Massachusetts – Day-By-Day America

Who Fired First in the Revolutionary War?

This contemporary American artist’s depiction of the Battle of Lexington asserts that the British fired first.

Since today is the anniversary of the so-called Battle of Lexington (personally, I think it’s a stretch to call it a battle) and the beginning of the Revolutionary War, I’ll take a minute to discuss one of the questions that has caused a lot of “inkshed” in the two and a half centuries since then: who fired the first shot?

The great majority of contemporary American accounts that I’ve read, whether from eyewitnesses or hearsayers, stated that the British fired first, without any provocation from the Americans. This, if true, would mean that the Americans were innocent, and that the king’s troops had started a war by slaughtering civilians. Most of the British accounts, on the other hand, claimed that the Americans fired first, and that the British fired in response. This, if true, would mean that the Americans provoked the whole thing, while the British were justifiably acting in self-defense.

I would probably have more confidence in the eyewitness accounts if more of the people were blaming their own side (“A guy I know named Bill fired his gun without orders, and that started the whole thing…”). But when it seems like most people were (so to speak) voting along party lines, it’s hard to tell which candidate was the real villain.

At the time, the question of who fired first was considered greatly important by both sides, because they wanted to prove the justice of their actions. But does it really matter? Not much. Even if we knew exactly who fired the first shot, where they were standing, what kind of gun they had, and what they had eaten for breakfast, would it make a difference? No (except for trivia games). The situation in Massachusetts in 1775 was such that the war was pretty much bound to start — at least, it seems that way to me — and who pulled the trigger first is pretty insignificant. Neither side was entirely innocent, and it’s not as if that one person, whoever they were, can be held responsible for starting the war. Personally, I don’t think that historians will ever be able to figure out who fired first, yet somehow it seems that we can’t stop wondering about it.

And speaking of historical trivia, here’s some for you: The first shot fired on Lexington Green was not “the shot heard ’round the world.” That phrase refers instead to the shots fired later that day by the Americans at Concord’s North Bridge — where, incidentally, it was the British who fired first.

The same American artist’s depiction of the fighting at the North Bridge in Concord.

The Darkest Time is Just before Day

Joseph and Sarah Hodgkins wrote frequently and affectionately to each other while Joseph served in the Revolutionary War. He served for four years, while Sarah with difficulty took care of their family and farm back in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Joseph experienced the Battle of Long Island and other events that were discouraging to the American cause, but although he shared these experiences and his thoughts with his wife, they both encouraged each other and reiterated that they trusted in God that things would work out for the best. For example, she wrote to him on September 16, 1776:

my heart akes for you to think of the dificultys & fateagues you have to undergo but all that I can doo for you is to commit you to God who has hitherto preserved you and beg of him to be with you & preserve you still; dont be discoraged My Dear, God is as able to preserve us as ever and he will doo it if we trust in him aright tho as you say I think things Look very dark on our side but it has been observed that mans extremity was Gods oppertunity and I think it Seems to be a time of grate exstremity Now and I hope God will apear for us & send Salvation and deliverance to us in due time and if you Should be called to Battle again may he be with you & cover your heads & Strenthen your hands & encorage your hearts and give you all that fortitude and resilution that is left for you and in his own time return you home in Safty … for my part I am not wholy discoraged; many times the darkest time is jest before day

It was indeed a dark time, but although the day was still a good way off, it was coming.

Note: Sarah’s and Joseph’s letters have absolutely no punctuation, so I added a little bit in this quotation for clarity’s sake.

The Leaden George

A mob pulled down a lead statue of King George III in New York on July 9, 1776.

What do you think about pulling down statues? That and similar things happened during the American Revolution. Sometimes it was done by mobs, sometimes by the civil authorities. In New York City, for example, a mob pulled down a statue of King George III. Symbols of royal authority in government buildings were taken down and destroyed. A tavern in Worcester, Massachusetts, called the King’s Arms, used the royal coat of arms for its sign; the sign was taken down (and I’m guessing that the owner changed the name of the tavern thereafter). Many of these things happened just after the Declaration of Independence, which makes sense.

