all importation
tax, except that on tea, was, indeed, kept in the April following the Boston
Massacre, yet on the last day of the spring session of the General Court of Massachusetts the following resolve passed, namely: -
"Whereas
by the act of Parliament a duty is levied upon foreign teas imported into this
Province, with the express purpose of raising a revenue upon his Majesty's
subjects here without their consent, upon which account the use and consumption
of foreign teas is predjudicial to the true interest of the Province,
Resolved, that the members of this House will use their utmost endeavors to
prevent the use and consumption thereof in the several towns to which they
belong."
This grievance of taxation was one which affected all the
colonies, and, while they were perfectly willing to aid in support of the
government, they wished to contribute to its support, and not to be taxed
by a government in which they were not represented.
In
1772, according to Fiske, "black thunder clouds
[ 10 ]
of war gathered." On the Records of Lynn at this time
the following entry was made: -
"At a Town Meeting Leagely
assembled Jany. 6th 1772, Dean. Danil Mansfield chosen Moderator, the Question being
put after the papers was Red, Relating to Publick Greaveances the prvince
Labours under in Regard to their Rights and Privileges,
"Voted unanimously
that this Town will concur in centiments with the towns of Boston & the
Neighboring towns of the Province with regard to our Constitutional and Charter
Rights and Privileges.
"Voted to instruct the Representative to stand
firm for our Charter wrights and Priviledges.
"Voted to chuse a
comittee of Seven men to corespond with comittees of other Towns Respecting the
Greavences we do labour under
"Voted Capt. John Mansfield, Majr. Abner Cheever, Deacn. Abijah Cheever, Docr.
John Flagg, Dean. Nathanel Bancroft, Salvenas Hussey & Josiah Martain.
(Deacn. Danil Mansfield added in martain's rume.)"
The choosing of this committee indicates how closely in
touch were the inhabitants of Lynn with their neighbors in Boston, and how
strong was the sympathy between them. The year 1772 marked the formation of the
Committees of Correspondence throughout the colonies, the work of which was
to draw together by a bond never to be broken people who heretofore had
understood little of one another, and had been content to know little of one
another.
When in November, 1773, the Committees of Correspondence from
the towns of Cambridge, Brookline, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Boston met together
in Fan-
[
11 ]
euil Hall to discuss the landing of tea in Boston,
they sent out letters to all the other towns in the colony, containing
these words: -
"Brethren, we are reduced to this dilemma:
either to sit down quiet under this and every other burden that our enemies
shall see fit to lay upon us, or to rise up and resist this and every plan laid
for our destruction, as becomes wise freemen. In this extremity we earnestly
request your advice."
It was a call which brought the following response from
the patriotic townsmen of Lynn: -
"At a meeting of the Freeholders &
other Inhabitants (qualified by law to vote) of the town of Lynn, Duly and
Legaly assembled on the 16th day of Decr. ano Dom 1773, the following resolves
were unanimously past
"That the people on the British American colonies by
their constitution of Government have a Right to freedom & an Exemption
from Every Degree of oppression & slavery.
"2ly That it is an Essential
Right of Freemen to have the Disposal of their own property & not to be
taxed by any power over which they have no control.
"3ly that the
parlimentary Duty Laid upon Tea Landed in America is in Effect a tax upon the
americans without their Consent.
"4ly That the late act of parlement allowing
the East India company to land their Tea to America on their own account,
was artfully framed for the purpose of Enforceing & carrying into
Effect the Oppressive act of Parliment Impousing a Duty upon Teas
Imported into America & is a fresh proof of the settled and
determined Designs of the ministry to Deprive us of freedom & Reduce us
to Slavery.
"5ly Resolved that we highly Disaprove of the Landing &
Selling
[ 12 ]
of Such Teas in
America & will not suffer any Teas Subjected to a parlimentary Duty to be
Landed or sold in this town & that we stand Redy to assist our Brathren at
Boston or Elsewhere Whenever our aid shall be Required in Repelling all
attempts to Land or Sell any Teas poisoned with a Duty.
