Episode 051: The Portsmouth Alarm

As I’ve already discussed, during the fall of 1774, General Gage focused on efforts to collect as much arms and ammunition as possible in New England. His troops would need it, and he wanted to deny it to the Patriots.  That is what sparked the Powder Alarm in September 1774.  Over the winter, both sides attempted to collect whatever other arms and ammunition they could.

Last week I mentioned that in October, the Privy Council with the King’s approval, banned all imports of arms and ammunition into the colonies.  By mid-December, word of the ban reached the colonies, making everyone that much more desperate to grab whatever existing stocks that they could.  By that time, Gage had put most of his stored arms and ammunition in Castle William in Boston Harbor, where it was safe from attack.  The Provincial Congress kept its munitions dispersed in various towns, far enough from Boston where the army could not get to it easily.

Fort William & Mary

Fort William and Mary (1705) (from Wikimedia)

During this same time, the ministry ordered Admiral Graves to deploy four of his ships in Boston to sail along the New England coast to interdict any ships carrying munitions.  The Patriots learned of this deployment, but feared the navy was headed to Portsmouth New Hampshire to secure the munitions at Fort William & Mary.  The fort contained nearly 100 cannon as well as over 100 barrels of gunpowder.  It was one of the largest forts in New England.

However, New Hampshire had never become a military flashpoint.  Over the years, the fort had fallen into disrepair, with many of its walls beginning to collapse.  It was defended, if you can call it that, by a garrison of six soldiers, all of whom were on invalid duty.

Paul Revere Warns New Hampshire

The Patriots feared the British navy might be moving to secure these weapons and munitions before they fell into Patriot hands.  Paul Revere rode on horseback through the snow to warn the Patriots at Portsmouth, arriving on the afternoon of December 13.  Revere needed to find his contact in Portsmouth, Samuel Cutts, head of the Committee of Correspondence.  By luck, Revere found Cutts in town almost immediately after his arrival, and gave him the papers from Boston warning of the raid.

Cutts attempted to assemble the Committee to discuss a response, but it was already evening.  Getting everyone assembled would be impossible.  They sent out word for a meeting the following day.  Still, several members of the Committee decided they needed to take quick action.  They began to alert the militia to assemble the following day as well.  Of course, none of this remained a secret.  A Tory informed the Royal Governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth, of Revere’s arrival and the activities of the local patriots.

Gov. John Wentworth

Gov. John Wentworth
(from Wikimedia)

Gov. John Wentworth was New Hampshire native.  His Grandfather had been the first Lt. Gov. of New Hampshire.  John became Governor in 1766 after his Uncle, Gov. Benning Wentworth retired.  You may remember Uncle Benning as the Governor who sold all those questionable land claims in what eventually became Vermont and nearly started a war with New York.

John had graduated from Harvard College, where he had become friends with his classmate, John Adams.  As an appointed royal governor though, Wentworth had to serve as representative of the King’s interests.

When the Governor learned that the Patriots might be considering an attack on Fort William and Mary,  Wentworth sent a note to the Commander of the Fort, warning him of a possible raid.  He also immediately dispatched a letter to Gen. Gage in Boston informing him of the situation.

The next morning, Wentworth tried to call out the militia to protect the fort and suppress any Patriot attack.  He discovered that most of the militia would not turn out to suppress the attack because they were participating in the attack.  As a result, the handful of British regulars in the fort were on their own.

Patriot Militia Attacks the Fort

The estimated numbers of militia who turned out for the Patriots are vague and varied, but a good estimate seems to be about 400 armed militiamen.  John Langdon, a merchant ship captain took command of the force. Langdon would go on to have a successful career in politics, but at this time had done little to stand out.

John Langdon (from Wikimedia)

The militia gathered even as the Patriotic Committee of 45 still was attempting to gather and decide on a policy.  The members of the militia were not waiting for guidance.  They feared the British navy might arrive at any moment.  They needed to strike quickly to ensure success.

Captain John Cochran commanded Fort William & Mary.  Cochran was regular army but had been born in New Hampshire.  His command consisted of a force of five soldiers.

400 militiamen against six defenders does not seem like much of a fight.  But six men with loaded cannon behind stone walls could do a lot of damage before being overrun.  Cochran’s men armed themselves, loaded their guns, and prepared to defend the fort.

To me, the actual attack on the fort seems ridiculously amateurish on both sides.  The assembled Patriots received a warning from the Colony’s Chief Justice that they were committing treason and should cease and desist immediately.  After they finished laughing at him, the soldiers moved on the fort.

To avoid having to commit to an all out assault on the fort.  Several men attempted to enter the fort that morning.  Despite the Governor’s warning the evening before that an assault was imminent, Captain Cochran invited in two men who wanted to discuss some personal business.  A short time later a third man joined them, looking for the first two.  Then three more men showed up and were invited into the fort.  Cochran had now invited in six suspect men, the same number as he had to defend the fort.

Now the fort was really out of the way and Cochran did not regularly receive visitors.  So you would think this would have raised suspicion, especially after the Governor had warned him about this the night before.  It’s not clear exactly when Cochran suspected these men were up to no good, but certainly by the time his wife came into the room, whispered to him that he was being betrayed and quietly handed him two loaded pistols.

Still not ready to leap to action, Cochran walked outside with the men individually to question them.  While doing so, he allowed three more strangers to enter the fort, making a total of nine now.  At this point, one of the men Robert White, actually admitted to Cochran that they were there to seize him and take the fort.

Revere & British movements on
Portsmouth (from erenow)

Cochran did not take the men prisoner but instead simply requested that they all leave the fort.  The men apparently decided not to seize the opportunity to overpower the garrison, but instead complied and left peaceably.  A short time later, two more men arrived at the fort, offering to help.  Cochran accepted their offer and put them on the line with his five other defenders.  I’m not sure exactly why he trusted these two men.  Perhaps he knew them well and knew their politics.  In the records of later events, it’s not really clear whether they actually helped to defend the fort or helped the other side once fighting started.

Around 3PM about a dozen men, armed and marching in ranks approached the fort and requested entry.  Cochran asked them why but they refused to say.  Cochran this time, at least, had the good sense to tell them they needed to leave.

