Full text of "The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880"

BOSTON

PUBLIC

LIBRARY

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning : after-
ward thou shall be called ... the faithful city. ISAIAH I. 26.

THE

MEMORIAL

HISTORY OF BOSTON,

INCLUDING

SUFFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
16301880.

EDITED

BY JUSTIN WINSOR,

LIBRARIAN OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

- /

IN FOUR VOLUMES. Q ^ J // /

VOL . in. / T

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. PART I:

Issued under the business superintendence of the projector,
CLARENCE F. JEWETT.

C. C. C. H. LIBRARY
A. C. C. H LIBRARY 50 West Broadway

SOUTH BOSTON, MASS. SQ ^ Boston

BOSTON-
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY.

1881.

07856

.JMMBBID iE. MtSS >
I

INTRODUCTION.

MAPS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. In the Introduction to the
second volume the Editor offered as full a list as he could make of the
maps of Boston and its vicinity, belonging to the Provincial Period. He
brought the enumeration down to a time when the struggle of the Revo-
lution began to require a new issue of maps, and at this point he again
takes up the list.

1774. A Chart of the Coast of New England, from Beverly to Scituate Harbor, in-
cluding the Ports of Boston and Salem. Engraved by J. Lodge. This map appeared in
the London Magazine, April, 1774(10 X 7/^ inches). In the upper left-hand corner is a
Plan of the Town of Boston (5 X 3'/2 inches). There are but few names of interest on
the plan. There is a copy in the Boston Athenaeum. The same plate was used in the
Aierican Atlas, issued by Thomas Jefferys in 1776, and printed by Sayer and Bennett.

1774. A Map of the most Inhabited Part of New England, by Thomas Jefferys, Nov.
29, 1774 (37^ X 40 inches). In one corner is a map of the town (8> X S 1 A inches),
and also a chart of the harbor (8% X $ 1 A inches), "from an accurate survey." See Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., September, 1864. This map is contained in The American Atlas, by
the late Mr. Thomas Jefferys, London, Sayer and Bennett, 1776, numbers [5 and 16. It
was also re-engraved for a Map of the most Inhabited Part of New England, published
without date, at Augsburg, by Tobias Conrad Letter.

The map of the town seems to be based on the London Magazine map of the same date ;
is called A New and Accurate Plan of the Town of Boston in New England. Mr. A. O.
Crane issued a fac-simile, Boston, 1875." See the map described under 1784.

1775. A Plan of the Town and Chart of the Harbor of Boston, exhibiting a View
of tlie Islands, Castle, Forts, and Entrances into the said Harbor. Dated Feb. I, 1775
(14 X 12 inches) ; includes Chelsea and Hingham, and gives soundings. It appeared
in the Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1775. Cf. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May, 1860. It
is given herewith in fac-simile. The view on the same page of heliotype is of Nix's Mate
as it appeared at this time, now only a shoal. This is a reduction of one of the Des
Barres series of coast views.

1775. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. The earliest plan of the battle is a slight sketch,
after information from Chaplain John Martin, drawn by Stiles in his Diary, and reproduced
in Historical Magazine, June, 1868 ; where will also be found a rude plan, made by print-
ers' rules, given in Rivingtoit's Gazette, Aug. 3, 1775. This last is reproduced in Fro-
thingham's Siege of Boston. Lieutenant Page * made an excellent plan, based on a survey

1 Page was one of the royal engineers, and England on leave in January, 1776, when the
served as aid to Howe; was wounded; was in London Chronicle spoke of him "as the only one
VOL. in. a.

ii THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

by Montresor, of the British Engineers, showing the laying-out of Charlestown. The suc-
cessive positions of the British line are indicated on a smaller superposed sheet. This
was issued in London in 1776, called A Plan of the Action at Bunker's Hill on the ijth
June, 1775, between His Majesty's Troops under the Command of Major-General Howe,
and the Rebel Forces. The same plate, with some changes, was dated April 12, 1793, and
used in Stedman's American War. It was re-engraved, reduced, by D. Martin, substitut-
ing " American " for " Rebel," and " Breed's " for " Bunker's " in the title, with a few other
changes in names, and issued by C. Smith in 1797, in The American War from 1775 to
1783. See Hunnewell's Bibliography of Charlestown and Bunker Hill, 1880, p. 18, where
a heliotype is given. It was again re-engraved, much reduced (5^ X 9 inches), for Dear-
born's Boston Notions, 1848, p. 156; and soon after, full size, following the original of 1776,
in Frothingham's Siege of Boston? A map of Boston, showing also Charlestown and Bun-
ker's Hill, but called Plan of the Battle on Bunkers Hill. Fought on the \jth of June,
1775. By an Officer on the spot. London, printed for R. Sayer and T. Bennett, . . . Nov.
-7i '775) has the text of Burgoyne's letter to Lord Stanley on the same sheet. It has
been reproduced in F. Moore's Ballad History of the Revolution, part ii.

Henry de Berniere, of the Tenth Royal Infantry, made a map similar in scale to
Page's, but not so accurate in the ground plan. It was called Sketch of the Action on the
Heights of Charlestown, and having been first mentioned in the Gleaner, a newspaper
published at Wilkesbarre, Pa., by Charles Miner, as found recently in an old drawer, it
was engraved, in fac-simile, in the Analectic Magazine, Philadelphia, February, 1818;
where it is stated to have been found in the captured baggage of a British officer, and to
have been "copied by J. A. Chapman from an original sketch taken by Henry de Berniere,
of the fourteenth regiment of infantry, now in the hands of J. Cist, Esq." General Dearborn
commented on this plan in the Portfolio, March, 1818 (reprinted in Historical Magazine,
June, 1868), with the same plan altered in red (19^ X 12,^ inches), which alterations were
criticised by Governor Brooks in June, 1818. See N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., July,
1858. G. G. Smith worked on this rectified plan in producing his Sketch of the Battle of
Bunker Hill, by a British Officer (12 X 19 inches), issued in Boston at the time of the
completion of the monument in 1843.

Colonel Samuel Swett made a plan (i8> X 12^ inches), based on De Berniere's, which
was published in his History of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and has been reproduced, full
size, in Ellis's Oration in 1841 ; and reduced variously in Lossing's Field-book of the Rev-
olution, in Ellis's History, and Centennial History ; and in other places.

There are other plans in the English translation of Botta's War of Independence, in
Ridpath's United States, and in other popular histories. A good eclectic map is given in
Carrington's Battles of the American Revolution, ch. 15. A map of Charlestown and plan
of the battle (16^" X 14 inches), by James E. Stone, was published by Prang & Co. in
1875. Felton and Parker's large survey of Charlestown, 1848, is of use in identifying
localities, being made on the same scale as Page's plan ; and it helped Thomas W. Davis
in making a Plan showing the redoubt, breastwork, rail-fence, and grass protection, which
was published in the Bunker Hill Monument Association's Proceedings, 1876, of which a
section is given in Dr. Hale's chapter.

1775. A Plan of Boston, in New England, with its Environs ; made by Henry
Pelham (and often signed by him) under permission of Ja : Urquhart, town major, Aug.
28, 1775. It shows the lines about the town and the harbor. It was printed in two
sheets (together, 42^ X 28^ inches), and published in London, June 2, 1777, done in

now living of those who acted as aides-de-camp l Frothingham, it will be seen, was in error
to General Howe, so great was the slaughter of in supposing his to be the earliest American re-
officers that day. He particularly distinguished production. See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., June,
himself in the storming of the redoubt, for which 1875, where will be found his account of the
he received General Howe's thanks." Mass, maps and views of Charlestown before and after
Hist. Sot. Proc., June, 1875, p. 56. the battle.

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FROM THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, 1775.

Nix's MATE IN 1775.

INTRODUCTION. iii

aquatinta by Francis Jukes. Dr. Belknap said of it in 1789: " I believe there is no more
correct plan than Mr. Pelham's." Belknap Papers, ii. 115. There is a copy in Harvard

College Library, and a tracing made from
this by George Lamb was given in the
Evacuation Memorial, 1876. There are
two copies in the Massachusetts Histor-

j ical Society's Library ; another is owned

<y . by Samuel S. Shaw, Esq. Frank Moore,

in his Diary of the American Revolution,

gives a reduced representation of it; and a small fac-simile will be found in S. A. Drake's
Old Landmarks of Middlesex. A reduced fac-simile of it is also given herewith.

1775. A Plan of the Town of Boston with the Intrenchments, etc., of His Majesty's
Forces in \T]$,from the observations of Lieut. Page, of His Majesty 's Corps of Engineers,
and from the plans of other gentlemen ; engraved and printed for William Faden, Oct. I,
r 777 ( ll3 /( X I7X inches). It is reproduced by Frothingham, in his Siege of Boston,
and also in the present History. It gives the peninsula only, with a small bit of Charles-
town, and according to Shurtleff it gives names to several streets, etc., different from
Bonner's. There was a later edition, October, 1778. The original drawing of this plan
is in the Faden collection in the Library of Congress.

1775. Boston, its Environs and Harbour, with the Rebels' Works Raised against that
Town in 1775, from the Observations of Lieut. Page, of His Majesty's Corps of Engi-
neers, and from the Plans of Capt. Montresor ; scale, 2^ inches to the mile; extends
from Point Alderton to Cambridge, and from Chelsea to Dorchester (33 X 18 inches) ;
"engraved and published by William Faden, Oct. I, 1778." There is a copy in the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society's Library, book 572, No. 3, " Miscellaneous Maps." The
original drawing is in the Faden Collection, Library of Congress.

1775. A large chart of Boston Harbor, and the neighboring country, surveyed by Samuel
Holland"*- (42 X 30 inches and without title), dated Aug. 5, 1775. It takes in Nahant, Nan-
tasket, and Cambridge. It was subsequently dated Dec. I, 1781, with some changes, and
with the fortifications of the siege marked in and explained in marginal references ; and is
included by Des Barres in the Atlantic Neptune, part iii. No. 6, 1780-83. A text, some-
times with this later issue, says it was composed from different surveys, but principally
from that of George Callendar, 1 769, late master of His Majesty's ship " Romney." Richard
Frothingham's copy of this later plate was used in making the reproduction in Shurtleff s
Description of Boston, 1870. The same plate was used in Charts of the Coast and Harbors
of New England, from Surveys taken by Samuel Holland, etc., for the use of the Royal
Navy of Great Britain. By J. F. W. Des Barres, 1781.

1 Samuel Holland was Surveyor-general of ready to run the line between Massachusetts

the northern colonies, and, working down the and New York. He adhered to the crown

coast from the north, he had completed his sur- in the Revolutionary war, and died in Lower

veys as far south as Boston in 1773; and in 1775 Canada in 1801. Sabine's American Loyalists,

he reported to Lord Dartmouth that he was i. 537.

iv THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

An outline map of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay is contained in a series
called Charts of the Coast and Harbors of New England, by J. F. IV. Des Barres,from
Surveys by Samuel Holland and his Assistants, who have been employed on that service
since the year 1764.

1775. Seat of War in New England by an American Volunteer, with the Marches
of the several Corps sent by the Colonies towards Boston, with the attack on Bunker Hill.
London, Sayer and Bennett, Sept. 2, 1775. (18 X 15^ inches.) It extends from Lower
New Hampshire to Narragansett Bay, and west to Leicester. It was reproduced in the
Centennial Graphic, 1875.

On the same sheet are two marginal maps, Plan of Boston Harbor ($/4 X 6
inches) ; and Plan of Boston and Charlestown, the latter showing pictorially the battle
of Bunker Hill in progress, and the town burning, (5^ X 12 inches). It seems to fol-
low for Boston the London Magazine map, and is fac-similed in W. W. Wheildon's New
History of the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1875 ; also in the accounts and memorials of the
battle prepared by David Pulsifer, James M. Bugbee, and George A. Coolidge. It also
very closely resembles the following :

1775. Plan of the Town of Boston, with the attack on Bunker's Hill, in the Peninsula
of Charlestown, on June 17, 1775. J- Norman, Sc. (11% X 7 inches, folding.) The
Charlestown peninsula represents the town burning, and the British troops advancing to
attack the redoubt. This map appeared in An impartial History of the War in America
Boston : Nathaniel Coverley and Robert Hodge, MDCCLXXXI. vol. i. ; and in the second
(1782) Newcastle-upon-Tyne edition of a book, published in London, of a like title, the
first English edition having appeared in 1779. 'See Henry Stevens's Hist. Coll., i.,
No. 435-

1775. Map of Boston and Charlestown, by An English Officer present at Bunko
Hill. London, Sayer and Bennett, Nov. 25, 1775. (14 X 14 inches.)

1775. Boston and the Surrounding Country, and Posts of the American Troops,
Sept., 1775, is the title of a sketch in TrumbulFs Autobiography, showing the lines of cir-
cumvallation as drawn by himself. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., April, 1879, p. 62. It is given
in fac-simile, in Dr. Hale's chapter in the present volume.

1775. Plan of Boston and its environs, showing the true situation of His Majesty's
Army, and also those of the Rebels ; drawn by an Engineer at Boston, Oct., 1775 ; pub-
lished, March 12, 1776, by Andrew Dury ; engraved by Jno. Lodge for the late Mr.
Jefferys, geographer to the King. (25 X 17^ inches.) In Charlestown it shows the
" Redoubt taken from ye rebels by General Howe," with the British camp on Bunker
Hill. It includes Governor's Island, and takes in the Cambridge and Roxbury lines. It
bears this address : " To the public. The principal part of this plan was surveyed by
Richard Williams, lieutenant at Boston, and sent over by the son of a nobleman to his
father in town, by whose permission it is published. N. B. The original has been com-
pared with, and additions made from, several other curious drawings."

1775. Map of Boston, Charlestown and vicinity, showing the lines of circumvalla-
tion ; in Force's American Archives, iii. and reproduced in W. W. Wheildon's Siege
and Evacuation of Boston and Charlestown, 1876.

1775. Plan of Boston, with Charlestown marked as in ruins ; in the Gentleman's
Magazine, October 1775.

1775. A new and correct plan of the Town of Boston and Provincial Camp is in
the Pennsylvania Magazine, July, 1775. It resembles that in the Gentleman's Magazine,
January, 1775, and was engraved byAitkins (7^ X io>< inches), showing the peninsula
only. In one corner of the plate is a plan of the Provincial Camp, scale two miles to one
inch, with the circumvallating lines. It is reproduced in W. W. Wheildon's Siege and
Evacuation of Boston and Charlestown ; Moore's Ballad History, etc.

1775. A new Plan of Boston Harbour from an actual survey, C. Lownes. sculp.;
in the Pennsylvania Magazine, June, 1775. (7^ X *o/4 inches.) It has this legend:
"N. B. Charlestown burnt, June 17, 1775, by the Regulars."

1'IIK TOWN OK BOSTON
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INTRODUCTION. V

1775. To the Honl. Jno. Hancock, Esq., . . . this Map of the Seat of Civil War
in America is . . . inscribed by ... B. Romans. It extends from Buzzard's Bay to
Salem, from the ocean to Leicester. (15 X 17 inches.) It contains also a marginal Plan
of Boston and its Environs. 1775 (3 X 3/4 inches), showing the circumvallating lines. In
the lower right-hand corner is a small view (t X 6^ inches) of The Lines thrown up on
Boston Neck by the Ministerial Army. The key reads : " i, Boston ; 2, Mr. Hancock's
house; 3, enemy's camp on M* [?] Hill; 4, block house; 5, guardhouses; 6, gate and
draw-bridge ; 7, Beacon Hill."

1775. An inaccurate map of Boston and environs (10^ X 8^ inches), made in June,
1775, and published, Aug. 28, 1775, in Almon's Remembrancer, \. It gives the head-
quarters of the opposing forces, their camps, lines, etc. The second edition of the first
volume of Almon contained a map giving forty miles about Boston, a plan of the town,
and a map of the vicinity.

1775. A small Map of Boston and Vicinity, after one made during the British occu-
pancy, is given in Harper's Monthly, June, 1873, in an article by B. J. Lossing, describing
some views of Boston in the collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet of New York.

1775. Boston and circumjacent Country, showing present situation of the King's
Troops, and the Rebel intrenchments. July 25, 1775. (16^ X 17 inches.) A fac-simile
of this, from the original manuscript owned by Mr. Charles Deane, is given in the Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., April, 1879.

1775. A draught of the Harbor of Boston, and the adjacent towns and roads, 1775, is
the inscription on a manuscript map (12X9 inches) in the Belknap Papers, i. 84, in the
Massachusetts Historical Society's cabinet.

1775. Plan of Dorchester Neck, made for the use of the British Army, given in T. C.
Simond's History of South Boston, p. 31. The History of Dorchester, p. 333, speaks of a
map (of which an engraving is given) drawn by order of the British general, showing nine
houses on the Neck, as being in the Massachusetts Historical Society Library ; but it can-
not now be found.

1775. Boston and Vicinity, following Pelham for the country and Page for the harbor
03 X 9 1 A inches), was compiled by Gordon for his American Revolution, in 1788.

1775. Boston and Vicinity, 1775-1776 ; engraved for Marshall's Washington; Phila-
delphia, C. P. Wayne, 1806. (8^ X I3#-) It follows Gordon's, and was reduced for
subsequent editions. A wood-cut of a similar plan is given in Lossing's Field-book
of the Revolution, i. 566. See also Carrington's Battles of the American Revolution,
p. 154.

1775. Map of Boston and Vicinity. It is an eclectic map, showing the lines of cir-
cumvallation, and was engraved for Sparks's Washington, iii. 26, and is also given in
the Boston Evacuation Memorial, 1876. It was followed in Guizot's Washington, and in
Bryant and Gay's United States; iii. 427.

1775. Boston and its Environs in 1755 and 1776 (6^ X 9 inches). Shows the har-
bor and the lines of circumvallation. An eclectic map, engraved for Frothingham's Siege
of Boston, p. 91.

1775-1776. BRITISH LINES ON BOSTON NECK. Several plans are preserved. The
main defence was at Dover Street, the outer works being near the line of Canton Street.
A manuscript plan, " the courses, distances, etc., taken from the memorandum book of
a deserter from the Welch Fusileers," is preserved in the Lee Papers, belonging to the
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and of this a description is given in the
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., April, 1879, p. 62. A reduced fac-simile is given in Dr. Hale's
chapter. It has an explanatory table of the armament in the hand of Colonel Mifflin,
Washington's aid, and is signed T. M. A plan nearly duplicate, sent by Washington to
Congress (Force's American Archives, fourth series, p. 29), is copied by Force (p. 31),
and is reproduced in Wheildon's Siege and Evacuation of Boston. Cf. Trumbull's Au-
tobiography, p. 2?, where it is mentioned that Trumbull, an aid to General Spencer, who

vi THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

had made a sketch of the works, by crawling up under cover of the tall grass, had hoped
by this means to recommend himself to the Commander-in-Chief. " My further progress
was rendered unnecessary," he adds, " by the desertion of one of the British artillery-
men, who brought out with him a rude plan of the entire work. My drawing was also
shown to the General ; and their correspondence proved that, as far as I had gone, I was
correct. This (probably) led to my future promotion." In the Pennsylvania Magazine >
Aug. 1775, i s an Exact Plan of General Gage's Lines on Boston Neck in America. (9 X
n)4 inches.) The scale is a quarter of a mile to 4}f inches. It gives both the outer
and inner lines. In the text a statement is made of the guns mounted, ending,
"This is a true state this day, July 31, 1775." A drawing of the British lines on
the Neck, dated August, 1775, is in the Faden collection of maps in the Library of
Congress. An engraved view is given in heliotype in Dr. Hale's chapter. A somewhat
rude delineation of the lines on a contemporary powder-horn is noted in Mass. Hist. Soc.
Proc., June, 1881.

1776. Chart of Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor; published, April 29, 1776;
extends from Cape Ann to Cape Cod. It appeared in the Atlantic Neptune, dated Dec.
I, 1781. According to Shurtleff, one edition of this map is dated May, 1774. It also
appeared, with the earlier date, in Des Barres' Charts of the Coast and Harbors of New
England, 1781. W.P. Parrott in 1851 issued a reproduction of the Des Barres map of
the harbor.

1776. Chart of Boston Bay; published Nov. 13, 1776. Takes in Salem, Scituate,
and Watertown. (39 X 3Q> inches.) The surveys were made by Samuel Holland. As
appearing in the Atlantic Neptune, 1780-83, it is dated Dec. I, 1781, and signed by J. F.
W. Des Barres. It is also included in Des Barres' Charts of the Coast and Harbors of
New England, 1781. The Back Bay is called " Charles Bay."

1776. There is in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Cabinet a rudely drawn map
of the harbor and adjacent parts (8 X 7/^ inches), in which the positions of the American
forces are given. The Continental army is put at twenty thousand, and the Royal forces
in the town at eight thousand.

1776. The North American Pilot for New England, etc., from original surveys by
Captain John Gascoigne, Joshua Fisher, Jacob Blarney, and other Officers and Pilots
in His Majesty 's Service. London, Sayer and Bennett, 1776. This contains a chart of
the harbor of Boston, with the soundings, etc. (34 X 21 inches). The course up the chan-
nel, from below Castle William, is marked by bringing the outer angle of the North
Battery in range with " Charlestown tree," which stands on the peninsula, inscribed
" Ruins of Charlestown.'' Harvard College Library has the volume, and the loose map
is in the Massachusetts Historical Society Library, and in the Public Library. Cf. Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., Sept. 1864. A second edition, 1800, is also in the College Library, and
has the same map.

1776. Map of the seat of War in New England. London ; printed for Carrington
Bowles, 1776. (6*4 X 4/4 inches.) It has on the margin a small chart of the harbor and
environs.

1776. The seat of the late War at Boston, in the State of Massachusetts (7 X 10
inches), taking in Salem, Marsh field, and Worcester, is given .in the Universal Asylum
and Columbian Magazine, July, 1789.

1776. Plan of Boston in the Geschichte der Kriege in und aus Europa, Nuremberg,
1776.

1776. Carte du port et havre de Boston, par le Chevalier de Beaurain, Paris, 1776
(28 X. 2 3 inches). It bears the earliest known representation of the Pine-tree banner, in
the hands of a soldier, making part of the vignette. There are copies in the Massachu-
setts Historical Society Library, and in Harvard College Library.

1776. (?) There is in the collection of maps made in Paris for the State, by Ben Per-
ley Poore, and preserved in the State archives, one entitled, Carte de la Baye de Boston,

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INTRODUCTION. vii

situce dans la Nouvelle Angleterre (7 X 6 1 A inches), which is marked, "Tome 1. No.
30," as if belonging to a series.

1776. Carle von dem Hafen und der stad Boston, mil den umliegenden Gegenden
und den Ldgern sowohl der Amerikaner als auch der Engldnder, von detn Cheval de
Beaurin, nach dem Pariser original von 1776. Frentzel, sculpt. This also appeared in the
first part of the Geographische Belustigungen, Leipsic, 1776, by J. C. Miiller, of which
there is a copy in Harvard College Library.

1778. The Atlas Ameriquain Septentrional, a Paris, chez Le Rouge, ingenieur Geo-
graphe du Rot, 1778, repeated the " Plan de Boston" from Jefferys' American Atlas of
1776, with names in English and descriptions in French. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Sep-
tember, 1864. There was also an edition " after the original by M. Le Rouge, Austin
Street, 1777," styled La Nouvelle Angleterre en \feuilles.

1780. Carte particuliere du Havre de Boston, reduite de la carte anglaise de Des
Barres, par ordre de M. de Sartine, 1780 (23 X 34 inches). It has the seal of the " Depot
generale de la marine," and makes part of the Neptune Americo-Septentrional, publie par
ordre du Roi.

1780. Plan of the new Streets in Charlestoivn, with the alteration of the old. Sur-
veyed in 1780 by John Leach. No scale given. (25^ Xi9^ inches.) It shows parts of
Main and Henley streets, the Square, and Water Street. The names of all abutters on
the streets are given, with accurate measurements of each lot. It is manuscript.

1782. A New and Accurate Chart of the Harbour of Boston in New England in
North America (6^4 X 9 inches), published in the Political Magazine, November, 1827.

MAPS OF BOSTON SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVOLUTION. The following
list gives all, or nearly all, the maps of Boston (including the harbor and
the vicinity, and considerable portions of the town or present city) pub-
lished between the close of the Revolution and the middle of the present
century : -

1784. Plan of the Town of Boston (9X6 inches). This map is interesting as show-
ing the outline of the " tri-mountain" in relation to the streets of 1784, when the original
elevation had not been materially changed. It appeared in the Boston Magazine, October,
1784, accompanying a Geographical Gazetteer of Massachusetts, which was originally issued
in instalments in that magazine. The original is in a copy of the magazine in the Boston
Public Library. It was re-engraved in the New York edition (1846) of A Short Narra-
tive of the Horrid Massacre, and in Kidder's History of the Boston Massacre, Albany,
1870. It resembles the London Magazine map of 1774.

1787. Dr. Belknap made a plan of so much of the town as was swept by the fire of
April in this year, which spread along Orange Street, taking Hollis Street church, extending
to Common Street. A fac-simile of his sketch is given in the Belknap Papers, i. 470.

1789. Chart of the Coast of America, from Cape Cod to Cape Elizabeth. Sold by
Matthew Clark, Boston, October, 1789. It has a marginal chart of Boston Harbor
(7X6 inches). This chart belongs to a collection of North American charts dedicated
by Clark to John Hancock.

1789. A map of the town (9^ X 7 inches), engraved by John Norman (who had his
printing office near the Boston Stone), which appeared in the Boston Directory^ of this
year, the earliest one published. Dr. Belknap speaks of it as very imperfect. See
Belknap Papers, ii. 115, and Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., June, 1875.

1 This first Boston Directory was reprinted, again separately in that year, from the same
correcting the alphabetizing, in Dearborn's Bos- type. Copies of the first Directory usually want
ton Notions ; also in the Directory of 1852, and the map; the Public Library copy has it.

Vlll

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

1791. The American Pilot. Boston, John Xonnan, 1791. O. Carleton, 1 Sept. 10,
1791, certifies on the title that he has compared the charts with Holland's and Des Barres',
and other good authorities. A map of the coast from Timber Island, Maine, to New York,
shows Boston Harbor (about 4X4 inches).

1794. Dr. Belknap sketched a plan of that part of the town lying between Washington
Street and Fort Hill, showing the new Tontine Crescent. A fac-simile is given in the
Belknap Papers, ii. 351.

1794. The English Pilot, London, Mount 6 Davidson, gives a large chart of the Sea
Coast of New England from Cape Cod to Casco Bay, lately Surveyed by Captain Henry

llarnsley. Sold by W. &> I.
Mount &> T. Page, London. It
gives a space of about three
inches square to Boston Har-
bor. The Pilot also contains
a large chart of the Coast of
New England from Staten Island to the Island of Breton, as it was actually surveyed by
Captain Cyprian Southack. Sold by I. Mount, T. Page, &> W. Mount, London. This

BOSTON LIGHT, 1 1%<)?

plate has a marginal Plan of Boston (n> X 7 inches), which seems to be Southack's
reduction of Bonner, made sixty years before, in 1733. See Vol. I. p. liv.

1794. Matthew Wellington's Map of Roxbury is the earliest manuscript map of that
part of the present city. See Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 52. There are copies of this
at the State House and in the city surveyor's office.

1794. A Plan of Charlestown, surveyed in December, 1794 . . . By Sain 1 Thompson,
surveyor. Scale, 200 rods to an inch. (\6 l / 2 X 10,^ inches.) It is stated in the margin
that there are 344 acres within the neck, and 3,940 without the neck; that White Island,
at the east end of Maiden Bridge, contains 16 acres ; and that the whole acreage therefore

1 Osgood Carleton was born at Haverhill in
1742, and died in 1816. He served in the Revo-

eral Court, in 1801. Muss. Hist. Soc. Proc., i.
p. 141. He was an original member of the Mas-

lution ; and after the war taught mathematics in sachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

Boston, and published various maps, among 2 This is a fac-simile of a plate in the Massa-

others a map of the State, by order of the Gen- chusetix Magazine, February, 1789.

INTRODUCTION.

is 4,300, which includes Mystic Pond (200 acres), and also all brooks, creeks, and roads
in the town. The adjoining towns are shown by different colored lines. Only the county
roads in Charlestown are marked, and the site of the meeting-house on Town Hill is
indicated. This plan is now in the Secretary's office at the State House, and has never
been reproduced.

1795. An original map of the town, surveyed by Osgood Carleton for the selectmen,
is preserved in the city surveyor's office, Boston. City Document, No. 119, of 1879.

1795. Carleton's survey was used in a small map (14^ X 9 inches), which was en-
graved by Joseph Callender for the second Boston Directory, published by John West,
1796. This same date was kept on the map in the Directories of 1798 and 1800. In 1803
the date is omitted, and a few changes are made in the plate. In 1807 the map is en-
titled simply Plan of Boston, and the references are omitted.

1797. An accurate Plan of the Town of Boston, and its vicinity. . . . Also, part of
Charlestown and Cambridge, from the surveys of Samuel Thompson, Esq., and part
of Roxbury and Dorchester from those of Mr. Whitherington [sic] (all which surveys

CASTLE ISLAND, I 789.*

were taken by order of the General Court). By Osgood Carleton, teacher of mathemat-
ics in Boston. I. Norman, Sc. Published as the act directs, May 16, 1797. (37 X 40
inches.) See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1880, p. 365. There is a heliotype of the Boston
part of it reduced, in Vol. IV., following the Harvard College copy.

1800. A new Plan of Boston, from actual surveys by Osgood Carleton, with correc-
tions, additions, and improvements. This is of the peninsula only (27 X 20 inches), and
is seemingly a section of the 1797 map. It was reproduced in 1878 by G. B. Foster, in
fac-simile, somewhat reduced.

1801. Plan of East Boston ; in Sumner's History of East Boston.
1803. See 1795 (Directory map).

1806. A new Plan of Boston, drawn from the best authorities, with the latest im-
provements, additions, and corrections. Boston, published and sold by W. Norm an, Pleas-
ant Street; sold also by William PeUiam, No. 59 Cornhill. This is the 1800 plan, with
the plate lengthened to include South Boston, " taken from the actual surveys of Mr.

1 This cut shows, in fac-simile, a plate of this fortification which appeared in the Massachusetts
Magazine, May, 1789.
VOL. III. b.

X THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Withington " (35 X 19 inches). There are changes of ward-numbers and bounds. The
lower part of the plate, below Dover Street, is re-engraved. There is a copy in the Boston
Public Library.

1809. Directory map, published by Edward Cotton ; engraved by Callender (15 X 9/4
inches).

1814. A map showing houses and estates (28 X 36 inches), drawn by J. G. Hales,
engraved by T. Wightman. A fac-simile was issued by Alexander Williams in 1879.

1814. A plan "of the contemplated design of erecting perpetual tide-mills," engraved
by Dearborn, on wood, dated February, 1814. A copy in the American Antiquarian
Society's Library is indorsed by Isaiah Thomas, " Done by the new method of printing
the colors, 1813." This plan is given in reduced heliotype in Mr. Stanwood's chapter in
Vol. IV.

1817. Chart of Boston Harbor ; surveyed by Alexander Wadsworth, by order of
Commodore William Bainbridge ; engraved by Allen & Gaw ; published in Philadelphia
by John Melish in 1819; scale, 1500 feet to one inch (42 X 36 inches). Scale, 1500 feet
to one inch.

1818. Plan of the Charlestown Peninsula. . . . From accurate survey by Peter
Tuffs, Jr., Esq. Engraved by Annin fir* Smith, Boston. (21 X I7X inches). See
Mr. Edes's chapter in this volume.

1819. Boston and Vicinity (31^ X 25 inches), by John G. Hales, engraved by Edward
Gillingham. Some issues are dated 1820. To this year are ascribed two volumes of
original plans of streets, lanes, and abutting houses, made by Hales for the selectmen,
which are preserved in the city surveyor's department. See City Document No. 119, of
1879. Hales's engraved map was reissued, with revisions by Nathan Hale, in 1829 and

1833-

1821. Hales's Survey of Boston and Vicinity has a map of the Back Bay, showing the
"Great Dam," or Mill Dam.

1821. Blunt's New Chart of the New England Coast has a marginal chart of Boston
Harbor.

1824. Plan of Boston (4 X 6% inches), by Abel Bowen, shows the original water-
line and parts of the out-wharf. In Snow's History of Boston ; also in Bowen's Picture
of Boston, 1828 ; and in Snow's Geography of Boston, 1830.

1824. Plan of Boston (22 X 22 inches), by William B. Annin and G. G. Smith ; re-
issued frequently by Smith, and used in the municipal registers and school documents.

1826. Boston and Vicinity (6 X 3% inches), by A. Bowen ; in Snow's History of
Boston, 1826 and 1828 ; and in Bowen's Picture of Boston, 1828.

1828. Plan of Boston (\\}/ 2 X 9 inches), by Hazen Morse; in Boston Directory,
published by Hunt and Simpson, and then by Charles Simpson, Jr.; continued in use
till 1839, with changes and additions.

1829. See 1819.

1830. Plan of the Town of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex .... made in
August, 1830, under direction of the Selectmen, conformable to Resolves of the Legislature
passed March i, 1830; by John G. Hales, surveyor. Scale, 100 rods to the inch. (26^

X 15 Vz inches.) The principal roads without the neck are laid down, and all the principal
streets on the peninsula are shown. This is drawn in india ink and colors ; is preserved
in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and has never been reproduced.

1831. Mitchell's United States has a map of Boston and Vicinity (4^ X 3X inches).

1831. Surveys of Dorchester (with Milton) made by Edmund J. Baker; lithographed
by Pendleton ; scale, 3 miles to I inch (33 X 26 inches).

1832. Town of Roxbury, by J. G. Hales ; scale, 100 rods to i inch (25 X I7>4 inches);
includes the present West Roxbury. It is reduced in F. S. Drake's Town of Roxbury.

1833. See 1819.

1835. Plan of Boston (4 X 2^ inches), by Annin; peninsula only; in Boston
Almanac.

INTRODUCTION. xi

1835. Map of Boston (21 X 21 inches); includes Charlestown and Lechmere Point;
engraved by G. G. Smith.

1835. Map of Boston (31 X 22 inches) ; drawn by Alonzo Lewis ; engraved by G. W.
Boynton ; published by the Bewick Company.

1836. Map of Massachusetts, from surveys ordered by the Legislature in 1830; has
a marginal map of Boston (5^ X 4#s inches); published by Otis, Broaders, & Co.

1837. Map of Boston ($} X 5 inches) ; engraved by Boynton for Boston Almanac ;
used in later years.

1837. Chart of Boston Harbor; surveyed by B. F. Perham; directed by commis-
sioners (L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and James Hayward) appointed March, 1835.

3 837. 'A Plan of South Boston, old bridge to free bridge ; surveyed and drawn by B.
F. Perham, L. Baldwin, S. Thayer. and J. Hayward, commissioners.

1837. A Plan of South Boston, East Boston, and Charlestown; surveyed and drawn
by B. F. Perham, L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward, commissioners.

1837. A Plan of Cambridge Bridge, and Boston and Roxbtiry Milldam ; was surveyed
and drawn by B. F. Perham, under authority of L. Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward,
commissioners ; and of the same date and authority one of Cambridgeport, East Cam-
bridge, and Charlestown. \_No title.'}

1837. A Plan of Cambridgeport, East Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, East Boston,
and South Boston; drawn by B. F. Perham, under the authority of the commissioners, L.
Baldwin, S. Thayer, and J. Hayward. [No title.'}

1838. Plan of Boston (15 X n inches); in T. G. Bradford's Illustrated Atlas of the
United States, Boston.

1838. Plan of Boston (\S l /z X 9% inches), by Hazen Morse and J. W. Tuttle ; in
Boston Directory, 1839, and in later years.

1839. Plan of Boston (18 X 17 inches), showing Governor's and Castle islands; en-
graved by G. W. Boynton for Nathaniel Dearborn ; issued with various dates, and pub-
lished from 1860 to 1867, with alterations, by E. P. Dutton & Co. It is based on the 1835
map of Lewis.

1839. A Plan of Soutfi Boston, showing the additional wharves since 1835, also
harbor line recommended by Commissioners in 1839; drawn by G. P. Worcester, H. A.
S. Dearborn, J. F. Baldwin, C. Eddy, commissioners.

1839. A plan of Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston, showing the harbor line ;
was drawn by G. P. Worcester under the authority of the commissioners, H. A. S. Dear-
born, J. F. Baldwin, and C. Eddy. \_No title}.

1839. A plan of Cambridgeport, East Cambridge, and Charlestown, showing the har-
bor line; recommended by the commissioners, H. A. S. Dearborn, J. F. Baldwin, and C.
Eddy. [No title'}.

1841. Boston and Vicinity, by Nathaniel Dearborn. It follows the large State map.

1842. Boston and Vicinity (4X4 inches) : in Mitchell's Traveller's Guide through
the United States; issued with later dates.

1842. Map of Boston (14 X n/^ inches); engraved by Boynton for Goodrich's
Pictorial Geography.

1842. Map of Boston*, including the Charlestown peninsula (15 X 12 inches); en-
graved by R. B. Davies for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, London.

1843. Map of the City of Roxbury (34 X 25 inches) ; surveyed in 1843 by Charles
Whitney ; published in 1849; scale, 1,320 feet to I inch.

1844. Topographical Map of Massachusetts, by Simeon Boyden, shows Boston Har-
bor, with considerable detail, on a size of about 5X5 inches.

1844. Map of Boston (11% X 9 inches); peninsula only; in Dickinson's Boston
Almanac.

1844. Map of East Boston (34 X 21 inches), by R. H. Eddy ; drawn by John Noble,
June, 1844.

1846. Map of Boston, including East and South Boston ; engraved by G. G. Smith.

Xll THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

1846. Mystic River ; J. Hayward, E. Lincoln, Jr., commissioners.

1846. Charles River to the head of tide waters; drawn by L. Briggs, Jr., J. Hayward,
and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

1846. Plan of part of the City and harbor, showing lines of high and" low water; by
G. R. Baldwin.

1846. South Bay ; J. Hayward, E. Lincoln, Jr., commissioners.

1847. Boston Harbor and the Approaches; from a trigonometrical survey, under the
direction of A. D. Bache, by commissioners S. T. Lewis and E. Lincoln.

1847. Plan of Boston ; an original manuscript plan, made by W. S. Whitwell for the
water commissioners; in the city surveyor's department. See City Document, 1879, No.
119.

1847. Chart of the Inner Harbor; T. G. Gary, S. Borden, E. Lincoln, commissioners ;
A. D. Bache, superintendent United States coast-survey.

1848. Plan of the City of Charlestown, made by order of the City Council from actual
survey; by Felton 6 Parker, and Eben r . Barker. Scale, 400 feet to an inch. Litho-
graphed by J. H. Bufford, Boston. (32^ X 25 inches.)

1848. Map of Boston, including South and East Boston, by N. Dearborn.

1848. In N. Dearborn's Boston Notions, and engraved by him, appeared these maps :
i. Plan of Boston (6 X 4lO inches ; 2. Boston and Vicinity (3X4 inches) ; 3. Boston
Harbor (4% X 8 inches). These maps appeared in other of Dearborn's publications
about Boston, Guides, etc.

1849. Boston and Vicinity (ti X 9/4 inches); in Boston Almanac, and in Homans's
Sketches of Boston.

1849. J. H. Goldthwait's Railroad Map of New England\&s> a marginal map (2% X
2% inches) of Boston and vicinity.
1849. See Roxbury map of 1843.

1849. Chelsea Creek, between East Boston and Chelsea. Exhibiting the circumscribing
line to which wharves may be extended; surveyed by J. Low and J. Noble, S. T. Lewis,
and E. Lincoln, Jr., commissioners.

1850. Map of Boston (11 X 9/4 inches) ; engraved by Boynton for the Boston
A Imanac.

1850. Map of Dorchester (36 X 28 inches); surveys made by Elbridge Whiting for
S. Dwight Eaton ; lithographed by Tappan and Bradford.

1850. Inner Harbor, showing commissioners' 1 lines proposed by S. Greenleaf, J. Giles,
and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

1850. South Bay ; S. Greenleaf, J. Giles, and E. Lincoln, commissioners.

After this date the maps are very numerous.

CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

FRONTISPIECE. View of Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill, taken

from Beacon Hill (described on p. 87) Facing titlepage

INTRODUCTION.

MAPS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, i ; PLANS OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER
HILL, i ; BRITISH LINES ON BOSTON NECK, v ; MAPS OF BOSTON SUBSEQUENT
TO THE REVOLUTION. The Editor vii

ILLUSTRATIONS: Plan of Boston (Gentleman's Magazine} in 1775, heliotype, i;
Nix's Mate in 1775, heliotype, i; Plan of Boston, 1775 (Pelham's), heliotype,
iii; Plan of Boston (Page's), heliotype, iii ; Boston Light in 1789, viii ; Castle
Island in 1789, ix.

AUTOGRAPHS : Henry Pelham, iii ; James Urquhart, iii ; Osgood Carleton, viii.

Efje Eeboluttonarg Iferiolr.

CHAPTER i.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. Edward G. Porter

ILLUSTRATIONS: James Otis, 6; Revenue Stamp, 12; Table of Stamps, 12; Lieut.-
Governor Oliver's Oath, 15; Letter by James Otis, 20; Boston Harbor from
Fort Hill, and Boston from Willis's Creek, two heliotypes, 23 ; Thomas
Gushing, 34; Samuel Adams, 35; Josiah Quincy, Jr., 37; Extract from John
Adams's brief, 38; Boston Massacre, 40; Andrew Oliver, 43; Revere's En-
graving of Hancock, 46; John Adams's diary on the Tea-party, 50; Earl
Percy, 58; Warren House, 59; General Warren, 60; Mrs. Warren, 63.

AUTOGRAPHS: Chas. Paxton, 4; James Otis, 6; Lord George Grenville, 8 ; Isaac
Barre, n ; Earl of Bute, 13; "The Sons of Liberty," 13; Duke of Grafton,
21; Lord North, 26; Town's Committee (Thomas Gushing, Jonathan
Mason, Edward Payne, Wm. Phillips, Joseph Waldo, Isaac Smith, Ebenezer

viii THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

AUTOGRAPHS (continued') :

Storer, Wm. Greenleaf), 29; General Knox, 32 ; Thomas Gushing, 34; Josiah
Quincy, Jr., 37; Samuel Shaw, 38; Sampson S. Blowers, 38; Benj. Lynde, 38;
letter signatures (James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton, Joseph Warren), 39;
Andrew Oliver, 43 ; Peter Oliver, 43; William Cooper, town clerk, 44; Earl
Percy, 58 ; Joseph Warren, 60 ; Adino Paddock, 62 ; Jedediah Preble, 64 ;
Artemas Ward, 64; Earl of Chatham, 65; General John Thomas, 65; Gen-
eral William Heath, 65.

CHAPTER II.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. Edward E. Hale 67

ILLUSTRATIONS: Paul Revere, 69; Fac-simile of " A Circumstantial Account"
(Apr. 19, 1775), 73; Gage's order, 76; Panorama from Beacon Hill in 1775,
heliotype, 79; Mifflin's plan of the lines on Boston Neck, heliotype, 80 ; Colonel
Trumbull's map of Boston and vicinity, heliotype, 80 ; British lines on Boston
Neck, looking in and out, two heliotypes, 80 ; plan of the redoubt on Bunker
Hill, 82; "General morning orders, June 17, 1775," fac-simile, 83; "On the
field," fac-simile, 86; After the Battle, 88; General Knox, 95; General Howe's
proclamation, 97; Washington at Dorchester Heights, 98; Major Judah
Alden, 99; Washington medal, heliotype, 100.

AUTOGRAPHS : Paul Revere, 69 ; John Parker, 74 ; Timothy Ruggles, 77 ; Israel
Putnam, 80 ; Admiral Samuel Graves, 81 ; General Wm. Howe, 81 ; General
Henry Clinton, 81 ; General John Burgoyne, 81 ; Colonel William Prescott,
82 ; Colonel Richard Gridley, 82 ; John Brooks, 83 ; General R. Pigot, 85 ;
Joseph Ward, 86; John Jeffries, 87 ; John Stark, 89 ; John Manly, 90 ; Judah
Alden, 99.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. The Editor 101

ILLUSTRATIONS: Plan of Lexington fight, 102; Wadsworth house, 107 ; Holmes
house, 108; Artemas Ward, 109; Washington Elm, no; Craigie house,
112; Elmwood, 114; Roxbury parsonage, 115; plan of Roxbury fort, 115.

AUTOGRAPHS: Richard De/ens, 101 ; Peter Thacher, 103; James Barrett, 103;
R. Derby, 103 ; John Sullivan, 104 ; Daniel Morgan, 104 ; Thomas Learned,
104; Alexander Scammell, 105; John Nixon, 105; Nathanael Greene, 105,
117; Charles Lee, 105; William Bond, 105; Ebenezer Bridge, 106; Ralph
Inman, 106; Ephraim Doolittle, 107; Artemas Ward, 109; Benjamin
Church, in; William Eustis, in ; John Warren, 112 ; William Gamage, Jr.,
112; Joseph Reed, 113; John Glover, 113 Andrew Craigie, 113; Wil-
liam Prescott, 115; John Greaton, 116; Thomas Chase, 116; Ebenezer
Learned, 1 17.

CHAPTER III.
THE PULPIT, PRESS, AND LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION. Delano A. Goddard 119

ILLUSTRATIONS: Joseph Green, 132; The .\fassachusetts Spy, fac-simile, 135; The
Independent Chronicle, fac-simile, 139; fac-simile of W r arren's second Massa-
cre Oration, 143.

AUTOGRAPHS: Samuel Mather, 127 ; John Mein, 131 ; Daniel Leonard, 133; R.
T. Paine, 144; William Tudor, 144; Benjamin Church, Jr., 145; Phillis
Wheatlcy, 147.

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER IV.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. Horace E. Scudder . . . 149
ILLUSTRATIONS: Liberty Tree, 159; Peace-extra (of 1783), 174.

AUTOGRAPHS : Boston merchants of the Revolutionary period (John Amory,
Richard Salter, Timothy Fitch, Daniel Malcom, Alexander Hill, Richard
Gary, Joshua Henshaw, John Scott, Samuel Eliot, Henry Lloyd, John Erv-
ing, Jr., Joshua Winslow, Samuel Hughes, Thomas Gray, Thomas Amory, J.
Rowe, Jos. Green, Edward Payne, Nicholas Boylston, John Hancock, Wil-
liam Bowes, Ebenezer Storer, William Coffin, Sol. Davy, John Barrett,
Nathaniel Greene, Thomas Russell, Jno. Spconer, Joseph Lee, Joseph Sher-
burne, W. Phillips, John Avery, Isaac Winslow, Wm. Fisher, Benjamin
Hallowell, Jona. Williams, Nathaniel Appleton, Daniel Hubbard, Jona.
Mason, Henderson Inches, Nathaniel Gary, Harrison Gray, Jr.), 152, 153;
John Lovell, 160; James Lovell, 160; French officers (Lauzun, Comte de
Grasse, Barras, De Ternay, Comte de Rochambeau), 166; Lafayette, 173.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. The Editor ..175

ILLUSTRATIONS : Washington's proclamation, 181 ; Order to Captain Hopkins,
184 ; Bill for pine-tree flag, 188.

AUTOGRAPHS : William Tudor, 185 ; Baron Steuben, 185 ; Solomon Lovell, 185 ;
Peleg Wads worth, 186 ; Artemas Ward, 186.

2Last f^untireU Jfears.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. Henry Cabot Lodge . . . 189

ILLUSTRATIONS: John Adams, 192; James Bowdoin, 195; Washington, 198;
Triumphal arch, 200; Hancock house, 202; Hamilton statue, 206; Gerry-
mander, 212; George Cabot, 214.

AUTOGRAPHS: George R. Minot, 194; B. Lincoln, 194; John Hancock, 201;
Increase Sumner, 204; Moses Gill, 205; Caleb Strong, 205; James Sullivan,
208: Elbridge Gerry, 211; Massachusetts signers at Hartford Convention
(George Cabot, Nathan Dane, H. G. Otis, Wm. Prescott, Timothy Bigelow,
Joshua Thomas, Saml. S. Wilde, Joseph Lyman, Stephen Longfellow, Jr.,
Daniel Waldo, George Bliss, Hadijah Baylies), 213.

CHAPTER II.
BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. James M. Bugbee 217

ILLUSTRATIONS: John Phillips, 223; Josiah Quincy, 227; Quincy Market and
Faneuil Hall, 228 ; Park Street, 232 ; Harrison Gray Otis, 235 ; Theodore
Lyman, 237 ; Samuel A. Eliot, 244.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

AUTOGRAPHS : H. G. Otis, 235 ; the mayors (John Phillips, Josiah Quincy, H. G.
Otis, Theodore Lyman, Jr., Charles Wells, Samuel A. Eliot, Samuel T. Arm-
strong, Jonathan Chapman, M. Brimmer, Thomas A. Davis, Josiah Quincy,
Jr., Benjamin Seaver, John P. Bigelow, J. V. C. Smith, Alexander H. Rice,
F. W. Lincoln, Jr., J. M. Wightman, Otis Norcross, N. B. Shurtleff, William
Gaston, Henry L. Pierce, Samuel C. Cobb, Frederick O. Prince), 290, 291.

CHAPTER III.
BOSTON AND THE COMMONWEALTH UNDER THE CITY CHARTER. John D. Long 293

CHAFFER IV.
BOSTON SOLDIERY IN WAR AND PEACE. Francis W. Palfrey 303

ILLUSTRATIONS: Thomas G. Stevenson, 317; William F. Bartlett, 318; Paul J.
Revere, 319 ; Robert G. Shaw, 321 ; Wilder Dwight, 322 ; Henry L. Abbott,
323 ; Soldiers' Monument, 324.

CHAPTER V.

THE NAVY AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD. George Henry Preble . . 331

ILLUSTRATIONS : Plan of Navy Yard as originally purchased, 337 ; Isaac Hull,
339; plan of Navy Yard (in 1823), 342; (in 1828), 350; (in 1874), 366.

AUTOGRAPHS: Commandants (Samuel Nicholson, Wm. Bainbridge, Isaac Hull,
C. Morris, W. M. Crane, W. B. Shubrick, J. D. Elliot, John Downes, John
B. Nicholson, Foxhall A. Parker, F. H. Gregory, S. H. Stringham, W. L.
Hudson, J. B. Montgomery, E. G. Parrott, Chas. Steedman, John Rodgers,
Wm. F. Spicer, E. T. Nichols, M. Haxtun, F. A. Parker, George M.
Ransom), 352, 353.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT IN BOSTON. James Freeman Clarke . . . . 369

ILLUSTRATIONS: William Lloyd Garrison, 373; Charles Sumner, 391 ; Theodore
Parker, 394.

AUTOGRAPHS: Theodore Parker, 394; John A. Andrew, 400.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CONGREGATIONAL (TRINITARIAN) CHURCHES. Increase N. Tarbox . . . 401
ILLUSTRATIONS : Lyman Beecher, 408.

AUTOGRAPHS : Joseph Eckley, 406 ; J. Morse, 407 ; E. D. Griffin, 407 ; John Cod-
man, 407 ; Wm. Jenks, 407 ; Lyman Beecher, 408 ; B. B. Wisner, 409 ; W.
Adams, 409; Justin Edwards, 409 ; N. Adams, 410; J. S. C. Abbott, 410;
Silas Aiken, 411 ; W. M. Rogers, 411 ; Samuel Green, 411 ; E. N. Kirk, 412 ;
W. I. Budington, 412 ; J. B. Miles, 413.

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BAPTISTS IN BOSTON. Henry M. King 421

ILLUSTRATION : Samuel Stillman, 422.

CHAPTER IX.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Daniel Dorchester 433

CHAPTER X.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Phillips Brooks 447

ILLUSTRATIONS : Tremont Street (about 1800), 451 ; J. S. J. Gardiner, 453 ; Ruins
of Trinity (in 1872), 457.

CHAPTER XI.

THE UNITARIANS. Andrew Preston Peabody 467

ILLUSTRATIONS : James Freeman, 473 ; Joseph S. Buckminster, 475.

CHAPTER XII.

A CENTURY OF UNIVERSALISM. A. A. Miner 483

ILLUSTRATIONS: John Murray, 486; First Universalist meeting-house, 489;
Hosea Ballou, 493; Columbus Avenue Church, 501.

AUTOGRAPHS : John Murray, 486 ; Edward Mitchell, 490 ; Sebastian Streeter,
490 ; Abner Kneeland, 491 ; Edward Turner, 491 ; L. S. Everett, 491 ; Calvin
Gardner, 491 ; J. S. Thompson, 491 ; E. H. Chapin, 492 ; Thomas F. King,
492 ; T. S. King, 492 ; Hosea Ballou, 493 ; Thomas Whittemore, 497 ; Paul
Dean, 498 ; Walter Balfour, 499 ; H. Ballou, 2d, 502 ; J. G. Bartholomew,
502; Benj. Whittemore, 503; Lucius R. Paige, 503; Otis A. Skinner, 504;
Thomas B. Thayer, 504 ; Sylvanus Cobb, 504.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. James Reed 509

CHAPTER XIV.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. William Byrne 515

ILLUSTRATIONS: Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 516; Bishop Cheverus, 518;
Mount Benedict, 522.

AUTOGRAPHS: John Thayer, 515; J. Carroll, 517; John Cheverus, 518; F. A.
Matignon, 519; P. Byrne, 519; Benedict, Bishop Fenwick, 520; John B.
Fitzpatrick, 526.

xii THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

CHAPTER XV.

CHARLESTOWN IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. Henry H. Edes 547

ILLUSTRATIONS: Richard Devens, 550; the Edes house, 553; Charlestown (in
1789), 554; Tufts's Map of Charlestown (in 1818), 568.

AUTOGRAPHS : Josiah Bartlett, 548 ; Nathaniel Gorham, 549 ; Richard Devens,
550; Walter Russell, 551 ; Samuel Swan, 551 ; Samuel Holbrook, 551 ; Phil-
lips Payson, 551; John Kettell, 551; Samuel Devens, 551; David Dodge,
551 ; Charles Devens, 551 ; John Leach, 552 ; Robt. B. Edes, 552 ; Wm. J.
Walker, 552; Josiah Wood, 552; Thomas Edes, Jr., 552; Samuel F. ]>.
Morse, 553; Joseph Cordis, 554; Joseph Hurd, 554; Samuel Sewall, 554;
Ebenezer Breed, 555; Nathan Tufts, 555; Nathaniel Austin, Jr., 555; Isaac
Rand, 555 ; Aaron Putnam, 556 ; Samuel Dexter, Jr., 557 ; Timothy Trum-
ball, 557 ; Franklin Dexter, 557 ; L. Baldwin, 557 ; M. Bridge, 557 ; Samuel
Payson, 558; Benjamin Frothingham, 559; Jedediah Morse, 560; \Vm. I.
Budington, 561 ; Thomas Prentiss, 562 ; James Walker, 562 ; David Wood,
Jr., 562; William Austin, 564; Thomas Russell, 564 ; Richard Frothingham,
566; Thomas B. Wyman, 566; Solomon Willard, 566; Timothy Walker,
567 ; Oliver Holden, 570.

CHAPTER XVI.

ROXBURY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. Francis S. Drake 571

ILLUSTRATIONS: Henry Dearborn, 574; Meeting-house Hill (in 1790), 577.
AUTOGRAPHS: H. Dearborn, 574; W. Eustis, 575.

CHAPTER XVII.

DORCHESTER IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. Samuel J. Barrows . . . . 589
ILLUSTRATION : Thaddeus Mason Harris, 593.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BRIGHTON IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. Francis S. Drake 60 1

ILLUSTRATION : The Winship mansion, 608.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHELSEA, REVERE, AND WINTHROP FROM THE CLOSE OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.

Mellen Chamberlain 6 1 1

CHAPTER XX.

THE PRESS AND LITERATURE OF THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. Charles A.

Cummings 617

ILLUSTRATIONS: Benjamin Russell, 619; George Ticknor, 661 ; Ticknor's li-
brary, 662; Prescott's library, 667; Edward Everett, 671 ; original draft of
Longfellow's "Excelsior," fac-simile, 673 ; Verse from Lowell's "Courtin',"
fac-simile, 674.

CONTENTS. xiii

AUTOGRAPHS: Benj. Russell, 619; Nathan Hale, 628; Epes Sargent, 630; Joseph
T. Buckingham, 631; Jeremy Belknap, 635 ; Willard Phillips, 639; J. Q.
Adams, 642 ; Jared Sparks, 647 ; C. M. Sedgwick, 648 ; L. Maria Child, 648 ;
Jacob Abbott, 649 ; Richard H. Dana, 650 ; Charles Sprague, 650 ; John
Pierpont, 651 ; S. Margaret Fuller, 656 ; George Ticknor, 661 ; Samuel G.
Howe, 664 ; George Bancroft, 665 ; W. H. Prescott, 666 ; Daniel Webster,
670; J. L. Motley, 670; Edward Everett, 671; J. R. Lowell, 674; Oliver
Wendell Holmes, 674; John G. Whittier, 675; Nathaniel Hawthorne, 676;
H. B. Stowe, 678 ; R. H. Dana, Jr., 679 ; G. S. Hillard, 679 ; Edward E.
Hale, 680; E. P. W hippie, 681.

INDEX 683

THE

MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON

Betoiuttonar?

CHAPTER I.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

BY THE REV. EDWARD G. PORTER,

Pastor of the Hancock Church, Lexington.

WHATEVER period we fix upon as the beginning of the American
Revolution, we are sure to find some preceding event which, in a
greater or less degree, might justly claim recognition on that account. It
has generally been conceded that the war opened with the outbreak of
hostilities on the morning of April 19, 1775; and that opinion will prob-
ably never be reversed. But as there were reformers before the Reforma-
tion, so there were many public acts in the Province deemed revolutionary
before the memorable engagement on .Lexington Common. Blood had
been previously shed in a collision between the king's troops and American
citizens in the streets of Boston. Remonstrances against the arbitrary
measures of the British Government had repeatedly taken the shape of open
and defiant resistance. The Congress of 1765 had issued a Declaration of
Rights which, though accompanied by expressions of loyalty to the king,
was a very pronounced step towards colonial union and independence.
The utterances of Franklin, of Otis, and of Samuel Adams, and the favor
with which they were received, clearly indicated the ardent aspirations of
the people for political liberty. Every successive encroachment of the
Crown was met by an immediate and determined protest. For years the
public mind had been in a state of such chronic agitation that the peace
was at any time liable to be disturbed by acts of violence.

It is greatly to the credit of the colonists, as British subjects, that the
final rupture was so long in coming. They would certainly have been justi-
fied in the judgment of mankind had they precipitated rebellion in the

VOL. III. I.

2 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

earlier stages of their oppression. When we remember what indignities
had been heaped upon them ever since the abrogation of the charter in
1684; when we recall the sufferings to which they were subjected by the
passage of the numerous navigation laws restricting their commerce and
prostrating their industries; when we bear in mind that the affection, which
for a century and a half the colonists sincerely cherished for the mother
country, was never cordially reciprocated, we are not surprised that a feel-
ing of estrangement at last grew up among them. The wonder is that it
did not assert itself long before. For, be it remembered, the spirit of free-
dom which took up arms in 1775 was not a sudden development nor an
accidental discovery. The people had always had it. They brought it with
them from the Old World, where, from the days of King John, it had been
the birthright of the English race. 1

And so the Revolution, when it came, was only the assertion of this old
principle, a fundamental principle with the colonists, and one which they
had never surrendered. Under its guidance they had repeatedly engaged in
acts which they considered lawful and patriotic, but which the officers of
government condemned as refractory, rebellious, or treasonable. These
public acts, extending through many years, constitute no unimportant part
of our history, since they contributed largely to bring about the final issue,
and, by their close relation to subsequent events, belong to the Revolu-
tionary period.

The excitement in Boston during the winter of 1760-61, connected with
the application of officers of the customs for writs of assistance in searching
houses for contraband goods, must ever be regarded as one of the most
important of the early movements foreshadowing the approaching conflict.
To understand the bearing of this event, it is necessary to take a glance at
the condition of political affairs at that time.

George III. had just come to the throne. Canada had been conquered
from the French. England, flushed with victory, was yet oppressed with a
heavy debt ; and the attention of her ministers was turned to the system of
colonial administration with a view to a large increase of the revenue. The
Colonies came out of the war with many losses, to be sure, but trained and
strengthened by hardship, encouraged by success, and eager to return to
the pursuits of peace. The population was increasing; new and valuable
lands were occupied ; and business began to revive with extraordinary
rapidity.

From this period we can distinctly trace the growth of two opposing
political principles, both of which had existed in New England side by
side from the very beginning with only an occasional clashing, but which
now were destined to contend with each other in an irrepressible conflict.

1 [The development of the spirit is more ad- outcome of independence was not faced seriously
mirably traced than elsewhere in Richard Froth- till quite late. For references in this matter see
ingham's Rise of the Republic. The inevitable Winsor's Handbook, p. 102. En.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 3

These principles found expression in the two parties long existing, 1 but
which now began to draw apart more and more ; namely, the party of free-
dom, and the party of prerogative, the former insisting upon the right of
self-government under the Crown, and the latter maintaining the authority
of the Crown in the place of self-government. The question at issue was a
radical one, and upon it turned the whole history of the country.

Without stopping to discuss the weakness of England's position, the want
of statesmanship in her councils, and the strange infatuation with which she
pursued her fatal policy, we cannot overlook certain acts of trade which at
this time were enforced by the Court of Admiralty, and which were designed
to make the enterprising commercial spirit of America tributary to Great
Britain. Much of the mischief brought upon the Colonies can be traced to
the Board of Trade, a powerful organization devised originally by Charles
II. and re-established by William III. to regulate the national and colonial
commerce. Though only an advisory council, having no executive power,
its influence with the king and ministry was such that its recommendations
were usually adopted. Burke 2 speaks of this notable body as a kind of
political "job, a sort of gently-ripening hot-house, where eight members of
Parliament receive salaries of a thousand a year for a certain given time, in
order to mature, at a proper season, a claim to two thousand." The Board
was intended to make the Colonies " auxiliary to English trade. The
Englishman in America was to be employed in making the fortune of the
Englishman at home." 3

At the time of which we are now speaking, a profitable though illicit
trade had sprung up between the northern colonies and the West Indies.
Instructions were sent to the colonial governors to put a stop to this trade.
Francis Bernard, late Governor of New Jersey, and a well known friend of
British authority, having succeeded Pownall as Governor of Massachusetts,
informed the Legislature in a speech shortly after his arrival " that they
derived blessings from their subjection to Great Britain." The Council, in
a carefully worded reply, joined in acknowledging the " happiness of the
times," but instead of recognizing their " subjection," they spoke only of
their " relation " to Great Britain ; and the House, weighing also its words,
spoke of " the connection between the mother country and the provinces
on the principles of filial obedience, protection, and justice." 4 An oppor-
tunity soon occurred to show that the difference in language between the
Royal Governor and the General Court was a deep-seated difference of
principle and of purpose.

For many years the custom-house officers had availed themselves of
their position to accumulate large sums, especially from a misuse of forfeit-

1 [They were exemplified in the long strug- 2 Speech on the Economical Reform.

gle for the maintenance of the first charter 8 Palfrey, History of New England, vol. iv.

(see Mr. Deane's chapter in Vol. I.), and in the p. 21.

conflict over the royal governors' salaries sub- 4 Barry, Hist, of Mass., ii. 256; Bancroft, iv.

sequently (see Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II). 378; and Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II. of this

ED.] History.

4 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ures under the old Sugar Act of 1733. This practice, added to the official
rigor and party spirit with which they enforced the commercial laws, led to
a general and deep-seated feeling of antipathy towards them on the part
of the merchants. 1 This antipathy was greatly aggravated by a decision in
the Superior Court against the treasurer of the Province, and in support of
the attitude of the officers of customs. 2

In November, 1760, Charles Paxton, 3 who was the head of the customs
in Boston, instructed a deputy in Salem to petition the Court for "writs of

assistance," to enable them forcibly
to enter dwelling-houses and ware-
./ I / houses in the execution of

f^JL/ >r JL^^fZ/7^ their duty- Exce P tions were

at once taken to this applica-
tion, and a hearing was asked for by James Otis, an ardent young patriot,
whose connection with this case forms one of the most brilliant chapters in
our history. At the first agitation of the question he held the post of
advocate-general for the Colony, but rather than act for the Crown he had
resigned the position. " This is the opening scene of American resistance. 4
It began in New England, and made its first battle-ground in a court-room.
A lawyer of Boston, with a tongue of flame and the inspiration of a seer,
stepped forward to demonstrate that all arbitrary authority was unconstitu-
tional and against the law." 5 The trial came on in February, 1761. Thomas
Hutchinson, who had just succeeded Stephen Sewall as chief-justice, sat
with his four associates, " with voluminous wigs, broad bands, and robes of
scarlet cloth," in the crowded council chamber of the old Boston town house,
" an imposing and elegant apartment, ornamented with two splendid full-
length portraits of Charles II. and James II." The case was opened for the
Crown by Jeremiah Gridley as the king's attorney, and the validity of writs
of assistance was maintained by an appeal to statute law and to English
practice. Oxenbridge Thacher calmly replied with much legal and technical
ability, claiming that the rule in English courts was not applicable in this
case to America. James Otis 6 now appeared for the inhabitants of Boston,
and in an impassioned speech of over four hours in length he swayed both
the court and the crowded audience with marvellous power. He said :

1 A petition was sent to the General Court 4 John Adams to the Abbe Mably. Works,
at this time, charging the officers of the Crown v. 492.

with appropriating to their own use moneys be- 6 Bancroft, iv. 414.

longing to the Province. This petition was This eloquent champion of liberty was a
signed by over fifty leading merchants, whose native of Barnstable, and a graduate of liar-
names may be found in Drake's Hist, of Boston, vard in 1743. He began the practice of law at
657, note. Plymouth, but two years later removed to Boston,

2 Hutchinson, Massachusetts Ray, iii. 89-92 ; where he rose to distinction as an earnest advo-
Minot, Hist, of Mass., ii. 80-87 ! Barry, 262, 263. cate of his country's rights. His father, the elder

3 [There is a portrait of Paxton in the Otis, was a distinguished politician and Speaker
Mass. Hist. Society's gallery. One, supposed to of the House, and a candidate for the vacant
be by Copley, is in the American Antiqua- judgeship which Governor Bernard had given to
rian Society at Worcester. It is not recognized Hutchinson. See Tudor's Life of Otis ; Hutch-
by Perkins. ED.] inson, iii. 86, et seq.; Barry, pp. 258-259.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 5

" I am determined, to my dying day, to oppose, with all the powers and facul-
ties God has given me, all such instruments, of slavery on the one hand and villany
on the other, as this writ of assistance is. ... I argue in favor of British liberties
at a time when we hear the greatest monarch upon earth declaring from his throne
that he glories in the name of Briton, and that the privileges of his people are dearer
to him than the most valuable prerogatives of the Crown. I oppose that kind of power
the exercise of which, in former periods of English history, cost one King of England
his head and another his throne."

Otis then proceeded to argue that while special writs might be legal, the
present writ, being general, was illegal. Any one with this writ might be a
tyrant. Again, he said, this writ was perpetual. There was to be no return,
and whoever executed it was responsible to no one for his doings. He
might reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation
around him. The writ was also unlimited. Officers might enter all houses
at will, and command all to assist them ; and even menial servants might
enforce its provisions. He said :

" Now the freedom of one's house is an essential branch of English liberty.
A. man's house is his castle ; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince.
This writ, if declared legal, totally annihilates this privilege. Custom-house officers
might enter our houses when they please, and we could not resist them. Upon bare
suspicion they could exercise this wanton power. . . . Both reason and the Con-
stitution are against this writ. The only authority that can be found for it is a law
enacted in the zenith of arbitrary power, when, in the reign of Charles II., Star Chamber
powers were pushed to extremity by some ignorant clerk of the exchequer. But
even if the writ could be elsewhere found, it would still be illegal. All precedents are
under the control of the principles of law. . . . No acts of Parliament can establish
such a writ. Though it should be made in the very words of the petition it would
be void, for every act against the Constitution is void." *

Notwithstanding this forcible argument, and the soul-stirring eloquence
with which it was presented, it did not prevail. The older members of the

1 It is greatly to be regretted that this cele- rior Court, 1761-1772, which were published in
brated speech, which, in the judgment of many, 1865, edited by his great-grandson General Sam-
originated the party of Revolution in Massachu- uel M. Quincy, with an appendix on the writs of
setts, was never committed to writing. For such assistance by Horace Gray, the present Chief-
fragments of it as we have we are indebted to a Justice of the Commonwealth. The late Horace
few notes taken at the time, and to some inci- Binney of Philadelphia wrote of the book, at the
dental allusions found in letters of Bernard and time, to Miss E. S. Quincy : " I have now read
Hutchinson. John Adams, late in life, "after a the reports, and with great satisfaction. They
lapse of fifty-seven years," wrote out, by request, had good law in Massachusetts in the days of
as much as he could remember of the argument your grandfather, as well as good lawyers and
of the speech. See Minot, ii. 91-99; Tudor's a good reporter. Mr. Gray's appendix is one of
Life of Otis; Bancroft, iv. 416, note; Corres- the most clear, accurate, and exhaustive exposi-
pondence of John Adams and Mrs. Warren in 5 tions that I have read, and has brought me much
Mass. Plist. Coll. iv. 340; Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. better instruction than I had before. I rather
Aug. 1860; Adams's Life and Works of John think they were legal under the act of Parlia-
Adams,'\. 59,81,82; ii. 124, 523, 524. [The case ment. but I cannot believe they were constitu-
can be studied from a contemporary point of tional, either here or in England, except as any-
view in the reports made by the Josiah Quincy thing an act of Parliament does is constitu-
of that day, of cases in the Massachusetts Supe- tional " ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

court were favorably disposed; but they yielded to the solicitations of
Hutchinson, who proposed to continue the cause to the next term, in order,
meanwhile, to apply to England for definite instructions. In due time the

answer came, in support of his well known position ; and the court, with the
semblance of authority rather than law, decided that the writs of assistance
should be granted whenever the revenue officers applied for them. 2

1 [This cut follows a painting by Blackburn,
in 1755, now owned by Mrs. Henry Darwin
Rogers, by whose permission it is here copied.
Having been more than once before engraved
(see A. B. Durand's in Tudor's Life of Otis ;
another by I. R. Smith ; and a poor one in Loring's
Hundred Boston Orators'], it was admirably put
on steel by Schlecht, in 1879, f r Bryant and
Gay's United States, iii. 332. There is a gene-
alogy of the Otis family in N. E. Hist, and Geneal.

Reg. iv. and v. ; also see Freeman's History of
Cape CoJ. Otis at one time lived where the
Adams Express Company's building on Court
.Street now is. No American has received a
more splendid memorial than Crawford has be-
stowed on Otis in the statue in the chapel at
Mount Auburn. See an estimate of Otis in Mr.
Goddard's chapter in the present volume. ED.]
2 Hutchinson, iii. 96; Bancroft, iv. 418;
Barry, p. 267.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 7

But Thacher and Otis had not spoken in vain. 1 They had electrified
the people, and scattered the seeds which soon germinated in a spirit of
combined resistance against the encroachments of unlawful power. Among
those attending the court was the youthful John Adams, who had just been
admitted as a barrister, and whose soul was ready to receive the patriotic
fire from the lips of Otis. " It was to Mr. Adams like the oath of Hamilcar
administered to Hannibal. It is doubtful whether Otis himself, or any person
of his auditory, perceived or imagined the consequences which were to flow
from the principles developed in that argument." 2 Patriots were created
by it on the spot, men who awoke that day as from a sleep, and shook
themselves for action. Every one felt that a crisis was approaching in the
affairs of the Province, if indeed it had not already come.

In tracing the causes which led to the final independence of America,
it is always to be borne in mind that independence, in the political sense
of the word, was not what the colonists originally desired. They were
proud of their position as British subjects ; and not until their loyalty had
endured a long series of shocks, did it occur to any one that a separation
was either possible or desirable. This will explain the docility with which
the people of New England submitted to gross abuses and high-handed
political measures through a period of over thirty years without doing
more than to assert their rights, and to seek peaceable means of redress.
They loved the mother country, and rejoiced in her prosperity. 3 Her his-
tory, her greatness, her triumphs, were all theirs. Their literature, their
laws, their social life, their religious faith, were all English. Most of the
towns and counties in Massachusetts were named after those in England,
showing the affection the colonists had for the country from which they
came. The architecture of Boston houses was almost an exact reproduc-
tion of that which prevailed in London or Bristol. A relationship of
blood, of affection, and of interest was maintained by the closest com-
munication which that age afforded. Packets were continually plying
between the two countries ; personal and business correspondence was
frequent; and, in ordinary times, this intimacy was not affected by the
official character and conduct of those who represented British authority
on these shores. If the exercise of that authority had not exceeded its
just limits, it would certainly have been a long time before the colonists
would have demanded or accepted anything like a political separation.
They were not adventurers, seeking capital out of conflict, but peaceable,
industrious, law-abiding citizens ; asking only for equality with their fellow-
subjects, and deliverance from special and unequal legislation. They knew
their rights under the charter, and were resolved to maintain them ; and
in this they were simply true to the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race

1 [The lawyers engaged in this cause are 2 C. F. Adams's Life of John Adams, i. 81.

characterized in the chapter in Vol. IV. by Mr. 8 Greene, Historical View of the American

John T. Morse, Jr. ED.] Revolution, pp. 5, 6.

8 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

from which they sprang. Their lot was cast in troublous times, but the
trouble was not of their fomenting. They never invoked revolution, but
were driven to it at last against their will by the stern logic of events.
One of these events has already been described ; but properly speaking,
the great struggle did not begin with the excitement attending the appli-
cation for writs of assistance. That excitement did not affect the coun-
try at large, nor did it seriously disturb the loyalty of the people of
Boston. It led to much discussion and speculation, but to no organized
resistance.

The first direct occasion for the uprising in America was the attempt on
the part of the British Government to raise a revenue from the Colonies
without their consent and without a representation in Parliament. Upon
this turned the whole controversy, which lasted more than ten years and
terminated in the final appeal to arms.

After the Peace of Paris, 1 England took a position of undisputed su-
premacy among the great powers of Europe. Her political and diplomatic
influence was greatly increased by her military successes and her new terri-
torial acquisitions. But this pre-eminence was attended by an exhausted
treasury, and the first important question for her statesmen to ask was, how
to increase the revenue. The American colonies, it was known, were gain-
ing rapidly in population and wealth. There was no doubt of their ability
to furnish large sums to the Crown. The people were loyal, and would be
likely to sustain further draughts upon their resources.

So reasoned Charles Townshend, first lord of trade and secretary for the
colonies in the new ministry formed by the Earl of Bute. No sooner did
Townshend take office than he was ready with his audacious scheme to
ignore charters, precedents, laws, and, honor; to abrogate the rights and
privileges of colonial legislatures ; and to give Parliament absolute author-
ity to tax an unwilling people to whom the privilege of representation had
never been granted.

Townshend's scheme, in the form in which he presented it, did not suc-
ceed ; but shortly after, in March, 1763, Grenville, first lord of the ad-

miralty, eager to advance the inter-
British trade, brought in a
for the further improvement

// // U ^ ^ s ma J est y' s revenue of the cus-

Y toms," authorizing naval officers on

the American coast to act as custom-house officers. This bill soon passed
both Houses and became a law. 2

Bute's ministry was of short duration. Grenville soon took his place,
supported by Egremont and Halifax, and retaining Jenkinson as principal
secretary of the treasury. This triumvirate ministry was so unpopular as
to become a "general joke;" 3 and was called "the three Horatii," "the

1 Signed in February, 1763. :: \Valpole to Mann, April 30, 1763. See Lord

2 Bancroft, v., 92 ; Barry, ii. 278. Mahon (Stanhope), ///j/0ry of England, xli.

. miralt

v I Vr ) ests

ti^JT/^- Urt^W~lMj_^S bill "

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 9

Athanasian administration," a "sort of Cerberus," a "three-headed monster,
quieted by being gorged with patronage and office." 1

One of Grenville's earliest measures was a bill for enforcing the Naviga-
tion Acts, in which he met with no opposition from Parliament or the King.
His next plan was to provide for the army in America by taxing the
Colonies. Upon this matter he consulted the board of trade, to ascertain
" in what mode least burdensome and most palatable to the Colonies they
can contribute toward the support of the additional expense which must
attend their civil and military establishment." 2 The head of the board of
trade was now the young Earl of Shelburne, an Irish peer, who was begin-
ning to have great influence in British councils. On many questions he was
a follower of Pitt, and was naturally opposed to extending the authority of
Parliament. His reply gave no encouragement to the ministry; yet they
continued pursuing their favorite project, and did all in their power to
create a public sentiment in its favor. Before any action was taken Egre-
mont died, and Shelburne was succeeded by the Earl of Hillsborough.
Grenville now renewed his exertions for the passage of a revenue bill ; and
at a meeting of the lords of the treasury Grenville, North, and Hunter
in Downing Street, on the morning of September 22, a minute was
adopted directing their secretary, Jenkinson, " to write to the commis-
sioners of the stamp duties to prepare a draught of a bill to be presented
to Parliament for extending the stamp duties to the Colonies." 3 In obedi-
ence to this order the famous Stamp Act was prepared, and subsequently
presented to Parliament. Probably its origin is not due to any one man.
Bute thought of it, Jenkinson elaborated it, North supported it, Grenville
demanded it, and England accepted it. It has generally been called, and with
good reason, Grenville's pleasure. Whatever of credit or of odium attaches
to it must be given to him. He did not expect the favor of the Colonies,
but he was anxious to secure support at home; and as there was some
doubt of the bill's passing without an exciting debate, he did not press the
matter at once. Hoping also, possibly, to conciliate the Colonies, he yielded
to the urgent solicitations of some of their representatives 4 who maintained
that the proposed stamp duty was " an internal tax," and therefore that it
would be better to " wait till some sort of consent to it shall be given
by the several assemblies, to prevent a tax of that nature from being levied
without the consent of the Colonies." 5 And so, " out of tenderness to the
Colonies," the bill was not brought in for a year.

Meanwhile the Administration succeeded in carrying a measure, April
5, 1764, imposing duties on various enumerated foreign commodities im-
ported into America, and upon colonial products exported to any other

1 Wilkes to Earl Temple, in Grenville Papers, sylvania; and Richard Jackson, his own private
ii. 81. secretary.

2 Bancroft, v. 107. 5 Grenville Correspondence, ii. 393; Massa-
8 Treasury Minutes, Sept. 22, 1763; Jenkin- chusetts Gazette, May 10, 1764; Bancroft, v. 183;

son's Letter, Sept. 23, 1763; Bancroft, v. 151. Barry, p. 284; Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl

* Thomas Penn and William Allen, of Penn- of Shelburne, i. 318, 319.
VOL. III. 2.

10 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

place than Great Britain. A heavy duty was also laid upon molasses and
sugar. To enforce the provisions of this bill, enlarged power was given to
the vice-admiralty courts, and penalties under the act were made recover-
able in these courts. 1

The news of the passage of the Sugar Act stirred up an intense com-
motion in all the maritime towns of America; the merchants everywhere
held meetings, adopted memorials to the assemblies, and sent protests to
England. In Boston, James Otis prepared a Statement of the Rights of the
Colonies, and Oxenbridge Thacher expressed similar views in a pamphlet
entitled Sentiments of a British- American?' A committee Otis, Gushing,
Thacher, Gray, and Sheafe was also appointed to correspond with the
other Colonies ; and circulars were sent out stating the dangers that menaced
" their most essential rights," and desiring the " united assistance " of all
to secure, if possible, a repeal of the obnoxious acts, and to " prevent a
stamp act, or any other impositions and taxes, upon this and the other
American provinces." 3

The Legislature, which had been prorogued month after month by Gov-
ernor Bernard, to impede its action, finally met in October. Letters were
received from the agents in England, and an address to the King was pre-
pared ; but as it failed of acceptance with the Council, it gave place to a
milder address to the House of Commons, stating the objections which had
been urged against the Sugar Act, and praying for a further delay of the
Stamp Act. 4

With the year 1765 the long dreaded measure, which had come to be
regarded as the very symbol of usurpation, came into effect. At the open-
ing of Parliament in January, Grenville presented the American question as
one of obedience to the authority of the kingdom ; and shortly after, with
the support of Townshend, Jenyns, 5 and others, he proposed a series of
resolutions, fifty-five in number, embracing the details of the Stamp Act,
the essential feature being the requirement that all /Jgal and business
documents in the colonies should be written on printed or stamped paper,
to be had only of the tax collectors. All offences under this act were
to be tried in the admiralty courts, and the taxes were to be collected
arbitrarily, without any trial by jury.

1 Minot, ii. 155; Holmes, Annals, ii. 125,^ against. To what purpose will opposition to
seq.; Barry, ii. 286. any resolutions of the ministry be, if they are

2 Both published in Boston, June, 1764. The passed with such rapidity as to render it impos-
General Court sent a letter of instructions to Mr. sible for us to be acquainted with them before
Mauduit, the agent of Massachusetts in London, they have received the sanction of an act of
expressing the state of feeling. " If all the Col- Parliament ? A people may be free and toler-
onies," says the letter, "are to be taxed at pleas- ably happy without a particular branch of trade ;
ure, without any representation in Parliament, but without the privilege of assessing their own
what will there be to distinguish them, in point taxes, they can be neither." Minot, ii. 168-175;
of liberty, from the subjects of the most abso- Bradford, i. 21, 22.

lute prince? Every charter-privilege may be 8 Hutchinson, iii. no; Minot, ii. 175.

taken from us by an appendix to a money bill, 4 Massachusetts Records ; Journal House of

which, it seems, by the rules on the other side of Representatives, 1764, p. 102.
the water, must not at any rate be petitioned 5 Bancroft, v. 231-234.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. II

Grenville advocated his bill with many plausible arguments and explana-
tions. He had evidently anticipated all the difficulties it would encounter
in England, but he failed utterly to comprehend the situation it would
create in America. As was expected, it passed in a full house, February
27, without serious opposition, obtaining a majority of five to one. Among
those who spoke and voted against it the names of Jackson, Beckford,
Conway, and Barr6 deserve especial mention, as they afterward received
the thanks of the Province for their services.

Colonel Barre l will always be gratefully remembered by' the American
people in connection with this event. Townshend having said that the
Colonies were planted by the care, nourished by the indulgence, and pro-
tected by the arms of England, Barre rose and said :

" They planted by your care ! No ! your oppressions planted them in America. . . .
They nourished up by your indulgence ! They grew by your neglect of them. . . . They
protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence. . . . And
believe me, remember I this day told you so, the same spirit of freedom which
actuated that people at first will accompany them still." ' 2

"The sun of liberty is set," wrote Dr. Franklin to Mr. Thompson 3 the
very night that the act was passed ; " the-^Americans must light the lamps
of industry and economy."

The news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached Boston in April, and
produced immediate alarm and indignation throughout the province. 4
Massachusetts and Virginia " the head and the heart of the Revolution"
were the first to denounce the act, and they were soon followed by New
York and Pennsylvania and all the other colonies. The determination was
everywhere expressed that the act should never be executed. Sober men
resisted it, because they saw that it would block the wheels of trade, prevent
exchanges of property, interfere with all industry, and undermine their lib-
erties, which they were not prepared thus to surrender. The case would
have been entirely different if the colonists had levied these stamp duties

1 Isaac Barre was born, 1726, of a Huguenot Barre and his Times," in Macmillaii's Magazine,
family living in Ireland; graduated at Trinity December, 1876. The town of Barre, in Massa-
College, Dublin ; entered the army and served chusetts, which was first named for Hutchinson,
in the French war ; was a warm friend of Wolfe, was afterward named for Barre.

2 [It was in his speech of Feb. 6, 1765,
that Barre had called the opposing party
in the colonies the " Sons of Liberty," and
the name brought over was soon adopted
by them. Eu.]

and was wounded at Quebec. Through the in- 8 Afterward secretary of the Continental

fluence of Lord Shelburne he entered Parlia- Congress.

ment in 1761, after the fall of Pitt's ministry. 4 [The act was at once issued in a pamphlet

His speeches were spirited, and often aggres- by Edes and Gill, then keeping their press on
sive and harsh. He denounced tyranny and the site of the present Adams Express Corn-
corruption, and usually appealed to the moral pany's office, in Court Street. See Snow's
sympathies of men. He had something of the Boston, p. 258. For the feelings engendered, see
vehement, fiery eloquence of Pitt, and was a Warren's letter, in Frothingham's Life of IVar-
debater to be feared. See article on " Colonel ren ; and John Adams's Works, iii. 465. ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

upon themselves, through their own assemblies, as the American people
have since freely done to meet the cost of war ; or if they had been allowed

a voice in the government which exercised this
authority.

It was an important principle which they felt
to be at stake, a principle which had hitherto
been maintained in their relations with the mother
country, and which they could not now see vio-
lated without a distinct and determined resist-
ance.

At this juncture the Legislature of Massachu-
setts, at the suggestion of Otis, proposed the
calling of an American Congress, consisting of
A STAMP. 1 committees from each of the thirteen colonies, to

meet at New York in October, "to consult to-
gether," and consider the matter of a "united representation to implore
relief."

While the leaders of the people
were thus taking counsel of one an-
other in solemn deliberations as to
the course to be pursued, the popu-
lar feeling against the act, and the
officers appointed to execute it, ran
high in Boston. An occasion soon
occurred to show how the people
felt upon this subject. The birth-
day of the Prince of Wales, in Au-
gust, was kept as a holiday. Crowds
assembled in the streets, shouting
"Pitt 2 and liberty!" Andrew Oli-
ver, brother-in-law of Hutchinson,
having been appointed stamp distrib-
uter, it was proposed that he be
hung in effigy ; and two days later,
August 14, the public saw suspended
from the old elm known as Liberty Tree 3 a stuffed figure of the obnoxious
official, together -with a grotesque caricature of Bute. 4 This pageant had

S T A M P - O F F I C E,

Lincoln s-Inn, 1765.

TABLE

Ot the. Prices of Parchment and Paper for the Service
of Amtrica.

II by .6, 11 S.i-perwe|

16 bj 10. it Bigh'-pciK
J* by ? \. al Ten-penee

j\i by a6. at Tturtero-prncc

FooUCip* Ninc.pener
D -itb P .,r,,rd Noaee. ) u
for Indctturo ] ,.

Fu!. Port a< One Shilling

Deoif To Sh.lhnp

Medium ii Three bhilbop

Royal ,t Four Shill.nj,

Super JtojaJ al ia 5hiUp

Paper for Printing

Bool FoobCip;6i.-6<M

I'k Pol* Pott u 10 . Uxh
Sh-.et Dmj , 3 ,. J

1 [There are a number of these stamps in the
cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society;
but our engraving is cut from one lent by Dr.
Samuel A. Green. The impression is on a blue
soft paper, secured by a transverse bit of soft
metal, with another square piece of paper bearing
the royal monogram covering the metal on the
reverse. The accompanying reduced facsimile.
of a schedule of prices for stamps is from a
copy of the Broadside, kindly loaned by Dr.
Green. Eo.l

- A change had just taken place in the minis-
try, and Pitt had returned to office.

8 [See the engraving in chapter iv. of the
present volume, with note. This fourteenth of
August became a memorable anniversary for the
Sons of Liberty, who eight years later, 1773,
celebrated it by a "festivity " on Roxbury Com-
mon. Drake, Town of Roxbury, p 266. ED.]

4 A large boot, designed to represent Lord
Bute, with a head and horns upon it. Bute had
been frequently burned in effigy in England in

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 13

been prepared by a party of Boston mechanics, 1 called Sons of Liberty,
who, prompted by the intense feeling of the hour, devised this method of
expressing it. Great excitement followed, and thousands assembled to view
the spectacle. When the news reached Hutchinson he ordered the sheriff
to remove the effigies ; but nothing was done until evening, when they were
taken down by those with whom the proceedings originated, and carried in
procession, escorted by a great concourse of people, through the street,
into the Old State House, and under the council chamber where Bernard,

Hutchinson, and their advisers were assembled. " Liberty, Property, and
no Stamps ! " was the shout which greeted the ears of those dignitaries.
After repeated huzzas, the populace moved on to Kilby Street, where they
destroyed a frame which the stamp distributer was said to be building for an
office. Taking a portion of it, they proceeded to Fort Hill where Oliver
lived, and burned the effigies in a bonfire before his house. Boston had

the guise of a jack-boot, a pun upon his name
as John, Earl of Bute. Bonfires of the jack-

kboot were repeated dur-
ing several years both in
rv/' England and America.
^V=^ Mahon (Stanhope), His-

*- tory of England, v. 25.

[One of the most considerate of the English
writers is Grahame, History of the United States,
iv. 183. See Winsor's Handbook, p. 4, for other
references. ED.]

1 Benjamin Edes, printer; Thomas Crafts,

painter ; John Smith and Stephen Cleverly, braz-
iers ; John Avery, Jr., Thomas Chase, Henry
Bass, and Henry Welles.

2 [Subscription to a paper sent by the Order
in Boston to the Sons of Liberty in New Hamp-
shire, preserved in the Belknap Papers, iii., in the
cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety. A silver punch-bowl, said to have been
used by the Sons of Liberty, bought by William
Mackay after the Revolution, and now owned by
R. C. Mackay, was lately exhibited in the Old
South Loan Collection. ED.]

14 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

rarely witnessed such a scene. No one knew what would come of it.
Bernard and Hutchinson took refuge in the Castle. The next day a proc-
lamation was issued by the Governor, offering one hundred pounds reward
to be paid upon the conviction of any person concerned in this transac-
tion ; l but no one cared to act as informant against such a strong current of
popular feeling. A few days later, August 26, a mixed crowd collected
near the Old State House, and proceeded to the house of the registrar of
the admiralty, opposite the court house, and burned his public and private
papers. They next plundered the house of the comptroller of customs, in
Hanover Street, and then hurried to the mansion 2 of Lieut. -Governor
Hutchinson, who had incurred the increasing dislike of the people in con-
sequence of his subserviency to the Government, his greed of office,
and his supposed influence in favor of the Stamp Act. Hutchinson and
his family escaped ; but the mob sacked his house and destroyed a large
quantity of plate, pictures, clothing, books, and a valuable collection of
manuscripts relating to the history of the colony. 3 This was a disgraceful
proceeding, and would never have taken place but for the frenzy occasioned
by the free use of liquor among the " roughs " who led on the mob. 4 A
large public meeting was held the next morning in Faneuil Hall, and resolu-
tions were passed strongly deprecating these lawless proceedings, and call-
ing upon the selectmen to suppress such disorders in the future, and pledging
the support of the inhabitants to preserve the peace. 6 That the leading
Patriots had no sympathy whatever with this riotous outbreak is seen also in
a letter written by Samuel Adams to Richard Jackson, the colonial agent in
London, in which he denounced these proceedings as " high-handed out-
rages," of which the inhabitants, " within a few hours after the perpetration
of the act, publicly declared their detestation. All was done the day follow-
ing that could be expected from an orderly town, by whose influence a spirit

1 Drake, History of Boston, p. 696. 1766, relative to the riot of the year before. He

8 In Garden-court Street ; taken down about says he came into Boston about eight o'clock in

1830. See Introduction to Vol. II. p. xi. the evening and overtook a much greater num-

* [Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay, iii. 124; ber of men than was usual, not in one large

also see Introduction to Vol. I. of this History, body but in little companies of four or five per-

p. xix. and Vol. II. p. 526; and Drake's Land- sons; and that the report of the disturbance

marks, p. 167. El).] being actually begun had already, at that time,

4 [See contemporary accounts in Josiah reached Roxbury.

Quincy's Diary, Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., April, These papers also contain, as illustrating this

1858; and Joshua Henshaw's letter, in N. E. period: a report on the condition of the North

Hist, and Geneal. Reg., July, 1878, p. 268. Battery in 1765, and estimates for rebuilding it

Among the papers in the Charity Building is in 1/68; a report to the Governor on the popu-

a copy of a deposition tending to show that the lation of Boston in 1765; and depositions as to

authorities had warning of the riot. Ebenezer trouble with British officers in 1768. These

Simpson testified to the selectmen that, Aug. papers should be calendared. ED.]

26,1765, being at Spectacle Island, he met a 6 [Drake's Boston, p. 701. There are on file in

man-of-war's boat, and one of the men told him the city clerk's office various warning letters ad-

that there was to be a mob in Boston that night, dressed to Benjamin Cudworth, deputy-sheriff,

with intent to pull down the Lieut.-Governor's in a disguised hand ; and also others to Stephen

house, and that their ship's crew was sent for. Greenleaf, sheriff, regarding Cudworth. They

Among these papers is also a copy of a letter were read to the town, and pronounced " abu-

from Warren to the selectmen, dated July 3, sive." ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 15

was raised to oppose and suppress it. It is possible these matters may be
represented to our disadvantage, and therefore we desire you will take all
possible opportunities to set them in a proper light." 1

Throughout the colonies the same spirit of determined opposition to the
Stamp Act was everywhere seen. Many of the officers appointed to dis-
tribute the stamps were compelled by the " unconquerable rage of the
people " to resign, Oliver among the rest. Towns and legislatures hastened
to make their declaration

of rights, following One

another " like a chime of
bells," and planting them-

selves firmly upon the Brit- -7" "?

ish Constitution and their

, ... ,. T .,

chartered liberties. In the

rrta/jsitl trfffa&t/, /7M

Massachusetts Assembly a

series of fourteen resolves,
prepared by Samuel <n

Adams, asserting the in-
herent and inalienable '

.. . S<r

rights of the people, were <

particularly considered ^ @

and passed in a full house/

These resolves met w i t h *%*? *f": ?' ' "/ '7* f

. r fr 1 ** ' /* ------- ^*.-

great favor, and were ex- /

tensively published and o

OLIVER S OATH. 3

quoted throughout the
country. On October 7 the first American Congress ever held, composed
of delegates from the different colonies, met in New York to take into con-
sideration their rights, privileges, and grievances. 4 After mature delibera-
tion in which members from all parts of the country participated, resolutions
were passed embodying the warmest sentiments of loyalty to the King and
respect for " that august body, the Parliament," and setting forth, in plain
but temperate language, the reasonable demands of America, such as the
right to trial by jury, in opposition to the recent extension of the admiralty
jurisdiction ; and the right to freedom from taxation except through the
colonial assemblies. The Congress also sent an address to the King, a
memorial to the House of Lords, and a petition to the House of Commons.
Before adjourning, this Congress consummated a virtual union by which
the colonies became, as the delegates prophetically expressed it, " a bundle
of sticks which could neither be bent nor broken." 6

1 Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, \. 63. 4 [James Otis here showed his power of

2 Ibid., i. 74-77. leadership. See Tudor's Otis; Bancroft, v. ;
8 [Mr. R. H. Dana, Jr., brought this oath to Flanders's Rutledge ; Ramsey's South Carolina.

the attention of the Massachusetts Historical ED.|

Society, in June, 1872, their Proceedings of that 6 Bancroft, v. 346. [This congress was a re-

date showing a fac-simile of it ; the present is sponse to the call of Massachusetts. Its pro-

somewhat reduced. ED.] ceedings are in Almon's Tracts. ED.]

l6 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

In the mean time there had been further changes in the ministry, result-
ing in the elevation of the Rockingham Whigs to power. This announce-
ment was received with great satisfaction, as it was understood that the
new cabinet was more friendly to American claims. That this opinion
had some foundation appears in the orders sent to the royal governors and
to General Gage, commander of the forces at New York, only one week
before the Stamp Act was to take effect, recommending " the utmost pru-
dence and lenity," and advising a resort to " persuasive methods." 1

When the first of November came, the people were prepared to prevent
the execution of the odious act by refusing as one man to buy or use the
stamps. In Boston they tolled the bells of the churches and fired min-
ute-guns. Vessels in the harbor hung their flags at half-mast. " Liberty,
Property, and no Stamps ! " was the watchword passing everywhere from
mouth to mouth. Effigies of Grenville and Huske 2 were suspended from
Liberty Tree early in the morning, and in the afternoon were taken down
and carried to the court house and to the North End, and then back to
the gallows on the Neck, where they were hung for a short time, and
afterward were cut down and torn to pieces. The crowd then quietly dis-
persed, and the night was entirely free from disturbance. 3

As the Stamp Act had become a law, only stamped paper was legal ;
and as the people were firm in their determination not to use it, they were
obliged to suspend business. The provincial courts were closed ; mar-
riages ceased ; vessels were unmoored ; and all commercial operations were
paralyzed. Merchants in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston agreed not
to import from England certain enumerated articles ; and in general the
people ceased using foreign luxuries, and turned their attention to domestic
products. Frugality was the self-imposed order of the day, and it was not
without its results.