A Wartime Thanksgiving, 1775

Thanksgiving Day was a well-established tradition in New England at the time of the Revolutionary War. The government of each colony would generally proclaim a “Publick Thanksgiving” each year on a Thursday in late November or early December. It was often on different days in different colonies; for example, in 1775, Connecticut held it on November 16th, Massachusetts and Rhode Island on the 23rd, and New Hampshire on the 30th.

Food seems to have been part of the tradition, but churches were also encouraged to hold worship services on that day, and people were encouraged to attend and (of course) to literally give thanks to God.

In Massachusetts in 1775, it was only natural that the Thanksgiving proclamation dwelt a lot on how the war was going. Among other things, it encouraged people to thank God “That the Lives of our Officers and Soldiers have been so remarkably preserved, while our Enemies have fell before them … And to Offer up humble and fervent prayer to Almighty God for the whole British Empire, especially for the United American Colonies”.

General George Washington ordered the American soldiers at the siege of Boston to observe Thanksgiving as proclaimed by the colony of Massachusetts. But there were still military duties to be done. Here’s how one American lieutenant, Jabez Fitch, described the day in his diary:

The 23d. This is Thanksgiving Day in this province. After breakfasting on chocolate and bread and cheese I went on the duty of fatigue. Our reg^t [regiment] were assign’d with Col. Wyllys’ to cut apple trees and make a brush fence from our front on the right of the lines down toward Dorchester, and we were stinted to extend it this day as far as the next intrenchment, which we accomplish’d by about 2 o’clock. We were directed in the work by one Lt. Cole of Wyllys’ reg^t, and after we had done work he came home with me calling in at the main guard, &c. After we came into camp we had a very good dinner on a piece of roast pork and a turkey, which we had prepar’d for that purpose. Capt. Bissell, Lt. Cole, Mr. Hillyer, Lt. Gove and I din’d together, and in the evening all of us, except Lt. Cole, went up to Jamaica Plain to make Capt. Rowley a visit, we also found Lt. Gillett there, he sung us several songs, made us a shoe, &c. A little after 8 o’clock we came home, had orders to turn out on the shortest notice, as an alarm was expected this night on account of our people beginning to intrench on Cobble Hill.

(I’m guessing that the phrase “to make a shoe” meant “to dance.”)

Interestingly, in addition to all the thanks and prayers that Massachusetts said should be offered regarding the war, their proclamation ended by encouraging people to pray

That he [God] would graciously pour out of his Spirit upon all order of men through the land, bring us to a hearty Repentance & Reformation Purity and Sanctify all his Churches
That he would make ours Emanuels Land
That he would spread the Knowledge of the Redeemer through the whole land and fill the World with his Glory, and all servile Labour is forbiden on said day.
GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE

Sources

Smith, Charles C., and Samuel A. Green. “May Meeting, 1894. Diary of Jabez Fitch, Jr.; New Volume of Proceedings.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 9 (1894): 40-95. www.jstor.org/stable/25079765. Page 83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079765?seq=44#metadata_info_tab_contents

The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, vol. 19 (vol. 14 of the appendix), pp. 136-37.
https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass7576mass/page/136

“General Orders, 18 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0362. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 392–393.]

What’s for Dinner?

What did Revolutionary War soldiers eat? One of the questions that a group of American leaders debated was what and how much should food should be given to the soldiers. They decided on:

One Pound of Beef or ¾ lb. Pork or one Pound of Salt Fish.
One Pound of Bread or Flour per Diem.
Three Pints of Pease or Beans per Week or Vegetables equivalent at 6/ [i.e., 6 shillings] per Bushel for Pease & Beans.
One Pint of Milk per Man per Day or at the Rate of 1d [i.e., 1 penny] per Pint.
One half Pint of Rice or one Pint of Indian Meal per Man per Week.
One Quart of Spruce Beer or Cyder per Man per Day or 9 Gallons of Molasses per Compy [company] of 100 Men per Week.
Three Pounds of Candles to 100 Men per Week for Guards &c.
Twenty four lb. of soft Soap or 8 lb. hard Soap for 100 Men per Week.

Whether they always got all of those things was a different question, but the American soldiers besieging Boston generally seemed to have enough to eat.