A short time later Langdon, commander of Patriots, and White, who had previously entered the fort and told Cochren they had been there to seize him, asked for entry.  Langdon informed Cochran that he was there to take the gunpowder.  Cochran told him that he could not do so without an order from the Governor.  Langdon told him he had “forgotten” to get an order, but was going to do so anyway.  He made clear that his men intended to take the powder by force.  Cochran made clear they would do so over his dead body and asked them to leave.

The two men left the fort.  But while they were discussing the matter with the commander, most of the patriot militia had gotten under the walls of the fort where it was impossible for the defenders to shoot at them.

Just after Langdon and White left the fort, the troops began to storm the walls.  The defenders fired their cannon, though they used solid shot, which is usually used against ships, rather than grapeshot, which is more effective against people.  Although they were a point blank range, the attackers saw the cannon about to fire and ducked out of the way.  None of the three cannon hit anyone.  Next, the defenders fired a musket volley. Although they had dozens of muskets on hand, they apparently did not bother to pre-load all of them for rapid firing.  They fired a volley and then had to stop to reload.  Taking that moment, the attackers rushed forward and engaged in hand to hand combat.

They quickly took down the defenders and disarmed them, except for Captain Cochran, who backed himself against a wall and continued to fight with his bayonet despite being surrounded.  A man climbed the wall behind him, jumped down on him and took him prisoner.

Despite the exchange of fire, no one was killed or seriously injured.  Cochran had inflicted a bayonet wound on one attacker in the arm, but he recovered.  One of the attackers had fired a pistol at a defender at point blank range, but the pistol misfired.  As a result, everyone lived through the battle.

Langdon then demanded the keys to the powder room, which Cochran refused.  So while holding the garrison prisoner, the Patriots battered down the door and removed all of the powder from the fort.  They also took down the King’s banner, which had been flying over the fort, an act that made clear this was an act of war against the King.

With the powder secured and removed, the intruders released the garrison and left the fort.  John Sullivan, a Major in the New Hampshire militia in Durham and former delegate to the First Continental Congress received delivery of the gunpowder, which he would store inland and rather quickly distribute to various town militia units.

Reaction to the Raid

By the evening of December 14, Gov. Wentworth had received a report on the raid.  The following morning, he ordered his loyal militia officers to enlist or impress 30 men to reinforce the fort.  Since the raiders had already taken what they wanted and then left the fort, this action really seemed like too little too late.  As it turns out though, it was just too little.

After Sullivan had received the note about the raid and the delivery of barrels of gunpowder, he collected about 40 of his local militiamen and came down to Portsmouth himself to get a better idea of what was happening.

The fort, as it looked in the 19th Cent. (from Wikimedia)

Since Sullivan had received his militia commission from the Governor, Wentworth assumed he had come to support the royal government and called on him for a conference.  Sullivan told the Governor he had heard the regulars were coming to take all their munitions from the fort, and that he understood the previous day’s raid was a justified action to protect the colony’s powder.  He further informed the Governor that hundreds more militiamen were coming to town to return to the fort and confiscate as many of the artillery pieces as they could carry.  He did not tell the Governor that he personally had received and stored the powder seized from the fort the day before.

Wentworth told Sullivan that the rumor of British troops coming to seize munitions was “a wicked falsehood” and ordered Sullivan to go out and disperse the gathering patriot militia.  Sullivan quickly figured out that he was going to be forced to pick a side.  He could either obey the Governor and be labelled a Tory, or he could side with the Patriot militia and risk being hanged as a traitor.

At first Sullivan equivocated.  He told the Governor he would speak with the militia and see what he could do to resolve the situation.  He carried the Governor’s message that the British were not coming to take the fort's munitions and tried to broker a deal to prevent any prosecutions for the previous day’s attack.

Sullivan returned to the Governor with Langdon and a few other leaders saying that the militia was determined to return to the fort and seize the cannon, but that if the Governor might be willing to pardon everyone for the previous day’s raid, they might be able to prevent a second attack.  Wentworth did not see any way he could pardon a military attack on the King’s forces without losing his job, and possibly being prosecuted himself for aiding in this act of war against their own government.

As afternoon turned into evening, the militia officers and men debated their next action.  Some argued the powder raid was justified because the colony had purchased that powder.  The regular army had supplied the cannon, meaning the colony had no right to them.  Opponents of a new raid also pointed to Wentworth’s continuing assurances that the navy was not coming to seize the weapons.  On the other side people argued that this was not a question of property rights but about who had the weapons when war inevitably started.  Further, the few hundred men who engaged in the powder raid might be subject to charges of treason.  Another raid would make sure that everyone in the colony would share responsibility together in their opposition.  They would not allow the few men involved in the previous day's activities to take all the heat in a prosecution.

Some of the militiamen who had come to Portsmouth refused to go along and returned home.  But for every man that left, several more arrived every hour to increase the numbers of men who favored a raid.  By early evening over 1600 soldiers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts were calling for a second raid on the fort.  None of the militia seemed inclined to support the Governor or go to the defense of the fort.  Even Wentworth’s call that morning to recruit a mere 30 men for defense apparently had failed.

Second Raid

Major Sullivan saw that the mood was clearly in favor of a second raid, and agreed to lead the action.  Around 10 PM, he took an advance party of about 100 men out to the fort.  He asked to meet with Captain Cochran.  Realizing that his position was even more indefensible than the day before, Cochran agreed to speak with them.

John Sullivan (from Wikimedia)

Sullivan seemed to act as a mediator, explaining that the militia wanted the remainder of any colonial property held by the fort.  Cochran eventually agreed to turn over colonial property, as long as no personal property or property of the King, i.e. the cannon, would be taken.  From Cochran’s view, there was no way he could mount a defense with six men, several of them now wounded, against 1600 angry militia.  By cutting this deal, he hoped to protect at least some of the King’s weapons, while giving the militia a few dozen muskets, most of them in poor condition, and maybe a few other things.