In December a town-meeting was held in Boston, and a committee ap-
pointed to request of the Governor and Council that the courts might be
opened. 4 At the opening of the Legislature in January, the House, in re-
plying to the message of the Governor, demanded relief from the existing
grievances. "The custom-houses are now open," they said, "and the
people are permitted to transact their usual business. The courts of justice
also must be opened, opened immediately; and the law, the great rule of
right, duly executed in every county in this province. This stopping of the
course of justice is a grievance which this Court must inquire into. Justice
must be fully administered without delay." 5 The Council laid this address
upon the table ; but, in an informal way, gave assurances that the courts

1 Massachusetts Gazette, Feb. 6, 1766; Debates Adams, Thomas dishing, John Hancock, Ben-
in Parliament, iv. 302-306. jamin Kent, Samuel Sewall, John Rowe, Joshua

2 John Huske, a native of Portsmouth, N. H., Henshaw, and Arnold Welles; and they were
who had removed to England and obtained a authorized to employ Gridley, Otis, and John
seat in the House of Commons, and taken a Adams as counsel. Diary of John Adams in
prominent part in favor of the Stamp Act. Works, ii. 157, ft seq. ; Barry, p. 307.

8 Drake, Boston, pp. 707, 708. 5 Massachusetts Gazette, Jan. 23, 1/66; Hutch-

4 This committee was composed of Samuel inson, iii. 143.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 17

would be opened at the next term, and business allowed to be transacted
as usual.

This bold attitude of the American people caused no little annoyance and
anxiety to the Administration. The case was, moreover, complicated by the
change of sentiment in England regarding the justice of the policy initiated
by Grenville. The English people were not prepared to repudiate their
own love of liberty, nor to force upon any of their fellow-subjects the meas-
ures of absolutism against which their own glorious history had been a
standing protest. Especially were the commercial and manufacturing
towns in England dissatisfied with this policy ; for it had reacted most un-
favorably upon them, interrupting trade, injuring credit, and creating much
suffering and discontent. We are not surprised, therefore, to find that
both sympathy and interest prompted the nation to urge the repeal of an
act which was as hostile to their own welfare as to that of America.

Upon the reassembling of Parliament in January, 1766, the King, in his
speech, stated that "matters of importance had happened in America, and
orders had been issued for the support of lawful authority." 1 The Lords
responded, as usual, in terms of deference and co-operation ; but in the
House of Commons, which was unusually full, a debate ensued such as
perhaps had never been heard before within its walls. The venerable Pitt,
after an absence of more than a year, had arrived in town that morning.
Though in a very feeble condition, and suffering from the gout, he took his
seat while the debate was in progress, and soon after rose and made his ever
memorable speech, a masterpiece of fiery eloquence in which he de-
nounced the Stamp Act, and demanded its immediate repeal. He said :

" It is no\v an act that has passed. I would speak with decency of every act
of this House, but I must beg indulgence to speak of it with freedom. The subject
of this debate is of greater importance than any that has ever engaged the atten-
tion of this House, that subject only excepted when, nearly a century ago, it was a
question whether you yourselves were to be bond or free. . . . On a question that
may mortally wound the freedom of three millions of virtuous and brave subjects
beyond the Atlantic Ocean, I cannot be silent."

He then proceeded to argue that as the colonies had never been really or
virtually represented in Parliament, they could not be held " legally or con-
stitutionally or reasonably subject to obedience to any money bill " of the
kingdom. In replying to Grenville he said, a little later on : " The gentle-
man tells us America is obstinate ; America is almost in open rebellion ! I
rejoice that America has resisted." Upon this the whole House started as if
touched by an electric shock. Near the conclusion of his speech he
said :

" In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this country can crush Amer-
ica to atoms. . . . But in such a cause your success would be hazardous. America,
if she fell, would fall like the strong man ; she would embrace the pillars of the State,

1 Massachusetts Gazette, March 27, 1766.
VOL. Ill 3.

A. C. C. H. LIBRARY
SOUTH BOSTON, MASS.

l8 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

and pull down the Constitution along with her. . . . Upon the whole I will beg leave
to tell the House what is really my opinion. It is that the Stamp Act be repealed,
absolutely, totally, and immediately ; that the reason for the repeal be assigned, be-
cause it was founded on an erroneous principle. . . ." 1

Thus spoke the Great Commoner ; with what effect upon the minds of
the House appeared in the current of sympathy which at once turned toward
him, and which, a little later on, expressed itself in the famous repeal.
Toward the last of the month the House resolved itself into a committee
of the whole to consider petitions for the repeal, which had been presented
by the merchants of London, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol, Liverpool,
Manchester, and other towns. The sittings of this committee were con-
tinued more than two weeks. Among others, Benjamin Franklin, then a
colonial agent in London, was summoned to the bar of the House; and his
minute examination concerning the feelings and wishes of the Colonies con-
tributed more to his personal fame than any previous occurrence in his life ;
and it is doubtful whether he ever wrote or said anything abler than his ad-
mirable replies on this occasion. In all that he said he was prompt and
pertinent, accurate and concise, wise and true. The House of Commons
listened to him for ten days, and must have been as much astonished at his
answers as the whole American people were delighted with them. 2

The committee who had listened to this remarkable examination soon
" reported that it was their opinion that the House be moved that leave be
given to bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act."

The crisis came on the night of February 21, when every seat was occu-
pied, and the galleries, lobbies, and stairs were crowded with eager specta-
tors. The debate was opened by Conway, one of the ministry, and a warm
friend of the Colonies. He was followed by Jenkinson, Burke, Grenville,

1 Bancroft, v. 382-396; Debates in Parliament, " Q. And what is their temper now ?
iv. 285-298. "A. Oh, very much altered.

2 As a specimen of Franklin's shrewdness, " Q. Did you ever hear the authority of
take a few of his answers : Parliament to make laws for America questioned

" Question. Do you think it right that Amer- till lately ?

ica should be protected by this country and pay "A. The authority of Parliament was al-

no part of the expense ? lowed to be valid in all laws except such as

" Answer. That is not the case. The Col- should lay internal taxes. It was never disputed

onies raised, clothed, and paid during the last in laying duties to regulate commerce.
war near twenty-five thousand men, and spent " Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed,

many millions. and the Crown should make a requisition to the

" Q. Were you not reimbursed by Parlia- Colonies for a sum ot money, would they grant

ment ? it ?

"A. . . . Only a very small part of what " A. I believe they would.

we spent. " Q. What used to be the pride of the

" Q. Do you think the people of America Americans ?

would submit to pay the stamp duty if it was "A. To indulge in the fashions and manu-

moderated ? factures of Great Britain.

" A. No, never, unless compelled by force " Q. What is now their pride ?

of arms. " A, To wear their old clothes over again

" Q. What was the temper of America to- till they can make new ones." Bigelow, Life of

ward Great Britain before the year 1763? Franklin, 5.467-510; Sparks, Franklin, pp. 298-

" A. The best in the world. . . . 300.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 19

and Pitt. About half-past one in the morning the division took place, and
Conway's bill of repeal was carried triumphantly by a vote of two hundred
and seventy-five against one hundred and sixty-seven. Pitt and Conway
were tumultuously applauded as they left the House, while Grenville l was
greeted with hisses. The final debate on the repeal was still more decisive.
In the Lords the bill was carried by a majority of thirty-four; and on the
day following, March 17, it received the reluctant sanction of the King, who
spoke of it as " a fatal compliance." London was delighted with the result;
the church bells were rung merrily ; ships displayed their colors ; the
streets were illuminated ; and a public dinner was given by the friends of
America. In Boston the news was received with every conceivable demon-
stration of joy. 2 Liberty Tree was decked with lanterns ; bells and guns,
flags and music, illuminations and fireworks, proclaimed in unmistakable
language the gratitude and loyalty of the people. 3 New York voted statues
to the King and to Pitt. Virginia voted a statue to the King, and South
Carolina one to Pitt. Maryland passed a similar vote, and ordered a por-
trait of Lord Camden. Boston had previously voted letters of thanks to
Barre and Conway, and requested their portraits for Faneuil Hall. 4

In the outburst of joy at the repeal, the public mind had not considered the
full meaning of the accompanying declaratory act 5 claiming for Parliament
absolute power to bind America " in all cases whatsoever." This act was a
fatal mistake, and a wanton blow at the well known American principle of
local self-government ; for it soon became evident that the object of Parlia-
ment was, after all, political subjugation. This was precisely the point upon
which the colonists had taken their stand. It was not the mere pecuniary
loss involved in the enforcement of the stamp tax that they were consider-
ing, they were abundantly able to pay that, but it was the underlying
question of right ; and if that were not conceded, it would soon be found

1 Walpole, ii. 299, 300. Stamp Act-and the revolutionary proceedings in

2 [Speaker Gushing had enclosed, June Boston, is printed in Mass. f/ist. Coll. iv. 367.
22, 1766, a letter of thanks to the king, and the There is in the collection of Charles P. Green-
fac-simile on the next page is from Otis's letter ough, Esq., of Boston (whose treasures have
to Gushing on this vote of thanks. The original been very generously put at my disposal, and
is in the Lee papers in the University of Vir- from which I have often drawn in this and the
ginia Library. The principal demonstrations final volume), a letter from London merchants to
took place May 19, 1766. An obelisk was erect- those of Boston, offering congratulations and
ed on the Common and decked with lanterns ; encouragement on account of the repeal of the
Hancock illuminated his house and discharged Stamp Act. A similar letter from business cor-
fireworks in front of it from a stage ; and these respondents was contributed to the Mass. Hist.
were responded to by similar demonstrations by Soc. Proc., March, 1876, p. 260, by Mr. T. C.
the Sons of Liberty at the workhouse. Views Amory. ED.]

of the obelisk were engraved by Revere, and 4 This was done at a town-meeting held Sept.
one of them is given much reduced in Drake's 18, 1765. The portraits arrived in due time, and
Landmarks, p. 359. The earliest rumor of a re- were hung in Faneuil Hall ; but what became of
peal had appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette, them afterward is not known. They are sup-
April 3, 1766, having come from Philadelphia posed to have been removed when the British
two days before. See Thornton's Pulpit of the army had control of the town. Drake, pp. 703,
Revolution, p. 120, where is also Chauncy's dis- 704. [See supplementary notes to the next
course on the repeal. ED.] chapter in this volume. ED.]

3 [A paper by General Gage concerning the 6 6 George III. c. xii.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

that the repeal was only a nominal and a temporary relief. Leading Pa-
triots saw in this much to excite alarm ; but for the time being, and for the

sake of harmony,
they were willing to
remain silent. 1

No well defined
sentiment of union
had as yet taken
possession of the
public mind. Not
until it became evi-
dent that there was
no other way of
maintaining their
freedom, did any of
the Colonies think
of measures tend-
ing to united action.
One of the first to
anticipate this ne-
cessity was Jona-
than Mayhew, the
patriotic pastor of
the West Church in
Irsl \ Boston, who, writ-

' ing to his friend Otis

one Lord's Day
morning in June,
1 766, said :

" You have heard
of the communion of
churches ; while I was
thinking of this in my
bed, the great use and
importance of a com-
munion of colonies
appeared to me in a
strong light. Would
it not be decorous for
our Assembly to send
circulars to all the rest,
expressing a desire to
cement union among
ourselves? A good

1 Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, \. 116-118.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 21

foundation for this has been laid by the Congress at New York ; never losing sight of
it may be the means of perpetuating our liberties." l

The possibility of such a union seems to have occurred to at least one
English statesman at this time ; for in the same month in which the above
words were penned we find Charles Townshend boldly advocating in the
House of Commons a radical measure aimed not only to secure a revenue,
but also to prevent any such accessions of strength as the Colonies might
gain by combined action. No man in the ministry was better informed
than Townshend upon American affairs. He knew the resources of the
people ; he anticipated their rapid development ; and the scheme which he
now promulgated was expressly devised to make the whole colonial power
tributary to the Crown. Therefore he favored the abolition of all their
charters ; and the substitution of a government in which the local assem-
blies should be restrained, a general congress forbidden, and the royal gov-
ernors, judges, and attorneys become independent of the people. 2

Townshend soon had further opportunities for prosecuting his scheme ;
for in the reconstruction of the ministry, which took place in the month of
July, he was selected as chancellor of the exchequer by the Duke of
Grafton, in the strangely incongruous ad-
ministration of Pitt, now created Earl of
Chatham. Townshend was the leading spirit
in the new government, and availed him-
self of every opportunity to urge the ad- -/ ,,

vantages of an American civil list. He ^/ ^

had been, with Grenvilie, a firm advocate of the Stamp Act. He ridiculed
the distinction between internal and external taxes. He insisted that
America should share the heavy financial burden of England. 3 In the ab-
sence of Chatham, who was most of the time suffering from feeble health,
he dictated to the ministry its colonial policy. " I would govern the
Americans," said he, " as subjects of Great Britain ; I would restrain their
trade and their manufactures as subordinate to the mother country.
These, our children, must not make themselves our allies in time of war
and our rivals in peace." With such purposes the resolute and reckless
chancellor pushed his way into favor with Parliament, ignoring the scruples
of his associates and defying the opposition of his enemies, until he suc-
ceeded in carrying the famous Townshend revenue bill through both
Houses, and obtained the royal assent. These acts levied a duty on glass,
paper, painters' colors, and tea; established a board of customs at Boston
for collecting the whole American revenue ; and legalized writs of assistance.
The revenue was to be at the disposition of the King, and was to be chiefly
employed in the support of officers of the Crown, to secure their indepen-
dence of the local legislatures. " The die is thrown ! " cried the Patriots of

1 Bradford, Life of Mayhew, 428, 429. [See 2 Bancroft, vi. 9, 10.

also Mr. Goddard's chapter in the present vol- 8 Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl of Slul-

ume. ED.] burne, iii. 37 et seq.

22 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Boston when they received the news of the passage of Townshend's bill ;
"the Rubicon is passed. . . . We will form an immediate and universal
combination to eat nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing, imported from
Great Britain. . . . Our strength consists in union ; let us above all be of
one heart and one mind ; let us call on our sister Colonies to join with us
in asserting our rights." J Governor Bernard having refused a petition to
summon the Legislature, a town-meeting was called Oct. 28, 1767; and the
inhabitants voted neither to import nor to use certain articles of British
production. A committee was appointed to obtain subscribers to such an
agreement, and the resolutions were extensively circulated throughout the
country. The newspapers took up the subject with great warmth, and
aided in a very important degree the formation of public opinion at this
critical period. Able writers contributed timely letters, among which those
written by a " Farmer of Pennsylvania" 2 attained a very wide celebrity for
their calm and vigorous treatment of the great constitutional questions of
the day. The communications sent by the Massachusetts Legislature in
January, 1768, to members of the Cabinet and to the provincial agent in
London, contain the full argument respecting the claims of the colonies.
These papers, as well as the petition to the king which accompanied them,
and the circular-letter to the sister colonies which was issued shortly after,
were all drafted by Samuel Adams, whose masterly grasp of the great
political issues of the time attracted universal attention and gained a host
of friends to the cause of liberty. The circular-letter just alluded to met
with a very gratifying response from the other assemblies, and was a most
efficient instrument in securing unity of purpose among the leaders of the
people in all parts of the country. The publication of these important
documents produced such an effect that the board of commissioners of the
revenue immediately prepared a memorial to be sent to England, express-
ing apprehensions for their personal safety ; complaining of the unwarrant-
able license of the American press, 3 of the non-importation league, and of
New England town-meetings ; and asking for assistance in the execution of
the revenue laws ; adding, that there was not a ship of war in the province,
nor a company of soldiers nearer than New York.

This memorial, together with the reports of Bernard and Hutchinson,
soon drew from Hillsborough, secretary for the colonies, an order sent to
all the governors, bidding them use their influence with the assemblies to

1 Barry, ii. 339. ' on > tne approbation of her inhabitants inestimable. . . .

2 John Dickinson, afterward a member of the Love of my country engaged me in that attempt to vindi-
*./?.. , ^ r-r- i r cate ller rights and assert her interests, which vour gener-
first Continental Congress. [To a letter of grati- osity has thoiig|u proper ^ high]y toapplaud / Nt . ver

tude from Boston Dickinson returned a reply, until my heart becomes insensible of a!l worldly thin.!;-, will
which is preserved among the Charity Building 't become insensible of the unspeakable obligations which,
papers, and is addressed " To the very respect- as an African. I owe to the inhabitants of the Province of

i. i ... r .L r T> u j Massachusetts Bay, for the vigilance with which thev have

able inhabitants of the town of Boston ; and

watched over, and the magnanimity with which they have

expresses the " reverential gratitude " for the maintained, the liberties of the British colonies on this

late letter received by him: continent. A FARMER.

PENNSYLVANIA, April n, 1768.

The rank of the Town of Boston, the wisdom of her 8 I See Mr - Goddard's chapter in this vol-

counsels, and the spirit of her conduct render, in my opin- time. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 23

take no notice of the " seditious " circular-letter, which was described as
" of a most dangerous and factious tendency," calculated to inflame the
minds of the people, to promote an illegal combination, and to excite
open opposition to the authority of Parliament. The House of Represen-
tatives of Massachusetts was required, in His Majesty's name, to rescind
their resolutions, and to " declare their disapprobation of the rash and
hasty proceeding." In case of their refusal to comply, it was the King's
pleasure that the Governor should immediately dissolve them. 1 At the
same time General Gage, Commander-in-chief of the royal forces in Amer-
ica, was ordered to " strengthen the hands of the Government in the
Province of the Massachusetts Bay, enforce a due obedience of the laws,
and protect and support the civil magistrates and the officers of the Crown
in the execution of their duty." 2 Further peremptory orders were sent to
Gage, in June, to station a regiment permanently in Boston ; and the ad-
miralty was directed to send one frigate, two sloops, and two cutters to
remain in Boston harbor; and Castle William was to be put in readiness
for immediate use. 3

For about a month previous to this the ship of war " Romney " had
lain at anchor in the harbor, and her commander had occasioned much
trouble by violently impressing New England seamen, and refusing to give
them up, even when substitutes were offered. The excitement arising from
this was increased by the seizure of the sloop " Liberty" (June 10, 1768),
belonging to John Hancock, for an alleged false entry. The popular out-
break in consequence of these proceedings, though resulting in no serious
injury, was magnified by the commissioners into an insurrection, and made
the occasion of still further appeals for personal protection, by force of
arms, in the discharge of their duties. 4 The citizens, in response to a call
for a legal town-meeting to consider the matter, gathered in such numbers
at Faneuil Hall that they were obliged to adjourn to the Old South Meet-
ing-house, where, with Otis as moderator, an address to the Governor was
unanimously voted, and a committee of twenty-one appointed to present it. 5
At an adjourned meeting the next day (June 15), Otis strongly recom-

1 Hillsborough to Bernard, April 22, 1768. found out to be not an easy person to deal with.

2 Hillsborough to Gage, April 23, 1768. The papers relating to these affairs of his are
8 [The annexed heliotypes follow originals preserved among the Lee papers, in the libraries

made by the British engineers not far from this of Harvard College and the University of Vir-

time, and issued with DesBarres's series of coast ginia. Malcolm died shortly after, and they

charts. One represents the harbor from Fort show his gravestone to-day in the Copp's Hill

Hill; the other is a view of the town from burying-ground, with its praises of him as "an

Willis's Creek, in East Cambridge. ED.] enemy of oppression and one of the foremost in

4 [There is an account of this seizure in opposing the revenue acts on America ; " and

Drake's Boston, p. 736. See John Adams's upon it are seen the bullet marks of the British

Works, ii. 215. A prominent leader in the mob soldiers, who used it as a target during the siege,

which endeavored to prevent the sloop from Shurtleff's Description of Boston, p. 209. En.)
being towed under the guns of the " Rom- 5 [This presentation took place at the Gov-

ney " was a Boston tradesman, Daniel Malcolm, ernor's house, on Jamaica Pond, where they were

who had a year or two before some pretty sharp treated with wine, " which highly pleased |Ber-

altcrcations with the revenue officers, accom- nard says] that part of them which had not been

paniecl with vigorous action, so that he was used to an interview with me." ED.]

24 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

mended peaceable and orderly methods of obtaining redress, and depre-
cated in the strongest terms all acts of mob violence, hoping that the
cause of their grievances would yet be removed; and added: " If not, and
we are called on to defend our liberties and privileges, I hope and believe
we shall, one and all, resist even unto blood ; but I pray God Almighty
that this may never so happen." 1

The Governor disclaimed having any responsibility for the occurrences
complained of, but promised to stop impressments. Meanwhile, Hills-
borough's instructions to Massachusetts to rescind her non-importation res-
olutions arrived, and were communicated in a message from Bernard to the
General Court. Otis took the floor in reply, and spoke for two hours with
even more than his accustomed vehemence, showing that it would be im-
possible for this House to rescind a measure of the previous House which
had been already executed. He spoke respectfully of the King, but ar-
raigned the course of the ministry and the legislation of Parliament with
great severity. The subject occupied the attention of the House for nine
days, under the guidance of a special committee. 2 The Governor com-
municated the threat to dissolve the Assembly in case they refused to
comply, and pressed them for a decision. A recess was requested for
consultation, but it was refused. The question was then put, in secret
session, whether the House would rescind the resolution "which gave birth
to their circular-letter to the several houses of representatives and burgesses
of the other colonies." The vote was taken viva voce, and stood ninety-
two nays against seventeen yeas. The answer to the Governor, informing
him of their decision, stated that they regarded the circular-letter mod-
erate and innocent, respectful to Parliament, and dutiful to the King; that
they entertained sentiments of reverence and affection for both ; that
they, as subjects, claimed the right of petition jointly and severally, of
correspondence, and of a free assembly; and that the charge of treason
was unjustly brought against them. The Governor, following his instruc-
tions, thereupon closed the session, and the next day dissolved the General
Court by proclamation. Thus was taken away the right of free discussion
vested in the time-honored representative Assembly of Massachusetts. It
was an act of arbitrary power, destined to recoil heavily upon those who
enforced it. The other Colonies felt that their liberties were invaded as
well, and sent the most cordial assurances of their sympathy and support.
In this we can clearly see a new impulse given to the sentiment of union as
a necessary means of mutual security. As dangers thickened, the people
stood more and more together, determined to assert and defend their con-
stitutional rights against the unlawful aggressions of imperial power. It
soon became evident that the Administration had resolved upon employ-
ing the strong arm of military power to sustain its authority in the " re-

1 Boston News-Letter, June 16 and 23, 1768. John Hancock, Colonel Otis, Colonel Bowers,

2 This committee consisted of Thomas Cush- Mr. Spooner, Colonel Warren, and Mr. Saun-
ing (speaker), Mr. Otis, Samuel Adams (clerk), ders.

1 V "I '^/.'T/ //A- // /{"</' y f ^'),'.i / ,'/ t ' A//// /W/

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 25

fractory" Province. Preparations were making to transfer two regi-
ments from Halifax to Boston, and it was soon after announced that two
others were expected from Ireland. This naturally led to a great excite-
ment, and a town-meeting was called to consider what " wise, constitutional,
loyal, and salutary measures " could be taken in the emergency. The
Governor was requested to give information in regard to the troops, and
to convene the Legislature. Upon his refusal, a convention of all the
towns was proposed, to be held in Faneuil Hall within two weeks; and it
was recommended that all the inhabitants should be provided with fire-
arms and suitable ammunition ; 1 and a day of fasting and prayer was ap-
pointed and observed in accordance with the New England custom.

The convention met on September 22, and was composed of representa-
tives of nearly every settlement in the province. The same officers were
chosen for chairman and clerk that filled those positions in the late Assembly,
and the Governor was petitioned to " cause an assembly to be immediately
convened." He refused to receive the petition, and denounced the con-
vention as illegal, advising the members to separate at once, or they would
" repent their rashness." The convention did not follow his advice, but
continued in session six days, and reaffirmed the former declarations made
by the General Court concerning their charter rights. The proceedings
throughout were calm and moderate. A respectful petition to the king
was prepared, in which they wholly disclaimed the charge of a rebellious
spirit. An address to the people was also adopted, recommending sub-
mission to legal authority and abstinence from all participation in acts of
violence. This was the first of those independent popular assemblies which
soon began to exercise political power in the colonies. The Patriot lead-
ers were wise and sagacious men, who, in asserting their rights, knew well
how to keep the law on their side. When the proceedings of this conven-
tion were submitted to the attorney-general, and to the solicitor-general of
England, to ascertain if they were treasonable, both declared that they
were not. " Look into the papers," said De Grey, " and see how well
these Americans are versed in the crown law. I doubt whether they have
been guilty of an overt act of treason, but I am sure they have come within
a hair's breadth of it." z

No sooner had the convention adjourned than the fleet arrived in the
harbor, bringing two regiments, with artillery, under command of Colonel
Dalrymple. 3 In response to a requisition for quarters in the town the
council, and afterwards the selectmen, adhering to the law, declined to act,
stating that the barracks at Castle Island were provided for that purpose.

1 Hutchinson, iii. app. I.. ; Boston News-Letter, came near being roused in this way. Governor
postscript, Sept. 22, 1768. Bernard was informed of the movement, and

2 Bancroft, vi. 206. sent Sheriff Greenleaf to remove the combus-
8 [The Patriots had prepared to fire the bea- tibles. Frothingham, Life of Warren, p. 80. An

con above the town, and had placed a broken excellent likeness of Greenleaf, by Smibert, is

tar-barrel in the skillet. This was perhaps the owned by Mrs. S. G. Bulfinch, of Cambridge,

only time in which the surrounding country Eo.J
VOL. III. 4.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

On the first of October eight armed ships, with their tenders, approached
the wharves, with cannon loaded and springs on the cables. The Four-
teenth and Twenty-ninth regiments, and a part of the Fifty-ninth, with two
field-pieces, landed at Long Wharf and marched with fixed bayonets, drums
beating and colors flying, through the streets as far as the Common, where
a portion of the troops encamped, the remainder being allowed by the
Sons of Liberty, later in the day, to occupy Faneuil Hall. 1 We can easily
imagine the surprise and indignation with which the people of Boston be-
held this demonstration of authority. They keenly felt the insult offered
to their loyalty, and though no open resistance was made it was soon appa-
rent that such a state of things could only engender mutual hostility which
might at any time break out in a disturbance of the peace. The odious terms
" rebel " and " tyrant " were now spoken with increasing bitterness, and the
lines were drawn more sharply than ever between Tory and Patriot. While
Boston was thus in the hands of a hireling soldiery, her people waited
anxiously for intelligence from abroad, hoping that their communications
to the King and Parliament would meet with a favorable consideration ; 2
but again they were doomed to disappointment. Changes had taken place
in the cabinet, but there was no change in the purpose of the Government.
Chatham had resigned ; Shelburne was removed ; and Lord North 3 had
taken the place left vacant by the death of Townshend. 4 At the opening
of Parliament, the King referred to Boston as being " in a state of diso-
bedience to all law and government," and declared it to be his purpose
" to defeat the mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious per-
sons " who had " but too successfully deluded numbers" of his subjects in
America. An animated debate followed, in which it was said that the
difficulties in governing Massachusetts were " insurmountable, unless its
charter and laws should be so changed as to give the King the appoint-
ment of the council, and to the sheriffs the sole power of returning juries."

1 [Paul Revere's plate, showing this landing,
is given in Vol. II. p. 532. Mrs. Turrell says in
her recollections, in A r . E. Hist, and Geneal.
Reg., April, 1860, p. 150: "When the British
troops came here they were lodged in a sugar-
house in Brattle Square, which belonged to Mrs.
Inman. I think there were three thousand of
them. The officers lodged in the house of
Madam Apthorp, in which I now live." But
this paper is somewhat confused in other res-
pects, if not in this. See John Adams's Works,
ii. 213. ED.]

2 [There is in the Charity Building collection
a draft of a letter from the selectmen, Nov. 12,
1768, to Pownall and De Berdt, as endorsed by
William Cooper, "on the present deplorable
condition of this town, . . . changed from a free
city to an almost garrison state." ED.]

8 Lord North, eldest son of the Earl of Guil-
ford, entered the cabinet at the age of thirty-five,
and remained fifteen years, during the most crit-

ical period in English history. He was always a
favorite of the king, and a recognized leader in
the ministry. He never understood the charac-

ter or claims of the American people, and conse-
quently favored a mistaken policy towards them,
to which he adhered throughout the war.

4 At the early age of forty-one. Bancroft, in
summing up the character of Townshend, aptly
calls him "the most celebrated statesman who
has left nothing but errors to account for his
fame," vi. 99.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 27

Burke defended the Colonies, and denounced as illegal and unconstitutional
the order requiring the General Court to rescind their resolutions. Bar-
rington accused the Americans as traitors, adding, " The troops have been
sent thither to bring rioters to justice." Lord North defended the recent
act of Parliament, and said that he would never think of repealing it until
he should see America " prostrate at his feet."

" Depend upon it," said Hillsborough to one of the colonial agents,
" Parliament will not suffer their authority to be trampled upon. We wish
to avoid severities towards you ; but if you refuse obedience to our laws
the whole fleet and army of England shall enforce it."

The indictment against the Colonies was presented in sixty papers laid
before Parliament. Both Houses declared that the proceedings of the Mas-
sachusetts Assembly, in opposing the revenue acts, were unconstitutional ;
that the circular-letter tended to create unlawful combinations ; and that the
Boston convention was proof of a design of setting up an independent au-
thority ; and both Houses proposed, under the provisions of an obsolete act
of Henry VIII., to transport to England " for trial and condign punishment,"
in direct violation of trial by jury, the chief authors and instigators of the
late disorders. In the famous debate of this session, Burke, Barre, Pow-
nall, and Dowdeswell spoke eloquently in behalf of the Colonies ; but the
address and resolutions were carried by a large majority.

After being nearly a year without a Legislature, Massachusetts was again
permitted by the Governor, in the name of the King, to send its representa-
tives to a General Court convened, according to the charter, on the last Wed-
nesday in May, 1769. The first business was a protest against the breach
of their privileges, and a petition to the Governor to have the troops re-
moved from Boston, as it was inconsistent with the Assembly's dignity and
freedom to deliberate in the presence of an armed force. They declined to
enter upon the business of supplies, or anything else except the considera-
tion of their grievances. The Governor refused to grant their petition, alleg-
ing want of authority over His Majesty's forces ; and after vainly waiting
a fortnight for them to vote him his year's salary, he adjourned the Assem-
bly to Cambridge, and informed them that he was about to repair to Eng-
land to lay the state of the province before His Majesty. The Assembly
thereupon passed a unanimous vote, one hundred and nine members being
present, to petition the king " to remove Sir Francis Bernard l forever from
this government." 2 It has always been believed that much of the difficulty
between Massachusetts and Great Britain was owing to the total unfitness
of Bernard for the important position which he held during nine eventful
years. His frequent misrepresentations of the spirit and conduct of the
colonists are a matter of record. He left no friends behind him. Indeed his
departure was an occasion of public rejoicing. " The bells were rung, guns

1 Bernard had recently received a baronetcy, fidence of any order or rank of men within his
"a most ill-timed favor, when he had so griev- province." Mahon, History of England, v. 241.
ously failed in gaining the affections or the con- 2 y<w/>-<z/, House of Representatives, 1769, 36.

28 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

were fired from Mr. Hancock's wharf, Liberty Tree was covered with flags,
and in the evening a great bonfire was made upon Fort Hill." l

Lieut.-Governor Hutchinson succeeded to the chair as chief magistrate.
He was a native of Boston, was acquainted with public affairs, and for many
years had held more important offices than any other man in the province ;
but his career had been so often marred by duplicity and avarice that very
little hope was cherished of any improvement in the administration. His
failure was in part owing to the difficulty he found in trying to serve both
England and America, with a decided preference in favor of the former, at
a time when the opinions and interests of the two countries were rapidly be-
coming distinct. He was not the man for the times. 2 When the Massachu-
setts Assembly, sitting at Cambridge, had refused to grant the supplies de-
manded by Bernard, that functionary prorogued it to the tenth of January.
When that date arrived, Hutchinson, under arbitrary instructions from Hills-
borough, prorogued it still further to the middle of March.

Meanwhile the non-importation agreements had become so general as to
produce a visible effect upon British commerce. Exports from England to
America had fallen off seriously, and English merchants were really injured
more than the Americans by the narrow revenue policy of the Government.
Lord North, perceiving this, caused a circular-letter to be sent to the Colonies,
proposing to favor the removal of duties from all articles, except tea, enumer-
ated in the late act. This was evidently a measure of expediency, dictated
wholly by self-interest; and as by retaining the duty on tea there was no
surrender of the obnoxious claim contained in the declaratory act, it did not
materially affect the situation in America.

Boston at this time, in a legal town-meeting, 3 issued an Appeal to the
World, prepared by Samuel Adams, vindicating itself from the aspersions
of Bernard, Gage, Hood, and the revenue officers. The Appeal says : -

" We should yet be glad that the ancient and happy union between Great Britain
and this country might be restored. The taking off the duties on paper, glass, and

1 Hutchinson, iii. 254. [See Dr. Ellis's esti- appear as ridiculous as possible, which generally
mate of Bernard in Vol. II. of this History, p. 65. occasioned a grin of applause." Not long before
The Governor left his estate on Jamaica Pond, this, the Sons of Liberty had dined together, Aug.
July 31, 1769, and embarked the next day from 14, 1769, at Dorchester, and there is a list of their
the Castle. Lady Bernard did not leave the es- names in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., August, 1869.
tate till December, 1770. ED.] John Adams's Works, ii. 218.

2 Hutchinson 's History of Massachusetts Bay William Cooper, who figures largely in the
deserves honorable mention as a work of rare town's transactions at this time, was a son of the
ability and candor, for which students of our Rev. William Cooper, D.D., of the Brattle Street
history will always be grateful. [See Dr. Ellis's Church; was born Oct. i, 1721, and died Nov.
estimate of Hutchinson's administration in Vol. 28, 1809. He was first chosen town clerk in 1761,
II. p 69 ; and that by Frothingham in his Warren, and held the office till his death. In 1755-56 he
p. 107. ED.] was a representative to the General Court. From

8 [Cooper, the town clerk, issued the warrant 1759 to 1800 he was Register of Probate. He is

for this meeting, Sept. 28, 1769, and the meeting buried in the Granary Burial-ground. He lived

was held, October 4. A contemporary account on Hanover Street. He married, April 26, 1745,

(in the Chalmers papers, ii. 37, in the Sparks Katharine, daughter of Jacob Wendell, and had

MSS. in Harvard College Library) says that sixteen children. See notices in Boston Patriot,

Cooper read the letters to the meeting, "and Dec. 6, 1809, and Evening Transcript, July 7,

took a good deal of 'pains to make the Governor iSSi. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

2 9

painters' colors, upon commercial principles only, will not give satisfaction. Discon-
tent runs through the continent upon much higher principles. Our rights are invaded
by the revenue acts ; therefore, until they are ALL repealed, . . . and the troops recalled,
. . . the cause of our just complaints cannot be removed."

SIGNATURES OF THE TOWN S COMMITTEE.

Society in Boston was thoroughly moved by the prevailing sentiment. 2
Three hundred wives subscribed to a league agreeing not to drink any tea

1 [These autographs are from a letter sent by
the town to Dennis De Berdt, the colony's agent
in England, in order that through him "our
friends in Parliament maybe acquainted with the
difficulties the trade labors by means of those
acts." It recapitulates how the merchants and
traders of Boston had entered into an agreement,
August, 1768, not to import goods from Great
Britain after Jan. i, 1770, and had made a further
agreement, Oct. 17, 1769, that no goods should
be sent from here till the revenue acts be re-
pealed ; and how the other colonies had not
gone to the same extent ; and so they informed
De Berdt that they had notified their correspon-
dents to ship goods with the express condition
that the act imposing duties on tea, glass, paper,
and colors be totally repealed, and had forwarded
to him papers with their views on the matter.
The original is in a collection of a part of the
papers of Arthur Lee, who succeeded De Berdt
as the agent of Massachusetts, and thus retained
many of the documents emanating from the prov-

ince and from Boston during the early days of
the controversy. The younger Richard Henry
Lee, after writing the Lives of the elder of his
name and of Arthur Lee, divided the manuscripts
which had come to him among three institu-
tions, the Libraries of Harvard College, of the
University of Virginia, and of the American
Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. No rec-
ognizable principle of adaptation was followed
in the division, sets being broken, those now in
Virginia containing many papers of the utmost
interest for Boston history, and in some cases
when others closely allied with them are in the
Harvard College collection. The Editor has been
kindly entrusted with these other collections by
their respective guardians. Those in the College
Library have been calendared in print under his
direction. ED.]

2 [Richard Frothingham has minutely traced
the progress of events and feelings of the people
during this period, from October, 1768, to the
Massacre, in his papers, " The Sam Adams

30 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

until the revenue act should be repealed. The young, unmarried women
followed their example, and signed a document beginning as follows : " We,
the daughters of those Patriots who have appeared ... for the public
interest, ... do now with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves
the drinking of foreign tea." ' . . . Even the children caught the spirit of
patriotism, and imitated their elders in maintaining what they considered to
be their " constitutional " rights. 2

It was now nearly a year and a half since the troops had come to Boston,
and their presence was a continual source of irritation to the inhabitants.
Their services were not wanted ; their parades were offensive ; their bearing
often insulting. Quarrels would occasionally arise between individual sol-
diers and citizens. " The troops greatly corrupt our morals," said Dr.
Cooper, " and are in every sense an oppression. May Heaven soon deliver
us from this great evil ! " 3

In this state of things, any unusual excitement might at any time occasion
disastrous results. Towards the end of February an event occurred which
threw the public mind into a ferment, and prepared the way for the tragic
scenes of the fifth of March. A few of the merchants had rendered them-
selves unpopular by continuing to sell articles which had been proscribed.
One of them in particular 4 had incurred such displeasure that his store was
marked by the crowd with a wooden image as one to be shunned. One of
his friends, a well known informer, 5 attempted to remove the image, but was
driven back by the mob. Greatly exasperated, he fired a random shot
among them and mortally wounded a young lad, 6 who died the following
evening. The funeral was attended by five hundred children, walking in
front of the bier; six of his school-mates held the pall, followed by thirteen
hundred of the inhabitants. The bells of the town were tolled, and the
whole community partook of the feeling of sadness and indignation that
innocent blood had been shed in the streets of Boston. 7

A few days later, a still more serious occurrence took place. On Friday,
March 2, two soldiers, belonging to the Twenty-ninth Regiment, were pass-
ing Gray's rope-walk, near the present Pearl Street, and got into a quarrel
with one of the workmen. Insults and threats were freely exchanged, and
the soldiers then went off and found some of their comrades, who returned
with them and challenged the ropemakers to a boxing-match. A fight

Regiments," in Atlantic Monthly, June, August, l Boston Gazette, Feb. 12, 1770, et seq. ; Loss-

1862, and November, 1863; matter which is only ing, Field-Book, i. 488.
epitomized in his Life of Warren. John Mein, 2 Lossing, " 1776," p. 90.

the printer, had refused to join in any non-impor- 3 Rev. S. Cooper to Governor Thomas Pow-

tation agreement, and his name had been pub- nail, Jan. i, 1770.
licly proclaimed as one to be avoided in trade. * Theophilus Lillie.

He in turn printed the State of the Importation of 8 Ebenezer Richardson, who lived near by.
Great Britain with the Port of Boston from Jan- 6 Christopher Snider.

uary to August, 1768, and showed some of his 7 Evening Post, Feb. 26, 1770. [See Hutch-
detractors in the light of importers. See Henry inson ; Gordon, i. 276; John Adams's Works, ii.
Stevens's Historical Collections, i. No. 393. ED.] 227. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 31

ensued, in which sticks and cutlasses were freely used. Several were
wounded on both sides, but none were killed. The proprietor and others
interposed, and prevented further disturbance. 1 The next day it was re-
ported that the fight would be resumed on Monday. Colonel Carr, com-
mander of the Twenty-ninth, complained to the Governor of the conduct of
the rope-makers. Hutchinson laid the matter before the council, some of
whom freely expressed the opinion that the only way to prevent such colli-
sions was to withdraw the troops to the Castle ; but no precautionary meas-
ures were taken. At an early hour on Monday evening, March 5, numerous
parties of men and boys were strolling through the streets, and whenever
they met any of the soldiers a sharp altercation took place. The ground
was frozen and covered with a slight fall of snow, and a young moon shed
its mild light upon the scene. Small bands of soldiers were seen passing
between the main guard 2 and Murray's barracks in Brattle Street, armed
with clubs and cutlasses. They were met by a crowd of citizens carrying
canes and sticks. Taunts and insults soon led to blows. Some of the
soldiers levelled their firelocks, and threatened to " make a lane " through
the crowd. Just then an officer 3 on his way to the barracks, finding the
passage obstructed by the affray, ordered the men into the yard and had
the gate shut. The alarm-bell, however, had called out the people from
their homes, and many came down towards King Street, supposing there
was a fire there. When the occasion of the disturbance was known, the
well disposed among them advised the crowd to return home ; but others
shouted: "To the main guard! To the main guard! That's the nest!"
Upon this they moved off towards King Street, some going up Cornhill,
some through Wilson's Lane, and others through Royal Exchange Lane.
Shortly after nine o'clock an excited party approached the Custom House,
which stood on the north side of King Street, at the lower corner of
Exchange Lane, where a sentinel was standing at his post. "There's the
soldier who knocked me down ! " said a boy whom the sentinel, a few min-
utes before, had hit with the but-end of his musket. " Kill him ! Knock
him down ! " cried several voices. The sentinel retreated up the steps and
loaded his gun. " The lobster is going to fire," exclaimed a boy who stood
by. " If you fire you must die for it," said Henry Knox, 4 who was passing.

1 [See Drake, Landmarks, 274. It was men meeting-house. His father, William, a ship-
of the Fourteenth Regiment who were engaged master, had married Mary, a daughter of Robert
in this affair, and their barracks were in the Campbell ; and Henry was their seventh son,
modern Atkinson Street. ED.] and was born in 1750, in a house which Drake,

2 The " main guard " was located at the head Life of Henry Knox, p. 9, depicts, and says was
of King Street, directly opposite the south door standing, in 1873, on Sea Street, opposite the
of the Town House. The soldiers detailed for head of Drake's wharf. Losing his father in
daily guard-duty met here for assignment to 1762, Henry went into the employ of Wharton&
their several posts. Bowes, who had succeeded the year before to

3 Captain Goldfinch. the stand of Daniel Henchman, on the south

4 Afterward general, and secretary of war. corner of State and Washington streets. Knox
[Knox was of Scotch-Presbyterian stock from the was in this employ when the massacre occurred;
north of Ireland, and his family belonged to the but the next year (1771) he started business on
parish of Moorhead, the pastor of the Long Lane his own account on the same street, about where

32 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

" I don't care," replied the sentry ; " if they touch me, I '11 fire." While he
was saying this, snowballs and other missiles were thrown at him, where-
upon he levelled his gun, warned the crowd to keep off, and then shouted
to the main guard across the street, at the top of his voice, for help. A
sergeant, with a file of seven men, was sent over at once, through the crowd,
to protect him. The sentinel then came down the steps and fell in with
the file, when the order was given to prime and load. Captain Thomas
Preston of the Twenty-ninth soon joined his men, making the whole num-
ber in arms ten. 1 About fifty or sixty people had now gathered before
the Custom House. When they saw the soldiers loading, some of them
stepped forward, shouting, whistling, and daring them to fire. " You arc
cowardly rascals," they said ; " lay aside your guns and we are ready for
you." "Are the soldiers loaded?" inquired a bystander. "Yes," answered
the Captain, "with powder and ball." "Are they going to fire on the in-
habitants?" asked another. " They cannot," said the Captain, " without my
orders." " For God's sake," said Knox, seizing Preston by the coat, " take
your men back again. If they fire, your life must answer for the conse-
quences." " I know what I 'm about," said he, hastily; and then, seeing his
men pressing the people with their bayonets, while clubs were being freely
used, he rushed in among them. The confusion was now so great, some
calling out, "Fire, fire if you dare! " and others, "Why don't you fire?"
that no one could tell whether Captain Preston ordered the men to fire or
not; but with or without orders, and certainly without any legal warning,
seven of the soldiers, one after another, fired upon the citizens, three of
whom were killed outright: Crispus Attucks, 2 Samuel Gray, and James
Caldwell ; and two others, Samuel Maverick 3 and Patrick Carr, died soon
after from their wounds. Six others were badly wounded. It is not known
that any of the eleven took part in the disturbance except Attucks, who had
been a conspicuous leader of the mob.

When the firing began the people instinctively fell back, but soon
after returned for the killed and wounded. Captain Preston restrained his

the Globe newspaper now is, calling his estab- of the royalist secretary of the province, Thomas
lishment the " London Bookstore." At least one Flucker, who had vainly tried to prevent the
book, Cadogan on the Gout, bears his imprint, union ; and a year from the day of their marriage
1772, and at the end of it is a list of medical and Knox had slipped out of Boston clandestinely,
other books which he had imported. Brinley to avoid interception by Gage, while his wife
Catalogue, No. 1585. See H. G. Otis's letter in concealed in her quilted skirts the sword herhus-
N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., July, 1876, p. band was afterwards to make honorable. ED.]
362. In November, 1774, Knox writes to Long- J Some accounts say eight.

2 Usually called a mulatto, sometimes a slave ;
and in the American Historical Record for De-
cember, 1872, he is held to have been a half-
breed Indian. [George Livermore gives us a
glimpse of the past life of Crispus Attucks as a
man in London : " The magazines and new pub- slave, in his " Historical Research on Negroes as
lications concerning the American dispute are Slaves," in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc. 1862, Aug., p.
the only things which I desire you to send at 173. See also N.E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg.,Qc\..
present." It will be remembered that Knox but 1859^.300. ED.]
six months before this had married a daughter 8 [See Sumner's East Boston, p. 171. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 33

men from a second discharge, and ordered them back to the main guard.
The drums beat to arms, and several companies of the Twenty-ninth formed,
under Colonel Carr, in three divisions, in the neighborhood of the Town
House. And now the alarm was everywhere given. The church bells
were rung, the town drums beat to arms, and King Street was soon thronged
with citizens who poured in from all directions. The sight of the mangled
bodies of the slain sent terror and indignation through their ranks. The
excitement surpassed anything which Boston had ever known before. It was
indeed a " night of consternation." No one knew what would happen next ;
but in that awful hour the people were guided by wise and prudent leaders,
who restrained their passions and turned to the law for justice. About ten
o'clock the Lieut-Governor appeared on the scene and called for Captain
Preston, to whom he put some sharp and searching questions. Forced
by the crowd he then went to the Town House, and soon appeared on the
balcony, where he spoke with much feeling and power concerning the
unhappy event, and promised to order an inquiry in the morning, saying
" the law should have its course ; he would live and die by the law." On
being informed that the people would not disperse until Captain Preston
was arrested, he at once ordered a court of inquiry; and after consultation
with the military officers, he succeeded in having the troops removed to
their barracks, after which the people began to disperse. Preston's exam-
ination lasted three hours, and resulted in his being bound over for trial.
The soldiers were also placed under arrest. It was three o'clock in the
morning before Hutchinson retired to his house. By his judicious exer-
tions he succeeded in calming a tumult which, had it been left to itself,
might in a single night have involved the town in a conflict of much greater
proportions. Early in the morning, large numbers of people from the sur-
rounding country flocked into the town to learn the details of the tragedy,
and to confer with the citizens as to what was to be done. Faneuil Hall
was thrown open for an informal meeting at eleven o'clock. The town
clerk, William Cooper, acted as chairman until the selectmen could be
summoned from the council chamber, where they were in conference with
the Lieut.-Governor. On their appearance, Thomas Gushing was chosen
moderator; and Dr. Cooper, brother of the town clerk, opened the meet-
ing with prayer. Several witnesses brought in testimony concerning the
events of the previous night. A committee of fifteen, including Adams,
Gushing, Hancock, and Molineux, was chosen to wait on the Lieut.-Gov-
ernor and inform him that the inhabitants and soldiery could no longer live
together in safety ; and that nothing could restore peace and prevent fur-
ther carnage but the immediate removal of the troops. 1 In the afternoon
at three o'clock a regular town-meeting was convened at the same place, by
legal warrant, to consider what measures could be taken to preserve the

1 [Dr. Belknap records an anecdote told by him and demanded the removal of the troops

Governor Hancock, of the trepidation which after the massacre. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., March,

seized Hutchinson when the committee went to 1858, p. 308. ED.]
VOL. III. 5.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

1 [This cut follows a painting which has for and is believed, from the costume, to represent
many years hung in the Essex Institute, Salem, the Patriot of this name ; though the earlier

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

SAMUEL ADAMS.

peace of the town. The attendance was so large that the meeting was ad-
journed to the Old South, which was soon crowded to its utmost capacity.

Speaker of the same name, who died in 1748,
may possibly have been the sitter. The painting
itself has no inscription, as the courteous Libra-
rian, Dr. Henry Wheatland, informs me. In
1876 a descendant caused a copy of it to be
made for Independence Hall, Philadelphia, in
the belief that it represented the later Thomas
Gushing. He was born in Bromfield Street,
on the spot long occupied by the public house
of that name. ED.]

1 [This cut follows the larger of Copley's por-
traits of Adams, and was painted when he was
forty-nine. The smaller and later one has already
been given in Vol. II. p. 438. The present pic-
ture for many years hung in Faneuil Hall, and is
now in the Art Museum; it has been engraved
before in Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i.,
in Bancroft's United States, vol. vii., and else-
where. It represents the Patriot, clad in dark
red, defending the rights of the people under the

36 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Samuel Adams presented the report of the committee, which was that they
could not obtain a promise of the removal of more than one of the regi-
ments at present. " Both regiments or none ! " was the cry with which the
meeting received this announcement. The answer was voted to be unsatis-
factory ; and another committee was appointed, consisting of Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, William Molineux, William Phillips, Joseph \Varren, Joshua
Henshaw, and Samuel Pemberton, to inform the Lieut.-Governor that
nothing less than the total and immediate removal of the troops would
satisfy the people. At a late hour the committee returned with a favorable
report, which was received by the meeting with expressions of the greatest
satisfaction. Before adjourning, a strong military watch was provided for ;
and the whole subject of the public defence was left in the hands of a
" committee of safety," consisting of those who had just waited on the
Lieut.-Governor.

On Thursday, March 8, the funeral of the slain was an occasion of
mournful interest to the whole community. The stores were generally
closed. The bells of Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, and Roxbury were
tolled. Never before, it was said, was there so large an assemblage in the
streets of Boston. The procession started from the scene of the massacre
in King Street, and proceeded through the main street six deep, followed
by a long train of carriages, to the Middle or Granary Burying-ground,
where the bodies of the victims were deposited in one grave.

After the removal of the troops to the Castle, nothing occurred to dis-
turb the usual quiet of the town. The people waited patiently for the law
to have its course. In October, Preston's case came on for trial in the
Superior Court, followed in November by that of the soldiers implicated in
the massacre. Through the exertions of Samuel Adams and others, the
best legal talent in the province was secured on both sides. The prosecu-
tion was conducted by Robert Treat Paine, in the absence of the king's at-
torney. 1 Auchmuty, the prisoners' counsel, had the valuable assistance of
John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the distinguished Patriots, who gener-
ously consented to take the position, a severe ordeal at such a time, in
order that the town might be free from any charge of unfairness, and that
the accused might have the advantage of every legal indulgence. 2 As a

Charter, as he maybe supposed to have ap- l [This was Jonathan Sewall, who, as John
peared when he confronted Hutchinson and his Adams says, "disappeared." It is probable that
council on the day after the massacre. Wells, Samuel Quincy a few months later to be made
Life of Adams, i. 475. The Copley head of Sam solicitor-general assisted Paine, as stated by
Adams was engraved by J. Norman in An Im- Ward in his edition of Curwen's Journal, and
partial History of the War in America, Boston, by Mr. Morse in Vol. IV. ; though I find no con-
1781. The journals of the Boston committee of temporary authority for such statement, unless
correspondence, as well as the papers of Sam what John Adams says (Works, x. 201) in con-
Adams, are in the possession of Bancroft the nection with the soldiers' trial applies as well to
historian. Frothingham, Life of Warren, p. vii. Preston's. Quincy is known, however, to have
Wells, Life of Sam Adams, vol. i. pp. vi. and x., been on the Government side in the soldiers'
gives a particular account of the Adams papers, trials. ED.]

Bancroft's United States, p. vi. preface. See an 2 [See the chapter on "The Bench and Bar,"

estimate of Adams in Mr. Goddard's ch. ED.] by John T. Morse, Jr., in Vol. IV. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

result of the trial, Preston was acquitted ; six of the soldiers were brought
in "not guilty; " and two were found guilty of manslaughter, branded in the

1 [Of this picture there is this account by
Miss E. S. Quincy in Mason's Life of Gilbert
Stuart, p. 244 : " There was an engraving that
his widow, Mrs. Abigail Quincy, considered an
excellent likeness. This print, Stuart had de-
clined to copy; but after reading the memoir of
J. Quincy, Jr., published in 1825, he said : ' I
must paint the portrait of that man ; ' and re-
quested that the print, and the portrait of his
brother Samuel Quincy, by Copley, should be
sent to his studio." Miss Quincy says in a pri-

vate letter: "The portrait was entirely satis-
factory to my father and Mrs. Storer. The cast
in his eye was one of his characteristics which
they would not have allowed to be omitted."
Jonathan Mason, who studied law in Mr. Quin-
cy's office, Mr. Gardiner Greene, who saw him
in London, Dr. Holbrook, of Milton, and many
others testified to the likeness. There is an
estimate of Quincy in Mr. Goddard's chapter
in this volume. Quincy lived on the present
Washington Street, a little south of Milk Street.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

hand in open court, and then discharged. These trials must ever be re-
garded as a signal instance of that desire for impartial justice which char-
acterized the American people throughout the stormy period which ushered
in the Revolution. 1

The manuscript of instructions to the represen-
tatives of the town, in his handwriting (1770),
is noted in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., December,
1873, P- 2J 6- See also
Frothingham's War-
ren, p. 1 56. H is f am i ly
relations can be traced
in Vol. II. p. 547, and
in the accounts of the
Bromfield and Phillips
family in the same vol-
ume pp. 543, 548. His

father-in-law was William Phillips, who was the
son of the Rev. Samuel Phillips of Andover, and
who coming to Boston entered into business con-
nections with Edward Bromfield, a rich mer-
chant, whose daughter he afterward married, in
1764, and whose house on Beacon Street, figured
in Vol. II., p. 521, he bought and lived in till
his death in 1804. He amassed a large fortune,
which has been transmitted to our day, though
now mainly possessed by a collateral branch of
the family. He took the Patriot side in the Rev-
olution ; and in August, 1774, Josiah Quincy, Jr.,
writes to Samuel Adams, then in Philadelphia :
" It is very difficult to keep our poor in order.
Mr. Phillips has done wonders among them. I
do not know what we should do without him."
After his daughter (Mrs. Quincy) lost her husband
in 1775, she with her young son, the future Pres-
ident Quincy, lived with her father till 1786.
Mr. Phillips 's two younger daughters twins,
born in 1756, Sarah and Hannah married re-
spectively Edward Dowse and Major Samuel
Shaw, who had been an aid to General Knox

/4^?-r^t^jc^Cr t^/^

in the Revolution. Both were pioneers in open-
ing trade with China after the war, and Shaw's
memoir has been written by President Quincy.
Shaw lived in Bulfinch Place, in a house built
for him in 1793 by Charles Bulfinch; and it is
to-day, shorn of its ample grounds, known as
Hotel Waterston. An account of Phillips can
be found in the American Quarterly Register,
xiii., No. i. ED.]

1 For details see Lives of John Adams and
Josiah Quincy. The Brief used by the former is
in the Boston Public Library. [It is a small
brochure of ten leaves, six by four inches, fast-
ened by a pin, and four of the leaves are blank.
The annexed fac-simile is of the opening para-

graph. Kidder, who formerly owned the docu-
ment, has printed it in his Boston Massacre, p. 10.

Sampson Salter Blowers, who assisted Adams
and Quincy, had graduated at Harvard in 1763,

and was only made a barrister in 1773; and in
the next year married a daughter of Benjamin
Kent, with whom he went to Nova Scotia at the
time of the loyalist exodus. The presiding
judge was the younger Lynde, whose portrait is

given in Vol. II. p. 558. All that remains of his
charge is given in the appendix of The Diaries
of Benjamin Lynde, and of Benjamin Lynde, Jr.
Boston, privately printed, 1880.

John Adams wrote to J. Morse in 1816 ( Works
of John Adams, x. 201) that the report of Pres-
ton's trial " was taken down, and transmitted to
England, by a Scottish or English stenogra-
pher, without any known authority but his
own. The British Government have never
permitted it to see the light, and probably
never will." When the trial of William Wemms
and seven other soldiers came on, Nov. 27, 1770,
the same short-hand writer, John Hodgson, was
employed ; and the published report, entitled
The Trial of William Wemms, . . . for the
Murder of Crispus Attucks. . . . Published by per-
mission of the Court. . . . Boston : printed by J.
Fleeming, and sold at his Printing Office, nearly
opposite the White Horse Tavern in Newbury Street.
M.DCC.LXX., makes a duodecimo of two
hundred and seventeen pages. It gives the evi-
dence and pleas of counsel. The last seven
pages are occupied with a report, "from the
minutes of a gentleman who attended," of the
trial, December 12, of Edward Manwaring and

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

Previous to 1770 the people of Boston had celebrated the Gunpowder
Plot annually with public demonstrations. After the Boston massacre, the

others, who were accused by several persons of
firing on the crowd during the massacre from
an adjacent window in
the Custom House ;
but they were easily
acquitted. This little
volume was reprinted in Bos-
ton in 1807 and 1824, and
again in Kidder's monograph
in 1870. The plan of King
Street, used at the trials, pre-
pared by Paul Revere, is in
the collection of Judge Mellen
Chamberlain, of the Boston
Public Library. An examina-
tion of the reports of the trial
is made in P. W. Chandler's
American Criminal Trials, \.

A minute narrative of the
events was printed between
black lines in the Boston Gazette
of March 12, but the papers of the day made few
references to the event till after the trial, when
more or less discontent with the verdict was
manifested. Such particularly marked a series
of articles in the Gazette, signed " Vindex "
(Sam Adams), which reflected upon the argu-
ments of the counsel for defence. Buckingham,
Reminiscences, i. 168.

Some verses inscribed upon one of the pict-
ures of the massacre closed as follows, referring
to Boston and Preston :

" Should venal courts, the scandal of the land,
Snatch the relentless villain from her hand,
Keen execrations, on this plate inscribed,
Shall reach a judge who never can be bribed."

A letter from William Palfrey to John Wilkes,
dated Boston, March 13 (1770), is printed in
Mass. Hist.Soc. Proc., March, 1863, P- 4^- (See
also Sparks, American Biography, new series,
vol. viii.) And on p. 484 is printed one from
Thomas Hutchinson to Lord Hillsborough on
the same theme.

There are some particulars entered upon the
Town Records of the statements made at the
meeting at Faneuil Hall the next forenoon ; but
so many were ready to testify, that a committee
was appointed to gather the evidence. The an-
nexed autographs are attached to a letter ad-
dressed to the agent of Massachusetts in London,
the original of which is in the Lee collection
of papers in the University of Virginia Library ;
and with the letter was sent a copy of a Nar-
rative authorized by the town. A similar letter,
and other copies, were sent to various important
people in England, a list of whom, together
with the letter, is printed at the end of some
copies of the Narrative, which was also probably

drawn up by the same gentlemen, and, as print-
ed, is called A short Narrative of the Horrid

Massacre in Boston perpetrated in the evening of
the Fifth Day of March, 1770, by Soldiers of the
XXIX th Regiment, with some Observations on the
State of Things prior to that Catastrophe. Boston :
printed by order of the Town, by Messrs. Edes &
Gill. MDCCLXX. It had an appendix of depo-
sitions, including one of Jeremiah Belknap ; but
another, of Joseph Belknap, is contained in the
Belknap Papers, i. 69, in the cabinet of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. A large fold-
ing plate showed the scene in State Street. It
was immediately reprinted in London, in at least
three editions, two by W. Bingley,in Newgate
Street, with the large folding plate re-engraved ;
and the third by E. and C. Dilby, with a smaller
plate, a fac-simile of which, somewhat reduced,
is given on the next page. The supplement of
the Boston Evening Post, June 18, 1770, has news
from London, May 5, announcing the republica-
tion of it, and stating that the frontispiece was
engraved from a copper-plate print sent over
with the "authenticated narrative."

Copies of this Short Narrative were sent at
once to England, but the remainder of the edi-
tion was not published, for fear of giving " an
undue bias to the minds of the jury," till after
the trial, when Additional Observations, of twelve
pages, were added to it. These were likewise
published separately. Both of these documents
were reprinted in New York in 1849, and again
at Albany in 1870, in Mr. Kidder's History of
the Boston Massacre. In this supplemental pub-
lication it was intimated that the friends of
Government had sent despatches "home" "to
represent the town in a disadvantageous light."
It is certain that a tract did appear shortly
in London, called : A fair Account of the late

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

fifth of March was observed until the peace of 1783,* when the Fourth of
July celebration was substituted by the town authorities. Unquestionably
the influence of the Boston massacre upon the growing sentiment of inde-
pendence throughout the colonies was very great. 2 Public opinion was
immediately shaped by it, and the remaining ties binding America to
Britain were everywhere visibly relaxed. " On that night," wrote John

unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England ;
extracted from the Depositions that have been
made concerning it by persons of all parties ; with
an Appendix containing some affidavits and other
evidences relating to this affair, not mentioned in
the Narrative of it that has been published at Bos-
ton. London : printed for B. White, in Fleet

American War is also at variance with the
town's narrative.

Of the later historians Mr. Frothingham in
the last of his papers on " The Sam Adams
Regiments" (Atlantic Monthly, November, 1863),
and in his Life 'of Warren, ch. vi., has given a
very excellent account, " carefully collating the
evidence that appears to be
authentic ; " but he confesses
it is vain to reconcile all state-
ments. The events are also
minutely described in Wells's
Life of Samuel Adams, i. 308.
Bancroft, United States, vol.
vi. ch. xliii., examines the evi-
dence for provocation, and
concludes Preston ordered
the firing. He cites, through
the chapter, his authorities.
En.]

1 Orations were delivered
on the successive anniversa-
ries by Thomas Young, Joseph
Warren, Benjamin Church,
John Hancock, Joseph War-
ren, Peter Thacher, Benjamin
Hichborn, Jonathan W. Aus-
tin, William Tudor, Jonathan
Mason, Thomas Dawes,
George R. Minot, and Thomas
Welsh. [These, having been
printed separately, were col-
lected and issued by Peter
Edes in 1785, and reissued in
1807. There are accounts of
them and their authors in Lor-
ing's Hundred Boston Orators.
Paul Revere took the occasion
of the first anniversary of the
massacre, in 1771, to rouse the
sensibilities of the crowd by

D ^ t / -2 giving illuminated pictures of

e perpetrated mKina JiCreft Beaton on MarcAj.J77O. in tffoc* e

. . " , the event, with allegorical ac-

J 1 * Sam' Gray. JamlMai'cru&.Jamej CalthvtJl &upu* AaueJe* . , . ,

compamments, at the windows
Carr a- f EM f <i. **r ether* Wounded a*o of tntsnJfor tatty Q{ ^ h()use ^ -^ onh Square.

Lane; MDCCLXX. There is a copy in Harvard "The spectators," says the account in the

College Library. It is the Government view of Gazette, " were struck with solemn silence, and

the massacre, and is duly fortified by counter their countenances covered with a melancholy

depositions, chiefly by officers and men of the gloom." ED.]

garrison. Hutchinson has given his account of 2 [See the letter to Franklin in Mass. Hist. Soc.

it in his posthumous third volume, and Gordon Proc., November, 1865. AlsoSparks's Franklin,

in his first volume. Stedman's account in his vii. 499. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 41

Adams long afterward, " the formation of American Independence was
laid." " From that moment," said Mr. Webster on one occasion, " we
may date the severance of the British empire."

On the very day of the Boston massacre Lord North brought in a bill
to repeal the Townshend revenue act, with the exception of the preamble
and the duty on tea, which were retained to signify the continued suprem-
acy of Parliament. This proposal met with much opposition, but was
finally carried, and approved by the king on April 12.

As the great principle at issue was not relinquished, this new measure
of the Government gave .but little satisfaction to the colonists. Trade,
however, revived, and before the end of 1770 it was open in everything
but tea. 1

In the month of September Hutchinson received a royal order in effect
introducing martial law into Massachusetts, in so far as to compel him to
give up the fortress to General Gage, or such officer as he might appoint.
This order was in direct contravention of the charter of the province,
which gave the command of the militia and the forts to the civil Governor.
After a little hesitation Hutchinson decided to obey the order, and, without
consulting the council, he at once handed over the Castle to Colonel Dal-
rymple; and from that hour it remained in the possession of England
until the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776. The Provincial Assembly,
meeting at Cambridge for the third time, and keeping a day of fasting,
humiliation, and prayer, entered a solemn protest against the new and in-
supportable grievances under which they labored. 2 At this time Franklin,
Boston's honored son, was elected as the agent of Massachusetts to repre-
sent her cause before the king. 3 Certainly no better choice could have been
made. In the fulness of his ripened powers, possessed of rare wisdom and
integrity, and animated by a spirit of fervent patriotism, he discharged the
grave duties of his position with conspicuous fidelity and zeal.

The next year was not marked by any very notable event. Hutchinson,
who had now received his coveted commission as Governor, maintained a
controversy with the Assembly upon several matters of legislation, and

1 The self-imposed restrictions adopted by the filled by Gushing (the Speaker), Hancock, Sam
colonists in reference to foreign articles had pro- Adams, and John Adams ; and to show their
ducecl a great effect in checking extravagance, influence the journals indicate that three, and
promoting domestic industry and economy, and sometimes all of them, were on every important
opening to the people new sources of wealth, committee for a session which was much con-
Home-made articles, which at first came into use cerned with political movements. John Adams
from necessity, soon became fashionable. At was at this period a resident of Boston from
Harvard College the graduating class of 1770 April, 1768, to April, 1771 ; but he still retained
took their degrees in homespun. his office in Boston after removing his family to

2 [John Adams was now a representative Braintree ; and again he established a home in
from Boston, succeeding Bowdoin, who had gone Queen Street, opposite the Court House, in
into the Council. See John Adams's Works, ii. 1772. ED.]

233. " Although Sam Adams was now the 3 [The choice of Franklin was made Oct. 24,

master-mover, John Adams seems to have sue- 1770; his appointment, signed by Thomas Cush-

ceeded to the post of legal adviser, which had ing, speaker, is among the Lee Papers, Univer-

been filled by Oxenbridge Thacher and James sity of Virginia. See Mr. Towle's chapter in

Otis." The four "Boston seats" were thus Vol. II. ED.]
VOL. III. 6.

42 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

arbitrarily insisted upon their meeting in Cambridge, until the opposition
to it became so strong that he was obliged to consent to a removal to
Boston. 1 The House soon after censured the Governor for accepting a
salary from the king in violation of the charter; and the popular indigna-
tion was still further aroused when it became known that royal stipends
were provided for the judges in the province. This led to a town-meeting
(Oct. 28, 1772), at which an address to his Excellency was prepared, re-
questing information of the truth of the report. The Governor declined to
make public any of his official advices. Another petition was drafted at
an adjourned meeting, requesting the Governor to convene the Assembly
on the day to which it stood prorogued (December 2) ; and at the same
time the meeting expressed its horror of the reported judicial establish-
ment, as contrary not only to the charter but to the fundamental principles
of common law. This petition also was rejected in a reply which was read
several times at an adjourned meeting and voted " not satisfactory." It
was then resolved that the inhabitants of Boston " have ever had and
ought to have a right to petition the king, or his representative, for a re-
dress of such grievances as they feel, or for preventing of such as they
have reason to apprehend ; and to communicate their sentiments to other
towns." Adams now stood up and made that celebrated motion, which
gave visible shape to the American Revolution, and endowed it with life
and strength. The record 2 says:

" It was then moved by Mr. Samuel Adams that a committee of correspondence 3
be appointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the colonists,
and of this province in particular, as men and Christians, and as subjects ; and to
communicate and publish the same to the several towns, and to the world, as the sense
of this town, with the infringements and violations thereof that have been or from
time to time may be made."

The motion was carried by a nearly unanimous vote ; but some of the
leading men were not prepared to serve on the committee. It was seen
that the labors would be arduous, prolonged, and gratuitous; and although
they did not oppose, neither did they cordially support a measure which
was really greater than they imagined. The committee, however, was well

1 [The instructions of the town, May 25, mittees ; but Bancroft, who has their papers,
1772, to Gushing and the other representatives, avers positively that Gordon's opinion (i. 312)
are given in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., January, of the idea originating with James Warren of
1871, p. 9. The House later prepared an ad- Plymouth is erroneous. Bancroft's United States,
dress of remonstrance to the king against taxa- vi. 428. See further, Wells's Samiifl Adams, \.
tion without representation, and, July 14, 1772, 509, ii. 62; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic,
it was despatched, signed by Gushing. An origi- pp. 284, 312, 327 ; Barry's Massachusetts, ii. 448,
nal is among the Lee Papers, in the University and other references in Winsor's Handbook, p.
of Virginia. ED.] 20. The town's committee of correspondence

2 Boston Town Records, November, 1772. must not be confounded with the Assembly's

3 [John Adams said that Sam Adams "invent- committee. See R. Frothingham in Mass. Hist.
ed" the committee of correspondence. Froth- Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873. See earlier in this
ingham, Life of Warren, p. 200. There has been chapter for Mayhew's suggestion. See also
some controversy about the origin of these com- Hutchinson, iii. 361 ; and Gordon, i. 314. ED.]

THE BEGIN. XING OF THE REVOLUTION.

LIEUT.-GOVERNOR ANDREW OLIVER. 1

constructed, with Adams and Warren and other citizens of well known
character and the highest patriotism. Otis, though broken in health, was
named chairman, as a compliment for his former services.

1 [This cut follows Copley's portrait of An-
drew Oliver, owned by Dr. F. E. Oliver, by
whose kind permission it is copied. Perkins's
Copley, p. 90. For his family connections see
Mr. Whitmore's chapter in Vol. II. p. 539, and
his more extended genealogy of the Olivers in
N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., April, 1865, p.
101. The two sons of Daniel Oliver (who died
1732, leaving a bequest to the town; see Vol.

judge and mandamus councillor), and Chief-Jus-
tice Peter Oliver. They had close family rela-

II. p. 539) were Andrew Oliver, the Lieut-Gov-
ernor (who died 1774, and was father of Andrew,

tions with Governor Hutchinson, for Andrew's
second wife, Mary, was sister of Hutchinson's
wife, the two being daughters of William San-
ford ; and Dr. Peter Oliver, son of the chief-
justice, married Sarah, daughter of Governor
Hutchinson. Andrew, the mandamus council-
lor, married a sister of the second Judge Lynde,
who presided at the massacre trials. The family
of the Lieut.-Governor, by his second wife, were
refugees with their uncle, the chief-justice. ED.]

44 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

This committee of correspondence met the next day and chose William
Cooper as clerk. By a unanimous vote they gave to each other the pledge

of honor "not to divulge any
P art of the conversation
/ at tne i r meetings to
*t<- any person vvhat-
soever, excepting
what the committee
itself should make
known."

The work to be
done was divided
between them. Adams was appointed to prepare a statement of the rights
of the colonists ; Warren of the several violations of those rights ; and
Church was to draft a letter to the other towns.

On November 20 the report was presented at a legal meeting in Faneuil
Hall. The statement of rights and of grievances, and the letter to the
towns, were masterly presentations of the cause, and carried conviction
throughout the province. Plymouth, Marblehead, Roxbury, and Cam-
bridge responded at once to the call ; and it was not long before commit-
tees of correspondence were everywhere established. The other Colonies
accepted the plan. 1 Virginia saw in it the prospect of union throughout
the continent. So did South Carolina. " An American Congress," wrote
Samuel Adams to Arthur Lee (April 9, 1773), " is no longer the fiction of
a political enthusiast." 2

In the spring of 1773 the East India Company, finding itself embarrassed
from the excessive accumulation of teas in England, owing to the persistent
refusal of American merchants to import them, applied to Parliament for
assistance, and obtained an act empowering the Company to export teas to
America without paying the ordinary duty in England. This would enable
the Company to sell at such low rates that it was thought the colonists
would purchase, even with the tax of threepence on the pound. Accord-
ingly ships were laden with the article and despatched to Charleston, Phila-
delphia, New York, and Boston, and persons were selected in each of these
ports to act as consignees, or "tea commissioners" as they were called.

1 [The report of the committee of correspond- agency of Franklin, and forwarded to the Patri-
ence, made Nov. 20, 1772, was, by order of the ots in Boston. The result was a formal petition
town, printed by Edes & Gill, as The Votes and to the king for the removal of the odious f unc-
Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabi- tionaries. These letters were printed in Boston
tants. Frothingham, Warren, p. 211, etc., has in 1773, and in London in 1774. Mass. Hist, Soc.
much to show the effect this meeting was having Proc., 1878. [See further on this matter, with a
throughout the colonies. ED.] note on the authorities, Vol. II. p. 86 John

2 Secret letters, written by Governor Hutch- Adams saw them as early as March 22, 1773.
inson and Lieut.-Governor Oliver to friends in (Works, ii. 318.) The letters were first pub-
England, favoring military intervention and lished in Boston, June 16, 1773. Thomas
otherwise injuring the cause of the colonists, Newell's "diary" in Proc., October, 1877, p.
were discovered about this time through the 339. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 45

When this news became known, all America was in a flame. The people
were not to be duped by any such appeal to their cupidity. They had
taken their stand upon a principle, and not until that was recognized
would they withdraw their opposition. It seemed strange that England
had not discerned that fact long before.

Nowhere was the feeling more intense on the subject than in Boston.
The consignees were prominent men and friends of the Governor. 1 On
the night of November i they were each one summoned to appear on the
following Wednesday noon, at Liberty Tree, to resign their commissions.
Handbills were also posted over the town, inviting citizens to meet at the
same place. 2 On the day appointed, the bells rang from eleven to twelve
o'clock, and the town-crier summoned the people to meet at Liberty Tree,
which was decorated with a large flag. About five hundred assembled,
including many of the leading Patriots. As the consignees failed to appear,
a committee was appointed to wait upon them and request their resigna-
tion ; and, in case they refused, to present a resolve to them declaring them
to be enemies of their country. The committee, accompanied by many of
the people, repaired to Clarke's warehouse and had a brief parley with the
consignees, who refused to resign their trust.

A legal town-meeting was now called for, and the selectmen issued a war-
rant for one to be held on the fifth. 3 It was largely attended, and Hancock 4
was chosen moderator. A series of eight resolves was adopted, similar to
those which had been recently passed in Philadelphia, and extensively circu-
lated through the press. The consignees were again, through a committee,
asked to resign ; and again they refused, and the meeting adjourned.

On the seventeenth a vessel arrived, announcing that the tea-ships were
on the way to Boston and might be hourly expected. Another legal meet-
ing was immediately notified for the next day, at which Hancock was again
the moderator. Word was sent to the consignees that it was the desire of
the town that they would give a final answer whether they would resign their
appointment. The answer came that they could not comply with the re-

1 Two of them were his sons, Elisha and 4 [Revere's portrait of Hancock is given in
Thomas ; the others were Richard Clarke and the text. It appeared in the Royal Amer. Mag.,
sons, Benj. Faneuil, Jr., and Joshua Winslow. March, 1774, which contains also Hancock's

2 Draper's Gazette of November 3 contained massacre oration of that year. On Nov. u, 1773,
the following: Hutchinson had directed Hancock, as colonel of
" To the Freemen of this and the neighboring towns : th e cadets, to hold them in readiness for service.

" GENTLEMEN, You are desired to meet at Liberty Frothingham, Life of Warren, p. 249, mentions

Tree this day at twelve o'clock at noon ; then and there to the original of this order as being in the hands

hear the persons, to whom the tea shipped by the East of th j c ,_ j w Seyer A cur ; ous .

India Company is consigned, make a public resignation of

their office as consignees, upon oath ; and also swear that m S of Hls E * Cy J ohn Hancock, late President

they will reship any teas that may be consigned to them by of the American Congress, J. Norman, SC.," ap-

said Company, by the first vessel sailing for London. peared in An Impartial History of the War in

" Boston, Nov. 3, i 773 . o. C, Secretary. America, Boston, 1781, vol. i. On the Hancock

" |^~ Show us the man that dare take down this." papers (most of which are printed in the Amer-

Several of these handbills are in possession lean Archives) see Massachusetts Historical Society

of the Mass. Hist. Society. Proceedings, January, 1818, p. 271 and Decem-

3 This warrant is now in the possession of ber, 1857 ; and Vol. IV. of this History, p. 5,
Judge Mellen Chamberlain. note. ED.]

4 6

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

quest. 1 Upon this the meeting dissolved, without passing any vote or
expressing any opinion. " This sudden dissolution," says Hutchinson, 2
" struck more terror into the consignees than the most minatory resolves."

The whole matter was now understood to be in the hands of the com-
mittee of correspondence, who constituted the virtual government of the
province.

On Sunday, November 28, the ship " Dartmouth," Captain Hall, after a
sixty days' passage, appeared in the harbor, with one hundred and four-

The HonV'jOHX HANCOCK.

teen chests of tea. 3 There was no time to be lost. Sunday though it
was, the selectmen and the committee of correspondence held meetings
to take immediate action against the entry of the tea. The consignees
had gone to the Castle ; but a promise was obtained from Francis Rotch,
the owner of the vessel, that it should not be entered until Tuesday.
The towns around Boston 4 were then invited to attend a mass meeting
in Faneuil Hall the next morning. 6 Thousands were ready to respond to

1 The answer is given in Frothingham's Life
of Warren, p. 251.

2 History, Hi. 426.

8 [The next morning, twenty-ninth, the vessel
came up and anchored off Long Wharf (Massa-
chusetts Gazette, November 29). The journal of
the " Dartmouth " is in Traits of the Tea-Party,
p. 259. ED.

4 Dorchester, Roxbury, Brookline, Cam-
bridge, and Charlestown.

8 The following placard appeared on Monday
morning:

" FRIENDS ! BRETHREN ! COUNTRYMEN !
"That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, shipped for
this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in this
harbor. The hour of destruction, or manly opposition to

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 47

this summons, and the meeting was obliged to adjourn to the Old South.
Boston, it was said, had never seen so large a gathering. 1 It was unani-
mously resolved, upon the motion of Samuel Adams, that the tea should
be sent back, and that no duty should be paid on it. " The only way to
get rid of it," said Young, " is to throw it overboard." At an adjourned
meeting in the afternoon, Mr. Rotch entered his protest against the pro-
ceedings; but the meeting, without a dissenting voice, passed the signifi-
cant vote that if Mr. Rotch entered the tea he would do so at his peril.
Captain Hall was also cautioned not to allow any of the tea to be landed.
To guard the ship during the night, a volunteer watch of twenty-five persons
was appointed, under Captain Edward Proctor. " Out of great tenderness"
to the consignees, the meeting adjourned to Tuesday morning, to allow fur-
ther time for consultation. The answer, which was given jointly, then was
that it was not in the power of the consignees to send the tea back ; but
they were ready to store it till they could hear from their constituents.
Before action could be taken on this reply, Greenleaf, the Sheriff of Suffolk,
entered with a proclamation from the Governor, charging the inhabitants
with violating the good and wholesome laws of the province, and " warning,
exhorting, and requiring them, and each of them there unlawfully assembled,
forthwith to disperse." 2 This communication was received with hisses and
a unanimous vote not to disperse. At this juncture, Copley the artist, son-
in-law of Clarke, tendered his services as mediator between the people and
the consignees, and was allowed two hours for the purpose ; but after going
to the Castle he returned with a report which was voted to be " not in the
least degree satisfactory." In the afternoon, Rotch and Hall, yielding to
the demands of the hour, agreed that the tea should return, without touching
land or paying duty. A similar promise was obtained from the owners of
two other tea-ships, which were daily expected ; and resolutions were passed
against such merchants as had even " inadvertently " imported tea while
subject to duty. Armed patrols were appointed for the night ; and six post-
riders were selected to alarm the neighboring towns, if necessary. A report
of the proceedings of the meeting was officially transmitted to every seaport
in Massachusetts; also to New York and Philadelphia, and to England. 3

In a short time the other tea-ships, the " Eleanor" and the "Beaver,"
arrived and, by order of the committee, were moored near the " Dartmouth"
at Griffin's Wharf, 4 that one guard might answer for all. Under the revenue
laws the ships could not be cleared in Boston with the tea on board, nor

the machinations of tyranny, stares you in the face. Every 1 Jonathan Williams was chosen moderator ;

friend to his country, to himself and posterity, is now called and the business of the meeting was conducted

upon to meet at Faneuil Hall at nine o'clock THIS DAY (at ... . .. v j

which time the bells will ring), to make a united and sue- b X Adams Hancock, Young, Mol.neux, and

cessful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive Warren.

measure of Administration." 2 Hutchinson, Massachusetts Bay, lii. 432.

Boston Gazette, Nov. 29, 1773; Wells's Life 8 For accounts of this meeting see Boston

of S. Adams, ii. no. [The original draft of the Post-Boy, News-Letter, and especially the Gazette

call to the committees of the neighboring towns, for Dec. 6, 1773.

in Warren's hand, is owned by Mr. Bancroft. 4 Now Liverpool Wharf, near the foot of

Frothingham's Warren, p. 255. ED.] Pearl Street.

48 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

could they be entered in England ; and, moreover, on the twentieth day from
their arrival they would be liable to seizure. Whatever was done, therefore,
must be done soon. The Patriot leaders were all sincerely anxious to have
the tea returned to London peaceably, and they left nothing undone to
accomplish this object. On the eleventh of December the owner of the
" Dartmouth " was summoned before the committee, and asked why he had
not kept his agreement to send his ship back with the tea. He replied that
it was out of his power to do so. "The ship must go," was the answi-r.
"The people of Boston and the neighboring towns absolutely require and
expect it." l Hutchinson, in the meantime, had taken measures to prevent
her sailing. No vessel was allowed to put to sea without his permit ; the
guns at the Castle were loaded, and Admiral Montagu had sent two war-
ships to guard the passages out of the harbor.

The committees of the towns were in session on the thirteenth. On the
fourteenth, two days before the time would expire, a meeting at the Old
South again summoned Rotch and enjoined upon him, at his peril, to apply
for a clearance. He did so, accompanied by several witnesses. The col-
lector refused to give his answer until the next day, and the meeting
adjourned to Thursday, the sixteenth, the last day of the twenty before con-
fiscation would be legal. For two days the Boston committee of corre-
spondence had been holding consultations of the greatest importance.

" That little body of stout-hearted men were making history that should endure for
ages. Their secret deliberations, could they be exhumed from the dust of time, would
present a curious page in the annals of Boston ; but the seal of silence was upon the
pen of the secretary, as well as upon the lips of the members." 2

On Wednesday Rotch was again escorted to the Custom House, where
both the collector and the comptroller " unequivocally and finally " refused
to grant the " Dartmouth " a clearance unless her teas were discharged.

Thursday, December 16, came at last, dies irae, dies ilia ! and Boston
calmly prepared to meet the issue. At ten o'clock the Old South was filled
from an outside assemblage that included two thousand people from the sur-
rounding country. Rotch appeared and reported that a clearance had been
denied him. He was then directed as a last resort to protest at once against
the decision of the Custom House, and apply to the Governor for a passport
to go by the Castle. Hutchinson, evidently anticipating such an emergency,
had found it convenient to be at his country-seat on Milton Hill, 3 where it
would require considerable time to reach him. Rotch was instructed to
make all haste, and report to the meeting in the afternoon. At three o'clock
the number of people in and around the Old South was estimated at seven
thousand, by far the largest gathering ever seen in Boston. Addresses

1 Bancroft, vi. 482. as Hutchinson's country-seat, is not Hutchin-

2 Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, ii. 119. son's house but another on Milton Hill. The
8 [The mansion which is delineated in Bryant true house was taken down not long since.

and Gay's History of the United States, iii. 372, ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

were made by Samuel Adams, Young, Rowe, Ouincy, 1 and others. "Who
knows," said Rowe, " how tea will mingle with salt water ? " a suggestion
which was received with loud applause. 2 When the question was finally put
to the vast assembly it was unanimously resolved that the tea should not be
landed. It was now getting darker and darker, and the meeting-house could
only be dimly lighted with a few candles ; yet the people all remained, know-
ing that the great question must soon be decided. About six o'clock Rotch
appeared and reported that he had waited on the Governor, but could not
obtain a pass, as his vessel was not duly qualified. No sooner had he con-
cluded than Samuel Adams arose and said : " This meeting can do nothing
more to save the country." 3 Instantly a shout was heard at the porch ; the
war-whoop resounded, and a band of forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians,
rushed by the door and hurried down toward the harbor, 4 followed by
a throng of people ; guards were carefully posted, according to previous
arrangements, around Griffin's wharf to prevent the intrusion of spies. The
" Mohawks," and some others accompanying them, sprang aboard the three
tea-ships and emptied the contents of three hundred and forty-two chests of
tea into the bay, "without the least injury to the vessels or any other prop-
erty." No one interfered with them ; no person was harmed ; no tea was
allowed to be carried away. There was no confusion, no noisy riot, no

1 [The speech which Josiah Quincy, Jr. de-
livered at this meeting, Dec. 16, 1773, together
with one of Otis in 1767, are the only reports at
any length of all the speeches made in Boston pub-
lic meetings from 1768 to 1775. Frothingham's
Warren, p. 39. Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy,
Jr., 2d ed. p. 124. Mr. Quincy's speech is pre-
served only in a letter which, after he had gone to
England, he wrote to his wife from London, Dec.
14, 1774, and the words given by Gordon were
copied from the manuscript still existing. It
counselled moderation. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
Dec. 16, 1873, Mr. Waterston's address. ED.]

2 Miles, Principles and Acts of t lie Revolution,
pp. 485, 486.

3 Francis Rotch's information before the
privy council. [The moderator of this meeting
was William Phillips Savage. His portrait is
owned by Mr. G. H. Emery. The original min-
utes, in the hand of William Cooper, of the meet-
ings from Nov. 29, 1773, are preserved among
the papers in the Charity Building. They show
the names of the watch of twenty-five men, under
Captain Proctor, who were to guard the ships
that night ; and later each successive watch was
empowered to appoint its successors for the fol-
lowing night. The.final report of Mr. Rotch is
entered in the minutes for December 16, as
follows :

" Mr. Rotch attended and informed that he
had demanded a pass for his vessel of the Gov-
ernor, who answered that he was willing to grant
anything consistent with the laws and his duty to
VOL. in. 7.

the King, but that he could not give a pass un-
less the vessel was properly qualified from the
Custom House ; that he should make no distinc-
tion between this and any other vessel, provided
she was properly cleared.

" Mr. Rotch was then asked whether he would
send his vessel back with the tea under her pres-
ent circumstances; he answered that he could
not possibly comply, as he apprehended it would
be to his risk. He was further asked whether he
would land the tea ; he answered he had no busi-
ness with it unless he was properly called upon
to do it, when he should attempt a compliance
for his own security.

" Voted, that this meeting be dissolved ; and
it was accordingly dissolved."

Here the minutes end, the remaining leaves
of the book being blank. ED.]

4 [The conclave which had decided upon this
movement had been held in the back office of
Edes & Gill's printing house, on the site of the
present Daily Advertiser building. A room over
the office was often the meeting place of the Pa-
triots, and the frequenters got to be known as
the Long-Room Club. Drake, Landmarks, p.
81. There is some reason to believe that this
was the office of Josiah Quincy, Jr. A letter
about the punch-bowl used by the Patriots be-
fore going to the wharf is given in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., December, 1871. Lossing, Field- Book
of the Revolution, \. 499, gives the portrait of
David Kinnison, the last survivor of the " Mo-
hawks." ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

infuriated mob. The multitude stood by and looked on in solemn silence
while the weird-looking figures, 1 made distinctly visible in the moonlight,
removed the hatches, tore open the chests, and threw the entire cargo
overboard. This strange spectacle lasted about three hours, and then
the people all went home and the town was as quiet as if nothing had
happened. The next day fragments of the tea were seen strewn along
the Dorchester shore, carried thither by the wind and tide. 2 A formal
declaration of the transaction was drawn up by the Boston committee ;
and Paul Revere was sent with despatches to New York and Philadelphia,
where the news was received with the greatest demonstrations of joy. 3 In
Boston the feeling was that of intense satisfaction proceeding from the con-
sciousness of having exhausted every possible measure of legal redress
before undertaking this bold and novel mode of asserting the rights of the
people. 4 " We do console ourselves," said John Scollay, one of the select-
men, and an actor in the scene, "that we have acted constitutionally." 5
"This is the most magnificent movement of all," said John Adams. 6 "There

1 The names of the actors in this scene, as
well as of those who planned it, were not di-
vulged till after the Revolutionary War. It is
supposed that about one hundred and forty per-
sons were engaged in it. [The " Dartmouth's "
journal says one thousand people came on the
wharf. The party actually boarding the ships
has been estimated from seventeen to thirty, the
former number being all that have been identi-
fied. See Frothingham in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
Dec. 16, 1873, xy ho thinks that the list given in
Hewes's book is not accurate as respects those
who boarded the ships. " Several of the party
have been identified, but the claims presented
for others are doubtful." John Adams refused
to have the names given him. ( Works, ii. 334.)
Captain Henry Purkitt, who is called the last
survivor of the party, died March 3, 1846, aged
ninety-one. As to Hewes, see also Loring's Hun-
dred Boston Orators, p. 554. ED.]

2 Barry, ii. 473. [A small quantity of it is
preserved in a phial in the Mass. Hist. Society's
cabinet. Thomas Newell records in his diary,
Jan. I, 1774: "Last evening a number of per-
sons went over to Dorchester and brought from
thence part of a chest of tea, and burnt it in our
Common the same evening." A fourth vessel of
the tea-fleet was wrecked on the back side of
Cape Cod. The Boston committee immediately
sent a message in that direction. " The people
of the Cape will we hope behave with propriety,
and as becomes men re-
solved to serve their

country." We next hear
of this tea in a letter
from Samuel Adams to
James Warren, Jan. 10,
1774. "The tea which
was cast on shore at the

Cape has been brought up, and after much con-
sultation landed at Castle William, the safe asy-
lum for our inveterate enemies. ... It is said
that the Indians this way, if they had suspected
the Marshpee tribe would have been so sick at
the knee, would have marched on snow-shoes to
have done the business for them." It seems
that Clarke, one of the consignees, had despatched
a lighter and brought the chests off. Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873. Vessels subse-
quently arriving were examined ; and in March,
1774, twenty-eight and a half chests were simi-
larly disposed of by similar " Indians." ED.]

3 [Revere returned from this mission Decem-
ber 27 ; and bringing word that Governor Tryon
had engaged to send the New York tea-ships
back, all the Boston bells were rung the next
morning. Thomas A T ewelFs Diary. ED.]

4 " Fast spread the tempest's darkening pall ;

The mighty realms were troubled ;
The storm broke loose, but first of all
The Boston teapot bubbled.

" The lurid morning shall reveal

A fire no king can smother,
When British flint and Boston steel,

Have clashed against each other ! "

O. W. HOLMES.

5 Letter to Arthur Lee, Dec. 23, 1773.

6 Diary, Dec. 17, 1773. [Two pages of this
diary, of which the accompanying fac-simile is a

<- t/f . 11

//
*+ 3

./*,

< A'c

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the Patriots that I
greatly admire." *

The blow was now struck ; the deed was done ; and there was no re-
treat. The enemies of liberty talked of treason, arrests, and executions ;
but the Patriots almost everywhere rejoiced, and pledged themselves to
support the common cause. Independence was now openly advocated ;
a congress was called for; and "Union" was the cry from New Eng-
land to Carolina. 2

When the news of the destruction of the tea reached England it pro-
duced a profound sensation, both in Government circles and among the
people. Coercion was at once resolved upon as the only means of check-

fragment, are given in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
Dec. 16, 1873. ED.]

1 Charles Waterton, the enterprising travel-
ler and naturalist, of Walton Hall, Wakefield,
Yorkshire, makes a humorous reference to the
Tea-Party, in his autobiography, written between
1812 and 1824 : " It is but some forty years ago
our western brother had a dispute with his nurse
about a cup of tea. She wanted to force the boy
to drink it according to her own receipt. He
said he did not like it, and that it absolutely
made him ill. After a good deal of sparring,
she took up the birch rod and began to whip
him with uncommon severity. He turned upon
her in self-defence, showed her to the outside
of the nursery door, and never more allowed her
to meddle with his affairs."

- [Among the contemporary sources for the
understanding of these transactions may be named
the following: G. R. T. Hewes, who was one of
the participants, with the aid of B. B. Thacher,
prepared Traits of the Tea-Party, N. Y. 1835
(see also Retrospect of the Boston Tea- Party -with
a Memoir of Haves, by a citizen of New York,
N. Y. 1834. Brinley Catalogue, Nos. 1681 and
1682) ; and in this book the names of fifty-eight
actors in the scene are given. The names in-
scribed on the monument of Captain Peter
Slater (who was one of the party) in Hope
Cemetery, New Worcester, are sixty-three in
number. Both lists include Moses Grant, Wil-
liam Molineaux, Paul Revere, G. T. R. Hewes,
Thomas Melville, Samuel Sprague, Jonathan
Hunnewell, John Prince, John Russell. (Massa-
chusetts Spy, Dec. 16, 1873.) Sprague was the
father of Charles Sprague; Russell was the
father of Benjamin Russell. Hewes lived at
the Bull's Head, an old house on the northeast
corner of Water and Congress streets. He died
Nov. 5, 1840, at ninety-eight. There are let-
ters from Boston in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. iv. 373 ;
as also the examination of Dr. Williamson be-
fore the King's council, Feb. 19, 1774. A paper,
"Information of Hugh Williamson" is in the
Sparks MSS. Admiral Montagu, writing Dec.
J 7> !773> to the Lords of the Admiralty, says he

was never called upon for assistance, and he
could easily have prevented the execution of the
plan; and the Evening Post, May 16, 1774, ven-
tured from the admiral's admission to draw the
conclusion that Hutchinson and his party con-
nived at the business. The first accounts received
in England are given in the Gentleman' 1 s Magazine,
1774, p. 26. An account is in the Boston Gazette,
Dec. 20, 1773, or Buckingham's Reminiscences, i.
169; a contemporary record in Andrews's let-
ters in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1865, p. 325 ; Thomas
Newell's Diary in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., October,
1877; contemporary verses in Mag. of Amer.
History, March, 1880; Hutchinson's narrative is
in his Massachusetts Bay, iii. 430. Hutchinson's
papers in the State House throw much light on
these disturbed times, and some of his letters are
copied by Frothingham in his paper in the Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., December, 1873. His interview
with the king, July i, 1774, after his return to
England, as reported in his journal, and covering
these transactions, has only of late years been
made public. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., October,
1877, p. 326. Other contemporary documents
will be found in Force's American Archives, i. ;
Niles's Principles and Acts of the Revolution ;
Franklin's Works, viii. ; John Adams's Works, ii.
323, 334, and ix. 333. An appeal of " Scaevola "
to the commissioners appointed for the sale of tea
in America was printed as a broadside, and a copy
is in the Sparks MSS. xlix. vol. ii. p. 115. Of
the eclectic later accounts the fullest is in Froth-
ingham's Life of Warren, ch. ix. ; and in his paper
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873, where will
be found the contributions of others to that com-
memorative occasion. See also Bancroft, vi. ch. 1. ;
Barry, Massachusetts, ii. ch. xiv. and xv. ; Wells's
Sam. Adams, ii. ; Tudor's Otis, ch. xxi. ; Snow's
Boston ; Niles's Register, 1827, p. 75; Lossing's
Field-Book ; and Harper's Monthly, iv. Also
James Kimball in Essex Institute Proceedings.
The English writers are May's Constitutional
History of England, ii. 521; Massey's England,
ii. ch. xviii. ; Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, ii. ; Mac-
knight's Burke, ii ch. xx. ; and the usual general
historians. ED.)

