Fire in Dock Square, Boston
An accidental fire on the night of the 17th did more damage in Boston than the rebel army did in months. John Rowe, a wealthy Boston merchant who had been unable to get permission to leave Boston, wrote in his diary:
About eight of Clock a Terrible Fire Broke Out in the Barracks on Treat’s Wharf Occupied by the 65th Regiment — it was Occasioned by Accident or rather from Great Carelessness — it destroyed 33 Stores on Dock Square. Mine was in Great Danger, I thought so & therefore removed gret part of my Effects from thence — it continued until half past One with Progress. The Officers Behaved very well. The Clothing of 4 Companies belonging to the 47th Regiment was burnt & some Fire Arms Lost.
Abigail Adams, though she didn’t live in Boston, commented on the fire “which did much damage to the Warehouses, and added greatly to the distresses of the inhabitants whilst it continued. The bad conduct of General Gage was the means of its doing so much damage.” What was “the bad conduct of General Gage”? Apparently he had taken the fire engines away from the citizens — why, I don’t know, but I’m guessing he wanted to have them under his control, in case the people were uncooperative.
Notes
“eight of Clock” is not a typo. We don’t say it that way today, but the “o” in “o’clock” is short for “of”.
“Effects”, in this case, basically means “things” or “possessions.”
Sources
Letters and Diary of John Rowe, Boston Merchant, p. 295.
“Abigail Adams to John Adams, 24 May 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0136. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 204–206.]
“A plan of the town dock, formerly called Bendalls Dock, in Boston, with the buildings round & flats before it”, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:x059cd85c