Once the Patriots entered the fort though, they claimed the small pile of broken down weapons that Cochran presented was not nearly all the colonial property in the fort.  Over Cochran’s now futile objections hundreds of men scoured the fort, removing any ammunition, small arms, and at least 16 of the King’s cannon.  They left around 70 cannon, most of which were too large to move easily.  The men worked all night removing just about anything else of military value from the fort.

The next morning, December 16th, militia had departed the fort but got stuck trying to move the artillery up the river.  Everyone seemed to fear that the navy would arrive at any moment and move in to recapture the equipment.  More militia moved into town, prepared to do battle with the navy in order to give others time to move the equipment further inland.  The Governor and several other officials made continued attempts to end the lawlessness, but it became clear they were only putting themselves in danger with the angry mob.

Aftermath

By the morning of December 17th, the cannon and other equipment were all safely inland and the militia began to return home.  That evening, the first British navy ship arrived with marines prepared to defend the fort.  By then though, there was nothing for them to do.

For a time, the Governor attempted to gather evidence to bring charges of treason against the Patriot leaders involved in the raids.  In the end though, authorities realized that if they did manage to arrest anyone, no jail would hold them and no jury would convict them.  If they managed to get a defendant to the navy and ship them to Britain for prosecution, such an act would bring terrible retaliation.  As it was, the Governor, along with Captain Cochran and several other Tory leaders, would have to flee the colony about six months later - first to Boston and eventually to Canada.

Fort Constitution (from Wikimedia)

Leaders of the raids John Langdon and John Sullivan would never be arrested.  Wentworth revoked their militia commissions and also removed Langdon as a justice of the peace.  But by that time, Wentworth’s authority was dead.  Both men continued to work on behalf of the Patriots, leaving a few months later to serve as delegates to the Second Continental Congress.  Both would have successful military and political careers during and after the Revolution.

Long after the war, in 1808, The government renamed Fort William & Mary as Fort Constitution.  Today the Fort is part of a State Park.

I should also note that other colonies, also receiving word in December that Britain was banning munitions imports also made efforts to secure existing stockpiles.  Rhode Island colonists stripped Fort George in Newport of its munitions.  Similarly, Connecticut colonists secured a battery of cannon in New London.  Neither of these incidents involved an armed confrontation as we saw in Portsmouth.  It was clear though that all of New England was arming for a full scale rebellion.

Next week: Gen. Gage sends regulars to Salem to seize Patriot weapons.

Next Episode 52: Salem & Hearts and Minds

Previous Episode 50: Britain Prepares for War

Further Reading:

Resources to learn more about today’s topic.http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-midday-ride-of-paul-revere-3661066

The Capture of Fort William & Mary (this site included many primary documents): https://www.library.unh.edu/exhibits/capture-fort-william-mary

Seizure of His Majesty’s Fort William & Mary, by Thomas Kehr: http://www.nhssar.org/essays/FortConstitution.html

History of Fort Constitution: http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/New_Hampshire/Fort_Constitution/history.html

Letter, Wentworth to Gage, Dec. 14, 1774: http://amarch.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A100858

Letter, Wentworth to Gage, Dec. 16, 1774: http://amarch.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A100906

Proclamation of Gov. Wentworth, Dec. 26, 1774: http://amarch.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A106278

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Armory, Thomas The military services and public life of Major-General John Sullivan of the American Revolutionary Army, Cambridge: John Wilson & Son, 1868.

Mayo, Lawrence John Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, 1767-1775, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1921.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press 1943 (Based on date, I am not sure about the copyright status of this book.  Since it may get pulled, I have also included a link to Amazon below).

Parsons, Charles The Capture of Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire Historical Society, 1903.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Beck, Derek, Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2015.

Bunker, Nick An Empire on the Edge, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

Daughan, George C. Lexington and Concord: The Battle Heard Round the World, New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 2018.

Fisher, David Hackett Paul Revere's Ride,  Oxford: Oxford Univerity Press, 1994.

Knollenberg, Bernhard Growth of the American Revolution 1766-1775, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1975.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press (1943) (also available as a free eBook, see above).

Raphael, Ray & Marie The Spirit of ‘74: How the American Revolution Began, New York: The New Press, 2015.

Smith, Page A New Age Now Begins, Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill 1976.

Episode 050: Britain Prepares for War

Over the summer and fall of 1774, Prime Minister North’s Ministry watched the Coercive Acts unite the colonies and bring at least Massachusetts into an open state of rebellion.  It seemed clear to everyone, that one way or another, open war would begin in the spring.

British Elections of 1774

As colonial discontent grew, Prime Minister North decided it was time to hold a general election in Britain.  Under the law at the time, Parliament could sit for up to seven years without an election.  The most recent one had been six years earlier in 1768.  The King could dissolve Parliament at any time, and usually relied on the Prime Minister for advice on when to do so.  North decided it would be better to get the election out of the way before a shooting war began in the colonies.  Holding elections a year early would also catch the opposition off guard and hopefully give North’s Tory allies an advantage at the polls.

Elections in this era were far different than we think of elections today.  For starters, only adult male property owners could vote.  In 18th Century Britain, before the rise of the middle class, very few people actually owned real property.  Almost everyone rented their home and land from a local lord.  Records are sketchy, but probably only about 5% of the population had the right to vote in elections.

1774 Elections in Shaftesbury (from Dorset Life)

For that 5%, another important consideration was the fact that the private ballot did not exist.  A voter had to register his vote in public.  If you lived in a region where a local lord held not only political power, but also economic and social power, you would feel a great deal of pressure to support him or risk suffering his wrath in ways that might affect your own business or standing in the community.

Election districts varied greatly in size.  The government did not regularly reapportion districts, meaning that some which had grown considerably in the last century or two might have many thousands of constituents, while other had only a handful.  For example, Lord North had 18 eligible voters in his district.  He invited them all over for dinner on the night before the elections and they obligingly returned him to Parliament.

Voting took place over October and November 1774, with each local district setting its own election day.  Holding elections early seemed to go well for the North Ministry.  Although members did not define themselves as members of a political party as strictly as they do today, North was generally considered a Tory leader.  His members won over 60% of the seats.  Former Prime Minister Rockingham led the opposition.  One effect of the election was a drop in moderate members.  Radical Whigs tended to pick up seats in many of the larger cities and industrial areas.  Conservative Tories tended to elect representatives who were ready to take a stronger hand with the colonies and use force to teach them their place in the empire.  So even if North might have been persuaded to take a more conciliatory approach, his members were encouraging him to take a much more militant stand.