52 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ing the unruly and defiant spirit which had become dominant in Boston.
On March 7 the King, in addressing Parliament, accused the Americans of
attempting to injure British commerce and to subvert its constitution.
The message was accompanied with a mass of papers and letters. 1 Lord
North demanded additional powers in order to re-establish peace. The
question at issue, it was said, was whether the colonies were or were not
the colonies of Great Britain. If they were, they should be held firmly;
if they were not, they should be released. Upon this question there was,
just at this time, great unanimity in England. The authority of the Crown,
it was urged, must be maintained at all hazards. Any act in violation of
that must be punished. Even the party in opposition yielded much upon
this point. Thus the ministry were fully prepared to introduce the most
pronounced penal measures; and on the eighteenth, Lord North, disre-
garding constitutional forms, which forbid that any should be condemned
unheard, brought in the famous Boston Port Bill, a measure for suspend-
ing the trade and closing the harbor of Boston during the king's pleasure,
and enforcing the act by the joint operations of an army and a fleet. 2 The
bill was stoutly opposed by Burke, Barre, Dowdeswell, Pownall, and others;
but in two weeks it passed through the various stages and was carried
without a division in the Commons, and unanimously in the Lords, and
became a law March 31 by the royal assent. This act was to go into effect
on the first day of June. It took away from Boston the privilege of land-
ing and discharging, as well as of loading and shipping, all goods, wares,
and merchandise. 3 It constituted Marblehead a port of entry, and Salem
the seat of government. As if this were not enough, Lord North now
brought in within a month a series of measures, compared with which all
that had gone before was mild and legitimate. The ministry seemed de-
termined to wreak their vengeance upon the devoted head of Massachu-
setts ; and nothing was too arbitrary, radical, or revolutionary for them to
recommend. Up to this point there might have been a way of reconcili-
ation. The cruel and exasperating Port Bill would probably have been
withdrawn upon certain easy and perhaps reasonable conditions. The tea-
tax and its preamble, which gave such offence to the colonists, might have
been repealed; indeed an attempt to do so was made on April 19, when
Edmund Burke made his ever memorable speech. 4 But when the penal

1 These letters were from Hutchinson and Court, Temple, is in the Lee Papers, University

other royal governors, and from Admiral Mon- of Virginia. ED.]

tagu and the consignees of the tea, accom- 2 "The offence of the Americans," it was

panied by a large number of pamphlets, mani- said in the course of the debate, "is flagitious,

festoes, handbills, etc., issued in the colonies. The town of Boston ought to be knocked about

[The king and council had already, Feb. 7, their ears and destroyed. Delenda est Carthago.

1774, considered the petition of the House of You will never meet with proper obedience to

Representatives for the removal of Hutchinson the laws of this country until you have de-

and Oliver, and had dismissed the charges " as stroyed that nest of locusts." Mass. Gazette,

groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and cal- May 19, 1774.

culated only for the seditious purpose of keep- 8 [See Sargent's Dealings with the Dead, \.

ing up a spirit of clamour and discontent." The 1 53. ED.]
official copy sent to Arthur Lee, No. 3 Garden * Works, Boston, 1865, vol. ii. p. i.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 53

measures, commonly known as the Regulation or Reconstructive Acts,
were passed, a fatal blow was struck at the American system of local self-
government, and the conflict was beyond recall.

These acts, which passed in rapid succession during the month of April,
were for the purpose of " regulating the government of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay." ] The speech of Lord George Germain, on the intro-
duction of the bill, shows how sadly ignorance concerning America, and
contempt for her institutions, had pervaded England at this time. Speak-
ing of North's plan to punish the people of Massachusetts, he said :

" Nor can I think he will do a better thing than to put an end to their town-
meetings. I would not have men of a mercantile cast every day collecting them-
selves together and debating about political matters. I would have them follow their
occupations as merchants, and not consider themselves as ministers of that country.
... I would wish to see the Council in that country similar to the House of Lords
in this. . . . The whole are the proceedings of a tumultuous and riotous rabble, who
ought, if they had the least prudence, to follow their mercantile employments, and not
trouble themselves with politics and government which they do not understand."

When he had finished this remarkable speech, Lord North arose and
said : " I thank the noble lord for every proposition he has held out. They
are worthy of a great mind, and such as ought to be adopted." 2

For the purpose of strengthening the executive authority, these Regula-
tion Acts, without giving any hearing to the Province, provided,

1. In total viojation of the charter, that the councillors who had been
chosen hitherto by the Legislature should be appointed by the king, and
hold at his pleasure. The superior judges were to hold at the will of the
king, and be dependent upon him for their salaries ; and the inferior
judges were to be removable at the discretion of the royal governor. The
sheriffs were to be appointed and removed by the executive ; and the juries
were to be selected by the dependent sheriffs. Town-meetings were to be
abolished, except for the election of officers, o'r by the special permission of
the Governor. This bill passed by a vote of more than three to one.

2. Magistrates, revenue officers, and soldiers, charged with capital of-
fences, could be tried in England or Nova Scotia. This bill passed by
a vote of more than four to one.

3. A military act provided for the quartering of troops upon the
towns. 3

These oppressive edicts, said the Massachusetts committee in their cir-
cular, were only what might have been expected from a Parliament claim-
ing 4 the right to make laws binding the colonies " in all cases whatsoever."

1 [The debates are given in 4 Force's Ameri- don, American Revolution, \. 232-235. Mahon,
can Archives, i. ED.] History of England, vi. 5, 6. Bancroft, vi. 525,

2 Parliamentary History, xvii. pp. 1192-1195. 526. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 345-
Also Boston newspapers of May 19 and 23, 347. Dana, Oration at Lexington, April 19, 1875.
1774. 4 In the declaratory act. See earlier in this

3 Boston Post-Boy, June 6 and 13, 1774. Gor- chapter.

54 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The news of the Port Act created, as may well be supposed, the greatest
indignation in the colonies ; but Boston stood firm, and the other seaports
refused to profit by her patriotic sufferings.

In May Hutchinson was recalled, to the great relief of the people of the
province; and Thomas Gage, Commander-in-chief of the continent, was
appointed also Governor of Massachusetts. In all the political agitations
in the colonies thus far, Gage had behaved so discreetly as an officer that
he enjoyed a considerable share of public confidence. After a lengthy in-
terview with his predecessor at Castle William, he landed at Long Wharf,
on May 17, saluted by the ships and batteries, and received by the civil
officers of the province. The cadets, under Colonel Hancock, performed
escort duty, and the council presented a loyal address at the State House. 1
A public dinner followed at Faneuil Hall. 2 Undoubtedly this welcome
given to Gage was owing, in part, to the delight of the people at the re-
tirement of Hutchinson. 3 But it soon appeared that the new Governor,
with many excellent traits, was not the man to reconcile or to subdue, if
indeed any such man could have been found in the whole British service
at this critical moment. It devolved upon Gage to close the port of Bos-
ton and to enforce the measures of the odious Regulation Acts. The
blockade of the harbor began on the first day of June, after which all inter-
course by water, even among the nearest islands or from pier to pier, was
rigidly forbidden. Not a ferry could ply to Charlestown, nor a scow to
Dorchester. Warehouses were at once useless, wharves deserted, and or-
dinary business prostrated. All classes felt the scourge of the oppressor;
yet there was no regret at the position which the town had deliberately
taken in defence of its constitutional rights. These were dearer to the in-
habitants than property or peace or even life itself, as was shortly to be
proved. Expressions of sympathy poured in from all quarters. Supplies
of food and money were generously sent from the other colonies as well
as from the neighboring towns. 4 Salem and Marblehead scorned to profit

1 ["The Town House is fitted up in the most 4 [There are at the City Hall various lists of
elegant manner, with the whole of the outside donations received at this time, with the records
painted of a stone color, which gives it a fine of the donation committee. See Vol. I. p. xx.
appearance." June, 1773, in Mass. Hist. Soc. The correspondence of this committee is in 4
Proc., July, 1865, p. 324. Hancock had the pre- Mass. Hist. Coll., iv. Colonel A. H. Hoyt has
vious March, 1774, delivered the usual Massacre given an account of these gifts in the N. E. Hist.
oration, which in the opinion of some was writ- and Geneal. Reg., July, 1876. A subscription-
ten by Samuel Adams. John Adams's Works, list of contributions raised in Virginia in 1774,
ii. 332; Wells's S. Adams. ED.| for the "distressed inhabitants of Boston," is

2 [Gage at this " elegant entertainment gave printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Decem-
' Governor Hutchinson ' as a toast, which was re- ber, 1857. When the Marbleheaders sent in
ceived by a general hiss." Mass. Hist. Soc. provisions for the Boston poor, they were re-
Proc., 1865, p. 328. En.] fused passage for them by water, and an expensive

8 [The friends of Hutchinson and the pre- land-carriage of twenty-eight miles was rendered

rogative made themselves conspicuous by an ad- necessary, as even a ferry passage was refused,

dress on his leaving the province, and a list of Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1865,1?. 336. Benefactors

the "addressers" is given in Mass. Hist. Soc. in South Carolina and Connecticut were equally

Proc., October, 1870. ED.] compelled to pay for a land passage. ED.]

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 55

by the sufferings of Boston, and offered the free use of their wharves and
stores. 1

The committee of correspondence assumed with much ability the ar-
duous and responsible task of guiding public affairs at this crisis. " A
solemn league and covenant " to suspend all commercial intercourse with
England, and forego the use of all British merchandise, was forwarded to
every town in the province ; and the names of those who refused to sign it
were to be published. The first act of the Legislature at Salem was to
protest against the illegal order for its removal. The House of Represen-
tatives was the fullest ever known in the country, one hundred and twenty-
nine being present. It was for them to fix the time and place for the
proposed meeting of the Continental Congress, for which Samuel Adams
and his coadjutors were diligently laboring. 2 While they were sitting with
closed doors a message came from the Governor dissolving the Assembly,
but not until its important work had been done. 3 Baffled in his purposes
and chagrined at the success of the Patriots, Gage, without consulting the
council, issued his foolish and malignant proclamation against the com-
bination not to purchase British goods. He denounced it as " unwarrant-
able, hostile, and traitorous ; " its subscribers as " open and declared enemies
of the King and Parliament;" and he "enjoined and commanded all ma-
gistrates and other officers ... to apprehend and secure for trial all
persons who might publish or sign, or invite others to sign, the covenant."
It was known that the Governor was endeavoring to fasten charges of
rebellion upon several of the popular leaders, in order to secure their ar-
rest; but his plans did not succeed.

In August the Regulation Acts were officially received by Gage and
immediately put into effect, sweeping away the long cherished Charter of
Massachusetts, and precipitating the irreversible choice between submis-
sion and resistance. Samuel Adams wrote: 4

" Boston suffers with dignity. If Britain by her multiplied oppressions accelerates
the independency of her colonies, whom will she have to blame but herself? It is

1 [In 1774 John Kneeland printed at Boston of the prevailing feeling is found in Andrews's

a part of Thomas Prince's sermon on the de- letters. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1865^.327.

structionof D'Anville's fleet in 1746, "with a view ED.]

to encourage and animate the people of God to * [C. M. Endicott's Leslie's Retreat, p. 9.

put their trust in him, under the severe and ED.]

keen distresses now taking place, by the rigor- 3 The Congress was appointed to meet in
ous execution of the Port Kill." Ellis Gray, September, at Philadelphia, and the Massachu-
writing from Boston at this time to a friend in setts delegates were Bowdoin (who, however,
Jamaica, somewhat drolly apologizes for his could not attend), Samuel Adams, John Adams,
slack correspondence on the ground that he Gushing, and Robert Treat Paine. [This Con-
lived "seventeen miles from a sea-port," re- gress sat in Philadelphia from September 5 to
ferring to Salem and Marblehead. See Mass. October 26. The idea of it is said to have
Hist. Soc. Proc , March, 1876, p. 315. The Royal originated with Franklin. Its proceedings, is-
Amer. Mag., June, 1774, has one of Revere 's sued in Philadelphia, were at once reprinted in
satires on the Port Bill, in "The Able Doctor, or Boston. Numerous references are given in
America swallowing the bitt?r Draught." The Winsor's Handbook, pp. 16-19. ED.]
same magazine for May contains the act for * Letters to William Checkley and Charles
blockading the port of Boston. An expression Thomson, June I and 2, 1774.

56 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

a consolatory thought that an empire is rising in America. . . . Our people think
they should pursue the line of the Constitution as far as they can ; and if they are
driven from it they can with propriety and justice appeal to God and to the world.
. . . Nothing is more foreign to our hearts than a spirit of rebellion. Would to God
they all, even our enemies, knew the warm attachment we have for Great Britain,
notwithstanding we have been contending these ten years with them for our rights ! "

That attachment was ruthlessly severed by the operation of the new acts.
" \Ve were not the revolutionists," says Mr. Dana. 1 " The King and Parlia-
ment were the revolutionists. They were the radical innovators. We were
the conservators of existing institutions. They were seeking to overthrow
and reconstruct on a theory of parliamentary omnipotence. . . . We broke
no chain."

Boston was now occupied by a large military force. The Fourth, Fifth,
Thirty-eighth, and Forty-third regiments, together with twenty-two pieces
of cannon and three companies of artillery, were encamped on the Common. 2
The Welsh Fusileers were encamped on Fort Hill, and several companies
of the Sixty-fourth were at Castle William, where most of the powder and
other stores had been removed from New York. The Fifty-ninth was en-
camped at Salem, to protect the meetings of the new mandamus council ;
and two companies of the Sixty-fourth were at Danvers, to cover the Govern-
or's residence. 3 The camp at Boston was, in the absence of Gage, under
command of Earl Percy, who had recently arrived with Colonels Pigott and
Jones. Lord Percy describes the situation with some minuteness in his
letters written to friends in England at this time: 4

" The people, by all accounts, are extremely violent and wrong-headed ; so much
so that I fear we shall be obliged to come to extremities." " One thing I will be bold

1 Oration at Lexineton, April IO, 1875. " And over a " the P en preen
,,.. ,. , , T> L Where crazed <>l late the harmless kine,
- [We get a glimpse of the British camp at The cannon - s deepening ruts are seen,
this time in the privately printed Memoir and The war-horse stamps, the bayonets shine."
Letters of Captain W. Glanville Evelyn of the John Andrews, writing of the delegation to
Fourth Regiment ("King's Ckvn"), which was the Congress of September, 1774, says: "Robert
printed in 1879 at Oxford, edited by G. D. Scull. Treat Paine set out with the committee this
This officer joined his regiment in June, 1774, and morning [Aug. 10]. They made a very respect-
wrote home sundry letters here preserved, in able parade in sight of five of the regiments
which the provincials appear as " rascals and encamped on the Common ; being in a coach
poltroons." In December he was quartered in a and four, preceded by two white servants well
house, and, having "laid in a good stock of Port mounted and armed, with four blacks behind in
and Madeira, hoped to spend the winter as well livery, two on horseback and two footmen."
as our neighbors." He speaks of Sam Adams Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., July, 1865, p. 339. En.|
" as moving and directing this immense conti- 8 [Here, at the country residence of Robert
nent, a man of ordinary birth and desperate Hooper, " King Hooper "of Marblehead, Gage
fortune, who, by his abilities and talent for fac- had his headquarters for a while, Salem being
tious intrigue, has made himself of some conse- then, under the Port Bill, the capital. On Aug.
quence; whose political existence depends upon 27, 1774, Gage left Danvers and moved his
the continuance of the present dispute, and who headquarters to Boston, and the Fifty-ninth
must sink into insignificancy and beggary the and Sixty-fourth regiments soon followed him,
moment it ceases " (p. 46). " Hancock is a poor the former taking post on Boston Neck to
contemptible fool, led about by Adams." Dr. throw up entrenchments there. ED.]
Holmes draws the picture of the Common at 4 Private letters in possession of his Grace
this time : the Duke of Northumberland, and copied, by

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 57

to say, which is, that till you make their committees of correspondence and con-
gresses with the other colonies high treason, and try them for it in England, you never
must expect perfect obedience from this to the mother country." " This is the most
beautiful country I ever saw in my life, and if the people were only like it we should
do very well. Everything, however, is as yet quiet, but they threaten much. Not
that I believe they dare act." " We have at last got the new acts, and twenty-six of
the new council have accepted and are sworn in ; but for my own part, I doubt
whether they will be more active than the old ones. Such a set of timid creatures I
never did see. Those of the new council that live at any distance from town have
remained here ever since they took the oaths, and are, I am told, afraid to go home
again. As for the opposite party, they are arming and exercising all over the country.
. . . Their method of eluding that part of the act which relates to the town-meetings
is strongly characteristic of the people. They say that since the town-meetings are
forbid by the act, they shall not hold them ; but as they do not see any mention made
of county meetings, they shall hold them for the future. They therefore go a mile out
of town, do just the same business there they formerly did in Boston, call it a county
meeting, and so elude the act. 1 In short, I am certain that it will require a great
length of time, much steadiness, and many troops, to re-establish good order and gov-
ernment. I plainly foresee that there is not a new councillor or magistrate who will
dare to act without at least a regiment at his heels ; and it is not quite clear to me
that he will even act then as he ought to do." " The delegates from this province are
set out (August 21) to meet the General Congress at Philadelphia. They talk much
of non-importation, and an agreement between the colonies. ... I flatter myself,
however, that instead of agreeing to anything, they will all go by the ears together at
this Congress. If they don't, there will be more work cut out for administration in
America than perhaps they are aware of."

It soon appeared that the new acts were powerless to accomplish the end
contemplated by the Government. With all the support furnished by a royal
governor, royal judges, and a royal army, the courts could not sit, jurors would
not serve, and the people would not obey. Sheriffs were timid, councillors
resigned their places and soldiers deserted. Meanwhile the colonists were
busy, maturing their plans in clubs, caucuses, and conventions. Whether
these were legal or illegal under the new act, they did not stop to inquire.

permission, by the present writer. Hugh Earl ment until the year 1786, when he succeeded his

.Percy was born August 25, 1742. In early life father as Duke of Northumberland. For many

he adopted the military profession, and served years his time was chiefly employed in improving

under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in the his princely estates. During the war with France,

Seven Years' War. He arrived in Boston July 5, he raised from among his tenantry a corps of

1774, with the Fifth Regiment of foot, and re- fifteen hundred men, called the "Percy Yeo-

mained in the service in this country until May manry," the whole corps being paid, clothed, and

3, 1777, when he returned to England with the maintained by himself. He was a Knight of the

rank of lieut.-general in North America. He Garter, a member of several learned societies,

was especially prominent at Lexington, and in and the recipient of many of the highest hon-

the attack on Fort Washington, at King's Bridge, ors of the realm. He died at Northumberland

Soon after his return to England, he was selected House, London, July 10, 1817, in the seventy-

to head a commission to offer terms of concilia- fifth year of his age, and was buried in St.

tion to Congress ; but, owing to a division in the Nicholas Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
British Cabinet, Lord Percy declined the offer, J [This explains the somewhat strange appel-

and the project was abandoned. After this, he lation of the " Suffolk Resolves," mentioned

represented the city of Westminster in Parlia- later in the text. ED.]
VOL. m. 8.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

No act of Parliament, they maintained, could impose restrictions upon, those
ancient and chartered rights which they had always enjoyed. With this

1 This cut follows an engraving by V. Green,
executed in London, in 1777, and measuring 18
X I2j^ inches. The plate was engraved from a

portrait presented by the Duke of Northumber-
land, July 30, 1776, to the magistrates of West-
minster, and placed in the council chamber of

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

conviction they had resisted the injustice of the Stamp Act and the Tea
Act, and they were not the men to yield now to a tyranny far greater than
either.

THE WARREN HOUSE IN ROXBURY. 1

The Regulating Act had not been long in operation before the popular
resistance which it encountered found appropriate expression in the famous
Suffolk Resolves drawn up by Warren, who acted as a kind of director-gen-
eral during the absence of Samuel Adams at Philadelphia. These resolves,

their Guild Hall in commemoration of Lord Per-
cy's public services. The portrait was evidently
a duplicate of the one by Pompeio Battoni, now
at Alnwick Castle, a copy of which was made in
1879 by order of the present Duke and presented,
through the writer of this chapter, to the Town
of Lexington. Another likeness of Earl Percy,
taken later in life, may be seen with a brief ac-
count in Captain Evelyn's Memoir and Letters,
p. 127

1 [This cut follows a painting now owned by
the wife of Dr. Buckminster Brown, of Boston, a
descendant of General Warren. The house was
built in 1720 by Joseph Warren, the General's
grandfather. It was used as quarters for Colonel
David Brewer's regiment during the summer of

1775. The late Dr. John C. Warren acquired
the estate in 1805; and selling off all but the
house in 1833, he built, in 1846, the present stone
cottage on the site. (Life of Dr. John Warren,
ch. i.) In the old house (of which another view,
as well as one of the present cottage, is given
in Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 213) Joseph
Warren was born, in 1741 ; but at this time he
lived on Hanover Street, where the American
House now stands, hiring the mansion house of
Joseph Green, which stood there. Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., 1875, p. 101. Ellis Ames, Esq., has
parts of Warren's day-book between January,
1771, and January, 1775, showing the extent of
his medical practice. Frothingham, Life of
Warren t p. 167. ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

nineteen in number, 1 were adopted in September by the Suffolk convention,
which met first at Dedham, 2 and then, by adjournment, at Milton. 3 They

declared that the sovereign who breaks his compact with his subjects forfeits
their allegiance. They arraigned the unconstitutional acts of Parliament,

1 Given in Frothingham's Warren, pp. 365-
367, and Appendix i.

2 At the house of Richard Woodward.
8 At the house of Daniel Vose.

4 [This cut follows a painting by Copley, now

in the possession of Dr. Buckminster Brown, of
Boston, who kindly allowed it to be photographed
for the engraver's use. Perkins, in his Copley's
Life and Paintings, p. 115, says : " The canvas is
about five feet long by four wide, and the color-

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

and rejected all officers appointed under their authority. They directed
collectors of taxes to pay over no money to the royal treasurer. They
advised the towns to choose their officers of militia from the friends of the
people. They favored a Provincial Congress, and promised respect and
submission to the Continental Congress. They determined to act upon the
defensive as long as reason and self-preservation would permit, " but no
longer." They threatened to seize every Crown officer in the province as
hostages if the Governor should arrest any one for political reasons. They

ing is very beautiful. It was one of Copley's
last portraits before he left Boston for Europe
in 1774, and as a piece of artistic skill, as well
as for its historic interest, has been pronounced
by good judges to be one of the most valuable
of Copley's portraits in this country. It was
painted while General Warren was the presiding
officer of the Massachusetts Congress." The
sitter and the artist were intimate friends, and
the portrait was painted for General Warren's
children, and has always been in the possession
of some branch of the family. This portrait, with
that of Mrs. Warren, by the same artist, was
loaned to Mr. W. W. Corcoran for exhibition in
his gallery at Washington, D. C. There is ex-
tant a letter from Lord Lyndhurst in which he
makes inquiries respecting it, in reference, it is
supposed, to the possibility of securing it for an
English collection. These paintings have been in
Boston since the spring of 1876, and have never
before been reproduced. That of Mrs. Warren,
of the same size, was probably painted three or
four years previously. She died in 1773, at l ^ e
age of twenty-six.

The familiar engraved likeness of General
Warren, following another Copley, 29 x 24 inches,
in citizen's dress, showing one hand, was origi-
nally owned by General Arnold Welles who mar-
ried Warren's daughter, from whom it passed to
the late Dr. John C. Warren, and is now owned
by his grandson of the same name. Another half-
length by Copley, belonging to the city, is now in
the Art Museum. Early engravings of Warren
are to be found in the Impartial History of the
War, Boston edition (engraved by J. Norman,
full-length, and showing the battle of Bunker
Hill in the background), and in the Boston Maga-
zine, May, 1784, following Copley's picture and
engraved by J. Norman. A colored engraving
resembling Copley's likeness was also frequently
seen, and a copy is now preserved in the pavilion
on Bunker Hill. A portrait statue, based on
Copley's likeness, and executed by Henry Dexter,
was erected in this pavilion in 1857, when dedica-
tory services took place on the anniversary of
the battle, with an address by Edward Everett.
An engraving of the statue is given in the com-
memorative volume which was issued at the time
by the Bunker Hill Monument Association. See

also George Washington Warren's History of
the Bunker Hill Monument Association.

General Warren left four children, two sons
and two daughters. The sons died in early
manhood. One daughter married General Ar-
nold \Velles, of Boston, and died without chil-
dren. The second daughter was twice married :
first to Mr. Lyman, of Northampton, and sec-
ond to Judge Newcomb, of Greenfield, Mass.
This daughter died in 1826, leaving one son,
Joseph W T arren Newcomb, who had two chil-
dren, a son and daughter. The descendants of
General Warren now living are a great-grand-
daughter, who is married and lives in Boston,
and a great-great-grandson, who is a cadet at
West Point.

A sumptuous volume, Genealogy of Warren,
by Dr. John C. Warren, was printed in Boston,
in 1854, to show the connections of the Patriot
both in this country and presumably and pos-
sibly in England. For an account of the papers
of General Warren, see Life of John C. Warren,
i. 217. One of Pendleton's earliest lithographs
was of Warren's portrait, which appeared with
a memoir in the Boston Monthly Magazine, June,
1826.

Abigail Adams repeats a story of an intended
indignity to the body of Warren after his fall at
Bunker Hill, from which he was saved by his
Freemasonry affiliations. (Familiar Letters, p.
91.) On the repossession of Boston after the
siege, the body was exhumed from the spot where
he fell ; and after an oration pronounced over it
by Perez Morton (which was printed and is
quoted in Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, p.
127*), it was deposited in the Minot tomb in the
Granary Burying-ground; and in 1825 was re-
moved to a tomb beneath St. Paul's, whence,
at a later day, the remains were again removed
to Forest Hills cemetery. Shurtleff's Description
of Boston, p. 251. See an account of some relics
of Warren by J. S. Loring in the Hist. Mag., De-
cember, 1857. His sword is in the possession of
Dr. John Collins Warren. Mass. Hist. Soc. Free.,
September, 1866, p. 348. ED.]

* Also reprinted in a Biographical Sketch of General
Joseph Warren, embracing his Boston Orations of 1772
and 1775 ; together with the Eulogy pronounced by Perez
Morton, in 1776. By a Bostonian. Boston : 1857.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

also arranged a system of couriers to carry messages to town officers and
corresponding committees. They earnestly advocated the well known Amer-
ican principles of social order as the basis of all political action ; exhorted
all persons to abstain from riots and all attacks upon the property of any
person whatsoever; and urged their countrymen to convince their " enemies
that in a contest so important, in a cause so solemn, their conduct should
be such as to merit the approbation of the wise, and the admiration of the
brave and free of every age and of every country." For boldness and prac-
tical utility these resolves surpassed anything that had been promulgated
in America. They were sent by Paul Revere as a memorial to the Congress
at Philadelphia, where they were received with great applause, and recom-
mended to the whole country.

Gage, perceiving that the time for reasoning had passed, applied J for
more troops, seized the powder belonging to the Province, 2 and began the
construction of fortifications on the Neck, near the Roxbury line, command-
ing the only land entrance which Boston had. 3 Beyond the limits of Boston

1 [Correspondence of Gage at this time with
Lord Dartmouth is in the Muss. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
1876, p. 347. See also Life of Lord Barrington.
ED.]

2 [On September i, 1774, Gage sent 260 sol-
diers, who embarked in boats at Long Wharf, to
seize the Province's store of powder, which was
kept in the old mill on the road from Winter Hill
to Arlington. William Brattle, at that time
commanding the Province militia, had instigated
the movement. It was successful, and the troops
returned bringing not only the powder, but two
field-pieces which they had seized in Cambridge.
This theft was soon avenged. An artillery com-
pany had been organized by Capt. David Mason
in 1763, and was known commonly as " the train,"
and attached to the Boston regiment. Its com-
mand had passed in 1768 to Lieutenant Adino
Paddock, who was a good drill master, and who

derived instruction himself from members of a
company of royal artillery stationed at the Castle ;
and the train became the school of many good offi-
cers of the Revolution. Paddock received tsvo
light brass field-pieces, and uniformed a number
of German emigrants in white frocks, hair caps,
and broadswords, to drag the cannon. These
pieces had, it is supposed, been cast in London for
the Province from some old cannon sent over for
the purpose, and they bore the Province arms.
They seem to have been first used when the king's
birthday was celebrated, June 4, 1768, in firing a
salute, when the train paraded with Colonel

Phips's governor's troop and Colonel Jackson's
regiment. At the outbreak of the war these
pieces were kept in a gun-house at the corner of
West Street ; and as Paddock adhered to the royal
cause, and might surrender them to Gage, they
were stealthily removed by some young Patriots
and, on a good opportunity, conveyed by boat to
the American camp, where they did good service
then and through the war ; and in 1788 Knox,
then secretary of war, had them inscribed with
the names of Hancock and Adams, and they now
may be seen in the summit-chamber of Bunker
Hill Monument. (Drake's Knox, p. 127.) The
young men who accomplished their removal were,
among others, Abraham Holbrook, Nathaniel
Balch, Samuel Gore, Moses Grant, and Jeremy
Gridley. (Tudor's Life of Otis, p. 452 ) Judge
Story's father was another. (Life and Letters of
Judge Story, \. 9. See also N. E. Hist, and Getieal.
Reg. yui. 139.) The commit-
tee of safety, Feb. 23, 1775,
instructed Dr. Warren to
ascertain what number of
Paddock's men could be de-
pended on. Drake, Cincin-
nati Society, p. 543, gives a
partial list of the train-mem-
bers, designating such as subsequently served in
the Patriot army. Paddock left Boston with
Gage, and died in the Isle of Jersey in 1804,
aged seventy-six. Mills and Hicks's Register,
1775, gives a statement of the Boston military
at this time. See Frothingham's Siege of Boston,
p. 49. ED.]

8 [Andrews records, Sept. 5, 1774, that Gage
began to build block-houses and otherwise repair
the fortifications at the Neck, but he could get
none of the artisans of the town to help him.
Three days later Gage, " with a large parade of

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. 63

and Salem the Governor had scarcely any power. The people of the inte-
rior counties recognized only the authority of the committees of correspon-
dence, and of the congresses composed of their own representatives.

On the fifth of October, the members of the Massachusetts Assembly
appeared at the court-house in Salem, but were refused recognition by

MRS. JOSEPH WARREN. 1

Gage; thereupon they resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress and
adjourned to Concord, where, on the eleventh, two hundred and sixty mem-
bers, representing over two hundred towns, took their seats, and elected

attendants," surveyed the skirts of the town op-
posite the country shore, supposably for determin-
ing on sites of batteries. See an editorial note
to the chapter following this. In November, 1774,
Nathaniel Appleton writes to Josiah Quincy, Jr. :
" The main guard is kept at George Erving's
warehouse in King Street. The new-erected for-
tifications on the Neck are laughed at by our old

Louisburg soldiers as mud walls." Life of
Josiah Quincy, Jr., p. 175. ED.]

1 [She died in 1773, aged 26. The Boston
Gazette of May 3 published some commemo-
rative verses on her. Frothingham's Warren,
p. 228. This painting is the pendant of that of
General Warren, and the two have always been
owned together. ED.]

64 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

John Hancock president, and Benjamin Lincoln secretary. They sent a
message to the Governor, remonstrating against his hostile attitude. He
answered by making recriminations ; and shortly after issued a proclamation
denouncing them as " an unlawful assembly whose proceedings tended to
ensnare the inhabitants of the Province, and draw them into perjuries, riots,
sedition, treason, and rebellion." The Congress, having adjourned to Cam-
bridge, adopted a series of resolves providing for the creation of a " com-
mittee of public safety," 1 a sort of directory empowered to organize the
militia and to procure military stores. 2 A committee of supplies was also

appointed, and three general officers
Preble, Ward, and Pomeroy were

// *) chosen by ballot. Thus the people of

ts Massachusetts proceeded in a calm and

statesmanlike manner to organize themselves into an independent existence,
and to make suitable provision for their own po-
litical, financial, and military necessities. They
had no intention of attacking the British troops,
but took measures to defend themselves in case

of necessity. 3 Hitherto they had carefully avoided being the aggressors,
and they were determined to adhere to this policy ; but they considered it
the part of wisdom to be prepared for any emergency which might arise in
the present complicated state of affairs. Consequently, all the towns were
advised to enroll companies of Minute Men, who should be thoroughly
drilled and equipped. 4

Gage also on his part was actively employed in strengthening the gar-
rison, and by the end of the year he had no less than eleven regiments,
with artillery and marines, quartered in Boston, besides a large number of
ships of war at anchor in the harbor. During all this time the Tory party
was endeavoring, without much success, to secure adherents to the royal
cause. 5 Most of their leaders, finding their position uncomfortable in the

1 Hancock, Warren, and Church were the Lodge of Masons, who had their quarters here.
Boston members. Paul Revere records how he was one of upwards

2 IMr. C. C. Smith contributed a valuable of thirty men, chiefly mechanics, who banded
paper on "The Manufacture of Gunpowder in together to keep watch on the British designs
America," to Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., March, 1876. in 1774-75, anc ^ met here. The old building
ED.] disappeared in October, 1828, when the street

8 [It was at the Green Dragon Tavern, which was widened to accommodate the travel to

stood on what now makes Union Street, near Charlestown. Shurtleff, Description of Boston,

where it runs into Haymarket Square (there is a p. 605. ED.]

doubt whether the building now marked with 4 [The last monthly meeting of the Friends

a dragon on a tablet gives correctly the site), and was held in Boston in the eleventh month of

whose earlier history is noted in Vol. II., Intro- 1774. "The record speaks of its being a time

duction, p. v, that the leading Patriots held their of difficulty in Boston on account of the present

conclaves. It was in front a two-story brick calamity [the war] ; and the same likely to attend

building with a pitch roof, but of greater eleva- them through the winter, Boston monthly meet-

tion in the rear; and over the entrance an iron ing is dropped." An Historical Account of the

rod projected, and upon it was crouched the various Meeting-houses of the Society of Friends in

copper dragon which was the tavern's sign. It Boston, published by direction of the Yearly

was probably selected as a meeting place because Meeting, Boston, 1874. ED.]
Warren was the Grand Master of the Grand 5 See Sabine's Loyalists.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

country towns, took refuge in Boston as a kind of asylum. Their organs de-
nounced the Patriots as rebels, rioters, republicans, and sowers of sedition.

At the beginning of the year 1775 the American question was brought
forward in the House of Lords by the Earl of Chatham, who, in one of his
most eloquent speeches, urged the immediate
removal of the king's troops from Boston. He
eulogized the American people, their union,
their spirit of liberty, and the wisdom which
marked the proceedings of their Congress. 1 He charged the ministry with
misleading the king and alienating the affections of his subjects. Chatham
was ably supported by Shelburne, Camden, and Rockingham ; but all their
appeals " availed no more than the whistling of the wind." The motion
was rejected by nearly four to one. This result, following as it did the re-
jection by the Cabinet of the petition of Congress which Franklin had just
presented, was sufficient proof that nothing was to be hoped for from that
quarter. If any further evidence was wanted, it was soon found in the in-
structions which were sent to Gage to act offensively, and in the Restraining
Act, which excluded New England from the fisheries. 2

While England was thus forcing on the issue, America was preparing to
meet it. The new Congress convened at Cambridge in February, and ap-
pointed its committee of safety and the delegates to the next Continental
Congress. Provision was also made for the militia ; and Colonels Thomas

and Heath were commissioned additional general officers. " Resistance to
tyranny ! " was now the watchword for Massachusetts. " Life and liberty
shall go together ! Continue steadfast ! " said the Patriots ; " and with a
proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which
Heaven gave and no man ought to take from us." 3

1 [See the History of Lord North's Adminis-
tration, p. 187; Hugh Boyd's Miscellaneous
Works, i. 196; Annual Register, 1775, p. 47 ;
Belsham's Great Britain, vi. 91 ; Life of Josiah,
Quincy, Jr., p. 318. ED ]

2 [See various references for political move-
ments in England at this time in Winsor's
Handbook, p. 23, etc. ED.]

8 [In March came the anniversary of the
massacre, and Warren's most famous address in
commemoration. See Mr. Goddard's chapter.
The diary of Joshua Green, making note of it,
speaks of the attempts of British officers present
at the town-meeting which followed, to break it up
by unseemly disturbances. (Mass. Hist Soc. Proc.,
VOL. III. 9.

1875, p. 101.) About this time (March 22, 1775),
according to statements printed in a Boston
letter in the New York Journal, a number of
drunken British officers set to hacking the fence
before Hancock's house ; and on a repetition of
such annoyances, Hancock applied for a guard.
While the congregation of the West Church
were observing a fast, drums and fifes were
played by another party close under the win-
dows. Something of the feeling of the time can
be gathered from letters of Quincy, Cooper,
Winthrop, and Warren, printed in Massachu-
setts Historical Society's Proceedings, June, 1863,
all addressed to Benjamin Franklin in Lon-
don. ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Gage did his utmost to disarm and disperse the militia and seize their
military stores. He sent expeditions to Marshfield and Jamaica Plain and
Salem ; l but the judicious and spirited conduct of the inhabitants defeated
his object, and the peace was not then disturbed. For a time it was quiet,
but it was only the lull before the storm ; and the hour of the American
Revolution, which had been so long in coming, was near at hand. The
War of Independence on this continent began 2 at last on that memorable
morning, enshrined forever in the annals of freedom, when

" The troops were hastening from the town
To hold the country for the Crown ;
But through the land the ready thrill
Of patriot hearts ran swifter still.

"The winter's wheat was in the ground,
Waiting the April zephyr's sound ;
But other growth these fields should bear
When war's wild summons rent the air."

1 [The expedition to Salem was sent by Gage
in transport from the Castle, and its three hun-
dred troops, landing at Marblehead, marched to
Salem to seize some cannon. Their failure and
retreat is- described in Charles M. Endicott's
Leslie's Retreat at the North Bridge, Feb. 26, 1775,
printed separately for vol. i. of the Essex Institute
Proceedings. See also Life of Timothy Pickering.
i., and George B. Loring's Address on the centen-
nial observance of the event. The contemporary
accounts of the Marshfield expedition are in
Force's American Archives. Of another and
more secret expedition just now, that of Captain
Brown and his companion De Berniere, sent by
Gage inland toward Worcester to pick up infor-
mation, we have their own account, printed in
the American Archives, \. Gage's instructions

to these emissaries, Feb. 22, 1775, were printed
in Boston in a pamphlet in 1779, which also con-
tains "The Transactions of the British troops
previous to and at the Battle of Lexington," as
reported to Gage. ED.]

2 [Various claims have been made for earlier
shedding of blood and resistance in arms, like
the capture of the fort at Great Island, near
Portsmouth, Dec. 13, 1774, see American Ar-
chives, Belknap's New Hampshire, Amory's Gen-
eral Sullivan and Gwernor Sullivan, Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., March, 1875; or the Golden Hill
affair, Jan. 19, 1770, near New York, sec Hist.
Mag., iv. 233, and again January, 1869; or the
Westminster massacre, March, 1775, in Ver-
mont, see Hist. Mag., May, 1859; see also
Potter's American Monthly, April, 1875. ED.]

CHAPTER II.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

BY THE REV. EDWARD E. HALE, D.D.

A FTER dark on the i8th of April, 1775, eight hundred British troops,
-^*- being the grenadiers and light infantry of Gage's army, were with-
drawn as quietly as might be from their barracks and marched to the bay
at the foot of the Common. The spot is near where the station of the
Providence Railroad now stands. 1 Boats from the squadron had been or-
dered to the same point to meet them. The troops were under the com-
mand of Lieut. -Colonel Francis Smith, of the Tenth regiment. Directly
northward, crossing by about the line of Arlington Street what are now
the Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street, the little army came to
Phips's Farm, now East Cambridge, and after two hours took up its silent
march through Cambridge to Lexington and Concord. The column con-
sisted of men drawn from the Fifth regiment, the Tenth, Thirty-eighth,
Forty-third, Fifty-second, Fifty-ninth, and Sixty-fifth. Officers and men
from each of these corps appeared in the list of killed and wounded after
the next day. In some instances they may have been detached on separate
service ; in which case no large number of the regiment was present on the
march. 2

What happened at Concord, and on the way thither and back, has worked
its way into the world's history. " On the nineteenth of April," says the me-
morial of the Provincial Congress, " a day to be remembered by all Amer-
icans of the present generation, and which ought and doubtless will be
handed down to ages yet unborn, the troops of Britain, unprovoked, shed
the blood of sundry of the loyal American subjects of the British King in.
the field of Lexington."

The Common and the Back Bay were so far apart from the familiar
haunts of men in those days, that General Gage had some hope, perhaps,
of sending his men away without an immediate alarm. 3 But this hope was

1 [Here was water enough for the boats (see 2 [Donkin, Military Collections, p. 170, says

map at beginning of Vol. I.), but Gage's account they carried "72 rounds of ball-cartridges per

says simply "from the Common." Smith says man." ED.]

nothing. The usual story runs simply " from the 3 [See the Editorial notes following this

foot of the Common." ED.] chapter. ED.]

68 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

disappointed. Thirty men of the Patriot party, mostly mechanics, had
bound themselves into a club, to observe the movements of the Tories and
the army. They took turns as patrols, two and two, to watch the streets at
night. Some one, who was perhaps one of these men, told Dr. Warren
that the soldiers were moving to the Back Bay. Warren immediately sent
William Davves to Lexington, whither John Hancock and Samuel Adams
had retired to escape arrest, supposing that one object of the expedition
was to seize them. Dawes started on horseback, crossing the Neck to
Roxbury. At ten o'clock Warren sent to Paul Revere, who was one of the
club of patrolmen, and begged him to go to Lexington and tell Hancock
and Adams of the movement, " and that it was thought they were the
objects." Paul Revere went to a friend who had a boat in readiness, and
crossed at once to Charlestown. So early was Gage's secret known. Sted-
man, in his history of the war, says that Gage told Percy of the movement
as a profound secret ; that Colonel Smith knew he was to go, but not where.
As Lord Percy returned to his own quarters, he fell in with eight or ten
men talking on the Common. One of them said : " The troops have
marched, but will miss their aim." " What aim? " said Lord Percy.
" Why," the man replied, " the cannon at Concord." Lord Percy, ac-
cording to the story, returned to General Gage and told him, with surprise
and disapprobation, what he had heard. The General said that his con-
fidence had been betrayed, for that he had communicated his design to
only one person beside Lord Percy. This is one of the flings of the time
upon Mrs. Gage, 1 who was American-born. The English officers who dis-
liked Gage were fond of saying that she betrayed his secrets. But in this
case, after eight hundred men were embarked for Cambridge, ten Boston men
on the Common might well have known it; and " the cannon at Concord "
were a very natural aim. Warren, as has been said, thought of Hancock
and Adams as the object. 2

Paul Revere had already concerted with his friends on the Charlestown
side, that, in the event of any movement by night on the part of the Eng-

1 [Adams had learned of the movement to be at the house, an order was left for him to
Concord from "a daughter of liberty, une- report himself at eight o'clock at the bottom
qually yoked in point of politics," as Gordon of the Common, equipped for an expedition,
says. ED.] Mrs. Stedman hastened to inform her husband of

2 The following narrative, kindly communi- this alarming summons, and he at once carried
.cated by a granddaughter of Dr. Stedman, the the intelligence to Dr. Benjamin Church, who

great-granddaughter of Henry Quincy, shows lived near by on Washington Street. Gibson
exactly how the news travelled from house to soon came in and took leave of his wife, pale
house without treachery. Mrs. Stedman lived with anxiety at the doubtful issue of this sudden
in the Salter homestead, at the corner of Winter and secret enterprise. ' Oh, Gibson ! ' said my
and Washington streets, where is now Tuttle's mother, 'what are you going to do?' 'Ah,
shoe-store : madam I ' he replied, ' I know as little as you
" It was difficult at that time to obtain ser- do. I only know that I must go.' He went,
vants, and Mrs. Stedman had been glad to sc- never to return. He fell on the retreat from
cure the services of a woman whose husband Lexington. A few minutes before receiving
was a British soldier named Gibson. On the the fatal shot he remarked to one of his corn-
evening of the eighteenth of April a grenadier in rades that he had never seen so hot a day,
full regimentals knocked at the door and inquired though he had served in many campaigns
for Gibson. On being told that he would soon in Europe."

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

6 9

lish army, a lantern should be displayed in the tower of Christ Church.
This signal had announced the news to the Charlestown people before

1 [Of the likenesses of Revere, Mr. Hun-
toon, in an address at Canton in 1875, says:
" Two pictures have been preserved of him ; one,
taken in the full prime of manhood, by Copley,
which, after having lain neglected for many years
in an attic in this town, has been finally restored.
The other, by Stuart, brings up a venerable face
and stately form." Perkins, Copley's Life and
Paintings, p. 98, says the earlier picture is now
owned by John Revere, of Boston. It shows

him at a table, in shirt-sleeves, holding a silver
cup, with engraver's tools at hand. The latter
is followed in the present cut.

Revere's agreement for engraving and print-
ing the paper money of the Provincial Congress
is dated Watertown, Dec. 8, 1775, and is in the
Massachusetts Archives, cxxxviii. 271. A cut of
the Massachusetts treasury-note of 1775 is given
in Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, i. 534.
ED.]

yo THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Revere arrived. He mounted his horse, and the famous " Midnight Ride "
of Longfellow's ballad began. The night was clear and frosty.

With the exceptions of the patrolmen, of such leading Patriots as
Warren and others, to whom they reported, and the families in which
officers on duty were quartered, most of the people of Boston probably
slept without knowing that the first step had been taken toward war. But
before daylight on the nineteenth, General Gage had received word from
Colonel Smith that the country was alarmed, and he at once ordered a de-
tachment under arms to march out to reinforce that officer, and show the
king's strength. This detachment was to be commanded by Earl Percy,
who had led the five regiments which made the " promenade " of March
30 through Jamaica Plain and Dorchester. Percy was at this time a fine
young officer of about thirty years of age. 1

Percy's command consisted of the First Brigade, formed of the Fourth,
Twenty-third, and Forty-seventh regiments, to which a detail of the Royal
Marines was joined. To summon the marines, the order was sent to Major
Pitcairn, their commander. In the precision of the red-tape of Gage's
office, yet new to war, it was forgotten that Pitcairn had already gone as a
volunteer with Colonel Smith. The letter therefore, with the orders to the
marines, waited on his table unopened, while the rest of the detachment
paraded. The venerable Harrison Gray Otis in his old age left the fol-
lowing account of this parade : -

"On the 1 9th April, 1775, I went to school for the last time. In the morning,
about seven, Percy's brigade was drawn up, extending from Scollay's Buildings, through
Tremont Street, and nearly to the bottom of the Mall, preparing to take up their
march for Lexington. A corporal came up to me as I was going to school, and turned
me off to pass down Court Street ; which I did, and came up School Street to the
school-house. It may well be imagined that great agitation prevailed, the British
line being drawn up a few yards only from the school-house door. As I entered the
school, I heard the announcement of deponite libros, and ran home for fear of the
Regulars. Here ended my connection with Mr. Lovell's administration of the school.
Soon afterward I left town, and did not return until after the evacuation by the
British in March, I776." 2

Why does not the column move? Percy is ready. The infantry are here,
and the light artillery; where are the marines? It is discovered at this late
moment that the order for the marines is lying unopened at Major Pitcairn's
quarters. Three or four hours before this, had anybody in Boston known
it, Major Pitcairn had uttered on Lexington Common that famous appeal,

1 He was afterward Duke of Northumber- that Master Lovell, with prophetic sagacity, said :
land. His letters, copied by the Rev. E. G. "War's begun, and school's done; deponite lib-
Porter on a recent visit at the castle of the ros." He knew that this was war, though the
present duke, give us some of our most vivid news of bloodshed did not reach Boston till noon,
contemporary accounts of the Boston of that [Loring, Hundred Boston Orators, p. 193, makes
time. the young Otis just afterward a witness of the

2 MS. letter of Otis to the writer, E. E. H. troops' march by a house which stood where the
A tradition, which we have at first-hand, says Revere House now is. ED.J

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 71

familiar to any school-boy in America for half a century after: "Ye vil-
lains, ye rebels, disperse ! Lay down your arms. Why don't ye lay down
your arms? "

But as yet no man knows where he is, and the orders for his marines are
waiting. This is only an early instance of a sort of imbecility which hangs
over the English army administration, revealed in many of the early anec-
dotes of the war. 1

So soon as the marines were ready Percy marched, at nine o'clock.
He moved south, through what is now Washington Street, to Roxbury, up
the hill by the Roxbury meeting-house, to the right, where the Parting-
Stone was then and is now ; and so to the Brighton Bridge, where he was to
cross Charles River to Cambridge. The distance from the head of School
Street to that bridge by that road is about eight miles. But even if Gage
was eager to save time, the boats were at Phips's Farm. Probably he
and Percy both wished to make a military display. School -boys will be in-
terested to know, that, as Percy's column approached Roxbury, Williams, the
master of the grammar school, dismissed his school also, probably an hour
later than Lovell dismissed his. He turned the key in the lock, joined his
company, and served for the seven following years in the army. The Rox-
bury company of Minute Men had paraded in the mean time, summoned
by the alarm from Lexington. When Percy passed, on the old road to
Cambridge, they appear to have been at Jamaica Plain, whither the com-
mander had marched them, and where Dr. Gordon was leading them in
prayer. It is fair to suppose that no commander in his senses chose to
have them in the line of Earl Percy's advance.

As Percy rode on, his band was playing Yankee Doodle. He observed
a Roxbury boy who was uttering shouts of derision, jumping and dancing,
so as to attract Percy's attention. Percy sent for the boy and asked him at
what he was laughing. " You go out to Yankee Doodle," said the lad,
" but you will dance by and by to Chevy Chase." It was a happy allu-
sion to the traditions of the Percys; and Gordon, who records the anec-
dote, says the repartee stuck to Lord Percy all day. 2

The day was already hot, when, after three or four hours' marching,
Lord Percy and his army came to the bridge over Charles River, between
'Brighton and Cambridge. The bridge was a simple affair, and by General

1 If anybody happens to care, Major Pitcairn

is the nephew of the naval officer who discovered This fight did last from break of day

Pitcairn's Island. Observe " Marines." Til1 settin s of the sun >

2 As the boy and Lord Percy remembered the F< l wh K en ^ rung the <; vening be "
. . , The battle scarce was done,
ballad, these are some of the telling verses :

God prosper long our noble King, With stout Erie Percy, there was slaine

Our lives and safetyes all : sir J ohn f Egerton,

A woefull hunting once there did sir Robert Ratcliff, and Sir John,

In Chevy-Chase befall. sir James, that bold barron.

Horace Walpole in one of his letters of the
lo drive the deere with hound and home, .. 1*1. u t u t, *

Erie Percy took his way ; tlme makes the Same alluslon to the huiltln g

The child may rue, that is unborne, of that da y-" Walpolis Letters to Horace Mann,

The hunting of that day. June 5, 1775.

72 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Heath's orders the boards had been so far removed that it was impassa-
ble ; but the frugal committee of safety who had done this, not knowing
yet what war was, had piled the boards on the Cambridge side, instead
of boldly committing them to the water. Percy sent soldiers across on the
string-pieces of the bridge, who relaid the boards so far that his troops
could cross. He left his baggage-train for the better completion of the
bridge, and pressed on, knowing indeed that the country was growing hot in
more senses than one. When he came upon Cambridge Common, where
were then no fences, but many roadways leading in different directions, Lord
Percy was confused, and needed instructions as to his route. Cambridge was
shut up. No man, woman, or child could be found to give him information,
except a tutor of the college, Isaac Smith, afterward preceptor of Dummer
Academy. Smith, being asked the road to Lexington, " could not tell a
lie." Instead of sending Lord Percy down to Phips's Point, as the Pa-
triots of the time thought he should have done, he directed him to
Menotomy, now Arlington, on the right road. 1 Percy followed it, and
arrived in Lexington at two or three in the afternoon, 2 in time to receive
Smith's scattered and worried men ; but his baggage-train, delayed at the
bridge, was cut off at Menotomy. 3 It appears from Percy's own letters that
he did not know till he arrived at Menotomy, about one in the afternoon,
that there had been any fighting beyond.

Meanwhile Dr. Warren had heard in Boston, early in the day, by a spe-
cial messenger, this news which Percy did not receive till one in the after-
noon. Warren left his patients in the care of Eustis. 4 He crossed to Charles-
town, and never returned to his home. As he left the ferry-boat he said to
the last person with whom he spoke : " Keep up a brave heart ! They have be-
gun it, that either party can do ; and we '11 end it, that only one can do."
This was at eight in the morning. He mounted his horse at Charlestown.
As he rode through the town he met Dr. Welch, who said, " Well, they are
gone out." " Yes, and we will be up with them before night." 5 Dr. Welch
seems to have joined him. He says : " Tried to pass Percy's column ;
stopped by bayonets. Two British officers rode up to Dr. Warren, in the
rear of the British, inquiring, ' Where are the troops? ' The doctor did not
know; they were greatly alarmed." These were probably the commanders
of Percy's baggage-train ; and this incident places Warren at Cambridge as
late as twelve or one o'clock of that day.

1 Smith was sent to Coventry by his neigh- church in Arlington marks the spot where the
bors for giving this information, and was obliged, " old men " captured this train. See Vol. II. p.
or thought he was, to embark for England a 382. ED.]

few weeks later (May 27), where he preached to 4 Who was afterward Lieut.-Governor and

a Dissenting chapel in Sidmouth for a while ; but acting Governor of the State,
returning in 1784, he became librarian of Har- 5 Another diary dates this as late as ten in

vard, and later chaplain of the Boston Alms- the morning. [See Richard Frothingham's Life

house. See Evacuation Memorial, p. 190. of Joseph Warren, p. 457, (who quotes the state-

2 This is his own naming of an hour which is ments in the text from a manuscript of Dr.
sometimes stated rather later in the day. Welch) and his Siege of Boston, p. 77, for further

8 [A stone beside the road and opposite the accounts. ED.]

AClRCUMSTANTrAL ACCOUNT

Of an Attack that happened on ihe i9th of April 1775, on hi

MAJESTY v Troops,

By a Number of the People of the Province of MASSACHUSETTS
BAY.

ON Toefoay the i8th of April, about half pad 10
at Night, Lieurenanr Coluncl Smith ot 'he icth
R<*l>iiiienr, emtrkrd from the Common at Bo/ton.
with the G'enadiers and L>g>>t Infantry <>l the
Troops there. iod laodrd on the oppolite Side. t'o.n
Whence he _begn his March toward] Concord, whe/t he
Vi -vdeed to dc/lrov a Magszt.-e of Militaiy Stores, ..le
OfiflUd tlerr c,r tor Ule v>f .m Army to be riffi-inhieil, in
\)r<j r r tu aft Jga-'nfl hi Wlijrftv, and hij Government. The
Colon 1 ( Hrf his Odicm togerhet and yave Orders, that l he
1 roi'fjs lu.ulci not lirt-, vnlels hrrd upon . and atier nurch-
W * fe* Miles, derachetl Ox Companies o?"Lighr lnrai.ti f ,
Untie- the Command ol M*)rv P.tcair", to take Poll'tHiou
Ijl two Undoes on he otiier Side ot Concord : boon utter
lh> heard many Signal Guns, and the ringing of AUrm
Drill fepeaieillv, which convinced them that the Country
**<rc rlfmg to oppof.- them, n3 that it was.* preconcerted
fcttiWWe to opp-.d- the King's I tempi, whenever tlu-re
flionld be a lav.,r<,0le Opportunity for it. About 4 o^Clock
ll'.r next Morning, ihe 1 ri>o|is being advanced within two
lvile ot Lfx-.vjton, lritrllii>rn<-e was rrrei.cd tfWt nboul
t'ic Hundred Mm H. Arms, were ifrrmhled, *>d drtcr-
fHtneO to op,vfe the King's Troops : and oh Mijor Hit-
Vllrn't gultopping op.tn ilie Head, of th<? advanced Compa-
fliei, to GHircru informed him that a Man advanced (io<n
(hole, that were iQemblcd) had prcfcw-d his Mulqmt J-M!
I'rmptcd ;o flioor ihem, but the Piece fltmtd in tin fan
On this thrM.ij.jr gave direfliont to the Troopi to move
fo'*rd, tut on no Account to fire, not even lo irrmipt it
V.thnut Odfrg,- VVh n thr, arnved at the End ol the
Village, they ob(erv) ^bou, JOO , rn ird Men. dn-n up oo
G'en, and *nen the Tirx.ps came uhm a Hundrrd
ttr4t of then), ihry brgan lr> tile off toimds fo<r>e Monc
V/alli, on thtir n^ht Flank The Luiht l.ilantry nhlrrving
Ihil, ran after thrm the Maior mftantry called to me S|.
llir<l out to fifp. hut to lurrounH an^ diUnn thi-tn . low .if
Iliem who h^d jumped <>vtt a Wall, then li/etl tat" v live
Phot IC^the Troops, wounded a Man pf the ic'li R'gi-
tri>t, ifld the Moor's Hinfr in ivn PUcr. a-l ^t the
Cji "Kirhe feveial Sfcnn Weie fnrd iiom a Meeting I iuulc
<m the left'' TJpin tfcii, ttri'ihuut mi Oclei or RrguU'K).
r)f Light Infantry hegan a fcatteretl F^re, and killed fri-rj|
"f tt)* 1 Courrtry People ; but wera. fiicncc J at focp as tin
Authority at t(itir OR'-ccrs. could n.ati: theoi.

f After thi*. Colonel Smith marched up with the Remain
dcr of the Detachment, and the whole Body proceeded '4
Concord, where iltcy arrived about 9 o'CWk iwiivout
<n Thing further happening , but afl numbers nf armciS
I'cople *erc fetn A(Tcmb|iiig on all the Hetjihii whi
Colonel Smiili wuh in? Grenadicrv, a-K' Part ot (he LnjW
Infantry rrmamed 4 Concord, to fcarch lor (.aonon. .
rtew ( lie detached Outain Parlons WH'-. fix Ligh: CMIT>|.I-
ni to fccU'e a Bridge at fow.r ITiltancc fron CHP4 nil
10 proctcJ from thencr to leitam rtoufri. whfrc n i
fuppolc*! there -wa^ Ctnoon, ani AmmunniOii i Cepmn
1'arfons in p-jtfumcc of thrfe Oid:n, ported three Tmnpa*

alii. ..)

t .tl.tf OlM.'l>ll lfpl'MloWl

'<in at the Bridge, lid nn finv fTrigtitf nr if, under tua
Comtn<nd 'i *. ap'Jiu Launc OJ the 4}d Rrgt>nent ; itnd
ttti (he RerrMinrter Went anj < > rllroyrrl lo.pe Cannon
Wjictls, ['ureter, tod Ball }, the l^fop* ftilf coiKinued
. ncrcafing on the Height*; anu uMtgtUt sit- Jtiour after,
<1arge Body ol them began to move towards the Bridge^
irte.Light Co.niJames oJ ihe 4th and loth then ilcfccndcd,
tivi joined C.ij'uin Laurie, ihe People continued to ad*
rfancrin greai Numbers ; aoJ Sred upon the Kingi! roopi,
killed rhrrc Men. wountrd 'out O!ficer>, one ^erjcaot.
ind lour orivatc Men, upon which (jitci Ktvrping the &X
Capuin Laurie ar.d his Officer?, thought it ptudenl td
ki*ttrat ID*. His the Main Budy at Co<ic<>rd f and were food
jvined b, iwu Compantet of Grenada^] , when Capiairl
Papons returned with trie .hrte Companies over iba
Bridge, they cbfcrved tliiee Solilir r on ihr Ground une of
thrni l^iptd, hi& Head much mangled, and hi) fc.ars cut
afT, lliiAnni quite dead , a Si^hi which (Irutk die Soldierf
with Horror , Captain I'.irlons mj't^cd on and joined the
Main T Body. who were only waniDy lor h^s commg up, to
inarch back 10 Bodnn , Colonel Smith Kid excrutcd his
OtOcrs, wilhovt Oppiifuico, bf ileOroymgf all the Ivlilu.iry
Stores be cooM bnd -, t).,th ihe Colonel, and Major
I'ircaira, tuvmg t->kcn au pnfTibtc Paitu to convince the
fohaUtMRi tf' no o)wy w i,,tcndtd thttts and UuC A
ihey opened tt.f" fltton when requlcec 1 . w f^-cn t<n (juj
Sior*x not ihr fl.gi'relt MifUncf IhrxU Of dniif neither
bail any of thr People the leaft Occifion to (omplam, but
they u-er: luikv, and one ol them even flruilc Major
Piirairn. F.tcrrx upoi Captain Laurie; at ,rhc Bridge,
Ao MoftililKt bappcned from ihe Affair at Lexington,
jinul ihe Troopi began their N'arcii back. As fouo at
ihe Troops had pot out o* the Town ot Concnrtt, they
received a heavy Fire from ali Sides, from Wild, Fences,
Hiwftt, Trees, Bains, tec. which continued without Inter-
niilliurt, till tbey met t;ie firft Brigade, with two field Pieces,
near Lexington t ordered out under the Coniaund ol i.oid
Prrcjr ro fupport.' them ; (adnce having been rtctn-ed
about 7 o'Clock next Morning, that Signals had bern
mode, and Exprefles gone out 9 alarm the Country, and
tK.u the People were nCng to attack the Troops under
Colonel Smith. ) Upon'the Firing of the l-'ield T.ccei, the
Peopli-'' Fre wss lor a while Tilenccrl, bur * they ftill con-

i f-J to rocrcafr "ftaUy In Numberi, they fi'cd tgam'aj

urlorr. fruai all t'brrt wrre they coold jinrj trover, upon
the whole Body, and continued fo doing for- the Space of
Fifteen Miles : Notviithflanding their Number) they didnot
attack openly duiuifj the Whole D:y, but k?pt unatr Coet
On all Occifioiu Tht Troops weie vrry iimch (jn^uct),
IJ>e grcaicr Part ol thpm hiv.ng rrr under A'ms all
Night, and nude a M*rcl; of upwaidi of Forty M'kl
before trxy arnved at Crmltilovtn, froir. whence ibt/
were fcrrycd over to Bofloii.

The Troops hat! abov# Fifty killed. -nd man? more
wounded Kepn'U a'c vat-ius about the Loft fi. Owned
br Hit Counti r Pfjplt, fcn m*kc it et/ confidcrtOlfj

oilier s not (o niucrt.

Th.i-, t v .:- jnforfunte /\(TjT his *i?pp-nrc: Ihrnu^h "if
Rifln.efa .-.n'.l '.'ipT,.Ht.Kt KI a tew Pcoplt. who *>f5,4l
Filing oil tit: r.'oo'.>< at Lciirgion

GAGE'S ACCOUNT OF THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL X 1775.

VOL. III. 10.

74 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The anxiety of Boston that day is easily imagined. 1 Gage had sent out
a considerable part of his army, eighteen hundred men, from a force not four
thousand. His communication with his force in the field was by no means
as good as that of the Patriots. The sun had gone down when, to anxious
eyes watching from Beacon Hill, the flashes of muskets on Milk Row 2
the road from Cambridge to CHarlestown revealed the line of the retreat.
Percy was now in command. He did not mean to risk an embarkation at
Phips's Point, where the boats were still lying. Pickering's Essex regiment
was on his flank at Winter Hill, and he chose to put Charlestown Neck
between himself and pursuit. 3 He arrived there after eight o'clock. Heath,
who during the afternoon had been exercising a general command, called
off the Patriot forces. Percy bivouacked on Bunker Hill ; and thus was
the war begun. 4 The selectmen sent word to Percy that if he would not
attack Charlestown they would take care that his troops should not be mo-
lested, and would do all in their power to get them over the ferry. The
"Somerset" man-of-war sent her boats first for the wounded, then for the
rest of the troops. The pickets of the Tenth regiment were sent from Bos-
ton to keep all quiet. The Americans put sentinels at Charlestown Neck,
and made prisoner of an officer of the Sixty-fourth, who was going to join
his regiment at Castle William.

From that time till the next March, what is popularly called " the siege
of Boston " continued. Civil government stopped in the town. The select-
men's record ends with a typical blank : " At a meeting of the selectmen, this

19 th Apl., 1775, present, Mesrs. Newhall, Austin, Marshall, ," and this

is all ! The civil magistracy did no more as matter of formal record till
March 5, 1776, when they appear again. Martial law came in, of which a
contemporary definition says: "A provost-marshal is a man who does as he
chooses ; and martial law is permission to him to do so."

All the night of the battle-day minute-men were marching and riding
from all parts of New England to Cambridge. Before daybreak of the

1 [The various rumors which reached Boston, are some interesting relics of Lexington, two
during the progress of events that day, are noted firelocks bequeathed to the State by Theodore
in Andrews's letters. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Parker : one, the first firearm captured in the
July, 1865, p. 404. ED.] war; and the other carried by the testator's

2 Now, alas ! " Washington Street," in Som- grandfather, Captain John Parker, on that day.
erville. See Hist. Mag., July, 1860, by J. S. Loring. An

3 [" Had Earl Percy returned to Boston by official report of the selectmen of the losses to
the same road he marched out, . . . probably his property sustained at Lexington, and made Jan.
brigade might have been cut off." So says Percy's 24, 1782, is in Massachusetts Archives, cxxxviii.
eulogist, Major R. Donkin in his Military Col- 410. Numerous relics of the fight have been
lections: New York, 1777, p. 87. This book, collected in the Town Hall at Lexington, and
which is rare, is in Harvard College Library.

It is dedicated to Percy, and ostensibly pub-
lished for the benefit of the families of the
victims "of the bloody massacre committed on
his Majesty's troops peaceably marching to and
from Concord, the igth April, 1775, begun and various houses are still standing there which
instigated by the Massachusetians." ED.] bear marks of the fray. Statues of Hancock

4 [In the senate-chamber at the State House and Adams are also in the hall. ED.]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 75

morning of the twentieth, little towns in the western part of Worcester
County were awakened by the tramp of men pressing eastward, or by the
rumble of the wagons which bore them. Before night a considerable army
was in Cambridge. And Gage never again sent an armed man out by land
from Boston, as Boston is now constituted. Indeed, no man of his other
than deserters, of which there were many, after this moment set foot in
Roxbury or in Brighton except as a prisoner; nor in Dorchester, excepting
Dorchester Neck, which is now South Boston.

In describing the siege, we shall speak of Boston as it was then under-
stood ; meaning the peninsula. A considerable part of the American army
was in Roxbury and in Brighton. These places, and Charlestown where
the great battle of the siege was fought, and Dorchester Heights where the
end came, are now all included within the city. But we shall speak of these
places by their old names.

General Clinton, who afterward commanded the British army, was not
here on the day of the battle of Lexington ; but he says of Percy's move-
ment: " He gave them every reason to suppose that he would return by the
route he came, but fell back on Charlestown ; thus securing his retreat un-
molested, and a place which ought never to have been given up, and which
cost us half the force engaged to recover." l This means that at North
Cambridge Percy took the more direct route to Charlestown, instead of
making the angle at Cambridge Common. 2 But if he had attempted to add
nine miles to the march of men, many of whom had already marched thirty,
he would have found at Charles River the bridge again removed, and barri-
cades erected from the materials. He had his train of wounded in carriages
which he had seized for their conveyance. In point of fact, he did not se-
cure his retreat; for he received at Prospect Hill the hottest fire of the way.
His own account is distinct: " In this manner we retired for fifteen miles,
under incessant fire all around us, till we arrived at Charlestown, which road
I chose to take, lest the rebels should have taken up the bridge at Cam-
bridge (which I find was actually the case), and also as the country was
more open and the road shorter." 3 Stragglers had given the alarm of their
approach in Charlestown. As the tired army filed in on the Neck it met
streams of people pouring out. The Regulars, no longer pursued, vented
their rage in frightening women and children as they emptied their pieces.
The soldiers called for drink at taverns and houses, and " encamped on a
place called Bunker's Hill." 4

When, on the night of the nineteenth and on the morning of the
twentieth, wounded and dying men were brought into Boston from Charles-

1 Clinton's MS. notes to Stedman's History, across the water from Boston. See note to
[This copy of Stedman is in the Carter-Brown Mansfield's sermon in the Roxbury Camp, Nov.
Library at Providence. See Winsor's Hand- 23, 1775, as quoted by Thornton, Pulpit of the
book, p. 130. ED.] Revolution, p. 236. ED.]

2 [There was a story current at the time that 8 Percy's MS. letter to his father, from a
Percy in returning from Concord had intended copy in the hands of the Rev. E. G. Porter.

to stop at Cambridge and fortify, after destroy- 4 For the origin of this name see Vol. I.

ing the college buildings, being reinforced p. 390.

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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 77

town and carried to their quarters and to hospitals, people began to see
what war was. That part of the towns-people who did not favor the Eng-
lish began to move into the country with such stores as they could carry.
Gage insisted that they should not take their arms, and made a sort of con-
vention, which caused much discussion afterward, by which he promised to
give permits for departure to all who would deliver their arms. In fact
" 1,778 firearms, 973 bayonets, 634 pistols, and 38 blunderbusses" were de-
livered. The number shows the military habit of the people. The tradition
of the next generation said that they were in very poor order for use.

Gage attempted to limit the number of wagoners, who should enter daily
from the country, to thirty a day. In regard to this he received sharp re-
monstrances from Dr. Warren, 1 who on the twenty-third began to act as
chairman of the provincial committee of safety. Before long the English
generals were glad to diminish the number of mouths they had to feed.
Additional parties were sent out after the hot weather of summer came on.
Some of them carried small-pox with them. The last was a party of three
hundred poor people sent out on November 25. Many families left Boston
in this emigration which have never returned. To this day, in many of the
inland towns of New England, the family tradition takes in the hurried de-
parture from Boston " when the siege began." On the other hand, some
royalist families moved in from the country. There is a good deal of cor-
respondence about Lady Frankland, the same who saved her husband 2
at the earthquake at Lisbon, and the quantity of live stock and furniture
which she might bring into town from Hopkinton, where was her home. 3

On the very day of the battle of Lexington a corps of Loyalists was
formed in Boston. Two hundred tradesmen and merchants offered their
services to Gage, and were accepted. Their corps was placed under the
command of Timothy Ruggles, of Hard-
wick, the same who presided at Phila-
delphia at the first Continental Congress,
ten years before. They are spoken of as
" the gentlemen volunteers." It was said
that Ruggles was the best soldier in the colonies, and that he would have
been in high command among the Americans had he taken the right side. 4

1 In a letter dated the twenty-sixth or twenty- them ; all the boxes and crates ; a basket of
ninth, not the twentieth, as erroneously printed chickens, and a bag of corn ; two barrels and a
in Force and later writers. hamper ; two horses and two chaises, and all the

2 Oliver Cromwell's great-great grandson. articles in the chaise, excepting arms and am-
8 ^Hopkinton, May 15, 1775. Lady Frank- munition; one phaeton; some tongues, ham, and

lamd begs she may have her pass for Thurs- veal ; and sundry small bundles." [See Vol. II.

day. A list of things for Lady Frankland : six p. 526. ED.]

trunks, one chest, three beds and bedding, six 4 [As the winter wore on, the Loyalists in Bos-
wethers, two pigs, one small keg of pickled ton were formed into military organizations for
tongues, some hay, three bags of corn." The guard duty and the like : the Loyal American
answer of the Provincial Congress is Homeric : Associators, Brigadier-General Timothy Ruggles,
"Resolved, that Lady Frankland be permitted to commandant; Loyal Irish Volunteers, James
go to Boston with the following articles, viz., Forrest, captain ; Royal Fencible Americans,
seven trunks; all the beds with the furniture to Colonel Gorham. ED.]

78 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The Tory party gradually acquired more and more ascendancy with Gage.
They were afraid that when the town was emptied of Whigs the American
army would burn it. At last they threatened Gage that they would lay
down their arms and leave themselves, if he permitted further departure.
It was under the pressure of this threat that Gage at last gave way, and,
as the Patriots said, violated the engagements he made when they delivered
up their arms as already mentioned.

The time had now come, and it was the first time, when men and house-
holds had to make known, by a visible and final act, whether they stood by
the court of England or by the country. Households were often divided
against themselves. The following lines from one of the many comedies
and tragedies of the time, of which most of the comedies are tragic, and
the tragedies comic, expresses the situation :

" What wretch like me
Sees misery in each alternative ?
Defeat is death ; and even victory, ruin.
Here my father, dearest, best of parents,
Whose heart, exhaustless as a mountain stream,
Pours one continued flood of kindness on me.
There is my brother ; there, too, is Rossiter,
One of the number, all perhaps may fall ;
Fall by each other's arm inhuman thought !
O madness, madness ! Sure the arm of death
O'er such a field may grow fatigued with conquest,
Nor need new trophies to adorn his car
With deeper deeds of honor."

Meanwhile the minute-men, who had assembled so promptly, were for
some days under no central command. On the outside the Patriots were
afraid Gage would march out, as, on the inside, he probably was afraid
that they would march in. Colonel Robinson, of Dorchester, who with six
or seven hundred men only was watching Boston Neck in those days, spent
nine days and nights without " shifting his clothes," or lying down to sleep.
Without an adjutant or officer of the day, he patrolled his own lines every
night, a march of nine miles. But Gage had no thought of another
" promenade." l

His own subordinates accuse him of inaction. Lord Percy writes to
his father in May: "The rebels have lately amused themselves with burn-
ing the houses on an island just under the admiral's nose; and a schooner,
with four carriage-guns and some swivels, which he sent to drive them off,
unfortunately got ashore, and the rebels burned her." This was at Hog
Island. Putnam led in the affair, and won in it the reputation which
helped him in the assignment of commissions the next month. 2

1 [Thomas, a little later, deceived the British 2 [See Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 109;
General by marching and remarching his troops Sumner's East Boston, p. 351 ; N. E. Hist, and
along a course which could be observed by the Geneal. Keg., April, 1857, p. 137 ; Lives of Put-
British outposts, to give the appearance of a nam ; Force's Archives, etc. The affair happened
larger force than he had. ED.] May 27, 1775. It was during this month that

*-*..^.

PANORAMIC VIF.W FROM BEACON HILL, 1775.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 79

The truth is that until May 25 Gage's force was less than four thousand
men. Of the columns engaged on the nineteenth he had lost two hundred
and four, one in nine, a very large proportion. He had nothing to
march out for, for the best success would be to come back again. He
withdrew from Marshfield his one outlying detachment, and acted in the
spirit of this despatch, which he had already sent home : -

" The Regiments are now composed of small numbers, and Irregulars will be
necessary in this country, many of which, of one sort or other, I conceive may be
raised here. Nothing that is said at present can palliate. Conciliating, moderation,
reasoning, is over ; nothing can be done but by forcible means. Tho' the people are
not held in high estimation by the Troops, yet they are numerous, worked up to a
Fury, and not a Boston rabble, but the Farmers and the Freeholders of the country. A
check anywhere will be fatal, and the first stroke will decide a great deal. We should
therefore be strong, and proceed on a good foundation before anything decisive is
tried." 1

As the summer advanced, Gage and Howe fortified the town carefully.
In the Charles River they had a floating battery of six cannon ; and on
Fox Hill (now levelled), within the present Public Garden, at the bottom of
the Common, cannon were mounted, which commanded the passes of the
Neck. There was an entrenchment where the monument now stands on the
Common. Upon the hill toward Cambridge, now partly levelled and known
as Louisburg Square and Mount Vernon, a mortar battery played upon
Cambridge. This position was considered so safe that boys and other
idlers, even women, stood by the gunners to mark the shots. 2 On Copp's

Gage's boats patrolled the mouth of the Charles breastworks being thrown up between them on

to give notice of " fire-stages " which the Pro- the edge of the marsh.

vincials were preparing to send down to burn These were the provisions which the British

his ships. ED.] General had made to resist any attempt by Wash-

1 MS. in English State-Papers. ington to attack with boats. They are shown in

2 [The works occupied by the besieged on Page's map, as are also the earthworks along
the Common may be more particularly described the ridge to the north of Beacon Street. First,
as follows ; but some of them were not built till an oblong redoubt on the summit, back of the
after the battle at Charlestown : State House, which is shown in the panoramic

A small zigzag earthwork, for infantry de- view given in this chapter, in heliotype. Second,

fence, opposite a point on Beacon Street, half- a redoubt facing the Common, not far from

way between Spruce and Charles streets, then the junction of Walnut and Chestnut streets,

the upland margin. Third, a larger redoubt, crossing Chestnut Street

A small redoubt on Fox Hill, as in the text. near Spruce and Willow, facing the water.

An earthwork where Charles and Boylston Fourth, an open breastwork by the shore, be-

streets now meet, then at the marsh-edge, tween Pinckney and Mount Vernon Streets, just

probably for infantry defence. above Charles Up to Christmas, notwith-

A long redoubt, occupying the space between standing the severe cannonade which the Brit-
Pleasant Street, on its curve, and the water, and ish had often maintained, only twelve persons
commanding a wharf, which was just south of had been killed in Roxbury, and seven on the
the spot where now the Emancipation Group Cambridge side,
stands. The accompanying heliotype shows the four

Crowning the bluff above the marsh, and at sections of a water-color panoramic view from
the point of the present junction of Boylston Beacon Hill, thus inscribed:
and Carver streets, there was a bastioned re- " A view of the country round Boston, taken
doubt ; and another of a square shape on the hill from Beacon hill, shewing the lines, Intrench-
where the monument now stands, some light ments, Redouts, etc. of the Rebels ; also the

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Hill, at the North End, was a battery of six pieces of cannon, which com-
manded the river and Charlestown shore. There were two ficchcs where
Blackstone Square and Franklin Square are, from each of which a piece of
artillery commanded the road. 1 Nor could there now be a better memorial
of the war than to restore them in those pretty grounds, and mount there
two old cannon from the many trophies of the war. Nearer Boston more
extensive works protected the Neck ; and near Dover Street was a gate-
way and other defences, of which the only memorial now is in the name of
Fort Avenue, an insignificant alley-way. 2

On May 8, on an alarm that Gage was going to march out, the minute-
men from the towns around Boston rallied at command, and the British
^^ General could see what he would meet

if he needed any lesson. On the
thirteenth, General Putnam marched
a little army of two thousand three
hundred men through Charlestown to the ferry and back, " which very much
astonished them." The affair at Hog Island, already referred to, was one of
several raids, following an order of the provincial executive that all live
stock should be removed from the islands. And in two only of these affairs
Gage lost two thousand sheep, " from under the admiral's nose," as Percy
says. He little foresaw how much he would be needing fresh provisions. 3
Before a year was over, his government was shipping from England to Bos-
ton living oxen, pigs, and sheep to feed the army, only one cargo of which

Lines and Redouts of his Majesties Troops.
N. B. These views were taken by L Wil-
Hams of the R. W. Fuziliers,* and copied from
a Scetch of the original drawn by L' Woodd
of the same Regiment. The original drawings
are now in the possession of the King."

Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, of Brooklyn, who
gave this view to the Historical Society, in De-
cember, 1859, says he purchased it of Charles
Welford, about 1858. Mr. Brevoort says, in a
letter to the Editor : " It was the custom to send
from the foreign and plantation office all that
might be of interest to the map-makers, and I
suppose that it found its way there among such
matter." ED.] Faden was the King's engraver.
At a sale of his effects about forty years since,
many such maps and drawings came to light. A
collection of one hundred, once belonging to
Nathan Hale, is now in the Congressional Li-
brary at Washington.

* The Welsh Fusiliers were one of the most famous
regiments in the garrison. Donkin, in his Military Collec-
tions, p. 133, tells of the " privilegeous honor 1 ' enjoyed by
them "of passing in review preceded by a Goat with gilded
horns: " and on March i (St. David's Day), in Boston, in
'775> "the animal gave such a spring from the floor that
he dropped his rider upon the table " of the banqueting
officers, " and then, bouncing over their heads, ran to the
barracks with all his trappings, to the no small joy of the
garrison and populace."

1 [Brown's house, which figures largely in
the accounts, stood on the westerly side of
Washington Street, a little south of Blackstone
Square ; and was occupied by the British as an
advanced post, when Majors Tupper and Crane,
with a party of volunteers, attacked it, July 8,
and, driving off the occupants, burned the build-
ings. ED.]

2 MS. notes of Hon. James T. Austin. [In
March, 1860, workmen in digging for a drain
opposite Williams Market laid bare a consider-
able section of the foundations of the old de-
fences The plan of the Neck lines by Mifflin,
and of the Peninsula, by Trumbull, which are
shown in the accompanying heliotype, are de-
scribed with other plans in the Introduction to
the present volume The views of the British
lines on the Neck, looking out and in, given
also in heliotype in this chapter, follow some
engraved representations published to accom-
pany a series of coast charts by DesBarres.
En.]

8 Gage in his despatches was always blaming
Graves, the admiral, who was at k-ngth removed
before the end of the year In King George's
note to North, ordering the removal, he said
he thought the admiral's removal as necessary
as that of " the mild general," his name for
Gage.

at .

Explanations.

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COL. TRUMBULL'S PLAN, 1775.

'"''"-...^^C"

' - , . - -

MIFFLIN'S PLAN OF THE BRITISH FORTIFICATIONS ON BOSTON NECK.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

ever arrived. " The English channel is white with sheep which have been
thrown overboard," says a contemporary account.

The narratives of the time show the exuberant enthusiasm of recruits, to
whom war is a novelty. A party at Noddle's Island captured a barge be-

7
/

longing to a man-of-war. They carried it to Cambridge in triumph ; and
on June 5 took it to Roxbury in a cart, with the sails up and three men in
it. " It was marched round the meeting-house while the engineer fired the
cannon for joy." On the next day Generals Thomas and Heath went to lay
out a place at Dorchester Point, with a view to entrenchments.

Through these sixty days, between the battles of Lexington and Bunker
Hill, there appear to have been occasional passages in and out of the town ;
but care was in all cases taken that no military or other
stores should pass. On May 25 Gage received large
reinforcements. The Government also sent him three
generals, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, 1 who all came in the "Cerberus."

The wags called them the three
" bow-wows." Gage was now bet-
ter fitted for aggressive movements.
On June 12, he issued his celebrated
proclamation, greatly ridiculed at
the time, in which he offered pardon to all but Samuel Adams and John
Hancock.

Of course he saw the importance of securing Dorchester Heights and
Charlestown, quite as distinctly as did the Patriot leaders. Burgoyne says

that it was agreed that
they should land at the
Point and occupy Dor-
chester Heights on Sun-

day, June 18. Before that

time the American troops had

more than once been called

out by alarms in this direction. The provincial executive were apprised of

this plan, and in consequence selected the night of June 16, to fortify Bunker

1 [There is a contemporary engraving of Burgoyne in the Political Magazine, December,
1780. ED.]

VOL. III. II.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Hill on the northern side of the harbor. At their order General Ward sent
a detachment from Cambridge, which reached Bunker Hill about ten at

night. It consisted of Prescott's, Frye's, and

SI X^r // ^ // Bridge's regiments, under Colonel Prescott, 1

Jw/ ** f/fS* Jt ~d G^r^r an< ^ a P art y f Connecticut men under Cap-
* ^ tain Knowlton. It was a moonlight night,

and clear. On the top of Bunker Hill they were only a mile from the Eng-
lish battery on Copp's Hill. Prescott called the field-officers together and
showed them his orders. At that
late moment they were in doubt
whether to fortify the summit
where they were, or to proceed
less than half a mile nearer Bos-
ton to Breed's Farm, where the
hill fell off suddenly toward the south, and where they could better annoy
the English shipping, and more readily command the town. The consulta-
tion took much time, but at last the bolder course was adopted, under pres-
sure of Gridley, 2 the engineer officer, who said he must work somewhere.
The determination is now justified by the highest military authority. 3 Had

1 [Here is a token of preparation :
" MAJOR BARBER, Please to deliver to Cap-
tain Densmore 350 rounds and 30 flints.

"WM. PRESCOTT, COL'.!-
"June 1 6, 1775."

The original is in Mellen Chamberlain's man-
uscript collection. The tradition is that the lead
pipes of Christ Church, Cambridge, were melted
or pounded into slugs at this time. ED.]

- [The best account of Richard Gridley, of
Louisburg fame, is contained in an oration by D.
T. V. Huntoon delivered at Canton, Massachu-
setts, in 1877. He was the son of Richard Grid-
ley, a brother of Jeremy Gridley (see Mr. Morse's

chapter on the "Bench and Bar" in Vol. IV.),
and was born Jan. 3, 1710-11. Gridley played a
distinguished part at Louisburg, and in the later
campaigns against the French. He had removed
from Boston to Canton about 1773. ED.]

3 [Various contemporary maps of the battle
are noted in the Introduction to this volume.
The annexed plan indicates the position of the
redoubt and the breastwork in relation to the
present Monument Square and the monument,
following a plan given by T. W. Davis in the
Bunker Hill Monument ^.fj0. Proc. 1875. ED.]

Concord

Mo n u m o n I

1 HI t FT! AIV AVA

a
E

Square

Lexington

SIEGE OF BOSTON, 1775-76.

/,//> /f/ fl //</,,!,,,',. _ .:, / //,/// .

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

the higher hill only been fortified, the English troops, to attack it, could
have been formed without molestation under cover of the lower hill. Short-
time shells, such as would now be dropped on such a party, were not then
used.

Fairly at work on Breed's farm, Gridley laid out his redoubt skilfully.
It measured eight rods on the longest side, which fronted Charlestovvn ; the
other sides were shorter. A breastwork ran about a hundred yards toward
the north, to a marshy spot which was relied on as a sufficient check against
troops. From midnight till eleven o'clock in the morning the men worked
steadily, and the intrenching-tools were then sent back to Putnam, who per-
severed through the day in the true military policy of fortifying the upper
summit also. Once and again through the night men went down to the
water's edge, and could hear the "All's well" of the watch on the English
vessels. It was after daybreak when Linzee, the commander of the " Falcon "
which lay in the stream, opened his fire on it, and waked the sleeping town. 1
Gridley returned Linzee's fire from his wretched field-pieces. Gage soon
ordered Linzee to cease firing, and, having conferred with his associates,
determined to attack the works before they should be strengthened. 2
With a bold resolution, of which there is more than one instance among
British commanders in the beginning of wars, Gage made the fatal de-
cision, in spite of Clinton's remonstrance, to attack these works in front. 3
With his naval force, by which he could have commanded Charlestown
Neck, he could, perhaps, have cut off the American party without the
loss of a man.

1 Captain Linzee was the grandfather of
the wife of William H. Prescott the historian,
who was the grandson of Colonel Prescott. The
two swords worn by these two officers on that
morning were bequeathed by Mr. Prescott to
the Massachusetts Historical Society, and have
long been peacefully crossed in its Library, as
they were earlier in his. [They are represented
in the frontispiece of this volume. See Tick-
nor's Life of W. H. Prescott, and Dr. William
Prescott's Prescott Memorial, 1870. ED.]

- [Colonel Prescott, observing Gage's dispo-
sition, despatched Major John Brooks to head-
quarters for reinforcements, and he reached
General Ward about ten o'clock.

There is a portrait of Governor Brooks, with
a sketch of his life, in Drake's Cincinnati Society.
See also N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg. July, 1865.
ED.]

3 [Gage having overruled the decision of a
majority of his council to attack in the rear, and

bound to hazard an attack in front, which he
deemed more military and prudent, issued the
order, a fac-simile of which may be found on
the next page. This fac-simile follows the entry
in an orderly book, preserved in the cabinet of
the Mass. Historical Society, entitled Lieutenant
and Adjutant Waller's orderly-book, commencing
at Boston, the 22d May, and ending the twenty-sixth
day of January, 1776; a folio parchment-bound
MS. which really begins " Plymouth [England],
March 25, 1775, on board the 'Betsy' transport,"
with "rules and directions to be observed on
board the transport for Boston." Then follow
" General Gage's and Major Pitcairn's orders,
Boston Camp." A new section begins: "June
18 [1775]. Charles Town Hill, Gen). Howe's or-
ders ; " and the next day the following : " General
orders, Head Quarters, Boston, June 19, 1775.
The Commander-in-chief returns his most grate-
ful thanks to Major Gen!. Howe for the extraordi-
nary exertion of his military abilities on the I7th
inst. He returns his thanks also to Maj.-Gen.
Clinton and Brig.-Gen. Pigot for the share they
took in the success of the day ; as well as to Lieut.-
Cols. Nisbet, Abercrombie, Gunning, and Clark ;
Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Tupper, Spend-
love, Smelt, and Mitchel ; and the rest of the
officers and soldiers who, by remarkable ef-

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

General Howe was entrusted with the enterprise. With two thousand
men he crossed at noon to Moulton's Point, embraced within the present
Navy Yard. 1 As soon as the boats could cross a second time, General
Pigot, his second in command, moved slowly to the left, throwing out
strong flanking parties upon the redoubt. Up to this time his men had
been under the cover of the bold hill at Moulton's Point. While Howe
waited for his second party, he had reconnoitred the position so far as to

forts of courage and gallantry, overcame every doubt and strong-hold on the Heights of Charles
disadvantage and drove the rebels from their re- Town and gained a complete victory." The same

fkt. \/AfivL.{O4AJL{ Ll j 1 y jj fflOA.t-'L to

\GCI tnijj~ jjjd'L&ut. >7u**^

day a general order read: "A return of the
killed, wounded, and missing of the different
Corps in the late action of the I7th to be given
in as soon as possible. The officers to be men-
tioned nomanly [? nominally] in these returns."
The orderly-books of Generals Gage and Howe
are preserved among the Carleton papers in the
Royal Institution in London ; and extracts from
them, made in 1840, are in the Sparks MSS.,
vol. xlv. ED.]

l [The lower ship-house marks the beach
where these troops left their boats. The rein-
forcements landed in front of the present marine
barracks. The " Falcon " ship of war covered
the landing at the points; and the "Lively," of
twenty guns and one hundred and thirty men, was
anchored in front of the present Navy Yard, and
covered the landings of the reinforcements.
Many of the slain were buried within the dock-
yard enclosure. ED.]

SIEGE OF BOSTON, 1775-76.

V ts> , r '.'.: /

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 85

see that it might be possible to move along the shore of the Mystic River,

and thus attack the American entrenchments on the rear. From the marshy

point already spoken of, northward to the river,

the only line of defence was what has long been

popularly called the " rail-fence," erected by

Knowlton and his men, who had been sent out

by Prescott to cover his left flank. They had

protected themselves, in farmer fashion, by putting

up a line of rail-fence parallel with one already standing, and packing the

space between with new-mown hay. Howe's contempt for this unmilitary

breastwork cost him dear in the end. So soon as he was reinforced he

moved westward with his right wing along the river-side, while Pigot, with

the left wing, attempted the breastwork and redoubt.

All along the American lines the order had been given which the officers
remembered in the memoirs of Frederick's wars : " Wait till you can see
the whites of their eyes." 1 They were bidden, in the redoubt, to hold their
fire till the English came within eight rods. Pigot's men advanced slowly,
firing as they marched. Their shot passed over the heads of the Amer-
icans. It must be remembered that most of the Englishmen were as new
to battle as their enemies. Some eager soldiers in the American lines were
disposed to reply ; but their officers even ran along the parapet and kicked
up their guns. Prescott told those who could hear him, that the " red-coats "
would never reach the redoubt if they would obey him. Sure enough,
when the order to fire came, the issue was terrible. For a few minutes the
fire was returned, but for only a few. Pigot was obliged to order a retreat.
" He was staggered," says an English account at the time, " and retreated
by orders." Some of his men ran even to the landing. Burgoyne's letter,
written for publication, 2 also says " he was staggered ; " and reinforcements
were sent to him.

Howe's fate with the right wing was similar; but probably his com-
panies suffered more severely. They could not advance by any road, and
were obliged to climb the rail-fences which parted thfe fields, or to break
them down. Knowlton and Putnam were begging and commanding their
men not to fire. A single shot, intended to draw the enemy's fire, obtained
its end. Howe's companies fired like troops on parade, and fired too high.
When the word was given to the Connecticut men, the well aimed shots
from the rail-fence made terrible havoc ; the English wavered, broke, and
retreated. Many of the exultant American soldiers leaped over the fence
to follow them, and had to be held back by their officers.

Prescott praised and encouraged his men. Putnam rode back to Charles-
town Neck to urge on reinforcements. Men had been sent from Cam-

1 Prince Charles, when he cut through the was remembered twelve years after at the battle

Austrian army, in retiring from Jagendorf, gave of Prague, when the general Prussian order was,

this order to his infantry : " Silent, till you see " By push of bayonets ; no firing till you see the

the whites of their eyes." This was on May whites of their eyes."
22, 1745 ; and this order, so successful that day, 2 Addressed to Lord Stanley.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

bridge, who dared not cross the Neck, raked as it
was by the fire of English vessels in the river. 2
At Howe's command, meanwhile, Burgoyne, who
was in the English battery on Copp's Hill, 3 set fire
to Charlestown with red-hot shot. 4 Howe prob-
ably supposed that the houses were cover for
American soldiers. But, in fact, Prescott had few
if any men to spare outside of his works.

Howe re-formed his broken lines after some
pause ; sent to Boston for proper balls for his
field-pieces ; 5 and, under the smoke and fire of

1 [This bit of writing represents, perhaps, the only relic like it
of the battle-field. It was seemingly written hastily, with whatever
might serve for a pen, on a slip of paper torn from the margin of a
book, and was not long ago found among some loose papers at the
State House. Joseph Ward was of Newton, was made an aid by-
General Heath on the day following Lexington, and at this time

was aid to General Ward; and so distinguished himself at Bunker
Hill that when his conduct was subsequently reported to Wash-
ington, he gave him a pair of pistols, which are now owned by Mr.
D. Ward A portrait of him is in the possession of R. R. Bishop ;
and a miniature by Dunkelery, 1789, is owned by Mrs. Osgood of
Cohasset. (Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 349.) He con-
tinued to be General Ward's aid when this General commanded
later in Boston, and his signatures to official documents, written
under less exciting circumstances, indicate a good penman. Dr.
Smith in his Hist, of Nciuton, p. 343, says that Ward was, in 1775,
a master in one of the Boston schools, and, seeing the troops in
motion on April 19, left the town for Newton, where he got a gun
and hastened to Concord. On June 17 he "rode over Charles-
town Neck, through a cross-fire of the enemy's batteries, to exe-
cute an order for General Ward." ED.]

2 [Gage was afterward blamed for not putting his gun-boats
on the Mystic also. ED.]

3 [The defence on Copp's Hill, at the time of the battle, was
an earthwork made in part of barrels filled with sand, and mounted
six heavy guns and howitzers. ED.]

4 [Dr. John C. Warren owns a small oil-painting which is sup-
posed to represent the burning of the town. An officer is direct-
ing an incendiary. Women are flying with affright. The story
usually goes that some men landed from the war-ships to assist in
starting the conflagration. The painting is thought to resemble
Trumbull's style. Dr. H. J. Bigelow found it many years ago,
labelled as a Trumbull and called " The Burning of Charlestown,"
in a dealer's shop in Boston, and gave it to Dr. J. Mason War-
ren. ED.]

6 But never got them. The master of ordnance was " making
love to the school-master's daughter." The guns were served
with grape.

.THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 87

the burning town, moved to the attack a second time. The result in both
attacks was the same as before. Colonel Prescott thought it even more
destructive than at first. The officers remonstrated ; even goaded the men
with their swords. The dead in some cases lay within a few yards of the
works. Putnam said : " I never saw such carnage." Howe, who had pro-
mised his men to march at their head, held his promise. He bore a
charmed life. Three times he was left alone. In the several attacks made
by his column, one company of the Fifty-second lost every man as killed
or wounded. The English broke so completely that the fugitives filled
the boats. For a considerable time no further attack was made. Many of
the American officers thought the day was their own ; but the regiments
ordered from Cambridge, to reinforce them, did not arrive. After the battle
several officers were tried for cowardice on account of their slowness in
bringing relief at this time. Howe sent for reinforcements. Four hundred
marines, under Small, were sent to him ; and with them came General
Clinton. But for this help he would have lost the battle. 1

Howe now, for the first time, bade his men lay aside their knapsacks,
move in columns, and trust to the bayonets. More important was the
discovery which he had made, with a soldier's eye, that the north end of
the breastwork was uncovered, and his resolution to advance his field-pieces
far enough to rake it. He made this his object now, only demonstrating
against the terrible fence on the American left, without approaching it;
and, with these skilful dispositions, moved forward on both attacks for the
third time. They were wholly successful. Howe himself led the attack
on the breastwork. Prescott recognized him, and was soldier enough to
know it would succeed ; but he held and encouraged his men. Few of
them had three rounds of powder left, but he instructed them to hold
their fire till the British were within twenty yards. This they did, and
the enemy faltered under the volley, 2 but reached the ramparts and
were sheltered by them. Pitcairn, commanding the marines, was here
mortally wounded. As, man by man, the Englishmen struggled over the
redoubt, 3 Howe's artillery swept the breastwork which ran from it. His

1 [Dr. John Jeffries crossed with the rein- The Regulars heard it, turned about, charged
forcements of four hundred men that Gage sent their bayonets, and forced the entrenchments."

ED.]