Notes

This was one of many things decided on during a conference of New England political leaders and George Washington at Cambridge (the Continental Army headquarters) on October 18-24, 1775.

Note that they didn’t actually write the word “per.” Instead, they used a symbol that looked like a fancy “P”.

I think that “Indian Meal” was cornmeal. As for spruce beer, I hadn’t heard of it except in Revolutionary War writings, so I was a little surprised when I found out that people still drink it today.

Source

“II. Minutes of the Conference, 18–24 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0175-0003. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 2, 16 September 1775 – 31 December 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 190–205.]

Dr. Benjamin Church: First American to Spy for the British

“I think it best to introduce Mr. Maxwell to General Washington,” wrote Henry Ward to General Nathanael Greene, “and for you and the General, with not more than one trusty person besides, to consider as to the most prudent measures to discover the traitor.” This was the first hint that George Washington and his fellow officers had of a high-ranking spy in their midst.

*Dr. Benjamin Church, a prominent revolutionary, was arrested as a spy in September 1775.*

The detection of the spy happened largely by accident. A baker named Godfrey Wainwood, living in Newport, Rhode Island, had received a visit from an acquaintance of his, a young woman from Massachusetts. She wanted his help to deliver a letter to a British official who could send it into Boston (then besieged by American troops) by ship. Wainwood thought this a bit odd, but he agreed to help. She left the letter with him, trusting that he would deliver it soon, and went back to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

That was in late July 1775. Wainwood was suspicious that somebody at Cambridge — the American army headquarters — might be acting as a spy and trying to secretly send information to the British army in Boston. But if the letter had been written by a spy, what should he do about it? Who should he tell?

Weeks went by. Unsure what to do, Wainwood simply kept the letter. After a while, in need of advice, he turned to a schoolteacher named Adam Maxwell. Together they decided to open the letter, and found that it was written in code, which increased their suspicions. When the woman wrote to Wainwood, expressing uneasiness that he might not have delivered the letter, they decided to share their suspicions with Henry Ward, secretary of Rhode Island.

So it was that Ward wrote to General Greene in late September, urging him to “discover the traitor.” Greene immediately told Washington, and the molehunt began. The woman, “a suttle, shrewd Jade,” was arrested; after a night of being in custody and a great deal of questioning, she finally admitted that Doctor Benjamin Church had written the letter and given it to her to take to Newport.

That was enough to rock the world of the American revolutionaries. Dr. Church had seemed to be an outstanding patriot for years. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Committee of Safety, and he was currently serving as director of the American army hospitals. But on 29 September 1775, after the woman (who was Church’s mistress) had confessed, he was arrested and the detective work began.

Three people — Samuel West, Elisha Porter, and Elbridge Gerry — went to work on the letter. As they deciphered it, they learned what Church had been trying to communicate to the British in Boston:

I hope this will reach you—three Attempts have I made without Success in effecting the last the Man was discovered in attempting his Escape, but fortunately my Letter was sewed in the Waisband of his Breeches…. for the Sake of the miserable convulsed Empire solicit Peace, repeal the Acts, or Britain is undone. this Advice is the Result of warm Affection to my King & to the Realm. … A View to Independance gr[ows] more & more General—should Britain declare War against the Colonies they are lost forever. … I wish you could contrive to write me largely in Cypher by the Way of New Port…. make Use of every Precaution or I Perish.

Church admitted that he had written and sent the letter, which was intended for his brother-in-law, John Fleming, “a warm stickler for the Honour, Dignity & Power of Britain”, in Boston. But he still claimed that he wasn’t a traitor: the letter, he said, intentionally exaggerated American military strength; by feeding this information to Fleming (and, through him, to the British commanders), Church was trying to influence the British to give up the war and make a peaceful compromise with the colonists’ demands — or so he said.

It was hard to absolutely prove that Church was a spy, but a council of war and the Massachusetts House of Representatives both pronounced him guilty — and they were right. However, the Articles of War — the regulations established by the Continental Congress for the American army — didn’t provide a severe enough punishment for the kind of crime he had committed, and nobody was quite sure what to do with him. After being imprisoned for a couple of years, Church was finally allowed to leave the country in January 1778. He sailed for the West Indies, but the ship he sailed on was lost at sea.