No Reinforcements for Gage

Just before elections began, North began to receive letters from Gage back in Boston discussing the Colony’s refusal to accept the Coercive Acts.  Gage had lost control of the colony and following the September Powder Alarms (see Episode 46) was holed up in a defensive posture in Boston. The ministry received his letters calling for 20,000 reinforcements.  This was a very different message that Gage had told them a few months earlier when the ministry had appointed him Governor.  Back then, he had indicated that a firm hand over a few trouble makers would end this nonsense.  Now Gage seemed to be saying that all of New England was prepared for open rebellion.

North and the King both relied on former Governor Hutchinson for a better understanding of the situation.  Hutchinson continued to tell them that the people were simply following a few trouble makers like Samuel Adams.  Taking a firm hand with the leadership would bring the rest of the colony to heel.  That sounded more like the historic precedent that British leaders understood, and even with what Gage himself was saying before he left for Boston. Peasants did not revolt.  Local leaders whipped them into a revolt.  Taking out those local leaders would send the peasants scattering back to their farms.  They simply did not appreciate that New England farmers were dedicated to the idea that Britain should not tax them, not to any particular leader.

Lord North (from Wikimedia)

With that in mind, North seemed to think that Gen. Gage was simply being too cautious.  He was afraid to take decisive action.  Let’s face it, colonies were supposed to benefit Britain.  Soldiers were expensive.  Paying to ship 20,000 soldiers to the colonies, who seemed to be all talk with little action beyond some property destruction, would be a waste of resources.  At the time there were only about 12,000 soldiers in all of Britain.  Such a force would require months of recruitment and training even if the leadership wanted to incur the huge costs.  It certainly was not the sort of expensive project North wanted to announce in the middle of an election. Gage needed to suck it up and deal with this problem with the resources he had, as he said he could six months earlier.

Admiral Graves, commanding the Naval force in Boston, also requested more ships.  While he could block the port of Boston, he needed a much larger force to prevent smuggling up and down the east coast.  He had only 19 ships to maintain the blockade as well as monitor all merchant sailing activity.

The admiralty in London had its own concerns.  King Louis XVI had just taken the throne in France.  Intelligence indicated the new King was rebuilding his naval forces.  Britain would have to be ready to suppress any challenge to its authority on the sea.  It needed its navy nearby.  Graves received three more ships, along with 600 marines available for actions on land.

Even after news that the French economy was so weak that they could not consider starting another war, North decided not to send more military to the colonies.  He reduced the size of the navy, trying to save money and reduce debt.

News of Colonial Arms Buildup

In October, the government received additional disturbing news.  Colonies were buying arms and ammunition in massive amounts.  North got news that colonial ships in Amsterdam were buying all the guns and ammunition that they could find.  This needed to stop.

The King issued an order banning the shipment of all arms and ammunition to the colonies.  British merchants could not sell them and the British navy would search and seize any vessels carrying arms or ammunition from the continent to America.

This would not be easy to enforce though.  Spanish, French and, Dutch merchants could continue to ship arms to their colonies in the West Indies. From there, American smugglers could continue to buy what they needed and sneak them into the colonies.

News of Suffolk Resolves and Continental Congress

By late October, word arrived in London of the Suffolk resolves.  Members of Parliament were in their home districts, still completing the elections.  Lord Dartmouth received the resolves, noting that, if true, the colonies “have already declared war against us.”  As much as the Massachusetts patriots thought they were flirting with the line on treason, officials in London quickly decided that they had easily crossed that line.

Dartmouth had been corresponding with Joseph Galloway, a delegate at the First Continental Congress, trying to see if that body might serve to negotiate a settlement agreeable to all sides.  After word reached London that the Congress had ratified the Suffolk Resolves (see Episode 47), any hope of reconciliation seemed gone.  Now as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the shock of violence from the powder alarms and news of the Coercive acts forced Congress to support the resolves as a means of solidarity.  But clearly the majority of delegates were not ready for such an open break with London.

Lord Dartmouth (from Wikimedia)

 That, however, is the way many in London took the news.  Not only was Massachusetts in open revolt, the rest of the colonies seemed prepared to back them in open rebellion.  Confirmation of this view arrived with Jefferson’s Summary View of the Rights of British America. A southerner also agreed with the radical New Englanders that colonists could simply ignore acts of Parliament.

Officials awaited Gage’s assessment of the rapidly changing situation.  His letters following the Powder Alarm did not arrive until late November, traveling on a very slow ship.  When they arrived, they only frustrated the leadership.  Gage informed the ministry that his troops could not control the colony outside of Boston.  He suggested suspending the Coercive Acts to placate the colony, at least temporarily.  His letters said nothing about the state of the colonies outside of Massachusetts.

Both the King and Lord North found Gage’s assessment of the situation inadequate and his proposal to suspend the Coercive Acts absurd.  The King had no authority to suspend an act of Parliament.  It was his duty to enforce the law.  Officials began to think that Gage simply was not up to the job.  He had talked tough in London about restoring order.  Now he was hiding in Boston, afraid to have his thousands of soldiers stand up to a bunch of civilians.

The King also agreed that the time for war was at hand: “Blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent.”  Lord North agreed.  Dartmouth also accepted the idea that military suppression was the most likely option.

When the King opened the new Parliament on November 30, 1774, he deplored what he called Massachusetts’ “resistance to the law” and called for firm measures to restore British authority.  As always, he left the details to Parliament.

By late December or early January 1775, the Ministry received confirmation that Massachusetts had in fact set up its own separate government in the Provincial Congress and that it was preparing for war.  It also received the resolves of the Continental Congress, which indicated that the other colonies would keep solidarity with Massachusetts and support its resistance to the Coercive Acts.