3 Lord Rawdon, who was one of them,
and was afterward popularly and probably
incorrectly said to have carried the colors,
was afterward Earl of Moira, governor of
India from 1812 to 1818, and a favorite of
George IV.

over. See N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., Jan. [The reader is referred to the frontispiece

1861, p. 15. ED.] for what is considered a contemporary view of

2 [General Greene, writing from the Roxbury the battle, as seen from Beacon Hill. The
Camp the next day (June 18), speaks of the re- original sketch is in the possession of Dr. Tho-
pulse the third time, and adds a bit of camp mas Addis Emmet, of New York, and was first
gossip : " It is thought they would have gone off, brought to the attention of the public in Harper's
but some of the Provincials imprudently called Monthly, in 1875.

out to their officers that their powder was gone. The designer for the cut followed a careful

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

leading companies soon passed round its northern end. Prescott, to avoid
being shut in, gave the order to retreat. Most of his men had fired every
round of powder.

The retreating men passed between two successful English columns,
which hardly dared fire, however, as their own friends were mingled with
their enemies. Yet Warren was killed at this juncture, Gridley wounded,
as was Bridge, also, for the second time.

The rail-fence, where Stark commanded, had not been attacked seri-
ously. The men here held their ground, and covered the retreat of their

tracing of it which was kindly lent by Mr.
Benson J. Lossing.

The spectator is supposed to be on Beacon
Hill, one hundred and thirty-eight feet above the
sea, and the higher hill, Bunker Hill, beyond
which the white smoke rises, is one hundred
and ten feet high, and a little less than a mile
and a half distant. Breed's Hill, where the re-
doubt is, is sixty-two feet above the sea. The
two summits were one hundred and thirty rods
apart.

Frothingham, Siege of Boston, p. 121, gives a
profile view of the Charlestown peninsula at this
time, copied from a contemporary drawing. It
is reproduced by Lossing in his Field-Book, and
in Bryant and Gay's United States, iii. 377. The
Pennsylvania Magazine, September, 1775, has a
folding "very elegant engraving of the late battle
at Charlestown, June 17, 1775," as the title-page
describes it. Barnard's New Complete and Au-
thentic History of England has a " view of the
attack on Bunker's Hill, with the burning of

AFTER THE BATTLE.

The annexed cut is from the same source.
The redoubt is seen on the top of the hill ; and
of the broken fences a British account says:
" These posts and rails were too strong for the
columns to push down, and the march was so
retarded by getting over them, that the next
morning they were found studded with bullets,
not a hand's breadth from each other."

These sketches were taken for Lord Rawdon,
then on Gage's staff, and remained in the pos-
session of his descendants till the dispersion of
the late Marquis of Hastings's library, when
they were bought by Dr. Emmet.

Charlestown, June 17, 1775;" drawn by Mr.
Millar; engraved by Lodge (u X 8 inches).
There is a view of the hill-top, with the monu-
ment erected on Bunker Hill by the Freemasons
to the memory of Warren in 1794, in the Analectic
Magazine, March, 1818; and it is reproduced in
the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1875, p. 65. A view of
the monument only is given in Snow's History
of Boston, p. 309 ; and one is also given in the
frontispiece of the present volume. Other early
views of the battle are described in Winsor's
Readers' Handbook of the American Revolution,
p. 58. ED.]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 89

less successful comrades. They were withdrawn in regular order, after the
fugitives from the redoubt passed them. At the summit of Bunker Hill,
Putnam attempted to rally the army behind the works he had been building.
He stood by a cannon till the bayonets
were almost upon him ; but the retreat
could not be checked, and the English
troops in triumph took possession of the
hill about five o'clock in the afternoon.

Clinton advised Howe to push on to
Cambridge. Ward, on his part, dreaded such an attack ; but Howe satis-
fied himself with turning two field-pieces on the retiring enemy.

Prescott was mad with disappointment. He reported to Ward, and told
him that with three fresh regiments, with bayonets and powder, he would
take the hill again ; but Ward was only too well pleased if he were left
without attack. 1 Ward knew, what he would not tell to any man even to
save his reputation, that he had in store that day only sixty-nine hundred
pounds of powder, not half a pound for every soldier in his command.

It was hardly an hour and a half between the first attack and the victo-
rious capture of the summit of Bunker Hill. In that period the attacking
force had lost two hundred and twenty-four killed, and eight hundred and
thirty wounded. If, as Gage said, he had about two thousand men in the
attack, this would have been a loss of more than one half the force ; but in fact
his full force was somewhat larger than this. Of the killed and wounded,
one hundred and fifty-seven were officers. The American loss was one
hundred and fifty killed, two hundred and seventy wounded, and thirty taken
prisoners. 2

The impression then made on Howe and Clinton governed them through
the war. They never again led troops against intrenched men. It will be
found thus that this first battle, in the terrible lesson it taught, was really
the battle decisive of the seven years which followed. 3 We now know that
the English officers thought their privates misbehaved. It is certain that
in many instances they ran, even to their boats. But when one reads that
every man was killed or wounded in one company, he does not ask many
questions as to the courage of the survivors. Burgoyne says in a private
letter to Lord Rochford : " All the wounds of the officers were not received

1 [The apprehension that the result of the care of their wounds, or any resting place but
battle would instigate Gage to send a force to the pavements, until the next day, when they ex-
disperse the Provincial Congress, is shown by changed it for the jail, since which we hear they
an order passed at Watertown, June 1 8, direct- are civilly treated." Abigail Adams to John
ing the secretary to look after the records and Adams, July 5, 1775. The Congress at Water-
papers of that body, and to have a horse ready town, June 27, 1775, requested General Thomas
"for that purpose in any emergency." (Massa- "to supply our wounded friends in Boston, pris-
chusetts Archives, cxxxviii. p. 159.) "It is ex- oners, with fresh meat, in case he can convey
pected they will come out over the Neck to-night, it to them and to them only." Massachusetts
and a dreadful battle must ensue." Abigail Archives, cxxxviii. p. 174. ED.]

Adams to John Adams, June 18, 1775. ED ] 3 [Creasy, Decisive Battles of the Wbr/</, gives

2 [" Our prisoners were brought over to the Saratoga that pre-eminence ; but Washington at
Long Wharf, and there lay all night, without any once recognized the importance of Bunker Hill.

VOL. III. 12.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

from the enemy ; " but he begs that this shall not pass, even in a whisper,
to any but the king.

All that night and all the next day, carts, wagons, and chaises, bearing
wounded men, were passing from the wharves to hospitals, barracks, and
lodging-houses. The tradition of the next generation told ghastly stories
of blood trickling on the pavement from the wagons which bore wounded
men.

A hot summer followed upon this battle-day, which was the hottest of all.
Washington, on July 3, beneath the now historic elm, took the command of
the American army, and made his headquarters for a few days in the house
belonging to the president of the college ; he then moved them to the famous
mansion now the home of Longfellow. The blockade by land became closer
than ever. Privateers audaciously cut off vessels approaching with stores. 1
While few of those events passed which work their way into general history,
or even light up historical novels, the diaries and letters of the time show
that there was not a week without its subject for excitement or, at least,
conversation. 2

On July 12, Major Greaton, of Roxbury, burned the hay which the
English had made on Long Island. On the twentieth, Major Vose of
Heath's regiment dismantled and burned the light-house, and made a raid
on Point Shirley. Another party, under Major Tupper, afterward drove off
the force which tried to rebuild it. 3 On July 1 1, Lee, in Cambridge, began a
correspondence with Burgoyne ; the first in a series of flirtations with old
loves, which ripened into treason. Desertions from Gage's army, which on
October 10 became Howe's, were not frequent. Howe says that they lost

1 [Washington early commissioned (October,
1775) John Manly as captain, who sailing from
Marblehead in the schooner " Lee," in No-
vember, 1775, captured military stores, which
soon were in the Cambridge Camp. Washing-
ton had not long before written to -Congress
that the "fortunate capture of an ordnance ship
would give new life to the camp." Manly died
in 1793, in his house at the North End. There

is a portrait of him in Treble's History of the
Flag. ED.] The earliest commission to priva-
teers is dated September 2.

2 " They carry off cattle under the guns of
the fleet." Earl Percy to his father.

3 [The light-house, at this time standing at the
harbor's entrance, was the original structure of
1716, modified somewhat by repairs in 1757,
when it had been injured by fire. It became,
early in the siege, an object of concern for both
sides ; and more than one expedition, conducted

by the Provincials, destroyed the destructible
parts of it. Washington, in general orders,
Aug. I, 1775, thanked Major Tupper and his
men "for gallant and soldier-like behavior in
possessing themselves of the enemy's posts at
the light-house."

Details of various exploits in the harbor will
be found in Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 1 10;
Evacuation Memorial, p. 142 ; Pattee's History
of Braintree and Qnincy. In the Massachu-
setts Archives, cxxxviii., are various state-
ments of depredations of the Regulars upon
stock and other property upon the islands.
Such a schedule of property thus lost, by
Joshua Henshaw of Boston, is at p. 415 of
that volume. Major John Phillips, who
was commander of the Castle from 1759, had
surrendered the charge on Hutchinson's order,
which in the summer of 1770 took it from the
care of the Province and placed it in the keep-
ing of the troops. The same officer was later
made fort-major of the fortress. Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., February, 1872, p. 207. After the
evacuation, Sept. i, 1776, Lieut-Colonel Revere
was directed by General Heath to take command
of Castle Island. N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg.,
July, 1876. ED-!

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 9!

but thirty-three men by desertion through the seven months after April 19.
Of every one of these desertions the American accounts give some detail.
Each deserter had his romance with which to gild his reception. One of
them, in July, said that Gage had but nine hundred men well enough to be
under arms. 1

A private note from Putnam to Moncrieffe, an old fellow-soldier, accom-
panies a present of fresh meat, which Moncrieffe loyally sent to the hos-
pitals. Before August was over, Gage was glad to renew the treaty for
sending out the poor civilians from Boston ; and he and Howe sent out
several parties after this time. It will be remembered, however, that Boston
was still a town of gardens, and that the people were not unused to pro-
viding their own summer vegetables from their own land. Gage made the
admiral send marauding expeditions up and down the coast for sheep and
other provisions ; but even a raid of a thousand sheep went but little way
in feeding twenty thousand hungry people. 2

Dr. Andrew Eliot, who remained in town, in a letter of July 31, thanks
his parishioner, Daniel Parker, for two quarters of fresh mutton which he
had sent from Salem. He distributed broth from it to thirty or forty sick
people. The writer of these lines, at this late day, expresses the thanks of
his great-great-grandmother for her share. At an auction sale of oxen and
sheep, picked up on the coast by the marauding navy, cattle brought from
fifteen to thirty-four pounds, and sheep thirty shillings and upwards. To the
Patriots these prices seemed enormous. As early as July the English had
begun to kill their milch cows, and the beef was sold at forty or fifty cents
the pound. In the winter a camp-follower named Winifred McOwen re-
ceived one hundred lashes for killing the town bull and selling the beef. 3

So soon as the Government received Gage's account of Bunker Hill he
was recalled. It was under the pretence that he was to be sent back in
the next spring; but really he was disgraced, and he was never appointed
to command again. 4 Howe took the command. He and Gage had both
recommended that Boston should be abandoned and New York taken in-
stead. Lord Dartmouth, for the Government, expressed the same idea as

1 [We have no estimate of the desertions 2 " And what have you got, by all your

from the American camp, but the British orderly- designing,

book notes their occurrence. This from Adju- But a town, without dinner, to sit down

tant Waller's : and dine in ? " Ballad of the Time.

,, 3 [Forage became scarce by midsummer in

"8 July, 1775. The advanced sentries not to suffer

those of the rebels during the night to come forward from '775- We find in Waller s orderly-book :
their day posts ; if they see them advance, they must call Ig j u]Vi I?75 The o ffi cers o f tne army are desired to

and order them to return to their former station, which if send their horses to ^^ at Char , e stown, as they cannot

they disobey, the sentries are immediately to inform the at prese nt be supplied with forage."
corporal of the guard of their having come forward ; but

they are not to fire unless they see occasion in their own Major Donkm, in his Military Collections,

defence, or to alarm the guard. The advanced guards and p. 113, says : " Caesar, in the African war, fed his

sentries are to fire on any of the rebels they perceive en- cavalry with sea-wrack, or jingle, washed well in

deavoring to prevent deserters coming in." fresh watr Thig m ; ght haye been ft gQod ^

Lists of deserters from Massachusetts regi- stitute for hay at Boston, which was very scarce

ments for the later period, 1777-80, are in Mass, in 1775." ED.]

Revolutionary Rolls, ix. But these men did not, 4 [Gage sailed for England, Oct. 10, 1775.

like the English, pass over to the enemy. ED.] Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1876, p. 316. General W.

92 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

early as September. When Howe was afterward asked why he did not then
abandon Boston, he said he had no transports ; but he had as many in Octo-
ber as he had in the next March, when the evacuation came. 1

A census, taken by Gage's order in July, showed a civilian population of
6,573. The army was then 13,500 strong. The privates were a wretched
set. The sternest discipline did not keep them in order. Irish in large
numbers, Scotch, German, and English were cooped up together. Thefts,
robberies, and nameless insults were daily perpetrated. As early as the sixth
of June, Waller's orderly-book contains this order: "The commanding offi-
cer [Percy] observes such profligacy and dissipation and want of subordi-
nation, that he orders a roll to be called four times a day." In a week,
" he is sorry to take notice that the tents and camp furniture are in the
most shameful and filthy condition." Drunkenness and licentiousness were
not checked by such punishments as eight hundred and a thousand lashes,
inflicted by order of courts-martial. Five hundred lashes were very frequent.
Indeed, the cat was in use daily. Winifred McOwen, the woman spoken of
above as killing the bull, was sentenced to receive her hundred lashes on
the bare back, in the most public places of the town.

The civilian population was steadily decreasing by death, and the occa-
sional parties sent out by the English generals. 2 On September 27 news
came of a change of the admiral, and of more reinforcements. In October,
so anxious was the dread of attack, that for several nights the army was held
in readiness to resist it. As winter came on, many houses before exempted
were seized for barracks. As late as November 9, some of the regiments
were under canvas. On November 19 a ship arrived with fowls, sheep, etc.,
probably the only arrival of the large stores of this kind shipped from
England. Late in November, Manly, in an American privateer, took the
" Nancy," an ordnance ship, with large stores of ammunition. Howe wrote
home that now the rebels had the means to burn the town he was afraid
they would do so, and the contemporary correspondence is full of propo-
sals " to smoke out the pirates."

The " pirates " made themselves as comfortable as they could. Some of
the old historical buildings were burned for firewood, Winthrop's house,
alas ! among them, and no one, in a hundred and fifty years, had made a
picture of it. Some of the grenadiers were quartered in the West Church.
Two regiments of infantry were in Brattle Street meeting-house, 3 and in

H. Sumner married a niece of Gage, and came 1775, forbidding specie, beyond five pounds, to

into possession of an original portrait of him, be carried out of Boston by any one departing,

which he had engraved for his History of East ED.]

Boston, and bequeathed to the State. It is now 8 [It is but a few years since this old land-
in the State Library. ED.] mark disappeared, which

1 [Howe kept up an occasional cannonading ;

i . i j .1 . r " Wore on its bosom, as a bride might do,

but he made no threatening movement for a _, . , , .. '

The iron breastpin which the rebels threw,

month, till, November 9, he sent a raiding party

to Lechmere point to steal cattle, which failed as Holmes phrases it. The ball, thrown from the

of its purpose. Moore's Diary of the American Cambridge shore, hit the front and fell to the

Revolution, i. 166. ED.] pavement, and was subsequently picked up and

2 [Howe issued a proclamation, October 28, lodged in the place where it struck. A model

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 93

the sugar-house adjoining it. " The pillars saved " the church from being
a riding school, as the record says with reference to the " Pillar of fire."
The Old South meeting-house was used for a riding school by the Seven-
teenth Dragoons. The officers still had their horses, and they got up
sleighing parties within the narrow limits of the town, as winter closed in. 1
The king's birthday was celebrated with enthusiasm. Even Patriots still
pretended that it was the ministry they were fighting, and drank the health
of the king, who was really their most bigoted enemy. The Patriot gentle-
men made a point of maintaining the most sedulous outward courtesy to
the officers of their king. Faneuil Hall was at first used as a storehouse
for furniture and other property ; but it was cleaned out for a theatre when
General Burgoyne, and his friends among the officers, needed it for that
purpose. In September they performed Zara, a tragedy translated from
Voltaire, and not yet wholly forgotten, thanks to Miss Edgeworth's Helen.
Burgoyne wrote the prologue and epilogue. The female parts were taken
by Boston young ladies, whose names have not come down to us. The play
was repeated several times, the profits being devoted to the widows and
children of the soldiers. Burgoyne has the credit of writing another play,
The Blockade of Boston, which was performed after he had sailed for home.
It was on January 8, when this play was in full progress, and an actor
ridiculing General Washington was on the stage, that a sergeant rushed
in, crying: "The Yankees are attacking the works on Bunker Hill." This
seemed a part of the play, till the highest officer present, an aide-de-camp, 2
ordered, "Officers to their posts ! " The play was at an end. Major Knowl-
ton, who had commanded at the rail-fence on the day of the battle, had
renewed his visit to Bunker Hill, burned a bakehouse and some other
buildings, and carried off several prisoners. 3 The Patriot ladies, who had
refused to go to the play, made merry over the misadventures of their less
squeamish sisters, who had to come home, frightened, without their gallant
escorts.

General Sullivan had attempted this raid the week before, but had been
disappointed because the ice was not strong enough to bear his men. The
mildness of the winter caused constant annoyance to Washington, who was
now provided with ammunition, and was eager to cross the ice on the Back
Bay and attack the town. He had insulted it by floating batteries once or
twice, but with no serious attack. 4 Why Howe, fairly crowded as he was,
had never renewed his own plan for taking Dorchester Heights, does not
appear; but in February, 1776, he writes to Lord Dartmouth: 5

of the old meeting-house, showing the ball in 4 [Abigail Adams writes, Oct. 21, 1775: "A

place, is now in the gallery of the Historical So- floating battery of ours went out two nights ago,

ciety. ED.] and moved near the town, and then discharged

1 Hon. J. T. Austin's MS. notes. their guns. Some of the balls went into the

2 Not General Howe, as an exaggerated tra- Workhouse ; some through the tents in the Com-
dition has it. mon ; and one through the sign of the Lamb

3 iSee contemporary accounts given in Tavern." ED.]

Moore's Diary of the American Revolution^ \. 6 MS. despatch, preserved in the state-paper

193, 199. ED.] office, London.

94 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

" It being ascertained that the enemy intended to take possession of Dorchester
Height or Neck, a detachment was ordered from Castle William on the 1 3th of Feb-
ruary under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Leslie, and another of grenadiers and light
infantry commanded by Major Musgrave, with directions to pass on ice, and destroy
every house and every kind of cover on that peninsula, which was executed, and six
of the enemy's guard taken prisoners."

From this despatch it appears that the ice had at last formed, for which
Washington had been waiting. He at once called a council of war, and
urged an assault on the town by crossing over the ice from Cambridge and
Roxbury; but his field-officers generally were unfavorable to the enter-
prise, much to Washington's disgust and hardly concealed indignation, and
he therefore reluctantly abandoned it. In its place he made immediate
dispositions to seize Dorchester Heights and to take Noddle's Island, now
known as East Boston. He asked the government of Massachusetts to call
out the militia of the neighborhood. This was done, and ten regiments
were called in. Washington himself says: " These men came in at the ap-
pointed time, and manifested the greatest alertness and determined resolu-
tion to act like men engaged in the cause of freedom."

Preparations were at once made by General Ward, at Roxbury, in col-
lecting fascines, and what in the military language of that day were called
" chandeliers," a kind of foundation for the fascines, with which were to be
built the works on Dorchester Heights. The ground was supposed to be
frozen too hard for entrenching. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights,
March 2, 3, and 4, 1776, a cannonading was kept up from Cobble Hill,
Lechmere's Point, and Lamb's Dam in Roxbury, to divert the attention of
the English troops and drown the noise of carts crossing the frozen ground.
As soon as the firing began on Monday evening, General Thomas moved
from Roxbury to South Boston with twelve hundred men. To deaden the
noise of the wagons the men strewed the road with straw, and wound
wisps about the wheels. Before morning they had thrown up formidable
works. The English of the fleet and of the army were entirely surprised
when that morning broke, for a dense fog had favored the Americans at their
work. On Tuesday evening, intending to storm the newly built works,
Howe sent down three thousand men under Percy to the Castle, to attack
on that side ; but while his troops were embarking from the island a violent
storm came up, which lasted till eight o'clock the next day and wholly
broke up the design. Before night of the sixth, evacuation was determined
on. Percy's letter to his father, of that date, says : " It is determined to
evacuate this town. I believe Halifax is to be our destination." He then
knew, and Howe had determined, that the works on Dorchester Heights
were not to be stormed. "An officer of distinction," in Almon's Remem-
brancer at the same date, says: "We are evacuating the town with the
utmost expedition, and are leaving behind half our worldly goods. Adieu !
I hope to embark in a few hours."

From hour to hour, however, Thomas was strengthening his works, which

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 1

were now much stronger and better provided than were Prescott's works at
Bunker Hill. Knox's Ticonderoga cannon were likely to be in good service.

1 [A likeness of Knox is prefixed to the Life
of him by Samuel A. Drake. A photogravure
of what is called the panel likeness of Knox, by
Stuart, is given in Mason's S/uarf, p. 211. The
Knox papers, left to the New England Historic
Genealogical Society by the late Admiral
Thatcher, grandson of the general, are now ar-
ranged in fifty-five folio volumes, to which an
index is preparing. . ,. account of the papers
( 1 1,464 in all), prepared by the Rev. E. F. Slafter,
has been prinfed by the society.

Knox played an important part in the siege
by conducting the expedition from Cambridge to
Ticonderoga to get some of the cannon which
had fallen into Ethan Allen's and Arnold's hands
by the capture of that post, and which Washing-
ton needed to put in his batteries, and which were
opportunely at hand when the heights at Dor-
chester Neck were to be fortified. Knox's diary
of this expedition is in the JV. E. Hist, and
Geneal. Reg., July, 1876. An inventory of the
cannon, made Dec. 10. 1775, is given in Drake's

96 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Had the attack been made, Washington relied upon Thomas to hold the
Heights, and he would himself have assaulted Boston on the western side as
soon as the English troops were engaged at South Boston. He had, at the
mouth of the Charles River, two divisions of troops in readiness, numbering
four thousand men, under the command of Greene and of Sullivan. Greene's
division was to have landed near where the Massachusetts General Hospital
grounds now are, and Sullivan's further south at the powder house, and to
seize the hill on the Common. If they were successful, these divisions were
to unite, march upon the English works at the Neck, and let in the troops
from Roxbury. Three floating batteries were to clear the way in advance
for their landing.

Washington thought well of this enterprise, and the troops would
have certainly been well led ; but it will never be known how far this
attack of four thousand men, who were to row two miles and land under
fire from the English batteries, would have succeeded.

It was only twelve months after Warren's last address in the Old South.
Washington, in his general orders, alludes to the anniversary of the Massacre. 1
But as the English did not attack on their side, the American attack did
not take place. Thomas kept on strengthening his works. Washington
regarded this fortification as only preliminary to taking Nook's Hill. This
hill was the extreme northwest part of South Boston, and commanded the
south end of Boston proper. It is now wholly dug away. 2

The details were made for the occupation of this lesser hill on the night
of the ninth. It was, so to speak, the Breed's Hill of Dorchester, the
eminence nearer to the town. But on the eighth Howe sent out a flag of
truce, with a letter signed by John Scollay, Timothy Newell, Thomas Mar-
shall, and Samuel Austin, the selectmen of the town. It was addressed
to nobody, for Howe had made a point that these gentlemen should not
address " His Excellency George Washington," as they wished to do. The
letter stated officially that Howe had assured them that he was making his
preparations to withdraw, and that he would not injure the town unless he
was molested in withdrawing. Washington would not answer. Colonel
Learned, who received the paper, sent back a message that Washington
would take no notice of it ; that it was an unauthenticated paper, not obli-
gatory upon General Howe. This was all the communication which passed ;
but it was enough. The Patriots were only too glad to have the "pyrates"

Cincinnati Society, p. 544. See also Drake's Life l [While this fortifying was going on at Dor-
of Knox, p. 175; his Landmarks of Middlesex, Chester Neck, a scene of solemnity, not unmixed
p. 154; Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 295. with ludicrous associations, took place at Water-
After the war Knox became a resident, for a town. A meeting of the citizens of Boston had
time, of Boston, and occupied the Copley house been legally warned to listen there to an anniver-
on Beacon Hill. The mansion which he built, sary oration on the Massacre. The Rev. Peter
later, at Thomaston, Me., is figured in Scribner's Thacher delivered it, and the audience of sup-
Monthly, ix. 616. A brother of General Knox posable Bostonians applauded it. ED.]
(Thomas Knox) was the first keeper of Boston 2 [It is shown on Pelham's map, of which a
Light, when it was rebuilt after the war. Car- heliotype is given in the Introduction to this
ter's Summer Cruise, p. 24. ED.] volume, there called " Foster's Hill." ED.]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

embark ; and nothing would have justified any loss of life or of property in
hurrying them. 1 On the /th Manly took two more provision ships in the
bay, and carried them into

the harbor of Cape Ann. BY HIS EXCELLENCY

On Saturday night, the
9th, a ball from the Eng-
lish killed Dr. Dole and
three men who had made
a fire on Nook's Hill.
Sunday and Monday the
bombardment continued.
On the next Sunday
morning, the i/th, Howe,

with his whole army, aid and aflift them- in their Rebellion, the Com-
sailed in seventy-eight mander in Chief cxpec"ls that all good Subjcfts
vessels. The total num- will ufe their utmoft Endeavors to have all iiuh
ber of officers and men, Articles convey 'd from this Place: Any who have
on his returns, was eight notOpportunity to convey jheirGoods under tl^n
thousand nine hundred
and six.

WILLIAM HOWE,

MAJOR GENERAL, Wc.&c.^c-

AS Linnen and WooTert Goods arc Articles
much wanted by the Rebels, and would

Care, may deliver them on Board the Ml
f nerva at Hubbard's Wharf, to Crean B'rufi, lifq ;
L:~i U ?* mark'd with their Names, who will give a Ccrt;-
cate of the Delivery, and will oblige himltlft'i
return them to the Owners, all unavoidable Ac-
twenty-four more, who cic j ents ace epted.

registered their names at jf a f ter t h' re Notice any Perfon fccretcs or keeps
Halifax, and some two in his Poflcflton fuch Articles* he will be trcaied

as a Favourer of Rebels,

who accompanied him
were nine hundred and

Bofton,

HOWE'S PROCLAMATION. 2

hundred who made no
registry there. In more
than one case, after the
fleet had come out into
the bay, a sea-sick Tory's wife begged her husband to put back ; and, by
this chance, her family landed on the shore of Massachusetts, to be pro-
genitors of sturdy Republicans, and not, as might have been, of Nova
Scotians, loyal to Victoria.

1 " Last Friday," writes Major Judah Alden
to his father, " the selectmen of Boston sent out a
letter to General Washington, to desire him not to
molest General Howe when he quit the town, as
they had assurance from him that he would leave
the town standing, and all private property. By
their [the enemy's] motions, it looks as if they
were determined to quit. They have loaded every
vessel in the harbor, but what their design is
we do not know. It is generally thought that
they are not determined to go, but to make us
think so until they can get reinforcements. We
are making all preparations against them that we
possibly can, and keep a better lookout than
usual. General Washington's answer to the
selectmen of Boston was, as there was nothing
VOL. III. 13.

binding from General Howe, he should pay no
regard to his promises to them."

- | This is a reduced fac-simile of an original
broadside in the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety's Library, and indicates the measures in
preparation for the evacuation. Crean Brush
was an Irishman who had gained notoriety in
New York politics. Under cover of this procla-
mation, he broke open stores and dwellings, and
conveyed the plunder to the " Minerva." He
was captured on board his vessel after the evacu-
ation, and lodged in Boston jail, where, in 1777,
he was joined by his wife; and, in a disguise
which her garments furnished, he escaped, Nov.
5, 1777, and fled to New York. See the Evacua-
tion Memorial, p. 164. ED.]

9 8

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

WASHINGTON AT DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 1

1 [This portrait of " Washington at Dorches-
ter Heights," as it is called, was painted by Stu-
art in nine days, in 1806, following the so-called
Athenaeum head, which was depicted twenty
years later than the event it is here made to com-
memorate. The story of this larger picture, told
in Mason's Stuart, p. 103, is as follows : Win-

which he had made in London of the Lansdowne
likeness of Washington, painted just before the
Athenaeum head. Mr. Samuel Parkman ad-
vanced the copyist some money on this canvas,
which, not being redeemed, was offered by him'
to the town for its acceptance. At the meeting
when this offer was made, a blacksmith objected

Stanley, the painter, brought to Boston a copy to the town's receiving a copy after Stuart, when

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

the artist lived among them and could give an
original. This seemed a pertinent objection, and
Mr. Parkman commissioned Stuart to paint the
larger picture, which was then accepted by the
town, and remained for many years in Faneuil
Hall. It is now in the Art Museum. Before
painting it, Stuart worked out the design on
a smaller canvas, or it is so claimed; and a
"small full-length," sold by Stuart to Isaac P.
Davis, and now owned by Mr. Ignatius Sar-
gent, of Brookline, is called this sketch. Ma-
son's Stuart, p. 105. ED.]

1 [The annexed fac-simile is of a pen-and-ink
sketch made by Kosciusko at Valley Forge in

1777. Alden was born in Duxbury, Oct. 3, 1750;
was ensign in Cotton's regiment in 1775; lieu-
tenant in Bailey's in 1776; later, captain and
brevetted major, after service throughout the
war. Francis S. Drake's Memorials of the So-
ciety of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts, p. 210,
of which Major Alden was president from 1829
till his death, in 1845. He was with his regiment
at Roxbury during the siege.

After the news came of the defeat of Mont-
gomery at Quebec, Colonel Learned, accompa-
nied by Alden, was sent to the British lines with
a flag of truce. Alden at another time accompa-
nied Colonel Tupper, under orders from Gen-

1OO

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The siege was ended; and Congress, March 25, 1776, ordered and had
struck a beautiful gold medal as a gift to Washington. It bears the mot-
toes: " Hostibus primo Fugatis," and " Bostonium Recuperatum." 1

General Artemas Ward commanded the right wing of the American
army, and directed the work of fortifying Dorchester Heights. General
John Thomas carried out his orders with such resource and promptness
as made the work the wonder of the time. And yet to-day, if you should
ask ten Boston men, "Who was Artemas Ward?" nine would say he was
an amusing showman. If you asked, "Who was John Thomas?" nine
would say he was a flunky commemorated by Thackeray. On the site
of the fortification ordered by Washington, directed by Ward, and built
by Thomas is a memorial-stone which bears, not their names, but that
of the mayor of Boston who erected it. Such is fame ! 2

eral Thomas, in whale-boats, to dislodge some
British who had seized an island in Quincy Bay.
The enemy fled on their approach. There are
particulars about the Grape Island affair, and
the general alarm along the southern shores of
the harbor, in The Familiar Letters of John
and Abigail Adams. ED.]

1 [A heliotype fac-simile is given herewith.
Washington's reply to the letter of presentation
is given m fac-simile in Force's American Archives,
fourth series, v. 977. The die, made in France,
is still preserved, and coppers struck with it are
not uncommon; but impressions taken since it
has been repaired can be distinguished by one
less leg of the horses being discernible, and by
other marks. See Loubat's Medallic History
of the United States, and Snowden's Medals of
Washington; and particularly the description by
Mr. William S. Appleton in the Mass. Hist. Soc.
Proc., April, 1874, p. 289. The original gold
medal had come down through the descendants
of Washington's elder brother ; and, after hav-
ing been buried, to escape capture during the
late civil war, in the cellar of an old mansion in
the Shenandoah Valley, a representative of the
family sold it in the spring of 1876 to fifty gen-
tlemen of Boston, headed by the Hon. Robert C.
Winthrop, who presented it, during the Centen-
nial ceremonies of March 17 of that year, to the
city, to be preserved in the Public Library, where,
with all the papers of attestation, it now is. See
Public Library Report of that year ; the Evacua-
tion Memorial, p. 25, where a steel outline-
engraving of it is given, from the plate used in
Sparks's Washington ; and Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
1876, p. 230. The heliotype here given is from

an early silver copy, belonging to Dr. Samuel
A. Green.

There were eleven different medals struck in
Paris, between 1776 and 1786, commemorative of
events of the Revolution, and by order of Con-
gress. The French Government, acting, it is
said, under the prompting of Lafayette, pre-
sented the entire series, in silver, to Washington,
and the collection is known as " the Washington
medals; "and the same finally coming into the
hands of Daniel Webster, passed, after Webster's
decease, to the Hon. Peter Harvey, who pre-
sented them to' the Massachusetts Historical
Society, where they now are. See the Proceed-
ings, April, 1874. ED.] " Bostonium " in later
Latin has given way to " Bostonia." The cari-
catures of the times speak of the people as
" Bostoneers."

2 The admirable Centennial Address of Dr.
Ellis, and its full appendix, give very full mem-
oranda of the details of the siege and its re-
sults. [It may be worth while to note the sub-
sequent careers of the leading British generals.
Gage, after his return to England, became in-
conspicuous, and died April 2, 1787. Howe's
subsequent career further south only gained for
him criticism and inquiry, till he returned to
England in 1777 (where he died in 1814); to be
succeeded by Clinton, who held the command
till 1782, when he in turn returned to England,
and died in 1795. Burgoyne's surrender at Sar-
atoga led to his detention in Boston and Cam-
bridge, from which he also returned to England,
to enter Parliament and advise a cessation of
hostilities, dying finally in 1792. Siege of Boston,
P- 334- ED.]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

101

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

PAUL REVERE'S LANTERNS. The story of
the lanterns has of late years attracted a good
deal of attention. Richard Devens, the friend
with whom it is claimed Paul Revere had agreed
upon this method of notice, made record of it

some time after in some minutes, which were not
brought to light till Mr. Frothingham printed
them in 1849 (Siege of Boston, p. 57). The De-
vens memorandum is also given in Wheildon's
Rmere's Signal Lanterns, p. 13, who discredits it
and disputes some of Frothingham's statements.
In 1798, a letter from Revere to Dr. Belknap,
detailing the events just before Lexington, was
printed in Mass. Hist. Coll., v. ; it may possibly
have been written a few, but probably not many,
years earlier. It has since been reprinted more
accurately in the same society's Proceedings, No-
vember, 1878, p. 371, from Revere's own man-
uscript, preserved in its cabinet. The story
entered into all the histories; but first acquired
wide popularity when Mr. Longfellow, in 1863,
made it one of his Tales of a Wayside Inn,
departing, however, in his spirited verse, some-
what from the historical record, since Revere
did not watch for the lanterns, and never reached
Concord. Meanwhile no particular discrimina-
tion had been made in the printed accounts as
to the edifice from which the lights were dis-
played. Both Devens and Revere had called it
the North Church. Dr. Eaton, in his Historical
Discourse of Christ Church, had made no men-
tion of the story in 1824 as associated with that
church; and though a tradition remained to fix
upon that building the place of the signal's dis-
play, it was not publicly bruited till 1873, when
the Rev. Dr. Henry Burroughs, its rector, in an
historical discourse, claimed the connection of
the incident with this church, and that Robert
Newman, who was then its sexton, was the one
who hung out the lanterns at Revere's instiga-
tion. Drake's Landmarks, p. 214, about the same
time also gave the incident to Christ Church.
A movement next on the part of the city au-
thorities to commemorate the warning, by an in-

scription on this church, led to a protest, dated
Dec. 28, 1876, from Richard Frothingham, The
Alarm on the Night of April 18, 1775, in which
he showed, as indeed Devens's account makes
clear, that other warnings had been given before
the lanterns were hung out, and which
they only confirmed. Mr. Frothingham
also claimed that the old North Meet-
ing-house in North Square was the true
place of their display, a building
which had been pulled down for fuel
during the siege. This position was
controverted by the Rev. John Lee Wat-
son in a letter in the Daily Advertiser,
July 20, 1876, which was subsequently
printed, with comments by Charles
Deane, in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., No-
vember, 1876; and separately, with a
later letter dated March, 1879, in Paul Revere's
Signals, New York, 1880. In these, both writer
and commentator show conclusively that Christ
Church was known popularly as the North
Church, and they contend that it was from its
spire the lights were shown. Mr. Watson also
contends that the " friend " of Revere was a
Boston merchant, Mr. John Pulling, a warden of
the church ; and that it was he who carried out
Revere's plan. Mr. W. W. Wheildon, in his
Paul Revere's Signal Lanterns, 1878, on the other
hand, reiterates the claims of Newman, and, as
well as Drake, Middlesex County, p. 117, and
Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 214, supports the
Christ Church view.

The present appearance of Christ Church is
shown in Vol. II. p. 509. A tablet was placed
on its front Oct. 17, 1878, with this inscription:
" The signal lanterns of Paul Revere displayed
in the steeple of this Church, April 18, 1775,
warned the country of the march of the British
troops to Lexington and Concord." The orig-
inal spire was overthrown in the great gale of
1804, but a new one, built by Charles Bulfinch,
preserved the proportions of the old one ; this,
however, has been somewhat changed by the
placing of the clock, as will be seen by com-
paring the cut in Shaw's Description of Boston,
p. 257. Mr. H. W. Holland's William Daives
and his Ride with Paul Revere, Boston, 1878,
sets forth the particular services, at the same
time, of Dawes.

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. Percy wrote
a private letter the day after the fight, dated
Boston, April 20, 1775, in which he says, speak-
ing of his march : " I advanced to a town about
twelve miles distant from Boston, before I could
get the least intelligence, as all the houses were

IO2

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

shut up, and not the least appearance of an in-
habitant to be seen." Then, speaking of his
reaching Lexington, and training his cannon
upon the Provincials, to gain " time for the gren-
adiers and light companies to form and retire in
order," he says he " stopped the rebels for a
little time, who dispersed directly and endeav-
ored to surround us, for they were in great num-
bers, the whole country having been collected
for above twenty miles round." " When the re-
treat began," he adds, " I ordered the grenadiers
and light infantry to move off, covering them
with my brigade, and detaching strong flanking
parties, which was absolutely necessary, as
the whole country we had to retire through was
covered with stone walls, and extended a very
hilly strong country." He reports that they had
" expended almost every cartridge " when they
reached Charlestown, and had lost "65 killed,
157 wounded, and 21 missing, beside one officer
killed, 15 wounded, and two wounded and taken
prisoners. . . . This, however, was nothing like
the number of which, from many circumstances,
I have reason to believe were killed of the
rebels." Of his adversaries he says : " Whoever
looks upon them merely as an irregular mob
will find himself much mistaken. They have
men among them who know very well what they
are about, having been employed as rangers
against the Indians and Acadians ; and this
country, being much covered with wood and
hilly, is very advantageous for their method of
fighting. Nor are several of their men void of
a spirit of enthusiasm, as we experienced yester-
day ; for many of them concealed themselves in
houses, and advanced within ten yards to fire at
me and other officers, though they were morally
certain of being put to death. . . . You may de-
pend upon it that as the rebels have now had
time to prepare, they are determined to go
through with it ; nor will the insurrection here
turn out so despicable as it is perhaps imagined
at home. For my part I never believed, I con-
fess, that they would have attacked the King's
troops, or have had the perseverance I found in
them yesterday." These extracts are from a
ftic-simile of the letter kindly lent by the Rev.
E. G. Porter, of Lexington, supplied to him by
the Duke of Northumberland, the grand-nephew
of the Earl The letter is more interesting than
Percy's official report to Gage of the same date,
which is printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May,
1876, p. 349.

The late Hon. Charles Hudson furnished to
the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., January, 1880, p. 315,
a paper on Pitcairn, whose name, because of his
alleged beginning of the contest at Lexington,
has been usually shrouded with obloquy ; but he
is said to have been a fair-minded officer, much
esteemed by all. (Sargent's Dealings with the
Dead, No. 17.) The first shot, whether fired by

Pitcairn or not, seems to have been from a
pistol, perhaps accidentally, not with any
execution so far as appears ; but it was soon fol-
lowed by a few muskets, and then by a volley of
the British vanguard. Pitcairn and his officers
aver that the first shot came from the Provin-
cials. (See Stiles's Diary, quoted in Frothing-
ham's Siege of Boston, p. 62 ; and Irving's
Washington,} The Provincials, scores of them,
report that it came from the Regulars. Nei-
ther side intended to fire first, and it is not
easy to determine to whose door what was
probably an accidental discharge is to be laid.
There has been some discussion as to the per-
son who first shed British blood. (Magazine of
American History, April, 1880, p. 308.) At all
events, it may be worth while in passing to note
that these " embattled farmers " stood where
the parallel lines are marked on the annexed
plan of the triangular Lexington Green ; which
also shows where Percy planted his cannon to
keep the Provincials at bay, while Smith's re-
tiring force sought shelter in the opened ranks

of Percy's detachment. The royal side pro-
fessed not to look upon the affair as we are ac-
customed to now-a-days. " Each side is ready
to swear the other fired first," says a letter of
the time, describing the after effects in Boston.
" The country-people call this a victory, and
the retreat of the troops a precipitate flight.
They don't consider that when the King's troops
had effected what they went for, they had only

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

103

to come home again." Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,

1873. P; 57-

Major Pitcairn, a few weeks later at Bunker

Hill, fell back into his son's arms as he was
scaling the redoubt, shot by a negro, Peter
Salem. (See George Livermore's "Historical
Research " in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., August,
1862, p. 176.) He was brought over the ferry to
Mr. Stoddard's, near the landing, and here bled
to death. His remains were placed under Christ
Church ; and the story goes that when, some
years after, they were sought to be sent to his
relatives in England, another body, through the
difficulties of identification, was sent instead.
Drake's Landmarks, p 217.

The reader must seek detailed accounts of
this eventful day in Frothingham's Siege of Bos-
ton, and in the smaller monographs and in-
cidental accounts, of which full enumeration is
given in Winsor's Readers 1 Handbook of the Rev-
olution, pp. 26-33; and in J. L. Whitney's Lit-
erature of the Nineteenth April, 1775. Gage's
public statement is given in l\ic fac-simile of his
" Circumstantial Account" in the present chap-
ter, which is not, by the way, accurately nor
wholly reprinted in Afass. Hist. Coll., ii. ; nor in
The Cambridge of 1776, p. 103. Percy's account
and Smith's report are in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
May, 1876; and Smith's is also in Mahon's Eng-
land, vi. app. ; and in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May,
1876, p. 350. It is interesting to compare the
account given
in the Memoir
and Letters of
Captain W. G.
Evelyn, Ox-
ford, 1 879, pp.

53- ' 2I -

The Provincial Congress, on its side, issued
a Narrative of the Incursions, etc., which was
printed in its journal, also separately by Isaiah
Thomas, and often since, and took numerous
depositions of participants in the fight, the princi-
pal men, like Colonel Barrett, deposing separate-

April, 1858 ; Siege of Boston, p. 86. What are
called the Lexington alarm rolls, or the lists of
minute-men who turned out as the news spread,
are contained in Massachusetts Revolutionary
Rolls, xi.-xvi., with indexes.

THE LITERATURE OF BUNKER HILL. This
is voluminous, and is set forth on different plans
in Winsor's Readers' Handbook of the American
Revolution, pp. 35-59; and in J. F. Hunnewell's
Bibliography of Charlestown and Bunker Hill,
pp. 13-29. It is enough to mention here, of the
more extended accounts, that in Frothingham's
Siege of Boston, Dawson's in an extra number
of the Historical Magazine, June, 1868, and that
of Dr. George E. Ellis. Colonel Prescott wrote
a brief and unsatisfactory account in the follow-
ing August, addressed to John Adams, which is
printed by Frothingham and Dawson; and his
son, Judge Prescott, wrote a narrative, which rep-
resents presumably the views of Prescott, and
which Frothingham printed in his centennial ac-
count of the battle, and in the Mass. Hist. Soc.
Proc., 1875. Two contemporary accounts are
preserved from eye-witnesses on opposing sides,
and from opposite points of view. Burgoyne
saw the battle from Copp's Hill and described
it in a letter to Lord Stanley, which is printed
in Fonblanque's Burgoyne and in other places.
The Rev. Peter Thacher, of Maiden, saw it from
the farther side of the Mystic, and wrote an ac-

ly, the originals of which, or those sent to
England, are preserved in the libraries of Har-
vard College and the University of Virginia.
They have been often printed. These, with other
papers, were entrusted to Richard Derby, of Sa-
lem, and he despatched
Captain John Derby
with them on a swift
vessel, so that the pro-
vincial accounts of the
day's work reached Lon-
don and the Government eleven days in advance
of Gage's despatches. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,

count which is preserved in the American Anti-
quarian Society's Library, and is printed by
Dawson. This was the basis of the narrative
set forth by the Provincial Congress, which is
printed by Frothingham and others. Gage's
official report was printed in Almon's Re-
membrancer.
The earliest anniversary oration was Josiah
Bartlett's, in 1794, which was printed the next
year in Boston by B. Edes.

The bibliographical history of a somewhat
needless controversy, which at one time was
mixed with political recriminations, as to the
command in a battle which was too unexpected
and unorganized for any individual and regular
management of the whole extent of it, is traced
in Winsor's Handbook, p. 48. There can be no
question of Prescott's military superiority at the
redoubt ; all else was supplementary, contingent
certainly, but mainly independent, though a par-

IO4

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

tial concert of action obtained throughout the
day, rather by mutual apprehension of the ne-
cessities of the case than by fixed direction.

In the parade at the time of laying the corner-
stone of the monument in 1825 one hundred and
ninety Revolutionary soldiers appeared ; and of
these, forty professed to have been in the battle.
Under the fervor of the hour, some of these were
appealed to to revive their recollections, and a
mass of depositions were taken by William Sul-
livan and others; but those instrumental in pro-
curing them soon became satisfied that such "old
men's tales" drew more on the imagination than
was fit for historical evidence. Colonel Swett,
however, used them to some degree in the addi-
tions which he made to his account of the battle.
These papers, in 1842, were for a while in the
hands of a committee of the Historical Society,
who saw no reason to value them differently;
and being returned to the Sullivan family, it is
supposed that they were destroyed. (Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., ii. 224-231.) Some papers, presum-
ably of the same character, were offered at auc-
tion in New York in 1877 ; but without finding a
purchaser. There is an amusing account of one
of the so-called veterans of Bunker Hill
in No. i of the "Recollections of Amer-
ican Society," in Scribner's Monthly,
January, 1881, p. 420. Numerous pa-
pers relating to individual losses at
Bunker Hill are in Massachusetts Ar-
chives, cxxxix. ; and papers relating to the official
return of the damage done by the burning of
Charlestown, communicated to the Governor
Jan. ii, 1783, are in Massachusetts Archives,
cxxxviii. 393. So late as 1834 memorials were
presented to the Legislature, asking satisfac-
tion for losses suffered on June 17, 1775. See
House Document of that year, No. 55.

THE AMERICAN LINES. These can be
traced in Pelham's Boston and Vicinity, and
Trumbull's Boston and the Surrounding Country ;
both of which are given in reduced fac-simile in
this volume, and are noted in the Introduction,
together with various eclectic maps of a later day,
useful in fixing the localities.

There were four points of attack which
the besieging force guarded against: first, by
Charlestown Neck, where the left wing, under
Lee, would have to bear the brunt of the onset ;
second, by boats across the Back Bay, where the
British would have to effect a landing in the face
of the centre under Putnam ; third, by a sortie
from the Neck lines toward Roxbury; fourth,
by Dorchester Neck, where, by landing on that
peninsula, the enemy might attempt to turn the
extreme right of the right wing. This part of
the lines, both at Roxbury and Dorchester, was
held by the right wing, which was commanded by
Ward after Washington took the general com-
mand.

The fortified positions and associated land-
marks along this line of circumvallation may
perhaps be traced with interest.

Going out over Charlestown Neck the road
forked at the Common, just west of the narrowest
part. The right hand fork came soon to Ploughed
Hill, the modern Mount Benedict; and it was
here that the Americans took an advanced post
August 26, bringing them within range of the Brit-
ish guns on Bunker Hill. It \vas ( an act intended

to invite an attack, which was, however, declined.
General Sullivan fortified it under a heavy fire,
and pushed out his picket line till it confronted
the enemy's within ear-shot ; and the place be-
came the scene of much sharpshooting, chiefly
conducted by Morgan's Virginia riflemen, who

had reached the camp during the summer. There
were redoubts also at Ten Hills Farm, which
Sullivan had erected to protect his post at
Ploughed Hill from assault on the Mystic side ;
and some traces of them are still left.

j ^ /

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

105

The road by Ploughed Hill led on to Winter
Hill, which was fortified immediately after the
battle of Bunker Hill, and garrisoned chiefly by
New Hampshire troops. The main defence was
on the summit, where the road to Medford now
diverges. Much of the proficiency of Sullivan's
camp was due to his brigade-major, Alexander
Scammell. (See Historical Magazine, September,

valley toward Winter Hill, and on the other
toward the Cambridge lines. Putnam had be-
gun work here immediately after the retreat
from Charlestown. When Washington arrived

1870.) A good deal of the military spirit of the
camp was derived from a veteran of the French

wars, John Nixon, who had been very busy on
the Lexington day, been wounded at Bunker Hill,

and the army was brigaded, Greene was sta-
tioned here under Lee, assuming command on
July 26, with a force of three or four thou-
sand men, including his Rhode Islanders, who
had been earlier encamped at Jamaica Plain.
It was on Prospect Hill that Putnam hoisted
his Connecticut flag, "An appeal to Heaven,"
on July 18 ; and again on Jan. i, 1776, what

and was made a brigadier in August. Henry
Dearborn and John Brooks, both later known in
Boston history, were also officers of this camp.

From this Winter Hill fort, one road leading
to Medford passed the old Royall mansion, where
Lee and Sullivan each at one time made their
quarters, and where Stark held his command.
The story of the famous old mansion is told in
Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, ch. vi. About
equally distant on the road to Concord was the
old Powder Tower, whose remains are to-day one
of the most characteristic relics of the past near
Boston. Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, ch. v.
It was to this magazine that Gage sent the expe-
dition in September, 1774, to seize the powder,
as told in the preceding chapter.

The uneven valley between Winter and Pros-
pect hills was guarded by more than one re-
doubt ; and in the rear of one of them, in an old
farm-house still standing on Sycamore Street,
known as the Tufts house, Lee had his head-
quarters.

Pelham's map shows the extensive works and
out-works which crowned the summit of Pros-
pect Hill, and extended on the one hand into the
VOL. III. 14.

they called the Union flag of the Confederated
Colonies, a banner with thirteen stripes.

The road which ran from Charlestown Com-
mon to Cambridge Common passed just below
Prospect Hill (the present Washington Street
in Somerville, and Kirkland Street in Cam-
bridge), and between it and the lesser eminence,
called then Cobble or Miller's Hill, now the
site of the Insane Asylum, where Putnam and
Knox on the night of November 22, with the
regiments of Bond and Bridge as a supporting
force, threw up breastworks which afterward

became one of the strongest points of the Amer-
ican lines, and when mounted with 18 and 24
pounders served effectually to keep the enemy's
vessels from moving too near.

Just South of Cobble Hill, the marshy land
intersected by Willis's Creek made an island of
the region now known as East Cambridge, but

io6

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

which was then called Phips's farm, or Lech-
mere's Point, the old farm-house standing near
where the modern court house is. Richard Lech-

mere, who owned it, had acquired it by marrying
the daughter of Spencer Phips, the royal Lieut.-
Governor, whence the two names. He was now
a Tory, and the upland was soon put to
good use. Gage had found it convenient
to land his detachment here, which marched
to Lexington ; and how Boston looked
from this point may be seen from one of
the heliotypes in the preceding chapter.
There was already one causeway, connecting
by a bridge over Willis's Creek the neigh-
borhood of Prospect Hill, when Washington
determined to fortify the point, and then to
extend the road now called Cambridge Street
over the marsh, so as to bring the new fort into
more direct communication with his centre.
Having protected these two approaches by small
works on the main land, and Manly's capture
of an ordnance ship supplying him with a 13-inch
mortar, he began to extend a covered way there
on the night of November 29, and broke ground
for his main work on December n, which he
was obliged to complete under heavy fire from
the Boston side. This, and the frozen ground,
delayed the completion till the latter part of
February, 1776. Knox's cannon from Ticonder-
oga played here a good part in the bombard-
ment of March 2, when one of the shot struck
the tower of the Brattle Street Church, and was
to be seen there to our day.

Thus the advanced posts of the besieging
army from their extreme left at Ploughed Hill
were continued through Cobble Hill and Phips's
farm ; while, to protect the centre front, in No-
vember two small redoubts were thrown up,
bordering on the marshes, further on toward the
Charles. One of these, which was intended to
repel boats, was found in complete preservation
by Finch, in 1822. The further waste by time
was repaired by the Cambridge city authorities,
in 1858, who enclosed the earthwork, and named
it Fort Washington. Pelham's map, and so does
Marshall's, places the other battery nearer the
Charles; but Finch could find no trace of it.
It probably occupied the knoll in the marsh to
which Magazine Street now conducts. Paige's
History of Cambridge, p. 422.

The interior line of defence, which was con-

structed earlier by Gridley, consisted of detached
works, extending from a point on the Charles,
where now the Riverside Press is, over Butler
(or Dana) Hill, in the direction
of Prospect Hill, and ending
near Union Square in Somer-
ville. They can be traced on
Pelham's map, and are de-
scribed in Drake's Landmarks
of Middlesex, p. 186. Finch,
in 1822, could find little trace
of them.

Just in advance of this line,
in the house of the Tory Ralph Inman, Putnam
had his head-quarters. He left his son, Colonel
Putnam, here to guard the ladies during the action

on Bunker Hill. Drake reports the house in 1873
as being cut asunder and wheeled off. It stood
on Inman Street, where the road from the college
to Phips's farm made a sharp turn to join the
Charlestown road. It is shown in Pelham's
map. The house before the war was a centre of
attraction for the royalist officers in Boston ; for
Inman kept good cheer, and had pretty daugh-
ters. One of them married John Linzee, who
commanded the " Falcon " on Bunker-Hill day.

Putnam, on reaching Cambridge, had occu-
pied the Borland house, popularly known as the
Bishop's Palace, directly opposite Gore Hall,
on Harvard Street. It had been built about
fifteen years before by the Rev. East Apthorp of
Christ Church, Cambridge, a son of Charles
Apthorp, a Boston merchant. John Adams says
it was " thought to be a splendid palace, and
was supposed to be intended for the residence
of the first royal bishop." Another Boston
merchant, John Borland, occupied it up to the
outbreak; and it was he who added the third
story, to give more accommodation for his
household slaves, as the tale goes. The true
front is toward Mount Auburn Street.

A little further west, and within the college
yard, is the present Wadsworth House, the for-
mer home of the presidents of the college.

The cut on the next page follows a drawing
made by Miss E. S. Quincy during the presi-
dency of her father.

The house in 1776 was fifty years old, having
been built in 1726 for the occupancy of Presi-
dent Wadsworth ;.and it did not have the late-
ral projections, which were put on in Treasurer
Storer's time to enlarge the dining and drawing
rooms. It was in this house that quarters were
assigned to Washington, by provision of the
Congress at Watertown, on his coming to Cam-

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

IO7

bridge ; as Mr. Deane has conclusively shown in
a paper in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., September,
1872, p. 257. See also Harvard Book ; Catn-
bridge of '177 '5; Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex,
p. 206; Quincy's History of Harvard University.
Miss Quincy thinks that a British shell, which
passed over the house and fell in Harvard
Square, probably showed that a remoter head-
quarters were safer for the General. See Dr.
Hoi brook's account in Memoirs of Mrs. E. S. M.
Quincy, p. 223.

Hist. Soc. Proc. for 1881. The old Stoughton was
to disappear, however, before the war ended.
Hollis Hall was also then standing ; but hardly
a dozen years old. Holden Chapel was thirty
years old, and became the place for courts-mar-
tial to be held. In May, 1775, the Provincial Con-
gress had taken possession of these buildings,
and on the day before Bunker Hill the College
library had been removed to a place of safety.
The original records of this Provincial Congress
are in Mass. Archives, cxl. ; they have been

THE WADSWORTH HOUSE.

It was in the old meeting-house shown in the
engraving, which stood where now the Law
School stands, that the Provincial Congress of
1774 held its sessions. Washington attended
Sunday services here, occupying a wall pew on
the left of the pulpit.

The principal college buildings at this time
were Harvard Hall, which, after the fire of
1764, had been rebuilt ; Massachusetts Hall ;
and the Stoughton of that day (seen in the por-
trait of Wm. Stoughton in Vol. II. 166), which,
with the highway opposite, formed a quad-
rangle of the space now lying between
Harvard and Massachusetts, as shown in
the old " Prospect of the Colledges in Cam-
bridge in New England,'' of which there
are two conditions of the plate : one in Lieut. -
Gov. William Dummer's time, as issued by W.
Burgis, and the other in the days of Lieut.-Gov.
Spencer Phipps, when William Price issued it. A
heliotype, considerably reduced, is given in Mass.

printed. In the winter of 1775-76, nearly two
thousand men were sheltered in these and the
lesser college buildings, and they made use of all
the college property. On May 3, 1777, the col-
lege steward, Jonathan Hastings, made a return
of " the utensils left in the college kitchen, which
[words carefully erased, evidently "the colony")
of the Massachusetts Bay have not replaced."
(Mass. Archives, cxlii. 57.)

It is probable that the earliest works raised
after Lexington day were some breastworks

thrown up across what is now the college yard,
and it is probable also that they were raised early
in May by Colonel Doolittle and his men ; and
Drake says, Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 243, that
they extended to the right as far as Holyoke

io8

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Place. North of the college buildings and front-
ing on the Common was the house still standing,
now owned by the University and occupied by
Professor James B. Thayer, by whose permission
the view of the old hall, given in the annexed
cut, was taken. The door to the right opens
into the room in which General Ward held

the night before the battle; that President Lang-
don went forth from the western door and
prayed for God's blessing on the men just set-
ting forth on their bloody expedition, all
these things have been told and perhaps none
of them need be doubted." (Poet at the Break-
fast Table. Also see Harvard Book, ii. 424 ; Still-

his council of war, when it
was resolved to occupy the
heights in Charlestown. In
the exterior view, the lower
windows to the right of the
entrance belong to this
room. Dr. Holmes says in
his " Gambrel-roofed House
and its Outlook : " "I retain
my doubts about those dents
on the floor of the right-hand
room, the ' study ' of the suc-
cessive occupants, said to
have been made by the butts
of the Continental militia's firelocks ; but this
was the cause the story told me in childhood laid
them to. That military consultations were held
in that room when the house was General Ward's
headquarters ; that the Provincial generals and
colonels, and other men of war, there planned
the movement which ended in the fortifying of
Bunker Hill; that Warren slept in the house

man's Poetic Localities of Cambridge ; Drake's
Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 255; and Middlesex
County, i. 337; McKenzie's History of First
Church in Cambridge.} It is well known that the
house was the birthplace of Dr. Holmes. At the
outbreak of the war it was occupied by Jonathan
Hastings, the college steward who, in July, 1775,
became the postmaster of Cambridge ; and it was

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

ICQ

his son Jonathan who was later postmaster of Bos-
ton. Very soon after Lexington the Committee of
Safety took possession, and the original minutes
of their doings here are now preserved in the
Mass. Archives, cxl. It was to this committee
that Benedict Arnold, with his Connecticut com-
pany, reported, April 29; and from them, May 3,

relating to his subsequent resignation, are in the
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc,, July, 1871. Colonel Car-
rington, in his Battles of the American Revolu-
tion, speaks of Ward, then less than fifty, "as
advanced in years and feeble in body." Drake
gives the same false impression in speaking of
" his age and infirmity " two years later.

he received his colonel's commission ; and here
Ward, upon receiving his commission from the
Province to be the ranking general of the Massa-
chusetts forces, fixed his headquarters.

This commission was dated May 19, 1775;
and that from the Continental Congress, making
Ward the second major-general in the service,
bears date June 22. These, with other 'papers

Almost directly west from this house, and on
the other side of the Common, still stands the
old elm under which Washington, July 3, 1775,
first took command of the unorganized army of
soldiers then laying siege to Boston. (Cambridge
in the Centennial, 1875.) The arrival of Wash-
ington was anxiously waited, and his assuming
command was expected to " be attended with a

I IO

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

great deal of grandeur. There are," writes Lieu-
tenant Hodgkins, that morning, " one and twenty
drummers and as many fifers a beating and play-
ing round the parade." Ipswich Antiquarian
Papers, 1881.

The annexed cut follows a painting which
represents this historic tree before it had begun
to show many signs of age. The house in the
background occupied the site of the present
Shepard Memorial Church, and was standing
during the Revolution. It was known as the
Moore House, the home of a certain Deacon
Moore, whose wraith was said to haunt it. When
it was destroyed some years since, two skele-
tons were found beneath it, walled up in a cavity.

Press is all there is left of the old Brattle Estate.
The beautiful and extensive gardens with mall
and grotto, and stretching to the river, have all
disappeared. William Brattle, who occupied it
at this time, deserted it, and fled to his friends
in Boston. He was the universal genius of his
time, and of course was called superficial. A
graduate of Harvard, he served" by turns as a
theologian and preacher, a physician and blood-
letter, a lawyer and attorney-general, a politician
and counsellor; and then, to make a Tory of
him, the place of brigadier in the militia was
conveniently found empty. When he went off
to Halifax with Gage, they called him "commis-
sary and cook." The place had been vastly im-

THE WASHINGTON KLM.

(Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 268.) There
are accounts of the tree in Harvard Book, ii. and
in fhe paper on "American Historical Trees" in
Harper's Monthly, May, 1862. Christ Church
stood then as now, and, except being lengthened,
is not greatly changed in outward appearance.
A subscription, mainly effected in Boston, had
built it about fifteen years earlier, and its parish-
ioners were now mostly Tories and absentees. It
was accordingly converted into barracks, and
some of the Southern riflemen found quarters
there, though occasional church services wer.e
held in it, a member of Washington's staff con-
ducting them. See Dr. Hoppin's Historical Dis-
course.

Proceeding into Brattle Street from Harvard
Square, the first house beyond the University

proved under the superintendence of a son,
Major Thomas Brattle, who had gone to England
early in the war, signifying his neutrality, but
exerting himself the mean while to alleviate the
trials of American prisoners in that country. At
the end of the war his return was allowed by the
Legislature only on the strong presentation by
Judge Sullivan of his claims to consideration.
(Amory's James Sullivan, \. 139.) The mansion
was early appropriated to the uses of Colonel
Mifflin, 1 who acted as the quartermaster-general

1 John Adams describes dining at this house Jan. 24,
1776, with General Washington and his lady and other
company, among whom were " six or seven sacliems and
warriors of the French Caghnawaga Indians with several of
their wives and children," then visiting ihe camp. '' I was
introduced to them by the General," says Adams, "as one

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

I I I

of the army, and whose memoranda can be seen
on the corner of the plan of the British lines on
Boston Neck, in a heliotype given in this chapter.
The grounds of the Brattles extended to those
of the Vassalls, whose old mansion is still stand-
ing, much shorn of its ancient splendor, and lately
the residence of Mr. Samuel Batchelder. The
house was at this time a passably old one, seventy-
five years or even more having passed since its
erection, and its history can be read as written
by Mrs. James, Mr. Batchelder's daughter, in The
Cambridge of 1775, p. 93, showing how many
changes have been made in its appearance. The
Vassalls had owned it since 1736, when Colonel
John Vassall was in possession. He had mar-
ried a daughter of Lieut.-Governor Spencer Phips,
and in years to come she and others who bore
the name of the bluff, illiterate sailor, William
Phips, were foremost figures in the old Tory
aristocracy of Cambridge ; for her three sisters
married Judge Richard Lechmere, Judge Joseph
Lee, and Andrew Boardman. In 1741 Henry
Vassall, the colonel's brother, bought it. He
was then living in Boston, but had lately been a
planter in Jamaica, though of a Boston family.
(See Vol. II. p. 544.) This' Henry married a
daughter of Isaac Royall, whose fine mansion on
the Medford road we have seen in the occupancy

of Lee and Sullivan. The husband died in 1769,
and was buried under Christ Church ; but the
widow survived here till the war began, when she
suddenly emigrated to Antigua, leaving the old

^^^Y
^ ^

ton's arrival. The story of Church's defection
need not be told here. Its growth has been
traced in Frothingham's Life of Joseph Warren,
p. 225. (Also see Siege of Boston, p. 258 ; Gordon's
American Revolution, ii. 134; Loring's Hundred
Boston Orators, p. 39 ; Sabine's American Loyal-
ists ; and Mr. Goddard's chapter in the present
volume.) The letter which he addressed to his
brother in Boston, and which was intercepted,
was written in cipher; and in the Massachusetts
Archives, cxxxviii. 326, is a copy of it as "de-
ciphered by the Rev. Mr. West, and acknowl-
edged by the doctor to be truly deciphered." It
is attested by Joseph Reed, secretary. The trans-
lation was printed in the Ne-d> England Chronicle
and Essex Gazette of Jan. 4, 1776, at that time
printed in one of the college buildings; and is
reprinted in N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., April,
1857, p. 123. Church was brought before a coun-
cil of officers September 13, when he did not at-
tempt to vindicate himself. He was now confined
in a front chamber of this house, and the name,
" B. Church, Jr.," cut by himself in the panel of a
closet door in that chamber, can be traced to-day.
The court remanded him to the Provincial Con-
gress at Watertown, whither he was taken in a
chaise with a guard under General Gates, and
the trial took place in the meeting-house, Church

v .sj //

^^^^/^^t^ 6^^
X V^

>. > x

<>^. -w^?x

^e^TT^t^i.

making a plausible speech. It is well known that
the result was confinement, which was changed
for exile ; but the vessel which bore him toward
the West Indies was never heard of. The an-

house to be occupied by the medical staff of the
army, under the director-general, Dr. Benjamin
Church, who took this position after Washing-

of the grand council-fire at Philadelphia, which made them
prick up their ears." Familiar Letters, p. 131. John
Adams's Works, ii. 431.

nexed autograph is from a letter which .he ad-
dressed from this house to the president of the
Congress. An early copy of his statement, " From

112

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

my prison in Cambridge, Nov. i, 1775," is pre-
served in the Sparks MSS. xlix. i. t.

There is no doubt that the wounded from
Bunker Hill were brought here, and were placed

General Joseph Warren, was put in charge of
the Cambridge Hospital, June 26, 1775. William
Gamage, Jr., was also in attendance
on the wounded, both after Lexing-
ton and Bunker Hill, from April 19
to Aug. 17, 1775.

Beyond the Vassall house, and
on the opposite side of the street,
is another, known as the Craigie House, and
perhaps the most famous dwelling in America,
at that time the military home of Washington,
now the home of Longfellow.

cinnati Society. Eustis
Joseph Warren, who
procured for him the
appointment of surgeon
to the artillery regiment
at Cambridge, and later
he became the senior surgeon
of the camp hospital (Life of
John Warren, pp. 24, 50.) It ap-
pears from a paper in the Massa-
chusetts Archives, cxxxviii., that
Dr. John Warren, the brother of

under the spe-
cial care of
r. Eustis and
1 the other sur-
geons. There
is an engrav-
ing of Eustis,
after Stuart's
likeness, in
Drake's Cin-
had been a pupil of

The annexed cut follows a water-color made
by Fenn some years since. When Washington
occupied it as his headquarters, his office was
the room on the right of the front door, now
Longfellow's study. The chamber over it \v;i>
his bedroom. The present library-room is be-
hind the study, and was used as a staff-room
by the commander -in -chief, and is doubtless
the apartment in which his secretary, Joseph
Reed, made the fair draughts of many of the
letters dated at these headquarters. Miss E.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

S. Quincy writes to me : "The late Daniel Green-
leaf, of Quincy, told me that his father was em-
ployed (I believe) to furnish the Vassall House;
and calling on Washington, his son accompany-

ing him, the two were invited to dine, the meal
was taken in the room to the right of the front
door, and consisted of four dishes of meat, etc.,
which the aids carved."

We have a pleasant picture of life at the old
house in Horace E. Scudder's " Guests at Head-
quarters " in The Cambridge of 1775. The house
has been often depicted, by photography in
Stillman's Poetic Localities, and in the Ilan-ard
Book, \. ; and on steel in Drake's Middlesex, p.
338 ; etc. The estate at that time was much more
extensive than it is at present, and extended
northward to include the present Observatory
Hill, which at one time bore a summer-house ;
and from a spring in its neighborhood water was
conducted to the mansion through an aqueduct,
whose inlet in the foundations of the house is
still visible. It is thought that the house was
erected by Colonel John Vassall in 1759, and when
Washington occupied it was comparatively a new
structure. The colonel had but lately abandoned
it and joined his Tory associates in Boston, where
he occupied the Faneuil house (depicted in Vol.
II. p. 523) till he went to England, where he died
in 1797. His estate in Cambridge was early con-
fiscated. Immediately upon Vassall's leaving, a
Marblehead regiment under Colonel (later Gen-
eral) Glover, took possession. a band of fisher-

men commanded by a fisherman, who had re-
ported to General Ward, June 22, and they ap-
pear to have occupied the house till July 7, when
they received orders to encamp, the Provincial
Congress having directed the furnishing of the
mansion for Washington's occupancy. The com-
mander-in-chief records an expense for cleansing
the quarters, July 1 5, so that not far from that
VOL. III. 15.

time he probably first took possession, and re-
mained in it eight months.

Mrs. Washington did not join her husband
in this house till December 11. Mrs. Goodwin,
the mother of the late Ozias Goodwin, was the
housekeeper of the establishment. In the stable,
still standing, were the light phaeton and pair
with which General Washington had come to
Cambridge, beside the saddle-horses of himself
and staff.

Later, the house became successively the
property of Nathaniel Tracy of Newburyport,
who had fitted out the first privateer in the
war; of Thomas Russell, the Boston merchant ;
and, in 1791, of Dr. Andrew Craigie, late apoth-
ecary-general of the Revolutionary army, who
had served the wounded at Bunker Hill. The
annexed autograph is from a paper dated May

14, 1775, at the hospital in Cambridge. Prom
him the house acquired its name, as did the
bridge now connecting Boston and East Cam-
bridge, Craigie being prominent in that enter-
prise. Later it was the home of Sparks (while
editing Washington's Writings], Everett, and
Worcester the lexicographer ; and became that
of Longfellow in 1837. Drake's Landmarks of
Middlesex, ch. xiii.

We must pass hastily by two or three other
old Tory houses which marked Brattle Street in
the Revolutionary days, and which still stand.
First, on the corner of Sparks Street, though now
elevated on a new basement story, is the house
(owned by John Brewster, a Boston banker)
which Richard Lechmere (and, later, Jonathan
Sewall) occupied, till he was mobbed and fled to
Boston in September, 1774. See Mr. Goddard's
chapter in this volume, and Mr. Morse's in Vol.
IV., for some account of Sewall. Further on,
the residence of Mr. George Nichols was the
house of Judge Joseph Lee, a Loyalist of care-
ful utterance, who, after wintering in Boston with
the British during the siege, was permitted to
return to his home, and died here in 1802. And
still beyond, hidden by large trees, is the old
mansion of the Tory George Ruggles, who lived
here up to 1774, when the house passed into the
hands of Thomas Fayerwether, who gave it
the name by which it is best known. It is at
present the residence of Henry Van Brunt, the
well known Boston architect.

Further on, the road to Watertown made a
turn to the left and passed in front of another
old mansion, now known as " Elmwood," and
the home of James Russell Lowell. The room
on the left of the front door is the reception

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

room, and behind it is his library, though his
study is in the third story. At the outbreak of
the Revolution, the last of the lieut.-governors.
Thomas Oliver, lived here ; and it was in this
house, " being surrounded by four thousand
people," that in September, 1774, " in compliance
with their commands," he signed his resignation
and fled to the protection of the soldiers in Bos-
ton. When Benedict Arnold, with his Connecti-

bridge has recently put up tablets to mark its
interesting historical sites. Harvard Register,
February, 1881.

South of the Charles, with the defences on the
Brookline shore, began the extreme left of the
lines of the right wing. The fort at Sewall's
farm was partly on the estate of Mr. Amos A.
Lawrence, where traces of it remained till a few
years ago, and partly across the track of the

cut Company, arrived in Cambridge just after
the Lexington fight, they were quartered in this
house, but the company remained only three
weeks in camp, having been selected in the
mean while, as the best equipped company in the
army, to deliver within the British lines the body
of a royal officer who died of wounds received
on April 19. After Bunker Hill the house be-
came a hospital, and the dead were buried in the
opposite field. There are other views of this
house in Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, p.
317; Stillman's Poetic Localities of Cambridge;
and, with a notice by John Holmes, in the Har-
vard Register, June, 1881. The city of Cam-

ELMWOOD.

Boston and Albany Railroad. It was
built by Colonel Prescott's regiment,
assisted by Rhode Island troops, just
after the battle of Bunker Hill. Pres-
cott had his headquarters in a house half a mile
west on Beacon Street, now distinguished by the
large elms about it. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Octo-
ber, 1869, p. 151 ; Woods's Brookline, p. 69.

The centre of this wing at Roxbury guarded
the only land entrance to Boston. The first de-
fence which the Americans threw up was a re-
doubt across the main street, where Eustis Street
now branches from Washington Street ; and
it became known later, when it was strength-
ened, as the Burying-ground Redoubt. When,
on August 23, they began an advanced line, they
first fortified Lamb's Dam, which was a dike
built for keeping out the tide, and extending
from near the lead-works, south of Northampton
Street, toward the Neck road ; and here, on the

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

upland, they built a breastwork, and extended
entrenchments to the water on the westerly side,
completing them September 10.

A redoubt on the corner of Mall Street in
Roxbury defended the road to Dorchester, which
was pretty much the present Dudley Street.

A regular work was on the estate of Mr. N.
J. Bradlee, called the Lower Fort, of which a
plan is given in Drake's Town of Roxbury, p.
372. It was planned by Knox.

The strong fort which General Thomas
erected on the higher land, where now the Co-

THE OLD PARSONAGE IN ROXBURY.

A few clays after the fight at Bunker Hill, the
old house of Governor Dudley (where now the
Universalist Church stands) was taken down,
and its foundation stones formed part of the de-
fence here built. Smelt Brook crossed the street
in front of it.

There was a battery on rising ground above
the marsh, where Sumner Place enters Cabot
Street.

Where Parker Street conducts to the site of
the old landing place, a battery was held by
Colonel Joseph Read's regiment to defend the
landing.

A square redoubt on the Ebenezer Francis
estate, near Appleton Place, commanding Muddy
River, was the most northerly of the Roxbury
forts.

chituate stand-pipe is, was known as the Up-
per Fort. It was begun between July n and
14. Drake, Life of
Knox, p. 1 8, says
that the Roxbury
fort was built by
that officer, then
attracting Washing-
ton's attention.
This earth-work,
perhaps the best
preserved of all the
Revolutionary de-
fences, was unfortu-
nately, and it would seem needlessly, levelled, in
1869, when the water-tower was built. A small
memorial structure near by now points out the

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

spot, and is inscribed : " On this eminence stood
Roxbury High Fort, a strong earthwork planned
by Henry Knox and Josiah Waters, and erected
by the American army, June, 1775, crowning the
famous Roxbury lines of in-
vestment at the siege of Bos-
t:>n." It has been said that
the first shot fired from its
cannon was on July i. See
Lossing's Field-Book of the
Revolution, ii. 24.

The meeting-house of the
First Parish, shown in the
cut in Mr. Drake's chapter
in this volume, was a con-
spicuous mark for the royal
cannon, and its steeple was
the signal-station of this wing of the besieging
army. Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 287.

Close by was the house, now the residence
of Mr. Charles K. Dillaway, which is also shown
in the view given in Mr. Drake's chapter on
Roxbury in the present volume. At the out-
break of the war it was occupied by the Rev.
Amos Adams of the First Church. It after-
ward became the headquarters of General John

Heath's regiment. He commanded some of the
raids in the harbor. He served through the war,
and returned at the end of it to die very soon
after, Dec. 16, 1783. He is buried in the Rox-

bury burying-ground, but his grave is without
a stone. Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 156.

General Ward, while commanding the right
wing after Washington had reorganized the
army, had his headquarters in the Datchet or
Brinley house, which stood near the present
church of the Redemptorists, and of which there

Thomas, of Kings-
ton, who, having
led hither a regi-
ment from Ply-
mouth at the first
summons, was made
provincial brigadier,
Feb. 9, 1775, a rank con-
firmed June 22, by Con-
gress, which also made him a
major-general, March 6, 1776.
Thomas was a physician by occupation, and was
born in 1725, of the old Marshfield stock, and
had served in the French war. He did not sur-
vive long enough to gain much distinction, dying
on the Sorel River, in Canada, in the following
June, having taken command of the army which
had been repulsed before Quebec. His portrait
has been engraved in the illustrated edition of
Irving's Washington. There was a short ac-
count of The Life and Services of Major-General
John Thomas, by Charles Coffin, published at
New York in 1844. Of Thomas's camp James
Warren wrote to Samuel Adams, June 21, 1775:
" It is always in good order, and things are
conducted with dignity and spirit, in the military
style."

General Greaton was a Roxbury man ; had
been an active Son of Liberty; was at Lexington ;
and July i, 1775, was commissioned colonel of

are views in Lossing's Field-Book of the War of
1812, p. 250, and in Drake's Town of Roxbury, p.
327, but which hardly represent the magnificence
said to have belonged to it in its palmy days,
and which is rather extravagantly set forth in
Mrs. Lesdernier's Fannie St. John. The Dear-
borns, both generals, father and son, later oc-
cupied this house. A journal of Captain Henry
Dearborn, kept during Arnold's Kennebec expe-
dition, is preserved in the Public Library. The
Connecticut regiments of Spencer, Huntington,
and Parsons were encamped on Parker Hill.

1 The order to which this signature is attached is in-
dicative of the resorts to which the forces were put to
make up for the want of bayonets, the absence of which
had been of such signal disaster to them, a month earlier,
at Bunker Hill. It is addressed to Ezekiel Cheever, at
Cambridge, and calls for two hundred and fifteen spears
for the use of the camp. See Life of Nathanael Greene,
i. 115.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

117

General Greene, when with the right wing, had
his headquarters in the Loring-Greenough house,

(near the Soldiers' Monument), of which a view
is given in Vol. II. p. 345.

The headquarters of Colonel Learned's regi-
ment were in the Auchmuty house, of which a

view is given in Vol. II. p. 343 The mansion
of Governor Bernard on Jamaica Pond, later oc-
cupied by the younger Sir William Pepperell,
was the quarters of the Rhode Island Colonel
Miller for a while, and later it was used as a
camp hospital. The Hallowell house, which is
shown in Vol. II. p. 344, was also used as a
hospital. The Peacock, a famous tavern, stood
on the westerly corner of Centre and Allandale
streets, in West Roxbury, and was the resort of
British officers from town before the siege.
More than once it was the resting place of
Washington during the siege ; and finally it
became the residence of Sam Adams during his
term as Governor. Drake's Town of Roxbury,

P- 435-

The extreme right was protected by the line
of breastworks which guarded the entrance to
Dorchester Neck. These are shown on Trum-
bull's and Pelham's maps.

The extension of the American lines within
Dorchester Neck had been long contemplated
when, on February 26, Washington wrote : " I
am preparing to take a post on Dorchester
Heights, to try if the enemy will be so kind as
to come out to us." On Saturday evening,
March 2, 1776, Washington notified General
Ward of his determination to occupy Dorchester
Heights on Monday. At eight o'clock on the
night of March 4, the intrenchments were begun
there. On that night the Americans fired one
hundred and forty-four shot and thirteen shells
into Boston from their various defences, chiefly
from Lamb's Dam. The rapidity with which
the defence was formed on the Heights was
owing to the employment of fascines, which had
been prepared during the winter in Milton and
vicinity. They were first carted to Brookline, to
deceive the enemy in regard to the point where
they were to be used ; and from this deposit a
train of wagons, under the charge of Mr. James
Boies, conveyed them after dark to the hill. See
the statement of Mr. Jeremiah Smith Boies,
who died in 1851, aged eighty-nine, and who was
with his father, riding behind his saddle, that

night, printed in the Boston Daily Advertiser,
March 17, 1876.

One of the devices for defence had been a
row of casks in front of the works, and these,
filled with earth and stones, were to be rolled
down the declivity as the enemy approached.
General Heath records that this device was sug-
gested by a Boston merchant, Mr. William
Davis ; and Stedman admits that it was a curious
provision, which would have swept off whole
columns at once. " It was therefore," he adds
as if a consequence, " determined to
evacuate the town." A monument on
Dorchester Heights bears this legend :
" Location of the American redoubt
on Dorchester Heights which com-
pelled the evacuation of Boston by the
British army, March 17, 1776."

Beside the maps already referred to as useful
in tracing the positions of the different works on
this extensive line of circumvallation, the ear-
liest account which we have of them, after they
had begun to disappear, is that of J. Finch, pub-
lished in Sillimaii's Journal in 1822, and re-
printed in Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 409.
Various later writers have attempted to trace
.them in detail. Chief among such are Lossing,
in his Field-Book of the Revolution ; S. A. Drake,
in \i\s Landmarks of Middlesex ; and F. S. Drake,
in his Town of Roxbury. Some aid will be de-
rived from Woods's Brookline, and the histories
of Dorchester and South Boston.

THE LITERATURE OF THE SIEGE. This
has been enumerated in Winsor's Readers' Hand-
book of the American Revolution. The most ex-
tensive accounts, apart from the general his-
tories, are Richard Frothingham's Siege of Boston,
and Dr. Ellis's, in the Evacuation Memorial.
Of contemporary material, the most important
sources are Sparks's Washington's Writings;
Life of Joseph Reed ; Life of General Greene;
Gordon's American Revolution ; Colonel John
Trumbull's Autobiography ; Thacher's Military
Journal ; Heath's Memoirs ; with additional mat-
ter in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May, 1859 ; and
papers in Almon's Remembrancer, and Force's
American Archives. There are letters in the Life
of Dr. John Warren ; in the Life of George
Read ; in Abigail Adams's Letters ; etc. Various
camp diaries are in existence : David How's,
New York, 1865 ; McCurtin's, published by the
Seventy-six Society; Dr. Belknap's, in Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., June, 1858 ; Ezekiel Price's, in
Ibid., Nov., 1863; Paul Lunt's in Ibid., Feb.,
1872; Samuel Bixby, in Ibid., March, 1876; Sam-
uel Sweat's letters, Ibid., December, 1879 ; diary
in Hist. Mag., October, 1864 ; Aaron Wright's
diary in Boston Transcript, April n, 1862;
Craft's journal in Essex Institute Collections, vol.
iii. ; letters in N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., April,

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

1857, etc. Also, a number of orderly-books,
William Henshaw's, April 20 to Sept. 26, 1775,
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., October, 1876, and
printed separately, 1881, with additional matter
(there are later ones of Henshaw in the Amer.
Antiq. Soc.); Israel Hutchinson's, in Ibid., Oc-
tober, 1878; Glover's, in Essex Institute Col-
lections, \: and among those not printed, that
of John Fenno, secretary to the commander-in-
chief, April 20 to Sept. 6, 1775, in Massachusetts
Historical Library; one kept at Cambridge, in
the Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. Library ; Jeremiah
Fogg's, in Harvard College Library; and Wil-
liam Lee's, in the Historical Society's Library.
An order-book of the Continental army, June 21,
i775~Oct. 9, 1775, the property then of Asahel
Clark, of Woodstock, Conn , is noticed in Daily
Advertiser, Nov. n, 1880.

The Massachusetts Archives are rich in illus-
trative documents, and Force's American Ar-
chives give many of the orders. References to
sources of information regarding the daily life
within the British lines are made in a note to
Mr. Scudder's chapter in this volume.

Three well-known novels in some degree
depict the events in and about Boston during
these Revolutionary days : Cooper's Lionel Lin-,
coin, Mrs. Child's Rebels, and Hawthorne's Sep-
timiiis Felton.

Material for determining the rank and file of
this Patriot army is at the State House, in what
are called the Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.
A return of the main guard at Cambridge, 1775,
is in vol. xxxvi. p. 267. Rolls of the army at
Cambridge, in 1775, are contained in vol. xiv.
Lists of the field, staff, and company officers of
the Massachusetts regiments in 1775 (sixty-six
colonels, sixty-one lieut.-colonels, one hundred
and thirty-two majors), are in vol. xxvii. p. 197,
etc. Other lists of the field and company offi-
cers of Massachusetts regiments, 1775-76, and
of officers of sea-coast companies, are in vol.
xxviii. Full lists of the colonels of Massachu-
setts regiments, from 1767 to 1775, are in vol.
xxviii. p. 84. Pay-rolls of companies for sea-
coast defence, 1775-80, are in vols. xxxvi. and
xxxvii. Company rolls of various dates, 1776-
8i,are in the vols. xvii. to xxiv. As a rule, the
rolls at the State House, before 1774, are in-
cluded in the series called Massachusetts Ar-
chives ; but from 1775 to the end of the war
they are arranged in what is called the Massa-
chusetts Revolutionary Rolls. Various rosters of
the regimental officers are printed in 4 Force's
American Archives, ii., iii.; and in Colonel Wil-
liam Henshaitfs Orderly-Book.

THE NAVAL SERVICE. The Massachusetts
Archives, vols. clxiv. to clxxii., contain docu-
ments relating to privateers commissioned from

1775 to 1783. They have been indexed by Dr.
Strong, first chronologically and then alphabeti-
cally, by the names of the vessels. The earliest
Boston vessel named was the " Lady Washing-
ton," of thirty tons, April 22, 1776. Then come
for the same year the following : " Yankee,"
" Adam," " Hannah and Molly," " Warren," " In-
dependence," " Boston," " Langdon," " Wolfe,"
" Speedwell," " Viper," " Phoenix," " Washing-
ton," "Eagle," "General Mifflin," " Hawke,"
" Satisfaction," " Reprisal," " American Tartar,"
" Hancock."

In 1777: ".Buckram," "General Mercer,"
" Revenge," " American," " Freedom," " Mars,"
" Fancy," " Cleora," "Charming Sally," " Union,"
" Betsy," " Sturdy Beggar," " Bunker Hill," "Har-
lequin," " Friend," " Cumberland," " Starkes,"
" Lizard," " Active," " Resolution," " Congress,"
"America," "Washington," "Pallas," "True
Blue," "General Arnold," "General Lincoln,"
" George," " Lydia," " Lively," " America."

After 1777 the number increases, and the in-
dex shows three hundred and sixty-five vessels
in all, as commissioned and belonging to Boston.
In the Revolutionary Rolls, vols. v.-vii., are
many of the bonds given by the owners of these
vessels. There are also numerous bonds in the
Massachusetts Arc/lives, cxxxix. 93, etc. Clark's
Naval History of the United States gives the names
of three hundred and forty-two English vessels
captured by the Continental privateers in 1776.
See also The Remembrancer and Cooper's Naval
History. More or less account of the beginnings
of the navy, and of naval successes, will be
found in Frothingham's Siege of Boston, pp. 260,
269, 308, and in the Lives of Manly, Tucker, and
the other commanders. An abridgment of Shep-
pard's Life of Tucker is in the N. E. Hist, and
Gencal. Reg., April, 1872. Admiral Preble (N.
E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., 1871, p. 363; 1872,
p. 21 ) gives a list of armed vessels built or fitted
out in Massachusetts, 1776-83, which is com-
piled chiefly from Emmons's Statistical History
of the United States Navy. Lists of Massachusetts
war vessels, 1775, are in Massachusetts Revolution-
ary Rolls, xxvii. Volume xxxix. of the Revolu-
tionary Rolls contains the rolls of various State
vessels, namely, Brig " Massachusetts," 1776,
1777 ; brig "Tyrannicide," 1777-1779 ; brig
" Freedom," 1775-1778 ; ship " Protector," 1779-
1782 ; ship " Tartar," 1781 ; brig " Hazard,"
1777-1780; ship "Ranger " 1777; ship " Mars,"
1780, 1781 ; sloop "Defence," 1781, 1782. Other
navy rolls, largely of privateers, are in vol. xl.
Officers of armed vessels, 1775, 1776, are in Mas-
sachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, xxviii. 130. Massa-
chusetts Archives, vol. clvii., so far as it relates to
maritime affairs, consists largely of accounts of
supplies and ordnance furnished armed vessels.
There is much also in the Pickering Papers.

CHAPTER III.

THE PULPIT, PRESS, AND LITERATURE OF THE

REVOLUTION.

BY DELANO A. GODDARD,

Editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser.

r I "HE famous discourse of Jonathan Mayhew, in the West Church, in
-*- 1750, on the Sunday following the anniversary of Charles the Martyr,
has been fitly called the " morning gun of the Revolution." J Since the
restoration of the monarchy this anniversary had been observed in Eng-
land as a national fast, when the clergy were required to read the service,
or preach a sermon against disobedience to authority. Many intelligent
persons were at this time apprehensive lest the prelacy should be in-
troduced into New England ; and they suspected that even the missions
of the church were a cover under which religious liberty was to be sac-
rificed. Mr. Mayhew, then in his thirtieth year, and in the full vigor of
his ripe and manly powers, took this occasion to preach three discourses
against the pretension of unlimited submission and non-resistance to au-
thority ; in which, with ingenious audacity, he " unriddled " the mysterious
doctrine of the prince's saintship and martyrdom, and set forth with singu-
lar boldness and eloquence the principles of free civil government. The
last of these discourses, 2 with portions of the two preceding it, were at
once printed in England and America, and excited profound emotion in
both countries.

There were at this time eighteen churches and religious societies in
Boston. 3 The intolerance of opinion and the severity of pulpit manners
prevailing during the greater part of the first century had in a measure
passed away. Prince, Colman, Mayhew, Chauncy, Sewall, Eliot, and less
conspicuous ministers introduced more generous views of faith and life,
and at the same time set the example of a style in preaching comparatively
simple and pure, formed upon good models, and tempered by good sense
and unaffected sincerity. The higher departments of learning were pur-
sued by the clergy with steadily increasing spirit. The classics, philosophy,

1 J. Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the and Non- Resistance to the Higher Powers; -with

American Revolution, p. 43. [The West Church some Reflections on the Resistance made to King

is shown in the frontispiece of this volume. Charles /., and on the Anniversary of his Death.

ED.] Boston, 1750.
2 A Discount Concerning Unlimited Submission 3 Mass. Hist. Col., iii. 256-266.

I2O THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

dialectics, science, and the best literature were studied next to the Bible, as
aids to the presentation of its precepts and doctrines. The " five points of
Calvinism," long insisted upon with strenuous energy, were yielding before
original and independent study of the sources of all truth. Faithful and
devout ministers, while holding fast to the essentials of the Orthodox faith,
questioned the extreme interpretations thereof till then prevailing, or re-
jected them altogether. They were at the same time devoted lovers of civil
liberty. The general and artillery Election sermons, the first given the
last Wednesday in May, at the meeting of the General Court, when coun-
sellors were chosen ; l the second at the annual election of officers of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery, greatly contributed to the Revolutionary
spirit. Copies of the sermons were given to the members of the General
Court for distribution; and during the year the country pulpits resounded
with the sentiments of these state discourses. The whole church-going
people were thus enlightened in speculative and practical politics to a de-
gree unknown anywhere else in the world. 2

Mr. Mayhew was one of the most outspoken of these preachers, and
came to be recognized as a prophet of the new dispensation. He began his
career with an eager thirst for learning, united with a deep religious spirit.
He formed for himself habits of methodical reading and systematic reflec-
tion, thus early laying upon a rock 3 the foundations of his faith. His
ministry was a prolonged conflict. The clergy of the town for a time stood
aloof from him ; and when he was at last admitted to ministerial fellowship,
the Episcopal controversy renewed the strife in another form. His first
printed discourses on the right of private judgment, and of freedom of in-
quiry for moral and religious truth, gained for him the degree of Doctor of

1 [The earliest of these election sermons is one by Samuel Langdon, before the Provincial

that for 1634, and from that time to the present Congress, at Watertown, May 21 ; the other by

the roll of the preachers' names is complete, ex- William Gordon, before the House of Repre-

cept for fifteen years. The latest list of such sentatives, July 19. In 1780, Simeon Howard

is that prepared by H. H. Edes, and appended delivered the usual one ; and Samuel Cooper

to the Rev. C. E. GrinnelFs sermon, printed in another, at the beginning of the State Consti-

1871. The earliest of the sermons preserved tution, October, 25. Ed.]

is that of Thomas Shepard, delivered in 1638, ' 2 [See Gordon, History of the American Rev-

and printed, from the original MS., in the N. E. olution. ED.]

Hist, and Geneal. Reg., October, 1870, p. 361. It 3 "Having been initiated in youth in the

is not known that any was ordered to be printed doctrines of civil liberty, as they were taught by

before Richard Mather's, in 1644; and it is not such men as Plato, Demosthenes, Cicero, and

known that this was printed (Records of Massa- other renowned persons among the ancients ;

chusetts Bay, May 29, 1644) ; and the same state- and such as Sydney and Milton, Locke and

ment can be made regarding Thomas Cobbett's, Hoadley, among the moderns, I liked them :

. in 1649. The earliest known to have been print- they seemed rational. And having learnt from

ed was John Norton's, in 1661 ; but this was not the Holy Scriptures that wise, brave, and virtuous

issued from the press till 1664. In the mean men were always friends to liberty; that God

while John Higginson's had been delivered and gave the Israelites a king in his anger, because

printed in 1663. The Boston Public Library they had not sense and virtue enough to like a

Bulletin, January, 1881, contains a list of those free country ; and that where the spirit of the

known to have been printed. During the period Lord is there is liberty, this made me conclude

covered by this chapter, sermons were delivered that freedom was a great blessing." Dr. May-

every year except 1764, when the small-pox pre- hew's Sermon on the Repeal of the Stamp Act,

vailed in Boston. In 1775 there were two, 1766.

THE PULPIT OF THE REVOLUTION. 121

Divinity from one of the Scotch universities, always prompt and generous
in recognizing eminent talent in the New World. These were followed by
the celebrated sermons already mentioned, as well as by other discourses on
the nature of government and the principles of civil liberty, through which
he became identified with the able men then building, better than they
knew, for the independence of the colonies.

In the Episcopal controversy, which greatly stimulated the literary
activity of the colony and created the liveliest interest among the learned
men of the country, Dr. Mayhew was a conspicuous figure. 1 In this dis-
cussion it was maintained, on the part of the advocates of Episcopacy, that
the Church of England was the established and legal system here as in
Great Britain, and that other forms of Christianity only existed through
tolerance or permission. Dr. Mayhew, in behalf of the Congregational
churches and the dissenting interest, denied this ; and maintained that the
charters, especially that of Massachusetts, gave absolute authority to the
colonial government in matters of religion, and that there was no power in
Church, Crown, or Parliament to control or interfere with it. The dispute
thus begun was carried on for many months with deep feeling on both sides,
and by distinguished contestants in England and America. Grave political
questions, growing out of the efforts of the Crown to enforce oppressive
acts of trade, at the same time commanded attention. To these Dr. May-
hew gave the last expiring energies of his noble life. He died in 1766, at
the age of forty-six years ; being then, in learning, courage, and eloquence,
the first preacher in America. His printed discourses during the twenty
years of his ministry, nearly seventy in number, display remarkable origi-
nality and maturity of thought united with great earnestness and directness
of expression, a lively imagination, familiarity with books, and comprehen-
sive knowledge of the affairs of the world. His genius and accomplish-
ments were worthy of any age. The cause of liberty in the eighteenth
century had no worthier advocate. 2

Dr. Mayhew's successor, the Rev. Simeon Howard, was also an Arian
in religion and a decided Whig in politics, though not of an aggressive or
controversial temper. The memorable event of his ministry was the seizure
of the church to be used as a barrack for the British troops during their
occupancy of the town. Many of his parishioners went with him to Halifax,
where he had warm friends, and where a pulpit was ready to receive him.

1 This famous controversy was begun by the fulness and distinction at the age of eighty-four

Rev. East Apthorp, an Episcopal clergyman, re- years. He was a sound scholar, amd a learned

presenting in Cambridge the " Society for Propa- and ingenious writer. Sprague, Annals of the

gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts."' He was a American Pulpit, v. 179.

son of Charles Apthorp, merchant of Boston, 2 Bradford, Memoir of the Life and Writings of

and was educated at Cambridge, England. He Dr. Mayhew, Dr. Charles Lowell, Historical Dis-

returned to this country upon his admission to courses; Dr. Charles Chauncy, Funeral Sermon ;

holy orders, filled with zeal for his calling; but Dr. Bartol, West Church and its Ministers. [See

the time was not favorable, and, after a checkered also Dr. McKenzie's chapter, in Vol. II., p. 244,

ministry of six years, he went again to England, where a portrait is given ; and Dr. Peabody's in

where he died in 1816, closing a life of great use- the present volume. ED.]
VOL. in. 16.