"And
whereas the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston have regerly applyed to the
persons appointed there by the East India Company to Receive and vent off their
Teas Delivered them to Resign their trust but have obestanatly Repeatedly &
Daringly Refused
"6ly Resolved that those Consignees have Shown a Ready
Disposition to become the tules of a vile & corrupt ministry, Supported
by a venal & Tiranical Parlement to oppress & Enslave their Native
Country & come under the Same Class of infamous Creatures with the
Governors, the Commissioners and their Dependents those of enemies &
traitors to their Countrey, have manifested the Stubidity to Sacrifice
Liberty to averise, & the wickedness when occasion Shall Serve to Riot on
the Spoils of their Brathren & have forfeited their Right to personal
protection & Security
"7ly That a tribute of Gratitude from us to the
patriotic town of Boston, for the Public Virtue which they have Shown in the
opposition which they have made to the ministerial plan for Deluding the
americans into a compliance with the Detestable Tea act.
"Votd that the
foregoing Resolves Be Entred of the town Records & a Coppy thereof be
Delivered to Comittee of Coraspondence to Be Sent to the Comitte of
Corespondance at Boston."
This meeting, recorded in the handwriting of
Ebenezer Burrill, was held on the very date of the famous one in the Old South
Meeting-House in Boston, which was followed by the throwing of three
hundred and forty-two chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
An account of
the feeling which prevailed in Lynn at this time would not be complete without
repeating the following incident which has come down to us in the
[ 13 ]
"Annals of Lynn," gathered by Mr. Lewis. To use his
own words: -
"
A report having been put in circulation through the town, that
Mr. James Bowler, who had a bake-house and a little shop, on Waterhill,
had a quantity of tea in store, a company of women went to his house,
demanded the tea, and destroyed it. This exploit was certainly as great
a piece of patriotism on their part, as that performed in Boston Harbor the
same year, and deserves to be sung in strains of immortality. Slander,
however, who is always busy in detracting from real merit, asserted that
the women put on extra pockets on that memorable night, which they filled with
the fragrant leaf, for their own private consumption."
A tradition is also
preserved of at least two Lynn patriots who figured in the famous Boston
tea-party. One was Joseph Roby, son of the Rev. Joseph Roby, of the Second
Parish. He was the eldest son, twenty years old at the time, and is given in the
list published by Francis S. Drake as "active in the destruction of the tea."
This Joseph was living, some time after the Revolution, in Prince Street,
Boston, and in 1819 in Hanover, N.H. The other man, Mr. Francis Moore, though
not living in Lynn at the time of the famous tea-party, came here soon after the
Revolution, and spent the remainder of his long life here. The Lynn Record of
August fourteenth, 1833, in a notice of his death gives a short account of the
part which he took in the Revolutionary struggle, and speaks of him as one of
the few daring individuals who participated in the celebrated act of throwing
over the tea in Boston Harbor, giving the interesting information that he
appeared on that occasion openly and without disguise, while most of. his
comrades were dis-
[ 14 ]
guised as Indians. He was a baker, and in
Cambridge while the army wlas stationed in that town, and supplied it with
bread, selling it at a moderate price, on credit, when it was doubtful whether
he would ever receive anything in return. This was particularly noteworthy from
the fact that, in consequence of the occupation of Boston by the British, there
was a scarcity of bread. His zeal and generous patriotism attracted the special
notice of Washington, and at the time of his death, which occurred when he was
ninety-three years of age, special mention was made of the fact that his life
had been marked throughout by generosity and personal sacrifice.
The Boston
Port Bill was passed on the tenth of May, 1774. Governor Gage, arriving in
Boston a few days later, wrote home to the Earl of Dartmouth that he found upon
his arrival that a "town-meeting was holding to consider of it," and that the
act had staggered the most presumptuous, adding that he did not propose to lay
anything new before the Assembly, inasmuch as he deemed it better to give
the shock they had received time to operate, doubtless believing that it would
operate in subduing the rebellious subjects of the king and in causing them
to make good to the East India Company the loss of their tea. How mistaken he
was, the sequel was to show.
From every colony came letters of sympathy and encouragement to the Correspondence Committee of Boston,
while in the neighboring towns indignation knew no bounds. Many a wagon-load of
supplies was trundled over the road from Lynn, and many an anxious and indignant
meeting was held in the old meeting-house to discuss the situation and to
prepare for the contest
[ 15 ]
which seemed inevitable. The selectmen were
asked to prepare a place or build a house for the town stock of ammunition, and
to furnish a sufficient stock as soon as it could be obtained.