Peace Negotiations Fail

Over the winter, Gage sent Col. Richard Prescott to confer with the ministry, discuss military and political options, and answer their questions about the situation in the colonies.  Also arriving in London were several loyalists fleeing the mob actions in Massachusetts as well as Josiah Quincy, who hoped to work out a peace deal.  Benjamin Franklin, still in London but on the outs with just about everyone, attempted to put out feelers for a peace deal via his friendship with Caroline Howe, the sister of Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe, both Whig members of Parliament and well respected officers.  The parties remained so far apart at the outset though, that they could not even agree on a basis to start serious peace negotiations.

Lord Dartmouth considered the option of sending a peace delegation to America, but Lord North showed little interest.  The new Parliament was not in the mood for negotiations.  That could come after they reminded the colonies who had the power and who had to submit. North focused on preparing for war in the spring.

British Support for War

The notion that the colonies needed some harsh treatment to compel them to remember their place in the empire was not limited to Parliament.  The voting public had just supported the Tories in large part because of North’s tough policies.  A few months after the election, Samuel Johnson published Taxation No Tyranny in response to the petitions and declarations from the First Continental Congress and others.  It was published in several parts in newspapers in early 1775 and also became a popular pamphlet.

Samuel Johnson (from Wikimedia)

His work is most famous for the line pointing out the hypocrisy of the colonists who demand freedom as a fundamental right while owning slaves: “how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”  His lengthy discussion goes into much more detail about how the colonies must always be subject to the will of Parliament for all things, including taxation.  Colonial charters are authorization by the British government, but are also subject to amendment and alteration by the government.  Colonists have virtual representation in Parliament.  The fact that they chose to to move to a colony where they don’t have a direct representative was their choice, trading the vote for economic gain.

Colonists receive protection from the empire and profit from the British mercantile system.  So if they benefit from the British government, they must also accept the British taxes that support that government.  The British government needs to man up and stop making excuses for why it cannot enforce British law on British colonies.  If you want to understand the Tory position on the eve of war.  I really recommend reading this document.

The Peace Wing in Parliament Fails

Despite the overwhelming support for war, the Whig minority still attempted to salvage a peace.  They probably knew that their efforts would fail.  But they wanted to be on record with an alternative.  Sooner or later, they believed, North’s provocations would blow up into an expensive and bloody war with the colonies.  The Whigs wanted to be able to say “I told you so” and be prepared to put forth a government to make peace with the colonies when the time came.

In January, Lord Chatham, the former William Pitt proposed again to repeal the tea tax and agree to remove all British soldiers from the North American Colonies.  Pitt, who had recovered from his earlier illness that had led to his removal as Prime Minister, praised the Continental Congress for its fight against tyranny.  Edmund Burke also rose in favor of the bill, pointing out that while Britain likely could use force to suppress this rebellion, it would only be a temporary fix.  Britain would have to spend more and more resources trying to control the colonies militarily.  In the long run, that would be far more expensive than working out a compromise that would maintain an economically profitable trade with the colonies.  Despite his efforts, Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the plan.

Dartmouth’s Dispatch

By this time, many of the hawks in the ministry were questioning not only Gen. Gage’s competence but whether Sec. of State Dartmouth was too weak to keep the colonies in line.  Faced with increasingly desperate reports from Massachusetts and pressure to Act, Dartmouth sent a secret dispatch to Gage on January 27, 1775.  Weather problems prevented Gage from receiving the dispatch until April 15.

Dartmouth told Gage, you are not getting thousands of more reinforcements.  Yes, it sounds like you have lots of angry colonists but they are not an army.  They are a rabble without real military organization.  You have a professional army of nearly 4000 at your command.  If it turns out you need more after making an effort, we can talk about that later.  But soldiers are expensive and we don’t want to incur costs that we don’t think necessary.

It sounds like you are sitting around doing nothing, while the colonists arm themselves, train their militia, and refuse to comply with the law.  That needs to stop.

You should be able to control a large mob with the troops you already have.  Now show some backbone and get out there and enforce the law.  Specifically, we want you to arrest the leaders who are stirring up trouble, disarm the civilians, and prevent mobs from interfering with legal trade.  If necessary, you already have authority to declare martial law

Dartmouth did give Gage a little wiggle room, saying he had some discretion because he was the one on the ground seeing things as they are.  The message, though, was clear.  Gage had the necessary resources to put down this rebellion.  From the view of everyone in London, he needed to start making an effort to do that.

Restraining Act and Conciliatory Proposition

Even while war loomed though, North continued to seek a legislative solution.  In February 1775, North proposed to laws to Parliament: again opting for a carrot and stick approach.  In response to the Continental Congress’ decision to end all trade with Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies, North’s Restraining Act (aka Prohibitory Act) prohibited the colonies from all trade with anyone other than Britain, Ireland and the West Indies.  In other words, if you are not going to trade with us, you are not going to trade with anyone.  The Act also banned fishing off the banks of Newfoundland, which was a big source of revenue for many New Englanders.

At the same time, North also proposed the Conciliatory Proposition.  In his view, the colonies seemed to have this insane phobia over Parliament taxing them.  The colonies did not object to all taxes, as the colonial governments continued to tax and collect from their own citizens without objection.  At the same time, Lord North seemed to have changed his attitude since the Tea Tax fiasco.  Now he did not care so much how he got money from the colonies, as long as he could get money to support the empire.  Therefore, his Conciliatory Proposition offered the colonies the authority to tax themselves, as long as they raised whatever funds Parliament needed from them.  In other words, the colonies would raise the money however they liked, but would make contributions to support the government and military needs from which they benefitted.

It’s hard to say whether such a compromise might have found acceptance in an earlier time under different circumstances.  But this was too little, too late.  After it became clear that the proposals would become law, Benjamin Franklin at long last packed his bags and headed home to Pennsylvania.  Josiah Quincy, Jr. likewise, gave up all hope of a political compromise and headed back to Massachusetts.  Unfortunately for Quincy, he would die on his return trip.

Everyone seemed convinced that fighting would begin in the spring.  The only questions were exactly when, where, and who would start it.

Next Week, Patriots open fire on British Soldiers in New Hampshire.