122 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Returning to Boston the following year, Dr. Howard devoted his energies
to restoring his scattered society, and succeeded, through many personal
sacrifices. He was not eminent as a preacher, though his style is described
as perspicuous and flowing, and his method as exact and luminous. His
simplicity of character, his modest and gentle manners, and the unfailing
charity of his disposition under trying circumstances won 'for him the love
of his people and the respectful homage of the community. He received
the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh ; was
an overseer of Harvard College, and a zealous member of many societies
for the promotion of charity, literature, and religion. 1

The ministry of the Rev. Thomas Foxcroft of the First Church was
closed by his death in 1769. Educated in the Episcopal church he early
changed his views, and for half a century had been a consistent adherent
of the New England faith and order of church government. He was a
stanch Calvinist, and in his earlier ministry was a persuasive and popular
preacher; but through prolonged illness his powers had lost their fresh-
ness and vitality before the crisis came. 2

Next to Dr. Mayhew in the group of eminent pre-Revolutionary divines,
though his senior by fifteen years, was Mr. Foxcroft's distinguished col-
league and successor, Dr. Charles Chauncy. When the great debates, theo-
logical and political, were coming on, he was just passing middle life, and
he gave to them all the powers of his highly gifted nature. During this
exciting period the interests of Christianity and of civil government were
inseparably bound together. The Rev. John Wise's masterly plea, De-
mocracy, Chrisfs Government in CJiurcli and State, written for the time of
Andros, was reproduced in form and spirit by the clergymen and Patriots
of the time of Hutchinson. From 1750 to 1776 this principle had no more
watchful and determined champion than Dr. Chauncy. Side by side with
Mayhew he fought the good fight for ecclesiastical freedom ; and when
that gallant warrior fell, he continued the fight with redoubled spirit. For
ten years he pursued the Episcopal controversy with unsparing energy, as
well as with great learning and strength of reasoning. The contest began
with his Dudleian lecture on the " Validity of Presbyterian Ordination
Asserted and Maintained," and closed with " A Complete view of Episco-
pacy," a work of deep interest at the time, and regarded as the ablest of
his controversial writings.

Dr. Chauncy was equally confident and alert in the advocacy of his
political principles. 3 He knew the Colonies were right. He knew they

1 The Rev. John Pierce, D.D., in Sprague's Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, i. 310,
Annals of the American Pulpit, viii. 65-67. [See 311.

also Dr. Peabody's chapter in the present vol- 3 Mr. Thornton, in the Pulpit of the American

ume. ED.] Revolution, p. 114, prints Dr. Chauncy's Thanks-

2 He was critically skilled in the Greek Ian- giving sermon, preached July, 1766, on the oc-
guage, a theologian of some excellence, and the casion of the repeal of the Stamp Act, entitled
author of many sermons in print. Emerson, " A Discourse on the Good News from a far
Historical Sketch of the First Church. See also Country," with the comment : " This sermon,

THE PULPIT OF THE REVOLUTION. 123

would triumph. If human strength were wanting, angels would fight in
their behalf. When his friends, familiar with the extreme literalness of his
usual discourse, suggested the imprudence of trusting to active recruitment
from that quarter, he persisted in saying that such would be the fact. In-
deed his style of writing and preaching was severely, not to say defiantly,
plain. He had no comprehension of poetry, and he despised rhetoric. It
is said that he prayed he might never be an orator. His enemies replied,
with more wit than truth, that his prayer was undoubtedly granted. Ex-
pediency had no place in his view of divine or human economy. Duplicity
and affectation he ranked with the basest vices. His ministry with the First
Church continued sixty years, from the time of his ordination until his
death in 1787. His printed works include sixty sermons and controversial
tracts, and some volumes of theology. 1

Of like political principles, but in every other respect a striking con-
trast to Dr. Chauncy, was the accomplished minister of Brattle Street
Church, the Rev. Samuel Cooper. He was an elegant rather than a pro-
found scholar, and a most attractive and popular preacher. He is described
as of a fine and commanding presence, 2 with a voice of great sweetness
and power, uniting with remarkable fluency, as well as grace and force of
expression, appropriateness and energy of thought, which never failed to
arrest and hold attention. In his religious opinions he was moderately
liberal. From the beginning of his ministry he was deeply interested in
public affairs, and every occasion for service found him ready to take his
full share in them, with Mayhew and Chauncy among the clergy and with
Otis and Samuel Adams among the popular leaders. He resisted the min-
isterial plan of taxation, through the pulpit as well as through the news-
papers, to which he was also a frequent contributor. 3 His zeal won for
him great influence, and his counsel was sought by all the leading Patriots

an admirable historical picture, drawn by a mas- 8 "Of the writings which alternately stimula-

ter, himself a leader of the hosts, abounds in ted and checked the public mind in that season

facts, discusses the great principles involved of stormy excitement, there were perhaps none

with energy and power, and with the calmness of greater efficiency than those of Dr. Cooper,

and precision of the statesman." If other hands launched the lightning, his guided

1 Dr. John Eliot writes : " Dr. Chauncy was the cloud." Palfrey, Sermon preached to the
one of the greatest divines in New England. No Church in Brattle Square, July, 1824, pp. 16,
one, except President Edwards and the late Dr. 17. Dr. Allen (Am. Biog. Diet.) says: "His ser-
Mayhew, had been so much known among the mons were unequalled in America for elegance
literati of Europe, or printed more works on and taste." [The somewhat famous verses on
theological subjects." See also W. C. Fowler, the "Boston Ministers," written in 1774, thus
Ckauncy Memorials ; Tudor, Life of James Otis, characterize him :

p. 147; and Sprague, Annals of the American " There's Cooper, too, a doctor true,

Pulpit. [A portrait of Dr. Chauncy is given in Is sterling in his way ;

Vol. II. p. 226, with a characterization of him by To Jerry Seed, all are agreed,

Dr. McKenzie in the same chapter. See also . He . we11 b , e '*!T d ma . y '

In politics, he all the tricks

Dr. Peabody's chapter in the present volume. Doth wonderously ken ;

"- ED.] In *s country's cause and for her laws,

2 [SeehislikenessinVol.il. p. 242. The^-r- Above most mortal men."

ton Magazine, 1784, p. 191, has a portrait of him These verses, by "a lover of jingle," are

engraved by J. Norman. See William Sullivan's printed in the N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg.,
account of Cooper in his Public Men. ED.] April, 1859. ED.]

124 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

of the time. He was the confidential friend and correspondent of Dr.
Franklin and of many men of eminent learning in the colony and in Eu-
rope ; while his personal attractions and knowledge of the world won the
intimate regard and friendship of all cultivated persons, except of the
officers and supporters of the Crown, by whom he was cordially hated,
and for whom he showed no mercy. He was careless about his perma-
nent reputation, was publicly identified with no great historical incidents,
and left little printed material to explain his undoubted influence and
popularity. He was always a good friend to literature, and a useful
patron to Harvard College, of which he was once elected president;
and was one of the founders of the American Academy. 1

The largest congregation in Boston, during the few years preceding the
Revolution, was that of the New North Church, under the ministry of the
Rev. Andrew Eliot. He was in his religious views a moderate Calvinist, a
direct, forcible, and practical preacher, rarely indulging in controversy. He
opposed the establishment of Episcopacy by law, and the introduction of
bishops ; but it was the principle only, and not the practice, to which his
conscience objected. When at the close of the siege the troops and the
Loyalist inhabitants thought proper to leave the town, it was through his
persuasion that Mr. Parker of Trinity was induced to remain, in order that
Episcopalians might not be left wholly without a shepherd. During the
siege, when his family and many of his friends had departed, he was himself
induced to stay and continue the services of his church. 2 His only com-
panions of the same faith were Samuel Mather and Mather Byles, with
whom, it may well be supposed, his relations were not intimate. He con-
tinued to preach regularly, but with the circumspection which had always
distinguished him, and which his present situation especially required.
Even in times of the highest excitement Dr. Eliot had resolutely closed
his pulpit against political discussions, to the serious displeasure of many
persons who never thought of doubting his fidelity. Though sometimes
taunted for his scruples, he was a warm friend of America, and was early
and constant in his advocacy of the claims of the Colonies ; but he never
allowed political feeling to interfere with his literary zeal any more than
with what he regarded as his religious duty. When Hutchinson's house
was mobbed, many valuable books and manuscripts, including that of the
second volume of the History of Massachusetts Bay, were rescued from de-
struction through the efforts of Dr. Eliot. He was frequently urged to
accept the presidency of the college, and, upon the death of Dr. Hoi-
yoke, was chosen to that office, which he declined. His unusual natural
gifts were cultivated in many directions. " He sought and intermeddled
with all knowledge." Some of his occasional discourses were printed as
they were delivered; but, like Dr. Cooper, he was careless of his own

1 Tudor, Life of James Otis, p. 155; Sprague, - [Ilis letters from Boston during the siege

Annals of American Pulpit, \. 440; Lothrop, are printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1878, p.
History of the Church in Brattle Square. 281. ED.]

THE PULPIT OF THE REVOLUTION. 125

fame, and was only induced after much persuasion .to print a single
volume of his sermons. 1

The Rev. Samuel Checkley, Jr., minister of the Second or Old North
Church, passed away in 1768, at the close of a pastorate of twenty-one years.
He was a zealous preacher, rising at times to a certain sort of eloquence, and
is said to have been gifted with uncommon felicity in the devotional exer-
cises of public worship. He printed very little, and appears to have taken
no part in public controversies. 2 His successor, the Rev. John Lathrop,
preached acceptably until the occupation of Boston by the British, when
he left the town, and his church was destroyed. Returning to Boston the
following year, his ministry was transferred to the New Brick Church, with
which the society of the Old North was a little later united. From a strict
Calvinist, Mr. Lathrop came to adopt the views of Mayhew and Chauncy,
taking his church with him. He was an ardent Patriot, and mingled in the
scenes of the Revolution with great zeal and untiring industry. 3

The Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton had come to the New Brick Church in
I754, 4 but his ministry was not fortunate. The North End was the centre
and hot-bed of the Patriot movement. The residents and church-going
people generally were stanch Whigs, with whom Mr. Pemberton had little
sympathy. Governor Hutchinson was a member of his congregation, and
the minister shared the unpopularity of his august parishioner. When, in
1771, Mr. Pemberton, almost alone among the Boston ministers, attempted
to read the Governor's proclamation for the annual Thanksgiving, the
Whigs, constituting the greater part of the congregation, indignantly walked
out of meeting. From that time the attendance fell away. The minister's
health perceptibly failed, and in 1775 the house was closed. Dr. Pember-
ton he had been made a Doctor of Divinity by the College of New
Jersey in 1770 retired to Andover during the siege and died in 1779,
his connection with the society never having been formally dissolved. 5

Though the Old South Church was the centre of many of the most ex-
citing events of the Revolution, its ministers took a less conspicuous part in
them than those of the neighboring churches. The Rev. Joseph Sewall,* 3
"father of the clergy," died in 1769, after a pastorate of fifty-six years. He

1 Eliot, Historical Notice of the New A T orth of the American Pulpit, viii. 68-72. [See also Dr.

Church ; Sprague, Annals of the American Pitl- Peabody's chapter in the present volume. ED.]
///, i. 417-421. [See Vol. II. p. 243. ED ) 4 [See Vol. II. p. 244. ED.)

' 2 The Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., Historical Dis- 5 " His piety was of that fervent kind for

course, p. 23.' [See Vol. II. p. 240. ED.] which his father was remarkable. He had not

8 " Dr. Lathrop's preaching was rather prac- his superior powers of mind, and in his old age

tical than doctrinal ; rather sensible than ornate, grew unpopular in his delivery, though in for-

His. sermons were short, not ordinarily exceeding mer times he drew crowded assemblies by his

twenty-five minutes in delivery. There was little manner His reading, however, was extensive,

of the appearance of labor about them ; and the and his sermons correct in diction and style,

thoughts which he expressed, though judicious He was a Calvinist according to the principles

and pertinent, were generally obvious to ordinary of our fathers." Dr. John Eliot. See also

minds, and partook, like the character of his Dr. Robbins's History of the Second Church, pp.

own mind, more of convictions than originality." 189-193.
The Rev. John Pierce, D.D., in Sprague's Annals * [See his portrait in Vol. II. p. 241. ED.]

126 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

was a minister of the old school, preaching the " faith of the fathers " in
its strength and purity. Dr. Eliot speaks of him as more remarkable for
piety than for learning ; yet he was a good classical scholar and familiar
with general literature. He possessed a large estate, which he used with
great liberality and public spirit. 1 Dr. Sewall had two colleagues during the
later years of his ministry, 2 and his pulpit after his death remained vacant
for nearly two years, when John Hunt and John Bacon, young men of talent
and promise, were settled together. Hunt was of a sensitive and delicate
nature, of affectionate and winning manners, and a persuasive preacher.
Bacon was of a disputatious and somewhat overbearing temper, and fell into
difficulties with his congregation over the doctrines of atonement and im-
putation. The ministry of both came to an end in 1775, that of the former
by his early death, the latter by dismissal. 3 Soon after, the congregation
was broken up, and the church was converted into a riding-school for the
troops then occupying the town.

The New South Church passed, in 1773, to the pastoral care of the Rev.
Joseph Howe. 4 The storm was gathering rapidly when Mr. Howe began
his ministry. " In the harbor," he wrote to an absent friend, " nothing is
seen but armed ships ; in the town, but armed men." He was not daunted
by them. He performed the duties of his office with zeal and fidelity till
the storm broke in 1775, when he returned to Connecticut and died the
same year. He was a preacher of remarkable promise, and his death was
lamented as a genuine calamity. 6

Of the Congregational clergy, Dr. Mather Byles stood alone against the
Revolution. He tried, with undoubted sincerity, to avoid politics in his
pulpit; but his opinions were too notorious, and his sharp tongue was too
free, to make his position long an agreeable one either to his people or to
himself. He left his congregation in 1776, and in the following year was
denounced in town-meeting, and tried by a special court for remaining in
Boston during the siege and praying for the king. He was sentenced to be
confined on board a guard-ship with his family, and sent to England, but
the sentence was not enforced. The last twelve years of his life were spent
in retirement; and the favor of the community was never restored to him.
In the prime of his life he was blessed with a wonderful flow of spirits, with
great skill and command of language, and had some claims to be regarded
as a pulpit orator. 6

The Rev. Samuel Mather continued his ministry, without marked inci-
dent, over an independent congregation in North Bennett Street, during the

1 Wisner, History of the Old South Church, portrait, and some characterization of him, is
p. 33. given in Vol. II. 227, 228. A small oval engrav-

2 [See Vol. II. p. 240. ED.] ing of him exists, S. Harris, sc. Pelham's en-

3 [Ibid., p. 241. ED.] graving is inscribed: "Mather Byles, A. M. et

4 [Ibid., p. 243. ED.] V. D. M. Ecclesiae apud Bostonum, Nov. An-

5 Allen, Biographical Dictionary; Sprague, glorum, pastor. P. Pelham, ad vivum pinx. et
Annals of the American Pulpit. fecit." There is some mention of his Revolu-

6 Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, tionary tribulations in Mr. Scudder's chapter in
PP- 376, 382; Tudor, Life of James Otis. [His the present volume. ED.]

THE PULPIT OF THE REVOLUTION. 127

siege and until his death in 1785, when his congregation returned to the
Second Church, from which he had taken their fathers forty-three years
before. He was on the side of the Col- - _

onies during the whole struggle, but C^y
took no active part in the discussions
attending it. He had an inherited taste
for collecting and preserving books,
part of which were destroyed at the burning of Charlestown, and the rest
were widely scattered after his death. 1 He contributed little to the literature
of the time, except a youthful life of his father, and a work now rarely seen,
designed to show that America was known to the ancients, beside occasional
sermons and theological tracts.

The piety and talent of the Rev. Samuel Stillman gave dignity to the
Baptist church at this time of its low estate. He was called to the pastorate
of the First Baptist Church in 1765, and came to be recognized as one of
the most powerful preachers of the Revolution. The unattached crowd
thronged his obscure little church at the North End upon the report of his
homely and effective eloquence; and distinguished strangers, as well as
sailors just home from their voyages, met every Sunday morning in its
narrow aisles. His piety is described as of the type of Hervey, Watts,
Doddridge, and Tayson. 2 Nothing stirred him to deeper feeling or more
moving eloquence, sometimes scathing, sometimes pathetic, than the
prevailing inattention to religion. Yet he and his church were as deeply
interested as any in the state of the country, and no more potent voice was
raised in its behalf than that of Mr. Stillman. He was an early patron of,
and most liberal contributor to, Brown University, and. was devoted to lit-
erature and all good causes. The Second Baptist Church had regular
services under the ministration of the Rev. John Davis and the Rev. Isaac
Skillman, neither of whom left any special mark. Mr. Davis, during his
brief ministry, won much respect by his ability and zeal. Backus speaks
of him as " the pious and learned Mr. Davis," and the contemporary no-
tices of his death eulogized him as a man " of fine parts, an excellent
scholar, and a pretty speaker."

"Refined his language, and his reasoning true,
He pleased only the discerning few." 8

The Episcopal clergy of Boston, in common with their friends in the
other colonies, espoused the cause of the Crown. They derived their eccle-
siastical authority from the Church of England, and loyalty to the king was
a part of their worship. Whatever their individual inclinations might have
been, they felt bound in a double sense to resist a sentiment and policy

1 [See Vol. I., Introduction, p. xviii. For Dr. chapter in the present volume, where a portrait of
McKenzie's mention of him, see Vol. II. p. 229. Stillman is given. ED.]

ED.] 8 Backus, History of the Baptist Church in

2 The Rev. Dr. Jenks in Sprague's Annals of New England ; Sprague, Annals of the American
the American Pulpit. [See also Dr. H. M. King's Pulpit.

128 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

which must end in open rebellion ; and they resisted at the risk of prop-
erty, reputation, and life itself. Most of them were sent into exile after
fighting a losing battle, and the few who remained were subjected to great
losses.

King's Chapel, the first Episcopal church in New England, was at this
time in a flourishing state. The Rev. Henry Caner, who had been called to
the rectorship in 1747, was highly educated and endowed with many popu-
lar qualities. Early in his ministry, and largely through his efforts, the first
chapel was built. The university of Oxford conferred upon him the degree
of Doctor of Divinity. While British ships were in the harbor and British
troops in the town, many of their officers regularly worshipped at the chapel.
Dr. Caner's ministrations were in every way acceptable to them. There is
no trace of his printed discourses later than 1765 ; but the traditions of his
preaching give him a high rank as a man of learning and fine intellectual
endowments. He was a devoted Loyalist, and with the departure of the
troops in 1776, when it was evident he could no longer be useful in this
field, he went with them to Halifax, and soon after returned to England,
where he died at a great age in I792. 1

The ministry of the learned and venerable rector of Christ Church, Dr.
Timothy Cutler, was nearly ended. The grand figure and commanding
presence, described by Dr. Stiles, was bowed by infirmity when the crisis
began, and in 1765 he passed away at the age of eighty-two years. He was
a sincere and consistent Episcopalian, but took no part in the controversy. 2
His assistant, the Rev. James Greaton, continued the services a year or
two, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Mather Byles, Jr. This litigious
minister had just " dismissed himself," according to the church record, from
the church and congregation in New London over which he had been some-
time settled, and became a zealous convert to Episcopacy. He was called
to the vacant rectorship of Christ Church, and discharged his duties there
without marked distinction until the siege, when he again deserted his flock,
and left the colony. He was a fierce Loyalist, and was afterward proscribed
and banished.

Trinity Church was, at the time of the Episcopal controversy, under the
partial care of the Rev. William Hooper. 3 Sabine classes him among the
Loyalists, but there is no evidence of his having taken any active share in
the contest, even in its earliest stages. He died in 1767. He is described
as a man of native nobility of spirit and vigor of mind, uniting with a fine
eloquence great clearness of thought and earnestness of purpose. 4 The
Rev. Samuel Parker became assistant rector of Trinity at the death of Dr.
Hooper. He came to the post at a crisis, and stood by it through many
and great trials. He conducted the services during the siege with remark-

1 Sprague, Annals of the American Pitlpit, v. ministry is given in the Historical Magazine, sup-
61, 63; Greenwood, History of King's Chapel, plement of 1866, p. 124. En.]

[See also Dr. Brooks's chapter on the"Epis- 3 [See Vol. II. p. 229. ED.]

copal Church." ED.] 4 The Rev. Dr. Bartol, in Sprague's Annals of

2 [An account of the Rev. Timothy Cutler's the American Pulpit, v. 123.

THE PULPIT OF THE REVOLUTION. 129

able discretion, meeting as well as he could the conflicting claims of his
church and of his country. He read the service without interruption, in-
cluding the prayers for the king, until the Sunday following the Declaration
of Independence, when he was publicly warned of the peril of repeating
them. The vestry authorized the omission of the offending portions, and the
services continued as before. Mr. Parker became rector soon after the war,
and received from his congregation many marks of favor for the prudence,
patience, and zeal with which, under distressing circumstances, he had kept
the holy fire burning on the altar of Trinity. 1 He became the second
bishop of the Eastern Diocese in 1803, but died a few months after his con-
secration. His assistant, 2 the Rev. William Walter, succeeded to the rector-
ship until 1776, when he also resigned his charge, accompanied General
Howe to Halifax, and went thence to England. He was a zealous sup-
porter of the Church and the Crown, and vindicated his sincerity by the
sacrifices he made for them. He returned to Boston in 1791, became rector
of Christ Church, and remained in that relation till his death. His dis-
courses are described as rational and judicious, " recommended by an elo-
cution graceful and majestical." He was no knight-errant; but, while
adhering to his own convictions with quiet persistency, he exercised a large
charity toward all forms of faith and Christian worship. 3

The Rev. John Moorhead, born near Belfast and educated at one of
the Scotch universities, came to Boston with a number of Scotch-Irish
families in 1727-28, and established public worship, according to the rites
of the Scottish Kirk, under the name of the Church of the Presbyterian
Strangers. In 1744 the meeting-house in Long Lane, afterward Federal
Street, was built for them, 4 and Mr. Moorhead continued his services here
until after the Revolution. He published nothing, and his papers were lost
or destroyed at the evacuation ; but tradition represents him as a forcible
preacher, administering the law and the gospel with zeal and fervency. He
and his people were warm friends of liberty. During the same period the
Rev. Andrew Croswell conducted the worship of an independent society,
with some success, in the church of the French Protestants in School
Street. He was a stalwart Calvinist, a deadly foe of Arminianism and
" new lights " of every kind, always disputing with the ministers, and
usually with those who came nearest to his own way of thinking. He pub-
lished several occasional sermons, including a narrative of the founding
and settling of his own new-gathered church. A little later Robert
Sandeman, the Scotchman, after holding meetings at the Green Dragon
Tavern and other places, expounding his new doctrines, had a house of
worship built for him near the Mill Pond in 1765. He rejected belief in
the necessity of spiritual conversion, representing faith as an operation of

1 Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, 3 Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, v.
v. 296. His publications were limited to a few 226, 233.

occasional discourses. 4 [A view of it is given in Vol. II. p. 513.

2 [See Dr. Brooks's chapter. ED.] ED.]
VOL. m 17.

130 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

the intellect, and speculative belief as quite sufficient to insure final justi-
fication. He was the founder of the sect of Sandemanians, which survived
from the time of his coming to these shores until 1823, when the last light
was extinguished. 1

The Press, like the Pulpit, reflected all the varying phases of current
opinion ; but its prevailing force was on the side of the freedom of the
Colonies. It had conspicuous faults and great virtues ; it was personal and
partisan to a degree only tolerable in times of conflict ; but it was frank,
honest, impulsive, and sincere. Of the ebb and flow of events from 1760
to 1775, and the corresponding revulsions of popular feeling, the newspapers
give the only satisfactory record. Slow and meagre, for the most part, in
presenting the general news of the world, they teemed with resolves, pro-
tests, instructions, appeals, sermons, satires, and arguments of every kind,
some addressed to the reason and conscience, some to the strong pas-
sions, and all of them written with remarkable force and energy.

Of the pre-Revolutionary journals, 2 the Neivs-Letter and the Weekly
Advertiser remained on the side of the Crown. Rfchard Draper, who con-
ducted the News-Letter, with its numerous combinations, 3 from 1762 to
1774, was an uncompromising Loyalist. The crown officers and their friends
had free access to his paper at all times, and defended their cause often
with marked spirit and ability. During the occupation the News-Letter
had no competitor. The few numbers preserved show that the military au-
authorities of the town found it a most serviceable instrument, and that they
and their friends used it without scruple and without decency. Upon the
death of Richard Draper in 1774, the News-Letter was conducted by his
widow, with the assistance already indicated, until the departure of the
troops compelled its suspension.

The Weekly Advertiser, in its later years, had limited influence and com-
paratively few readers, but was never wanting in zeal for the Government.
During the last two or three years (i773~75) the authorities, seeing that
the tide was now setting strongly against them, secured new and able
writers for its columns. Thomas, who remembered the paper well, says
that in 1774 it was the chief organ of the Government party. It was pat-
ronized by the officers of the Crown, and attracted much notice from the
Whigs. The Chronicle, 1768-70, published by Mein & Fleming, the lead-
ing booksellers, was neutral at first, afterward independent ; but from the
beginning there was in it an undertone of depreciation of the leading Whigs,

1 Drake, History of Boston, pp. 618, 619; 1768-69 the News-Letter and the Post-Boy and
Allen, Biographical Dictionary. Advertiser entered into a quasi partnership, one

2 See the chapter on the " Press and Litera- half of each paper being official, and called the
ture of the Provincial Period," in Vol. II. .}fiissac/ntsetts Gazette, " published by authority ; "

3 The title in 1762 was the Boston Weekly the other half of each bearing its own separate
News-Letter and New England Chronicle. The title, and published independently. The Weekly
year following, the title was changed to the Advertiser also took for a time the name and
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, decorations of the Post-Boy. Thomas, History
and was decorated with the king's arms. In of Printing, ii. 25, 59.

THE PRESS OF THE REVOLUTION. 131

which soon developed into open hostility. Its literary pretensions, exceed-
ing those of any other journal in the colony, did not save it from becoming
the vehicle of gross calumnies. The people
resented its attacks upon their leaders as in-
suiting to themselves ; and John Mein, the
editor, was forced to seek in his own country a refuge from their indignation.
He went to Scotland in 1770, and never returned.

Thomas and John Fleet, who succeeded to the estate of their father, the
founder of the Evening Post, just before the storm arose, tried hard to
follow his example and to publish a strictly independent journal. Whigs
and Tories fought their wordy battles in its pages with great vigor, and the
young publishers for a time kept their balance well. But neither party
was long disposed to be tolerant of such neutrality. The issues of life and
death were too serious to be trifled with in that way ; and the proprietors,
after unavailing protests against what they regarded as encroachments
upon their rights, discontinued the publication in 1775, the last number
mentioning, but not attempting to describe, the " unlucky transactions " of
the preceding week, meaning the battles of Lexington and Concord.
One incident of many illustrates the difficulty of maintaining its neutral
position among the heady currents of this excited community. The Lib-
erty Song, 1 written by John Dickinson, of Philadelphia, and first printed in
the Pennsylvania Chronicle, July 4, 1768, afterward in the Boston Gazette,
was reproduced by request in the Evening Post a month later, " for the

1 This song was much in vogue in North The travesties were promptly answered by

America for several years, and was written under Whig verse-writers, their last song closing,
circumstances related in the following letter. " In freedom we're born, and like sons of the brave

The time was immediately after the refusal of We '11 never surrender,

the Massachusetts Legislature to rescind the But swear to defend her,

.. j, juiuir r T> And scorn to survive if unable to save."

circular-letter addressed by the House of Rep-
resentatives to the speakers of the several [The song seems to have been first publicly

Colonies. sung in Boston, Aug. 14, 1768, on one of the an-

Dickinson to Otis. niversarie* of the Stamp Act disturbance; the

PHILADELPHIA, July 4, 1768. Massachusetts Gazette of August 18 recording the

DEAR SIR. -I enclose you a song for American free- assem blin g of a great number of "persons of
dom. I have lone since renounced poetry ; but as indiner- ,. - ... TT ,, , , , . . .
ent songs are frequently very powerful on certain occasions, credlt at Llbert y Hall > where the much admired
I venture to invoke the deserted Muses. I hope that my American song was melodiously sung; " where-
good intentions will procure pardon, with those I wish to upon " the gentlemen set out in their chariots
please, for the badness of my numbers. My worthy friend, an( j chaises for the Greyhound Tavern in Rox-
Dr. Arthur Lee. a gentleman of distinguished family, com-

posed eight lines of it. Cardinal de Retz always enforced bul 7' where an ele g ant entertainment was pro-

his political operations by songs. I wish our attempt may vided. After dinner the new song was again

be useful. . . sung, and forty-five toasts drunk. After conse-

Your most affectionate, most obedient, servant, crating a tree to Liberty in Roxbury, they made

JOHN DICKINSON. . , T . _, .

an agreeable excursion round Jamaica Pond ;

The song was to the tune " Hearts of Oak," and jt is a n owe d that this cavalcade surpassed

and began as follows : al l that h as ever been seen in America." This

" Come, join hand in hand, brave Americans all, famous Greyhound Tavern stood on the present

And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty's call ; Washington Street in Roxbury, opposite Vernon

No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim, -" * *

Or stain with dishonor America's name. Street. It was torn down during the Siege.

In freedom we 're born and in freedom we '11 live. (Drake, Town of Roxbury, p. 166.) A letter from

Our purses are ready ; Dickinson, in answer to a vote of thanks from

NotasslavSa'sfrtm^rnTonev we'llgive." Boston, is among the old papers (, 7 68) in the

Tudor, Life of James Otis, pp. 322, 501. Charity Building. ED.]

132

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

benefit of the whole continent of America." Parodies upon parodies fol-
lowed in subsequent numbers to the great indignation of one or the other
of the parties.

The most noted contributors to these journals were Joseph Green (mer-
chant, poet, and wit, though he took no part in the later political discussions),

JOSEPH GREEN. 1

Samuel Waterhouse (of the customs service, a notorious libeller), Lieut-
Governor Oliver, Daniel Leonard, 2 and Jonathan Sewall. 3

Twenty years before the battle of Lexington, the Boston Gazette and
Country Journal was established in Queen Street by Benjamin Edes and
John Gill. It was printed on a half-sheet crown folio, afterward enlarged to

1 [This cut follows a crayon portrait by Cop-
ley, belonging to the heirs of the late Rev. W. T.
Snow. Perkins, Copley's Life and Paintings, p. 62.
A larger likeness, by Blackburn, is owned by
Miss Andrews of Boston. See Vol. II. of this
History, p. 429. Green was born in 1706, and
graduated at Harvard College in 1726. He was
a merchant of large fortune, and is said to have
had the largest private library in New England.
He died in England in 1780. ED.]

2 [See the paper on Leonard, by Ellis Ames,

in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., June, 1873; an( ^ Sar-
gent's Dealings with the Dead. ED.]

8 " Did not our grave Judge Sewall sit,
The summit of newspaper wit ?
Filled every leaf of every paper
Of Mills and Hicks and Mother Draper ?
Drew proclamations, works of toil,
In true sublime of scare-crow style ;
With forces, too, 'gainst Sons of Freedom,
All for your good, and none would read
'em ? *

Trumbull, McFingal.

THE PRESS OF THE REVOLUTION. 133

a whole sheet, the title decorated with rude cuts of an Indian with bow and
arrow, and Britannia freeing a bird bound to the arms of France. A little
later Minerva appeared in the place of Britannia, holding a spear sur-
mounted by the cap of liberty, and just giving flight to a caged bird
toward the tree of liberty. 1 Edes and Gill were both " men of bold and
fearless hearts," and welcomed the co-operation of the wisest and ablest
counsellors enlisted in the popular movement. Samuel Adams, Jonathan
Mayhew, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Dexter, and others, who had spent their
first emotions in writing for the Independent Advertiser, transferred their
eager talents to the new Gazette. James Otis, John Hancock, Samuel
Cooper, Josiah Quincy, Jr., John Adams, and Joseph Warren joined them a
few years later, and resisted through its pages the successive invasions of the
chartered rights of the colonies, with rich and varied learning, with argu-
ments drawn from the early conflicts of English liberty, and with fiery and
indignant eloquence inspired by a deep sense of injury and lively con-
tempt for the instruments employed to inflict it.

The publication of the " Novanglus " essays in 177475 was the most in-
teresting single event in the annals of this journal. The letters of " Massa-
chusettensis," reviewing the questions at issue, in the interest of the Crown,
had been printed in the Massachusetts Gazette, one of the names of the
Weekly Advertiser, addressed " to the inhabitants of the province." The
authorship was long a secret. From the skill with which the letters were
written, their singular moderation and breadth of view, they were attributed
to Jonathan Sewall, then attorney-general, a man of learning and talents.
It was more than a generation before the true authorship was assigned
to Daniel Leonard, of Taunton. 2 They re- ^
viewed the progress of the popular discon- ^y
tent with much ingenuity, with the purpose O^""
of showing that the course of the English Government was founded in law
and reason ; that the Colonies had no substantial grievance ; that they were
a part of the British Empire, and properly subject to its authority. They
also urged that resistance was useless ; that the English nation had power to
enforce its right, and would exercise it.

John Adams returned from the Congress in Philadelphia while these and
other ministerial letters were filling the newspapers in Boston, and were
topics of conversation in all circles. He at once devoted himself to the
task of answering them in a series of letters to the Boston Gazette, with
the signature of " Novanglus." They were written with characteristic ve-
hemence of manner, but at the same time with remarkable clearness and
method, enforced with abundant illustration, and enlivened with original
humor. Mr. Adams showed that the Colonies in resisting taxation by au-

1 Buckingham, Reminiscences, i. 166, 120. Dr. fuse of her favors, and pregnant with blessings

Eliot, in Mass. Hist. Coll., vi. 69, suggests another for future times."

interpretation. The woman with the spear, he ' 2 [See Edmund Quincy's Life of Josiah

says, "may as well represent America in the Quincy, p. 380; C. F. Adams's edition of John

character of a female active in doing good, pro- Adams's Works, iv. 70. ED.]

134 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

thority of Parliament avowed no new doctrine, but were consistent with the
course marked out for themselves since the first settlement of the country.
He declared with emphasis and fervor that the Colonies were no part of
Great Britain, and that the supremacy of Parliament was limited to the
dominions represented in it. He scornfully rejected the assumption that
America would not maintain her right, or that submission was to be thought
of because resistance was perilous. The last of these letters was dated
April 17, 1775. Two days later came the fight at Lexington, and the
debate was adjourned to the field of battle.

These revolutionary letters, written on the threshold of the war, illustrate
on both sides the ascendancy of reason over passion ; while they disclose
also the impassable breadth and fathomless depth of the gulf which sepa-
rated the contestants. Mr. Leonard's letters were reprinted in various forms
during the two years following. Nothing else of his composition compares
with them in brilliancy and force of statement, in variety of illustration, or
in the plausible manner with which he anticipated and parried the argu-
ments of his adversary. He was a gentleman of fortune, fond of display,
and was the original of Beau Trumps in Mrs. Mercy Warren's Groups.
Mr. Adams's letters were also reprinted and widely read during and after
the war. Together " they form a masterly commentary on the whole his-
tory of American taxation and the rise of the Revolution." 1

Other luminous and fervent writers contributed to the Gazette during
these interesting years, whose signatures, " Candidus," " Fervidus," and the
like, are all that is now left of them. With such co-operation the Gazette
became a great power in the community. Rarely in our history has a sin-
gle newspaper, with the ruling powers steadily against it, met a difficult
crisis with greater courage, maintained its principles with more splendid
ability, or exercised so powerful an influence over the minds of men.

During the occupation of Boston by the British troops the Gazette was
printed in Watertown, whither Edes had secretly conveyed an old press and
types sufficient for the purpose. He returned to town after the evacuation,
and with his two sons Benjamin and Peter, Gill retiring from the partner-
ship, continued the service with unabated zeal ; promptly collecting and
publishing intelligence during the war, and, through occasional contributions
of especial force and urgency, reviving the drooping hopes or stimulating
the flagging courage of the sorely tried Patriots. The great writers, how-
ever, who had strengthened the hands of the young printer in the beginning,
were drawn into the public service, or had fallen as early martyrs to the cause.
In losing them the Gazette lost also the power and influence of its earlier
days.

Isaiah Thomas began the publication of the Massachusetts Spy in July,
1770, in partnership with Zachariah Fowle. It was to be printed three times
a week, once on a half-sheet, twice on a quarter-sheet, and was designed
for mechanics rather than for commercial or professional readers. The

1 y. Adams's Life and Works, by C. F. Adams. Tudor, Life of James Otis, p. xvii.

A Weekly, Political, and Commercial PAPER ; open to ALL Parties, but influenced by None.

OL. I.] THURSDAY, March 7, 1771. [NUMB. i.

lUtjDAY. M,,.> s

S v> /
\\'<^^/^

^=x?

A 'a folemn and perpetual Memunai
Or ihe Tyunnj of ihe Bni,(h Ad

Yean i;6(. 1769. and i77 0: ,
Of ihr fatal anil dclWli-e Conic
q.rencei ol qua/tering Armies, mTime
f Price, m populguu Cities.
Of ihej'dicutonl I'ol.cy, and in
irrv>u5 Xbfurdily, of Supporting Civi/
GfWT*auta by a Military ftru
Ol ;he grot Duty and Neceffity of
irmly oppodog De/opufm in Ul fiifl
Approaches :
Of the dele(tab!e Piincip'et and ar-
ftrary Conduct of thofe Mi*ifltri in
(Uaifi who adrfeH, and of their
/*/i in Amcnca who defied, the
nuodutficmuf a Standing Army 10-
lo ('.is Piovincsm ihe Yen I 768 .
Of ihc irrefragable: Pmol wliicti
ihofe MTrniflei! themlelvei thereby
4>c4dacnl. pM*GMQMBMw
1$ by them admiiiifleicj, was wcalt,
wicked, and tyrannical
Of ihe vie Ingratitude and abo-
mmible Wicted.iefs of every /tm t
'ican. wbo abetted >nil encouraged,
ritherm Thought, Word or Deed,
ijie Eftabrimmem of i Standing Al

Of the unacrounta'j'e Conduct of
ihofe Civtl GtvTiari. lbe immediate
keprefemaii-ra of hit Maj.lly, who,

ly IN fulling ihe Whole Leg flauve Au
thoiity of ihr Sti'e, and while the
Hood of the malT.cred Inhab!
anu w\ floji-g in ihe Streets, pet
fiSed.in repeatedly difrtainvng til Au-
thority of iclieving Ihe People, by my
Ihe .eaft Removal of ,he froopi :
And t,f ihe favage Ciuelty of the
Immediate Perpetrators i
Biufnrwr Rtmimlirtt
That thu Jay. the F.l.h ol March,
it ihe Anmveifary of Preflon'i Maf
facre, in King-dreel, BoRon, New.
tnglind, 1770 ; in which Five of
h,i M-jeHy's Subjea, wr, c (lain, am
Si wounded, b the Difcharze of a
Number of MufkeH from i Party ol
Soldien under the Command of Cat*.
Ihomu Preflon.
GOD Save ihe PEOPLE!

SottfH M*nb 5. 1771.

'*" H U * S A Y, l"
B O.. S T N.

P " 7."^*' llft "* <''J ' h
Eollo, Mjffiicre, at noon, and afttr nine i
he eveainj. all the bclla in town tolled ; an
W dark Wu exhibited 01 the chamber win
low* of Mr Re.eK-.m iheOld.Nonb fquar.

in* r "? nf(> "' plim " 1 P' P'ni,r. t
inni- iwk window > monumental obe ,fl
nta 10 f.oot the bufl of ,... Seidei
M.ftflMd .hepeueflal. the name.,
k t? P " f r ' """""Kl by ihc fold,ery o
:'" fifth of Ma<rb,and all iotnrxd IQ t*
" r?l vmh 'inn : On the back eroun

r J!t r"' 1 "* "" fint ' <"'" *g - 1 '

Ikffl 5** 1 <*" ' Seidet, in the attitud
* Bowl m.hcn bx itcwvej tut fatal *tu>

from the rrtirdernin hand* ol ihc infamouf
inloimer Richaidlun i and undo n, ihn
coupl-t.
Scidei'i pale ghoft fieDi binding Randt,
And vengeaiKe for tin death demand!
Irv ihe mirldle window wai i iew of ihe mjf-
facie in King H-eer In ihe north wrndcw*

of l.ibetty r-efl, and trampling underfoot t
fuid. hugging a ferpeni, the emblem of a
military tyrnny.
An Oration cnnriming a brief account ol
ihe maflacre . ol the imputaiioni of ireafoo
ind rebellion with wh.rh the loo'i o( power
endeavoured to brand ih: inhabitant*, and a
difcanl upon Ihc nature of treafons, w,rh
tome condderationa on the ilirean of the
ButiOi Mir0ry<oiake away the Maltivhu-
fettj charier, w alfo delivered that evening
11 the K.aory-Hail hy Dr. Young.
Above a year hu now elapfed Gnce poor
rttle innocent Scider received a tnmdeiout,
mortal wound, which fbon put an end to
that life, which ONE only hai a right to
take away. The fuppofed murderer hai
had a fair tmi agreeable to the good lawi
.f the land, and been found G U 1 L T.Yi
9ut not yet punifhed , and flill

fami Stlltir, ttMt//rm lk' lp'*i*/fmMJ

Ci/r. JuDice. Juftice --Wwr ftV/urW.'
borm fcme if", two Teagtiei bom uiif-
antland.corvelfillg witHuef) Mh*> on ihr 1
^Tr*Vi4,^(^u^ ihe irA,njnd lezigtbenotg. U
.he dayi .-Ah firtih. fajd one, n it the
pleafintcft place 1 ever fa IP my life ,

| <he</l* aj^mrr Ah indeed, faid the other,
it il much pleafanltt now the Jaji art twi
wwi/ii longer.
> IfkM m,t, m amount i Ik:,, fir ,i

IHfJl tutu."

A fiwck of an Eirthquake w felt in ihn
town, MaibVhead, Sec. laft Sunday moinin|>
1 he (baking waa but jutt peiceptible.

dom in ihe nueriff, ard putting the tneoi or
i lian on trie tcf|Wtnc'eni. 1 he' feem in
decJ bui iv.0 ai'jnen in the world lo onich

10 by partie! who would endeavour 10 Cettlt
maiter* among ihentfelvei Auihotity b
>bn/c whole capacities are runfefTeJIy ilfhci
cr.t. i wnia fo lefiaclory that nothing bi,
ihe fear of a miner can keep them in oidet
1 o winch of ihnf: cUfea man of fenfe ano

(p.rrl v/ould willingly join btmfe.l, I will

leave all men 10 determine. In which fca 1 *
the proud, rgnoiani, haughty and (elf-con
ceiled are It be found, n well tnown. No

n| picicnd for the fupport of civil and icligi

foma burn with indignation ar^ainfl any one
ho c take ihc freedom to cal on; ol
iheir fjvounte noiioni into queflion. The
Ipi'ii of a lepublic being a foinl of rqua'it)
abhori fucb feiocioui bigotry. The f.riv

u the ueieiminaiiom of uV tight. ihe,f>,
ne honouiable lo O4he.i wa whom ihey plan
mplii conhdcnce.aodfcor^ingiobeiboujht
inotani of cyopofuiona they never und.r-
fl.d, and conlrquemly can neither expl.ua
.01 defend . 1 he nei feaKh iheir ambition
pun them upon, u to find a fuficicm power
fiience a gamfiyer by any means f.,, or
wal ll u in this condition of things ihe
<BiUieo of w.fdnm cry out for liberty of
peeclt, to defend rh; doHrioei i-f then fu.
'm.e paieni I Bui fro* Ihe da)i of John
hu celedial kingdom hat f.ff,red ,le.,
md nuihmg but Valence will eva defend il,
note than force it. Humaa lite u indeed a
aif 4 ic, and he who will notoppofcan in-
ader. mull league lo become a hewer ol
uod and diKtci of water lui ihi wi/cle

1 he l.-cunly of pioperty and the freedom-
of fpeech, fays an emifteni Winer, ilwars go>
r'gethe', and in tbofe retcheij CDunmei
heie j man cannot call hu tongiWlstaowc,

lound ' Tttult -> /lai, nu.-r/rr,' aJfo proh,b<
ted alt Jifpcti* c , oi.tr nli t im. The real
Irutb b Itnfl religion 'a. id civil polry aic fr

Vhoevcr would overthrow ihe libe ty at ih
anoai, mutt begin by deftroying Ihe freedom
1 fpetch i a thing terrible to public trailoti.

feperale them inlallibry'deftroyi both, arf
the flau vrtHtJl 'would dltceiiiage decent m

dmct o/ either will make llery had, bccault
tuyfiur^ir^uirauncutleiiUbKttr:,, ,
XTod betHwen ujvjn rrian Tin icaftjn nrm
form him olthc origin, and iMign of hu be
ing , of the relation he fuftairt to hu crea
(or, and every fubordmatc fupenor, equal
and inferior ; and lbe dunes which naturally

Thu being the foundation and Icnpe of all
aw! civil and facted, the fyAems immediate
y deduced from thefe corfiderations are call
ed the f; ite.i.i of natural hw, of natural teli
gion, meaning the law and religion which
force themfelvei upon the minda of every
honefl and Tuber man wru> fenoufly felt b.m
elf about a candid and rational eqquir) into
the nature, reafon and relation of thingt.
The fame flill fmall voice wh'ich ienden a
man a true fon of liberty in politick, will
render him a calm, patient and difpaffionatc
reafener upon reSgioui fuhjedi i mUiti a
vi'H nufifl,, i> Ihe infcnptioo of the fcai,
with which he impreOei all hu writings.
And though confciou! of hii aveifion to dc-

and meafure aflet himfelf. In thu there .1
great f.fely, for none can'tell when Go4
may tike away ihe moft important Elrj^h,
and much will fuch a one be atfecled at hu
departure, if he reflefli that any part of hu
maliei'a council hai been kept back from the
faithful Ions of the ptouheti he leaves behind
The perfon who could leave a number if

ben,. ELEUTHEWUS.

At the Jntclligenct>Officr,

Kep by GRANT WEfcTER,'

There u to be fold,
PHiladelphia Flour and Irc'li,
Maryland Floor and Bread, Weft.Io.
rlia and New. England Rum. B,aody, Ma.
deira and oilier W ines, Briftol beef, race and
ground ginger, French Indigo, Ruffla dock,"
new and (ccond-hand VtfleU of difjcrenl
forts fecond hand Sails and Aochan, ftnnj
compleai feu of laigc Scale* and Weitil,,
lever J genteel Houfes in town, and awtial
good Faims in the Counu^onc in particnlu
abovt (en miles from thu town, very asrvci.
bly Ctuaied for a Gentleman 1 ! Seal, with a
good houfe and ban on ir, which will le fold
under the value far ready money i) pan of
a v<ry valuable Lead Mine in ihe county o*
Suffolk, a few Lngl.fh Goods and fuod/y e-
tber article* very cheap for ll>e ca(h.
WAN TED, Several Sum, of Money for
different perfona, who will give good fecumj
foi the fame, either real or sxifonal Ltk.
wile. Bills of Eachange, lor whicb the raW}
money will be paid,
N.a GOODSofanyfo-tareulenin
and foU. bills of fcchar.gt negoriared, and
any kind at Brokerage done at laid Oatce oo
reafanable comOliBions.

FO, he MASSACHUSETTS SPY

A* ACROITIC.

A Negrne* and L ri in judgement agree 1
N o wonder that vice with her am la lu free 1
D evice and low cunning do commonly (land !
H elated in friendOiip and join hand in hand 1
E iperience doth teach ua thai poor blacl
and white !
W hen blended together, u one, will unite !

Mr. THOMA..
WITHOUT freedom of thought, fayi
M.. Guidon, ibere can be no fuch
thing as wifJom ; and no fuch thing as pub-
lic Liuer.-y without freedom of fpectb. Thia
ii the right of every man, which ought to
know no nounda but the injury of ofhen.
Licentioutncfc in fprech extend* to the denial

dence, and our accountab'eneft to him for
our actions ; tiu; obligations 'to m-nitam the
t'anquiltiy and promote the felicit) of the
cc.Ttmunil^ (o which we; join ourfetvrs a*

t verf< of condition we could reafcnably . x-
n pei them to do unto us. To make light of
-' thefe. fundamental principle! of the law and
religion of nature, la a public injury, tending
, to deftroy that reverence Tor virtue, and ib
, horrence to vice and immorally, which are
, indeed the principal fecunties we ha* for
; ihe good behav,onr of mankind. Between
>f the freedcm of fpeeclt her&contended for and
) ihe injurious ufurpalron, (here feem to be evr-
t dent marks of dif.-riminatlon, the former
i meaning no more ih*.. the modeR and fen
ous reafoning* of man w.fji man, upon equa
e terms ; the (alter an overbearing dxgmslifm
a 01 dommcci.rg ndicule, aflumuif feat * i(

without s compafs, would a&eaa&ly the uait
of the pretended patriot, who would will ng-
ly forego any opportunity of intruding all

he belonged in every needed article of pie-
fervative knowledge.
An abfolute authorilf, in indUpuiaUe
ftandard, muf) evifi Ibmewhere) olberwife
conieft muil be perpetual. To imagine thu
auihonry tepofeJ in any being fubjedi (o er-
ror or (millet defign, n too abfurr) for ihe fu
peiflinon of a ppift : he therefore clnalhs
htf fupreme ponnrjwitb a Derfec3ion of wbich
the fuprenie Jehovah alontis worthy, ll u
therefore in ihe nature and conflitu-ion of
thing!, dire6ed by his unerring wifdom, we
are to look for the ,<ru>i of nattm, the abfo-
lure, perfeS and unchangeable utlt of Gtxt
The immoderate love of caff which brut,ne>
K>O many cf our freciei, engages them !o

MUSICK. md iWuficil Inftru-
menti, til. Hiiffivxto, Spmnect,
Violiru, Piano Fa tea, Gutatafs, ana. Ger-
man Flutes j u ht fold try Mr. Ptorsar,

at Mn. Holbrook'i upori ihe Common/

A FEW Ca/ti of Choice ntw
RICE, and feveral barrela of Sonth-

Catulina Pitch, lo he foM on board lbe Hoop
Mollv, lying at Green's wharf.

MR. JOAN'* Concert, which
was re be this evening, is poflpcuetj
till ThtfifJayiheaiftinrrani. _

Smu 1u*>f'< hi'Mft*'', * *
tri Mild / n 1" *w" /'*!

ji norsuoA tu 't^ *

'"j.'^B. fcWrr otfubriti**.

136 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

second number appeared early in August, and regularly thenceforward for
six months, meeting with good success. Thomas, however, was ambitious
to undertake a larger paper than had yet been printed in New England ; and
on March 7, 1771, the Spy was issued on a whole sheet, royal folio, as a new
weekly publication. The title of the first number was as given in the ac-
companying fac-simile ; but it appeared later between two rude cuts, the
Goddess of Liberty on the left ; and on the right, two children with a basket
of flowers, and this was followed by the lines from Addison's Catd :

" Do thou, Great Liberty! inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy,
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence.' 1

Thomas was then in his twenty-second year. His paper was at first open
to Whigs and Tories alike, but his own partialities were so pronounced that
the friends of the Government one by one withdrew from him. The au-
thorities, failing to win him to their service, used all their powers to cripple
and discourage him ; but their threats and blandishments were alike un-
availing. 1 His group of writers grew steadily bolder and more defiant.
One of them, whose name has never been known, in a series of forty letters
with the signature of " Centinel," discussed the issues between Parliament
and the people with learning and spirit, taking for his motto the warning
lines from the ballad of Chevy Chase :

" The child that is unborn
Will rue the hunting of that day."

He startled even the Whigs, and alarmed not a few of them, by the bold-
ness with which he challenged all rulers whose authority did not rest upon
the natural rights of man. Other writers of like spirit poured oil, not upon
the troubled waters, but upon the angry flames. Joseph Greenleaf, over the
signature of " Mucius Scaevola," denounced the Governor and Lieut-Gov-
ernor by name as usurpers, and invoked resistance to their authority. His
letter was pronounced " the most daring production ever published in
America." Thomas was prosecuted for libel, but the grand jury refused an
indictment. Greenleaf was summoned to answer before the Governor and
Council, but he ignored the summons, and his commission as justice of the
peace was publicly cancelled. Meanwhile the Spy grew more bitterly hos-
tile to the Crown and its agents, and its defiance of all restraint attracted
the attention of the continent. 2 Thomas was hung in effigy in many places,

1 "The Government hoped to buy the young his wife, July, 1774, quotes Mr. Winthrop, his
printer: he was not in the market. It tried companion on the eastern circuit, as complaining
to drive him : he could not be driven. It tried to of the Boston press for printing accounts of every
alarm him: he was without fear. It tried to popular commotion or disturbance, while in other
suppress him ; but he baffled and defeated every provinces such occurrences were very properly
attempt to this end, and gained new strength concealed. "Our presses in Boston, Salem, and
and influence by every conflict." B.F.Thomas, Newburyport," he says, "are under no regula-
Memoir of Isaiah Thomas, p. 31. tion, nor any judicious, prudent care. . . . The

2 This excessive zeal was not wholly ap- printers are hot, indiscreet men ; and they are
proved by the elders. John Adams, writing to under the influence of others as hot, rash, and in-

THE PRESS OF THE REVOLUTION. 137

and his paper was burned by the hangman. Letters scattered among the
people and the soldiers in the early autumn of 1774, mentioning Adams,
Bowdoin, Hancock, and others as marked for speedy destruction in the
event of an outbreak, also named " those trumpeters of sedition, the
printers Edes and Gill and Thomas," as not to be forgotten.

The writers for the Spy were more abusive and exasperating than those
in the Gazette, but both were pursuing the same end. Thomas took his
ground not merely upon the rights of the Colonies under the Charter, but
upon the rights of human nature. Hancock, writing to him April 4, 1775,
from the Provincial Congress, then sitting at Concord, superscribed his
letter: "To Isaiah Thomas, Supporter of the Rights and Liberties of Man-
kind." From the time the Spy took its position it was resolute and un-
compromising. With abstract discussions of the questions of law and right
involved in the struggle, its writers mingled unsparing denunciations of
Crown and Parliament, until the country was made familiar with the pur-
pose of resistance, and in the fulness of time was eager to accept the appeal
to force. The writers for the Gazette were more deliberate, more elaborate,
and, as a rule, more highly cultivated. Their illustrations were more
learned and copious. Many of them hesitated before declaring openly for
independence, toward which their logic compelled them. Others, rilled
with fiery zeal, blazed with equal fervor.

The temper of the Spy, and its incessant activity, made Thomas a marked
man ; and he prosecuted his work at great personal peril. Just before the
battle of Lexington the town became too hot even for his ardent spirit.
He sent his family to Watertown early in April, and prepared to follow
them. He packed his presses and types, with such movable effects as could
be hastily gathered together, and on April 16 " stole them out of town in
the dead of night." They were sent to Worcester, where the Spy reap-
peared on May 3 following, with the title again changed to the Massachu-
setts Spy, or American Oracle of Liberty. In its new field, separated from
the great spirits who gathered round it in Boston, the Spy lost something
of its early fire ; but its influence was to the end of the contest undimi-
nished. 1

judicious as themselves, very often." Familiar the fair fields of Europe." Mass. Hist. Coll. \'\.

Letters of John Adams and his Wife, p. II. 64, 79.

Dr. Eliot, in his Narrative of Newspapers, is * " The press was used by the Patriots with

still more censorious : " The writers [for the great activity and effect. The Boston Gazette

Spy] were most of them young men of genius, and the Massachusetts Spy were the principal

without experience in business or knowledge of Whig journals printed this year (1773) in Bos-

the world ; some of whom, perhaps, had no prin- ton. The Gazette had for a long time been the

ciples to actuate them, or were enthusiasts if main organ of the popular party; and it was

they had principles, and wanted judgment where through its columns that Otis, the Adamses,

their virtue did not fail. . . . The same spirit and Quincy, and Warren addressed the public. In

principles lead to a dissolution of all society, fact no paper on the continent took a more ac-

and, like more modern publications on equality tive part in politics, or more ably supported the

and the rights of man, are direct attacks at all rights of the Colonies. Its tone was generally

authority and law; and, being carried into effect, dignified, and its articles were often elaborate,

would have made confusion here, as they have The Massachusetts Spy was more spicy, more ha

since dissolved the government and desolated the partisan spirit, less . scrupulous in.jnatter;
VOL. III. 18.

138 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

In the summer of 1775, the printers of the Essex Gazette, Ebenezer and
Samuel Hall, moved from Salem to Cambridge, established their printing
office in Stoughton Hall, and continued the publication under the name
of the New England Chronicle, or the Weekly Gazette. It was intensely
Whig in its sympathies, and had several accomplished contributors. Early
the following year, Boston being no longer in a state of siege, the Chronicle
was moved across the river to School Street, " next door to Oliver Crom-
well's Tavern ; " was bought by Edward Eveleth Povvars and Nathaniel
Willis, who changed the name to the Independent Chronicle and Universal
Advertiser, and consecrated it anew to " the glorious cause of America."
Samuel Adams gave his never resting pen to its service, and John Hancock
was among its occasional contributors. It was ably and earnestly on the
side of liberty through all the vicissitudes of the Revolution. 1

It will be observed that the Revolutionary Press derived its chief influ-
ence from the constant use which able writers and statesmen made of it.
Their spirited arguments, exhortations, and appeals were carried through
its agency over every threshold, and, being copied from journal to journal
in all the colonies, gave cumulative force and energy to the popular feel-
ing. With such assistance the press, in spite of its limitations, was made
to represent in a peculiar sense the form and body of the time. It was
a period of prevailing intellectual as well as moral exaltation. Dreams of
liberty and self-government, under new conditions, seemed at last about
to be realized. The sense of national life was becoming intense and vivid.
The terms America, Country, Commonwealth, Nation, came into common
use, or acquired new meanings. Phrases implying or asserting a new distri-
bution of public powers, became familiar: all men are by nature equal;
kings have only delegated authority; the people may resume supreme power
at their pleasure; judges are servants not of the king but of the common-
wealth, and are bound by the charter. Franklin's warning before leaving
England, transmitted through Lord Howe to Lord North, " They who
can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety," became a standard maxim, and was often used
in calls for public meetings and appeals to public sympathy. Books on
personal and public rights, treatises on government, standard writings on
canon and public law, were more and more sought for. Milton, Harrington,
Sydney, Marvell, and Locke were favorite authors. Bacon and Bolingbroke
were often quoted. Montesquieu and Priestley had many disciples ; cheap
reprints of their works were extant before and during the Revolution. 2

aimed less at elegance of composition than at seller that in no branch of his business, after

clear, direct, and efficient appeal." Frothing- tracts of popular devotion, were so many books

ham, Rise of the Republic, p. 51. as those on the law exported to the plantations.

1 [For some account of magazines and other The colonists have now fallen into the way of
periodical publications of this time, see " The printing them for their own use. I hear that
Press and Literature of the Provincial Period," they have sold nearly as many of Blackstone's
in Vol. II. p. 387. See also S. F. Haven, Am. Commentaries in America as in England." Ed-
Antiq. Soc. Proc., October, 1871. ED.] mund Burke, in the House of Commons, March

2 "I have been told by an eminent book- 22, 1775.

ryot., 0.3 -,

INDEPENDENT

AND

UNIVERSAL

THURSDAY,

MASSACHUSETTS- STATE:

POWARS AND WILLIS,

THE

if"

nnvid fy f

From the PTtTamA Jautu AL, Oslo. 9.
rj, CONSTITUTION,./ tit COMO

Wt.lTH ./PtHHITl*KIA. afmU,fMl

fjxGENEKAL C O NVB.N^TIO N. ,//>./
/r <r ,r> >. am*
y trr*. 1776. <t
SifiimlHT 8, 1776-

WHEREAS all government
ought 10 be in(luut= J ud iu p.
potted tor the Iccunty lad pro
tcctij.i of the community is
fuctT. tod to enable the. indi
viduib who compote it to en-
joy tttcn natural nghu ud

lit other b'eftng

beiio'.ed

of guvei

d whenever tnele gr<
c not obtained. the people

habitants of on i.ommun Wc.l.n have.
rauca 01 p.ote...iou only, keieiofore atk

i promote
i U.c in
i confide.

llcg

Kjog has nut only withdrawn tnat prv<eclion.

com 11

ba:cu vengeame. a molt .ruel a..d ui lull war agajoll
them, employing tOe/cm no. unl uc troops ul threat
Bruno, but loreign mercenaries. Uva 6 es, and Haves,
for thr avcwed purp jfe of reducing tacm to a total
and ahjeft fubmiHioo to the defpouc domination of
the BnuEh Parliament, with maujr other acts 01 ty-
rancy, (mote fully let fonb in the declaration of
Cocgreu) whereby all allegiance and fealty to the
fiu King and hi* fucccBon a-e diffolved and at an
tad, acd al! power and authority derived from hun
ccaicd ui ihele Colonies, AND vVHiaiAi ititab-
foiutely uccefiary for the welfare and fafety of the in-
habitant! of laid Cbloniei, that they be henceforth
tree and independentStates, and that juft, permanent.
and proper Potms of Governoient exilt in every pait
Of them, derived from, and founded on the authority
of i.'* people only, agrcrable to ihe dueclioos of the
tunoi.blc American icmgrefl WE, the reprefcn<
tativesol the Freemen of I'cnnfjlvuia, u> General
Convention met, for the eaprclt purpofe of framing
fuels a Goveinment, conKUing the goofncJa of tuc
great Governor ot thcUojv.rie (wno alone knows
tasvhat degree of earthly hapyiueli mankind may
attain by perlc&iog trie art* ol Government) in per
anting trie people cdthis State, by common conical,
ud without violence, deliberately to lorm for thtm-
fclrea fach juft rules 11 they mall think befr for go-
Terning then future fuciety i aad bing fully con-
vinced that it u our indifpenfable duiy to ertaolife
luch original principlo 01 Government ai will beil
promote the general hippmefs ol the people of tnu
State and their ooftcmy. and provide lor future im-
p:ovcuiei.rj, wuboul paroality for, or preiudice a-
goiDJt any parucuUr clafa. feet, or denomination of
mu whatever, DO, by virtue of ike authority veiUJ

lifli the followiAg Uedjkrmuon of GLignta and Frame
V Ooreiomctu, to be TUH CONVl'll 111 ION ol
Out Common-Wealth, aad t* remain in force there-
in forc>er, unaltered, except in fach articla a> Iball
nercaitcr on ejc^cricuca bv louad to require improve-
meni, and which Hull by ue faax auUorily ot tne
people, fairly de'egatd aa Una Ftamc ot GovernmcM
direct*, be amendcu or unproved for the more etfcc-
cul obtaining and iwiHiug THE GREAT LNL)
AND Du
kcicia be.o<t

C H A f 1 E R I.

X DECLARATION of the k.gnu of the Inhabi-
taati of Ihe Stale uf

. A independent, acd bave
iHrM tod

THE

ADVERTISER.

NOVEMBER 7, 1776.

BOSTON: rainTia ar

Oppofitc the NEW Court- Houfe.

enjoying and defending nfe and liberty, arqtSrin
podefliogand protecting p-operty, aod purfuing Aac
Obtaining happinefs and fafely.

It. Thit all men have a natural and unalienable
right to wordup Almigbcy Goo. > cording to

And that no man ought or of right can be compelled
to attend any rellg Out worfltip. or ereO or lu^pori
any place of worfhip, or maintuo any mi, utry , con
trary to, or agnnlt, bis owa fiee will and coufenr
Nor can any man, <vho acknowkilgu the bong of i
Goo. be juJtly deprived or abridged of aoy civil righ
as a citizen, on account of his religious (cotirncnt:
or peculiar mode of religious worlhip . And that nc
authority can or ought to be veftea in, or alTumed
TV, any power whatever, that Oiall in any cafe u

111. That the people of th.i State

the right
i worfnip
ivc ihr (olc.

l&uneibeiateroAJ police ol the Ume

IV Tii.i 4iJ power being originally .ohcreot ID.
and confequcndy deprived from. in People , there
fort all olfuer* ui Oovcrnmcnt. wtiether legifltiive u
executive, are their iru.lces uid (crvutu, uid it ill

V. Th

amcni u. or ought to be, intlitu-
t benc&i, proteoLioo and iecuriiy

parncular emoiuuicoi or advantage of toy 6ngli
mao.f.mily or fet of men who tuc a put only of CAM
cooimuoity . Aod th*i the community hath an n
dutmable. uaalienablc and uidefcafible right to r
form, alter or abol.fe Governmcni ID fuch ounm
u Iball be by thai commuoi.y judged moil conducive
co the public we.J

VI. Thai toole who arc employed

(Iraioed fram oypreflioa. the people have a right, at
fuch period* At they may cQmk propcf, to reduce
toetr public officers to a private ttauoo. and fupply
he vacAQCJC* by certain and regular cJcAiooi.

VU. That aJJ elections ought to be free . aad
that all free men having a fuificieaf evident common
intcraftwuh, and attachment to the comcnunuy, hare
a right to elett omcer*. or DC elected isto oA.e.

VIII. That every member of locicty lia;h a right
o be protected in tne eojoyoietu of hie, liberty and
property, and therefore u bound to contnbuu hi*
proportion toward* the expejice of that protection,
od yield h per tonal (crvue. when nccellary. or an
qujvikoi thereto : Bui no pan ol a man's pioperty
aa be juAly takeo from him. ot applied tu public
fe>, without bu owo canfeot, or thai of bi> legal
eprcftBtatifea : Norcao any man no u ooo/cwnu-
uily fcrupulou* ol bearing arm*, be juflly compelled
thereto, it he *.U pay fucn cquivUeot Ner arc the
people bound by any law*, out luch a* they have to

IX That in all protections for ci
is council, to demoJ me caule and

of hu

I for evidence in m ravour. aad a fpeedy public
trial, by an impartial |v*y ol Uie country, without the
iimoos coaleni he cannot be found guilty . Nor
caahe be compelled tw give evidence ag.jn(l himfcK

can aoy man be ju.tly depntrd of hu liberty,
exxepf by Uw |aw ol me Und or tue judgment ot
bu pceri.

X That the people hare a right to bold Oicm
'd, their houic*. papen and poilcSiotra tree <rom
'ch or feizuro , and (hocforc warraao wittraiu
oatfci or amrmacioos hr& made, affording a fuflicieM
adation lor them, and whereby any om<.cr Of out
ger may be commaadod 01 required to faiB fuf-
.t-,d placb, or to (eizc aoy pcHon ot pcrfoni, h>

>kegr,

rfi.srelped. J properly

XI. That in all
right to ttial by jar/, which oujr.uo ttlieU laued.

X1F. Thai the people bave a right to freedom of
fpeech, and of writing a.,d publiQimg their fna-
menn . therefore the freedom of the prefs ought oot
co be reftrained.

XIII. Thai the people have a rigkc to bear umt
for the detente of ihcmfclves and the Stau i aad w

liberty, they ought nui to be kept up : And that th
militirr Ihould tx kept under llnft [qoordlnioon w,
and governed by, the civil power.

XIV. That a trequeni .ecurmce ta the tod*,
mental principles, and a 6t m adhcrrncc co jolbce. mo*
deration, temperance, irduliry, ud fngjluv, am
abfoluiely neccJTary to preserve the bleiiogi ol liber.
ty. and keep a Government tree : 1 he people oigfiC
therefore to pay particular anentio* to thcle poiota^
in the choice ol officers and rcpneteatatiwt, and hava)
a right 10 eiifl a due and conltaai regard to them,
from their legiflators end magiftrates in be tnafcinr
and raccuiing fach laws as are necclTary for (he good
Government of the State.

XV. Thai all men have a natural inherent right
ro emigrate from one State to another that will' re*
ceive them, 01 to form a new State in vacant conn*
tries, ot II fuch countries u they can purchafe, when-
ever they think that thereby the; may prooot*
their own happinefi.

XVI. That the people bare i right ro aflembU
together, to consult for their common good, to ififlriscl
their representative!, ud apply to the legiflaiiiK for
redrefj uf grievances, ty atldrefs, petition or reman.
ftiucc.

CHAPTER

PLAN - FRAME ./GOVE RN ME! XT.
StSnm i. 'T~ V H E Common- Wealth or Sot of

1 Pennfylvama fhall be governed
hereafter by u AtTcmbly of the Reprcfentauvesof the
Freemen of the fame, and the Prebdcatud Cooncil,

S,.i i. The fupreme legiUslive power fhaD be
veiled in a Houfe of Reprefenutivei or the Frecmco
of the Common- Wealth or Sratf Pcnrjfylvarju.

StS. j. The fupreme executive power Hull bo
veiled in a Pra&dent and Council.

S,a 4 Couna of JuS.ce (ball be eftabhlbed in
the city of Philadelphia ud u every county of this
Stile.

Si.1 5. The Freemen of this Common- Wei) lh
d their fons (hall be trained ud armed for its def-
ace, under fuch regulation*, reftriftiooa and excep*
HIS as the General Affembly Oiall bj law direej.
prcferving always to the people the right of chitting
heir Colonel and all commilTiooed officers under that
and in fuch manner ud as often as by the laid lavra
(hill be directed

6. Every fraemu of the roll an of twenty,
s. having resided in this State For ihe fpaco
whole year next before the day ol election tor

eprefe,

pub

g ihat

inse, mall enjoy the right of u eleltor i
ilwa/s. ibai foot of freeholder* of the age of twenty.
we yrais Ihall be cautled to vote although they tianj
lot paid tajtes.

Sia j. The Hoife el Reprefenrativea of ife*
'reemen of this Common- WealtA (hall conurt ofper-
oni moft noted for wifdom and virtue. 10 be chofeai
<; the Freemen of every city and county of this Com*
no>- Wealth refpeclively. And no perfon fhall bo
JeclerJ unlefs he has rrfided in the city or county for
which he (hall be chnfen. two yrars Immediately be-
he raid clcion ; nor (hall any member while h
r.ucs fuch, ho'/d by c'Jkcc omce except in tha)

J 8. Noperfon (hall be capable- of being elrlk.
d a member to lervein :M Houle of Reprefei-iaiivct

SiH. 9.- The oifmberiof the Houfe ofReprefen-
nves dial] be cholcn antuaUy by lulioi by the free.
cc e-.'tha Common- V.'calih, on ihe (.cot- Twalija/

140 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Of the group of writers brought to the front at this time, partly by the
force of events and partly by their own genius, Samuel Adams was the
master spirit. From his youth he was deeply interested in public affairs.
He read with avidity all attainable books on politics and government, and
early made himself familiar with Roman law and political history. He
formed a club in 1748 for the purpose of writing and debate on the great
interests of the country. Inspired by his example the members gave to
these discussions the enthusiasm of youthful ambition, and were stimulated
by them to the attainment of broader views and the pursuit of profounder
studies. Every invasion of chartered rights, committed or threatened,
found Adams and his companions at their posts. The habit of enlisting
young men of talent and spirit in the support of principles dear to him
continued during his active life. " To my certain knowledge," said John
Adams, 1 " from 1758 to 1775 he made it his constant rule to watch the rise
of every brilliant genius ; to seek his acquaintance, to court his friendship,
to cultivate his natural feelings in favor of his native country, to warn him
against the hostile designs of Great Britain, and to fix his affections and
reflections on the side of his native country." Besides his contributions to
the newspapers, already spoken of, the vigorous pen of Samuel Adams was
always at the public service. He drafted the instructions to the Boston rep-
resentatives for 1764 and 1765, containing the first public challenge of the
right of Parliament to tax the Colonies without their consent, and the first
public suggestion of the union of the Colonies for the redress of grievances.
In his representative capacity he suggested or prepared many of the state
papers of that period, and made many public addresses. With the single
exception of a reply to Thomas Paine, in defence of Christianity, his writings
were called forth in the regular course of public service, and were addressed
to the pressing political exigencies of the time. The generation following
named him "The Father of the Revolution." His blameless life, his unfail-
ing intelligence, his persuasive address, his enthusiasm, always controlled
by reason and a religious sense of responsibility, combined to make him a
born leader of men. 2

The impetuous genius of James Otis supplied what was wanting in
Adams's well poised temperament. He was an accomplished scholar, a
charming speaker, and richly endowed with dashing and brilliant qualities.
His first published work (1760) was a treatise on The Rudiments of Latin
Prosody, with a dissertation on the principles of harmony in composition.
He prepared a similar work on Greek prosody, which was never published.
The following year, 1761, he was called to take the leading part in the
great trial of the Writs of Assistance. 3 Here his remarkable gifts had a fair
and adequate field for their exercise. The trial involved not only great
pecuniary interests, but the political and civil rights of a continent, and

1 John Adams's Correspondence, in Works, Bay. [See portrait and references in chapter i.
x. 364. of the present volume. ED.]

2 Wells, Life and Public Services of Samuel * [See Mr. Porter's chapter in the present
Adams; Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts volume. ED.]

THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION. 141

gave ample opportunity for the display of his varied learning, masterly
reasoning, and captivating eloquence. From this time forward he knew
neither rest nor peace. In 1762, after a sharp controversy with Governor
Bernard on a question of his right to authorize expenditures without the
knowledge of the House of Representatives, in which Otis was sustained
by the House, he published a spirited vindication of its action, which
still further stimulated the spirit of resistance to executive power. 1 This
fugitive pamphlet contained the fundamental argument on which constitu-
tional liberty rests, and presented in clear array the whole armory of rea-
soning with which the statesmen of the Revolution fought their later battles.
This was followed two years later by The Rights of the Colonies Asserted
and Vindicated, written with ability and spirit, but making apparent con-
cessions to the authority of Parliament, which excited great distrust and
caused a loss of confidence in the steadiness of his judgment which was
never fully recovered. His last work appeared in 1765^ an eminently pa-
triotic and useful contribution to the discussion ; but presenting views con-
cerning a consolidated empire and parliamentary representation of the
colonies, not shared by many persons on either side of the contest. In
his profession Mr. Otis was pre-eminent, and until his reason failed was
distinguished among many accomplished and able men. 3

The fruitful pen of John Adams, like that of his illustrious kinsman,
was given to the same absorbing cause. While reading law in Worcester
he had access to most of the standard books with which educated men were
expected to be familiar. Frequent references to them in his letters and diary
indicate much proficiency in both the ancient and recent classics. The
argument of James Otis against the Writs of Assistance, to which he was a
listener, was a fresh revelation to his wonderfully receptive and fertile mind. 4
Thenceforward, till the crisis culminated in 1776, he was engaged, with
occasional interruptions, in writing for the newspapers, in preparing in-
structions for representatives, in addressing public meetings or represent-
ative bodies, wherever, indeed, the cause of the colonies needed an able,
learned, and fearless defender. In 1765 he was one of a sodality, consisting
of two young lawyers besides himself, formed under the patronage of Mr.

1 The title was, A Vindication of the Conduct 3 Tudor, Life of James Otis, ; Life and Works
of the H. of Rep. of the Province of the Mass. Bay, of John Adams ; Hutchinson, History of Massa-
printed by Edes & Gill, 1762. J. Adams, writing chusetts Bay. Mercy Warren, History of the
of it many years after, said : " Look over the American Rmohition ; Monthly Anthology, v.
Declaration of Rights and Wrongs, issued by [See a portrait and references in chapter i.
Congress in 1774; look into the Declaration of ED.J

Independence, in 1776; look into the writings 4 " From early life the bent of his mind was

of Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley ; look into all the toward politics, a propensity which the state of

French constitutions of government ; and, to cap the times, if it did not create, doubtless very

the climax, look into Thomas Paine's Common much strengthened. Public subjects must have

Sense, Crisis, and Rights of Man, what can you occupied the thoughts and filled up the conver-

find that is not to be found in solid substance in sation in the circles in which he then moved ;

this vindication of the House of Representatives?" and the interesting questions at that time arising

2 Considerations on behalf of the Colonists, in could not but seize on a mind like his, ardent,
a Letter to a Noble Lord. London : printed for sanguine, and patriotic." Webster, Oration on
]. Almon, 1765. Adams and Jejfersoti, Boston, Aug. 2, 1826.

142 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Gridley, then advanced in years, for the purpose of studying the leading
writers on oratory and civil law. His first published work, a treatise on the
canon and feudal law, was the result of their discussions in 1765, and was
printed after the mob of that year. In the Gazette he wrote under many
signatures on all the leading questions ; and though his attachment to his
profession made him resolve again and again to forswear politics, he re-
turned to the public arena as often as an excuse was offered. From this
time Mr. Adams was fully embarked in public life, and his work and ser-
vice belong to the general history of the country. His writings of the pe-
riod preceding and during the Revolution were very carefully preserved,
and have been published, with his own later commentaries upon the events
which inspired them. 1

The appearance of British soldiers in Boston, in 1768, was the signal for
a fresh appeal to the patriotism of the inhabitants, the boldness and bril-
liancy of which startled friends and foes. Josjah Quincy, Jr., then just ad-
mitted to the bar, published in the Gazette of that year the remarkable series
of essays bearing the signature of " Hyperion," which at once inspired
admiration for his genius and the affectionate interest of all friends of
liberty. His defence of the soldiers of the Boston massacre, against the
current of popular feeling which he had himself been active in creating,
gave further proof of his personal courage and his deep sense of justice.
His contributions to the newspapers, and his correspondence with leading
statesmen, continued after he was smitten with the signs of fatal illness ; and
his persuasive and eloquent voice was often heard in public gatherings. His
chief work, Observations on the Boston Port Bill, with reflections on civil
society and standing armies, published in 1774, increased his reputation and
influence. But the great promise of his youth and early manhood was not
to be realized. He fell on the threshold of the conflict, leaving a pure and
noble memory. 2

Joseph Warren, like most of his eminent contemporaries, also cultivated
literature as a patriotic diversion. With every social grace and virtue he
united uncommon literary gifts and a passionate love of country. Indeed,
they were never long separated. His letters were luminous and prophetic,
and his newspaper writings, from the time of the Stamp Act to the close of
his life, were noted for purity and force of style, excellent judgment, and a
manly spirit. His oration on the anniversary of the Massacre, in 1772, gave
fresh lustre to his reputation. He was then in his thirty-first year, in active
practice of his profession, and the trusted friend and confidant of all the
Whig statesmen. His style was fervent and rhetorical, somewhat over-

1 C. F. Adams, Life and Works of John Algernon Sydney's works, in a large quarto;
Adams. [A portrait of John Adams in his old John Locke's works, in three volumes, folio ;
age is given in Mr. Lodge's chapter in the pres- Lord Bacon's works, in four volumes, folio ;
ent volume. ED.] Gordon's Tacitus, in four volumes; Cato's Let-

2 J. Quincy, Life of Josiah Quinty, Jr. In his ters, by Gordon ; and Trenchard's and Mrs. Ma-
will was the following provision : " I give to my caulay's History of England. May the Spirit of
son Josiah [afterward President Quincy], when Liberty rest upon him ! " [See his portrait and
he shall have arrived at the age of fifteen years, references in chapter i. ED.]

THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION.

143

weighted with metaphor and imagery, but frank and sincere in thought,
logical and direct in statement,, and impressive in delivery. The oration of

J cJ%

4 s *- S*

rtie~; <%*- *r*raSt^+*>y ^tia+m rtL-^&pm^te^.tsZiiAs <x6.**~inS

' .7?

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&n*tA*t4l''/usrr>m.

L/'kftASi, *J

OsnJ

* /

WARREN'S 1775 MANUSCRIPT. 1

1775 was given under circumstances much more singular and distressing.
The town was occupied by hostile troops. Warning had been given that

1 [The manuscript of this second oration of
Warren has descended to Dr. John C. Warren,
the second of that name, and by his kind per-
mission the first page of it is here reproduced,
The script is of uncommon legibility, contained
in a quarto book with black or dark covers, and
occupies twenty-eight pages, with one paragraph
at least inserted on an attached bit of paper,
The oration was printed in the Boston Gazette,
March 17, 1775, and in the same year in a pam-
phlet by Edes & Gill, and probably the same
year in New York. (Frothingham's Warren,
428-436.) Dr. Warren also possesses, beside the

likeness mentioned in another note, a contem-
porary colored mezzotint portrait, following evi-
dently the likeness in question ; and in his dining-
room, above the portrait, hang two swords
crossed, one a slender blade sheathed in black,
which is believed to have been the one worn at
Bunker Hill ; the other was worn for many years
by his grandfather as an officer of the Cadets. Dr.
Warren possesses various papers of the General
and some of his books, which have a printed
book-plate: "Joseph Warren. The wicked bor-
roweth and returneth not." See the portrait
and references in chapter i. ED.]

144 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

the citizens would commemorate the day at their peril. Warren, with char-
acteristic spirit, sought the post of danger. To avoid the crowd, he reached
the pulpit through a window in the rear of it. On the steps of the pulpit
and in the pews before him were the military representatives of an empire
whose power he met with audacious defiance. The chivalry of his nature
had full play in this remarkable presence. Poetry and history have at-
tempted to describe the scene ; but no description can give adequate ex-
pression to its impressiveness and significance.

In the intervals of these periods of special exaltation, Warren wrote
stirring verses for the newspapers, of which "A Song for Liberty," be-
ginning

"That seat of science, Athens, and earth's proud mistress, Rome,
Where now are all their glories ? We scarce can find their tomb,"

is perhaps the best known. 1

With these Patriots, who are most eminent in the literary annals of the
Revolution, were many others whose names are not wholly foreign to them.
James Bowdoin published little aside from his contributions to the state
papers ; but he cultivated letters during his whole life, and his reputation
for science and learning extended over both continents. 2 John Hancock,
eloquent, graceful, and accomplished, and " formed by nature to act a bril-
liant part in the affairs of the world," contributed much to the correspond-
ence of the time, and gave an oration in 1774, on the anniversary of the
Massacre, in which he rose to the occasion with boldness and dignity. 3
Robert Treat Paine, the learned and eminent judge, had refined literary

tastes, and cultivated the society of learned
men. He was wise in theology as well as in
law, but the tradition of his great acquirements
is all that is left concerning them. 4 Oxenbridge
Thacher, the associate of Otis in the trial of the Writs of Assistance, an
ingenious lawyer, a cultivated scholar, and of a most amiable character,
died early in the strife, just as his fine spirit and rich gifts were beginning
to be appreciated. William Tudor, who attained eminence at the bar,
served with distinction in the army, and
delivered the spirited Massacre oration
of I779. 6 Thomas Gushing was a dili-
gent promoter of learning and litera- ^^_
ture; but his position, as Speaker of the c

1 Massachusetts Spy, May 26, 1774. Reprint- Funeral Sermon; Loring's Hundred Boston
ed in Frothingham's Life and Times of Joseph Orators.

Warren, p. 405. Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of 4 \Vashburn, Judicial History of Massachu-
American Literature, i. 466, gives a different setts; Tudor, Life of James Otis. [See the chap-
version, ters by Mr. Porter and Mr. Lodge in the present

2 Judge Lowell, quoted by R. C. Winthrop, volume, and by Mr. Quincy in Vol. IV. ED.]
Orations and Addresses, i. 131. [See Mr. Lodge's 5 [There is a portrait of Colonel Tudor in
chapter. ED.] Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., i. 282, and an extended

8 Sparks's Biographies; Lives of the Signers memoir of him by his son in 2 Mass. Hist. Coll.
of the Declaration of Independence; Thacher's viii. 285. ED.]

THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION. 145

House for many years, in which he was required to sign all public docu-
ments, gave his name a celebrity quite out of proportion to his real influence,
which, indeed, was not slight. 1 Benjamin Church, the accomplished physi-
cian, poet, scholar, and a writer of undoubted genius, gave his talents to
the Whig cause, and was a trusted associate of the Whig leaders until the
war began, for a considerable time,
indeed, after he had secretly resolved
to betray them. 2 His writings were
much celebrated. His poems, some- /7 \^^

times satirical, sometimes serious and

pathetic, were always correct and elegant. His orations were polished,
scholarly, and eloquent. 3 His prose writings, scattered through the publi-
cations of the time, were often witty and philosophical, but never especially
profound.

Foremost among the writers on the royalist side was Thomas Hutch-
inson. Many of his state papers were written with singular moderation and
dignity. 4 The royal prerogative had no more able and learned defender
than it found in this favored son of the province. Had he fallen upon more
peaceful times, he would easily have attained the fame to which his varied
accomplishments and his blameless character entitled him ; but his over-
estimate of power, his want of sympathy with popular rights, and his great
ambition led him to the losing side of the controversy which had to be
decided in his time. The storm of obloquy falling upon all who shared his
faith in the power of the Crown quite overshadowed his undoubted claims
to respect as a citizen, a magistrate, and an historian. In various public
capacities he had rendered useful service to the Province. He was a capa-
ble and upright judge. His charges to the jury were models of clear and
methodical statement, and his decisions were founded upon principles of jus-
tice and reason. His historical labors do not display original or profound
thought, and have few graces of style ; but he was conscientiously pains-
taking and thorough in his investigations, and to the relation of events in-
volving strong partisan feeling he brought a spirit of candor which disarms
criticism. The impartiality of his narrative, even in relating incidents of
which he was himself a great part, and by whose interpretations he must
stand or fall, is one of the striking features of his History of Massachusetts

1 This circumstance led Dr. Johnson, in his 8 Thacher's Medical Biography ; Loring's
pamphlet on Taxation no Tyranny, to say : " One Hundred Boston Orators.

object of the Americans is said to be to adorn * The more important of these papers are

the brows of Mr. Gushing with a diadem." preserved in the volume of Massachusetts State

[Thomas Gushing was Lieut.-Governor, under the Papers, compiled by Alden Bradford, and printed

new constitution of 1780, till his death in 1788. in Boston in 1818. The volume includes the

He was the last to add to his pay as one of the speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts from

council the salary of that sinecure office, the 1765 to 1775, and the answers to them by the

captaincy of the Castle. See his likeness, etc., House of Representatives, with the resolutions

in Mr. Porter's chapter. ED.] and addresses for that period, and other public

2 Hutchinson, Letters to Bernard, January, papers.
1772.

VOL. III. 19.

146 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Bay. His greed of office, his exaggerated ambition, his persistent misjudg-
ment of the nature of the forces contending for the mastery of this conti-
nent, were followed by quick and bitter retribution ; but no record o'f his
time is complete which fails to recognize him as one of the very few Ameri-
cans who, outside of the absorbing interests of the time, made permanent
and useful contributions to the history of the country. 1

Jonathan Sewall, Attorney-General of Massachusetts, was reputed to be
one of the best writers of his time in New England. The Royalist journals
were indebted to him for many of the ingenious essays in defence of the
Crown and Parliament, which enabled them to maintain their ground against
great odds from 1768 to 1775. John Adams, his early friend and com-
panion, credits him with a lively wit, a pleasing humor, a brilliant imagina-
tion, great subtilty of reasoning, and an insinuating eloquence. Andrew
Oliver, 2 Lieut.-Governor, was a temperate and judicious writer in support of
the prerogative, and against the extreme pretensions of the Patriots. His
son, Andrew Oliver, Jr., more of a scholar than a politician, found time, in
the midst of political distractions, to publish treatises on comets, storms, and
other natural phenomena; and he was a member of many learned societies.

The names of two women, from very different walks in life, are entitled
to a place in the literary annals of this time. " It was fashionable to ridi-
cule female learning," Mrs. Adams wrote in one of her letters. " In the best
families it went no further than writing and arithmetic ; in some few and
rare instances, music and dancing." 3 But Mercy Warren was no slave to
the social code. Urged by her own intrepid spirit, and stimulated by the
example of her brother, James Otis, and her husband, James Warren of Ply-
mouth, she became no indifferent part of the Revolution. Her house was
the resort of all its great leaders, and she was a welcome companion in their
most secret counsels. Her first publications were TJie Adulator, issued in
Boston in 1773, and The Group in 1775, both political dramas satirizing the
prominent Royalists. These were followed by poems, less elaborate and of
a more serious cast ; not remarkable as poetry, but charged with patriotic
feeling and closely reflecting the spirit of the times. The Squabble of tJie
Sea Nymphs, celebrating the tea adventure; A Political Reverie, written
while the Colony was hesitating between its ancient loyalty and its passion
for freedom ; To the Hon. John Winthrop, Esq., who had requested her to
give him a poetical list of the articles which a lady would require under the
head of " real necessaries of life," while trade with Great Britain was sus-
pended ; and later than any of these, The Sack of Rome, and The Ladies
of Castile, all won great praise in their day and were widely read. 4 Mrs.
Warren kept at the same time a careful record of public events, and main-
tained an active correspondence with many Whig statesmen, which at a

1 [See his likeness and an estimate of him 8 Familiar Letters of John Adams and his
in Dr. Ellis's chapter in Vol. II. p. 68; also Mr. Wife, x. xi.

Porter's chapter in the present volume. ED.) * Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous. By

2 [See his likeness and references in Mr. Mrs. M. Warren. Boston : Thomas & Andrews,
Porter's chapter. ED.] 1 790.

THE LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION. 147

later period furnished the principal materials for her history of the Revo-
lution. 1

Phillis Wheatley, a waif brought to these shores in a slave-ship from
the coast of Africa, wrote youthful verses, which at first attracted attention
rather on account of the novelty of their origin than for any special merit of

their own. Her earlier poems were first published in England, whither she
had been taken in 1773 in ill health, at the age of eighteen years. These
poems, gratefully inscribed to the Countess of Huntingdon, her chief friend
and benefactor, and subsequently republished in this country, are of vari-
ous degrees of merit, the best of them being simple, graceful, and not
without traces of genuine poetic and religious feeling. Her memorial verses
on the death of Dr. Sewall, of George Whitefield, and of Governor Hutch-
inson's daughter, and others, were well calculated to win the sympathetic
interest of many persons ; while her more ambitious poems, " Goliath of
Gath," " Niobe Mourning for her Children," and her contemplative and re-
ligious poems show great purity of sentiment and unusual gifts of poetic
expression. Poverty, neglect, and a tragic death following a melancholy
marriage quenched the fire just as it was beginning to light her way to
hope and fame. 2

But the crowning achievement of this period, the magnum 0/J, to
which the ripest thought, the highest aspiration, and the best literary skill
of that generation contributed, were the Massachusetts Constitution and
Declaration of Rights of 1780. No worthier monument exists to the intel-
lectual elevation, as well as to the wisdom, sagacity, and breadth of view
of the statesmen who modelled and the people who accepted it. John and
Samuel Adams, Bowdoin, Hancock, Lowell, Parsons, Cabot, Sullivan, Cush-
ing, and many more had a part in the work ; but John Adams was the

1 Mrs. Ellet, Women of the Revolution; Duyc- 1834 publication was written by Miss M. M.
kinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature ; Life Odell, of Jamaica Plain. The book passed to a
and Works of John Adams. [See Mr. Charles second edition in 1835, and to a third in 1838,
A. Cummings's chapter in the present volume, the latter containing Phillis's letter to Washing-
and Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney's chapter in Vol. ton, from Sparks, iii. 297. The original edition
IV. ED.] of her " Poems on various subjects " was pub-

2 Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a lished in London in 1773, with an engraved por-
Native African and a Slave. Boston: George trait, and it was sold in Boston by Feb. 8, 1774.
W. Light, 1834; Allibone, Dictionary of Authors; Other editions were published at Albany in
Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature; 1793; at Philadelphia, 1801, as an appendix to
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1863, 1864, pp. 166, 167 The Negro equalled by few Europeans; at Wal-
[where will be found various letters by her, pole, N. H., 1802 ; at Hartford, 1804 ; and " New
edited by Charles Deane, with an account of England," 1816. See Mrs. Cheney's chapter in
her by N. B. Shurtleff. The memoir of the Vol. IV. ED.]

148 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

chief architect. The distinguishing feature of this instrument, especially
worthy of commemoration here, is the chapter relating to the University of
Cambridge, the encouragement of literature, etc., which remains to this day
a part of the supreme law of Massachusetts, at once a model of literary
expression and the high-water mark of American statesmanship. 1

This rapid sketch omits many names and many books entitled to a place
in any complete review of the literature of the Revolutionary period. The
teeming intellectual fertility of the town itself was stimulated by Thomas
Hollis, Nicholas Boylston, Thomas Hancock, and a score of enterprising
booksellers who brought or sent into the colony all the standard books on
law, politics, and history, together with the best of the belles-lettres then
read by the English-speaking world. The printers, moreover, on both sides
of the controversy, responded to the spreading interest in public affairs, and
poured out pamphlets and broad-sides, which found their way to every man's
door. Stately and elaborate essays alternated with the light and ephemeral
humors of the passing hour, presenting in every variety of form, and with
every shade of feeling, the one leading thought of American intellectual
or literary life. On the Loyalist side, under the greatest possible discour-
agements, there were displayed ability, sincerity, devotion, and many noble
virtues which will always command human sympathy. On the Patriot side,
while the people were equally disinterested and courageous, the love and
the hope of freedom took more passionate and complete possession of them.
All social and public interests came under the sway of that impulse ; all
talents were quickened and uplifted by that conviction. The long travail
of a people contending against powerful injustice ; the assurance that suc-
cess would ultimately vindicate and reward their faith ; passing moods of
depressing doubt and triumphant confidence, alternating with dreams of
grandeur and happiness under new institutions, over which kingly power
would have no control and lingering tyrannies would cast no shadow,
these were the accompaniments of a political change wrought in a single
generation, which in purity of motive, exaltation of purpose, and splendor
of results is without parallel in the annals of men.

1 " In all the formulas of rights adopted by lessons of history over the future of a new Com-

the several States there is a general resemblance momvealth, for its repeated inculcation of the

of substance and phraseology. . . . The Massa- duties of religion and education as the primary

chusetts Declaration is more extended, and agencies of civilized States, and for its own

enunciates more in detail the investiture of the simple and solid literature. With the exception

liberties of the citizen subject; and though I of the third article it is the work of Mr. Adams,

must unavoidably be suspected of bias, I am free though in the convention it took on considerable

to express the opinion that, as a whole, it is su- changes in the grouping and phraseology."

perior to any other similar form in existence Alexander H. Bullock, The Centennial of the

for its comprehensive projecting of the eclectic Massachusetts Constitution, pp. 20, 21.

CHAPTER IV.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

BY HORACE E. SCUDDER. 1

THE struggle for personal freedom which occupied the mind of Eng-
land and her colonies in the eventful last quarter of the eighteenth
century was sharply accented in Boston, and the crisis which came with the
Boston Port Bill was of a nature to change materially and rapidly the con-
ditions of life in the capital of New England. The succession of hostile acts
on the one side, and of retaliatory reprisals on the other, practically sealed
Boston Harbor before the British navy made its fence of ships across the
entrance, and the sudden check upon free commerce fell with force upon
the great centre of the town's activity. At the wharves were idle vessels, in
the streets were idle sailors and mechanics, and the saw and hammer which
had made the ship-yards noisy were thrown aside. The withdrawal of la-
bor was the concentration of interest upon politics, for public affairs were
now more than ever closely involved with private affairs. The introduction
of troops into the town increased the disorder, and it would seem as if
nothing was going on but town-meetings and street rows. The glance which
we get at Boston in the few years immediately preceding the outbreak of
the war through the columns of the journals, the records of the General
Court and of the town discloses a half-turbulent, excited, angry, but res-
olute town, where there was a constant exhibition in miniature of the
conflict which was so imminent.

The resolute, not to say obstinate, temper of the town found abundant
opportunity for expression, and the hand seemed always on the hilt. In
1773 the Governor and Council were to have their customary annual elec-
tion dinner; and the town, in its meeting, instructed the selectmen to grant
the use of Faneuil Hall only on condition that neither the commissioners of
the customs and their attendants, nor the officers of the army and navy
stationed at Boston for the purpose of enforcing unconstitutional acts of

1 [Mr. Scudder published in 1876, in Men and A Short History of the English Colonies in Amer-

Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago, a tea, 1881, gives a chapter (p. 406) to depicting

picture of life in the colonies, a third of the the condition of life in New England just at

book being given to New England ; drawing his the out-break of the war. Another general

material, without change of form, from some of survey will be found in the introduction to

the most helpful of the contemporary accounts. The First Century of the Republic, New York,

The recent book of Mr. He'nry Cabot Lodge, 1876. ED.]