For another example of Church’s espionage activities, see Spy Letters of the American Revolution.

Washington Takes Command

I have nothing Remarkebel to rite Except that geaneral Washington & Leas got into Cambridge yesterday and to Day thay are to take a vew of ye Army & that will be atended with a grate deal of grandor there is at this time one & twenty Drummers & as many feffors a Beting and Playing Round the Prayde.

No, that’s not a foreign language. It’s just a beautiful example of why spellcheck and grammar check were invented. Here’s how it would be with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation:

I have nothing remarkable to write except that Generals Washington and Lee got into Cambridge yesterday, and today they are to take a view of the army, and that will be attended with a great deal of grandeur; there are at this time one-and-twenty drummers and as many fifers a-beating and playing round the parade.

This was a letter from Massachusetts Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins to his wife, Sarah. Besides being interesting from a historical standpoint, their letters are all kinds of fun to read; sometimes a word is spelled so strangely that it takes a minute to figure out what it is.

Hodgkins was at the American army camp around Boston, and he was writing about how General George Washington, the newly-appointed commander-in-chief, was taking command of the American forces. Washington arrived at Cambridge, which was the army’s headquarters, on Sunday, July 2, along with Charles Lee, who had been appointed a major-general. The next day they “reviewed” the army; that is, the army marched around the parade ground, and the generals observed them. (Maybe that’s not the most accurate description of it, but it’ll do.) Washington and Lee had been welcomed and honored all along their way from Philadelphia to Cambridge, but now they were up against their real work. And neither one of them realized how hard it would turn out to be.

Here’s an artistic rendition of General Washington “reviewing” the colonial troops at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 3, 1775. Although it’s not historically accurate in some things — such as the stars-and-stripes flag, which hadn’t been designed yet — it gives an idea of what a “review” might have been like. The smoke in the background is from a salute being fired.

Source

This Glorious Cause: The Adventures of Two Company Officers in Washington’s Army, p. 171.

“Our doors are open still…”

Soldiers were going to and from the camps around Boston; people were leaving Boston, often without being able to take much with them; and all of them needed a place to stay the night or get a meal while they were traveling. John and Abigail Adams’ house was along the road in nearby Braintree, Massachusetts, and many people — total strangers — stopped there for a few minutes, or hours, or days. John was in Philadelphia as a member of the Continental Congress; Abigail was managing the household and taking care of her young children, but still she willingly did what she could for the people who came to her door. Their house was a “Scene of confusion”, she wrote:

Soldiers comeing in for lodging, for Breakfast, for Supper, for Drink &c. &c. Sometimes refugees from Boston tierd and fatigued, seek an assilum for a Day or Night, a week—you can hardly imagine how we live.
“Yet to the Houseless child of want
our doors are open still.
And tho our portions are but scant
We give them with good will.”

Abigail Adams certainly was not the only one who helped out the soldiers and refugees who needed it. Many people gave a meal, a drink of water, a place to spend the night, and so on. It pays to remember that women played just as important a role in the Revolution as men did, and that soldiers were not the only heroes.

Notes

The word “assilum” was a misspelling of “asylum”, meaning a place to stay.

The verse that Abigail Adams quoted in her letter was adapted from The Hermit, a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, in which a hermit invites a traveler to stay the night with him:

Here to the houseless child of want
My door is open still;
And though my portion is but scant,
I give it with good will.

Source

“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.]

You can view images of the actual letter on the Massachusetts Historical Society website.

Planning to Invade Canada

Jonathan Brewer proposes a plan to attack Quebec.

May 1, 1775

You may not have heard that the Americans decided to invade and take over Quebec early in the Revolutionary War. The first part of the invasion was led by Benedict Arnold in September 1775. The journey itself was quite an achievement, but you can see that it didn’t work out, by the fact that Canada is not one of the United States.

This map was made by a British officer in the 1760s. It shows the wilderness areas he traveled through to get from Quebec to Maine. The first American invasion of Quebec followed a similar route, in the opposite direction.