Next Episode 51: The Portsmouth Alarm

Previous Episode 49: The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts

Visit the American Revolution Podcast (https://amrev.podbean.com) for free downloads of all podcast episodes.

Further Reading:

Web Sites

History of Parliament online, elections: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/survey/ii-elections

Josiah Quincy's discussion with Lord North: http://www.bartleby.com/400/prose/486.html

The Restraining Act of 1775: http://www.motherbedford.com/HistoricalDocuments36.htm

Johnson, Samuel Taxation no Tyranny: http://www.samueljohnson.com/tnt.html

Burke, Edmund Speech on conciliation with America, March 22 1775, http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1751-1775/edmund-burke-speech-on-conciliation-with-america-march-22-1775.php

Parliamentary Debate on the Conciliatory Proposition: http://amarch.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A85151

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Donne, W. Bodham (ed) The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783, Vol. 1,  London: John Murray, 1867.

Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts The Manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth, Vol. 2, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887.

Grego, Joseph A History Of Parliamentary Elections And Electioneering, London: Chatto & Windus, 1892.

Laprade, William (ed) Parliamentary Papers of John Robinson, 1774-1784, London: Offices of the Society, 1922.

Lucas, Reginald Lord North, second earl of Guilford, 1732-1792, Vol. 2, London: Arthur Humphreys, 1913.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press 1943 (Based on date, I am not sure about the copyright status of this book.  Since it may get pulled, I have also included a link to Amazon below).

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Beck, Derek, Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2015.

Bunker, Nick An Empire on the Edge, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

Daughan, George C. Lexington and Concord: The Battle Heard Round the World, New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 2018.

Knollenberg, Bernhard Growth of the American Revolution 1766-1775,  Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1975.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press (1943) (also available as a free eBook, see above).

Raphael, Ray & Marie The Spirit of ‘74: How the American Revolution Began, New York: The New Press, 2015.

Smith, Page A New Age Now Begins, Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill 1976.

Episode 049: Provincial Congress of Massachusetts

Last week, we looked at the Continental Congress, which took place in Philadelphia in September and October 1774.  While leading patriots were away in Philadelphia trying to get the entire continent on board for the struggle, others remained in Massachusetts continuing the struggle against Gen. Gage in Boston.

Worcester Calls for Independent Government

As I discussed a few episodes back, Massachusetts jurisdictions outside of Boston had forced their courts and other government offices to close.  They did this to protest appointments under the Massachusetts Government Act, one of the hated Coercive Acts.  On October 4, about a month after the powder alarms pushed the British army into a defensive posture in Boston, the people of Worcester took a further step. They instructed their delegate to the upcoming Provincial Congress, that unless the Coercive Act changes to the colonial charter were repealed, that they considered themselves absolved of any obligations under the Charter.  Their delegate should work to create a new government based on the will of the people.  In other words, they were ready to remove the old government completely and create a new one. That is about as close to a declaration of independence that you can get without explicitly saying so.

Gage Fails to Open a Session

Even so, many in the colony were not ready to overthrow the government and create a new one.  They were still hoping for a compromise.  The exact nature of the Provincial Congress, which the Suffolk Resolves had called to start on October 11, was still a matter of dispute.  Some thought it should simply be a colony-wide meeting to present the people’s concerns to the Governor, or perhaps officials in London.  Others saw it as completely replacing the old colonial legislature, which the Governor called into session beginning on October 5.

Journals of the Provincial Congress
(from Internet Archive)

Gov. Gage made that question easier for the radicals when, on September 28, he called off the new session of the Assembly before it could even begin.  The Assembly had been scheduled to meet in Salem again.  That town now fell outside of Gage’s control.  He could have moved the session to Boston, or marched out to Salem with a military guard to open the session, but I suppose he saw little point.  The elected members would simply try to pass what he viewed as unconstitutional measures and force him to dissolve the session.  What would be the point?

The Assembly ignored Gage’s call to cancel the session and met in Salem on October 5 anyway.  They made of point of waiting around all day for the Governor and Council to show up.  At the end of the day, they declared that they had met their obligation under the Charter, but that the Governor and Council had not.  With no working government in the colony, the members declared they were free to create a new one.  The next day, the assembled legislators declared themselves a Provincial Congress and further declared they would meet on October 11 in Concord, as Suffolk and other counties had requested in their earlier Resolves.

When the 90 members of the old Assembly met in Concord, they found that various jurisdictions had sent more than 200 other representatives to the new Provincial Congress.  Because Concord was too small a town to host such a large group, they decided to move once again, this time to Cambridge.  The Provincial Congress set up in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from the British regulars occupying Boston.

Gage, however, made no effort to prevent them from meeting or much of anything else.  He had decided that he could do nothing without many more reinforcements.  He seemed happy to let the locals provide more proof of their treason, which could be used against them when his army reconquered the colony in the spring.

Provincial Congress

Mass. Charter of 1691
(from James Cummins)

With the delegation of many top radical leaders still attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, the Provincial Congress elected John Hancock as its President.  It soon became clear that the Boston delegates were among the most conservative there.  There was little support for Worcester’s idea of declaring all colonial governments null and void.  The radicals demanded that the government move back to the colony’s original 1629 Charter, which allowed the people of the colony to elect both their legislature and governor.  The 1691 Charter, in effect for over 70 years, allowed for the elected legislature and governor appointed by the King.  Warren and the moderates thought abolishing the 1691 Charter went too far.  They simply wanted to go back to the way things were the year before, simply get rid of Parliament’s sixth month old Coercive Acts.

In the end, they decided to table the entire question of authority.  Answering that question the wrong way was a good way to get accused of treason.  A leader might then find himself snatched up by the army, and tossed on a ship.  He could then have a stay in the Tower of London, and possibly lose his head.  So the Congress simply put aside the question of authority for their actions, and just started acting.

Rather than pass laws, they passed recommendations.  Everyone understood of course, that the recommendations were mandatory.  Failure to follow them would lead to some sort of formal or informal punishment.

Building an Army

The real question they needed to tackle was how to build an army that would be capable of protecting the colony from what almost certainly looked like a coming invasion by British regulars at some point.  Local militia needed training, logistical support, supplies, and organization, all without looking like they were committing treason by taking up arms against the Crown.