150 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Parliament by military execution, be invited, it being utterly against the
inclination of the town that even one person who had rendered himself
inimical to the rights of America should be admitted to the hall upon
such an occasion. 1

The famous non-importation agreement of 1770 struck into society; for
those were days when politics and society were so closely identified that
there were two camps, more strictly defined than even by religious differ-
ences afterward. The matrons entered into an agreement to drink no tea
until the revenue acts were repealed. " We do strictly engage," they say,
" that we will totally abstain from the use of that article (sickness excepted)
not only in our respective families, but that we will absolutely refuse it if it
should be offered to us on any occasion whatsoever." A fortnight afterward,
that no loophole might be left, the daughters of the Patriots signed a like
agreement ; and the Patriot papers now began to publish, and to keep stand-
ing in their columns, the names of those shopkeepers who refused to enter
the non-importation league, and they were practically excommunicated by
the town. " It must evidently appear that they have preferred their own little
private advantage to the welfare of America ; ... so those who afford them
their countenance, or give them their custom, must expect to be considered
in the same disagreeable light." 2 . One frequently comes upon advertise-
ments of dealers who offer certain goods with the assurance that these were
all obtained before the non-importation agreement, and so may safely be
sold and bought. Isaac Viburt publishes an indignant card because hand-
bills have been posted charging his wife with buying tea of William Jackson.
It was probably done, he declares, " to raise the resentment of the inhabi-
tants, and to injure me in my business, which wholly depends on the em-
ploy of the merchants and traders of the town, in repairing of vessels, etc.
N. B. The occasion of Mrs. Viburt's going to Mr. Jackson's shop was, a
number of shoes from Lynn was left there for her, and she called on Satur-
day last and took them away." 3 Such advertisements illustrate well the
village-like character of the town, and the extreme sensitiveness of the
people.

The sewing-circle was a miniature camp, and American ideas and indus-
try were extolled :

" Last Wednesday forty-five Daughters of Liberty met in the morning at the house
of the Rev. Mr. Moorhead in this town ; and in the afternoon they exceeded fifty.
By the evening of said day they spun two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn,
some very fine. Their labor and materials were all generously given to the worthy
pastor. Nothing appeared in their whole conduct but love, festivity, and application.
. . . Their entertainment was wholly American production except a little wine,
etc. . . . The whole was concluded with many agreeable tunes and Liberty songs,
with great judgment ; fine voices performed and animated on this occasion in all the
several parts by a number of the Sons of Liberty." 4

1 Boston Town Records, May 14, 1773. 8 Boston Gazette, Feb. 19, 1770.

2 Boston Gazette, Jan. i, 1770. 4 Ibid., May 21, 1770.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 151

There was no mincing of matters. If a man went counter to the popular
sentiment and passion he was denounced by name, and made to feel the
scorn of his neighbors. The rebuke was open and public :

" Upon a motion made and seconded, voted unanimously, that this town have
the greatest abhorrence of one of its inhabitants, viz., Samuel Waterhouse,
who, in defiance of the united sentiment, not only of his fellow-citizens but all his
fellow-countrymen, expressed repeatedly in the votes and records of the Honorable
House of Representatives of this Province, has continued to accommodate troops
at this time so justly obnoxious to a free people and abhorrent to a free constitu-
tion, and thereby basely prostituted a once respectable mansion-house to the use of
a main guard." 1

There is something half petty, half sublime, in the solemn way in which
the town, in measured sentence, proceeds to write down for posterity the
names of those who have shown themselves unworthy townsmen. At a
town-meeting held March 19, 1770, this vote was unanimously passed:

" The merchants, not only of this metropolis but through the continent, having
nobly preferred the public good to their own private emolument, and with a view to
obtain a redress of the grievance so loudly and justly complained of, having almost
unanimously engaged to suspend their importations from Great Britain, a measure
approved by all orders as legal, peaceable, and most likely of all others to effect the
salutary design in view, and which will be regarded by posterity with veneration, for
the disinterested and truly public spirit appearing in it, the town cannot but express
their astonishment and indignation that any of its citizens should be so lost to the
feelings of patriotism and the common interest, and so thoroughly and infamously self-
ish as to obstruct this very measure by continuing their importation ; be it therefore
solemnly voted, that the names of these persons few, indeed, to the honor of the
town [and then follow a dozen names, one only of which, that of John Mein, the
bookseller, has any other notoriety] be entered on the records of this town, that
posterity may know who those persons were that preferred their little private ad-
vantage to the common interest of all the Colonies in a point of the greatest
importance ; who not only deserted, but opposed their country in a struggle for the
rights of the Constitution that must ever do it honor ; and who, with a design to en-
rich themselves, basely took advantage of the generous self-denial of their fellow-
citizens for the common good."

The intimation in the last clause is of a not unnatural indignation felt and
expressed by those traders who signed the agreement, and saw business fall-
ing into the hands of less zealous merchants.

Meanwhile, though foreign trade was paralyzed and the community was
restless and often disorderly, the very excitement of life was doubtless a
stimulus to activity in many directions. John Hancock gave the town a
fire-engine, and the town, accepting it with pleasure, directed with an honest
simplicity that the engine " be placed, under proper cover, at or near Han-
cock's Wharf; and in case of fires the estate of the donor shall have the

1 Boston Town Records, March 6, 1770.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

7 V* '<&<.<*_ -^tyC*^^-)

~<7 S* ^ JtifyWL

BOSTON MERCHANTS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

preference of its service." J A number of meetings were held to take
measures for lighting the town, and the result was a private subscription
and the purchase of between three and four hundred lamps. 2 Two respon-

1 Boston Town Records, May 22, 1772. [Sev-
eral papers relating to the engines and engine-
men of this time are among the old papers in
the Charity Building. ED.]

2 [Thomas NewelFs diary notes: " March 2,
1774. A number of lamps in town were lighted
this evening for the first time." (Mass. Hist. Soc.

Proc., October, 1877, p. 349.) He had already
(January 8) recorded : " Began to make the tops
of the glass lamps for this town." The lamps
had come from England, and were on board one
of the tea-ships which was wrecked in Decem-
ber, 1773, on Cape Cod. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
1865, p. 327. ED.]

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 153

fiSiy

Y/^Qjj^

. ^

BOSTON MERCHANTS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

154 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

sible persons from each ward were appointed to decide, with the committee,
upon the most fitting places. Gawen Brown, whose name is familiar upon
many hall clocks which are still ticking regularly, set up a great clock on
the Old South, which " goes with such regularity and exactness that for this
fourteen weeks it has not lost by two minutes of time." l In February of
the same year the newspaper takes notice of the finishing of an excellent
spinnet, 2 " which, for goodness of workmanship and harmony of sound, is
esteemed by the best judges to be superior to any that has been imported
from Europe." The protective high tariff of non-importation was evidently
at work.

The order of the town was naturally disturbed by the state of affairs ; and
one article in the warrant for a town-meeting in March, 1770, was " to con-
sider of some effectual methods to prevent unlicensed strangers, and other
persons, from entertaining and supplying the youth and servants of the
town with spirituous liquors ; for the breaking up of bad houses, and re-
moval of any disorderly intruders to the places from whence they came ;
and for the further discountenancing of vice and promoting a refor-
mation of manners." A committee was appointed, but reported that
the laws were sufficient, and only needed to be enforced. They ad-
vised, however, the appointment of twelve tithing-men to see to such
enforcement.

The population which remained in Boston, when the town was fairly
beleaguered, consisted of the garrison and its immediate camp-following;
the Crown officers with their households ; a small society of Tories, rich
and well-bred, many of whom had sought refuge in the town ; 3 a consider-
able body of poor people, whose sympathies were chiefly with the Patriots ;
and a few citizens who, belonging to the popular party, remained either to
perform the duties of their offices as ministers or doctors, or to protect,
as far as possible, their own property and that of their connections. It is
probable that among these last would be found those whose interests
were chiefly commercial, and who warily avoided committing themselves
unreservedly to either side in the conflict. Our sources of information re-
garding the common life of the town are derived from letters, journals, and
the like, 4 from representatives of these several classes, excepting the very

1 Boston Gazette, April 16, 1770. p. 281, too cautious to disclose much ; letters to

2 [See an account of the spinnet of this time G. Greene, in Ibid., June, 1873; letter of Samuel
in Harper's Magazine, Iviii. 860. ED.] Paine, in N. E. Hist, and Cental. Reg., July, 1876 ;

* [Most of these are named in the Editorial British officer's journal, in Atlantic Monthly,

Note on "The Loyalists," following this chap- April, 1877; Memoir and Letters of Captain

ter. ED.] IV. G. Evelyn, 1879, from which there are some

4 [Such sources are the letters of John An- extracts in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1879, P- 2 &9-
drews, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1865, p. 405; After the action at Bunker Hill, thirty-one Pa-
letters in American Historical Record. December, triots were thrown by General Gage into the jail
1872 ; Newell's Diary, in 4 Mass. Hist. Col., \. ; in Boston. Among them was James Lovell, who
letters in Essex Institute Collections, July, 1876; had delivered one of the Massacre orations. (See
and Mr. W. P. Upham's paper, in Essex Insti- \jon\\%, Hundred BostonOrators, p. 33). The diaries
tute Bulletin, March, i876 ; Andrew Eliot's let- of two of these captives have been preserved :
ters, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., September, 1878, that of Peter Edes was printed in Bangor in

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

'55

humble ; and from the scanty chronicles preserved in the meagre Boston
News-Letter, the only paper published in town during the siege, which was,
of course, in the Tory interest. The life of which we catch glimpses was
one of petty contrasts and of much common discomfort and misery. In the
matter of shelter, the gentlemen and ladies of the Royal cause took posses-
sion of houses which had been deserted by prominent citizens, or were
welcomed by those who remained with satisfaction in their own houses.
Hancock's house * was occupied by General Clinton ; Burgoyne was in the
Bowdoin mansion ; 2 and Lord Percy in the Gardiner Greene house ; 3 Gage
and his successor, Howe, 4 took possession, in turn, of the Province House.
The officers 5 found lodgings in the aristocratic boarding-houses, which long
after this period were the resort of persons who wished a more dignified and
comfortable resting-place than the taverns afforded. The troops were dis-
posed in barracks in different parts of the town; 6 and the general aspect of
the place was altered by the exigencies of the situation. A number of build-
ings were taken down near the old Hay-Market, to permit unobstructed pas-
sage across the southern part of the peninsula, where the strongest works

1837 ; that of John Leach is in the JV. E. Hist,
and Geneal. Reg., July, 1865. The manuscripts
of both are owned by Mr. H. H. Edes. His let-
ter relating to the two journals is printed in the
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., December, 1871, p. 176.
See the Evacuation Memorial, p. 157. ED.]

1 [There is in the collection of Mellen Cham-
berlain, Librarian of the Public Library, a paper
signed by William Bant, " attorney to Mr. Han-
cock," dated Boston, Feb. 26, 1777, which shows
the damage done to Hancock's estate by the
British troops during their occupancy, "so far
as I have been able to collect it," amounting to
,4,732 2s. &%d., of which, ,345 lew. 6^</. was
damage to the mansion-house and its fences,
"since April 19, 1776, taken to Dec r 1776," in-
cluding wines, furniture, "6 muskets given in to
Gen 1 Gage by his arbitrary order, @ 80 / ," " lin-
ing of the chariot torn out and carried away, 9,"
"rent of the House one year, ^133. 6s. &d."
Mention is also made of a " house back of the
Mansion House, pull'd down and destroyed,
.300 ; " also " a house in Ann Street pull'd down
and destroyed, ,500." ED.]

2 [Dr. Ellis's paper on " Burgoyne in Boston,"
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., March, 1876, p. 233,
gives a synopsis of so much of Fonblanque's
Life of Burgoyne as relates to his stay here.
ED.]

8 [Percy at one time occupied a fine mansion,
with garden, which stood on the northerly corner
of Winter and Tremont streets, and which be-
longed to Mr. John Williams, and had been the
town residence of Governor Bernard. After the
war it was the home of Samuel Breck (whose
Reminiscences we have had, as edited by Mr.
Scudder), who sold the estate to John Andrews,

whose letters, however, at the time now under
observation, were written from a house in School
Street, where he then lived. Percy is sometimes
said at different times to have occupied also the
Hancock House, Mrs. Sheaffe's at the corner of
Columbia and Essex streets, and perhaps others;
but Mr. C. W. Tuttle (Daily Advertiser, May I,
1880) says he has seen no evidence, originating in
that period, of his having lived in any house but
that of Mr. Williams. ED.]

4 [The quarters of General Howe were, be-
fore Gage left, in a house at the corner of Oliver
and Milk streets. Drake's Landmarks, 1872, p.
271. ED.]

5 [Brigadier Pigot, of the Forty-third, "im-
proved a house just above Liberty Tree ; " but
after the fight at Charlestown, his command of
the troops on Bunker Hill required his resi-
dence on that side of the river. N. E. Hist, and
Geneal. Reg., July, 1876. Adjutant Waller's
Orderly-Book has the following :

"i6Aug., 1775. Whereas some evil-minded
person did, on monday last, in the middle of the
day, cut off the tail of a little black cow belong-
ing to B. Gen 1 Pigot, whoever will give infor-
mation against the person guilty of so much
cruelty shall receive a guinea reward." Eu.]

e [Drake, Landmarks, p. 313, says that a bat-
talion of troops was quartered in Sheriff Green-
leaf's gardens, at the corner of Tremont and West
streets. John Adams's house, in Queen Street
(Court Street), was " occupied by one of the doc-
tors of a regiment." It was found, after the
evacuation, "very dirty, but no other damage
done to it ; but the few things which were left
in it, all gone." Familiar Letters, pp. 149, 154.
ED.]

156 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

were built for defence against possible attack. 1 The Old South was used
as a riding-school for the light dragoons, not without a contemptuous ref-
erence to the prominence of the building as a gathering-place for the sedi-
tious inhabitants, and other meeting-houses were used for barracks. The
Old North Meeting-house was pulled down for fuel, and over a hundred
houses were destroyed for the same purpose ; chiefly, probably, the old,
small, and decaying wooden buildings. 2 There was, of course, no sentiment
which would preserve the house of Governor Winthrop for a later destruc-
tion by indifferent citizens. The order for destruction was not given until
necessity compelled it. Supplies of fuel had been ordered but did not
arrive, and the winter set in with uncommon severity.

The customary avenues by which fuel, food, clothing, and other neces-
sities entered the town had been closed, with the exception of the water-way
into the harbor, and privateersmen were hovering about the coast harassing
the transports that entered there. The town, before the siege, had taken
care of itself by the ordinary dealings with the country, and by its com-
merce; but now it was the work of a military organization to supply the
most common necessities of a large and helpless population. Suddenly to
feed a town and garrison numbering together twenty thousand souls, and to
be dependent chiefly upon slow-sailing vessels, coming from a distance in
the inclemency of weather, was a task beyond the capacity of any common
quartermaster's department ; and rich and poor found themselves in a sad
quandary. The testimony on this point is varied and explicit, for men be-
come very talkative about their dinner when they have either had none or
fear there is none to come ; and the journals and letters of the siege are
largely occupied with this topic. 3 John Andrews, one of the merchants
who remained behind to have an eye on family property, and whose shrewd-
ness and ready wit plainly stood him in good stead with both parties, makes
a survey of the situation near the end of the siege :

" I am well in health, thank God ! and have been so the whole of the time, but
have lived at the rate of six or seven hundred sterling a year; for I was determined
to eat fresh provisions while it was to be got, let it cost what it would ; that since

1 [These works are best shown in Page's in Frank Moore's Diary of the American Revolu-

map, given in another chapter. This southern (ton, p. 97; also as a wood-cut, in Lossing's Field-

approach to the town is shown pictorially in the Book of the Revolution, \. 512. ED.]
annexed heliotypes of two views of Boston, dat- 2 [The immediate occasion is said to have

ing from this time ; the upper is one of Des been to supply transports with fuel which were

Barres's views, and the Neck lines are shown at about to sail for England with sick. Moore's

the point where a flag flies. Something of the Diary of the Revolution, \. 182. ED.]
ruggedness of Beacon Hill is indicated in the 3 [" 29 May. Any women, as may be wanted

mount beyond the town. In the lower view, as nurses at the General Hospital, or to do any

which gives Shirley Hall in the middle distance other business for the service of the Garrison,

on the left, Beacon Hill seems to assume an ap- and shall refuse to do it, will immediately be

pearance which it is hard to accept. The view is struck off the provision list." Waller's Orderly-

much the same as the upper one, but from a point Book, 1775. In August, 1775, John Leach, then

farther back from the shore. It follows a copy confined in Boston jail, enters in his diary : "This

of a large print now in the Boston Athenaeum, afternoon my wife came to ask my advice about

What seems to be the same has been not very signing for buying meat, as none were to have it

accurately engraved in Lossing's Washington, and but friends of Government." ED.)

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 157

October I have scarce eat three meals of salt meat, but supplied my family with fresh
at the rate of one shilling to one shilling sixpence sterling the pound. What wood
was to be got was obliged to give at the rate of twenty dollars a cord ; and coals,
though Government had a plenty, I could not procure (not being an addresser or
associator 1 ), though I offered so high as fifty dollars for a chaldron, and that at a
season when Nabby and John, the only help I had, were under inoculation for the
small-pox ; that, if you'll believe me, Bill, I was necessitated to burn horse-dung.
Many were the instances of the inhabitants being confined to the provost for purchas-
ing fuel of the soldiers, when no other means offered, to keep them from perishing
with cold. Yet such was the inhumanity of our masters, that they were even denied
the privilege of buying the surplusage of the soldiers' rations. Though you may
think we had plenty of cheese and porter, yet we were obliged to give from fifteen
pence to two shillings a pound for all we ate of the former ; and a loaf of bread of the
size we formerly gave three pence for, thought ourselves well off to get for a shilling.
Butter at two shillings. Milk for months without tasting any. Potatoes, from nine
shillings to ten shillings and sixpence a bushel ; and everything else in the same
strain." 2

The besieging soldiers had a joke that the town bull, aged twenty, was
killed and cut up for the use of the officers ; and in a letter from one of these
to his father in England, it is said: "Why should I complain of hard fate?
General Gage and all his family have for this month past lived upon salt pro-
vision. -Last Saturday, General Putnam, in the true style of military com-
plaisance which abolishes all personal resentment and smooths the horrors
of war when discipline will permit, sent a present to General Gage's lady of
a fine quarter of veal, which was very acceptable, and received the return of
a very polite card of thanks." At one time during the siege only six head
of cattle were in the hands of Butcher-Master-General Hewes, as entire
stock for troops or inhabitants, and the rejected portions of the slaughtered
animals found purchasers among those who were both rich and dainty. One
of the accounts, dated the middle of December, says : " The distress of
the troops and inhabitants in Boston is great beyond all possible descrip-
tion. Neither vegetables, flour, nor pulse for the inhabitants, and the king's
stores so very short none can be spared from them ; no fuel, and the winter
set in remarkably severe. The troops and inhabitants absolutely and liter-
ally starving for want of provisions and fire. Even salt provision is fifteen
pence sterling per pound." 3 John Andrews, writing at one time when he
was a little less cheerful than usual, did not boast of his fare : " Was it not
for a trifle of salt provisions that we have, 't would be impossible for us to
live. Pork and beans one day, and beans and pork another, and fish when
we can catch it." He gives, frankly enough, his reason for braving all these
discomforts : " Am necessitated to submit to such living, or risk the little

1 An " addresser " was one of those, presum- unteers who had offered their services to the

ably Loyalists, who joined in congratulatory commander -in -chief, and were enrolled under

addresses to Gage and Howe on different occa- that name.

sions. An "associator " was one of the military 2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., July, 1865.

company of Loyal American Associators, vol- 3 Frothingham, Siege of Boston, p. 280.

158 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

all I have in the world, which consists in my stock of goods and furniture,
to the amount of between two and three thousand sterling, as it 's said
without scruple that those who leave the town forfeit all the effects they
leave behind. Whether they hold it up as only a means to detain people or
not, I can't say ; but, in regard to slaves, their actions have been consistent
with the doctrines, however absurd. It has so far availed as to influence
many to stay who would otherways have gone."

The higher life of Boston, which had made the town the spokesman for
liberty, was perpetuated now outside of its limits, in Cambridge camp, and
in the councils of the embryo nation ; but there was still a light left burn-
ing within the besieged town, where were also the memorials of its past
vitality. The very endurance of the poor tradesmen who remained, num-
bering among them, doubtless, some of those who at an earlier stage of
the struggle had refused to build barracks for the English troops, and thus
had offered their little sacrifice of wages, the privations of life which stanch
Patriots bore, these were witnesses to the indestructible spirit of the town ;
and it may be said that the town, whether within or without the lines, was at
any time ready for the doom of destruction if that sacrifice was required.
The monuments of its cherished ideas bore also a dumb testimony to the
conflict which was going on. The houses of the chief citizens, occupied by
prominent officers, were for the most part respected by the occupants ; but
that of Sam Adams, the arch-rebel, was mutilated and disfigured past his
slender means of restoration. The public buildings were devoted to the
uses of the soldiers. The Old South, as we have seen, was turned into a
riding-school, the pulpit, pews, and seats being hacked and carried off. A
beautiful carved pew, with silk furniture, b'elonging to Deacon Hubbard,
was taken away and used for a hog-sty, according to Timothy Newell, upon
the solicitation of General Burgoyne ; and it is difficult not to see in some
of the acts of officers and soldiers a spiteful temper. " Dirt and gravel were
spread over the floors ; the south door was closed ; a bar was fixed, over
which the cavalry leaped their horses at full speed ; the east galleries were
allotted to spectators ; the first gallery was fitted up as a refreshment room.
A stove was put up in the winter, and here were burned for kindling many
of the books and manuscripts of Prince's fine library." 1 Timothy Newell's
diary contains an amusing account of the shifts to which the worthy deacon
resorted to evade the requisition made upon him for the use of Brattle
Street Church, then recently built, and the pride of the town. He gives a
sigh of relief as he records the fact that the necessity of taking down the
pillars, and thus endangering the safety of the building, was all that saved
the church from being used as a riding-school. It was used as a barrack.
The West Church was used for barracks, and its steeple pulled down for
firewood. 2 The North Church, built of wood, was pulled down for the same
reason. The Federal Street Meeting-house was filled with hay. The
Hollis Street Church was used for barracks. The Liberty Tree was cut

1 Frothingham, Siege of Boston, p. 328. 2 [Shown in the frontispiece of this volume. ED.]

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

159

down amidst the jibes and taunts of the soldiers and Tories, who had not
forgotten its almost personal symbolism. The most distinguished citizen
who remained was the Rev. Andrew Eliot, who shared the ministerial work
chiefly with Drs. Mather and Byles. 1 He was detained much against his
will, but spent his time in service of the poor and sick. The Thursday
Lecture gave way near the end of the siege ; and Dr. Eliot notes in his
diary,

" November 30 [1775]- Preached T. L. Coetus vere parva. The attendance of
this lecture being exceedingly small, and our work greatly increased in other respects,
Dr. Mather and I, who, since the departure of our other Brethren, had preached it

THE LIBERTY TREE/

alternately, thought proper to lay it down for the present. I preached the last sermon
from those words in Rev. 2, ' Remember how thou hast received,' etc. An affecting
occasion, of laying down a lecture which had subsisted more than 140 years. The
small congregation was much moved at the conclusion."

1 [See Mr. Goddard's chapter in the present
volume. ED.]

2 [This cut follows another given in Snow's
Boston, p. 266. The tree stood at the southeast
corner of Washington and Essex streets ; and a
representation of it, carved in wood, now adorns
a building erected on its site by the late David
Sears. The tree was felled by a party led by
Job Williams, and it made fourteen cords of
wood. A British soldier was killed at the time,
while trying to remove one of the limbs. A so-
liloquy in verse, published at the "time in the
Massachusetts Gazette, Jan. 2, 1776, gives the Tory

view of the case. It is reprinted in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., March, 1876, p. 270. A pole was fast-
ened in the tree ; and the remnants of the flag
used in 1775 are said to be owned by H. C. Fer-
nald, and have been exhibited in the Old South
Loan Collection. On the stump which remained
a liberty-pole was erected after the war, and this
was replaced by another, July 2, 1826. In 1833
Liberty-Tree Tavern stood upon the spot. Tu-
dor's Otis, p. 221; Drake, Landmarks, p. 397;
Evacuation Memorial, p. 160 ; Sargent, Dealings
with the Dead, Nos. 41 and 42. ED.]

i6o

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The public schools were dispersed ; Master Lovell, of the Latin school,
casting in his lot with the Crown, while his son James, an usher in the same

school, was thrown into prison under
suspicion of being a spy, and carried
off in chains by the army with which
his father decamped as a Loyalist. One
solitary school was kept gratuitously
by Mr. Elias Dupee. The only other educational offer seems to have been
that of Daniel McAlpine, who had been for some years established " to in-
struct all lovers of the noble science of defence, commonly called the
back-sword, in that art."

It was dull work for the officers and ladies and gentlemen to stay cooped
up in the two little peninsulas through the dismal winter, their eyes and
ears assailed by the for-
lorn condition of the in-
habitants. But no doubt
there was some bravery
of appearances ; and the
society which was light-
ed and warmed by scarlet coats was driven in upon itself pretty rigorously. 1
For half a century and more after this time there lived in Boston two
maiden ladies, daughters of Dr. Mather Byles, who stoutly maintained to the
last their loyalty to the Crown of England. They had been girls during the
siege, and the war passed only to find them unflinching British subjects in
will. They entertained visitors, who still remember them, with talks of the
gallantry shown them by General Howe and Lord Percy during the winter of
1775-76 ; -how they promenaded with these great men on the Common ; and
how Lord Percy serenaded them with the regimental band. 2 In the train of

1 [Among other divertisements to relieve the
weary hours of the siege, was their burlesquing
some intercepted letters of John Adams to
James Warren : " A paraphrase upon the second
epistle of John the Roundhead to James the Pro-
locutor of the Rump Parliament." See Works of
John Adams, i. 180 ; Familiar Letters, pp. 85,
101, 116. ED.]

- [An account of the tribulations of Dr.
Byles, written by his daughter, Catharine Byles
(for which we are indebted to Mr. George Hed-
rick, of Lowell), runs thus :

"Oct. 13, 1778.

" Upon the first opening of the town, the people, among
whom my father had officiated for forty-three years, had
an irregular meeting, and desired his attendance ; when a
charge of his attachment to government was read, of
which, as he never could obtain a copy, I am unable to
give an exact account. Among others were included
his friendly disposition to the British troops, particularly his
entertaining them at his house, indulging them with his
telescope, &c.; his prayers for the King, and for the preser-
vation of the town during the siege. Some time after this
a few lines were sent him, informing that six weeks be-

fore (without so much as the advice of any Council) he
had been dismissed from his pastoral charge. Thus they
left him without any support, or so much as paying his
arrears, so that from the igth of April, 1775, to this day, he
has received no assistance from them. They then repaired
the church, which had been occupied as a barrack for the
British army, and made choice of a new pastor. In May,
1777, at a town-meeting, he was mentioned as a person in-
imical to America ; a warrant was served and bonds given
for his appearance the zd of June, for a trial, when, as they
expressed it, 'after a candid and impartial examination,'
he was brought in Guilty, confined to his house and land,
and a guard placed to prevent the visits of his friends ; and
(except the removal of the guard, which was in about two
months) in this confinement has he remained ever since;
and had it not been for the generous assistance of his be-
nevolent friends, he must inevitably have suffered.

"Miss [obscured] presents her most respectful compli-
ments to Mrs. [obtcnred], and, knowing her benevolence
of heart, begs leave to commit the foregoing pages to her
care, wishing that the particulars mentioned in this little
account may thro' Mrs. [obscured] hands be conveyed to
her humane connections."

Ill Aftissnc/iHsttts Arc/iircs, " Royalist," i. p.
124, is a warrant from the court, dated June 2,
1777, to deliver Mather Byles to the Board of

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. l6l

these great acts of gallantry must have followed similar displays ; and we
can easily catch sight of British officers parading on the Mall with Tory
ladies. A new regiment arrived from England in December, and the News-
Letter chirped at mention of the excellent band it brought, with promise of
a concert for the diversion of the town. When the new year set in, a series
of subscription balls was announced, to be held at Concert Hall once a fort-
night. 1 The last ball at the Province House was the Queen's ball, given,
oddly enough, on the twenty-second of February. 2 The festival of St.
John the Evangelist was duly celebrated by a dinner at Freemasons' Hall,
a march to Brattle Street, and an appropriate sermon; but there is no
mention of any public festivity at Christmas.

Faneuil Hall, by a satirical retribution, was turned into a theatre, and
the officers and other amateurs declaimed tragedy where the townsmen had
held meetings of equal dramatic force and more reality of meaning. A
number of officers and ladies formed a Society for Promoting Theatrical
Amusements, a title which seems to give a certain solemnity to the proceed-
ings ; and they did this, the announcement frankly stated, for their own
amusement and the benevolent purpose of contributing to the relief of dis-
tressed soldiers, their widows and children. The performances began at six
o'clock. The entrance fee was not immoderate, one dollar for the pit,
and a quarter of a dollar for the gallery. The surplus over the expenses
was to be appropriated to the relief of poor soldiers. The play must have
been very popular, for the managers were obliged to announce, after a few
evenings,

" The managers will have the house strictly surveyed, and give out tickets for the
number it will contain. The most positive orders are given out not to take money at
the door ; and it is hoped gentlemen of the army will not use their influence over the
sergeants who are door-keepers to induce them to disobey that order, as it is meant
entirely to promote the ease and convenience of the public by not crowding the
theatre."

The tragedy of Zara seems to have been the favorite ; and the comedy
of The Busybody, with the farces of The Citizen and The Apprentice, were
also given. The most notable piece was the local farce of The Blockade
of Boston, by General Burgoyne. 3 On the evening of January 8 it was to

War for transportation "off the continent." were already engaged," it was said, for "the

There are in the Massachusetts Historical So- most brilliant thing ever seen in America."

ciety's Library two plans of the estate of Dr. ED.]

Mather Byles, made in 1832, showing how one 2 [John Andrews records " an innovation

corner of the mansion projected into the line never before known, a Drum or Rout, given

of the present Tremont Street, opposite Nassau by the admiral last Saturday evening, which

(now Common) Street. See Vol. II. p. xxxix, did not break up till 2 or 3 o'ck on Sunday morn-

and Mr. Goddard's chapter in the present vol- ing, their chief amusement being playing cards."

ume. ED.] Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., July, 1865, p. 323. ED.]

1 [The News-Letter of Feb. 22, 1776, contained 3 Burgoyne was proud of his literary per-

a notice of a masquerade to be given at Concert formances, of which a full account is given in

Hall, March n, and of "a number of different chapter ix. of De Fonblanque's Political and Mil-

masks to be sold by almost all the milliners and itary Episodes in the latter half of the Eighteenth

mantua-makers in town." " Ten capital cooks Century, derived from the Life and Correspon-
VOL. III. 21.

l62

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

be given for the first time. The comedy of The Busybody had been acted,
and the curtain was about to be drawn for the farce, when the actors behind
the scenes heard an exaggerated report of a raid made upon Charlestown
by a small party of Americans. One of the actors, dressed for his part (that
of a Yankee sergeant), came forward upon the stage, called silence, and
informed the audience that the alarm guns had been fired, and that a battle
was going on in Charlestown. The audience, taking this for the first scene in
the new farce, applauded obstreperously, being determined to get all the fun
there was to be had out of the piece, when the order was suddenly given in
dead earnest for the officers to return to their posts. The audience at this
was thrown into dire confusion, the officers jumping over the orchestra,
breaking the fiddles on the way ; the actors rushing about to get rid of their
paint and disguises ; the ladies alternately fainting and screaming; and the
play brought to great grief and summary conclusion. Whether it was ever
given again or not does not appear; but the News-Letter, in reporting the
incident, announced that " as soon as those parts in The Boston Blockade,
which are vacant by some gentlemen being ordered to Charlestown, can be
filled up, that farce will be performed, with the tragedy of Tamerlane." 1

There was no demonstration of patriotism within the town. The News-
Letter, a complete file of which during the siege is scarcely known, copies
in its issue for July 13, from one of the outside papers, a notice by William
Cooper the town clerk, calling upon the dispersed freemen of Boston to
meet at Concord, in order to choose a representative to the General Court,
and adds, mockingly : " Some have been wondering of late at the peace-
ableness of this town. It is to be hoped that their surprise will now cease,
when they find that Mr. Cooper and the rest of our town-meeting folks
have adjourned to Concord." 2

dence of the Right Honorable "John Burgoyne ;
but of his jeitx d^esprits at this time only a few
lines of a prologue and epilogue to Zara have
been saved. His farce was probably never
printed, and efforts to recover it have never, so
far as I know, succeeded. After the siege, a
literary revenge was taken by an anonymous
writer in the farce of The Blockheads ; or the
Affrighted Officers, a not over nice production,
which jeers at the situation of officers and ref-
ugees when forced to evacuate the town. The
characters are

Captain Bashard Ad 1.

Puff G 1.

L d Dapper ~| L d P y.

Shallow [ Officers G t.

Dupe J Who you please.

. G-y.

. R s.

. B e.

. M y.

. E n.

Refugees and

Friends to
Government

Meagre

Surly

Brigadier Paunch

Bowny

Simple

Jemima, wife to Simple.

Tabitha, her daughter.

Dorsa, her maid.

Soldiers, women, etc.

It is not difficult to supply the hiatus to the
names, and read Lord Percy, Gilbert (Burgoyne
perhaps is " Dupe "), Gray, Ruggles, Brattle,
Murray, and Edson. Lord Percy is represented
as a libertine, and there is some attempt at
characterizing the several Loyalists. Brattle
had the reputation of being a good liver, and
Ruggles of being a rough-spoken man ; but
the hits in the piece were more telling to those
closer to the characters in time. In the pro-
logue are the lines

" By Yankees frighted, too! Oh, dire to say !
Why, Yankees sure at Red-coats faint away!
Oh, yes! they thought so too, for lackaday,
Their general turned the blockade to a play.
Poor vain poltroons, with justice we '11 retort,
And call them blockheads for their idle sport."

[See Colonel Clapp's chapter on the " Drama
in Boston," in Vol. IV. ED.]

1 [See Dr. Hale's chapter in this volume.
ED.]

2 [Of the Nevis-Letter, see the account in Mr.
Goddard's chapter in this volume ; and regarding
Cooper, see a note by the editor in Mr. PorteVs
chapter, also in the present volume. ED.]

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 163

Before the town had been finally purged, however, some of the bolder
kept up a communication with their friends outside, by means of signals
from the church steeples. " About three weeks ago," a letter-writer of July
25 says, "three fellows were taken out of one of the latter [steeples], who
confess they had been so employed for seven days." The altercations
between townsmen and soldiers had ceased ; the town was under strict
military discipline ; and though the selectmen were not allowed to leave,
it does not appear that there was any government except that administered
by the General of the army. With his immediate command of fourteen
thousand or so, inclusive of women and children attached to the soldiery,
General Howe treated the place as a garrison, and gave great attention to
the health of the troops ; but the records show that he had a somewhat tur-
bulent and unruly set of men to manage. 1 The large number of deserted
houses, the destruction of others for fuel, the defenceless condition of the
families of Patriots who had left the town, all conspired to tempt plun-
dering and depredation. In one case the wife of one of the privates, con-
victed of receiving stolen goods, was sentenced " to receive one hundred
lashes on her bare back with a cat-o'-nine-tails, at the cart's tail, in different
portions of the most conspicuous parts of the town, and to be imprisoned
three months." The small-pox broke out both in the army and among the
inhabitants, and was still ravaging the town when it was taken possession
of by Washington, after the evacuation.

The evacuation itself was so suddenly determined on that for a few days
the town was in a distracted condition, and the lawlessness which had been
suppressed by the military arm broke out again almost unchecked. For
ten days there was sleepless anxiety. The army was embarking and carry-
ing away such stores as it could, destroying much that it must leave ; plun-
der was going on on all sides, both with and without authority ; and as the
day drew nearer for the departure of the troops the excesses increased, 2 in
spite of the following order from General Howe :

" The commander-in-chief finding, notwithstanding former orders that have been
given to forbid plundering, houses have been forced open and robbed, he is therefore
under a necessity of declaring to the troops that the first soldier who is caught plun-
dering will be hanged on the spot."

John Andrews, who was a very interested witness, gives a vivid account
of his personal anxiety during the last hours of the British possession: 3

" By the earnest persuasion of your uncle's friends, and with the advice of the
selectmen, I moved into his house at the time the troops, etc., were preparing for
embarkation, under every difficulty you can conceive at such a time, as every day
presented us with new scenes of the wantonness and destruction made by the soldiers.

1 [This is apparent from the orders, and from 2 [The British soldiers cut down several of

the reiteration of them, with the constant threats the finest trees on the Mall, on the day of their

of corporal punishment. See Waller's Orderly- evacuating the town. ED.]

book. ED.] 8 [Mass. Hist. Soc. Prof., 1865, p. 409. ED.]

164 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

I had the care of six houses with their furniture, and as many stores filled with effects,
for eleven months past ; and, at a time like this, I underwent more fatigue and per-
plexity than I did through the whole siege ; for I was obliged to take my rounds all
day, without any cessation, and scarce ever failed of finding depredations made upon
some one or other of them, that I was finally necessitated to procure men, at the ex-
travagant rate of two dollars a day, to sleep in the several houses and stores for a fort-
night before the military plunderers went off; for as sure as they were left alone one
night, so sure they were plundered. Poor Ben, in addition to his other misfortunes,
suffered in this : the fellow who took charge of his house neglected to sleep there
the third night, being affrighted ; the consequence was, a party of soldiers got in, went
into his cellar, took liquors from thence, and had a revelling frolic in his parlor ; car-
ried off and destroyed his furniture, etc., to the value of two hundred pounds sterling,
which was not to be named with what fifty other houses suffered, or I may say a
hundred. I was obliged to pay at the rate of a dollar an hour for hands to assist me
in moving. Such was the demand for laborers that they were taken from me even
at that, by the Tories, who bid over me, for the sake of carrying away other people's
effects, wherever they could come at them, which so retarded my moving that I was
obliged to leave my kitchen furniture in the house I left ; consequently it was broken
open and rummaged, and, with all my crockery, were carried off. Wat has stripped
your uncle's house of everything he could conveniently carry off, which, had I known
that had been his intention, I would by no means have consented to go into it ; but as
I had moved most of my heavy things while he was preparing to go, it was too late for
me to get off when I discovered it. Your Uncle Jerry was almost frantic about it,
and said he should write his brother, and acquaint him that I was knowing to it, and
yet permitted him to do it ; little thinking that it was not in my power to prevent his
carrying off everything if he was disposed to do it, as I only took charge of the house
as his (Wat's) substitute. He has left all the looking-glasses and window-curtains,
with some tables and most of the chairs ; only two bedsteads and one bed, without
any bedding or sheets, or even a rag of linen of any kind. Some of the china, and
principal part of the pewter, is the sum of what he has left, save the library, which
was packed up corded to ship ; but your Uncle Jerry and Mr. Austin went to him,
and absolutely forbid it on his peril. He treated them in a very rough, cavalier way ;
told them they had no right to interfere with his business, he should do as he
pleased, and would not hear what they had to say. Upon the whole, I don't know
but what it would have been as well if he had taken them, seeing matters are going
to be carried with so high a hand."

Through all this family business and the confusion of narrative one may
get a glimpse of the distractions and bitterness of the Tory hegira. " Noth-
ing can be more diverting," says an amateur dramatist, " than to see the
town in its present situation. All is uproar and confusion ; carts, trucks,
wheelbarrows, handbarrows, coaches, chaises, are driving as if the very devil
was after them." l The return, piecemeal, of the clocks, chests of drawers,
tables, and chairs, which then emigrated to the Provinces, continues to
this day.

It is interesting to observe, as one of the first signs of the return of Boston
to its independent life, that the Thursday Lecture was revived ; and Dr. Eliot

1 " The Blockheads," Act iii. Scene 3.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 165

delivered the first as a thanksgiving discourse in the presence of His Excel-
lency, General Washington. Shortly after, a town-meeting was held in the
Old Brick Meeting-house, and officers for the year were chosen as usual.
The town-meeting and the church were the spiritual Boston which asserted
itself before commercial and trading Boston had revived. The town felt its
insecurity. No one knew how soon the enemy might return with increased
force and more strenuous measures, and it was only by degrees that the
people returned and resumed their occupations. On April 19 the shops
remained generally closed. " The town yet looks melancholy," writes
Ezekiel Price in his diary, under that day ; " but few of the inhabitants
being removed back into it, occasioned by its not being sufficiently fortified
and garrisoned against any further attempt of the enemy, to which it now
lies much exposed." It is significant of the growing consciousness of the
historic conflict, that he adds : " This day is the anniversary of the famous
battle of Lexington." l

The Revolutionary War did not again make Boston a theatre of action ;
but the town was subjected to at least one panic. 2 It was not till the close
of the period that the people saw anything of military pageant. Then they
welcomed the entry of Rochambeau's forces after the battle of Yorktown,
and the harbor was bright with the flags of the French fleet. The visit of
these famous allies was the occasion of a general rejoicing. The war was
over, and the people asked for no better opportunity for an outburst of
hospitality. Sam Adams called a town-meeting, and with James Sullivan
prepared an address from Boston to Baron Viomenil, the chief officer;
Rochambeau himself having embarked elsewhere. 3 But during the period

1 Diary of Ezekiel Price in Mass. Hist. Soc. Paris to the committee of foreign correspondence:
Proc., November, 1863. "February 3. An expedition, with ten thousand

2 Mrs. John Adams, writing to her husband of the enemy's best troops, will take place in
under date of Aug. 5, 1777, says: "If alarming about two months, from Ireland. Altho' from
half-a-dozen places at the same time is an act of the profound secrecy observed I have not yet
generalship, Howe may boast of his late con- been able to discover its destination with cer-
duct. We have never, since the evacuation of tainty, yet I have sufficient reason to think that
Boston, been under apprehensions of an invasion Boston is the object of it." ED.]

equal to what we suffered last week. All Boston 8 [The artillery were the earliest to reach
was in confusion, packing up and carting out of Boston, arriving on November 18. Rocham-
town household furniture, military stores, goods, beau, who had accompanied the army to Provi-
etc. Not less than a thousand teams were em- dence, here transferred the command of it to the
ployed on Friday and Saturday ; and, to their Baron de Viomenil, and returned to the Chesa-
shame be it told, not a small trunk would they peake and embarked. The main body of the
carry under eight dollars, and many of them, I army reached Boston on December 3, 4, and 5,
am told, asked a hundred dollars a load; for being favored with fair weather. On the twenty-
carting a hogshead of molasses eight miles, third Viomenil went on board the " Triomphant,"
thirty dollars. O human nature! or, rather, O and on the twenty-fourth the whole squadron, ten
inhuman nature ! what art thou ? The report of sail in all, mounting seven hundred and fifty-
the fleet's being seen off Cape Ann, Friday night, eight guns and carrying four thousand men, put
gave me the alarm, and, though pretty weak, I to sea. (Mag. of Amer. Hist., July, 1881.) The
set about packing up my things, and on Satur- address of the citizens of Boston to Viomenil,
day removed a load." Familiar Letters of John adopted at a meeting held December 7, and his
A Jains, and his wife Abigail Adams, during the reply, are reprinted in Mag. of Amer. Hist., July,
Revolution, p. 287. 1881, p. 32, from the Pennsylvania Packet, Jan.
[Three years later there was another period 8, 1783. See also an account of these procced-
of suspense. In 1780, Arthur Lee writes from ings in Drake's Landmarks of Boston, 433. ED.]

166 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

from 1776 to 1783 there were occasional visits from French vessels, and
the reports made by Frenchmen who received the hospitality of the town
give a hint of the social life of the period. The Frenchmen themselves
were objects of great curiosity. Mr. Breck says in his entertaining Recol-
lections :

" Before the Revolution the colonists had little or no communication with France,
so that Frenchmen were known to them only through the prejudiced medium of
England. Every vulgar story told by John Bull about Frenchmen living on salad
and frogs was implicitly believed by Brother Jonathan, even by men of education
and the first standing in society. When, therefore, the first French squadron arrived
at Boston [in 1778], the whole town, most of whom had never seen a Frenchman,
ran to the wharves to catch a peep at the gaunt, half-starved, soup-maigre crews.

AUTOGRAPHS OF FRENCH OFFICERS.

How much were my good townsmen astonished when they beheld plump, portly offi-
cers and strong, vigorous sailors ! They could scarcely credit the thing, apparent as
it was. Did these hearty-looking people belong to the lantern-jawed, spindle-shank
race of mounseers ? In a little while they became convinced that they had been de-
ceived as to their personal appearance ; but they knew, notwithstanding their good
looks, that they were no better than frog-eaters, because they had been discovered hunt-
ing them in the noted Frog-pond at the bottom of the Common. With this notion
in his head, Mr. Nathaniel Tracy, who lived in a beautiful villa at Cambridge, 1 made
a great feast for the admiral, Count D'Estaing, and his officers. Everything was fur-
nished that could be had in the country to ornament and give variety to the entertain-
ment. My father was one of the guests, and told me often after that two large tureens
of soup were placed at the ends of the table. The admiral sat on the right of Tracy,
and Monsieur de 1'Etombe on the left. L'Etombe was consul of France, resident at
Boston. Tracy filled a plate with soup which went to the admiral, and the next was
handed to the consul. As soon as L'Etombe put his spoon into his plate he fished
up a large frog, just as green and perfect as if he had hopped from the pond into

1 [The Cragie or LongfeHow house. ED.]

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 167

the fureen. Not knowing at first what it was, he seized it by one of its hind legs,
and, holding it up in view of the whole company, discovered that it was a full-grown
frog. As soon as he had thoroughly inspected it, and made himself sure of the mat-
ter, he exclaimed : ' Ah ! mon Dieu ! une grenouille ! ' then, turning to the gentleman
next to him, gave him the frog. He received it and passed it round the table. Thus
the poor crapaud made the tour from hand to hand until it reached the admiral.
The company, convulsed with laughter, examined the soup plates as the servants
brought them, and in each was to be found a frog. ( The uproar was universal.
Meantime Tracy kept his ladle going, wondering what his outlandish guests meant by
such extravagant merriment. ' What 's the matter ? ' asked he, and, raising his head,
surveyed the frogs dangling by a leg in all directions. ' Why don't they eat them ? '
he exclaimed. ' If they knew the confounded trouble I had to catch them, in order
to treat them to a dish of their own country, they would find that, with me at least, it
was no joking matter.' Thus was poor Tracy deceived by vulgar prejudice and
common report. He meant to regale his distinguished guests with refined hospitality,
and had caused all the swamps of Cambridge to be searched, in order to furnish them
with a generous supply of what he believed to be, in France, a standing national
dish." i

Mr. Break's father was agent for the French, and is the " Mr. Brick" whose
name occurs so often in that part of the Marquis de Chastellux's Travels in
North America which relates to Boston. This traveller, who was an officer
in the French army, reached Boston during the stay there of Baron de
Viomenil ; and his record, while it gives little description of the town, in-
timates that the hospitality extended to the French was unremitting. He
had scarcely arrived in town before he was hurried off to the Association
ball, where he took notice of the general awkwardness of the Boston dan-
cers. The ladies he thought well dressed, but with less elegance and refine-
ment than those whom he had met at Philadelphia. His visit was filled
with a series of calls and entertainments; and among them he notes a
club: -

" This assembly is held every Tuesday, in rotation, at the houses of the different
members who compose it ; this was the day for Mr. Russell, an honest merchant, who
gave us an excellent reception. The laws of the club are not straitening, the number
of dishes for supper alone are limited, and there must be only two of meat, for sup-
per is not the American repast. Vegetables, pies, and especially good wine, are not
spared. The hour of assembling is after tea, when the company play at cards, con-
verse, and read the public papers ; and sit down to table between nine and ten. The
supper was as free as if there had been no strangers. Songs were given at table, and a
Mr. Stewart sung some which were very gay, with a tolerable good voice."

A little further on he says:

" They made me play at whist, for the first time since my arrival in America. The
cards were English, that is, much handsomer and dearer than ours ; and we marked
our points with louis-d'ors, or six-and-thirties. When the party was finished, the loss

1 Recollections of Samuel Breck, with passages from his note-book, pp. 24-27.

1 68 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

was not difficult to settle ; for the company was still faithful to that voluntary law
established in society from the commencement of the troubles, which prohibited play-
ing for money during the war. The inhabitants of Boston are fond of high play, and
it is fortunate perhaps that the war happened when it did, to moderate this passion,
which began to be attended with dangerous consequences."

Political clubs had long been active in Boston, and social clubs were
now springing up. From 1777 dates the Wednesday Evening Club, which
has maintained ever since an unbroken succession. 1

Another French traveller, the Abbe Robin, who preceded Chastellux,
has left an account of Boston in 1781, which deals more with the external
features of the town: -

" The inside of the town does not at all lessen the idea that is formed by an exterior
prospect. A superb wharf has been carried out above two thousand feet into the sea,
and is broad enough for stores and workshops through the whole of its extent ; it
communicates at right angles with the principal street of the town, which is both large
and spacious, and bends in a curve parallel to the harbor. This street is ornamented
with elegant buildings, for the most part two or three stories high, and many other
streets terminate in this, communicating with it on each side. The form and construc-
tion of the houses would surprise an European eye ; they are built of brick and wood,
not in the clumsy and melancholy taste of our ancient European towns, but regularly,
and well provided with windows and doors. The wooden work, or frame, is light,
covered on the outside with thin boards, well planed, and lapped over each other as we
do tiles on our roofs in France. These buildings are generally painted with a pale white
color, which renders the prospect much more pleasing than it would otherwise be ; the
roofs are set off with balconies, doubtless for the more ready extinguishing of fire ; the
whole is supported by a wall of about a foot high ; it is easy to see how great an ad-
vantage these houses have over ours in point of neatness and salubrity. All the parts
of these buildings are so well joined, and their weight is so equally divided and pro-
portionate to their bulk, that they may be removed from place to place with little
difficulty. I have seen one of two stories high removed above a quarter of a mile, if
not more, from its original situation ; and the whole French army have seen the same
thing done at Newport. What they tell us of the travelling habitations of the Scyth-
ians is far less wonderful. Their household furniture is simple, but made of choice
wood, after the English fashion, which renders its appearance less gay ; their floors are
covered with handsome carpets, or printed cloths, but others sprinkle them with fine
sand.

" This city is supposed to contain about six thousand houses, and thirty thousand
inhabitants ; 2 there are nineteen churches for the several sects here, all of them con-
venient, and several finished with taste and elegance, especially those of the Presby-
terians and the Church of England ; their form is generally a long square, ornamented
with a pulpit, and furnished with pews of a similar fabrication throughout. The poor

1 [The Centennial Celebration of the IVednes- dwelling-houses, stores, and public buildings,
day Evening Club, Instituted June 2\, 1777, Boston, exclusive of distilleries, sugar-houses, rope-walks,
1878, gives the story of its career. ED.] mechanics' shops, and stables. (See z Mass. Hist.

2 The Abbe's arithmetic is as wild as some Coll., ix. 204-222.) The population in 1783 did
of his generalizing. In 1789 there were, by actual not exceed eighteen thousand, and remained
count, two thousand six hundred and thirty-nine stationary for several years.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 169

as well as the rich hear the word of God in these places, in a convenient and decent
posture of body. Sunday is observed with the utmost strictness ; all business, how
important soever, is then totally at a stand, and the most innocent recreations and
pleasures prohibited. 1 Boston, that populous town, where at other times there is. such
a hurry of business, is on this day a mere desert ; you may walk the streets without
meeting a single person, or if by chance you meet one, you scarcely dare to stop and
talk with him. A Frenchman that lodged with me took it into his head to play on the
flute on Sundays for his amusement ; the people upon hearing it were greatly enraged,
collected in crowds round the house, and would have carried matters to extremity in
a short time with the musician, had not the landlord given him warning of his danger,
and forced him to desist. 2 Upon this day of melancholy you cannot go into a house
but you find the whole family employed in reading the Bible ; and indeed it is an
affecting sight to see the father of a family surrounded by his household, hearing him
explain the sublime truths of this sacred volume. Nobody fails here of going to the
place of worship appropriated to his sect. In these places there reigns a profound
silence ; an order and respect is also observable which has not been seen for a long
time in our Catholic churches. Their psalmody is grave and majestic ; and the har-
mony of the poetry, in their national tongue, adds a grace to the music, and contributes
greatly toward keeping up the attention of the worshippers. . . .

" Piety is not the only motive that brings the American ladies in crowds to the
various places of worship. Deprived of all shows and public diversions whatever, the
church is the grand theatre where they attend to display their extravagance and
finery. There they come dressed off in the finest silks, and overshadowed with a pro-
fusion of the most superb plumes. The hair of the head is raised and supported upon
cushions to an extravagant height, somewhat resembling the manner in which the
French ladies wore their hair some years ago. Instead of powdering, they often wash
the head, which answers the purpose well enough, as their hair is commonly of an
agreeable light color ; but the more fashionable among them begin now to adopt the
present European method of setting off the head to the best advantage. They are of
a large size, well proportioned, their features generally regular, and their complexion
fair, without ruddiness. They have less cheerfulness and ease of behavior than the
ladies of France, but more of greatness and dignity. I have even imagined that I
have seen something in them that answers to the idea of beauty we gain from
those master-pieces of the artists of antiquity, which are yet extant in our days.

1 [Mr. Charles Deane points out to the 2 [It is pertinent to consider that perhaps no

Editor some satirical lines on the " Boston SaB- small part of this aversion arose from the com-

bath," printed in the Newport News-Letter, May mingling, in the common mind, of Papist and

19, 1761, of which a few are : Frenchman. The time had not far gone by

when, under the stress of the French and In-

" Six days, said He (and loud the same expressed), d ; an nQ ford cou j d SQ - Jn Boston

Shall men still labour ; on the seventh rest :

But here, alas! in this great pious Town, without being a suspected French spy; and i

They annul his law, and thus prefer their own. a Frenchman, a Papist. There were those still

living who could remember when Governor

Five days and half shall men, and women too, Belcher issued the warrant, March 17, 1731, now

Attend their business and their mirth pursue. , ., /-^, .. T, .,_,. ,. .,

, , . .,, . preserved m the Charity Building, directing the

One day and half tis requisite to rest

From toilsome labour and a luscious feast." sheriff of Suffolk to search for Papists who joined

with their priest speedily designed to celebrate

The beginning of Sunday observance on Sat- mass ; and, if need be, to break open any dwell-

urday at sunset has obtained in New England ing-house, etc. Accompanying this warrant is a

country towns down to a recent day, if indeed list of such Papists in Boston, largely men-ser-

this custom is yet wholly disused. ED.] vants, etc. ED.]
VOL. III. 22.

1^0 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The stature of the men is tall, and their carriage erect, but their make is rather slim,
and their color inclining to pale ; they are not so curious in their dress as the women,
but everything upon them is neat and proper. At twenty-five years of age the
women begin to lose the bloom and freshness of youth ; and at thirty-five or forty,
their beauty is gone. The decay of the men is equally premature ; and I am inclined
to think that life itself is here proportionably short. I visited all the burying-grounds
in Boston, where it is usual to inscribe upon the stone over each grave the name and
age of the deceased, and found that few who had arrived to a state of manhood ever
advanced beyond their fiftieth year ; fewer still to seventy ; and beyond that scarcely
any."

The picture of Boston given by the French travellers of this time, as
indeed most of the representations of America then from the same sources,
have an air of insincerity about them, as if written by men preoccupied with
notions as to the virginal character of American nature and society. The
people of Boston themselves were, during the progress of the war and im-
mediately afterward, in a restless, semi-violent condition, demoralized by the
sudden changes of fortune which befell merchants, and by the inequalities
of life resultant upon war and disturbed relations. Sam Adams, always a
democrat in principle and a doctrinaire in poverty, was indignant at the
display of wealth made by Hancock and others. He frowned upon the in-
creasing extravagance and levity of the town ; l and he resorted to his
favorite method of holding public meetings in rebuke of the temper, but
with little avail. Minot the historian gives, in a few words, the general
character of the change at work in society :

" The usual consequences of war were conspicuous upon the habits of the people
of Massachusetts. Those of the maritime towns relapsed into the voluptuousness
which arises from the precarious wealth of naval adventurers. An emulation prevailed
among men of fortune to exceed each other in the full display of their riches. This
was imitated among the less opulent classes of citizens, and drew them off from those
principles of diligence and economy which constitute the best support of all govern-
ments, and particularly of the republican. Besides which, what was most to be la-
mented, the discipline and manners of the army had vitiated the taste and relaxed
the industry of the yeomen. In this disposition of the people to indulge the use of
luxuries, and in the exhausted state of the country, the merchants saw a market for
foreign manufactures. The political character of America, standing in a respectable
view abroad, gave a confidence and credit to individuals heretofore unknown. This
credit was improved, and goods were imported to a much greater amount than could
be consumed and paid for." 2

The most conspicuous person in this display of wealth and state was un-
doubtedly John Hancock, a good-natured, vain man, with excellent quali-
ties which his contemporaries perceived, but which have been obscured by
his inordinate conceit and love of extreme distinction. John Adams ob-
served with satisfaction Hancock's chagrin at finding himself subordinated
to the Virginian, Washington, at the beginning of the contest, when Han-

1 See Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, iii. 157-159. - fnsiirrectioits in Massachusetts, p. 12.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 171

cock's reputation was quite as general as Washington's ; but he lets us also
see the sincere good-nature and fundamental humility with which he bore
his lesser rank. Among his own townsmen the rich Bostonian dearly loved
to make himself of importance. " King Hancock" was the sobriquet which
he earned, and he was a constant butt for Tory wits. 1 In the Pennsylvania
Ledger for March 1 1, 1778, " a gentleman from the eastward " says:

" John Hancock of Boston appears in public with all the pageantry and state of an
Oriental prince ; he rides in an elegant chariot, which was taken in a prize to the
' Civil Usage ' pirate vessel, and by the owners presented to him. He is attended
by four servants dressed in superb livery, mounted on fine horses richly caparisoned ;
and escorted by fifty horsemen with drawn sabres, the one-half of whom precede
and the other follow his carriage." 2

A good observer writes in 1 780 :

"Boston affords nothing new but complaints upon complaints. I have been
credibly informed that a person who used to live well has been obliged to take the
feathers out of his bed and sell them to an upholsterer to get money to buy bread.
Many doubtless are exceedingly distressed ; and yet, such is the infatuation of the day,
that the rich, regardless of the necessities of the poor, are more luxurious and extrava-
gant than formerly. 3 Boston exceeds even Tyre ; for not only are her merchants
princes, but even her tavern-keepers are gentlemen. May it not be more tolerable for
Tyre than for her ! There can be no surer sign of a decay of morals than the tavern-
keepers growing rich fast." 4

We have -but scanty personal recollections preserved of this period re-
lating to the common life within the town, and must have recourse again to
the good-natured Mr. Breck, who piques us by forgetting more important
things than he remembered. His childhood was spent in Boston ; and he
remembered well the old beacon which stood on the hill, and was blown
down in 1 789 :

" Spokes were fixed in a large mast, on the top of which was placed a barrel of pitch
or tar, always ready to be fired on the approach of the enemy. Around this pole I
have fought many battles, as a South End boy, 5 against the boys of the North End of
the town ; and bloody ones, too, with slings and stones very skilfully and earnestly used.
In what a state of semi-barbarism did the rising generations of those days exist ! From
time immemorial these hostilities were carried on by the juvenile part of the community.
The school-masters whipt, parents scolded, nothing could check it. Was it a rem-
nant of the pugilistic propensities of our British ancestors ; or was it an untamed feeling
arising from our sequestered and colonial situation ? Whatever was the cause, every-

1 [See further on Hancock in Mr. Porter's tions to a ball given by him at Concert Hall, in
and Mr. Lodge's chapters. ED.] November, 1780, printed on the back of playing-

2 Moore's Diary of the American Revolution, cards, showing scarcity in other things than
ii. II, 12. The "gentleman from the eastward " the necessaries of life. ED.]

appears to have been the ancestor of the similar 4 Hazard to Belknap, 5 Mass. Hist. Coll.,\\. 47.

character who, during the late war, was always 6 Mr. Breck's house was on Tremont Street,

coming away from the front. at the corner of Winter Street ; and this shows

3 [It is said that Hancock issued his invita- how local appellations have changed.

172 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

thing of the kind ceased with the termination of our Revolutionary War. ... I forget
on what holiday it was that the Anticks, another exploded remnant of colonial man-
ners, used to perambulate the town. They have ceased to do it now ; but I remem-
ber them as late as 1 782. They were a set of the lowest blackguards, who, disguised
in filthy clothes and ofttimes with masked faces, went from house to house in large
companies ; and, bon gre, mal gre, obtruding themselves everywhere, particularly into
the rooms that were occupied by parties of ladies and gentlemen, would demean
themselves with great insolence. I have seen them at my father's, when his assembled
friends were at cards, take possession of a table, seat themselves on rich furniture, and
proceed to handle the cards, to the great annoyance of the company. The only way
to get rid of them was to give them money, and listen patiently to a foolish dialogue
between two or more of them. One of them would cry out :

" ' Ladies and gentlemen sitting by the fire,

Put your hands in your pockets and give us our desire.'

When this was done, and they had received some money, a kind of acting took place.
One fellow was knocked down and lay sprawling on the carpet, while another bellowed
out:

" ' See, there he lies !

But ere he dies,

A doctor must be had.'

He calls for a doctor, who soon appears, and enacts the part so well that the wounded
man revives. In this way they would continue for half an hour ; and it happened not
unfrequently that the house would be filled by another gang when these had departed.
There was no refusing admittance. Custom had licensed these vagabonds to enter
even by force any place they chose. What should we say to such intruders now ?
Our manners would not brook such usage a moment. Undoubtedly these plays were
a remnant of the old mysteries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 1

" Connected with this subject and period may be mentioned the inhuman and re-
volting custom of punishing criminals in the open street. The large whipping-post,
painted red, stood conspicuously and permanently in the most public street in town.
It was placed in State Street, 2 directly under the windows of a great writing-school
which I frequented, and from them the scholars were indulged in the spectacle of all
kinds of punishment, suited to harden their hearts and brutalize their feelings. Here

1 Since the publication of Breck's Recollec- St. George and the Dragon fight, and the

tions a correspondent has called the Editor's at- latter is killed. Father Christmas calls out :
tention to the probable origin of this horse-play. Is there a jo^o,. to be found,

In Hervey's Book of Christmas, a Cornwall mys- All ready near at hand,

tery is given by Mr. Sandys as "still performed 'To cure a deep and deadly wound,

in Cornwall;" at the date, that is, of 1786. And make the champion stand?'

In this Mystery several characters, as the Turk- The doctor appears, performs his cure, the fight

ish Knight, the King of Egypt, St. George, is renewed, and the dragon again killed.
the Dragon, Father Christmas, and others, The scraps of this performance, as given by

enter by turn. When Father Christmas enters, Mr. Breck, do seem to be a reminiscence of this

he says : West-of-Englancl Mystery ; and it appears as if

" Here come I, old Father Christmas! some of the townspeople from that section had

Welcome, or welcome not ; brought with them a rude sport which died out

I hope old Father Christmas j n t }, e more act j ve( stirring life of the town.

Will never be forgot. , r ~,, , . , ,

I come not here to laugh or jeer, ' [ The whipping-post was later removed to

But for a pocketful of money and a skinful of br." Tremout Street, near the West Street gate. ED.]

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

173

women were taken from a huge cage in which they were dragged on wheels from
prison, and tied to the post, with bare backs, on which thirty or forty lashes were be-
stowed, amid the screams of the culprits and the uproar of the mob. A little farther
in the street was to be seen the pillory, with three or four fellows fastened by the head
and hands, and standing for an hour in that helpless posture, exposed to gross and
cruel insult from the multitude, who pelted them incessantly with rotten eggs and
every repulsive kind of garbage that could be collected. These things I have often
witnessed ; but they have given way to better systems, better manners, and better
feelings." l

We have had occasion more than once to speak of the town-meeting
as an exponent of Boston ideas. A single passage from Break's Recollec-
tions will suffice as an illustration of the same institution when taken as an
exponent of the manners of the town. When Lafayette was in Boston in
I/84, 2 he received a good many attentions from the Breck family.

" Anxious to show him all that related to our institutions and manners, my father
invited him one day to go to Faneuil Hall to hear the discussion of some municipal
law then in agitation. ' You will see," said he, ' the quiet proceedings of our towns-
men, and- learn by a personal examination how erroneous is the general opinion abroad
that a large community cannot be governed by a pure democracy. Here we have in
Boston,' continued he, ' about eighteen thousand inhabitants, and all our town business

1 Recollections of Samuel Breck, pp. 33-37.

2 [Lafayette was not personally unknown in
Boston ; he had been here more than once be-
fore. It will be remembered that after the fail-
ure of the Rhode Island campaign, in 1778,

he had come to Boston to use his per-
suasion with the commander of the French
fleet not to desert the cause. After York-
town, when he hastened to France to carry
despatches to the French king, as well as
from tenderer impulses, he had come to
Boston to embark, reaching here on Dec.
10, 1781. Here he had been enthusias-
tically received ; a committee of the town,
of which Samuel Adams was chairman, had pre-
sented an address to him ; and a subscription
taking place to rebuild the Charlestown meeting-
house, burned during the battle on Bunker Hill,
Lafayette had placed his name on the list for
twenty-five guineas. The officers of the Massa-
chusetts Line also presented an address. He
sailed, December 23, in the French frigate " L'Al-
liance." It was Aug. 4, 1784, when Lafayette
again landed in New York ; and after first visiting
Mount Vernon, he began that triumphal progress
through the country which evinced the love the
people bore for him. As he approached Boston,
in October, the officers of the army met him at
Watertown ; then in a procession he made his
entry over Boston Neck, through throngs of
people, while he was conducted to a tavern,
where he returned their compliments in a speech
from a. balcony. In the evening the street Ian-

terns were lighted for the first time since the
peace. On the nineteenth, the anniversary of
Yorktown, Governor Hancock received him
formally. Five hundred gentlemen dined with

their guest in Faneuil Hall. Thirteen decorated
arches surrounded the room, and Lafayette sat
under a huge fleur-de-lis. Thirteen guns in the
market-place accompanied as many patriotic
toasts. When that one proposing the health of
Washington was drunk, a curtain fell and dis-
closed a picture of the General, crowned with
laurel, and wearing the color of America and
France. Lafayette led off the response with
" Vive Washington ! " In the evening, Madam
Haley, a sister of the notorious John Wilkes
(see Vol. II. p. xliv), and a leader of fashion
in the town, gave a great party, and there
were many illuminations throughout the streets.
Some days later, after he had made excursions
along the coast, he embarked in the French
frigate " La Nymphe," and sailed for Virginia.
Magazine of American History, December, 1878.
ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

BOSTON March J 9 , 1783.

Lift night Colonel John TrumSuH arrived Ix
tliii town ; and brought with him the following
very important

INTELLIGENCE,

Philadelphia, jjd March, 178^.

Half pad Six o'Clock.
De*r S I R,

TE N miniifci finer, the Captain of the
Hyder Aly came to M'\ Morris's, where I
dined, with nn account of a Ficnch packet being
arrived at ChrAcr, i>\ riwty days from
with the news that a

waj fignrH ths Twentieth of January ; and that
Hoflihties were to ceafe, oo tint coif), (he zoili
of this month.

Tuft now a meiTengcr arrived from Monfirur
Vallogoe, to th Minuter, with the Lwne new; ;
and that the Caprein of the packet \rn on the
rood with the difpatcb.es.

is done in a general assembly of the people.' The Marquis, glad of the opportunity,
consented to attend my father. By and by the great bell of the celebrated Doctor

Samuel Cooper's church, with a dozen others,
called the inhabitants together. I forget what
the business was, but it inspired universal in-
terest, and drew to the hall an overflowing
house. The Marquis was of course well ac-
commodated, and sat in silent admiration at
the demure manner in which the moderator
was chosen and inducted to the chair, and the
meeting fully organized. Then the debate
opened. One speaker affirmed, another de-
nied, a third rejoined ; each increasing in
vehemence, until the matter in debate was
changed into personal sarcasm. Gibe fol-
lowed gibe, commotion ensued, the popular
mass rolled to and fro, disorder reached its
height, and the elders of the town were glad
to break up the stormy meeting, and postpone
the discussion. My father led the Marquis out
in the midst of the angry multitude. When
fairly disengaged from the crowd he said to
the illustrious stranger : ' This is not the sam-
ple which I wished to show you of our mode
of deliberating. Never do I recollect to have
seen such fiery spirits assembled in this hall,
and I must beg you not to judge of us by what
you have seen to-day ; for good sense, mod-
eration, and perfect order are the usual char-
acteristics of my fellow-townsmen, here and elsewhere.' ' No doubt, no doubt,' said
the Marquis laughing; 'but it is well enough to know that there are exceptions to
the general rule,' or words to that effect, meaning to make a joke of the matter,
which was, indeed, very often afterward the occasion of mirthful remarks upon the
forbearance, calmness, decorum, and parliamentary politeness ever to be found in
deliberative assemblies of pure democracy." 2

Perhaps, if Mr. Breck had been philosophically disposed, he might have
reminded his guest that the town-meeting offered an opportunity for the
escape of feeling, and was thus a safety-valve. The newspaper had not yet
taken the place of the public assembly as the clearest reflection of the life
of the day.

1 [This reduction of the Extra announcing the
conclusion of a general peace is made from an
original owned by Colonel W. W. Clapp. The
general celebration came later. William Bur-
beck rendered his bill, Feb. 28, 1784, to the

God blefs yoo 1

J. Wadf*orth, Efq,

Your'i,

J CARTER.

PEACE EXTRA.

State for building a stage to exhibit the fire-
works for celebrating the peace, amounting to
16 i;j. 3</. ED.]

2 Recollections of Samuel Breck, pp. 39, 40.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

1 75

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

THE LOYALISTS. Sabine, in his American
Loyalists, estimates that some two thousand ad-
herents of the King left Massachusetts. It is
also stated that of the three hundred and ten
who were banished by the State, over sixty were
Harvard graduates. John Adams was inclined
to believe that in the Colonies at large not more
than two-thirds were against the Crown, and
some of the Colonies were about equally divided.
" The last contest in the town of Boston, in
1775, between Whig and Tory, was decided by
five against two." Works, x. 63, 87. Without
aiming to make it complete, we offer the follow-
ing list of such of the Loyalists as may claim,
either as inhabitants or by official residence or
association, to have some connection with Bos-
ton. In making it we have used, besides
Sabine, the list of the proscribed in 1778, as
given in Vol. II. 563; the "list of the inhabi-
tants of Boston who on the evacuation by the
British removed to Halifax with the army,"
which is printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,
Dec. 1880, p. 266 (see also Curwen'' s Journal,
p. 485) ; the address to Hutchinson and its
signers, June i, 1774, given in the Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc., Feb. 1871, p. 43, and on p. 45, the
" Solemn League and Covenant," reported by
Warren on the fifth of June, and sent out to the
towns as a circular, which occasioned a " pro-
test " and a " proclamation " from Gage, likewise
printed in the same place.

The names of the " protesters " against the
" Solemn League and Covenant," and of the
addressers of Hutchinson in 1774, are printed
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Oct. 1870, p. 392. The
signers to the address to Hutchinson in 1774 is
also in Curweifs Journal, p. 465. The two
volumes marked " Royalists," in the Mass. Ar-
chives (vol. i. 1775-84, and ii. 1778-84) have
also been examined. They are made up very
largely of returns from town committees to the
Provincial Congress, respecting suspected per-
sons, confiscated estates, with the accounts of
the agents of such estates, the doings of the
Committee of Sequestration, conveyances of the
property, etc. In the first volume, pp. 333 and
338, is the return June 13, 1782, of the Com-
mittee on Confiscated Estates in Suffolk County,
showing whose estates were settled by an agent
of the Province, and to whom the different lots
and buildings were sold, and for what sum ; the
whole amounting to .32,062 8s. zd. Numerous
papers relating to absentee's estates, 1782-89,
are in Mass. Archives, cxxxix. and beginning
p. 470, are the bonds of persons " supposed to
be royalists." The confiscation acts of Massa-

chusetts are printed in Curwsn's Journal, p. 475,
and the banishment act of 1778, in Ibid. p. 479.
The Journals and Letters of Samuel Curwen give
the best account of life among the Loyalists in
England, and numerous notices of Loyalists are
appended to it, as edited by George A. Ward,
Boston, 1864. A New England club of Loyalists
was formed in London in 1776, consisting of
the following: Thomas Hutchinson, Richard
Clark, Joseph Green, Jonathan Bliss, Jonathan
Sewall, Joseph Waldo, S. S. Blowers, Elisha
Hutchinson, William Hutchinson, Samuel Sew-
all, Samuel Quincy, Isaac Smith, Harrison Gray,
David Greene, Jonathan Clark, Thomas Flucker,
Joseph Taylor, Daniel Silsbee, Thomas Brinley,
William Cabot, John S. Copley, Nathaniel Cof-
fin, Samuel Porter, Benjamin Pickman, John
Amory, Robert Auchmuty, Major Urquhart,
Samuel Curwen, Edward Oxnard, most of
whom were associated with Boston.

Dr. John C. Warren, in 1800, speaks of the
visits he paid in England to the Tories, Harrison
Gray, the Vassalls, and others, who were then
living there " very comfortably." Life of John
Collins Warren, i. 48.

The enumeration below is confined in the
main to heads of families :
Acre, Thomas Berry, Edward

Allen, Ebenezer Berry, John

Allen, Jt remiah Bethel, Robert, Cl. Col.

Allen, Jolley 1 Bethune, George n

Amory, John Black, David

Amory, Thomas 2 Black, John

Anderson, James 3 Black, William

Andros, Barret Blair, John, Baker

Apthorp, Rev. East* Blair, Robert
Apthorp, Thomas 8 Blair, William
Apthorp, William e Blowers, Sams'n Salter 12
Asby, James Borland, John 13

Ashley, Joseph Borland, John Lindall 14

Atkins, Gibbs 7 Bouman, Archibald

Atkinson, John, Merch. Boutineau, James 15
Auchmuty, Robert 8 Bowen, John
Auhard, Benjamin Bowers, Archibald

Aylwin, Thomas Bowes, W ill iam, y1/<fr. ie

Ayres, Eleanor Bowles, William

Badger, Rev. Moses 9 Bowman, Arch'ld, Auc.
Baker, John, Jr. Boylston, John 17

Barclay, Andrew Boylston, Thomas 18

Barnard, John Boylston, Ward Nich's 19

Barrell, Colburn Bradstreet, Samuel

Barrell, Walter, In. Gen. Brandon. John
Barrick, James, Cl. Ins. Brattle, Maj. Thomas 20
Barton, David Brattle, William

Beath, Mary Bridgham, Ebenezer

Fernard, Sir Francis n Brinley, George 21

7 6

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Brinley, Thomas, MerP Cooley, John
Broderick, John Copley John Singleton*' 2

Brown, David Cotton, John 43

Brown, Thomas, Mer. Courtney, James
Bruce, James 23 Courtney, Richard

Bryant, John Courtney, Thomas

Brymer, Alexander Cox, Edward
Bulfinch, Samuel Cox, Lemuel

Burch, William' 24 Crane, Timothy

Burroughs, John Crow, Charles 44

Burton, Mary, Milliner Cummins, A. and E.
Burton, William Cunningham, Archib'd 45

Butler, Gillam Cushman, Elkanah

Butler, James Cutler, Ebenezer 46

Butter, James Danforth, Dr. Sam'l 47

Byles.Rev.Dr. Mather 26 Danforth, Thomas * 8
Byles, Mather, Jr.' 2 " 5 Davies, William
Calef, Robert' 27 Davis, Benjamin

Campbel, William Davis, Edward

Caner, Rev. Dr. Henry ^Deblois, Gilbert 49
Capen, Hopestill De Blois, Lewis 80

Carr, Mrs. Dechezzan, Adam 51

Carver, Melzer & Demsey, Roger

Gary, Nathaniel Dickenson, Nathaniel

Case, James Dickinson, Francis

Caste, Dennis Dickinson, William

Caste, Dr. Thomas Dickson, William
Cazneau, And'w.Zaw. 80 Domette, Joseph
Cazneau, Edward 31 Dougherty, Edward
Cazneau, William Doyley, Francis

Cednor, William Doyley, John

Ceely, John Draper, Margaret 62

Chadwel, Samuel Draper, Richard

Chandler, John, Esq. 32 Dudley, Charles, Col-
Chandler, Nathaniel lector, Newport.

Chandler, Rufus, Law. Duelly, William
Chandler, William Dumaresq. Philip, Mer. M
Cheever, Wm. Downe Duncan, Alexander
Chipman, Ward 83 Dunlap, Daniel

Church, Dr. Benjamin 84 Duyer, Edmund
Clark, Benjamin Edson, Josiah

Clark, John Elton, Peter

Clark, Joseph Emerson, John

Clarke, Isaac Winslow Erving, George 55
Clarke, Jonathan 35 Erving, John 66
Clarke, Richard Erving, John, Jr. 57

Clemmens, Thomas Fall, Thomas
Clement, Capt. Joseph Faneuil, Benjamin 58
Clementson, Samuel Faneuil, Benjamin, Jr.
Codner, William Field, John

Coffin, Ebenezer 37 Fillis, John

Coffin, John 38 Fisher, Turner 59

Coffin, Nathaniel Fisher, Wilfred

Coffin, Nathaniel ^ Fitch, Samuel
Coffin, Nathaniel, Jr. Fleming, John
Coffin, Sir Thos. Aston 41 Flucker, Thomas Cl
Coffin, William 41 Forrest, James 2

Coffin, Wm. Jr. .IfercA. Foster, Edward
Colepepper, James Foster, Edward, Jr.
Connor, Mrs. Frankland, Lady M

Cook, Robert Fullerton, Stephen

Gamage, James Hooper, Jacob
Garcliner.Dr.Sylvester^Howe, John 83

Gay, Martin 05 Hubbaid, Daniel

Gay, Samuel M Hughes, Peter

Gemmill, Matthew Hughes, Samuel
Geyer, Fred'k William 67 Hulton, Henry

Goddard, Lemuel Hunt, John

Goldthwait, Ezekiel Hunter, William

Golclth wait, Joseph 08 Hurlston, Richard

Goldthwait, M. B. Hutchinson, Eliakim 9 '

Gookin, Edmund Hutchinson, Elisha 91

Gore, John 6 " Hutchinson, Foster 92

Gore, Samuel Hutchinson,Gov.Thos. 93

Gorman, Edward Hutchinson, Thos. Jr.' J4

Gray, Andrew Hutchinson, William

Gray, Harrison 70 Inman, John

Gray, Harrison, Jr. Inman, Ralph ^

Gray, John 71 Jackson, William M

Gray, Joseph 72 Jarvis, Robert

Gray, Lewis Jeffrey, Patrick 97

Gray, Samuel 78 Jeffries, John 98

Gray, Thomas Jennex, Thomas

Greecart, John Johonnot, Francis

Greene, Benjamin " 4 Johonnot, Peter "

Greene, David 75 Joy, John

Greene, Richard 70 Kerlancl, Patrick

Green, Francis 77 King, Edward

Green, Hammond Kirk, Thomas

Green, Joseph 78 Knight, Thomas

Greenlaw, John Knutton, John 10

Greenleaf, Stephen 79 Knutton, William

Greenwood, Isaac Laughton, Henry

Greenwood, Nathaniel Laughton, Joseph

Greenwood, Samuel Lawler, Ellis

Gridley, Benjamin 8 ' Lazarus, Samuel

Grison, Edmond Lear, Christopher

Grozart, John Lechmere, Richard wl

Hale, Samuel Leddel, Henry

Hall, James 81 Lee, Henry

Hallowell, Benjamin 82 Lee, Judge Joseph 102

Hallowell, Robert 88 Leonard, Daniel

Halson, Henry Leonard, George

Harper, Isaac Leslie, James

Harrison, Joseph 8 * Lewis, John
Harrison, Richard A. 85 Lillie, Theophilus

Haskins, John Linkieter, Alexander 103

Hatch, Christopher Linning, Andrew

Hatch, Hawes Lloyd, Henry 104

Hatch, Nathaniel 86 Lloyd, Dr. James 105

Heath, William Lloyd, Samuel

Henderson, James Loring, Dr. Benjamin 1

Hester, John Loring, Joshua 107

Hewes, Shubael 87 Loring, Joshua, Jr. lc8

Hicks, John 88 Lovell, Benjamin 109

Hinston, John Lovell, John no

H irons, Richard Lowe, Charles

Hodges, Samuel Lush, George

Hodgson, John Lyde, Byfield in

Hodson, Thomas Lyde, Edward m

Holmes, Benjamin M. Lyde, George

Homans, John Lynch, Peter

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

177

McAlpine, William 113 Patten, George

McClintock, Nathan Patterson, William

Macdonald, Dennis Paxton, Charles lii3

McEwen, James Pecker, Dr. James 13 *

Mackay, Mrs. Pecker, Jeremiah

McKean, Andrew Pelham, Henry

MacKinstrey, Mrs. m Pemberton, Rev. Eb-

McKown, John enezer 135

McMaster, Daniel 115 Pepperell, Sir William

McMaster, James 1I6 (the younger) 136

McMasters, Patrick Perkins, Houghton 13;

McMullen, Alexander Perkins, James 138

McNeil, Archibald Perkins, Dr. Nathaniel

McNeil, William Perkins, Dr.Wm. Lee 139

Madden, Richard Perry, William

Magner, John Pettit, John Sam

Malcom, John 117 Phillips, Benjamin

Marston, Benjamin Phillips, Ebenezer

Martin, William Phillips, John Ul)

Massingham, Isaac Phillips, Martha

Mather, Samuel Phips, David l41

Mein, John 118 Pine, Samuel

Meserve, George Pitcher, Moses I42

Mewse, Thomas Pollard, Benjamin

Miller, John Porter, James 143

Mills, Nathaniel 119 Powell, John

Minot, Christopher Powell, William D.

Minot, Samuel Price, Benjamin

Mitchel, Thomas Prince, Job

Mitchelson, David Prince, Samuel

Moody, John Prout, Timothy

Moody, John, Jr. Putnam, James 144

Moore, Augustus Putnam, James, Jr. 145

Moore, John Quincy, Samuel 146

Morrison, John 12 Ramage, John

Morrow, Col. Rand, Dr. Isaac 147

Mossman, William Randall, Robert

Mulcainy, Patrick m Read, Charles

Mulhall, Edward 122 Reeve, Richard 148

Murray, James Rhodes, Henry

Murray, Col. John 123 Rice, John

Murray, William Richards, Owen

Newton, Richard Richardson.Ebenezer 149

Nevin, Lazarus Roberts, Frederic

Norwood, Ebenezer Rogers, Jeremiah Dum-

Nunn, Samuel mer 150

Ochterlony, David 124 Rogers, Nathan

Oliver, Andrew 125 Rogers, Samuel

Oliver, Judge Peter 123 Rose, Peter

Oliver, Dr. Peter 127 Rowth, Richard 181

Oliver, Thomas 128 Royall, Isaac 152
Oliver, Wm. Sanford 129 Ruggles, John 153

O'Neil, Joseph Ruggles, Richard

Orcutt, Joseph Ruggles, Timothy

Paddock, Adino 13 Rummer, Richard

Paddock, Adino, Jr. 131 Russell, Ezekiel 1M

Page, George Russell, James 155

Paine, Samuel Russell, Nathaniel
Parker, Rev. Samuel 132 Saltonstall, Leverett 156

Parker, William Saltonstall, Richard W

Pashley, George Sampson, John
VOL. III. 23.

Savage, Abraham
Savage, Arthur 158
Scammel, Thomas
Scott, Joseph
Selby, John
Selkrig, James
Selkrig, Thomas
Semple, John
Semple, Robert
Semple, Thomas
Serjeant, John
Service, Robert

Thompson, George
Thompson, James
Timmins, John
Townsend, Gregory
Townsend, Shippy
Troutbeck, Rev. John 176
Trowbridge, Edmund 17S
Tufts, Simon 17 ?
Tull, Thomas
Turill, Thomas
Vassall, John 178
Vassall, William m

Sewall, Jonathan 159 Vassall, William, Jr. 189

Sewall, Samuel I6 Vincent, Ambrose

Sheaffe, Nathaniel 161 Waldo, Joseph

Sheaffe, Roger Walter, Rev. William 182
Sheaffe, Thos. Child 168 Warden, James

Sheaffe, William ^ Warden, Joseph

Shepard, Joseph Warden, William

Sherwin, Richard Warren, Abraham

Silsby, Daniel Waterhouse, Samuel

Simmonds, William Welsh, James

Simpson, John Welsh, Peter

Simpson, Jeremiah Wendell, Jacob

Simpson, Jonathan l65 Wentworth, Edward 18S

Simpson, William Wheaton, Obadiah

Skinner, Francis Wheelwright, Job

Smith, Edward Wheelwright, Joseph

Smith, Henry i Whiston, Obadiah

Smith, Richard White, Gideon 1(?4

Snelling, Jonathan White, John

Sparhawk, Samuel Whitworth, Nathan'l 186

Spillard, Timothy Whitworth, Dr. Miles 187

Spooner, Ebenezer Whitworth, Dr. Miles,
Spooner, George Jr. 188

Stayner, Abigail Willard, Abel 189

Stearns, Jonathan 1G 8 Willard, Abijah m
Sterling, Benj. Ferdin'd Williams, Job 191

Sterling, Elizabeth Williams, John 192

Stevens, John 16 Williams, Seth 193

Steward, Adam 17 Willis, David

Story, William Wilson, Archibald

Stow, Edward Wilson, Joseph

Sullivan, Bartholomew Winnet, John, Jr.

Sullivan, George Winslow, Edward 194

Taylor, Charles Winslow, Edwardjr. 1M

Taylor, John Winslow, Mrs. Hannah

Taylor, Joseph 171 Winslow, Isaac 193

Taylor, Nathaniel 172 Winslow, John 197

Taylor, William Winslow, Joshua

Terry, Zebedee Winslow, Pelham 198

Terry, William Wittington, William

Thayer, Arodi 173 Woolen, William

Thomas, Jonathan Worral, Thos. Grooby
Thomas, Nath'l Ray 174 Wright, Daniel

NOTES.

1 See his account of his own tribulations in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Proc,, February, 1878.

2 Brother of John. See Sabine, who shows how their
descendants are well known among us now.

3 Washington speaks of him during the siege as com-
manding the Scotch Company in Boston.

7 8

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

* Of Christ Church, Cambridge ; the antagonist of
Jonathan Mayhew.

* Estate settled by Martin Brimmer. Inventory in
Mass. Archives, " Royalists," i. 425.

6 Estate settled by John Scollay.
1 Died in Boston in 1806.

8 Estate settled by Saml. G. Jarvis. See Vol.11, and
IV. index. His house is shown in Vol. II. p. 343.

9 Connected with the Saltonstalls. See Sabine.

10 Estate settled by Joseph Smith. See Vol. 1 I. index.
Governor Bernard had left the country in 1769, but his
estate was confiscated ten years later. It comprised fifty
acres.

11 His wife was a daughter of Benjamin Faneuil. He
died at Cambridge in 1785.

12 Went to England in 1774 ; returned in 1778 ; was im-
prisoned ; but being released went to Nova Scotia, where
he attained distinction and died in 1842.

13 Estate settled by Richard Cranch. Inventory taken
April 9, 1776; sold March, 1778. Mass. Archives. "Royal-
ists," i. 423. See Vol. II. index. See Sabine.

14 Estate settled by Israel Hutchinson. Died in Eng-
land in 1825.

M See the chapter on the Huguenots in Vol. II.

16 Died in England in 1805.

17 John Boylston, son of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, left
Boston in 1768, and lived afterward in London and Bath,
whence his letters through the war evinced his kindly feel-
ings for his townsmen, and he did much to relieve the
sufferings of the American prisoners at Forton. In his
will dated at Bath, in 1793, he makes a bequest " to the
poor and decayed householders of the town of Boston,"
and for " the nurture and instruction of poor orphans and
deserted children of the town of Boston, until fourteen
years of age." The City Auditor's reports show that these
funds now exceed one hundred thousand dollars. N. E.
Hist. &* Geneal. Reg., April, 1881.

18 Died in London in 1798, ruined in fortune and broken
in heart.

J 9 Name changed from Hallowell ; was the son of
Benjamin Hallowell, named below. He returned to Bos-
ton in 1800, and died at Roxbury in 1828.

20 Recovered his patrimony by act of the Legislature in
1784, and died in 1801.

21 Died in Halifax in 1809.

22 H. C. 1744 ; died in England in 1784.

23 Perhaps the captain of one of the tea-ships.

24 Commissioner of Customs.

2 s See Vol. II. index, and Mr. Scudder's chapter in this
volume.

26 See Vol. II index, and Mr. Goddard's chapter in this
volume.

27 Estate settled by Samuel Partridge ; son of John
Calef, of Ipswich ; died in Virginia in 1801.

28 Estate settled by Lev! Jennings. See Rev. Dr.
Brooks's chapter in this volume. This estate is now covered
in part by the building of the Mass. Hist. Society.

*9 A refugee in Boston ; embarked in 1776.

30 Returned to Boston in 1788, and died in Roxbury in
1792. His property escaped confiscation.

31 Returned after the war; settled in South Carolina,
and died in Boston.

32 From Worcester; took refuge in Boston in 1774, and
embarked in 1776. Died in 1800 in London. George Ban-
croft is his grandson. The three names following are those
of his brothers.

33 He fled into Boston in 1775 : and left with the troops :
became distinguished in Nova Scotia.

34 See a previous page in this volume.

35 Son of Richard.

36 One of the consignees of the Tea, and father-in-law
of Copley the artist. Died in England in 1795.

Son of William, Jr.

* Son of Nathaniel, the Receiver-General

*9 Died in New York, in 1780; father of Sil Isaac Coffin.
See Editorial Note to chap. I. of Vol. IV.

40 Son of William, Jr. ; graduated at Harvard College
in 1772.

41 Son of Nathaniel, the Receiver-General.

42 See Mr. Arthur Dexter's chapter in Vol. IV.

43 A great-grandson of the first minister of Boston;
died in Boston in 1776; was royal deputy secretary.

44 Carted to the British lines in Rhode Island in 1777.
** Died respected in Nova Scotia in 1820.

46 Of Northborough ; sent into Boston by General
Ward; left with the troops in 1776.

47 Remained in Boston after the siege. See Dr. Green's
chapter in Vol. IV.

43 OfCharlestown.

*9 Lived where the Horticultural Hall stands ; died in
England in 1791.

5 Died in England in 1779.

51 Sabine says " Deonezzan."

52 Widow of Richard ; died in England in 1800.
3 See Vol. II. 392.

54 Marritd a daughter of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner. See
Vol. II. 268.

55 Merchant ; embarked in 1776 ; died in London in
1806 ; married daughter of Isaac Royall.

s & An eminent merchant ; died in Boston, in 1786. See
Vol. II. index.

57 H. C. 1747 ; embarked in 1776; died in England in
1816; married a daughter of Governor Shirley. His son,
Dr. Shirley Erving, died in Boston in 1813. See Vol. II.
P-539-

58 An eminent merchant ; died in Cambridge in 1785.
See Vol. 1 1. index.

59 Son of Wilfred.

60 Printer; partner of Mein. See Mr. Goddard's chap-
ter in Vol. II.

61 Estate settled by Joseph Pierce. Of his family there
is some account in Drake's Life of Knox, appendix.
Died in England in 1783.

62 Commanded the Loyal Irish Volunteers in Boston
during the siege.

63 See ante in this chapter, and Vol. II. index.

64 Estate settled by Nathaniel Gorham. Banished, 1778.
Perkins's Copley, 56 ; Heraldic Journal, iv. 98 ; Sabine,
i. 461 ; see also Vol. II. p. 558.

6 5 Son of Rev. Dr. Gay, of Hingham ; left with the
troops in 1776.

66 Son of Martin; H.C. 1775 ; went to New Brunswick.

67 Returned and restored to citizenship in 1789 ; was
grandfather of Capt. Marryat, the novelist.

68 Born in Boston, 1730; banished 1778; Major of
British army. See Perkins's Copley, 57.

<>9 Left with the troops in 1776; citizenship restored
in 1787 ; died in Boston in 1796 ; father of Governor Chris-
topher Gore.

70 Estate settled by Joseph Henderson. Perkins's
Copley, p. 68. See Harrison Gray Otis's defence of the
character of his grandfather, Harrison Gray, in Loring's
Boston Orators, p. 191.

71 Son of Harrison Gray.

72 See Sabine, i. 490 ; who gives a brother John Gray,
not to be confounded with John, the son of Harrison.

73 Brother of Joseph.

74 Died in Boston in 1807.

7 5 Citizenship restored in 1789 ; died in 1812.

76 Died at Boston in 1817.

77 Graduated at Harvard College, 1760; after some years
spent in Nova Scotia and England, he returned to Medford
in 1797, and died there in 1809.

78 Estate settled by Dr. Thomas Bulfinch. "An inven-
tory of the goods and effects found in the house of Joseph
Green in School Lane, improved by John Andrews," is
in the Mass. A rchives, " Royalists," i. 433. See his portrait
in Mr. Goddard's chapter in this volume.

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

179

79 Sheriff, died in Boston in 1795.

80 Lawyer; H. C. 1751 ; embarked with the troops
in 1776.

61 Commanded the " Dartmouth," one of the tea-ships
in 1773 ; proscribed in 1778.

82 Estate settled by John Winthrop. See Vol. II.
p. 343 ; Drake's Town of Roxbury, 408. The heirs of
Mrs. Hallowell, in whom was the fee, subsequently recov-
ered the estate. N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., April,
1858, p. 72. His sons were Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew,
and Ward Nicholas Boylston.

83 Estate settled by Zephion Thayer. He was Comp-
troller of the Customs He left with the troops in March,
1776: after the war he returned to America, and in 1792
lived in Batterymarch Street, but removed to Gardiner,
Me., in 1816, and died there in 1818. He was brother of
Benjamin.

84 Collector of Customs in 1768.

85 Son of Joseph.

S6 Of Uorchester; H. C. 1742.

8 ? Chief butcher to the British army during the siege.
His shop was on the south corner of Washington Street
and Harvard Place, opposite the old South. Drake's Land-
marks, p. 270. Died in Boston in 1813.

88 Printer; finally returned, and died at Newton.

89 Father of Hon. Joseph Howe, distinguished in
Canadian politics.

9 Estate settled by Edward Carnes. His property in-
cluded Shirley Hall in Roxbury, shown in the frontispiece
of Vol. II., and his wife was Governor Shirley's daughter.
He died in 1775-

9 1 Son of the Governor; partner of Thomas, Jr.; died
in Hngland in 1824.

9- Estate settled by Joshua Pico ; brother of the Gov-
ernor; died in Nova Scotia in 1799.

9 3 Governor Hutchinson's estate in Milton was sold in
1779 for .38,038. Mass. Archives, ''Royalists," ii. 66.
Died in England in 1780.

9* Died in England in 1811 ; son of the Governor.

95 Died in Cambridge in 1788.

9<> Died in England in 1810.

9 7 Returned, and died at Milton in 1812.

9 Estate settled by Dr. Scollay. He graduated at Har-
vard College, 1763 ; left Boston with the troops in 1776 ; re-
turned in 1790; died in 1819.

99 Distiller ; died in London in 1809.

100 Died in New Brunswick in 1827.

101 Estate settled by Mungo Mackay. He died in Eng-
land in 1814.

02 \Vas allowed to remain in Cambridge ; died in 1802.
103 Sabine gives it " Linkletter."
Iot Died in London in 1795 or 1796.
'5 See Dr. Green's chapter in Vol. IV.

10 6 Returned, and died in Boston in 1798.

107 Esute settled by John Fenno. See Vol. II. p. 344;
Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 416. His estate in Roxbury
was sold, June 1779, for ,26,486. 6s. 3d. Mass. Archives^
"Royalists," ii 66. It comprised seventy-two acres. His
house in Boston was "next the south writing school,
adjoining on the Common." He was commissary of
prisoners in New York, and is charged with cruelty in his
treatment of them. There was a witticism current among
the British that he fed the dead and starved the living,
alluding to his practice of charging for supplies to prison-
ers long after their death, and giving scant allowance to
others. Moore's Diary, ii. no. Died in England in 1781.

103 Died in England in 1789.

10 9 Son of John Lovell ; died in England in 1828.

110 The school-master. See Vol. II. index. Died in
Halifax in 1778.

111 Died at Halifax in 1776.

112 Died at New York in 1812.

113 Printer and bookbinder, opposite the Old South.
Died in Glasgow in 1788.

114 Her husband, Dr. William McKinstrey, died in the
harbor, before sailing, in March, 1776; she afterward re-
turned and died at Haverhill in 1786. See Sabine.

115 Died in New Brunswick in 1830.
115 Died in New Brunswick in 1804.

117 Customs officer of Portland ; but suffered his tribula-
tions in Boston in 1774. See Sabine.

118 Printer; he fled from Whig wrath as early as 1769.
See Mr. Goddard's chapter in Vol. II.

"9 Printer; went to Nova Scotia.

120 A New Hampshire minister, who left the American
camp after Bunker Hill and went into Boston ; preached
at Brattle Street Church and became a commissary. See
Sabine.