I’ve read a lot about Arnold’s trek along the rivers and through the woods of Maine and Quebec, but I didn’t realize until today that somebody else was itching to start such an expedition before the war was even two weeks old. Jonathan Brewer, Esquire, of Waltham, Massachusetts, submitted a petition to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, stating:

That your Petitioner having a desire of contributing all in his power for this Country’s good, begs leave to propose to this honourable House to march with a body of five hundred Volunteers to Quebeck, by way of the Rivers Kennebeck and Chadier, as he humbly begs leave to apprehend that such a diversion of the Provincial Troops into that part of Canada, would be the means of drawing the Governour of Canada with his Troops, into that quarter, and which would effectually secure the Northern and Western Frontiers from any inroads of the Regular or Canadian Troops. This he humbly conceives he could execute with all the facility imaginable. He therefore begs that this honourable Assembly would take this his proposal into consideration, and to act thereon as in their wisdom shall seem meet.

The plan he proposed was pretty much the same one that Benedict Arnold followed several months later. When he said he could “execute” his plan “with all the facility imaginable”, what he meant was that he could carry it out quickly.

I’m sure there was plenty of talk about invading Canada during the early months of the war, but I didn’t know it was formally proposed as early as May 1, 1775, which is when this petition was evidently submitted.

Sources

American Archives, Series 4, Volume 2, 462.

A Map of the Sources of the Chaudière, Penobscot, and Kennebec Rivers, by John Montresor, ca. 1761. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3730.ar083800

Prime Minister North Says That Britain Can’t Be Silent Any Longer

Will this country sit still, when they see the Colony [of Massachusetts] proceeding against your own subjects, tarring and feathering your servants; denying your laws and authority; refusing every direction and advice which you send? Are we, Sir, seeing all this, to be silent, and give the Governor no support?

To change the government of Massachusetts is to take away their colony charter, which was granted by King William III and Queen Mary II, all the way back in 1691! Since the Americans aren’t here to defend themselves, it’s like holding a trial without even letting the defendant come into the courtroom! It’s not right to do this without giving them a chance to make up for what they did!

These were some of the arguments used in the British House of Commons against the bill to alter the government of Massachusetts, which was one of the “Intolerable Acts” passed in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. (The bill gave more power to the governor — who was appointed by the Crown — in hopes that he would be able to stop the rebellious demonstrations and enforce the law.) The opponents of the bill were very vocal and sometimes eloquent in their opposition. Those who supported the bill, on the other hand, had numbers on their side, so they could afford to be fairly quiet; but sometimes they matched their opponents in eloquence and energy. Lord North, for example, who was the Prime Minister, usually stuck to calm speeches, but on at least one occasion he put a bit of fire in his remarks about this bill:

Will this country sit still, when they see the Colony proceeding against your own subjects, tarring and feathering your servants; denying your laws and authority; refusing every direction and advice which you send? Are we, Sir, seeing all this, to be silent, and give the Governor no support? Gentlemen say, let the Colony come to your bar, and be heard in their defence; though it is not likely that they will come, when they deny your authority in every instance. Can we remain in this situation long? We must, effectually, take some measure to correct and amend the defects of that Government. … The Americans have tarred and feathered your subjects, plundered your merchants, burnt your ships, denied all obedience to your laws and authority; yet so clement, and so long forbearing has our conduct been, that it is incumbent on us now to take a different course. … It is not I say, again, political convenience, it is political necessity that urges this measure: if this is not the proper method, shew me any other which is preferable, and I will postpone it.

Of course, he didn’t postpone it; nobody presented an option that was preferable. (Personally, I doubt that any other plan, no matter how good, would have seemed preferable to him, or that he would have allowed it to be pursued.)

While some members of Parliament argued that Britain was taking too high-handed an approach, the King, and Lord North and his supporters, were tired of letting the Americans push the bounds of British authority. Theirs was a “no more Mr. Nice Guy” approach. When the Parliamentary session had opened in March 1774, the King had urged the members to take steps to “better [secure] the execution of the Laws, and the just dependence of the Colonies upon the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain.” And they did.

Source

American Archives, Series 4, Volume 1, pages 5, 73.