Radicals representatives from the western part of the colony did not seem terribly concerned about accusations of treason.  They moved for an immediate armed invasion of Boston.  Others moved that they should at least call for a civilian evacuation of the city and an assessment of property in the city so that if it came to violence, they could reimburse civilians for losses.

Delegates from Boston and the surrounding area, put the brakes on these efforts.  Sure, we want to fight for our rights, but burning down all our homes and properties is not where we want to go on our first step.  And while we’re at it, let’s stop and consider the consequences of firing on British Regulars.

Even if they did not favor an immediate invasion of Boston, the delegates did have a consensus to build up their military readiness. On October 20, the Congress created a committee to consider the colony’s military requirements.  Many had already been giving this serious thought, because less than a week later, the committee returned with a shopping list of over £20,000 worth of arms and munitions, including 20 canon, 4 mortars, and 5000 small arms.

Two days later, the Congress authorized the purchase of all such items.  Where they were going to find the money for all that was still an open question.  They were trying to collect taxes from the people, but until then hopefully some vendors would sell to them on credit.

Artemas Ward

Congress also appointed several Generals to command the new army they were creating.  Artemas Ward became the commander of the new army in the making.  Ward had been a justice of the peace in Shrewsbury and a representative to the colonial assembly for many years. He had also served as a lieutenant colonel in the militia during the French and Indian War.  He had been present and Gen. Abercrombie’s failed attempt to storm Fort Ticonderoga back in 1758.  His military service had been respectable if not distinguished.  Even so, he never even commanded a full regiment in combat.

Artemas Ward
(from Wikimedia)

Ward made full Colonel in the peacetime militia, until in 1766, Gov. Bernard revoked his Commission.  Bernard did not like Ward’s opposition to the Stamp Act.  If this ended Ward’s military experience for the time being, it solidified his reputation as a reliable patriot. He continued to serve in the colonial legislature, even serving on the Governor’s Council.  Gov. Bernard had vetoed his selection to Council, but his successor, Gov. Hutchinson allowed him to serve.  Ward remained a committed Patriot, refusing to take his seat on the Court when the Government Act protests began.  He served as a member of the Provincial Congress until his appointment as the army’s new Commander in Chief.

The reality was that Massachusetts did not have experienced general officers to choose from.  Militia regiments in combat tended to server under British officers in the regular army.  The Congress initially selected Ward’s former commander William Preble, but he had to decline for health reasons.  Other militia leaders like John Hancock had never even seen combat.  Ward seemed to be capable officer and his loyalty to the cause was beyond question, so he got the job.

Minutemen

Delegates also proposed the creation of a standing army to challenge the British regulars. Again a majority rejected this proposal for multiple reasons: they had no money to pay such an army, raising such an army could be seens as a direct provocation to Gage and an act of treason, and having a standing army in time of peace was one of the things they had been protesting for years.  Since there was no war, there should not be a standing army.

Minuteman statue
Lexington, MA
(from Wikimedia)

Instead, they Congress called on the militia to form their most dedicated members into units that could be called upon on a minute’s notice.  They would have their guns, ammunition and equipment ready to go at all times.  This group became known as the minutemen.  The Congress expected that they could put together an army of 15,000 or so using minuteman volunteers from around the colony.

They adopted the same approach as several localities had done for their militia, the enlisted men for each company would vote for their own officers.  The company officers would then select the officers to lead the regiment.  The Congress also put in place recommended schedules for all militia drill.  The big advantage that regulars traditionally had over militia was that militia were typically ill trained and unable to execute field maneuvers without panicking and running.  Putting the militia on a schedule of heavy training for months would help to remove this disadvantage.

Committee of Safety

Congress also created a committee of safety to provide oversight and coordination for the provincial militia.  The committee could organize the deployment and safekeeping of weapons, ammunition and other supplies in order to prevent capture in regular army raids.  Because they had no standing army to provide logistics, supplies, strategic planning, intelligence, etc. the committee of safety took charge of those responsibilities.

British cartoon of Militia Meeting (from Boston Tea Party Ship)

Appointed to the committee of safety, was another Boston Doctor named Benjamin Church.  I might as well introduce him now, as he becomes important to the story very soon.  Dr. Church came from an old Massachusetts family.  His Great Grandfather, also named Benjamin Church led militia soldiers in King Phillip’s War, as well as King William’s War and Queen Anne’s War.  The Doctor’s father had been a respected Boston merchant.  Dr. Church had been a prominent patriot for many years, though his role became downplayed later for reasons we will discuss soon.  He performed the autopsy on Crispus Attucks after the Boston Massacre.  He gave a public oration on an anniversary of the Boston Massacre.  He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and regularly wrote newspaper articles and other works on behalf of the Patriot cause.  As a result, he had become a trusted and respected leader of the cause.

Church and the rest of the committee of safety worked to organize the 15,000 man army in waiting, organized 19 artillery units, and set up a wide range of military plans in preparation of the expected conflict with the British Regulars.

Gage in Occupied Boston

As the people of Massachusetts developed their own government and prepared to go to war against the old one. Gov. Gage remained in Boston, making his own plans to handle the insurgency.  After the September 1774 Powder Alarm, Gage realized he did not have the firepower to suppress this on his own.  He sent word to London to send 20,000 regulars, called in closer reinforcements from other colonies, and built up the defenses in Boston.  He continued to add more men, artillery, and defensive barriers at Boston Neck in order to prevent any invasion.

Gen. Thomas Gage
(from Wikimedia)

At the same time, he did everything he could not to provoke another incident.  He refused to arrest any of the leaders of the rebellion.  Even when the Provincial Congress met in Cambridge, he refused to take any action other than to respond to several messages from Congress telling them that their meeting was illegal.  Colonists were free to come and go from Boston without fear of arrest.  He even allowed Joseph Warren to lead the 1775 commemoration of the Boston Massacre in town.

He cracked down hard on his own soldiers.  Punishing them for any harassment of civilians or any other abuses of his standing army that the patriots might use to whip up further public opinion against his government.  Locals regularly provoked the soldiers who knew they would be punished if they attempted to stand up for themselves and fight back.  Gage’s officers and men came to think he acted too cautiously and began referring to him as Granny Gage.