121 Sabine gives it " Mulcarty."

122 Sabine gives it " Mulball."

123 Of Rutland ; fled into Boston in 1774; left with the
British in 1776; died at St. John in 1794.

124 He lived at the lower corner of North and Centre
streets in a house still standing. His son of the same name
became a baronet. Drake's Landmarks, 153 ; Sabine, ii.
121.

I2 s Son of Daniel Oliver; Lieut. -Governor; died in
Boston in 1774.

126 Died in England in i7gt.

127 Of Middleborough ; fled to Boston ; died in England
in 1822.

128 The last royal Lieut.-Governor; lived at " Elm-
wood," Cambridge, and in 1774, moved into Boston; left
with the troops; died in England in 1782.

12 9 Son of Andrew ; died at St. John, 1613. For the
Oliver family, see Vol. I. p. 580: II. 539.

13 Estate settled by William Bant. See chap. I. in
this volume. He died in the Isle of Jersey in 1804.

131 Became surgeon on the British side; died'in New
Brunswick in 1817.

132 See Mr. Goddard's and Dr. Brooks's chapters in this
volume.

133 Estate settled by Joseph Shed ; Commissioner of
Customs. His portrait is in the Hist. Soc. gallery. See
chap. I. in this volume. Left with the troops. Died iu
England in 1788.

134 Died in 1794.

s Pastor of Old North Church. See Dr. McKenrie's
chapter in Vol. II.

136 The grandson of the first Sir William. He lived
where Otis Place now is. He was son of Col. Nathaniel
Sparhawk. the son-in-law of the first Sir William ; and
assumed the name, and was subsequently created baronet.
He married the daughter of Isaac Royall. He was the first
president of an association of Loyalists formed in London, in
1779, and was pensioned by the British government. See
Sabine, ii. 171. He died in London in 1876.

137 Died in Halifax in 1778.

138 Arrested in 1776: died in his home, on the site of
the Tremont House, in 1803.

13 9 Died in England in 1797.

140 Died in Boston in 1794.

141 Son of Lieut.-Governor Spencer Phips; colonel of a
troop of guards in Boston ; died in England in 1811.

142 Died in Halifax in 1817.

143 Comptroller-General of the Customs; embarked in
1776.

144 Driven into Boston from Worcester, and left with the
troops : and died in New Brunswick in 1789.

14 5 Son of preceding; died in England in 1838.

I4 > See Vol. II. 546, and Mr. Morse's chapter in Vol. IV.
Samuel Quincy, who succeeded Sewall as Solicitor-General,
was his cousin ; and when Quincy's younger brother, Josiah
the Patriot, rose to eminence, a natural disappointment in
the older son was used by Hutchinson and Sewall to
seduce him from the Patriot cause ; and thus he shared the
fortunes of his expatriated associates. An inventory of the
confiscated library of Samuel Quincy is given in Mass.

i8o

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Archives, " Royalists," i. 415. This estate was settled by
Thomas Crofts.

147 He was inactive in politics and remained in Boston.

148 Died in England in 1789.

14 9 He shot the boy Snider. See chap. I. of this volume.
J so Graduated at Harvard College, 1762; took refuge in

Boston ; commissary to British troops in Charlestown ;
left with them, and died at Halifax in 1784. The grand-
father of the Rev. Drs. Geo. E. and Rufus Ellis.

Mi Collector at Salem ; left with the troops.

2 Lived in Medford ; left in 1778; closely connected
with leading Boston Loyalists. See Brooks's Medford.

*53 Took refuge in Boston in 1774 ; left with the troops ;
and died in Nova Scotia in 1795.

'S 4 Printer ; died in 1796.

155 Of Charlestown ; died in 1798 ; grandfather of James
Russell Lowell.

's 6 Was in commercial life in Boston ; left with the
British ; and served under Cornwallis.

157 Took refuge in Boston from Haverhill ; left in 1775 ;
died in England in 1788.

158 Auctioneer; died in England in 1801.

'59 Fled from Cambridge and took refuge in Boston in
1774 ; returned from England to New Brunswick : and died
there in 1796.

160 Estate settled by John McLane ; died in London
in 1811.

Son of William.

162 The young son of William Sheaffe ; proteg^ of Lord
Percy; afterwards Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, bart. ; revisited
Boston in 1788, 1792-93, 1803 and 1806; died at Edinburgh
1851.

163 Son of William ; died in Boston before 1793.

164 Deputy Collector of Customs. Sabine gives an
account of the family.

1(> S Died in Boston in 1834.

166 Went to Halifax ; returned, and died in Boston in
1801.

*W Commander of the Governor's guard; lived opposite
Eliot's Church in Hanover Street ; went to Halifax ; died
there in 1782.. His son Jonathan married a daughter of
Foster Hutchinson, and died in Halifax in 1809.

I<>8 Took refuge in Boston, and left with the troops.

Ib 9 Of Charlestown ; died 1792.

I7 <> Carted to the British lines at Rhode Island in 1777.

171 Proscribed in 1778 : returned, and died in Boston in
1816.

'72 Proscribed in 1778 : died in Quebec in 1806.

'73 Proscribed in 1778, but returned and settled in Dor-
chester, where he died in 1831.

174 Took refuge in Boston as a mandamus councillor,
and died in Nova Scotia in 1791.

'75 Assistant rector of King's Chapel.

76 See Mr. Morse's chapter in Vol. IV.

'77 Proscribed in 1778; died in 1802.

178 Of Cambridge, in 1775; took refuge in Boston ; died
in England in 1797.

17 9 Brother of John : died in England in 1800.
130 Son of William ; died in England in 1843.

181 Died in England in 1816.

182 Rector of Trinity Church ; in 1776 went to England ;
returned in 1791 ; became rector of Christ Church, and
died in 1800; grandfather of Lynde M. Walter, founder of
the Boston Transcript.

183 Died in Boston in 1794.

184 Fled from Plymouth into Boston ; and was at Bun-
ker Hill on the British side.

85 Died in Boston in 1794.

186 Died in Europe in 1799.

187 Attended in Boston the Provincials wounded and
made prisoners at Bunker Hill; died in Boston in 1779-

188 Died in England in 1778.

18 9 Accompanied the British in 1776; died in England
in 1781.

'9 Of Lancaster; left with the troops in 1776; died in
New Brunswick in 1789.

'9i Cut down " Liberty Tree." See Mr. Scudder's
chapter. Left with the British.

'92 Inspector-General of the Customs.

'93 Of Taunton ; took refuge in Boston ; and left in 1776.

'9 4 Brother of General John; took refuge in Boston;
embarked in 1776; died in 1784.

'95 Son of Edward ; joined the royal army in Boston in
>775> an d became a colonel; died in New Brunswick in
1815. See Vol. I/, pp. 124, 551.

'S 6 See Drake's Town of Roxbury, p. 256. Embarked
in 1776; died in London in 1790.

'97 General Winslow, whose portrait is given in Vol. II.
p. 123 ; considered by Sabine a ''prerogative man ; " died
in 1774 ; and his widow is said to have embarked with the
troops in March, 1776.

*9 S Son of General John, of Plymouth ; took refuge in
Boston in 1774; embarked in 1776; died in Brooklyn in
1783.

AFTER THE EVACUATION. Howe had be-
gun his embarkation early in the morning of
Sunday, March 17. By nine o'clock he with-
drew his guard from Charlestown, and soon
after the last boats put off from the wharves.
" From Penn's hill," writes Abigail Adams from
Braintree, March 17, 1775, "we have a view of
the largest fleet ever seen in America. You may
count upwards of a hundred and seventy sail.
They look like a forest." Familiar Letters, 142.
The American advance pushed forward cau-
tiously down the Charlestown peninsula, and
found the works tenanted only by wooden sen-
tinels. A strong force embarked in boats on the
Charles and fell down the river, prepared to act
as might be required. A detachment from Rox-
bury under Colonel Learned entered the works
on the Neck, and, unopposed, unbarred the
gates. The entry was made under the immedi-
ate command of Putnam, who proceeded to seize
the principal posts. On the 2oth, the main body
of the troops entered, 1 and the next day Wash-
ington, who still kept his headquarters at Cam-
bridge, issued the proclamation given (on next
page) in reduced fac-simile from a copy in the
library of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

An inventory of the stores, ordnance, and
vessels left by the British was made March 18
and 19, and is printed in the Siege of Boston,
p. 406. Some of the cannon are now to be seen
on Cambridge Common, about the Soldier's
Monument. Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex,
265.

Dr. John Warren's account of the condition
of the town is given in Loring's Hundred Boston
Orators, p. 161 ; and with a statement of the
strength of the works left by the British, in
Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 329; and in the
Life of Dr. John Warren, by his son Edward
Warren, Boston, 1873, which has a portrait, en-

1 Dr. John Warren's diary chronicles the action of the
enemy this same day : " March 2oth. This evening thjy
burn the castle and demolish it, by blowing up all the for-
tifications there. They leave not a building standing."

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. i8l
BVHIS EXCELLENCY

George Wafhington, Efq:

Captain Central and Commander in Chief of che Forces of the Thirteen United Colonies.

jr/HEREAS the Mntfenal Jrmy hn* . a t,andoi At TVwr o/BOSTON : and tl* Force, cf,he Umttd Cctotic,. under ry
Vr C omrnand. are m 'Pofftfon of tie fame .-

IH A V E therefore thought it neceflarjrfcr' tbe Prefervation f Peace, good Order anj Difcipliae. to publifh the following
ORDERS, that no Pcifon offending tbeicin,. may plead Ignorance as an Lxcufc for their Mifconduct

ALL Officers and Soldiers are hereby ordered to live in the drifted Peace and Amity wich the Inhabitants , and no Inhabitant,
or other Perfon employed in his lawful Bufineis in th: "Town, is to be molefted in liis Perfon or Property on any Pretence what-
ever If any Officer or Soldier (hall prefumc to (hike, imprifon. or othrrmfe ill-treat any of the Inhabitants, they may depend on
beinf; pumfhed with the utmoft Severity And if any Officer ol Soldier (hall receive any Infult from any of the Inhabitants, he ii
to fecit Red/cfs, in a legal Way, and no other.

ANY Non-cammiiTioned Officer, Soldier, or others under my Command, who (hall be guilty of robbirg or plundering tnifTfTWm,
are to be immediately confined, and will be mod rigidly puniCbed Ml Officers are therefore ordered to be very vigilant in die Difcomj
of facb offenders, and report their Names, and Ciunc. to the Commanding Officer to tbe Town, as fcoo. as may be.

THE Inhabitants-, and others, tie caned upon to make known to thr Qysrter-Mattcr General, or any of his Deputies, r!I f tore*
Wonging to tbe Mimfterial Army, thar maf be remaining or fecreted in the Town : Any Perfon or Perfoas ha;evcr, t'ui 0:11
be known to conceal any of tbe Cud Stores, 01 appropriate them to his or their own Ufc, will be cooCdcicd as an Enemy of dniu.;s
and treated accordingly.

THE SeJefhnen. and other Mtgilrrates of the Town, are defired to return to the Commander in Chief, the Names of all or any Pirfoa
or Pcrfons ihey may fufpe<!> of being employed as Spies upon the Continental Army, that they may be dealt with accordingly.

ALL Officers 'of the Continental Army, aw enjoined to afliA the Civil Magibtes in the Execution of their Duty, and to promote
Peace and good order. Thef aie to prevent, as much ss puflilalc. the foidioiftom fKtjoemmg Tippling Houfr*. od fljyUicg fora
their Pofls Particular Nonce will be taken of fiich Officers as ant iMttrauvr tod roruli ia their Duty , and on the contrary, fuch only
who are aftive and mgilact, will be entitled to future Favor and Prcmouoo.

C WE. // aultf ity Raul at HeadQuarten in Camkridg*) tfc T-mttjfrfl Day of March, i 7 7 6>

graved from the painting, now owned by Dr.
John Collins Warren. It is Dr. John Warren's
statements upon which the affirmation is some-
times made that the redoubt on Bunker Hill,
found by the Americans, was one erected by
the British after they had levelled the earth-
works of June 17, 1775; but it seems probable,
as Frothingham, p. 331, shows, that the British
preserved, perhaps with modifications, the origi-
nal redoubt.

There seems to have been left behind a con-
siderable stock of the inhabitants' arms ; for a
memorandum on a letter, April 20, 1776, from
the Provincial Congress at Watertown, signed by
Wm. Sever, and asking of the selectmen a state-
ment on this point (now in the Charity-building
collection), has an endorsement on it: "1778
guns, 273 bayonets, 634 pistols, 38 blunderbuses,
inhabitants' arms." This enumeration, how-
ever, may refer to the number of arms which had
been surrendered to Gage in April, 1775.

In the same collection is the following pa-
per :

" Copy of ace. of losses the town sustained by the enemy.
Given in Dec. 17, 1777.

, s. a.
Town stock of powder in the Powder House. 250 6 8

149 small arms and bayonets 745 o o

3 pr. pistols rioo

Town library ooo

King George the id picture, full 1

length

Gen Conway, do in Faneuil

Col. Barre 1 , do Hall . 133 6 8

Peter Faneuil, Esq , do. . .
Gov. Shirley, do

1140 13 4

The portraits of Conway and Barre were the
ones ordered by the town in their joy at the re-
peal of the Stamp Act.

John Adams (Familiar Letters, p. 216), speaks
of the portraits of Conway and Barre as by Rey-
nolds ; but the Life of Reynolds, by Leslie and
Tom Taylor, i. 257, makes no mention of them,
although Sir Joshua painted Barre more than

182

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Abigail Adams writes, March 31, 1776, to her
husband : " The town in general is left in a bet-
ter state than we expected. . . . Some individu-
als discovered a sense of honor and justice, and
have left the rent of the houses, in which they
were, for the owners, and the furniture unhurt,
or, if damaged, sufficient to make it good. Others
have committed abominable ravages. The man-
sion house of your president [Hancock] is safe
and the furniture unhurt ; while the house and
furniture of the Solicitor-General [Samuel Quin-
cy] have fallen a prey to their own merciless
party." Familiar Letters, p. 149.

Greene succeeded Putnam for a short time ;
but upon Washington's leaving for New York
he placed Ward in command ; and in his instruc-
tions, April 4, 1776, he particularly enjoined upon
him to arrange some system of signals by which
to rouse the country in case of the approach of
a hostile fleet. Heath Papers, in 5 Mass. Hist.
Coll., iv. 4.

Mr. Samuel F. McCleary printed in the N. E.
Hist, and Geneal. Reg. (1876), vol. xxx. p. 380,
and in succeeding volumes, the records of the
Boston Committee of Correspondence, Inspec-
tion, and Safety, from May to November, 1776.

On the 1 7th of May the " Franklin," a small
craft under the command of an adventurous
Marbleheader, Captain Mugford, whom Ward
had commissioned, boldly attacked, just off the
harbor, a large armed ship the "Hope"
bringing supplies to the town, then supposed to
have a British garrison. British ships were still
in Nantasket Roads, and saw the engagement,
but failed to render any assistance ; and Mugford
carried his prize through the Broad Sound into
Boston. She had on board one hundred half-
barrels of powder, a much heeded addition to
the Continental store. Two days later, the
" Franklin " grounded in trying to escape from
the harbor, and was attacked by boats from the
English fleet ; but they were repelled, at the cost,
however, of Mugford's life. See Force's Ameri-
can Archives, 4th ser. vi. 494-96, 532, 629 ; Gor-
don's American Revolution, ii. 264; Moore's
Diary of the American Revolution, i. 244.

A good deal of good service was now done
in this way by Captain Tucker, who intercepted
more than one important British supply-ship and
brought them into Boston, where his presence
was not unfamiliar throughout the war. He
had before this prepared some fireships at Ger-
mantown to send down among the fleet, but the
very day he was ready the fleet sailed. Familiar
Letters of John and Abigail Adams, p. 156 (April
14, 1776).

In June better organized efforts were made
to drive off a few ships of the British which still
lingered in Nantasket Roads. Detachments un-
der Colonels Marshall and Whitney, and some
artillery under Lieutenant Crafts, joined with

some Continental troops and coast guards, the
whole under the command of General Lincoln,
took post at commanding points in the lower
harbor and brought their guns to bear on the
" Commodore " frigate and the other attendant
vessels, which had recently been joined by a fleet
of transports with troops. The demonstration
caused them all soon to put to sea. Adams's
Familiar Letters, p. 185 ; Moore's Diary, \. 251.

The admiral had kept a detachment on the
lighthouse island to protect that structure ; but
when the fleet finally left, these men were taken
off, but not until they had laid a train by which
the tower was thrown down ; and it was not till
1783 that the present lighthouse was erected.
Shurtleff's Description of Boston, p. 572.

A day or two later the Continental brig
" Defence," of Connecticut, captured in the bay
two armed transports with Highlanders on board,
and brought them safely in under the newly
mounted guns at Nantasket. The " Defence "
was aided by a small privateer under Captain
Burk. {Familiar Letters of John Adams, p. 187.)
In July a fleet of the enemy hovered about the
bay for a week, but left without attempting hos-
tile acts. (Ibid. p. 201.) In September, "the 'Mil-
ford ' frigate rides triumphant in our bay, taking
vessels every day, and no Colony or Continental
vessel has yet attempted to hinder her. She
mounts but twenty-eight guns, and is one of the
fastest sailers in the British navy. They com-
plain we have not weighty metal enough, and I
suppose truly." Ibid. p. 226.

A committee of the Provincial Congress, with
James Sullivan at the head, had soon been ap-
pointed to consider a plan for fortifying the
approaches to Boston by water ; and Sullivan was
also named first on a committee for carrying his
report into execution. Under General Lincoln's
direction the works at Fort Hill, on Dorchester
Heights, and on Noddle's Island were completed,
and hulks were sunk in the channel. The Con-
gress provided the cannon left by the enemy as
an armament for them. The letters written by
John Adams to his wife show his anxiety at the
delays in this work. In one of her replies, May
9, she says : " I believe Noddle's Island has been
done by subscription. Six hundred inhabitants
of the town meet every morning in the Town
House, from whence they march with fife and
drum, with Mr. Gordon, Mr. Skilman, and Mr.
Lothrop at their head, to the Long Wharf, where
they embark for the island ; and it comes to the
subscribers' turn to work two days in the week."
Familiar Letters, p. 171.

Later in the year, when Massachusetts an-
swered renewed calls for troops for the New
York campaign, Boston was left exposed to sud-
den incursions from the enemy. In December
the regiments in the harbor were prevailed upon
to continue their service, and additional regi-

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

ments were ordered to be raised for the same
service.

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED. There was
published some years since in the (British)
United Service Journal an account of the way
Independence was first proclaimed in Boston,
written by a British officer, who in June, 1776,
had been captured on board a transport in the
bay, and was then held as a prisoner in the town.
He was invited, with other officers then on pa-
role, to the Town House, on the i8th of July.
" As we passed through the town," he says, "we
found it thronged; all were in their holiday suits;
every eye beamed with delight, and every tongue
was in rapid motion. The streets adjoining the
Couqcil Chamber were lined with detachments
of infantry tolerably equipped, while in front of
the jail [Court Street] artillery was drawn up,
the gunners with lighted matches. The crowd
opened a lane for us, and the troops gave us, as
we mounted the steps, the salute due to officers'
of our rank. . . . Exactly as the clock struck
one, Colonel [Thomas] Crafts, who occupied the
chair, rose and read aloud the Declaration. This
being finished, the gentlemen stood up, and each,
repeating the words as they were spoken by an
officer, swore to uphold the rights of his country.
Meanwhile the town clerk read from a balcony
the Declaration to the crowd ; at the close of
which a shout, begun in the hall, passed to the
streets, which rang with loud huzzas, the slow
and measured boom of cannon, and the rattle
of musketry. . . . There was a banquet in the
Council Chamber, where all the richer citizens
appeared ; large quantities of liquor were dis-
tributed among the mob ; and when night closed
in, darkness was dispelled by a general illumi-
nation."

The scene is also described by Mrs. Adams
in her letters, July 21, Familiar Letters, p. 204,
and in the New England Chronicle, July 25.

It was now in front of the old historic Bunch
of Grapes tavern, on the upper corner of State
and Kilby streets, that all portable signs of roy-
alty in the town, such as the arms from the
Town House, the Court House, and the Custom
House, were brought and thrown in a pile to
make a bonfire.

The first anniversary (July 4, 1777) of the
Declaration of Independence was celebrated
in Boston with great parade, a sermon by Dr.
Gordon before the Legislature, a public dinner,
and much booming of cannon. Moore's Diary,
i. 463.

A copy of the broadside Declaration of Inde-
pendence, attested in script, " A true copy, John
Hancock, Presid'-," is in Mass. Archives, cxlii. 23.
It is one of the copies sent to each of the States
by order of Congress, Jan. 18, 1777, and is
marked in print " Baltimore, in Maryland ;

printed by Mary Katharine Goddard." With it
is Hancock's letter transmitting it to the Massa-
chusetts authorities. There is in the Public Li-
brary another copy of the same broadside, on
which is written "Attest, Cha. Thomson, Secy.
A True Copy, John Hancock, Presid'." It is
not evident to which of the States it was sent, if
indeed it is one of those sent to the States.

GENERAL HEATH IN COMMAND. In 1777
General Heath 1 succeeded Ward in command.
His headquarters were in the house of Thomas
Russell, which was in Summer Street, about
where Otis Street is. ^Major Andrew Symmes
had the immediate charge of the garrison of the
town. During the summer an uncertainty as to
the destination of the British fleet, then preparing
to leave Newport, caused some uneasiness and
renewed vigilance, and precautions were taken
for alarming the country in case of impending
danger. (See order in fac-simile on next page).
Signals for announcing the approach of an ene-
my's ship to Hull, were arranged by the Council
Sept. 10, 1777, and they are given in the Mass.
Archives, cxlii. 105. Mrs. Adams describes the
fright : " All Boston was in confusion, packing
up and carting out of town household furniture,
military stores, goods, etc. Not less than a
thousand teams were employed on Friday and
Saturday." Familiar Letters, p. 287.

It was during Heath's term of service here
in Boston that the army of Burgoyne, which had
surrendered at Saratoga in October, 1777, was
marched to Cambridge. The news of the sur-
render had preceded them, and was received
with illuminations, bonfires, and cannon. Moore's
Diary, \. 513. The provincial authorities had lost
no time in chartering a swift vessel to carry the
news to the Commissioners in Paris. The des-
patches were entrusted to Jonathan Loring Aus-
tin ; and after prayers had been said by Dr.
Chauncy in the old Brick Meeting-house, the
vessel sailed, and reached Nantes in safety in
November. Loring, Boston Orators, p. 174.

The English reached Prospect Hill Novem-
ber 6, and were put into barracks there. The
Hessians arrived the next day at Winter Hill,
and we're quartered there. General Burgoyne,
who entered Cambridge in a pelting storm at
the head of his troops, was lodged temporarily
at Bradish's tavern, now known as Porter's ; but
subsequently was quartered at the house oppo-
site Gore Hall, known as the Bishop's Palace.

1 A portrait of General Heath is owned by Mrs. G.
Brewer, of Boston. An old ova), engraved portrait of him
is marked " H William?, pinxt I. R. Smith, sculp."
There is a copy in the Historical Society's Library. Gen-
eral Heath's estate lay in Roxbury at the foot of Parker's
Hill, and is now bisected by Heath Street. Here, on the
easterly corner of that street and Bickford Avenue, the
homestead stood. It was demolished in 1843. Drake's
Ttnva of Roxbury, p. 386.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

N\ . The British artillery was
\ V^L parked on Cambridge
\>A Common. General Rie-
>^ desel and his wife were
established in the Jona-
than Sewall house, on the
corner of Brattle and
Sparks streets. The
camps of the " Conven-
tion troops," as they
were called in allusion to
the terms of their condi-
tional surrender, were
guarded by Massachu-
setts militia, while the
officers signed a parole
not to pass beyond speci-
fied limits.

This document is re-
ferred to by Barry (iii.
146) as being in the pos-
session of J. W. Thorn-
ton, Esq., and as if it
were the original conven-
tion paper signed at Sar-
atoga by Burgoyne and
his officers. One sheet is sub-
scribed by Burgoyne and the Eng-
lish officers ; and the other by
Riedesel and the German officers.
Mr. Thornton put it into the great
Sanitary Fair held in Boston, with
the understanding that it should
be given to the Public Library if
$1000 were subscribed for the ob-
jects of the Fair ; and this being
done, the interesting document,
which was originally among the
Heath papers, passed in 1864 into
that depository.

The Convention troops proved
a rather turbulent set. The militia
were not disciplined, and encoun-
ters not infrequently occurred be-
tween the prisoners and their
guards. Some blood and even life
was lost ; and at last Colonel Da-
vid Henley, who was in com-
mand in Cambridge, was charged
by Burgoyne with cruelty and
unsoldierly conduct, and brought
to trial. Colonel Glover presided,
and Colonel William Tudor acted
as judge-advocate. Henley was
acquitted. He had been brigade-
major to Heath during the siege.
In the summer and autumn of
1778 apprehension arose that the
British might make an attempt to
rescue the prisoners by landing
near Boston ; and so by detach-

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 185

ments the Convention troops were sent under
guard into the interior of the State. The last of
them left on the I5th of October ; but some thirty
or forty of the worst characters were left behind
confined in the guardships in the harbor. In

November, as is well known, the prisoners were
marched to Virginia. See the authorities enu-
merated in Winsor's Readers' Handbook of the
Revolution, p. 149.

In November the Baron Steuben had arrived
at Portsmouth, eager to throw his influence and

skill into the American cause. Coming to Boston
he found the community elated over the capture
of Burgoyne, and addressed a letter at once to
Gates, " the conqueror of Burgoyne," commend-
ing himself to his attention. We cannot follow
him to Valley Forge, nor relate here the benefit
which came to the camp there from his devotion.
Late in the summer of 1778 the expedition
which was intended to drive out the British from
Newport, and with which Hancock had gone as
Major-General in command of the Massachu-
setts militia, came to nought. The French
fleet blockading the English had been scattered
in a gale ; and on returning to the blockade they
were not prevailed upon to assist in an attack,
but sailed for Boston, leaving Sullivan, who had
charge of the expedition, to extricate himself as
best he could. Arrived in Boston late in Au-
gust, the French repaired their vessels and
replenished their stores. Lafayette came to
Boston and endeavored to prevail upon the
French Admiral, D'Estaing, to remain on the
coast ; while Howe, following the French, had
come within the Capes with his fleet, as if eager
for a battle. The contingency was alarming,
and nine regiments of militia were ordered to
Boston ; but the danger passed when Howe
withdrew. Mrs. Adams, mentioning the hos-
pitalities which the French officers extended
on board their ships, adds : " I cannot help
saying that they have been neglected in the
town of Boston. Generals Heath and Hancock
VOL. III. 24.

have done their part ; but very few, if any,
private families have any acquaintance with
them." (Familiar Letters, p. 342.) Hancock
entertained them at a " superb ball " in Concert
Hall, October 29. (Moore's Diary, ii. 88, 102.)
The French left for the West Indies in Novem-
ber, and the regiments went home.

GENERAL GATES IN COMMAND. In the au-
tumn of 1778 (November 6) General Gates 1 suc-
ceeded Heath in the command in Boston. He
came with his wife and a suite, and the people
welcomed him kindly. Here he continued till
the following spring; but his stay was not
altogether an agreeable one. William Palfrey
writes to General Greene in January, 1779, of
the condition of affairs during Gates's command
in Boston : " There seems to be a
coolness between Hancock and Gen-
eral Gates. Neither they nor their
ladies have visited each other. Gen-
eral G. seems not very well pleased
with his situation, and I believe wishes
<3%jlL. most heartily to return to his Sabine
fields. His family have been involved
in quarrels almost ever since
they have been in the place,
which bid fair to proceed to
such a length that the civil
authority thought proper to interpose. Mr.
Bob. Gates and Mr. [John] Carter have fought ;
but it proved a bloodless encounter." Sargent's
Loyalist Poetry, 160.

The duel thus referred to took place on the
last day of the year, in a pasture near the Rox-
bury Meeting-house. Gates missed Carter, and
Carter refused to fire.

THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION. This was
seemingly the most formidable and actually the
most luckless expedition which Boston sent out
during the course of the war. There have been
various incidental accounts and illustrative con-
tributions, as detailed in Winsor's Readers' 1 Hand-
book of the American Revolution, p. 208 ; but dur-
ing the present year the Weymouth Historical
Society has published The Original jfournal of
General Solomon Loi'ell, kept during the Penobscot
Expedition, 1779, with a Sketch of his Life, by
Gilbert Nash.

Lovell, as colonel of one of the Massachu-
setts regiments, had been at Dorchester Heights
in 1776. The next year he was made the rank-
ing officer of the
militia of the sea-
board, subordinate
to the general of
the department at Boston, a position which
he retained during the war. In 1778 he had

1 Stuart's superb portrait of Gates is given in photo-
gravure in Mason's Stuart, p. 183.

1 86

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

commanded a portion of this militia in the
Rhode Island campaign of forty-seven days;
and in October following, upon him had de-
volved the command of the militia hastily
assembled at the apprehension of an attack
from the British fleet.

In June, 1779, a British force had taken pos-
session of a peninsula on Penobscot Bay, where
now Castine is, in order to prevent that region
being longer the resort of the active Boston and
Salem cruisers, which were preying upon the
British supply-ships as they approached the
coast. The Massachusetts authorities, with as-
sistance from New Hampshire, at once organ-
ized an expedition ; and, June 26, put Lovell in
command of twelve hundred militia and one
hundred artillery. The " Warren," a new ship
of thirty-two guns, and the " Providence," a
sloop of twelve guns, both Continental vessels,
were borrowed ; and others were chartered and
bought. Peleg Wadsworth, the adjutant-general

of the State, was placed second in command.
Paul Revere, then a lieut.-colonel, was put
in command of the artillery. The fleet dropped
clown to Nantasket Roads on the I5th of
July, and sailed on the igth. It consisted
of nineteen armed vessels, mounting three hun-
dred and twenty-four guns, manned by over
two thousand men, with over twenty transports,
all commanded by Dudley Saltonstall, the
captain of the " Warren." After landing on the
Maine coast .and receiving some recruits from
York and Cumberland, of a dubious character,
and a few Penobscot Indians, they reached the
enemy's station on the 25th. The next day the
troops made in part a successful landing ; but
they were unsupported by the fleet. Two or

three weeks were consumed in bickerings be-
tween the Commodore and the General, with
right apparently on the side of Lovell ; when
a British fleet reinforced the enemy, and led
in an attack on the American armed vessels
and transports. The result was the destruc-
tion of the whole floating armament, and the
thorough dispersion of the land forces through

the neighboring wilderness. Lovell got back
to Boston about the twentieth of September.
A court of inquiry, with General Artemas
Ward as chairman, exonerated Lovell, and
blamed Saltonstall. Their report is in the
Massachusetts Archives, cxlv., and is printed by
Nash.

The Penobscot expedition-rolls are in /'< 7 <>///-
tionary Rolls, xxxvii. 83; with a list of vessels
chartered for the service, p. 173, with orders,
etc., p. 187. Vol. xxxviii. gives other papers ; and
also xxxix. p. 113. Massachusetts Revolutionary
Rolls, xxviii. 58, gives the officers of the expe-
dition, and also the officers of the Boston regi-
ments, and two new regiments.

THE NAVAL SERVICE. On Dec. n, 1776,
the Government of Massachusetts authorized
Mr. John Peck to build an armed vessel of six-
teen guns, of a new construction. She was built
in Boston, called the " Hazard," was brig-rigged,

and of peculiar
model. She had
a short but bril-
liant career, and
took many prizes,
some of them val-
uable. One was the British brig "Active," Cap-
tain Sims, of eighteen guns, sixteen swivels, and
one hundred men, captured March 16, 1779, off
St. Thomas, W. I., after a sharp action of thirty
minutes, during which the " Hazard " lost three
killed and five wounded, and the enemy thirti-en
killed and twenty wounded. She had also an
action with a British ship of fourteen guns and
eighty men, which, after several attempts to
board, sheered off. In these engagements sin.
was commanded by Captain John Foster Wil-
liams, who subsequently became celebrated as
the commander of the " Protector." The " Haz-
ard " was one of the unfortunate Penobsmt
expedition, and in August, 1779, was burr.ed
by her crew to prevent her falling into the. hands
of the enemy.

Mr. Peck, who modelled the "Ha/.ard,"
was the most scientific naval architect
whom the United Colonies had produced.
Among the vessels built by him during the
Revolution were the " Belisarius " and the
" Rattlesnake," noted for their stability and
swiftness. One hundred years ago it was
a common remark that to have a perfect
vessel it must have a Boston bottom and
Philadelphia sides. The "Belisarius" does
not appear on Emmons's Lists, but the " Rattle-
snake," a ship of twenty guns, one hundred and
eighty-five men, commanded by Mr. Clark in
1781, does. The British claim to have captured
a cruiser of the name ; but as there were no k-ss
than four schooners so named belonging to
Pennsylvania, and one from South Carolina, it

LIFE IN BOSTON IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

I8 7

may have been one of them. Emmons, in his
usually accurate tables, says that the frigates
" Hancock " (32), and " Boston " (24), were built
in Boston, in 1776; but they were both built by
Stephen and Ralph Cross at their yard in New-
buryport, by order of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, and only equipped in Boston.
The " Hancock " was launched July 5, 1776, the
day after the Declaration of Independence, and
before it had been noised abroad.

In March, 1777, Tucker was put in command
of the "Boston;" and on Feb. 17, 1778, he sailed
in her to convey John Adams to France on his
diplomatic mission.

On the Qth of November, 1776, Congress au-
thorized the purchasing or building of three
vessels of seventy-four guns, five of thirty-six
guns, one of eighteen guns, and one packet.
One of the seventy-fours, and the only vessel of
war ordered by the Continental Congress to be
built at Boston, was commenced in the yard of
Benjamin Goodwin, afterward known as Tilley's
Wharf, a short distance from Charlestown.
Thomas Cushing, afterward the Lieut.-Gov-
ernor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
as the agent of the Government, took pos-
session of the dwelling-house, store, wharf, and
yard of Goodwin for the purpose of building
this ship. It is probable but little progress was
made upon her, as we find in the Journal of
Congress, July 25, 1777,

" The Marine Committee having represented that the
extravagant prices now demanded for all kinds of material
used in shipbuilding, and the enormous wages required by
tradesmen and laborers, render the building of ships of war
already ordered by Congress, not only exceedingly expen-
sive, but also difficult to be accomplished at this time," etc.,
wherefore it was

" Resolved, That the Marine Committee be empowered
to put a stop to the building of such of the Continental
ships of war already ordered by this Congress to be built,
as they shall judge proper, and to resume the building of
them again when they shall find it consistent with the inter-
est of the United States to do so."

In 1784, the exigency having passed, the ship
was sold on the stocks by Thomas Russell, as
agent of the United States. The only seventy-
four launched was the " Alliance," built under
the superintendence of Paul Jones at Ports-
mouth, and presented to the French Government
in 1782, to replace the " Magnifique," lost in
Boston Harbor.

In September, 1777, James Sullivan writes
from Boston : " A ship arrived yesterday with
twelve thousand nine hundred bushels of salt,
and other goods, taken by the ' Tyrannicide,' a
Massachusetts brig. Several of our public vessels
have arrived within this day or two, from France
and Spain, with clothing, tents, and arms ; one
with ten thousand pounds sterling in value of
Dutch cordage. The stores imported by the
Massachusetts Board of War are immense."

There is in Massachusetts Archives, cxlii. 158,
a paper signed by leading Boston merchants,
agreeing to fit out two armed ships to protect
vessels coming in and going out of the port of
Boston. It is dated April 26, 1779.

In September, 1779, the two Continental fri-
gates, " Boston," Captain Tucker, and " Deane,"
Captain Nicholson, arrived, bringing as prizes
two British armed ships, with two hundred and
fifty prisoners. Other of their prizes had been
ordered to Philadelphia. Boston Gazette, Sept.
! 3 I 779> Independent Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1779.
In 1780 Tucker, rich as he supposed from
prize money, moved to Boston, and lived some-
what luxuriously for six years, in Fleet Street ;
when, meeting embarrassments in fortune, he
returned to Marblehead : so Sheppard says in
his Life of Samuel Tucker, 1868, a perform-
ance of some value, but rather too jejune for an
octogenarian to write.

Massachusetts built in 1779 a twenty-gun
ship, the " Protector," and gave the command to
John Foster Williams, Boston-born, and one of
the most conspicuous of the enterprising sea-
rovers of the day. A recruiting office was
opened on Hancock's Wharf, and by dint of
daily parades with drum and fife a crew of two
hundred and thirty men was got together ; and
the ship sailed from Nantasket Roads the first
of April, 1780. Williams's first officer was a
Marshfield man, Captain George Little, the same
who twenty years later commanded the frigate
" Boston." The " Protector's " second lieuten-
ant was Joseph Cunningham of Boston. We
have an account of her cruise from her log, now
in the library of the New England Historical
and Genealogical Society ; from the Revolution-
ary Adventures of Ebenezer Fox of Roxbury, Bos-
ton, 1838; and from the Memoirs (MS.) of Cap-
tain Luther Little, who served on board as mid-
shipman and prize-master. She engaged, June
9, an English letter-of-marque, eleven hundred
tons, thirty-two guns, and after a severe fight
the enemy's ship blew up. The " Protector "
landed her sick on the coast of Maine, and came
shortly after back to Boston to refit. On this
second cruise, during which she sent one prize
at least into Boston, commanded by Luther Lit-
tle, she was overpowered off Nantucket by two
English cruisers and taken into New York.
Williams and George Little were carried to
England, where the former remained as a pris-
oner till the war closed ; while Little, bribing
a sentry, escaped to France. See list of " Pris-
oners Committed to the Old Mill Prison," in
N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., July, 1865, p. 209.
There is much about American prisoners at
Forton during the Revolutionary War, in N. E.
Hist, and Geneal. Reg., 1876-79. Washington
appointed Williams to the command of the
revenue cutter "Massachusetts," in 1790; and in

i88

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

this office he died, at seventy, in June. 1814. N,
E. Hist, and Geneal. Keg., January, 1848.

After the defeat of Comte de Grasse in the
West Indies, in 1782, a section of his fleet, four-
teen sail, under Admiral Vaubiard, arrived in
Boston, Aug. ii, 1782 ; and one of his ships, the
" Magnifique," entering by the narrows, was
stranded on the bar at Lovell's Island, where
her ribs are still embedded in the sand. Many
attempts have been fruitlessly made to secure
treasure from the wreck. One attempt, made
forty or more years ago, gave no return except
specimens of very beautiful wood of which the
vessel was built. In July, 1859, another trial
yielded copper, lead, and cannon-shot in consid-
erable quantities. In 1868-69, when General
Foster of the United States Engineers was
widening the main ship-channel, his machines
brought up, from a depth of more than twenty
feet, large pieces of plank and oak timbers, which
were thought to be a part of the wreck. The
pilot under whose misdirection the vessel was
lost became the sexton of the New North Church,
and the wilful boys of the parish used to taunt
him by chalking this couplet on the meeting-
house door :

" Don't you run this ship aslu.re
As you did the seventy-four."

(Shurtleff's Description of Boston, p. 552.) In
October Mrs. Adams writes : " The French fleet
still remain with us, and the British cruisers in-
sult them. More American vessels have been
captured since they have lain here than for a
year before." Familiar Letters, p. 407.

The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,
April 29, 1776, ordered the naval flag to be a
green pine-tree upon a white ground, with an in-
scription, "Appeal to Heaven." The earliest
representation of this emblematic pine-tree now
known is found in the vignette of a contempo-
rary French map, and is 're-engraved in Froth-
ingham's Siege of Boston, p. 262, and in Lossing's
Field-Book of the Revolution, \. 570.

In the autumn of 1776, by orders of the
council, the sloop " Freedom," commanded by
John Clouston, and the sloop " Republick,"
commanded by John Foster Williams, had been
ordered to Boston ; and one of these vessels, at
least as late as August of 1777, bore the pine-
tree flag, as the annexed bill shows.

The Editor has used in this section some
notes kindly furnished by Admiral George Henry
Preble, as well as this writer's exhaustive History
of the American Flag.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT,

1782-1822.

BY HENRY CABOT LODGE, PH.D.

~D ETWEEN the Treaty of Peace at Paris, which acknowledged American
-* ^ Independence, and the change of local government in Boston from the
form of a town to that of a city, f6rty years elapsed. That period was to
Boston a season of growth and prosperity ; the former slow, the latter bril-
liant at times, and at times clouded by the storms of war which then shook
the civilized world. The heroic period in the history of the town in its
corporate capacity closed when Washington marched in at the head of his
army, and Lord Howe sailed out of Boston Harbor. In the years preced-
ing that event Boston had been the most important name in the long list of
English possessions. It had figured in the newspapers, in the conferences
of cabinets and the debates of Parliament, with unrivalled frequency. It
had lighted the flame of resistance, endured the first stroke of angry rulers,
and had witnessed the first disaster to the British arms. During the Revo-
lution, Boston untouched after the first shock of war had passed away
had her share of glory and suffering ; but she ceased to be the central point
of resistance, or to attract further the attention of England and Europe. In
the forty years which followed the close of the war the old town, as such,
took no memorable action, with one or two rare exceptions which will be
described in their place. During this period, therefore, the history of Bos-
ton is, in its most salient features, interwoven with that of national politics,
and, above all, with the fate of a great political party, which found here
some of its ablest and most steadfast leaders; and which here, too, pre-
served longer than anywhere else an almost unbroken ascendancy. The
history of the town, then, at this time is to a large extent the history of a
party and of the men who composed and led it. In those days subjects of

190 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

interest were few in the extreme. The fortunes of the Bostonians were in-
volved in commerce, enterprising, far reaching, and successful ; 1 but it may-
be fairly said, that outside of business and professional work the only intel-
lectual excitement was found in politics ; and to politics, consequently, all the
strongest and ablest men of the community turned their zealous attention.
To understand the history of Boston during the period included between
the dates placed at the head of this chapter, it is necessary, if we wish to
set in strong relief the characteristic features of the time, and not to wander
in a tangled maze of valueless details, to study the fortunes of the ruling
political party in the town. In that party, or in opposition to it, we must
sooner or later meet with every man of importance ; in their contests we
must deal with every question which affected the interests of the town as well
as those of the State or Nation ; and thus we cannot fail to comprehend the
general character of the life and society of that day and generation.

The peace of 1782 found Boston shorn of many of the attributes which
had made her the first among the towns of the English colonies in America.
The population, which before the war had numbered nearly twenty thousand,
sank at the time of the siege to six thousand, comprising only those abso-
lutely unable to get away ; and when peace came it had risen to but little
over twelve thousand. Military occupation, pestilence, and the flight of the
Tory party had done their work, and had more than decimated the people.
Commerce, the main support of the inhabitants, suffered severely in the war,
and had been only partially replaced by'the uncertain successes of the pri-
vateers. The young men had been drawn away to the army ; both State
and Confederacy were practically bankrupt ; and the disorganization conse-
quent upon seven years of civil war was great and disastrous. Boston was
brought face to face with this gloomy condition of her affairs when the long
strain of the Revolution was removed by the Treaty of Paris, and her
people, with characteristic energy, set to work at once to remedy their
misfortunes. Again the harbor was whitened with the sails of merchant
ships, once more the trades began to flourish with their old activity in shop
and ship-yard, 2 and the old bustle and movement were seen anew in the
streets ; but there was much weary work to be done before the ravages of
war could be repaired. Ten years elapsed before the population reached
the point at which it stood prior to the Revolution ; and in that decade
both town and State had much to endure in settling the legacies always
bequeathed to a community by civil strife. The adjustment of social, finan-
cial, and political balances, after such a wrenching of the body politic, was
a slow and in some respects a harsh and trying process, and many years
passed before a condition of stable equilibrium was again attained.

The mere fact of revolution implies, of course, a rearrangement of
classes in any community to a greater or less extent. In the provincial
times, although the political system and theory of Massachusetts were demo-

1 [See Mr. H. A. Hill's chapter in Vol. IV. * [See the chapter on "Industries" in Vol.
ED.] IV. EJD.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 191

cratic, there was a vigorous and powerful aristocracy holding all the ap-
pointed and many of the elective offices, and recognized as leaders'in public
affairs. As a rule, this provincial aristocracy, which had its headquarters
in Boston, was strongly in sympathy with the Crown, and abandoned the
country on the success of the Patriots, either in the great flight which took
place when Howe evacuated Boston, or singly, when opportunity offered.
Their estates were confiscated, and they themselves took refuge for the most
part in the northern provinces, and sometimes in England ; but wherever
they were their loyalty was remembered, and they were aided by the Eng-
lish Government. 1 Here and there exceptions to this rule could, of course,
be found, as notably in the case of John Hancock and the Quincys ;
although even in the latter family of Patriots one distinguished member was
a Tory, and went into exile in consequence. 2 . There were a few others of
this class who, while their sympathies were with England, managed to
preserve a judicious neutrality, and remained in their native town, suspected
by many, and stripped of all political power, but retaining their social posi-
tion, and after many years regaining some portion of their influence. These
remnants of the provincial aristocracy were at best but trifling, and new
men had ample openings in the great gaps which war had made. The new
men, of course, came ; and equally, of course, they were the leaders of the
successful Revolution. They were not, however, as commonly happens in
such cases, drawn from the class immediately below that which had been
overthrown. The country aristocracy, the squires and gentry of the small
towns and villages, unlike their brethren of the capital, had been as a rule
on the side of resistance to England, and had furnished most of the Revolu-
tionary leaders. When their battle was won, many of them came up from
their counties and settled in Boston, occupying the places of their banished
opponents, and not infrequently by cheap purchases becoming possessors
of the confiscated homes of the exiles. To this class, which, to borrow
a very famous name, may be not inaptly styled the Country party, be-
longed, for example, the Adamses and Fisher Ames from Norfolk, the
Prescotts from Middlesex, and the Sullivans from New Hampshire ; while
from Essex, most prolific of all, came the Parsonses, Pickerings, Lees, Jack-
sons, Cabots, Lowells, Grays, and Elbridge Gerry. These men and their
families rapidly filled the places left vacant in society by the old supporters
of the Crown, and, of course, already possessed the political power which
they had gained by the victories of the Revolution. This new aristocracy
maintained for many years the ascendancy in public affairs which had been
held by their predecessors, but their tenure, weakened by the ideas devel-
oped in the Revolution, was more precarious ; and although they dictated
the policy of the State for nearly half a century, their power as a class
broke down and disappeared before the rapid rise and spread of democracy
during the lifetime of the next generation.

1 [See Editorial Notes at the end of Mr. eral of the Province, a brother of Josiah Quincy,
Scudder's chapter in this volume. ED.] Jr., the Patriot. There is a biography of him in

2 [This was Samuel Ouincy, Solicitor-Gen- the appendix to Curwtn's Journal. ED.]

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The Patriot party the Whigs of the Revolution triumphed so com-
pletely by the result of the war that they found themselves not only
masters of the field in 1782, but absolutely unopposed. In their own num-

JOHN ADAMS. 1

bers future party divisions were in due time formed, and we can detect the
germ of those divisions, even before the peace, in the Constitutional Conven-
tion which met at Boston in I/So. 2 The old chiefs as a rule leaned, as

1 [This cut, made by the kind permission of
the Hon. Charles Francis Adam.s, follows Stu-
art's portrait of the old statesman, taken in 1825,
a year before his death, in his eighty-ninth year.
See Mason's Stuart, p. 125. A portrait by Cop-
ley, showing him in court dress, painted in 1783,
was given to Harvard College in 1828 by W.
N. Boylston, is engraved in Adams's Works,
vol. v., and hangs in Memorial Hall, where is
another by J. Trumbull, given by Andrew Cragie

in 1794. Another by Stuart is owned by Mr. T.
Jefferson Coolidge, of Boston. There is in the
Historical Society's cabinet a copy, by Stuart
Newton, of Gilbert Stuart's portrait. See Pro-
ceedings, April, 1862, p. 3. The Boston Magazine,
February, 1784, has a full-face portrait of John
Adams, engraved by J. Norman. ED.]

2 [See Mr. Charles Deane's valuable paper
on the connection of Judge Lowell with the
Declaration of Rights, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.,

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.

193

might be expected, to popular and democratic views ; but what was more
important, they belonged, like Sam Adams, to the class of minds which can
destroy or defend, but which cannot construct. The younger leaders, on
the other hand, belonged to the coming period of reconstruction, when a
new fabric of politics and society was to be built up, and were more con-
servative and less democratic than those whom they had followed in the
conflict with England. The first serious division of opinion in the Patriot
party grew out of the difficulties engendered by the war. The heaviest
burdens were financial. Debts, public and private, weighed severely upon
the State, and upon nearly every member of the community. General in-
solvency, in fact, prevailed. The war had drained the country of specie ;
the Continental paper was worthless, and that of the State not much better.
The scarcity of a decent circulating medium was so great that payments in
kind were legalized. To thinking men it was already obvious that a strong
central government, stability, order in the public finances, and a vigorous
administration, both State and National, were essential to drag the country
out of the chaos of floating debts, and knit once more the political bonds
almost dissolved by war. To effect such results was no easy matter. So-
ciety and public opinion had been grievously shaken, and old habits had
been loosened and weakened. As always happens in times of distress and
depression, there were many among the more ignorant of the community who
mistook effect for cause. They were poor and in debt ; and in the means
adopted by their creditors to collect debts through the usual legal machinery,
they believed they saw the source of their sufferings. The popular feeling
of discontent in the western part of the State, therefore, began as early as
1782 to express itself in resistance to law and to the courts. Matters went
on from bad to worse ; violence and force became more and more common ;
the power of the State was crippled ; and at last it all culminated in the
insurrection known in our history as Shays' Rebellion, which not only
threatened the existence of the Commonwealth, but shook to its foundations
the unstable fabric of the Confederacy. While the storm was gathering,
John Hancock, the popular hero and governor, not fancying the prospect
opening before the State, and the consequent difficulties and dangers likely
to beset the chief magistrate, took himself out of the way, and the younger
and more conservative element in politics elected James Bowdoin in his
stead. It was a fortunate choice in every way. Bowdoin was a wise, firm,
courageous man, perfectly ready to sacrifice popularity, if need be, to the
public good. He was warmly supported in Boston, as the principles and
objects of Shays and his followers were peculiarly obnoxious to a business
community. The alarm in the town was very great, for it looked as if their
contest for freedom was about to result in anarchy. The young men came
forward, armed themselves, and volunteered for service ; but the Governor's
firmness was all that was needed. General Lincoln, at the head of the mili-

April, 1874, p. 299; also Governor Bullock's admirable paper in the Amer. Antiq. Soc. Proc.,
April 27, 1881. ED.]
VOL. in. 25.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

tia, easily crushed the feeble mob gathered by Shays, whose followers were
entirely dispersed. 1 Nevertheless the rioters represented, although in a
very extreme fashion, the general sentiment of the State, demoralized and
shaken by civil war, as was shown by the almost criminal delay of the lower
branch of the Legislature in sustaining the Governor in his efforts to main-
tain order, and by their reluctance to declare the insurgents in rebellion, a
step forced upon them by the vigor of the Governor and Senate. This un-
happy condition of public opinion was still more strongly manifested at the
next election. The issue was made up between pardon and sympathy for
the rebels on the one side and just and salutary punishment on the other.
The conservative party, in favor of the latter course, put forward Bowdoin ;
while Hancock, who had been under shelter, now came forward once more
to catch the popular support as the advocate of mercy, which another better
and braver man had alone earned the right to dispense. Hancock had
chosen his time well. Popular feeling in the country districts was with the
insurgents, and Bowdoin was defeated ; although Boston, now thoroughly
in the hands of the younger and more conservative party, strongly sustained
him. Thus the new party of order and reconstruction started in Boston,
which continued to be its headquarters; and gradually extending its influ-
ence, first through the eastern towns and then to the west, came finally to
control the State.

The Shays Rebellion did more, however, than decide the elections in
Massachusetts. It was without doubt an efficient cause in promoting the
Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, and in frightening the decrepit
and obstructive Congress of the Confederation. The adoption of the Con-
stitution, submitted by the delegates who met in Philadelphia, was an event
of national as well as local importance, for the adhesion of the great State
of Massachusetts was essential to success. Boston was the scene of the
protracted struggle in the Convention which was held to consider this

1 [The story of this insurrection enters into
the substance of all histories of Massachusetts,
but it has been amply told by G. R. Minot, in his

monograph, Insurrections in Massachusetts in
1786, published in 1788, and in a second edition
in 1810; and there are numerous refer-
ences to contemporary and other au-
thorities in a chapter on it in Barry's
Massachusetts, iii. ch. 6. See also Sar-
gent's Dealings with the Dead, No. 29,
and Holland's Western Massachusetts.
There is a volume in the Massachusetts
Archives on Shays' Insurrection. A
company of light infantry was raised in Boston
to act against the insurgents, Harrison Gray
Otis being made captain, with Thomas Russell
and John Gray as lieutenants. Boston liberally

supplied the means by which, in January, Gen-
eral Lincoln was put in command of forty-four
hundred men, and with these he marched from
Roxbury on the twenty-first.

When Bowdoin went to Cambridge to
review Brooks's troops, being then about
fifty-eight years old, he is described as
wearing a gray wig, cocked hat, white broad-
cloth coat and waistcoat, red small-clothes, and

black silk stockings. Sullivan's Public Men,
letter ii. Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, ix.
contains certificates of service in Shays' Rebel-
lion. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 195

momentous question, first in Brattle-Street Church, still bearing the marks
of Washington's cannon, and later in the State House, and later still in
the meeting-house in Long Lane. 1 The town was, of course, deeply
interested in the result, and strongly in favor of the Constitution; but
the details of the long conflict which ended in its adoption do not im-
mediately concern this history. The conservative elements, which had

JAMES BOWDOIN. 2

begun to take a party shape in the Shays Rebellion, developed into a
strong and homogeneous body in favor of the Constitution. They had
an arduous battle to fight, and they fought it well. Against them were
arrayed all the sympathizers with the Shays Rebellion, besides many who
had actually taken part in it, and who, having tasted the sweets of incipient
anarchy, were averse to anything like strong government. There can be no

1 [See Vol. II. p. 513. ED.]

2 [This cut follows a miniature by Copley,
painted about 1770, now owned by the Hon.
Robert C. Winthrop, Bowdoin's descendant.
See Perkins's Copley's Life and Paintings, p. 37.
There is a profile of Bowdoin in the Massachu-
setts Magazine, January, 1791. Mr. Winthrop

delivered at Bowdoin College an excellent ad-
dress on Bowdoin's life and character, which is
contained in his Speeches and in a later volume
on Bowdoin, Franklin, and Washington, from the
same gentleman. A privately printed edition,
with additions and notes of the Life and Services
of Bowdoin, bears date 1876.

196 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

doubt that at the outset public feeling and a majority of the Convention
were against the Constitution ; and, moreover, the great leaders of the Rev-
olutionary period, Hancock and Adams, were lukewarm. By ability in
debate, by perseverance, by managing and flattering Hancock, 1 these dif-
ficulties were gradually overcome ; while to gain the earnest and active
support of Adams, the popular sentiment of Boston was invoked. The
mechanics of the town, under the lead of Paul Revere, held a great meeting
at the Green-Dragon Tavern, 2 on Union Street, and passed resolutions in
favor of the Constitution. This was the voice of an oracle to which Adams
had often appealed in trying times, and its utterance now weighed with him,
and changed cool and critical approval to active support. Perhaps it de-
cided the fate of the Constitution ; for the great influence of Adams may
well have counted for much in a close majority of only nineteen votes.

The adoption of the Constitution by Massachusetts was a source of great
satisfaction to Boston, 3 and was celebrated with great rejoicing. After the
ratification the members of the Convention dined together, toasts were
drunk, and the asperities of debate were forgotten for the moment in a
general sense of pleasure and relief. The next day a procession paraded
the streets. First came the representatives of agriculture ; then the trades ;
then the " Ship Federal Constitution," drawn by thirteen horses, with a crew
of thirteen men; then captains and seamen of merchant-vessels; and finally
more trades and the militia companies. The procession visited the houses
of the Boston delegates, fired salutes in front of the State House, while the
proceedings concluded with another great public dinner. In the evening an
old long-boat, named " The Old Confederation," was borne by another pro-
cession to the Common, and there burned amid the shouts of the people.

With intense interest Boston watched the adoption of the Constitution
by one State after another ; and we can see, in the newspapers, the rapid
development of the new party of reconstruction, the friends of the Con-
stitution, now known as Federalists, and the corresponding increase of
bitterness toward all who attempted to thwart a measure believed, in Boston
at least, to involve the future existence of the nation. The party which
thus took shape in the debates of the Constitutional Convention, and was
solidified and strengthened by victory, bent all its energies to selecting
senators and representatives who were well known to be strong friends of

1 [Referring to Hancock's proposition of 2 [See Vol. II. p. v. ED.]

amendments, which perhaps saved the Consti- 8 [The debates of this convention, edited by

tution in the Convention, Rufus King writes to B. K. Peirce and Charles Hale, were published

General Knox : "Hancock will hereafter receive by the State in 1856 The "conciliatory resolu-

the universal support of Bowdoin's friends; and tions" introduced by Hancock were written by

we tell him that if Virginia does not unite, which Parsons (Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, 70),

is problematical, that he is considered as the only though their authorship has been claimed for

fair candidate for President." We all know the James Sullivan, and perhaps for others. Some

sequel : Virginia did unite ; and the Massachu- of Dr. Belknap's minutes of the debates are

setts Governor had a very bad attack of gout printed in Mass, ffist. Soc. Proc., March, 1858,

when the Virginian President visited Boston the p. 296. See Mr. Cummings's chapter in this

next year. See Amory's James Sullivan, i. 223. volume for an account of Benjamin Russell's

ED.] reports. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.

I 97

the new scheme. Flushed with their first triumph, the Federalists were
generally successful, and both senators were tried friends of the Constitu-
tion ; but their most signal victory was in the Boston District, 1 where they
elected Fisher Ames, 2 the young and eloquent champion of the Constitu-
tion, over Sam Adams, the veteran of the Revolution, the idol of the town,
but now suspected of coolness toward the great instrument which was des-
tined to be the corner-stone of a nation. The defeat of Adams by Ames
marked Boston as the great centre of New England Federalism.

The pleasure excited in Boston by the successful establishment of the
new government found an opportunity for expression when Washington,
venerated and beloved, the mainstay of the Union, as he had been of
the Revolution, made his visit to Massachusetts in the autumn of 1789.
The President, accompanied by the Vice-President, John Adams, was re-
ceived by the authorities on the outskirts of the town ; 3 and, having been
presented with an address, rode through the streets on a fine white horse,
escorted by a long procession, 4 civil and military, and greeted on all sides
by the applause of a dense crowd. On arriving at the State House he
was conducted to a platform thrown out on the west side of the building,

1 [On April 12, John Adams, on his way to
New York to, become the first Vice-President
under the new Constitution, was escorted into
Boston from Roxbury by a troop of horse. Amid
the ringing of bells he was carried to Governor
Hancock's, where he lunched with the digni-
taries ; and then, amid another firing of cannon,
he went on his journey. ED.]

2 [The son of Fisher Ames, Seth Ames, Esq.,
in making in 1854 a new edition of the works,
speeches, and correspondence of his father, con-
cluded that as his own recollections were of no
account, he was but three years old at his fa-
ther's death, he could not do better by way of
introduction than to give the kindly memoir by
Dr. Kirkland, and let the letters, then first printed,
stand as a supplement to it. In 1871 a new con-
tribution to the subject appeared in a volume of
Ames's Speeches in Congress, 1789-1796, edited
by Pelham W. Ames, including five speeches not
given in his works. Fisher Ames studied in the
office of William Tudor, in Boston, and though
his residence in the town was not a long one, he
represented it as part of the Suffolk District in
the First Congress. It was he, too, when Wash-
ington died, who was selected to pronounce a
eulogy before the Legislature in Boston. On his
own death, in 1808, his body was brought to
Boston, that Samuel Dexter might pronounce
an oration over it. Stuart's portrait of Ames is
owned by Mrs. John E. Lodge, of Boston, de-
scending to her from her grandfather, George
Cabot, Ames's friend. The likeness in Memo-
rial Hall, Cambridge, is a copy, not accounted
good, by Stuart, purchased of him in 1810.
Mason's Stuart, p. 1 27. A good engraving, by T.

Kelley, of Stuart's Fisher Ames appeared in the
Boston Monthly Magazine, January, 1826. He is
the subject of some further biographical details
in Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, p. 296.
ED.]

8 [As Washington approached Boston he was
met by a troop of horse from Cambridge, and in
this town he tarried an hour, to visit the man-
sion which had been his headquarters at the
time of the siege. His chariot was now changed
for the saddle, and at the village green General
Brooks saluted him with a thousand militia in
line. ED.]

4 [The procession was headed by the band of
the French fleet then in the harbor, which at the
same time united its salvos with those of the
Castle and the parading artillery companies ;
while Colonel Bradford, with five companies of
city troops, took the lead. It will be remembered
that before the start was made Washington was
kept waiting in the cold while an unseemly al-
tercation took place between the selectmen and
Sheriff Henderson, who was present represent-
ing the Governor, and assumed to control the
order of the march. The sheriff threatened "to
make a hole " through some of the town's officers,
and they waived their rights. They later, Dec.
12, 1789, wrote an indignant letter to Hancock,
who replied by sending Henderson's version of
the affair, in which he claimed to have acted
"according to his Excellency's orders," which
Hancock did not gainsay ; and to this the select-
men returned a temperate reply that they should
not presume to altercate with his Excellency,
etc. The letters are in the Charity Building
collect ton. ED.]

198

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

and arranged, as we are informed, " to exhibit in a strong light the Man
of the People. " As Washington stood forth in all his simple majesty,

WASHINGTON.

cheers rang out, and an ode was sung in his honor by singers placed in a
triumphal arch close by. After this the procession broke up, and then for

1 [This cut follows the well known Boston
Athenaeum head by Stuart, now in the Art Mu-
seum. Washington gave the artist sittings in
the spring of 1796; it was never finished. This
picture was bought, after Stuart's death, of his
widow, and given to the Athenaeum, which also
owns the companion head of Mrs. Washington,
and a considerable portion of Washington's li-
brary. See Mason's Gilbert Stuart, 103, for a
photogravure of the original canvas. It is from
this that Stuart's later pictures of Washington
were reproduced. Replicas of Stuart's Washing-

ton, varying sometimes in accessories, are owned
in Boston : one by Chief-Justice Gray, formerly
the property of the Pinckney family, of South
Carolina; one painted for Jonathan Mason, now
owned by Mrs. William Appleton ; a copy of the
Athenaeum head, made in iSiofor Josiah Quincy,
now at Quincy; one belonging to the Hon. R.
C. Winthrop, formerly owned by the MacDon-
ald family ; one which was in a series of the first
five presidents of the United States, bought of
Col. George Gibbs's estate by Mr. T. Jefferson
Coolidge. These items are taken from a long

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.

199

several days there was a round of dinners and state visits. Washington
lived during his stay in Boston on the corner of Tremont and Court streets,
where a small and lofty tablet still commemorates his sojourn. The
most amusing incident of his visit, and the one most characteristic both
of the men and the times, was the little conflict between him and John
Hancock on a point of etiquette. Hancock, as the chief officer of what
he esteemed a sovereign State, undertook to regard Washington as a
sort of foreign potentate, who was bound to pay the first visit to the ruler
of the Commonwealth in which he found himself; while Washington took
the view that he was the superior officer of the Governor of Massachu-
setts, and that, as the head of the Union, Hancock was bound to visit
him first. Washington's sense of dignity, and of what was due to his
position, had often been exemplified, and the Governor's vanity and State
sovereignty were no match for it. Hancock prudently made the gout an
excuse for giving way; and having as fine a sense as the first Pitt of the
theatrical properties of his malady, appeared at Washington's door, swathed
in flannel, and was borne on men's shoulders to the President's apartments.
After this all went well, and Washington's visit not only drew out the really
vigorous personal loyalty of the people, but still further kindled the en-

enumeration of. copies, by himself, of Stuart's like-
nesses of Washington given by Mr. Mason.

A silhouette of Washington, taken during the
last years of his presidency, is now preserved in
the Mass. Hist. Society's cabinet, of which a
heliotype is given in their Proceedings, Decem-
ber, 1873.

The Historical Society also owns a copy of
C. W. Peak's full-length of Washington, fol-
lowing the copy owned by the Earl of Albe-
marle ; while other repetitions of Peale's work
are at present in the Smithsonian Institution, at
Versailles, and at the College of New Jersey.
Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1873-75, pp. 324, 350, 366,

375-77-

In 1851 there was published in Boston a pro-
file likeness of Washington, purporting to have
been taken in Boston, in 1776, by one Fullerton.
A pen-and-ink sketch, marked J. Hiller, 1794,
mentioned in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1874, p. 243,
is thought to have been drawn from this. It is
thought that a miniature likeness of Washington,
in plaster, mentioned as belonging to Mr. Melvin
Lord, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., February, 1874,
p. 254, may have been taken in Boston or Cam-
bridge at the time of the siege.

During Washington's visit to Boston in 1789,
Gullagher, the painter, stealthily made a likeness
of the General, while he was at chapel ; but a day
or two later, following him to Portsmouth, he
made the likeness which is engraved in the Mass.
Hist. Soc. Proc., March, 1858, p. 309. The artist
sold his picture in Boston, by a raffle, and it
finally came into the possession of Dr. Belknap.
Harvard College had given its first doctorate of

laws to Washington in 1776; and at the request
of its corporation his likeness was painted in
1790 by Edward Savage, of which there is an
engraving by the artist, published in 1793. The
painting hangs in Memorial Hall.

Christ Church contains the first monument
ever erected to his memory. It is a bust in mar-
ble, of which photographs have recently been
taken by Notman at the instance of Mr. John C.
Ropes. Chantrey's statue of Washington, which
stands in the State House, was erected in 1828,
at a cost of $15,000. In this building are to be
seen fac-similes of the monumental stones erected
in the church at Brington, Northamptonshire, to
the memory of members of the Washington fam-
ily, who were long supposed to be ancestors of
George Washington, the reproductions having
been given by Earl Spencer to Charles Sumner,
and by him to the State, in 1861. Later investi-
gations of Colonel Joseph L. Chester have ren-
dered it almost certain that the American family
did not spring from this stock. See Herald and
Genealogist, London, and Heraldic Journal, Bos-
ton, 1866. The equestrian statue in the Public
Garden, modelled by Thomas Ball, of which an
engraving is given in Vol. IV. was not placed
in position till 1869, though begun some years
earlier.

It was after this visit of the General, in
1789, that the main thoroughfare into the town
from Roxbury was named for him; but the
various names that designated this street north
of Dover Street, were not displaced, and the
name applied to the whole length of it, till 1824.
ED.]

200

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

thusiasm of Boston and of New England for the Union, and consequently
strengthened the hands of the Federalists. 1

The assumption of the State debts by the new Federal government did
much to relieve the financial burdens of Massachusetts; and this, combined
with the sense of stability in public affairs, aroused the spirit of enterprise
everywhere, so that Boston became the centre of many great schemes for
public improvements, most of which came to nothing, although they served,
nevertheless, to encourage the business of the town. The population had

THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH."*

again reached the number which it had before the Revolution, and the new
era to which the war had been a prelude was fairly begun. As if to mark
the change which had set in, one of the most conspicuous characters of the
old period passed away at this time, by the death of John Hancock. 3
There have been but few men in history who have achieved so much fame,
and whose names are so familiar, who at the same time really did so little,
and left so slight a trace of personal influence upon the times in which
they lived, as John Hancock. He was valuable chiefly from his pictur-

1 [Recollections of Washington's visit, by
General W. H. Sumner, are printed in the New
England Historical and Genealogical Register,
April, 1854, and April, 1860, p. 161. See also
Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, p. 114; Ed-
ward Everett's Mount Vernon Papers, 106. See
the account of the musical accompaniments in
the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop's Speeches and
Addresses, 1852-1867, p. 330. Some explana-
tions by Nathaniel Gorham upon the disturb-
ance between Hancock and Washington, printed
in Drake's Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 15, throw

a light upon the matter more favorable to Han-
cock. ED.]

2 [This is a fac-simile of the view of this tri-
umphal arch, which appeared in the ATassachn-
setts Magazine, January, 1790. The erection
stretched with a triple arch across Washington
Street, just north of Court Street. The inscrip-
tion read : " To the man who unites all hearts."
ED.]

3 [Hancock died Oct. 8, 1793, an< ^ was buried
in the Granary burying-ground. See Shurtleff,
Description of Boston, p. 212. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.

2OI

esqueness. Everything about him is picturesque, from his bold, hand-
some signature, 1 which gave him an assured immortality, to his fine house
which appears in the pictures of the day as the " Seat of His Excellency,
John Hancock." His position, wealth, and name made him valuable to
the real movers of the Revolution, when men of his stamp were almost
without exception on the side of the Crown ; and it was this which made
such a man as Sam Adams cling to and advance him, and which gave him
a factitious importance. Hancock was far from greatness ; indeed it is to
be feared that he was not much removed from being " the empty barrel,"
which is the epithet, tradition says, that the outspoken John Adams applied

to him. 2 And yet he had real value after all. He was the Alcibiades, in a
certain way,, of the rebellious little Puritan town; and his display and gor-
geousness no doubt gratified the sober, hard-headed community which
put him at its head and kept him there. He stands out with a fine show
of lace and velvet and dramatic gout, a real aristocrat, shining and res-
plendent against the cold gray background of every-day life in the Boston
of the days after the Revolution, when the gay official society of the Prov-
ince had been swept away. At the side of his house he built a dining
hall, where he could assemble fifty or sixty guests ; and when his company
was gathered he would be borne or wheeled in, and with easy grace de-

1 [Few signatures are so well known as Han-
cock's ; and, as it happens, that oftenest seen,
attached to the Declar-
ation of Independence and

given in the text, is one of
the boldest and finest of
them all. Ordinarily his
signature, though preserv-
ing some of the character-
istics of that, lacked its
steadiness and regularity of
curve. That which is given
in Mr. Scudder's chapter,
and under his portrait in
Vol. IV. p. 5, is more near-
ly an average one. The
one annexed, taken from a
writing of his college days, shows some of the
possibilities of the later ones. ED.]

2 [Yet see what John Adams says of him in
Works, x. 259-261 ; and the grandson, Charles
Francis Adams, not unfairly estimates the value
of Hancock to his times in the brief memoir of

VOL. III. 26.

him prepared in 1876, which is printed in the
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,

i. 73. A favorable account is given in Sander-
son's Signers of the Declaration of Independence,
which has been by some attributed to John
Adams; but see John Adams's Works, ii. 416.
See also Tudor's Life of Otis, p. 261, and H. E.
Scudder's chapter in the present volume. ED.]

2O2

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

THE HANCOCK HOUSE. 1

light every one by his talk and finished manners. In society his pettiness,
peevishness, and narrowness would vanish, and his true value as a brilliant

1 [This cut follows a view of the house given
in the Massachusetts Magazine, July, 1789; also
given in heliotype in the Evacuation Memorial,
p. 99 Another view of it, twenty years later or
more, will be found in the view of upper Bea-
con Street, taken from the Common, in another
part of the present volume; and a still later view
(1825) is that in Snow's Boston, p. 325. Views
of it as it appeared at a later day, when but
a mere house-yard was left about it, are num-
erous. Hinton, United States, Boston, 1834, ii.
342 ; S. A. Drake's Landmarks, p. 339 ; S. G.
Drake's Boston, p. 68 1 ; King's Handbook of Bos-
ton, p. 12 ; Lossing's Field-book of the Revolution,
i. 507, etc.

In 1859 a strenuous effort was made in the
State Legislature to secure the passage of a bill
by which the Commonwealth should become the
owner of the house, using it for the residence of
its Governors, or for any other good purpose.
The Governor had raised the question of its
purchase in his message, and a committee with
the Hon. Edward G. Parker at its head had re-
commended that $100,000 be appropriated for
the purpose, and the heirs executed a bond to
sell for that sum. This report was printed in
the Boston newspapers, in February, 1859. The
Hon. Charles W. Upham, March 17, 1859, made
a strong appeal in the House of Representa-
tives, in urging the claims of Hancock on the
grateful recognition of the State, and this speech
is reported in the Boston Daily Advertiser, March
24, 1859. The project failed; and finally, on

Feb. 18, 1863, the land was sold to James M.
Beebe and Gardner Brewer, for $125,000, who
built for their own occupancy the two houses
now standing on the site. The mansion was re-
served for re-erection elsewhere; but this plan
likewise miscarried, and it was at last pulled
down and sold as old material. The knocker
of the front door was given to Dr. O. W. Holmes,
who put it on the door of the old Holmes house
in Cambridge. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May,
1875, P- 38- There is a historical account, by
Arthur Gilman, of the Hancock house and its
founder, in the Atlantic Monthly, 1863, p. 692.
The house was built in 1737, by Thomas Han-
cock (see Vol. II. p. 519, for his portrait), of
whom there is an account by Alden Bradford, in
Hunfs Merchants' Magazine, i. 346; and who,
dying in 1764, left his mansion and the bulk of
his estate to his nephew, John Hancock. See
the genealogy in N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg.
ix. 352. There is no trace of a grant to war-
rant the use of the arms borne by John Hancock.
(Heraldic Journal, ii. 99.) For a time after he
resigned the presidency of Congress, Hancock
lived during the summer in Jamaica Plain, in a
cottage which stood just beyond the present resi-
dence of Mr. Moses Williams. The story goes
that he gave up his residence there because his
neighbor, William Gordon, the historical writer,
who was one of the overseers of Harvard Col-
lege, greatly offended Hancock by his severe
strictures on Hancock's neglect to settle his ac-
counts as treasurer of that institution. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 203

and picturesque figure would come out. His death was but one of the
incidents which, as the old century hastened to its close, marked the change
which had fairly come. The old simplicity, as well as the old stateliness and
pomp, were alike slipping away. Those were the days when the gentry lived
in large houses, enclosed by handsome gardens, and amused themselves with
card parties, dancing parties, and weddings ; when there were no theatres,
and nothing in the way of relaxation except these little social festivities.
But the enemy was at the gates, a great, hurrying, successful, driving
democracy. Brick blocks threatened the gardens ; the theatre came, des-
pite the august mandate of Governor Hancock; 1 the elaborate and stately
dress of the eighteenth century began to be pushed aside, first for grotesque
and then for plainer fashions ; 2 the little interests of provincial days began
to wane ; Unitarianism sapped the foundations of the stout old church of
Winthrop and Cotton ; 3 and the eager zest for intellectual excitement
poured itself into business and politics, the only channels then open, giv-
ing to the latter an intensity hardly to be appreciated in days when mental
resources are as numerous as they then were few. Boston was feeling the
effects of the revolution which had been "wrought by the War for Inde-
pendence, the first act of the mighty revolutionary drama just then reopen-
ing in Paris.

To this change and progress in society and in habits of life the French
Revolution gave of course a powerful impetus. 4 The tidings from Paris
were received in this country at first with a universal burst of exultation,
which found as strong expression in Boston as anywhere. The success of
Dumouriez was the occasion of a great demonstration. A liberty pole was
raised, 5 an ox roasted, and bread and wine distributed in State Street;
while Sam Adams, who had succeeded his old companion as Governor,
presided, with the French Consul, at a great civic banquet in Faneuil Hall.
The follies of the Parisian mob were rapidly adopted ; " Liberty and
Equality " was stamped on children's cakes ; and the sober merchants and
mechanics of Boston began to address each other as " citizen " Brown, and
" citizen " Smith. The ridiculous side of all this business would soon have
made itself felt among a people whose sense of humor was one of their
strongest characteristics ; but when the farce became tragedy, and freedom
was baptized in torrents of blood, and the gentle, timid, stupid king, known
to Americans only as a kind friend, was brought to the block, the enthu-
siasm rapidly subsided. 6 Every one knows how the affairs of France were
dragged into our national politics for party purposes, with Democratic
societies and Jacobin clubs in their train, and the bitterness which came

1 [See the chapter on " The Drama," by 5 [The pole, sixty feet high, was raised, Jan.

Colonel Clapp, in Vol. IV. ED.] 24, 1793, in the area then named, and since

' 2 [See Mr. J. P. Quincy's chapter in Vol. called, Liberty Square. The ox was roasted on

IV. ED.] Copp's Hill, and the viands were served on

3 [See Dr. Peabody's chapter in the present tables in State Street, stretching from the Old
volume. ED.] State House to near Kilby Street. ED.]

4 [See its effect on the press, noted in Mr. 6 [See Mr. J. P. Quincy's chapter in Vol.
Cummings's chapter in this volume. ED.] IV. p. n. ED.]

204 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

from them ;. but all this gained little foothold in Boston, where the insults
of Genet roused general indignation, and the attitude of Washington toward
the insolent Frenchman found hearty support. But fidelity to Washington
and to the Federalist party was about to encounter a much severer strain.
The war with England was so recent that it was hazardous to make any
'treaty with that country, and to carry through such a treaty as was actually
made was a task for which Washington alone was capable. The Jay treaty,
which even Hamilton is said to have called, in the first moment of irrita-
tion, " an old woman's treaty " on the one side ; and which Charles Fox,
with all his liberalism, thought unfavorable to England on the other,
was received in America with a cry of rage so general that it seemed uni-
versal. In Boston a popular meeting l was held, and Democratic leaders
indulged in vehement and acceptable denunciation. Riots broke out of a
rather ugly character, which Governor Adams, blinded by prejudice, refused
to repress ; 2 and the excellent Mr. Jay was hung and burned in effigy, to the
perfect satisfaction of the mob. The Federalists were stunned. Many of
them openly condemned the treaty, while only the very coolest heads
among them believed in sustaining the administration. Gradually, however,
the leaders rallied. The Boston Chamber of Commerce passed resolutions
in support of the President ; reaction began ; the stern, calm replies of
Washington checked the tide of angry passion, and men at last began to
see, especially in a business community, that the treaty, even if not the best
possible, was necessary and valuable, and that the fortunes of the young
nation could not be entangled with those of the mad French Republic.
Boston was once more Federalist, and the stormy gust of anger had blown
over. 3

The growth of the Federalist party was shown when Sam Adams re-
tired from public life, by the choice of Increase Sumner 4 as his succes-
sor. Governor Sum-
ner was an ardent sup-
porter of John Adams,

then J ust be S innin g his
eventful administra-

tion, and the troubles with France which ensued awakened deep indignation
in Boston. Sumner's course drew out the most violent attacks, but he
was re-elected by an overwhelming majority. The fortunes of the Feder-

1 [At a town-meeting convened in Boston to Ames which carried the House of Representa-
consider it but one defender of it spoke. The lives into measures sustaining it. This, the most
selectmen transmitted to the President their Res- famous of his speeches, is in his Works, and in
olutions of disapproval, and drew from Wash- the later Speeches, where an interesting note on
ington a dignified reply. Sullivan's Public Men, it is prefixed. ED.]

p. 96. See further, on the opposition to Jay's * [Increase Sumner was born in Roxbury.

treaty in Boston, in Loring's Hundred Boston See a memoir and genealogy in N. E. Hist, and

Orators, p. 307. Harrison Gray Otis at this time Geneal. Reg., April, 1854 ; also Genealogy of the

made his first political speech. ED.] Sumner Family, by W. S. Appleton, 1880 ; Gen-

2 Wells's Life of S. Adams, iii. 351. eral W. H. Sumner's History of East Boston ; and
8 [It was the masterly speech of Fisher Bridgman's Pilgrims of Boston. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 205

alists were at their highest point, and Moses Gill, the Lieut.-Governor,
whom the death of Sumner left at the head of the government, was suc-
ceeded by Caleb Strong, 1 an ex-senator and ,
one of the stanchest of Federalists. But Sr/
even in the midst of their success the hour * ' s
of their downfall was at hand. The admin- /y
istration of John Adams was torn with fierce *S
internal dissension, and the President and the leaders in New England
were hopelessly estranged. But although many of the chiefs in Boston

drew off from the President, the clans
stood by him and gave him the vote
of Massachusetts. It proved a use-
less loyalty. The Federalists fell
from power, and the new century
opened with the accession of Jefferson, an event which both leaders and
followers in Boston had brought themselves to believe would be little else
than the coming of a Marat or a Robespierre. It is hardly necessary to say
that nothing of this sort happened, but that on the contrary a period of
prosperity, for which the short-lived peace of Amiens opened the way, be-
gan, as unequalled as it was unexpected. This prosperity took the form
of maritime commerce, and poured its riches into the lap of Boston, con-
spicuously among all the seaports. 2 At the same time, of course, all the
country throve, although the great advance was most apparent among the
merchants of Boston and New York and the seafaring population of New
England. When men are making money and prospering it is not easy to
awaken among them great political enthusiasm, nor is it easy to convince
them that the administration under which they have succeeded is a bad
one ; but this was not the case with the leaders. Nothing could check their
deadly hatred of Jefferson, which increased as they saw their own power
decline and that of the Government wax strong. As the conviction forced
itself upon their minds that the sceptre of government had passed finally to
the South, before whom a divided North was helpless, they struggled vainly
against fate ; and the bitterness of party, so marked in the first decade of
the century, found its origin in the years of Jefferson's first term, when
peace and prosperity reigned throughout the country. Like the Whig party
in England after the coalition, when they were called to face Pitt and his vast
majorities, the thin ranks of the Federalists were still further weakened by
the internal dissensions growing out of the sorry strifes of the Adams admin-
istration. These quarrels had been allayed by defeat ; but they were only
partially healed, and were soon to bear bitter fruit. Of all this Boston was
of course the centre ; and when the annexation of Louisiana roused the
Federalists to desperation, it was in Boston that a meeting was to be held
at which Hamilton should be present, and where the schemes of secession,

1 [An engraving, after Stuart's portrait, will 2 [See Mr. H. A. Hill's chapter in Vol. IV.

be found in J/<w. //&/. Sor. Proc., i. 290. En.] ED.]

2O6

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

which the New England leaders had been seriously discussing under their
breath, should find expression and obtain a decision on their merits. The

HAMILTON. 1

good sense of some of the leaders contributed with other causes to prevent
the occurrence of this meeting; but had there been no other obstacle, the

1 [This statue, cut in granite, designed by Island of Nevis, West Indies, n January, 1757;

Rimmer, and given to the city in 1865 by Tho- died in New York, 12 July, 1804." "Orator,

mas Lee, stands in Commonwealth Avenue. It writer, soldier, jurist, financier. Although his

is inscribed, " Alexander Hamilton, born in the particular province was the treasury, his genius

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 207

death of Hamilton would have sufficed to cause postponement, if nothing
else. The loss of that great man was peculiarly felt in Boston, where almost
every man of note was one of his devoted followers, and where Federalism
had struck its roots deeper and clung with a greater tenacity than anywhere
else. In Boston Hamilton's death was deeply mourned. There the money
a large sum for those days was raised to buy his lands and relieve the
necessities of his family ; and there the first statue of later times was raised
to the great Secretary, commemorating alike his genius and the enduring
and faithful Federalism of the old town in the years when the power of the
Democracy seemed universal.

In this dark hour the Federalists were, indeed, nearly extinct, and when
Massachusetts in 1804 gave her electoral vote to Jefferson it seemed as if
the end could not be far distant. In fact the Federalist party would soon
have perished utterly had it not been for the amazing blunders of Jefferson's
second term, which gave the party a new lease of life and a vigorous and
partially successful existence. This revival had not begun when an incident
occurred, familiar to all who know the history of Boston, and which forcibly
illustrates the violent party divisions of the town. This was the famous
shooting of young Austin by Thomas Selfridge, the former a Democrat,
the latter a Federalist. The story of the death of Austin and the con-
sequent trial of Selfridge are told in this History by another hand, 1 and
do not need repetition here. The affair was made a party question ; the
newspapers were full of flings at Federalist murders and their impunity,
and the talk, criticism, and invective connected with it give a vivid picture
of the heated politics of Boston at that time. But the fervor of partisan
feeling was soon to glow with a still fiercer heat, owing to the course of the
world's history, in which the United States the only neutral nation and still
shackled by colonial feelings was the foot-ball of the two great contending
forces, Napoleon Bonaparte and the English Government. Into the stream
of these mighty events, which are world-wide in their scope, the fortunes
of Boston were strongly drawn. The renewal of hostilities by Napoleon had
thrown the trade of all nations, and particularly that of England, the dom-
inant power of the commercial world, into confusion. From this disorder
the United States, as the only neutral with a strong merchant-marine, reaped
a rich harvest, the fruits of which fell of course largely to New England,
and therefore to Boston. It was the golden era of the American merchant-
service, in which much of the best ability and the most daring enterprise
were concentrated. Always alert and flushed with success, the New Eng-
land sea-captains and merchants of Boston took quick advantage of the
troubles of Europe to engross rapidly the carrying trade of the world,

pervaded the whole administration of Washing- plaster model of it is now preserved in Albany,

ton." The first marble statue ever erected in Mag. of Amer. Hist., 1881, p. 466.

America is said to have been one of Hamilton, by l [See the chapter in Vol. IV. on "The Bench

Ball Hughes the Boston sculptor, which stood and Bar," by Mr. John T. Morse, Jr. Dr. J. C.

in the Merchants' Exchange in New York, and Warren was called to dress the wounds. See

was destroyed in the fire of 1835. The original Life of J. C. Warren, i. 67. ED.]

2O8 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

and to heap up handsome fortunes from its enormous profits. We may
see all this energy, courage, and enterprise depicted in the now almost
forgotten voyages of Cleaveland and Delano, and learn how strong and
true the genius for the sea is in the New England race. 1 But we can
also see there the dark side of the picture ; not merely the normal dan-
gers and hardships, but the insult and pillage inflicted by French and
English, and the helpless, manly wrath and indignation of the Amer-
ican seamen. Our success and prosperity after the outbreak of war in
Europe was in truth too obvious, and soon aroused the unsleeping jealousy
of England. Seizures began to be made by British cruisers ; then came
unwarrantable condemnations in the British admiralty courts ; and then op-
pressive Orders in Council. The first sensation was one of angry pride and
keen disappointment at interference with our apparently boundless sources
of profit. Sharp remonstrances and resolutions went out from Boston to
spur the lagging Executive. The Federalist leaders, who regarded Eng-
land as the bulwark of civilization against the all-destroying French Revo-
lution personified in Napoleon, were overborne ; and, while reprobating
these violent measures in secret, seemed about to lose their last hold upon
the people, and were forced to see their Governor, Caleb Strong, replaced by

a leading Democrat, James Sullivan. 2
They were properly helpless before
the righteous indignation which blazed
up more fiercely than ever when the English, not content with despoiling
our merchant-vessels, fired upon the national flag flying from a national
ship. 3 If Mr. Jefferson had at that supreme moment declared war and ap-
pealed to the country, he would have had the cordial support of the mass
of the people not only in New England but in Boston itself; but it was
not to be. The President faltered as the Federalists rallied and renewed
their attack, fell back on his preposterous theories of commercial warfare,
well suited to .his timidity and love of shuffling, and forced the celebrated
embargo through both Houses of Congress. The support of New England
in the trying times which were at hand was lost to the administration, and
the political game in that important section of the country was once more
in the hands of those Federalist chiefs whose headquarters were at Boston.
The Federalism of Boston had in fact remained steady in every trial, al-
though there was a moment when Jefferson might have sapped its strength.
It had been heard in Washington for years through the eloquent lips of

1 [See Mr. H. A. Hill's chapter in Vol. IV. and principles of the Federalists better known,
ED.] he gave his book the greater latitude of familiar

2 [Engravings of Stuart's portrait of James letters. In 1847 his son reissued it, much en-
Sullivan can be found in T. C. Amory's Life of larged. William Sullivan was born in 1774. It
Governor Sullivan, and in Mass. Hist. Soc. Prof., i. was he who said : " Dignified civility, based upon
In 1834 it fell to the lot of William Sullivan, self-respect, is a gentleman's weapon and de-
the son of Governor Sullivan, who had taken fence." William Sullivan died in 1839. See
the opposite side in politics, to publish his Pub- Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, p. 317. ED.]
lie Men of the Revolution and the period im- 8 [John Lowell in Peace without Dishonor, IVar
mediately following; and to make the motives without Hope, tried to allay the excitement. ED.]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 209

Josiah Quincy, 1 whose voice now rose clearer and stronger than ever, trumpet-
tongued against the embargo policy. The defection of John Quincy Adams
on this same measure gave the town another strong and outspoken repre-
sentative in the Senate in the person of James Lloyd, a leading merchant;
and thus equipped in Washington, Boston faced the impending troubles.

So bitter was the feeling against England, so strong the sense of
wounded national pride, that even the embargo was received in Boston
at first with silent submission ; but its operation told so severely upon
both town and State that hostility to the administration rapidly deepened
and strengthened. We can now hardly realize the effect of this measure
upon Boston ; but one fact lets in a flood of light. The tonnage of the
United States in 1807 was, in round numbers, eight hundred and fifty thou-
sand tons, and of this three hundred and ten thousand tons belonged to
Massachusetts alone. The total cessation of commerce fell therefore upon
Boston with blighting effect. Her merchant-ships rotted at the wharves, or
were hauled up and dismantled. The busy ship-yards were still and silent,
and all who gained their living by them were thrown out of work. 2 The
fisheries were abandoned and agriculture was distressed. If in Philadelphia
seamen marched in large bodies to the City Hall for relief, we can
imagine what the condition of the seafaring population must have been in
Boston. Ruin threatened the merchants, and poverty stared the laboring
classes in the face. Gradually all this began to tell upon the temper of the
people ; riots and insurrections were feared by men of all parties ; and the
Federalists now found willing listeners when they pointed out to a people
naturally brave and ready to fight, that the injuries inflicted by England
were trifling in comparison with the total destruction of trade caused by
their own Government; that the embargo had not as usual a limitation, but
might become permanent; and that, however it might be disguised, the only
nation really benefited by the embargo was the French. Slowly political
power returned to the party constantly in opposition to Jefferson and all

1 [Of Mr. Quincy his daughter says: "The of Representatives he was brought before the
desertion of his friends and the violence of his people, and made speaker ; and in the conven-
opponents were great elements of his success, tion held on the separation of Maine, he became
He was a Federalist from principle, but too in- justly appreciated, and would have been run for
dependent to join in party measures. When governor the next year had he not accepted the
in Congress, some of the leading Federalists did office of municipal judge." Mr. Quincy's political
not support him as he could have wished. They conduct can be traced only too scantily in Ed-
would not believe that their representative in mund Quincy's Life of his father. Something
Washington could have clearer views of the of his Congressional career, with a fac-simile of
policy of the administration than they had, sit- "Josiah the First," a monarchical squib of which
ting in their insurance offices in Boston. . . . his opponents thought him a fit subject, is given
But he remained true to the Federalists, and in Lossing's Field-book of the War of 1812. The
they rewarded him in 1820 by striking his name Congressional documents which he gathered dur-
from their list of senators without giving him ing his service at Washington are now in the
the least intimation that they intended doing so. Public Library, and serve in part to make the
He felt this deeply, but he went to the caucus collection of United States documents in that
and spoke in favor of the ticket from which his library what is presumably the best in existence,
name had been struck. This made him gener- ED.]

ally popular, and by being put into the House '- [See Mr. Hill's chapter in Vol. IV. En.]

VOL. in. 27.

210 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

his works. Resistance began to crop out on all sides. Pickering attacked
Governor Sullivan in a violent pamphlet; Samuel Dexter argued in court
against the constitutionality of the embargo, and juries refused to convict
for infractions of the hated law. The Federalists carried the Legislature,
and passed resolutions denouncing the embargo and questioning its con-
stitutionality; while the town of Boston instructed its representatives, in
town-meeting, to resist the embargo in terms which recalled the days of
Sam Adams and the Port Bill, and which induced John Randolph to
remind Jefferson of the fate of Lord North in a former difficulty with
the Puritan town. Then it was that John Quincy Adams thought treason
and secession were afoot in Boston, and warned the administration of its
peril. He was mistaken as to the extent of the danger, for there was no
treason, and nothing worse than ominous whisperings of secession. The
ripeness of the times and of the public in Boston for desperate measures
was sufficient to excite such suspicions ; but the Federalists did not aim at
violence. In the state of society then existing, in the opportunity offered,
and in the condition of the times, it is a matter of wonder that passions
were so controlled ; for it is not easy to appreciate now the mental concen-
tration in that day and generation. There was no art, no literature, no
science ; the only great branch of business was laid low by the embargo ;
there were none of the thousand and one interests which now divide and
absorb our energy and activity. Absolutely the only source of intellectual
excitement was politics ; and to this were confined the mental forces of a
small, vigorous, cultivated, and aristocratic society, which flung itself into
politics with its whole heart and soul. They were a convivial race, these
Federalist leaders in Boston, and were wont to dine together at three o'clock ;
and at five, when the ladies left the room, Madeira and politics flowed with-
out stint until midnight and after. It is small wonder that their politics
were heated, that ex-senators and governors bandied harsh words in the
offices of State Street or demanded explanations in the newspapers, and
that the traditional feuds and bitterness of 1808, although softened and ap-
parently forgotten, have survived in Boston among those who inherit them
even to the present day.

With matters in this state, the passage of the enforcing act aroused
such anger, the attitude of New England became so menacing, that the
Northern Democrats quailed; and led by such " pseudo Republicans" as
Joseph Story, who were not ready to sacrifice their homes to Mr. Jefferson's
theories, they repealed the embargo. There was a great sigh of relief; and
when the Erskine arrangement was made, the sails of the merchant-ships
again whitened the harbor of Boston. The more reasonable policy of Mr.
Madison was only temporary, however, in its effects, and was soon replaced
by vacillation and by labyrinthine complications, into which it is unneces-
sary to enter. The relaxation, however, sufficed to loosen the hold of the
Federalists, and Governor Gore was replaced by Elbridge Gerry, whose
administration was in itself enough to strengthen and give victory once

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 211

more to his opponents. He denounced in a message the publications of the
Federal press, which were, indeed, vituperative and coarse to a high degree,
especially in Boston ; and he endeavored to bring ^y

in the power of the government to punish the Jr

aggressors. He also supported a plan of arrang-
ing election districts for partisan purposes, which
was so bad, and at that time so unheard of, that it
gave a new word to the language. All this en-
abled the Federalists to defeat him by a close vote, in which they were
aided by the gathering clouds of conflict, which broke, June 18, 1812, in
Mr. Madison's declaration of war against England. 1

The preceding years of mercantile restrictions had not only hardened and
embittered the Federalist leaders, but had estranged the affections and
worn out the temper of the people of Boston and of New England, ready
enough to have supported a manly war policy in 1807. Their trade had
been crippled, and had crumbled away before restrictive measures; the
navy, which they chiefly manned and in which they believed, had been
neglected, and they were in no humor for a war which put the finishing
stroke to their commercial prosperity and activity for the time being.
They were perfectly ready to sympathize with the protest of the Federalist
representatives against the war, which they accepted with sullen dislike.
Some of the Federalist leaders, notably Samuel Dexter, 2 conceiving that
party differences should be buried in the presence of the enemy, seceded ;
but the Federalist majorities only grew with each election, while the belief
that the war was needless and unjust, and was part and parcel of a general
policy designed to ruin New England, spread daily and gained favor, carry-
ing with it resistance to the administration. Into the controversies thus
engendered it is not fitting to enter here, although they involved the for-
tunes of the town, for they were wide and far reaching, and chiefly con-
cerned the Nation and States. The general sentiment in Boston seems to
have settled down into a determination to do nothing in active support of
offensive war, but resolutely to defend themselves against any foreign ag-
gression. This they were called upon to do before the war closed. 3

In 1814 the British policy of coast descents was extended to New Eng-
land ; scattered attacks were made, accompanied with burning and pillage,
and the sails of English cruisers could daily be descried from Boston. The
town was in a defenceless condition, the forts almost useless, and owing to
the bitter quarrels with the administration no help had been given, or was

1 [The news of this declaration reached Bos- proclamation for other ends than for the mili-

ton June 23, 1812, and the General Court, then tia to be held in readiness for an emergency,

in session, passed a vote, 406 to 240, disapprov- ED.]

ing of it. General Dearborn, as the United '-' [See Sargent's Reminiscences of Dexter, p.

States officer commanding in Massachusetts, 77. ED.]

immediately made a requisition on Governor 3 [The events leading up to the war, and

Strong for a body of the militia, eight com- the part played in it by Boston, are detailed

panics of which were to be assigned to Bos- in General Palfrey's chapter in the present

ton; but the Governor refused to issue his volume. ED.]

212

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

to be looked for, from the national government. The people of Boston and
of Massachusetts had, however, no mind to endure the fate of Washington,

and took prompt measures to
protect themselves. The old
forts were put in order, and
a new one, Fort Strong, was
thrown up on Noddle's Island,
the work being rapidly per-
formed by large bodies of ready volunteers
under the direction of Loammi Baldwin, the
engineer. 1 The militia were called out and
stationed at the forts and at other points, ready
to repel the expected attack, which fortu-
nately never came.