One entry which stands out with especial dearness in the old records will
illustrate the prevailing sentiment regarding the Boston Port Bill, and may well
be given in this place:
"The Freeholders & other Inhabitants of This
Town are hereby Notified to attend a town meeting at the old meeting House in sd
town on Tuesday, the 28th. of June, 1774, at two of the clock afternoon,
"To Consult upon Proper measures to be Taken by the Town for the Recovery
& Restoration of the Rights & Liberties of America Ravished from them by
the oppression of the British Parliment and Especialy for the Relief of our
Metroplas whose trade & Commerce, upon which they Solely Depend for
Subsistanee is anniolated by the Rigras Execution of the Boston port Bill, the
Cruelty & Injustice of which cannot but excit a just Indignation in the
Breast of every American.
"Also to see whether the town will Bear their
proportionable part of the Sum of money allowed by the House of Representatives
for this province to Defray the Expence of the Committee appointed by Them to
meet upon a Congress of the Collonies and Determin upon a proper method for
Dowing the Same.
"By Order of the Selectmen,
"EBENEZER BURRILL, Town
Clerk."
A little later the accumulation of grievances resulted in a legal town meeting
held on the twenty-second of August, in which the inhabitants expressed themselves
in the following words: -
[ 16 ]
"Being deeply
sensible of the Dangerous State of the Liberties of this Province from the Violent
attacks of the British ministry & Parliament who seem Determined in Violation of
the Laws of Justice and humanity to make us Subservient to their
own Wicked ambitious & Mercenary views, We cannot but be Especially alarmed
from the Two Last acts of parlament Whereby our Charter is in part Vacated
& the Vitals of our Constitution to be Destroyed - tending to Establish
arbitrary Government - and Secure the most atrocious
offenders from the Hands of Justice, We cannot but think ourselves warranted by
the Laws of Nature which are the Laws of God & by the princeples of
the Constitution, (which is not to be altred or chainged without the Consent of
the people) To Secure our Selves against the operation of such Oppressive measures by
the Exertion of all the Powers with Which we are Invested, - And it
can Never be Consistant with our Duty to Resign ourselves to Sullen Silence
or Contented Slavery - and the motion made by the Town of
Marblehead, that there be a meeting of the Several Towns of the County By
their Respective Delegates to consult upon the present Exegences of our publick
affairs therefore we Apprehend to be seasonable & that such a meeting will
Probably be attended with many salutary & Happy Consequences Thereof
"Voted that Capt. John Mansfield,
Doer. John Flagg & Deac. Daniel
Mansfield be Delegates for this town to attend a meeting of the County for the
purposes aforsd. that may be held at Ispwich on the 6th day of Sept. next or at
any other Place or on any other Day or Days as shall be thought most convenient
& Suitable by the other towns of the County.
"Voted that the Thanks of
the town be given to the Patriotic town of Marblehead for the Zeal &
attention which they have shewn for the support of our most Important Rights and
Liberties."
So far as we know, there was no special excitement
at:tending the appointment of the above committee, as there had been in
Salem, two days earlier, when notices
[ 17 ]
were posted in the town "desiring the
merchants, freeholders and other inhabitants to meet at the town house
chamber ... to appoint deputies to meet at Ipswich." It appears that Governor
Gage had heard that it was the desire of the Committee of Correspondence that
the inhabitants of Salem should thus assemble, and, declaring it to be an
unlawful and seditious meeting, ordered that the inhabitants be dispersed. In
order to enforce his command, he further ordered troops to be in readiness. To
quote from the Salem Gazette of the twenty-sixth of August, 1774: -
"They prepared accordingly, as if for battle, left their encampment, and
marched to the entrance of the town, there halted and loaded, and then about
eighty advanced to within an eighth of a mile from the Town House: But before
this movement of the troops was known to the inhabitants, and while the
Committee were in conference with the Governor, the whole business of the
meeting was transacted, being merely to choose delegates to the county meeting.
After the meeting was over, news came that the troops were on the march, but
they were now ordered to return to the camp."
The convention of delegates of counties around Boston met at Ipswich, as
planned, and, among other things, boldly declared that the acts of Parliament
were not entitled to obedience. A month later the first Provincial Congress
was convened at Salem, the representatives having been called together by
the Governor for a meeting of the General Assembly. The delegates waited at the
appointed time for the arrival of the Governor, but he failed to appear. They
then resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress. At this Congress we find
Ebene-
[ 18 ]
zer Burrill and Captain John Mansfield
representing the town of Lynn.