Life for the soldiers in Boston was miserable.  Dozens of them died from disease.  More died from drinking related deaths.  Soldiers were underpaid, underfed, and treated with contempt by their officers.  Some soldiers sold their weapons to locals, though doing so could subject them to terrible punishments.  One received 500 lashes.  Many wanted to desert.  Patriots encouraged this, offering them money, clothes, and even land for soldiers who wished to leave.  Gage had to increase the guard around Boston, mostly to catch deserters.  The army celebrated Christmas 1774 by attending a firing squad of an attempted deserter.  Merry Christmas!

Gage even suggested that the ministry suspend the Coercive Acts.  They united the people and the colonies against British rule.  Suspending them, at least temporarily, would calm and divide the opposition enough to give him time to reassert control.

Even so, Gage was not naive enough to think this would be settled peaceably.  His efforts were the equivalent of saying “nice doggy” to a barking animal until he could find a large enough stick to attack.  Gage realized he was in over his head, facing tens of thousands of angry heavily armed colonists with only about 3000 men of his own. 

While awaiting reinforcements, Gage began to develop a spy ring to keep track of what the colonists were doing, where they were hiding military stores, and how best to get to them.  He sent his officers out in civilian clothing to map the best routes to towns where colonists were storing their weapons and supplies.  He knew that Salem, Worcester, and Concord were key storage depots.  He also discovered rather quickly that the locals were hyper-vigilant to his activities.  Several of his officers on intelligence gathering missions were followed or harassed.  Some had to alter their return routes to avoid capture by angry mobs.  Gage quickly realized nothing he did remained a secret for very long.

His men succeeded in developing good maps to key towns, including Worcester and Concord.  On one visit to Concord, while meeting with a local Tory, someone delivered a death threat.  The local man agreed to accompany the officers back to Boston, in part for his own safety.  On the way to Concord, the officers noted that the most direct road had many curves and hills that made for numerous potential ambush sites.  The Tory showed them on their return trip a better route, only slightly longer, that went through Lexington.  These men returned with the maps they had drawn to help Gage develop his plans for any spring actions.

Dr. Benjamin Church
(from Wikimedia)

Gage also developed a spy ring among the locals. There were may loyalists in the Massachusetts countryside who were smart enough to keep quiet or lie about their loyalties.  Others just wanted the money.  Around this time sources indicate that the British offered Samuel Adams a payment of £1000 per year for the rest of his life if he would switch sides and support the British. Adams, of course, turned down this offer.  But there were others who did accept the money.  Gage soon developed a network of spies, many of them paid, to provide him with intelligence on patriot plans and activities.

One of his best placed spies was none other than Dr. Benjamin Church.  Some time over the winter of 1774-75, Church began providing Gage with detailed information about the actions of the Provincial Congress, the exact amount of military stores on hand and on order, as well as the locations of much of the colonists’ arms and equipment.  Since Church was privy to all of the patriots’ most sensitive military information, Gage had an open book into all of the planning and preparation on the patriot side.

Why Church would suddenly choose to work against the patriots is a matter of debate.  Many patriots dismissed his treason as simple greed.  He had a mistress that cost him a great deal of money and got paid to keep her in style.  Sadly, it does seem like money played an important role in his decision to work as a spy.  At the time though, Massachusetts was not really independent, so calling it treason may be a little harsh.  Perhaps Church was worried that the British would crush this little rebellion and that he as a leader of the patriot cause for many years would end up losing everything, perhaps even his head.  Providing Gage with intelligence gave him an insurance policy in case the British won.  Whatever the motive or motives, betraying your friends and neighbors for personal gain cannot be seen as the behavior of a decent human being.  By just about any definition, Church is a dirt bag.

Church’s work though, combined with Gages other spies and his use of officers to get the lay of the land gave him time to develop a strategy for a spring offensive once he received his needed reinforcements.  Gage envisioned an overwhelming use of force to awe the provincials back into submission.

Next week, the British government in London prepares to suppress this rebellion with military force.

Next Episode 50: Britain Prepares for War

Previous Episode 48: The First Continental Congress

Visit the American Revolution Podcast (https://amrev.podbean.com) for free downloads of all podcast episodes.

Further Reading:

Web sites: 

Worcester 1774: http://www.worcesterma.gov/city-clerk/history/general/worcester-revolution

Raphael, Ray "The True Start of the American Revolution" Journal of American Revolution, 2013: https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/02/the-true-start-of-the-american-revolution

Gen. Artemas Ward: http://www.revolutionary-war.net/artemas-ward.html

More on Artemas Ward: http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=311

Minutemen: https://www.nps.gov/mima/learn/education/who-were-the-minute-men.htm

Cain, Alexander "The Loyalist Guides of Lexington and Concord" Journal of the American Revolution, 2016: https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/05/the-loyalist-guides-of-lexington-and-concord

Benjamin Church: http://history.amedd.army.mil/surgeongenerals/B_Church.html

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

French, Allen General Gage's Informers, New York: Greenwood Press, 1968 (loan only).

Lincoln, William (ed) The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838.

Martyn, Charles The Life of Artemas Ward, the first commander-in-chief of the American Revolution, Boston: Artemas Ward, 1921.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press 1943 (Based on date, I am not sure about the copyright status of this book.  Since it may get pulled, I have also included a link to Amazon below).

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Beck, Derek, Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2015.

Bunker, Nick An Empire on the Edge, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

Carp, Benjamin Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.

Daughan, George C. Lexington and Concord: The Battle Heard Round the World, New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 2018.

Jones, E. Alfred The Loyalists of Massachusetts, Their Memorials, Petitions, and Claims, London: Clearfield Company, 1930.

Knollenberg, Bernhard Growth of the American Revolution 1766-1775,  Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1975.

Miller, John Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford, Stanford University Press (1943) (also available as a free eBook, see above).

Raphael, Ray & Marie The Spirit of ‘74: How the American Revolution Began, New York: The New Press, 2015.

Smith, Page A New Age Now Begins, Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill 1976.