This first Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts, organized at Salem October seventh, adjourning on the
eleventh to Concord, and on the fourteenth to Cambridge, continued in
session three weeks, and in the record of its deliberations, in its
appointment of a Committee of Safety, its provision for the assembling and
support of the militia, and its thorough review of the burdens under which
the colonies were laboring, we see how well its members realized that they were
on the eve of revolution. A Convention of Committees for the County of
Worcester, which had been held on the twenty-first of September, had given the
first suggestion for minute companies, and the Provincial Congress seems to have
extended the idea, for we find it recommending that the companies of
militia meet and appoint officers, and, where the regiments were deemed too
large, that they be divided, the field officers forming at least one-quarter of
the number in the respective companies, into companies of fifty privates, who
were to equip and hold themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice
from the Committee of Safety.
Only two records have been preserved affecting
the Lynn minute-men,' and these, on file in the archives at the State House, are
of much interest. The language used in the second vote is a good indication of
the contempt with which the Patriots viewed the Tories.
LYNN, Nov. 15,
1774.
"Pursuant to an act of the Provincial Congress, for new regulating
the militia, was called a meeting of the first training band in Lynn, the 2d
company, 1st regiment in Essex, formerly commanded by Col.
[ 19 ]
Wm. Brown, of Salem, having chosen Maj.
Abner Cheever, as Chairman, the following votes were passed:
Voted, David Parker as captain.
Voted, John Batts, 1st Lieutenant.
At an adjourned meeting, Jan. 5, 1775,
Voted, John Pool, 2d Lieutenant.
BENJ. PUTNAM, Clerk."
"Agreeably to the advice of the respectable Provincial Congress, the
training band company in Lynn, north parish, being a part of the first regiment
in the county of Essex, formerly commanded by William Brown, politically
deceased of a pestilent and mortal disorder, and now buried in the
ignominious ruins at Boston, met on Monday, 15th inst. (Nov. 1774) and after
choosing Dea. Nathaniel Bancroft for their chairman, elected Mr. Joseph Gowen,
Capt., Mr. Nathaneil Sherman, 1st Lieutenant, and Mr. John Perkins, Ensign."
After this time we find in the
provincial records frequent mention of the minute-men. During the second
session of the Congress, in December, 1774, in an address to the
inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, - a calm, dignified, carefully prepared
document, - we find the following :
-
"The
improvement of the Militia in general in the Art Military has been therefore
thought necessary, and strongly recommended by Congress. We now think that
particular care should be taken by the Towns and Districts in this Colony, that
each of the Minute-Men, not already provided therewith, should be
immediately equipped with an effective Firearm, Bayonet, Pouch, Knapsack, thirty
rounds of Cartridges and Balls and that they be disciplined three times a week,
and oftener, as opportunity may offer."
On the fifth of January, 1775, the
town of Lynn voted
[ 20 ]
that Captain John Mansfield be a delegate to the
Provincial Congress to be held at Cambridge, February first. It also voted
to approve of the Articles of Association of the Continental Congress, and
chose the following committee to carry into execution the resolves of the
association: Captain John Mansfield, Dr. John Flagg, Deacon Daniel Mansfield,
Benjamin Newhall, Deacon Nathaniel Bancroft, Abner Cheever, and Deacon Abijah
Cheever. On the article to see if the town would raise, assist, and encourage
the minute-men, agreeable to the advice of Congress, it was voted to postpone
the matter until the March meeting. Lynn should here be given the credit of
having participated in the first armed resistance to the crown. The story
is that on the afternoon of Sunday, February twenty-sixth, Colonel Leslie, with
three hundred men, suddenly appeared off Marblehead in a transport. He quietly
landed, and took up his march for Salem, where Colonel David Mason had been at
work mounting some old cannon taken from the French. The alarm went ahead of the
British, however, and, when he arrived, the cannon had been taken across the
North River and the draw had been raised. Colonel Leslie demanded that the
bridge be swung back, but the inhabitants refused. He then tried to impress some
scows which were near by, but the owners scuttled them, and they sank. It is
claimed that in the melee which followed the first blood of the Revolution was
shed. Parson Barnard appeared upon the scene, however, and finally succeeded in
inducing Colonel Leslie to withdraw. By the time he began to retreat,
reinforcements were arriving on the patriot side, the Danvers company
coming upon the run as he turned back. The alarm had
[ 21 ]
also reached Lynnfield, where Captain Bancroft
had mustered his men, and was hastening to Salem. Before his arrival
at the North Bridge, the British had disappeared, and, as he returned home
with his men, he intercepted the Reading company, which was on the way. Had a
gun been fired at Salem, it might have become the Lexington of the Revolution.
As it was, Captain Bancroft lost one man, the first to give his life in
the cause of liberty. The following entry appears in the Lynnfield church
records: -
"March 9, 1775. Died, Joseph Newhall, by a violent seizure
after a few Days Illness suppos'd to be occasioned by a cold taken when he went
out upon an alarm, in the 52d year of his age."
On
the sixth of March the town of Lynn voted that -
"When the minit men are Raised, Listed & aquipt
they Shall have one shilling for each half Day to Encourage them to meet two
half days in a week to Exercise till ye town order otherwise.
"Voted to have
three officers a captain and first and second Lieutenants for each company.
Each captain shall have 6/ for each two half Days; First and Second Lieuts. 4/
Each for Each two half Days.
"Voted they Be under armes three hours each
half day."
Provision was thus made for the training of men in various
companies, but it is doubtful if any degree of proficiency was attained or
attempted.
Many of the letters which have
been preserved in the old records give such clear utterance to the spirit and
temper of the times that one or two quotations may be here given with the
assurance that the same electric fire glowing in them charged the air in
our small community at Lynn.
[ 22 ]
From Thomas Cushing, of Boston, to Arthur Lee,
of London: "Our people are prompt and forward in their military exercises. There
never was, since we have been a people, such military spirit prevailing as at
present."
A letter from another gentleman in
Boston contains this: -
"So
generally are the principles of liberty disseminated and so deeply fixed, that
nothing but arms, that supreme lex of tyrants, will be able to suppress the
generous ardor which now stimulates our countrymen to defend, at all hazards,
the freedom handed down to them by their ancestors; nor will they be slaves
without the most obstinate and bloody contest."
This was at a time when the people
of Boston were suffering greatly, not only on account of the effects of the
Boston Port Bill, but also from disease which had crept into their midst. This
is shown by the following extract from a letter: -
"The small-pox
is lurking about in different parts of the town, and it is apprehended will
spread. A pestilential fever prevails in the army, which is even more dreaded
than the small-pox. How distressful is the state of Boston! Surrounded and
insulted by a numerous fleet and army; shut out from trade; and deprived of all
advantages of law process!"
Meantime, both in Parliament and in Boston more
decisive measures were being taken to force the colonists into submission.
Parliament was planning to send Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne to America
with six thousand troops. Governor Gage was acquainting himself more and more
with conditions throughout the colony. In February he sent two men through the
coun-
[ 23 ]
ties of Suffolk and Worcester, with
instructions to note the condition of roads and passes, to mark distances from
town to town, to report the situation of rivers, mountains, and woods, and
advantageous spots to take post in, as well as what supplies could be obtained
in the several townships. What wonder that the Committee of Safety and Supplies
held frequent meetings, and was actively engaged in gathering arms and
ammunition, and storing it in places of safety, ready for use when needed!
On the first of April the colonists knew that a large reinforcement of troops was expected
in Boston, and the third Provincial Congress, then in session in Concord,
perfected its "Rules for the Army," - a lengthy document, containing
fifty-three articles. Before the nineteenth of April two delegates
had been sent to each of the New England colonies, carrying the following
resolve: -
"That the present dangerous and alarming situation
of our publick affairs, renders it necessary for this Colony to make
preparations for their security and defence by raising and establishing an Army,
and that delegates be appointed forthwith to repair to Connecticut, to Rhode
Island and New Hampshire, informing them that we are contemplating upon and are
determined to take effectual measures for that purpose, and for the more
effectual security of the New England Colonies and the Continent, to request
them to co-operate with us, by furnishing their respective quotas for general
defence,"
How quick and general was the response was shown not many days
after, when from all over New England men gathered and marched on the Lexington
alarm.
[ 24 ]
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