The exposed condition of the capital
and of the other seaports however, and
the neglect of the national government,
did much to precipitate the crisis in the
relations of State and Nation which had
been long impending. In October the
Legislature took steps toward concerted
action among the New England States,
with a view to defending themselves and forcing upon the administration
the policy which they believed to be right. The result was the famous
Hartford Convention, whose history belongs to the State and to New Eng-
land, and not to Boston ; although the feeling which led to that meeting

THE GERRYMANDER. 2

1 [See Sumner's East Boston, p. 397. See
also General Palfrey's chapter in the present
volume. ED.]

2 [In 1812, while Gerry was governor, the
Democratic Legislature, in order to secure an in-
creased representation of their party in the State
Senate, districted the State in such a way that the
shapes of the towns, forming such a district in
Essex, brought out a territory of singular outline.
This was indicated on a map which Russell, the
editor of the Centinel, hung in his office. Stuart,
the painter, observing it, added a head, wings,
and claws, and exclaimed, " That will do for a
salamander ! " " Gerrymander ! " said Russell,
and the word became a proverb. An engraving
of the fabulous beast was circulated later through
the State on a broadside ; and from one of these,
preserved by the late Isaac P. Davis, the above
cut, reduced from the original, seven inches
high, is copied. But the process had accom-
plished its purpose, for while the Federalist
majority in the State was sixteen hundred and
two, the senate stood twenty-nine Democratic to
eleven Federalist members. The next year pro-
duced a change; the Legislature became Fed-

eralist, and the old districts were restored. In
the Boston Gazette for April 15, 1813, there
is an "obituary notice"
of the monster, with a
cut representing him bent
up in his coffin, and a
sketch of his grave-stone :
"Hatched, Feb. u, 1812;
died, April 5, 1813." Such
is the story told by Buck-
ingham in his Reminiscen-
ces. But other claimants
have been put forward.
The place is said to have
been Colonel Israel Thorn-
dike's house in Summer
Street ; the artist, Tisclale ;
the sponsor, Alsop. See
Drake's Landmarks of Mid-
dlesex, p. 321. The reader
will observe that the back
line of the body in the large
cut forms a profile carica-
ture of Gerry, with the
nose at Middleton. ED ]

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT.

2I 3

found its fullest expression, perhaps, in the capital, where the newspapers,
notably the Daily Advertiser then just started, urged strong measures and
hinted at secession, and where the younger and more violent portion of the
Federalist party was ripe
for almost any step. The
old and trusted leaders,
however, threw themselves
into the gap, determined
to commit no overt act,
but to check and control
the movement at that time
and leave the future to
shape their subsequent
course. Boston was rep-
resented at Hartford by
George Cabot, who was
chosen president of the
convention, and by Wil-
liam Prescott, Harrison
Gray Otis, and Timothy
Bigelow. The result was
as Mr. Quincy prophesied,
a " great pamphlet,"
and the committee sent
to Washington reached
there at the same time as
the news of the Ghent
treaty.

Peace was received in
Boston with ringing of
bells and with every form
of rejoicing, public and
private; 2 and by none was it more welcomed than by the Federalists.
The effect of the war on Boston was severe in the extreme. Not only

MASSACHUSETTS SIGNERS. 1

1 [These are the signatures of the delegates
from Massachusetts to the final report of the
Hartford Convention. Of this number, Cabot
was born in Salem, but latterly lived in Boston.
Dane was a lawyer in Beverly ; necessarily prac-
tising much in Boston, acquiring eminence ; the
founder of a law professorship at Cambridge,
and the author of the ordinance of 1787. Otis
was well known. Prescott was the father of the
historian, and son of the Colonel Prescott of
Bunker Hill fame. Bigelow had been a lawyer of
Worcester County, speaker of the Massachusetts
House of Representatives, and was the father-in-
law of Abbott Lawrence. Thomas was a judge

of probate in Plymouth County. Wilde, though
born in Taunton, gained his early reputation as
a lawyer in Maine, became a Justice of the Su-
preme Court of Massachusetts, and removed to
Boston in 1831. Lyman and Bliss were important
men in the Connecticut Valley. Longfellow, of
Portland, was the father of the poet. Waldo was
of Worcester.

Theodore Dwight's History of the Hartford
Convention is in vindication of it. ED.]

2 [See Mr. Josiah P. Quincy's chapter on
"Social Life in Boston," in Vol. IV., and Mr.
Edmund Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, p.
360. ED.]

214

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

was commerce, the great source of industry and wealth, wholly cut off,
but the dependence upon England, now so difficult to realize, not only

GEORGE CABOT. 1

for every manufactured article of luxury but for many of the necessities
of life, had, by the cessation of intercourse, brought a sense of privation

1 [No likeness of George Cabot of a maturer
age exists, and the present cut follows a portrait
owned by Colonel Henry Lee, kindly placed at
my disposal, which represents him at sixteen. It
is a pastel drawing. Mr. Lodge, the writer of
this chapter, published in 1877 the Life and Let-
ters of George Cabot, consisting chiefly of Letters,
which had been preserved by Mr. Cabot's corre-
spondents, with elucidatory introductions to the
several chapters. Mr. Cabot had himself before
his death destroyed almost all the papers re-
maining in his own hands. On the Hartford
Convention, however, Mr. Lodge's excursus is
prolonged and valuable ; and in writing it he had
the use of the Pickering manuscripts (over sixty

volumes in all) in the Massachusetts Historical
Society, and also the letters of Governor Strong.
Mr. Lodge has also drawn somewhat from //<;/;/-
moil's Works, and from Gibbs's Administration
of Washington and Adams, and in a smaller de-
gree from the Life of Timothy Pickering as con-
tinued by Mr. Upham. In turn Mr. Lodge's
work has been drawn upon in part by Mr. Henry
Adams in his Documents relating to Ntio Eng-
land Federalism, 1800-1815, which was pub-
lished in 1877 ; nor should there be forgotten
the Memoir of John Qnincy Adams, published in
1858 by President Quincy, and the voluminous
Memoirs, based largely upon Adams's Diary,
which have been issued in twelve volumes by his

THE LAST FORTY YEARS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT. 215

and loss into every household. But the war, and the policy of commercial
restriction preceding it, had upon Boston a deep and lasting effect, which
was hardly perceived at the moment, but which changed her business char-
acter, and has powerfully influenced her politics from that day to this. In
the first years of the nineteenth century Boston was a great commercial
centre and nothing else. Mr. Jefferson with his embargo and its kindred
measures, and the War of 1812, shook the whole financial and economical
system of the town. Commerce was crippled, at times almost extin-
guished, and comparatively large masses of capital were set loose and left
idle, while at the same time an immense fund of enterprise and activity was
unemployed. The result was to force all this capital and enterprise into
other channels, where they had begun to flow very slowly. Manufactures
received a great impetus ; and the capital, which had been turned aside by
the policy of the administration, did not, when peace came, revert to its old
pursuits. From being a strong free-trade town, Boston became as vigo-
rously protectionist before the first quarter of a century closed. Mr. Jeffer-
son seems to have designed to reduce the commercial interest and weaken
New England by his policy ; he certainly regarded with complacency the
fact that it would have that tendency. The result was that manufactures
were stimulated ; the progress of Boston was changed, not arrested ; and
New England industries were for years protected at the expense of his
beloved South.

The conclusion of the war, and the revival of business in all directions
closed the differences which had divided the country since the foundation of
the government, and turned men's minds from the political issues of the past.
It was the dawn of the so-called era of good feeling, the transition period in
which old parties disappeared and new ones were developed. The Federal-
ists of Massachusetts retained their power for many years, dexterously avoid-
ing the rocks of religious controversy on which their party brethren of
Connecticut were wrecked. They held the government by reason of past
services solely, for the great political questions which had brought them
forth and given them strength no longer existed. Gradually, however, they
faded away; the old leaders in Boston and elsewhere retired from public
life or were removed by death ; and the century had hardly completed its
second decade when the great party of Washington, really extinct for some
years, vanished even in name from our history finally and irrevocably.

Almost coincident with the disappearance of the Federalist party was
the change of municipal government in Boston from the town form to that
of a city. The change had been agitated at various times from a very early
period down to 1821, and in the next year the old town government came

son, Charles Francis Adams, between 1874 and progress easier in the Life of Hamilton as writ-

1877. The Life of Hamilton so far as it reacted ten by John T. Morse, Jr. in 1876. Of the part

upon the Federalism of Boston is not without im- played by the press in the political movements

portance ; and the reader who has not the cour- in this period, see D. A. Goddard's Newspapers

age to compass the somewhat assuming and vo- and Newspaper Writers in New England, 1787-

luininous Life by John C. Hamilton may find 1815, a pamphlet published in 1880. ED.]

2l6

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

to an end. It had been the government of Winthrop and Cotton, of Adams
and Franklin. It had defied George III. and Lord North, and its name had
rung through two continents in the days when it faced the English Parlia-
ment alone and unterrified. It was the most famous municipal organization
in America, and it passed away into history honored and regretted. The
next chapter traces in detail the transformation which followed.

CHAPTER II.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS, 1822-1880.
BY JAMES M. BUGBEE.

r I ^HE purpose of this chapter is to give some account of the local govern-
-*- ment of Boston since its organization under a city charter in the year
1822. The extent of the change in the administration of local affairs in-
volved in the establishment of a municipal council in place of the town-
meeting can hardly be appreciated without going back for a moment to con-
sider the origin and development of what is known as the New England
town-system. Most New Englanders cling to the belief that the system of
local self-government which their Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors set up here
was wholly original ; that a new principle of government was introduced
which had its natural culmination in the Declaration of Independence and
the formation of the Federal Union : but the investigations of modern his-
torians have made it clear that the early settlers of this country were gov-
erned largely by the traditions which had come down to them from their
Teutonic ancestors. The form of government which they established had
not its exact counterpart among any other people, but it was based on the
ancient Anglo-Saxon township ; and the riew features which were introduced
were only such as were necessitated or suggested by the peculiar circum-
stances in which the colonists were placed. They were wiser than many of
their eulogists would make them. Had they struck out for themselves in an
entirely new path, their subsequent development would have been wanting
in those elements of conservatism and steadiness which have shown New
England to be the lineal descendant of Old England. 1

The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company contained no express
authority for the erection of town governments or the establishment of
minor political divisions ; and Sir Edmund Andros could say with truth, that
in a legal point of view there was no such thing as a town in all New Eng-

1 [See Vol. I. pp. 217, 427, 445, 454. This exact study at the hands of Dr. Herbert B.

interesting subject of the origin of our town sys- Adams, of Johns Hopkins University. See H.

tern, upon which so much new light has been C. Lodge's English Colonies in America^ p. 414,

thrown since the publication of Sir Henry Maine's and Harvard University Bulletin, June I, 1881,

Village Communities, is now undergoing more or vol. ii. 214. ED.]
VOL. III. 28.

2l8 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

land. Boston was never formally incorporated as a town. The order of
the Court of Assistants (Sept. 7, O. S. 1630), changing the name from
Tri-mountain to Boston, 1 has been construed by the courts to be sufficient
to entitle it from that time forward to all the privileges of a town ; but no
corporation was specifically established until 1822. Springing up in this
way, outside of the formal scheme of government devised by the king, the
line between the town governments and the colonial government could never
be very clearly defined ; and it may well be imagined that the former were
continually encroaching upon the just and necessary powers of the latter. 2
Fortunately for the maintenance of local government, the colonial authority
as represented by the General Court was composed of delegates from the
towns ; and therefore almost any exercise of authority on the part of the
towns, which did not interfere directly with the operations of the general
government, was permitted and indeed encouraged. The extent and variety
of the powers exercised by the town of Boston in its early days go far be-
yond those exercised by the city of to-day. The conditions upon which
strangers should be allowed to reside in the town, 3 the admission of new
comers to the rights of citizenship, 4 the conditions upon which allotments
of land should be made, 5 the prices of commodities, the rates of wages for
labor, the conditions upon which suits at law should be prosecuted, 6 and even
great questions of peace or war, were discussed in meetings of all the free-
men ; 7 and the action of the town was determined by the number of voices
that shouted for the affirmative or the negative.

In the beginning all public affairs were passed upon by the whole body
of freemen ; but as the population increased, the frequent attendance upon
town-meetings was found to be burdensome. Then certain persons were
chosen to act for a limited time, at first for six months, and afterward for
a year, to "order the affairs of the town." That was the origin of the
Board of Selectmen, the name by which the chief executive body in town
government is now widely known. 8 Subsequently other town officers were
elected to look after special departments of the public service, constables,
surveyors of highways, clerks of the market, sealers of leather, packers of
fish and meat, and hog-reeves. 9 A commissioner was also chosen at the

1 Vol. I. p. 116. they are called "the selectmen." See Vol. I. pp.

2 [See Mr. C. C. Smith's chapter, " Boston 388, 505 of this History.

and the Colony," in Vol. I. p. 217, of this His- 9 Reeve is from the Anglo-Saxon Gerefa,

tory. ED.] concerning the etymological connection of which

8 Boston Town Records as printed in Second with the German Graf there has been a good

Report of Record Commissioners, 1877, pp. 10, 90, deal of controversy. It is curious to see how a

109, 152. once honored title has become degraded. The

4 Ibid. p. 46. first civic temporal magistrates in England were

6 Ibid. p. 6, et seq. the Reves. William the Conqueror, in the first

6 Ibid. p. 5. charter granted to London, "greets William

7 See Richard Frothingham's Oration, July the Bishop, and Godfrey the Portreve." Later
4, 1874 ; City Documents, 68, 1874. the Anglo-Saxon Portreve was superseded by the

8 They are referred to in the first volume of French Mayor. Shire-reve has been contracted
Boston records as "the ten men," "the nine to Sheriff; and the Reve survives only as the
men," and "the town's men," until 1647, when keeper of hogs.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 2 19

annual meeting to receive the proxies for magistrates and county treasurer
and carry them to the shire-meeting.

The system of government which grew up in this irregular way was full
of make-shifts, it would have vexed the soul of the political doctrinaire ; but
it was admirably adapted to the wants of a small, homogeneous community.
It was covered with patches, but the patches protected just the places which
hard wear threatened to expose. That it performed its functions to the gen-
eral satisfaction of the people for a period of nearly two hundred years is
shown by the fact that during that time they steadily resisted all attempts to
change its original form. There were not wanting individuals who favored a
change, and who had their patent devices for making the government better
than the people ; but so well satisfied were the majority of the voters with
what they had, that they clung to the old system long after the growth of the
town appeared to make a change necessary for the maintenance of good
government. 1 Upon the suggestion of the selectmen a committee was ap-
pointed in 1708 to " draft a charter of incorporation " for " the better govern-
ment of the town ; " but at the annual March meeting in the following year
the " town's men " refused to accept the draft which was submitted to them,
and refused to refer the subject to any future meeting. The next attempt to
make a radical change in the constitution of the government was in 1784,
when, on the petition of a number of influential citizens, a committee of
thirteen was appointed " to consider the expediency of applying to the Gen-
eral Court for an act to form the town of Boston into an incorporated city,
and report a plan of alterations in the present government of the police, if
such be deemed eligible." The committee reported two plans, one making
the town a body politic, by the name of " the Mayor, Aldermen, and Com-
mon Council of the City of Boston ; " the other making it a body politic by
the name of " the President and Selectmen of the City of Boston." At a
meeting of the inhabitants it was voted, " by a great majority," " inexpedient
to make any alterations in the present form of town government." 2

In 1791 "the want of an efficient police" led to another petition for
a change ; and a plan was reported which provided for a division of the town
into nine wards, and the election in each ward of two men who, with the
selectmen, were to constitute the Town Council, with power to make by-laws
and to appoint all executive officers except selectmen, town clerk, overseers
of the poor, assessors, town treasurer, school-committee men, auditors of ac-
counts, firewards, collectors of taxes, and constables, who were to continue
to be elected by the legal voters. A good deal of time was given to the
discussion of this scheme, and it was printed and distributed in hand-bills to
all the inhabitants ; but when the vote came to be taken upon its adoption,
it met the fate of former schemes. Another report in favor of changing the

1 [See Vol. I. p. 219; JV. E. Hist, and Geneal. Forming the T<nvn of Boston into an Incorporated
Reg. July, 1857 ; Quincy's Municipal History of City, Published by Order of the Town for the Pe-
B os ton, ch. i. ED.] rusal and Consideration of the Inhabitants. The

2 [There is in Harvard College Library a day named for the further consideration of them
little tract of eight pages called Two Plans for is June 17. ED.]

220 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

town government was negatived by a decisive vote in 1804. The next move-
ment for a change was not made until 1815, when a committee submitted the
draft of a bill which provided for the incorporation of the town under the
name of "the Intendant and Municipality of the Town and City of Boston."
The municipal council was to consist of the selectmen, chosen by the citizens
in town-meeting, and two delegates from each ward chosen by the inhabi-
tants of the ward. The Intendant was to be chosen annually by the
selectmen and delegates; and was given powers which made him rather
a mild chief executive. The title appears to have been imported either
directly from France or from the Gallicized municipalities in the Canadas.
This scheme came pretty near adoption, nine hundred and twenty votes
being in the affirmative and nine hundred and fifty-one in the negative.

What turned the scale against it, perhaps, and what would have been
urged equally against any scheme by which the town government was to be
changed to a city government, was the fact that there was no provision in
the State Constitution which appeared to authorize the erection by the Gen-
eral Court of city governments. The subject was brought before the Con-
stitutional Convention of 1820, by one of the Boston delegates, Mr. Lynde
Walter, who procured the passage of a resolution instructing a committee to
inquire into the expediency of so altering the Constitution, that the Legisla-
ture should have power to grant to towns charters of incorporation with the
usual forms of city government. Daniel Webster, chairman of the commit-
tee to which the matter was referred, reported that it was expedient so
to amend the Constitution as to provide that the General Court should have
full power and authority to erect and constitute municipal or city govern-
ments in any corporate towns in the Commonwealth, provided such towns
contained not less than a certain number of inhabitants. The proposed
amendment was strongly opposed by some of the country members, who
feared that the city governments would make laws by which " the inhabi-
tants of the towns, going into the cities, would be liable to be ensnared
and entrapped." The reasons for the proposed change were set forth very
clearly by Lemuel Shaw, afterward the Chief-Justice of the Commonwealth.
He said that it was not the intention to grant any special powers or privileges
to the citizens of Boston, but simply to give them an organization adapted to
the condition of a numerous people. All the towns in the Commonwealth
possessed the powers and privileges of municipal corporations in England.
They had power to choose their own officers, to send members to the Gen-
eral Court, to make by-laws, to assess and collect taxes, to maintain schools
and highways, relieve the poor, and to superintend licensed houses and
other matters of local police. The Constitution as it stood required all the
inhabitants of a town to assemble in one body, be they few or many. The
sole purpose of the proposed change was to provide an organization by
which the voters in municipalities containing a large number of inhabitants
would be enabled to meet in sections for the purposes of election, and to
choose representatives who should be empowered to make the by-laws and

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 221

vote the supplies instead of the whole body. The amendment was adopted
by the Convention and subsequently (April 29, 1821) ratified by the people
of the State.

It would naturally be supposed that after this there would be no serious
opposition to the proposed organization of a city government in Boston ;
but there was a conservative element in the old town which could not be con-
vinced that any change was either necessary or desirable, even though the
venerable John Adams supported the amendment in the Convention. The
national census of 1820 gave the town a population of forty-three thousand
two hundred and ninety-eight. The number of qualified voters exceeded
seven thousand.

" When a town-meeting was held on any exciting subject in Faneuil Hall, those
only who obtained places near the moderator could even hear the discussion. A few
busy or interested individuals easily obtained the management of the most important
affairs in an assembly in which the greater number could have neither voice nor hear-
ing. When the subject was not generally exciting, town-meetings were usually com-
posed of the selectmen, the town officers, and thirty or forty inhabitants. Those who
thus came were for the most part drawn to it from some official duty or private interest,
which, when performed or attained, they generally troubled themselves but little, or not
at all, about the other business of the meeting. In assemblies thus composed, by-laws
were passed, taxes to the amount of one hundred or one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars voted on statements often general in their nature, and on reports, as it respects
the majority of voters present, taken upon trust, and which no one had carefully con-
sidered except perhaps the chairman."

Among the number who resisted the proposed change, " by speech and
pen, as long as there was any chance of defeating it," was Mr. Josiah Quincy,
who afterward, in his Municipal History of Boston, made the statement above
quoted. " He believed," says his son, " the pure democracy of a town-
meeting more suited to the character of the people of New England, and
less liable to abuse and corruption, than a more compact government."

In January, 1822, the subject was brought before a special meeting of the
inhabitants in Faneuil Hall, on the report of a committee recommending
that there should be a chief executive, called the " Intendant," elected by
the selectmen ; that there should be an executive board of seven persons
called the " Selectmen," elected by the inhabitants on a general ticket; and
that there should be a body with mixed legislative and executive powers
called a " Board of Assistants," consisting of four persons chosen from each
of the twelve wards. For three days the subject was debated with much
earnestness and some heat. The report was amended by giving to the
chief executive the title of " Mayor; " by putting "Aldermen" in place of
the Selectmen ; and by changing the name of the Board of Assistants to " the
Common Council." The amended report was then put into the form of five
propositions and submitted to the inhabitants to be voted upon by ballot,
yea or nay. The vote on what may be considered the test proposition,

222 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

namely, " that the name of ' Town of Boston ' should be changed to ' City
of Boston,'" was two thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven in the
affirmative, and two thousand and eighty-seven in the negative. The other
propositions were all adopted by a greater or less majority.

Application l was immediately made to the Legislature for an act of
incorporation ; and on Feb. 23, 1822, the Governor approved " an act estab-
lishing the city of Boston," which is known as the first city charter. As the
earliest departure, under Massachusetts laws, from the ancient system of
town government, the act was regarded as one of grave importance. The
city form of organization, copied in most cases from the form which had
been established in London as early as the thirteenth century, had long been
in use in other parts of the country-. New York received a city charter in
the English form in 1665, and several charters were granted in the name of
the king to large towns outside the New England colonies, previous to the
Declaration of Independence. The lord proprietor of Maine had exercised
the right given him by his patent to make the little town of Agamenticus
(now York), with two hundred and fifty inhabitants, a city under the name
of Gorgeana, with a mayor, aldermen, common council and recorder;
but when the province came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, the
town system was substituted. In Connecticut, city charters were granted
immediately after the Revolution ; and so freely were they granted, that at
last " a little clump of Indians took it into their heads to apply for city pow-
ers and privileges," which " convinced the Legislature of the impolicy of
granting charters with so much liberality." 2

The new charter of Boston, drafted by Mr. Lemuel Shaw, provided that
the title of the corporation should be " the City of Boston ; " that the ad-
ministration of all the fiscal, prudential, and municipal concerns of the city,
with the conduct and government thereof, should be vested in one principal
officer, to be styled " the Mayor ; " one select council of eight persons, to be
denominated " the Board of Aldermen," and one more numerous council of
forty-eight persons, to be denominated " the Common Council ;" that the
city should be divided into twelve wards ; that the mayor, aldermen, and com-
mon councilmen should be elected on the second Monday of April annually,
and enter upon their duties on the first day of May ; 3 that the mayor and
aldermen should compose one board, the mayor presiding and having a
right to vote on all questions, but not the veto power ; that the administra-
tion of police, together with the general executive powers of the corporation,
and the powers formerly vested by law or usage in the selectmen of the
town, should be vested in the mayor and aldermen ; that all the other pow-
ers then vested in the town or in the inhabitants thereof as a municipal cor-

1 [See the paper in chapter iii. of this vol- the annual election was changed to the second
ume. ED.] Monday in December; and the officers then cho-

2 From Remarks of John Adams, in the Con- sen entered upon their duties on the first Monday
stitutional Convention of 1820. Debates, Mas sa- in January following. In 1872 the election-day was
chusetts Convention, p. 195. changed to the Tuesday after the second Monday

8 By an act of the Legislature passed in 1825, in December.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

223

poration should be vested in the mayor, aldermen, and common council, to be
exercised by concurrent vote, each board having a negative upon the other ;
that the citizens in the several wards should choose, at the annual meeting
in April, a number of persons to be firewards ; and also one person in each
ward to be overseer of the poor, and one person to be a member of the
school committee.

JOHN PHILLIPS. 1

At " a legal meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town
of Boston," held in Faneuil Hall on March 4, 1822, the question, " Will you
accept the charter granted by the Legislature?" was decided in the affir-
mative, by a vote of 2,797 to 1,881. Among the large number who voted
in the negative there were many who opposed any radical change of the

1 [This cut follows an engraving of a portrait
owned by Mr. Wendell Phillips, kindly furnished
by him. Mr. John Phillips died May 29, 1823. A
memoir of Phillips, with an engraved portrait, ap-
peared in the Boston Monthly Magazine, Novem-

ber, 1825 ; and a brief sketch, with a portrait, is
also given in the N, E. Hist, and Geneal. Keg:,
October, 1866 ; and an account of his family in
Bond's Watertown, p. 885. There is also a sketch
in Loring's Orators, p. 249. ED.]

224 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

old system, and others who were dissatisfied with the form of organization
provided by the new charter.

Mr. Josiah Quincy, who had always taken an interest in town affairs, and
who presided at the last town-meeting held in Faneuil Hall, was invited by
many substantial citizens to be a candidate for the office of mayor. He ac-
cepted the invitation, without knowing, it is said, that the Federal leaders
proposed to make Mr. Harrison Gray Otis the first mayor, preparatory to
his elevation to the governorship of the State. That any respectable Feder-
alist should be presumptuous enough to stand for any office which Mr. Otis
was willing at that time to take, was sufficient to stir up a great deal of feel-
ing among the party managers : it was much the same as if, twenty years
later, Mr. Choate had allowed his name to be used for an office which Mr.
Webster wanted. Mr. Quincy's supporters were not willing to release him
from his engagement, however, and it does not appear that he was at all
anxious to be relieved. It was not in his nature to be influenced, by weight
or numbers, to withdraw from a position which he had once deliberately
accepted. The night before the election the Democrats nominated Mr.
Thomas L. Winthrop for their candidate, and threw enough votes for him
to prevent an election, a majority of all the votes being necessary for a
choice. Mr. Quincy would undoubtedly have been elected had not the
Democrats resorted to the trick of using Mr. Winthrop's name without his
authority, and greatly to his displeasure.

Both Mr. Otis and Mr. Quincy then withdrew their names, and John
Phillips l was elected without serious opposition. He was in many respects
well qualified for the position ; a man of rather pliable disposition, but of
strict integrity and general good judgment, a character well fitted for the
somewhat delicate task of commending the new order of things to those
who had been adverse to a change. One who knew him well, and knew the
difficulties by which he was surrounded, has said :

" Selected for the critical task of making the first experiment with a system new to
the acquaintance, and, as far as then appeared, uncongenial in some degree with the
habits, of his constituents, to the operation of which indefinite expectations were at-
tached an.d a jealous observation directed, the Mayor exhibited that discretion and
sound judgment which so eminently characterized him."

The new city government was organized in Faneuil Hall on May I, 1822.
The chairman of the board of selectmen delivered into the charge of the
new authorities the town records and title deeds, and the city charter inclosed
in a silver case. The Mayor, after paying " a just tribute to the wisdom of

1 A descendant in the fifth generation from He delivered the Fourth of July oration before

the Rev. George Phillips, the first minister of the town authorities in 1794; and for many years

Watertown. He was born in Boston, Nov. 26, acted as Town Advocate and Public Prosecutor.

1770; received his early education at the acad- He served for twenty years as a member of the

emy in Andover which bears his family name, State Senate, and for ten years was President of

and was graduated at Harvard College in 1788. that body.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

225

our ancestors as displayed in the institutions for the government of the
town, under which for nearly two centuries so great a degree of prosperity
had been attained, and during which the great increase of the population of
the place had alone made this change in the administration of its affairs
essential," proceeded to remark, in respect of those " who encouraged hopes
which could never be realized, and of those who indulged unreasonable ap-
prehensions in regard to the city charter, that they would derive benefit
from reflecting how much social happiness depended on other causes than
the provisions of a charter." The policy of the new administration, to keep
things substantially as they were, was thus foreshadowed ; and it may be
said that that policy was adhered to during the year, but little of impor-
tance being done beyond the organization of the several departments of the
city government. 1

The debt transferred from the town to the city amounted to about
$100,000, and was incurred on account of two prisons, then in course of
erection, and a new court house. The current expenses for the year 1822
amounted to about $249,000, and the tax levy for that year was $140,000.
It was a day of small things as compared with the present time. 2 The ap-
propriations to meet the current expenses for the financial year beginning
May i, 1880, amounted to $10,190,387 ; and the tax levy was $9,466,896.

The result of the first year's administration under the new charter
did not meet the expectations of those who had been instrumental in
procuring it. They were eager for a more energetic system, and they
charged Mr. Phillips with pursuing a timid and hesitating course for fear
of losing his popularity ; but when he demitted office Mr. Quincy could
say of him :

" After examining and considering the records and proceedings of the city author-
ities for the past year, it is impossible for me to refrain from expressing the sense I
entertain of the services of that high and honorable individual who filled the chair of
this city, as well as of the wise, prudent, and faithful citizens who composed during

1 The city clerk elected at this time Samuel " Every incident that contributes to the life of thepic-
F. McCleary continued to hold the office by ture is valuable, though it may seem trivial; so I add this as

... .,!- x- illustrating how small Boston limits were eighty vears ago.

successive annual elect.ons until his resignation My {ather( the first mayor> buiu in lSo ^ s the first

in 1852, when he was succeeded by his son, bear- brick house thai was built on Beacon Street. It still stands
ing the same name, who holds the office to-day ; on the western corner of Walnut and Beacon streets.

so that the city records from the beginning bear Abov( ; a " d be ' ow there we ^ a few wooden houses, and
. J . next the State House stood Hancock s stone house, llus

the attestation of a single name. A city seal stree( ( Beacon) was then considered , / ttnvn .

was adopted, the motto for which was suggested " When Dr. Joy was advised to take his invalid wife out

by Judge Davis. It was taken from the follow- of town for the benefit of country air, he built her, eighty

ing verse of the Scriptures : Sit Deus nobiscum, *? aRO - a wo den house which stood where Mrs. Tu-

' dor s house now does, on the western corner ol Joy and

sicut fuit cum patribus nostris." III. Regum, Beacon streets: the lot went back to Mt. Vernon Street,

viii. 57. As adopted for the seal it Stands : "Si- or near it. I have often seen loads of hay, cut on the square

cut patribus, sit Deus nobis." The impression between Joy, Walnut. Mt. Vernon, and Beacon streets, car-

..... . . . e ., .. c ried in to Dr. Joy's front gate, where Mrs. Armstrong's

within the motto contains a view of the city from from door stan J ds now ^ my {a(her moved jnto his

South Boston Point. Beacon-Street house, his uncle, Judge O. Wendell, was

2 To show what a small part of the penin- asked, in State Street, ' what had induced his nephew to
sula of Boston was occupied at the beginning of move out "/ '<"' "

the present century, I venture to print the fol- [See the view of Beacon Street about this

lowing, from Wendell Phillips, Esq : time, given in Mr. Stanwood's chapter. ED.]

VOL. III. 29.

226 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

that period the city council. . . . Whatever success may attend those who come after
them, they will be largely indebted for it to the wisdom and fidelity of their prede-
cessors."

And Mr. Otis, in his inaugural address in 1829, said :

" The novel experiment of city government was commenced by your first lamented
mayor, with the circumspection and delicacy which belonged to his character, and
which were entirely judicious and opportune. He felt and respected the force of
ancient and honest prejudices. His aim was to allure and not to repel ; to reconcile
by gentle reform, not to revolt by startling innovation."

Mr. Phillips had no desire for a second term, his health having begun
to give way. Josiah Quincy l was therefore sought as a candidate by the
progressive element in the community. He accepted the position, and
was elected, receiving 2,505 votes out of 4,766, the whole number cast.

Mr. Quincy was at this time fifty-one years of age, to him the prime of
life ; a man of large experience, of kindly disposition, but of most decided
will. He left his impress on the government of the city as no other man
has done. His administration, covering a period of six years, has formed a
standard to which the efforts of his successors are continually referred. It
was not a great office to be a mayor with limited power over a city of only
forty-five thousand inhabitants ; but he performed the duties in such a way
as to give it more than a local importance, and to produce results of a last-
ing character. He was like an accomplished actor who takes a small part
and makes of it a great one.

In his inaugural address, the Mayor gave prominence to the defects of
the ancient town organization, and the remedy provided for them in the
powers of the mayor. His object was to bring the responsibility of the chief
executive into distinct relief before the citizens, and thereby prepare their
minds for the prominent part which he intended to play. In order to put
himself in a position to exercise to the full the powers conferred upon him
as mayor and as a member of the board of mayor and aldermen, he did not
hesitate to make himself chairman of all committees of the board. But
such was his tact and his capacity for work, that this extraordinary proceed-
ing does not seem to have excited any ill-feeling among his associates in
the city council.

He first gave his attention to improving the sanitary condition of the
city, and established the system of cleaning the streets and collecting house-
offal, which has been followed to the present day, and which has proved a
model of economy and efficiency. Under the town government the powers
relative to the preservation of the public health had been vested in a board
elected by the inhabitants ; but the city charter transferred those powers to
the city council, " to be carried into execution by the appointment of health

1 Of Mr. Quincy's previous career in public life some account will be found in another part of
this work.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

227

JOSIAH QUINCY. 1

commissioners, or in such other manner as the health, cleanliness, comfort,
and order of the city might in their judgment require." When the new
government was organized, three health commissioners were appointed with

1 [Stuart painted Mr. Quincy twice, the
first time in 1806, a half-length, now belonging
to the heirs of Edmund Quincy, of Dedham. In
November, 1824, he painted him again, and this
picture Miss E. S. Quincy gave to the Museum
of Fine Arts in 1876 It is engraved on steel in
Edmund Quincy's Life of 'Josiah Quincy, and is
followed directly from the canvas in the above
cut. (Mason's Gilbert Sluart, p. 243.) There was
a third portrait, by Page, in 1842, in his robes as
President of Harvard University; and a fourth,
by Wight, about 1852, now in the Historical
Society's gallery. A statue of Mr. Quincy, by
W. \V. Story, which likewise represents him in

an academic gown, stands in Memorial Hall at
Cambridge. Another statue, showing him in
plain dress, executed by Thomas Ball, stands
in front of City Hall, and a photograph of it is
given in City Document, No. 115, for 1879. The
document contains a description of the ceremo-
nies of dedication, including a commemorative
oration by his Honor F. O. Prince, then mayor
of the city. There is a bust of Quincy by Hora-
tio Greenough, and another by Crawford, in Me-
morial Hall at Cambridge. See E. Quincy's Life
of y. Quincy, p. 550; where is also an engraving
from a photograph from life, taken in his eighty-
ninth year. Eu.]

228

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

the general powers of the town board of health. They were unwise enough
to stand in the way of certain reforms proposed by the Mayor, and they
were speedily swept out of existence. The internal police of the city was
placed under the superintendence of the city marshal ; and the external
police, covering the enforcement of the quarantine regulations, was placed
under a single commissioner. The board of surveyors of highways was also
abolished, and by legislative enactment the powers were conferred upon the
mayor and aldermen, who have continued to exercise them up to the pres-
ent day.

QUINCY MARKET AND FANEUIL HALL. 1

The next important measure which Mayor Quincy initiated and carried
out, and the one by which he is most generally known, was the establish-
ment of a new market-house. The Faneuil Hall market-house was first
opened in 1742; and at the time of which we are writing the whole space,
occupied by stalls in and around the building, did not exceed fourteen hun-
dred feet. The accommodations were not only insufficient for the wants of
the inhabitants, but they were notoriously unhealthy and extremely incon-
venient of access. The scheme proposed by the Mayor for enlarging the

1 [This view follows the engraving in Quincy's
Municipal History of Boston, taken by Hammatt
Billings (1826), not long after the erection of the
market-house. Pemberton Hill is seen in the
distance. It was then sixty or more feet higher
than now, and on its slope was a tower, built
by Lieut.-Governor Phillips, in the garden of the

old Faneuil house. The large trees were on
the rear part of the Vassall estate, then occu-
pied by Gardiner Greene ; and they were a
prominent land-mark for ships entering the har-
bor. A similar view is given in Snow's Boston,
p. 378. See also Dearborn's Boston Notions, p.
115. ED.J

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

229

market was of such magnitude as to invite serious opposition, even from
many of the most prominent citizens ; and he had not only to win over to
his views the members of the city council, but he had to procure the en-
dorsement of his scheme by the inhabitants of the city and the Legislature
of the Commonwealth. The opposition was bitter and determined, but the
Mayor triumphed over every obstacle. What was accomplished can best
be stated in his own words :

" A granite market-house, two stories high, five hundred and thirty-five feet long,
fifty feet wide, covering twenty-seven thousand feet of land, including every essential
accommodation, was erected at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Six
new streets were opened, and a seventh greatly enlarged, including one hundred and
sixty-seven thousand square feet of land ; and flats, docks, and wharf-rights obtained of
the extent of one hundred and forty-two thousand square feet. All this was accom-
plished in the centre of a populous city, not only without any tax, debt, or burden
upon its pecuniary resources, notwithstanding, in the course of the operations funds
to the amount of upwards of eleven hundred thousand dollars had been employed,
but with large permanent additions to its real and productive property." 1

The corner-stone of the new market-house was laid on April 22, 1825,
and the stalls were opened in i82/. 2

Among other reforms instituted by Mr. Quincy soon after he came into
office was the reorganization of the fire department. Its efficiency at that
time depended largely upon the aid of the inhabitants, applied under the
authority of the firewards who were elected annually by the citizens in each
ward. " They formed lanes of by-standers, who, by their direction, passed

1 Quincy's Municipal History of Boston, p. ness consists in supplying the hotels and retail
74. [This history is reviewed by Francis Bowen dealers in and around Boston, and the great sum-
in the North American Review, vol. Ixxiv. An ac- mer resorts on the sea-shore and among the
count of the semi-centennial celebration, Aug. mountains of New England. The market owes
26, 1876, of the opening of the market, was pub- much of its success and its popularity to the
lished in 1877, by William W. Wheildon. ED.] high character of the men who occupy it. In-

2 It was due to the originator of the enter- stead of disposing of the stalls annually by auc-
prise that his name should have been given tion, as is customary in many other cities, it has
officially to the new market ; but the plausible always been the policy in this market to fix a
statement that it was merely an enlargement of reasonable rent for the use of the stalls, and re-
the old Faneuil Hall Market was sufficient, with new leases to good tenants. This policy has
the personal feeling against Mr. Quincy engen- not been without its results in maintaining a
dered by his persistence in carrying out his high standard in the quality of the articles of-
plans, to induce the city council to extend the fered for sale. Charges of " forestalling " and
name of the old market to the new. But the " monopolizing " have been often raised by a
people have taken the matter into their own few discontented persons ; but repeated investi-
hands, and the new house will always be popu- gallons by committees of the council have failed
larly known as "Quincy Market." to show that the influence of the market has

Since its establishment the character of the been used to maintain high prices. The statute

business transacted in it has almost wholly provision allowing sales from market-wagons on

changed. It has ceased to be the place to which the streets around the market-houses, introduces

the householders of Boston generally resort for an element of competition which effectually pre-

their supplies of provisions. It has come to be the vents any monopoly prejudicial to the public

great provision exchange for New England. It interests. The sales from these free street-stands

draws to its stalls food-products of the best from may be said to regulate the prices of provisions

all parts of the world, and it distributes them all in Boston. See City Document too of 1865, and

over the country; although its principal busi- City Document 91 of 1870.

230 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

buckets of water from pumps or wells in the vicinity to the engines playing
on the fire, and returned them for further supply." The men who worked
the engines were formed into companies, and received a small compensa-
tion for their services, besides being exempt from militia duty. " To be
first, nearest, and most conspicuous at fires was the ambition of the engine-
men ; and the use of hose, as it had a tendency to deprive them of this gratifi-
cation, was opposed." In 1823 several companies petitioned for additional
compensation. It was refused ; and in one day all the engines in the city
were surrendered by their respective companies ; and on the same day every
engine was supplied with a new company by the voluntary association of
public-spirited individuals. Application was then made to the Legislature
for authority to reorganize the department; and in 1825 an act was passed
giving the mayor and aldermen power to appoint all the engineers, fire-
wardens, and firemen. The sense of security which the new organization
gave is shown by the fact that the rates of insurance against fire on the real
property within the city were reduced twenty per cent.

In the year 1821, just previous to the change in the municipal organiza-
tion, Mr. Quincy, having given considerable attention to the subject of
pauperism, was appointed chairman of a town committee on the subject
of the relief and disposition of the poor of Boston. On his recommenda-
tion, and under his supervision, a tract of land was purchased on the north-
erly shore of South Boston, and a House of Industry was erected. The
overseers of the poor a body then elected by the town, and subsequently
by the inhabitants of the city, and possessing statutory powers which made
it largely independent of the city council resisted the proposed change in
the disposition of the paupers ; and it was not until Mr. Quincy became
mayor, and obtained additional legislation, that the reformation which he
had recommended was fully carried into effect.

" The evils attendant on the promiscuous mingling of the honest poor with rogues
and vagabonds were mitigated by the establishment of the first House of Correction,
properly so called, in Boston during the first year of his mayoralty. A building in
the jail-yard was used at first for this purpose, but the establishment was afterward
removed to South Boston, near the House of Industry. The separation, more impor-
tant yet, of the young convicts from the old in places of penal restraint led to the
establishment of a House of Reformation for juvenile offenders, the results of which
both direct, in the large proportion of young persons who were saved to society by
its means, and indirect, by the encouragement which its successful experiment has
given to the system elsewhere have been of the happiest nature." 1

As chairman of the school committee, Mr. Quincy took an active in-
terest in the public schools. His action upon one question, the mainte-
nance of a high school for girls, raised a good deal of feeling against him
at the time ; and, if repeated at the present day in the face of the more
numerous advocates of a higher education for women, the feeling \vould

1 Life of Jostah Qnincy, by Edmund Quincy, p. 394.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

2 3 I

doubtless be intensified ; but the principle which he stated at the time, as
governing his opposition to the establishment of a high school which would
be used almost wholly by the daughters of wealthy parents, was a sound
one. " The standard of public education," he said, " should be raised to
the greatest desirable and practicable height; but it should be effected by
raising the standard of the common schools." 1

During Mr. Quincy's second term he had the honor of receiving and
entertaining General Lafayette, who was made the guest of the city. The
building at the corner of Park and Beacon streets was given up to the
city by the club which occupied it, and, having been completely furnished
and provided with servants, was made the home of the distinguished visitor
during his stay. 2

There were many other events of interest in the municipal history of
the city during Mr. Quincy's administration ; but as they were of a tem-
porary character the limits of this work preclude any description of them.
It was hardly possible for any man to do what Mr. Quincy did during
those years without raising an opposition which must sooner or later de-
prive him of an office held by the frail tenure of an annual election. As
his sixth term drew to a close, the opposition combined and assumed a
tone of bitterness and malignancy which has seldom been equalled even
on a much larger political field. The reorganization of the fire depart-
ment provoked the hostility of a class of voters who were active and some-
what unscrupulous. Then there were those whose private interests had
suffered in the establishment of the new market-house and the penal and
reformatory institutions, and in the enforcement of the laws relating to
gambling, prostitution, and the sale of intoxicating liquors. In carrying
out the street improvements and the enlargement of the market, a city
debt, amounting to $637,000, had been created; and this excited consider-

1 [See the chapters by Mr. Dillaway and Dover Street, bore this inscription, written by
Mrs. Cheney, in Vol. IV. ED.] Charles Sprague :

2 [There is an account by General W.H. Sum- WELCOME, LAFAYETTE!
ner of Lafayette's visit, with the entertainment

u- :_*!.- ar rr*_j j /- / r> The fathers in glory shall sleep,

given him, in the N, E. Hist, and Geneal. Re?., , , .

That gathered with thee to the fight ;
April, 1859. (See Drake s Landmarks, p. 354.) But the sons will eternally keep

The editor has been favored with the use of a The tablet of gratitude bright.
SCrap-book, filled with newspaper clippings, We bow not the neck ; we bend not the knee :
broadsides, etc., collected by Miss E. S. Quincy But our hearts ' Lafe y ette > we surrender to thee !
during Lafayette's stay in America. A manu- In a recent account of this visit, by Ella R.
script note in it says: "On Commencement day, Church, in the Mag. of Amer. Hist., May, 1881,
Mayor Quincy called for Lafayette at his lodg- it is stated, in testimony of Lafayette's happy
ings, and while the barouche waited for the Gov- memory, that at the reception at the State House
ernor's carriage to precede, a crowd gathered, he recognized an elderly colored man who, as a
'Have you ever been in Europe, Mr. Quincy?' servant of Hancock, had waited upon the Mar-
asked the guest. 'No, never.' ' Then you can quis when a guest of his master forty years be-
have no idea of what a crowd is in Europe. I fore. The descendants of Major Judah Alden
declare, in comparison the people of Boston also preserve by tradition a remark which he
seem to me like a picked population out of made to that old soldier when he first saw him
the whole human race.'" (See also Edmund on this visit, "Alden, how are you? I know
Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, 404.) Anarch, you by your nose !" See also Dearborn's Boston
which was erected on the Neck, just above Notions, p. 282. ED.]

232

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

able discontent among the taxpayers, although the Mayor was able to
show that in carrying out these improvements the city had become pos-
sessed of real estate exceeding in value $7OO,ooo. 1 He could never have

- -

PARK STREET. 2

maintained his position as long as he did, had he not been a man of the
strictest integrity, a man against whom even an unscrupulous opposition

1 The average rate of taxation during the
last seven years under the town government was
$8.15 on a thousand. During the first seven
years, under the city government, it was $7.27.

2 [The house on the left of the picture is the
one occupied by Lafayette. It was built about
1804, by Thomas Amory, but with its extension
was afterward converted into four dwellings.

Malbone the painter, Samuel Dexter the lawyer,
and Governor Christopher Gore have all lived
in it. It is also seen in the heliotype of the
Common, 1804-1810, given in another chapter.
The portion above and beyond the main entrance
became the residence of George Ticknor, the
historian of Spanish literature, and in it he died.
The window above the front door, and the two

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 233

found it impossible to frame a charge of dishonesty, and had he not,
moreover, constantly used his tongue and his pen to explain and defend
his measures before the people.

At the municipal election in December, 1828, Mr. Quincy failed on the
first ballot to receive a majority of all the votes cast. Another ballot was
then taken with substantially the same result. 1 Thereupon the Mayor sent
a note to the press, stating that " no consideration would induce him to
again accept the office."

At the close of his term he summoned the two branches of the city
council to meet in convention, and delivered an address which those who
had made themselves conspicuous in opposing him must have long re-
membered. In concluding he said:

" And now, Gentlemen, standing as I do in this relation for the last time in your
presence and that of my fellow-citizens, about to surrender forever a station full of
difficulty, of labor, and temptation, in which I have been called to very arduous duties,
affecting the rights, property, and at times the liberty of others ; concerning which
the perfect line of rectitude though desired was not always to be clearly dis-
cerned ; in which great interests have been placed within my control, under circum-
stances in which it would have been easy to advance private ends and sinister projects,
under these circumstances, I inquire, as I have a right to inquire, for in the re-
cent contest insinuations have been cast against my integrity, in this long manage-
ment of your affairs, whatever errors have been committed (and doubtless there
have been many), have you found in me anything selfish, anything personal, any-
thing mercenary? In the simple language of an ancient seer, I say: 'Behold, here
I am ; witness against me. Whom have I defrauded ? Whom have I oppressed ?
At whose hands have I received any bribe ? ' " 2

After Mr. Quincy's withdrawal from the canvass, Harrison Gray Otis
was induced to become a candidate, and was elected without opposition for

windows beyond it, lighted his library, of which 1859, and Edward Everett delivered the dedica-
a view is given in Mr. Cummings's chapter in this tory oration. See Editorial Note to the chap-
volume. The house next beyond, originally the ter on " The Bench and Bar," in Vol. IV.
home of Abbott Lawrence, the merchant and ED.]

ambassador, is now occupied by the Union Club. l On the first ballot Mr. Quincy lacked eighty-
Mayor Quincy lived in a house further down the three votes of a majority; and on the second bal-
street. Park Street, when laid out by Charles lot he lacked sixty-six votes.
Bulfinch in 1804-5, was called Park Place, and - I have dwelt at some length on this early
had the following residents from the church up : period of our municipal history, because the foun-
General Arnold Welles, Dr. John C. Warren, dations of our present system were then estab-
Richard Sullivan, Jonathan Davis, John Gore, lished. Indeed, something more than the founda-
Judge A. Ward, Jonathan Amory, Governor tions were laid. It may be said in general terms
Gore. In 1860 the houses, going up the street, that the only material changes made in the sys-
were occupied by Thomas Wigglesworth, Dr. J. tem which was put into operation during the ad-
Mason Warren, Mrs. T. W. Ward, Josiah Quincy, ministration and through the instrumentality of
Jr., President Quincy, J. Sullivan Warren, Gov- Mayor Quincy have been made in recent years ;
ernor Henry J. Gardner, Mrs. Abbott Lawrence, and have been necessitated, as the change from
George Ticknor. See view of Common in Life the town to the city government was alone ne-
of John C. Warren. The statue of Daniel Web- cessitated, by the increase of population. See
ster, by Hiram Powers, standing in the State Report of Commissioners on the revision of the
House yard, in the foreground, was erected in City Charter, City Document 3 of 1875.
VOL. III. 30.

234 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

three successive terms. He was at this time sixty-three years of age,
having been born in Boston, Oct. 8, i/oo. 1

The principal recommendation which he had to make in his first address
to the city council was that the project for railroad communication with the
Hudson River should be encouraged. "Unless," he said, "the surveys and
calculation of skilful persons employed in this business are fallacious, there
is no doubt that a railroad from this city to the Hudson may be made with
no greater elevation in any part than is found between the head of Long
Wharf and the Old State House; and that the income would pay the inter-
est of the capital employed." 2

On the day fixed for the organization of the city government of 1830,
Mr. Otis was unwell, and the members of the city council were invited to
assemble at his private residence for the purpose of being qualified. It
was a proceeding without precedent; but no one thought of questioning
the propriety of any request from Mr. Otis. His invitation was equivalent
to a command ; and the aldermen and councilmen went to his house and
were sworn in, and listened to the reading of the inaugural address. It
appeared that the city debt was $883,630; and that the assets, exclusive
of city lands, amounted to $257,341.42. The assessors' valuation of real
and personal property for purposes of taxation was $29,793.00, and the
rate of taxation was $8.10 on a thousand. 3 The fifth national census, of
1830, gave the city a population of sixty-one thousand three hundred
and ninety-two.

In May of this year the Society for the Suppression of Intemperance
petitioned for a band of music on the Common during the afternoons and
evenings of the general election, and on the Fourth of July, "such a prac-
tice having, in their judgment, a tendency to promote order and suppress

1 He had been prominent in public affairs al- uals, public or private, of the many or the few,
most from the time of his leaving college. In or privy to any correspondence of whatever de-
1788, when twenty-three years of age, he deli v- scription, in which any proposition having for its
ered the Fourth of July oration before the town object the dissolution of the Union, or its dis-
authorities. He was a man of courtly manners memberment in any shape, or a separate confed-
and winning address. His style of oratory was eracy, or a forcible resistance to the government
much admired in those days ; but his published or laws, was ever made or debated ; that I have
speeches and addresses fail to sustain the reputa- no reason to believe that any such scheme was
tion which he held among his contemporaries, ever meditated by distinguished individuals of
His political popularity had been on the wane the old P'ecleral party." [See H. C. Lodge's
for some years, and he could not forbear making chapter immediately preceding this. ED.]
a pathetic reference to the fact in his first inau- - [See further on this subject Mr. C. F.
gural address as mayor. This address, delivered Adams's chapter in Vol. IV. ED.]
in Faneuil Hall in presence of a large assembly 3 It should be stated that the law in force at
of citizens, had for its principal object the vindi- this time (see Rev. Sts. 1836, c. 7, 15, 30, 37)
cation of Mr. Otis's political career. To afford permitted assessors after they had made a true
him an opportunity for so doing, in a sort of valuation of the real and personal estate, to as-
semi-official way, was probably the chief induce- sess taxes upon a reduced value, provided their
ment to his acceptance of the office. His con- record should show both the real value and the
nection with the Hartford Convention having assessed value. The assessors of Boston, from a
been made the basis of a charge of disloyalty, date preceding 1830, and including 1841, assessed
he took occasion to " distinctly and solemnly half the true value. From 1842 to the present
assert that at no time in the course of my life time assessments have been made upon the full
have I been present at any meeting of individ- valuations.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

235

an inclination to riot and intemperance." An appropriation was made
from the city treasury to carry out the request of the petitioners.

On the recommendation of the Mayor, the city council voted to alter
the Old State House, at the head of State Street, so as to provide accom-

modations therein for the mayor, aldermen, common council, and other
city officers. It was decided to take possession of the new apartments on

1 [This cut follows a likeness painted by Gil-
bert Stuart about 1814, and owned by the late
George W. Lyman, who kindly permitted it to be
engraved. A memoir of Otis by Augustus T.
Perkins is in the Memorial Biographies of the

N. E. Historic, Genealogical Society, 1880, vol. i.
See Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, p. 188.
A portrait of Mrs. Otis, after a picture by Mai-
bone, is given in Griswold's Republican Court.
ED.]

236 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

September 17, the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the
town. Mr. Josiah Quincy, who, after retiring from the mayoralty, had
become President of Harvard College, accepted an invitation to deliver an
address on the same day. Accordingly, on the morning of the seventeenth
the two branches of the city council being assembled in convention, the
Mayor made an address, " after which," as the record states, " the two
branches went in procession to the Old South Church, escorted by the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, where an address was deliv-
ered by the Hon. Josiah Quincy, and a poem by Charles Sprague,
Esq." J

In his inaugural address for 1831 the Mayor had no special recommen-
dations to make except in regard to the administration of county affairs.
What he had to say on this point led to the passage of an act by the Legis-
lature, vesting all the property of the county of Suffolk in the city of Boston,
and requiring the city thenceforward to furnish and maintain all the county
buildings, and to pay all the county charges.

Tn the municipal election which took place Dec. 12, 1831, there were
three prominent candidates, Charles Wells, William Sullivan, and Theo-
dore Lyman, Jr. Mr. Wells and Mr. Lyman received, in round numbers,
eighteen hundred votes each, and Mr. Sullivan eleven hundred. A second
election was held December 22, the contest being between Mr. Wells and
Mr. Lyman, and the former was elected by a majority of seven hundred
and four votes, and re-elected in the following year without opposition.

The election of Charles Wells 2 was a sort of protest from the middle
classes against the magnificent way of .doing things inaugurated by Quincy
and Otis, and against any further increase of the city debt. He had some
knowledge of city affairs, having served as a member of the common
council and the board of aldermen. He was a man of simple character,
not much versed in affairs of state, but not ill-qualified, on the whole, to
perform the ordinary duties of the mayor's office. He made no formal ad-
dress when the city government was organized in 1832, and his two terms
of service were not marked by any events of importance beyond the erec-
tion of the present Court House, the extension of Broad, Commercial, and
Tremont streets, and the establishment and enforcement of strict quaran-
tine regulations, by which the inhabitants were protected from the spread
of cholera, then (in 1832) prevalent in the British provinces.

At the election which took place in December, 1833, there were two
candidates for the mayoralty. Theodore Lyman, Jr., who was called the
Jackson candidate, and William Sullivan, who was the candidate of the

1 [See Vol. I. p. 246. ED]. The only and had the cows behaved with proper respect

other notable event of this year was the exclu- to the ladies, Mayor Otis would never have inter-

sion of cows from the Common. Rights of pas- fered with their ancient privileges,
turage on this public ground had been enjoyed 2 He was born in Boston, Dec. 30, 1786, and

by certain of the householders ever since 1660; was by occupation a master builder.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

237

National Republicans, the party which had supported Mr. Wells. The con-
test resulted in the election of Mr. Lyman, who held the office for two terms. 1
He made no address when the government was sworn in on the first Mon-
day in January ; but he took occasion a few weeks later to send a long
and carefully prepared message to the common council, recommending to
its " early and earnest attention the subject of bringing a copious and
steady supply of pure and soft water into the city of Boston." A portion"

THEODORE LYMAN."

of the inhabitants were supplied with water at this time by an aqueduct
corporation, chartered in 1795. The water was conveyed from Jamaica
Pond, in West Roxbury, through four main pipes of pitch-pine logs. 3 The

1 He was a native of Boston, born Feb. 20,
1792, and was educated at Phillips Academy and
Harvard College. A man of admirable parts, of
good understanding, enlarged by a liberal educa-
tion and extensive foreign travel, he was well
equipped for a more responsible and dignified
office than the one which a laudable ambition to
serve his fellow-citizens had prompted him to
accept.

- [This cut follows a likeness by Gerard,
painted in Paris in 1818, and now owned by

Colonel Theodore Lyman. There is a sketch
of Mr. Lyman's character in L. M. Sargent's
Dealings with the Dead, No. 56, p. 204 ; and a
memoir by his son, Colonel Theodore Lyman, in
the Memorial Biographies of the N. E. Hist.
Geneal. Soc., 1880, vol. i. See the Genealogy of
the Lyman Family, by Lyman Coleman, Albany,
1872. ED.]

8 [The route of this aqueduct is shown in
Dearborn's map of 1814, given in another chap-
ter. En.]

238 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

lineal extent of the pipes in Boston was about fifteen miles, extending on
the easterly side of the city nearly to State Street, and on the westerly
side to the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1825, on the recommenda-
tion of a committee of the city council, Mr. Quincy appointed Professor
Daniel Treadwell a commissioner " to ascertain the practicability of supply-
ing the city with good water for the domestic use of the inhabitants, as
well as for the extinguishing of fires and all the general purposes of com-
fort and cleanliness." Professor Treadwell subsequently reported that there
were two places in the neighborhood of Boston from which an adequate
supply of pure water could be obtained, and which appeared to possess
advantages over all others ; namely Charles River, above the falls of Water-
town, and Spot Pond, in Stoneham. Estimates of the cost of bringing
water into the city from those two places were furnished ; but no further
action was taken by the city council until 1833, when the Mayor was re-
quested to apply to the Legislature for the necessary authority to supply
the inhabitants with water. The authority was not granted ; and there the
matter rested until Mr. Lyman's message was received. The subject was
then referred to a committee of which the Mayor was chairman, and' they
selected Colonel Loammi Baldwin, a distinguished engineer, to make a sur-
vey of the several sources of supply. Colonel Baldwin's report was of
great and permanent value. It furnished the basis on which all subse-
quent surveys and reports relating to the water supply have been made.
He came to the conclusion that Farm Pond, in Framingham, and Long
Pond, in Natick, were the most eligible sources. The committee having
the subject in charge recommended that the question of introducing water
through the agency of the city council should be submitted to the people ;
but no action was taken beyond printing and distributing the engineer's
report. Twelve years elapsed, during which a water supply was the princi-
pal topic of discussion in the city government; and then, in 1846, satisfac-
tory legislation was obtained, enabling the city to draw from the sources
recommended by Colonel Baldwin. 1

On the night of Aug. 11, 1834, the Ursuline Convent, on Mount Bene-
dict in Charlestown (now Somerville), was destroyed by a mob, composed
largely of men who lived in Boston. Vague threats of what the " Boston
Truckmen " intended to do were made for days and even weeks beforehand,
but they produced no serious impression upon the authorities or upon the
citizens generally ; and when the mob rolled up to the convent doors and
began its work of destruction, there was not a solitary policeman or other
peace officer to bar its progress.

The Ursuline school, from which the institution derived its support, was
composed 'almost entirely of Protestant pupils, many of them the daughters
of wealthy or well-to-do parents living in Boston or in its vicinity; but dark
stories had been circulated concerning the restraint put upon some of the

1 [A history of the introduction of water into and printed in 1868 ; and a supplement, bv D.
Boston was prepared by Nathaniel J. Bradlee, Fitzgerald, was added in 1876. ED.]

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 239

nuns. One of them, while in delirium from brain fever> had escaped in her
night-dress and taken refuge in a farm-house near by. While being taken
back to the convent, her ravings had attracted attention, and it was said that
she had fallen under the displeasure of the lady superior, and been long
confined in an underground cell. About this time a sensational book, called
Six Months in a Convent, was published as the work of a girl who had just
escaped from the Ursuline Convent. " It purported to relate the threats
and persuasions used by the inmates of the convent to make the writer a
Catholic against her will; and it ended with an account of her escape from
their clutches just in time to save herself from being carried off by force to
St. Louis." The common people beliqved all these stories ; and it must be
said that the original impulse which moved those who organized the attack
on the convent was not a bad one. They regarded this institution, and all
such institutions, as " anti-Christian, anti-republican," and in every way
" injurious to the best interests of the community;" but that feeling would
probably never have moved them to acts of violence. What did move
them was the belief that an old-world institution had been established among
them where persons were deprived of their liberty, and where gross, im-
moralities were practised by " a company of unmarried women placed for
life under the sole control of a company of unmarried men." The way in
which they proceeded to vindicate republican institutions and the laws of
society cannot, of course, be excused from any point of view ; but there is
this to be said, that they acted from a much higher motive than the men
who, in the following year, dragged Garrison through the streets, or who,
many years afterward, broke up Antislavery meetings and resisted the en-
forcement of the Conscription Act.

As the mob surged up to the building, the lady superior, a woman of
great courage and dignity, but altogether wanting in discretion, tore herself
from the detaining hands of the sisters, and, rushing out on the front steps,
ordered the men to disperse immediately; "for if you don't," she is re-
ported to have said, " the Bishop has twenty thousand Irishmen at his com-
mand, in Boston, who will whip you all into the sea." One cannot help
feeling a sort of admiration for the fiery little French-Irish woman, standing
alone before some thousands of riotous Protestant Americans and making
such a speech ; but such a speech, if made, was not calculated to soothe
the passions of those to whom it was addressed. Two shots were fired at
this time by some one in the crowd ; " and the affrighted nuns, hovering in
the shadow of the door, behind my lady, pulled her back by force and
barred the door." All the inmates of the institution then withdrew to the
back-garden, and subsequently found refuge in a private house on Winter
Hill. The doors of the convent were forced, the rooms ransacked, and the
building was then set on fire and entirely destroyed. Several of the engine
companies in Boston, attracted by the light of the fire, went to the scene with
their engines, and were afterward charged with aiding the rioters ; but the
charge was not sustained. As the work of destruction went on, the spirit

240

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

of lawlessness and violence developed rapidly, as is usual in such cases,
and was stimulated by drink. The lady superior was sought for, and had
she been found she would probably have been killed.

On the day following the affair at Mount Benedict, there were serious
apprehensions of a riot in Boston; and a conflict would undoubtedly have
taken place between the returning rioters and the Irish population, had not
the Mayor taken measures to prevent it. 1 He called a meeting in Faneuil
Hall at one o'clock that day; and, after speeches by Mr. Quincy and Mr.
Otis, resolutions were adopted in which the attack on the convent was de-
nounced as "a base and cowardly act; " and the Mayor was requested to
appoint a committee of citizens to investigate the affair, and " to adopt
every suitable mode of bringing the authors and abettors of the outrage
to justice."

On the request of the Mayor, the State authorities made arrangements
to call out the militia in case the posse comitatus was found inadequate to
the support of the laws; but no further disturbance occurred. Madame
St. George, the vivacious lady superior, being unable to hire another build-
ing in this vicinity for her purpose, and making herself somewhat obnoxious
by her snuff-taking, her levity, and her denunciations of the canaille, drifted
off with her black-robed sisters into another part of the country, and was
heard of no more by the " Boston Truckmen ; " but the blackened and crumb-
ling walls of the convent remain to mark the spot where once stood the most
" elegant and imposing building ever erected in New England for the educa-
tion of girls." 2

In his inaugural address, at the beginning of the year 1835, the Mayor
called attention to the city debt, now amounting to $1,265,164.28, and sug-
gested that if the present policy of borrowing for all purposes that could not
be considered as strictly belonging to. the current expenses of the year was
pursued, it was obvious that in a single century there would be an accumu-
lation both of interest, which it would be troublesome and inconvenient to
pay, and of principal, which it would be most burdensome to redeem. He
recommended, therefore, that whenever any new public work was ordered, a
certain proportion of the cost should be added to the appropriations of the
year. To this recommendation we owe the establishment of a sinking

1 Colonel Theodore Lyman writes : shot!' Immediately the band-master went in all

" I used to hear my father relate the amus- haste and told them he would not play. This

ing device by which he prevented an anti-Catho- defection damped their ardor. However, a small

lie riot in Boston, after the convent affair. The number collected and began to move across

Charlestown mob had arranged to march in pro- Charlestovvn Bridge. At the city end my father

cession on the day following the fire, and to pass had stationed a man on horseback, who, as the

through Boston with a brass band, and bearing crowd drew near, turned and, in an ostentatious

Catholic trophies stolen from the convent. Per way, galloped furiously off. Immediately a cry

contra, the Irish prepared to attack the proces- rose: 'He is going for the military!' and the

sion when it entered the city. mob retired whence it came ! "

" My father sent for the leader of the band, 2 [See the statements on these events made

and said : 'You are to play at the head of the in the chapter on "The Roman Catholic Church

procession. The militia are under arms. They in Boston," in the present volume, and also City

will fire. You are a stout man, and will be surely Document 1 1 of 1834. ED.]

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 241

fund, which has been of great value in preserving the city credit. He also
dwelt at some length in his message on the subject of pauperism, and the
reformation of juvenile offenders, making some valuable suggestions which
were afterward acted upon. 1

It was during this year that the famous demonstration against the
Abolition movement occurred, of which a particular account is given in
another chapter. 2

On August 15 a great meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, to show that
the wealth and intelligence of Boston were opposed to any interference with
the constitutional guarantees which protected slavery. The Mayor pre-
sided; and it should be said of him, as of many others who took part
in this meeting, that, while condemning the methods of the Abolitionists, he
was heartily in sympathy with any measures by which, in a constitutional
way, slavery could be restricted or exterminated. His Fourth of July
oration before the town authorities, in 1820, and his Report to the Massa-
chusetts House of Representatives, in 1822, on the admission into this State
of free negroes and mulattoes, show that from early manhood he had sym-
pathized with the Antislavery cause.

A few days before the outbreak (October 21), a letter written by a
graduate of the theological seminary at Andover, whose integrity of char-
acter was vouched for by the professors, had been published in the news-
papers, stating that George Thompson had said to him, three or four times,
" that every slave-holder ought to have his throat cut." Thompson denied
having made the statement; but in the face of a solemn re-affirmation of
its truth by the person who originally made it, the denial went for little.
What followed was undoubtedly due largely to the feeling created by this
statement.

It was chiefly against Thompson that the passions of the hour were
aroused ; and when the Mayor, on inquiry, learned that Thompson was
not in the city, and would not be present at the meeting whose announce-
ment had caused so much solicitude on his part, there seemed to him no
reason to apprehend any serious disturbance of the peace, and no extraor-
dinary precautions were taken. Upon the seizure of Garrison, however,
by the mob, the circumstances attending which need not be repeated
here, and his rescue by the police, the Mayor ordered the officers to
take him into the City Hall, and offered his own body as a shield against
the rioters. After a stubborn fight, the entrance to the City Hall was

1 The establishment of the State Reform haps to his wise suggestions at the time of its

School at Westboro', " for the proper disci- foundation as to his princely gifts. In the last

pline, instruction, employment, and reformation codicil to his will he suggested a separate school

of juvenile offenders," the first institution of of a similar character for girls ; and to that sug-

the kind in America, was due mainly to Mr. gestion we owe the institution now in operation

Lyman. He gave $22,500 to the school during at Lancaster. He was the benefactor, and for

his lifetime, the sole condition being that his many years the manager, of the Farm School for

name should not then be made public; and he Boys on Thompson's Island,

left to it $50,000 more by his last will. The 2 (That on "The Antislavery Movement," by

success of the school has been due as much per- James Freeman Clarke. ED.]
VOL. III. 31.

242 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

gained, and Garrison was conveyed upstairs to the Mayor's office. As the
crowd attempted to follow, the Mayor took his stand on the steps, and
declared that " any person who passed there would have to pass over his
dead body." Night was coming on, and the excitement of the crowd
showing no abatement, it was thought best to commit Garrison to the jail,
ostensibly as a disturber of the peace. The necessary papers were made
out by the sheriff, who was present, and after a hard fight he was put into
a carriage and conveyed by a circuitous route to the jail, where he again
barely escaped falling into the clutches of the crowd assembled about the
entrance. As the doors of the jail closed upon him, he sank exhausted on
a seat, exclaiming, " Never was a man so rejoiced to get into a jail before." *
He received no personal injuries while in the hands of the mob. On the
day following his commitment he was discharged from the jail, and, acting
on the advice of friends, retired to the country for a short time.

The Mayor has been blamed for not having a sufficient civil force at hand
to check the mob in the beginning, and for not calling out the military forces
later, to prevent the necessity of committing Garrison to jail as a criminal ;
but it appears that he did use, as effectively as possible, the small police
force at his command ; and that, as the law then stood, he had no such
power as the mayor now has to issue precepts calling the militia to the
aid of the civil authorities. Mr. Samuel E Sewall, an Abolitionist who took
part in the meeting which caused the riot, and who was very active in efforts
for Garrison's security, said, in a communication to the Liberator shortly
after the affair, that he believed the Mayor " was as sincerely desirous of
suppressing the riot as any man in the city," and that he had " adopted
such measures as seemed to him calculated to effect the object."

There is no doubt that the public sentiment of the community was in
sympathy with the mob to the extent of breaking up the meeting ; and while
it was not in sympathy with it to the extent of doing personal violence to
Mr. Garrison, it was not in favor of punishing those who laid violent hands
upon him. According to one of the papers, the mob was composed, in part
at least, of "gentlemen of property and standing." The Advertiser of the
day following concluded a very short account of the affair by saying :

" As far as we had an opportunity for observing the deportment of the great num-
ber of persons assembled, there appeared to be a strong desire that no act of violence
should be committed any further than was necessary to prevent these fomenters of
discord from addressing a public meeting. If those who call these useless meetings
have not regard enough for the public quiet to avoid the summoning of another
assemblage of this kind, we trust the proper authorities will take care that they are
bound over to keep the peace."

It is true, as has been stated, that hardly a night passes in any of our
larger cities without greater violence done to person and to property than
occurred in the so-called " Garrison mob." It would long ago have passed

1 Boston Atlas, Oct. 22, 1835. This statement rison use substantially the same words in describ-
is corroborated by persons who heard Mr. Gar- ing the affair shortly after it occurred.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 243

out of memory but for the prominence which the man and his cause after-
ward attained. Garrison was then an obscure individual. During Mr.
Otis's administration the mayor of Baltimore requested him to suppress the
Liberator, copies of which were sent to that city. Mr. Otis wrote to him
that the " officers had ferreted out the paper and its editor, whose office
was an obscure hole ; his only visible auxiliary, a negro boy ; his supporters,
a few ignorant persons of all colors."

While the Mayor had no sympathy with the mob, and stood up bravely
in defence of the object of its persecution, he was not as zealous as he
might have been in seeking out and punishing those who had committed
such an offence against the rights of an American citizen ; not as solicitous
for the good name of the city as he showed himself to be when he called a
meeting in Faneuil Hall to denounce the destruction of the Ursuline Con-
vent; not as energetic as the mayor of 1837, who in two hours mustered a
sufficient military force to put down the great riot in Broad Street. Look-
ing back upon it at this day, one cannot but regret that the feeling which
prompted him to shield Mr. Garrison with his own body had not induced
him to make the effort, at least, to punish those who had so openly defied
his authority.

At the municipal election in December, 1835, Samuel Turrell Arm-
strong, 1 the Whig candidate, was elected mayor for the ensuing year. He
held the office for only one term, and the principal acts of his administration
appear to have been the erection of the gloomy iron fence which still en-
closes three sides of the Common, and the extension of the mall through
the burial ground on Boylston Street. The new Court House in Court
Square was completed this year; and the ringing of the church-bells was
changed from eleven o'clock to one, or, as it was said, from the hour for
drinking to the hour for dining. 2

For some reason Mr. Armstrong was not a candidate for re-election ;
and at the end of his term the Whigs put up Samuel Atkins Eliot, 3 a suc-
cessful and highly respected Boston merchant, and elected him over the
combined opposition by a majority of about eight hundred votes. He held
the office for three years, and showed a remarkable aptitude for the per-
formance of its duties. Following the custom of his immediate predecessors,
Mr. Eliot made no formal address upon the organization of the city gov-
ernment at the beginning of his first term.

The most important act of his administration was the reorganization of
the fire department. The necessity of bringing that department into a

1 He was born in Dorchester, Mass., April ernor after the election of Governor John Davis

29, 1784; educated at the public schools, and to the United States Senate, March 4, 1835.
became a printer, publisher, and bookseller. He 2 [See Vol. II. p. 509. ED.]

had been a member of the board of aldermen 8 He was a native of Boston, born March 5,

for four years ( 1828-31) ; Lieut.-Governor of the 1798, and had served as a member of the board of

State for three years (1833-35), anc l Acting Gov- aldermen while Mr. Lyman held the mayoralty.

244

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

higher state of discipline and efficiency was made apparent to the citizens
on the occasion of the Broad-Street riot. The succession of violent dis-
turbances of the peace which took place during these early years under
the city government shows that there must have been in these " good old
times," as they are now called, a greater tendency to fighting and to the
destruction of property than there is at the present time. The Boston of
that day was small, but it was evidently intense. Its feelings could not

SAMLT.I, A. ELIOT.

then, as now, find expression in the mild vagaries - of a Radical Club. The
truckmen, looking piously on the motto of the city seal, saw no other
way of preserving the religion of their fathers than by burning the first
convent that was set up in their neighborhood ; the merchants, having in
their keeping the material prosperity of the city, saw no other way of pre-
serving that on which its prosperity rested the Union of the States

1 [This cut follows a photograph, taken 1817, is now in the possession of Professor

about 1850, kindly loaned by Charles W. Eliot, Charles Eliot Norton, in Cambridge. For his

his son, President of Harvard University. A family connections, see Vol. IV. p. 7. He died

portrait of Mayor Eliot by Stuart, taken about in 1862. ED.)

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

2 45

than by hustling Mr. Garrison, and then locking him up in jail for allow-
ing himself to be hustled; the firemen the embodiment of a long series
of Fourth of July orations saw no other way of vindicating American
muscle and American independence than by breaking the heads of their
Irish fellow-citizens.

It was on Sunday, June 11, 1837, that the Broad-Street riot occurred.
An engine company returning from a fire came into collision with an Irish
funeral procession. It would not have been a serious affair had not an
alarm of fire been sounded on the church-bells, calling other fire companies
to the scene. The Irish had a temporary advantage in numbers ; but the
firemen, and those who came to their aid, soon got the upper hand. The
Irish were driven into their houses, whither they were followed by their
assailants, who had now reached a pitch of fury which, but for the appear-
ance of the military, would have ended in the destruction of the whole Irish
quarter of the town. No lives were lost, however, but there was a good
deal of blood-letting, and considerable property was destroyed. It was
estimated that over fifteen thousand persons were concerned in the affair.
The Mayor was on the ground at the first alarm, and finding himself
powerless to preserve order with the small police force under his com-
mand, he took immediate steps to have the military called out. Fort-
unately for the peace of the city, the National Lancers, constituting a
company of cavalry in the militia organization of the Commonwealth, had
just been formed, and the members being well known the authorities were
able to bring them together at short notice. Portions of several companies
of infantry were also collected; and in two hours after the affray began the
Mayor entered Broad Street at the head of some eight hundred men under
arms. The Lancers led the way and did the most effective service. The
street presented a singular spectacle at this time. The air was full of fly-
ing feathers and straw from the beds which had been ripped open and
emptied out of the windows ; some of the tenement houses were com-
pletely sacked, the occupants fleeing for their lives. Peace was restored
very soon after the arrival of the militia ; but the people were in such an
excited state that a military patrol was maintained through the night, and
sentinels were posted at all the church doors to prevent false alarms.
The energetic action of the Mayor alone prevented a serious loss of life.
From the report of an investigating committee of the city council, it ap-
pears that the blame for beginning the disturbance rests about equally on
the firemen and the Irishmen.

The moral which the Mayor drew from the occurrence was that both the
police and fire departments ought to be reorganized. He succeeded in
making the changes he desired in the fire department, but failed to secure
the co-operation of the city council in his proposed reform of the police
department. The firemen at that time received no compensation for their
services. A small annual allowance was made to the engine and hook and
ladder companies to pay for refreshments ; but beyond that the free souls

246 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

composing the department disdained to receive anything. The Mayor saw
that in order to secure discipline reasonable compensation must be made
for the services required. He told the city council that " it ought not to be
regarded as a matter of reproach to any one to receive pay for his labor."
He saw no reason why the firemen should not be paid and still retain all the
ambition, ardor, and generous spirit which characterize voluntary associ-
ations, and which are not less characteristic of naval and military corps.
The compensation was intended as an inducement for the firemen to place
themselves under that strict discipline necessary to insure efficiency, and
not as an equivalent for perils which could not be really paid for. The
ordinance reorganizing the department and fixing the pay of its members
was passed and went into operation on the first of September. For several
weeks it was necessary to maintain all over Boston volunteer patrols against
incendiaries.

In the following year authority was procured from the Legislature for
the appointment by the mayor and aldermen of police officers, with all the
powers of constables except the power of serving and executing any civil pro-
cess. Under this authority a small police force for day duty was organized
and placed under the city marshal, who was the principal health-officer of
the city. This force was entirely separate and distinct from the watch, which
at this time included one hundred and ten watchmen and ten constables,
who went on duty at six o'clock in the winter and at seven o'clock in the
summer, and patrolled the streets until sunrise.

At the municipal election in December, 1837, the inhabitants were called
upon to give in their votes on several amendments to the city charter pro-
posed by the city council. Most of the amendments were merely for the
purpose of curing certain defects in the phraseology of the original act;
but there was one which transferred from the inhabitants of the several
wards to the city council the power of electing overseers of the poor, and
this proposition was regarded with so much disfavor that all the amend-
ments were defeated. They were again submitted at a special election in
February, 1838, and again rejected.

Under the authority of an act of the Legislature, a superintendent of alien
passengers was first appointed by the city in 1837. It was made the duty
of that officer to prevent the landing of persons incompetent to maintain
themselves, unless a bond was given that the person should not become a
charge to the city or the State within ten years ; and the sum of two dol-
lars was collected from all other alien passengers as a commutation for the
bond. Some years afterward this assessment of " head money," as it was
called, was resisted by the transportation companies ; and a case being car-
ried up to the Supreme Court of the United States, the law which authorized
it was declared to be unconstitutional.

The erection of a hospital for the insane was begun in 1837, on the
grounds adjoining the houses of Industry and Correction, in South Boston ;
and was opened for patients in 1839.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 247

In his inaugural address at the beginning of the year 1838 the Mayor re-
ferred to the commercial crisis which had occurred during the previous year,
and stated that it had produced far less general distress in this community
than in some others. He recommended the erection of a new city hall
and a county jail; but no action was taken on these recommendations be-
yond procuring plans and estimates for the former. No other measures of
importance received the attention of the city council during this year.

At the charter election in December, 1839, Jonathan Chapman, 1 the
Whig candidate, was elected mayor, and held the office for the three fol-
lowing years. When he took office in January, 1840, he addressed the city
council at some length, recommending, as the principal object of their
efforts, the gradual reduction of the city debt. From $100,000 the debt
had in eighteen years risen to $1,698,232; but the city had in the mean
time acquired a property which not only accommodated the public busi-
ness, but furnished an income which covered more than half the interest on
the debt; and it owned, besides, about $200,000 in bonds and notes, and
between five and six million feet of land and flats. The national census
taken this year gave the city a population of ninety-three thousand three
hundred and eighty-three. The valuation of the real and personal prop-
erty of the city for purposes of taxation amounted to $47,29O,8oo, 2 and
the rate of taxation was $11 on $1,000. The annual current expenses
of the city, excluding all except those for ordinary purposes, and also
the payments on account of the principal or interest of the city debt,
amounted to about $425,000. The public schools absorbed nearly a
quarter of this amount.

The project of building a new city hall on land lying between the Court
House and School Street, which had been purchased for the purpose dur-
ing the preceding year, was not favored by the Mayor. When, later in the
year, a new building for the probate and registry offices was completed, and
the old county court house was abandoned, the city council decided to
remodel the old building for the purposes of a city hall. This was done for
a comparatively small expense, and the city government took possession of
its new quarters on March 18, 1841, and listened to an address from the
Mayor.

The year 1840 formed a sort of epoch in the commercial history of the
city. Through the enterprise of Mr. Samuel Cunard, steam navigation was
established between Boston and Liverpool. 3 The event was celebrated by a
great dinner, given on July 22, in a pavilion in front of the Maverick House

1 He was born in Boston, Jan. 23, 1807, and Christian Examiner, and the newspapers of the

was the son of Captain Jonathan Chapman, who day, an effective speaker on social and political

had served in the office of selectman for the occasions, and altogether a man of rather bril-

town of Boston. He received his education at liant parts.

Phillips Academy and Harvard College, and en- 3 See note p. 234.

tered the Suffolk Bar from Judge Shaw's office. 8 [See Mr. H. A. Hill's chapter in Vol. IV.,

He possessed considerable literary ability ; was and the Mayor's Inaugural Address, City Docu-

a contributor to the North American Review, the ment 2 of 1841. ED.]

248 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

at East Boston. Referring to the matter in his inaugural address at the
beginning of the following year, the Mayor said it had already given to
the city a commercial importance unknown to her before ; and when con-
sidered in connection with the great internal improvement through this
Commonwealth, so shortly to be completed, the most important results to
our prosperity might justly be anticipated. The period of general depres-
sion in the various branches of industry and business seemed rapidly giv-
ing place to one of activity and success ; and he thought he could say truly
that in no period of the city's history had her prospects been so bright
and cheering. 1

During this year the Mayor incurred the enmity of the sellers of in-
toxicating liquors by temporarily increasing the police force for the purpose
of prosecuting the violators of the law. There was a license law in opera-
tion at this time, which authorized the mayor and aldermen to grant as
many licenses to retail spirituous liquors as in their opinion the public
good might require. The Mayor was opposed to a license law, and in his
address to the city government of 1842 he gave his views on the question
at some length. It appears that he prosecuted the violators of the liquor
law simply because they were law-breakers, and not because he expected
in that way to cure the evils of intemperance. He objected to the license
law because it created a monopoly, and because its enforcement necessi-
tated the entering of a man's house or place of business for the purpose of
procuring evidence. He said : -

" Let the licensing system be entirely done away, as wrong in principle and in-
jurious in effect. Let the severest penalties be affixed to the keeping of disorderly
houses. Demand of your police to keep the outside in order, to see to it that the
public peace is preserved, and the public proprieties in no way violated. But as
to the use of spirituous liquors within, so long as it is peaceable and in order, leave
that to individuals, and above all to the Washingtonians, who have grasped the sub-
ject in the right way."

During the year 1841 another revision of the city charter was made
and submitted to the Legislature, but no action was taken by that body ; and
the Mayor in his address at the beginning of the following year urged a
renewal of the application for additional legislation. The application was
made, but the higher power " smiling put the question by." 2

1 The great internal improvement referred to 2 In the ordinary affairs of the city nothing

was the Western Railroad, which was completed of importance beyond what has been mentioned

and opened to the Hudson River in 1841. The occurred during Mr. Chapman's three years of

city government " noticed this joyous occasion " service ; but it ought perhaps to be mentioned

by visiting Albany, and receiving in return a as something beyond the ordinary, that on Feb.

visit from the officers of that city. [See the 2, 1842, a public dinner was given to Mr. Charles

chapter on " The Canal and Railroad Enterprise Dickens, at which the Mayor made quite a no-

of Boston," by Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in table little speech, full of the kind of wit that is

Vol. IV., and Mr. Hamilton A. Hill's chapter on appreciated on such occasions ; and that on Nov.

"The Trade, Commerce, and Navigation of Bos- 24, 1841, the Mayor's wife danced with the Prince

ton," in the same volume. ED.] de Joinville, at a great ball in Faneuil Hall.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 249

Martin Brimmer 1 was the next mayor of Boston. He was the Whig
candidate, and was elected by a majority of two thousand and sixty-one
votes over Bradford Sumner, the candidate of the " Loco-focos."

His address at the organization of the city government on Jan. 2, 1843,
was devoted largely to the question, which had been agitated for some
years, of building a new prison for the county of Suffolk. He pointed out
the defects of the old jail in Leverett Street, and the difficulty of caring for
its inmates in a manner suited to the requirements of the times. He had
given considerable attention to the subject of prison discipline and con-
struction, about which an active controversy was going on at that time ;
and he made some suggestions in his address which were acted upon when,
at a later day, the new jail was constructed in Charles Street.

Mr. Brimmer was also deeply interested in the cause of public education,
and was an ardent supporter of the new departure advocated by Horace
Mann. During his mayoralty he gave much thought to the improvement
and increase of the Boston schools. At that time the literature of educa-
tion was scanty. A valuable work The School and the Schoolmaster, by
Alonzo Potter and George B. Emerson had recently been published, and
the Mayor had an edition of three thousand five hundred copies printed at
his own expense, and sent a copy to each public school and school com-
mittee in the State. 2

In his address to the city government of 1844 the Mayor sketched the
rapid growth of the city during the preceding twenty-two years, for the
purpose of impressing his associates with " the importance of enlarged
views in relation to the improvements of the city, in extending and beautify-
ing the streets and public places, in a careful attention to internal health
and police, in an enlarged system of internal and external intercourse, in a
liberal encouragement of charitable and literary institutions, in a far-sighted
preparation for the moral, literary, and physical education of the rising
generation."

The policy inaugurated by Mr. Chapman for a gradual reduction of the
city debt was continued by Mr. Brimmer. The debt which amounted to
$1,698,232, in 1840, was reduced under Mr. Chapman's administration to
$1,594,700, and. under Mr. Brimmer's to $1,423,800.

At the charter election, Dec. 9, 1844, several propositions in regard to
procuring a supply of pure water for the inhabitants of Boston were sub-
mitted to a popular vote. The proposition to take the supply from Long
Pond in Natick and Framingham, or from any of the sources adjacent
thereto, as recommended by Colonel Baldwin, was adopted by a vote of
six thousand two hundred and sixty yeas, to two thousand two hundred
and four nays. The Mayor was thereupon instructed to apply to the Leg-

1 Mr. Brimmer was born in 1793, an d g ra d- board of aldermen, and one term as a represen-

uated at Harvard College in 1814. Although tative in the Legislature.

engaged in mercantile pursuits he was always 2 [See Mr. Dillaway's chapter on " Educa-

interested in public affairs, and previous to his tion, Past and Present," in Vol. IV. ED.]
election as mayor had served one term in the
VOL. III. 32.

250 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

islature for the necessary authority; and the last important. act of his ad-
ministration was a compliance with this instruction. 1

Mr. Brimmer having declined a re-election for a third term, there was a
remarkable contest over the election of his successor. Thomas Aspinwall
Davis was the candidate of a new political organization, called the Native
American party; Josiah Quincy, Jr., was the candidate of the Whigs, and
Adam W. Thaxter, Jr., was the Democratic candidate. On the first ballot
Quincy received four thousand four hundred and sixty-four votes ; Davis,
three thousand nine hundred and eleven, and Thaxter, two thousand one
hundred and seventy-three. There being no choice, Mr. Quincy with-
drew, and Thomas Wetmore was put forward as the Whig candidate. He
proved less popular than Mr. Quincy, and on the second ballot Davis
led ; but Colonel Charles G. Greene, who had been nominated as the
Democratic candidate in place of Mr. Thaxter, received sufficient votes to
prevent a choice. It was not until the eighth ballot was taken, on Feb.
21, 1845, that Mr. Davis received a bare majority, and was declared
elected. His principal opponent on the last ballot was Mr. William
Parker, a Whig, who had been chosen chairman of the new board of alder-
men, and who acted as mayor until Mr. Davis was sworn in on February
27. Mr. Parker appears to have had some feeling over his defeat, as he
immediately withdrew from the board of aldermen.

Mr. Davis's inaugural address, delivered on February 27, was devoted
mainly to the subject of a water supply ; but he could not forbear referring
to the contest over his election, and saying a few words in defence of the
party which had brought him forward. He said : -

" The numerous and exaggerated statements that have been freely circulated in
reference to the objects and aims of the American Republican party, which has re-
cently sprung into existence and is so rapidly increasing in many parts of the coun-
try, require a word upon this subject. It is not the object of the American party, by
word or act, to engender unkind feelings between the native born and foreign born
citizen. Its object is, by the establishment of general and salutary naturalization and
registration laws, by educational and moral means, to place our free institutions upon
such a basis that those who come after us, the descendants both of the foreign and the
American citizen, may be free and independent."

On March 25 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the introduction
of water from Long Pond ; but the act was not to take effect unless ac-
cepted by a majority of the legal voters of the city. The question of its
acceptance was voted on at special meetings held in the several wards on
May 19, and it was rejected by a small vote; the principal cause of its re-
jection being the extraordinary powers given to the three water commis-

1 {History of the Introduction of Pure Water two vols., maps, and plans, Boston, 1868-1876.
into the City of Boston, by N. J. Bradlee, with a See also, on the matter specially referred to,
continuation from 1868 to 1876 by D. Fitzgerald, City Documents, 1844. ED.]

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 251

sioners, who were, by the terms of the act, to be appointed as the agents
of the city council.

On October 6, Mr. Davis having been ill for some time, and unable to
perform the duties of his office, sent his resignation to the city council;
but it was not accepted, and he continued to be the nominal head of the
city government until November 22, when he died. He was a man of ex-
cellent character, but lacked the qualities essential to success in the admin-
istration of a public office. 1

At the charter election on Dec. 8, 1845, there were three candidates for
mayor: Josiah Quincy, Jr., nominated by the Whigs; John T. Heard, by
the Democrats ; and William S. Damrell, by the Native Americans. Mr.
Quincy was elected by a handsome majority; and on the eleventh of the
same month the city council elected him, as authorized in such cases by
the city charter, to fill the office until the beginning of the next municipal
year. During the interval between November 22 and December n, Ben-
son Leavitt, then chairman of the board of aldermen, acted as mayor.

Josiah Quincy, Jr., 2 served in the office of mayor from Dec. n, 1845, to
the first Monday in January, 1849. He had a thorough knowledge of mu-
nicipal affairs, and his administration was characterized by much of the
energy and ability which distinguished his father's service of the city. In
his inaugural address on Jan. 5, 1846, he dealt with the water question in
away to secure the hearty co-operation of his associates in the government.
The time for deliberation, he said, had passed. The time for action had
come. A competent and disinterested commission had decided that Long
Pond was the source from which this blessing was to be derived, and the
honor of beginning the important work had been conferred upon the pres-
ent administration. He then proceeded to make a financial statement,
from which it appeared that the cost of introducing water, estimated by the
commissioners to be $2*651,643, was more than covered by the value of
the city lands, estimated at that time to be worth $3,175,000. The funded
city debt on Jan. i, 1846, amounted to $1,085,200, showing a reduction of
over $600,000 since 1840. This favorable exhibit of the city's financial
condition had much to do with securing the approval of the citizens to the
next act of the Legislature, authorizing the introduction of water. Ten
days after the new government came in, the Mayor was authorized to pe-
tition for another act. It was granted, in the form desired, on March 30,
and accepted by the citizens on April 13, the vote standing four thousand
six hundred and thirty-seven in the affirmative, and only three hundred and
forty-eight in the negative. On May 4, James F. Baldwin, Nathan Hale,

1 His ancestors were among the earliest set- 2 He was born in Boston, Jan. 17, 1802, and

lers of the town of Brookline, Mass., where he was educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard

was born on Dec. 11,1798. He was educated in College. He was a member of the common

the public schools, and at the time of his elec- council for four years (1833-37), and its presi-

tion as mayor was engaged in business as a dent for three years. [His portrait is given in

jeweller. Mr. Adams's chapter in Vol. IV. Eo.J

252 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

and Thomas B. Curtis were chosen by the city council as commissioners
under the act; and on August 20 the ceremony of breaking ground for
the beginning of the work at the lake was performed by the Mayor, as-
sisted by his father and the venerable John Quincy Adams. At the colla-
tion which followed, the Mayor called attention to the name by which the
source of supply was generally known, and said the name Long Pond was
like the name John Smith, without distinction. He suggested, therefore,
that the Indian name " Cochituate " should be substituted, and the sug-
gestion was immediately adopted.

On Oct. 25, 1848, in the last year of Mr. Quincy's mayoralty, there was
another celebration, this time on Boston Common. The rising of the sun
was saluted with a hundred guns, and by the ringing of all the church-bells.
A great procession was formed, which marched through the streets and
then to the Common, where an ode, written by Mr. James Russell Lowell,
was sung by the school children, and addresses were made by the Mayor
and by Mr. Nathan Hale, chairman of the water commission. After the
citizens had been duly impressed with the importance of the blessing about
to be bestowed on them, the Mayor inquired if it was their pleasure that
water- should then be introduced. There was a tremendous affirmative, and
thereupon the gate was opened, and a column of water six inches in di-
ameter rose to a height of eighty feet. What followed is thus described
by the historian of the water works :

" After a moment of silence, shouts rent the air, the bells began to ring, cannon
were fired, and rockets streamed across the sky. The scene was one of intense ex-
citement which it is impossible to describe, but which no one can forget. In the
evening there was a grand display of fireworks, and all the public buildings and many
of the private houses were brilliantly illuminated."

The committee on finance, of which the Mayor was chairman, was au-
thorized in 1846 to borrow money to the amount of $2,500,000, for carrying
on the work; but they found great difficulty in negotiating a loan upon any
reasonable terms. The leading European bankers who were consulted on
the subject united in saying that the repudiation of some of the States had
made it impossible to dispose of American bonds. During a part of 1847
the rate for money was two per cent a month, on the best paper. In April
of that year it was decided to advertise for a loan of a million dollars.
The city's financial condition was so well presented to capitalists, that the
finance committee were enabled to place the whole amount at a little less
than six per cent, a lower rate than was obtained by the United States.

During Mr. Quincy's first term the police force was reorganized. Francis
Tukey, who occupies a large place in the traditions of the department, was
appointed city marshal. He was a police officer of the French school,
possessing great coolness and audacity, a thorough knowledge of the weak-
nesses of human nature, and an entire indifference as to the methods by
which he accomplished his ends. On a larger field, and under a less dem-

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 253

ocratic form of government, he would have been one of the noted civil
officers of his time. He made himself the terror of evil-doers, and, it
must be added, of some who were not evil-doers. As the law then stood,
the city was obliged to maintain a night-watch, separate and distinct from
the police force. The watch numbered at this time about one hundred and
fifty men, and were under the control of a captain. They were in the habit
of enveloping themselves in large coats, and, after a round or two at the
beginning of their watch, retiring to the shelter of the watch boxes, which
were then provided, and slumbering peacefully until relieved. Marshal
Tukey's force consisted in the beginning of only twenty-two day men and
eight night men, the night men being a sort of detective force, and,
under the lead of their dashing chief, doing more effective police service
than the whole night-watch. This force was gradually increased to forty
patrolmen for day duty, twenty patrolmen for night duty, and five regular
detectives. In 1853 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the city
council to unite the watch -and police, and in the following year the union
was effected.

Among other police regulations introduced during Mr. Quincy's term,
was one requiring licensed places of amusement to abolish what was known
as the" third row," - a place which for years had been set apart in all the
theatres for the special accommodation of prostitutes. By the Mayor's
casting vote, licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors were refused.
" When I left the office," says Mr. Quincy, " there was no place where
such liquors were openly sold. An attempt was made on this account to
prevent my re-election for a third term, but after a most excited canvass
I was rechosen."

In order to make good his statement as to the city's means for meeting
its obligations, the Mayor urged upon the city council the importance of
preparing the lands owned by the city for public sale. In 1847 he was
authorized to contract for filling a portion of the marsh lands on the east-
erly side of the Neck, known as the South Bay; and under the contracts
then made an extensive tract of land was graded, laid out in streets and
lots, and made ready for the market.

The subject of providing a new jail for the county of Suffolk, to which
reference has already been made, was discussed a good deal during the
first two years of Mr. Quincy's administration; but the two branches of
the city council were unable to agree upon any plan of action. In 1848
the city solicitor gave an opinion that the duty of providing a county jail
was imposed by law upon the board of mayor and aldermen, who in this
matter, as in some others, had the powers of county commissioners. The
Board lost no time in exercising its authority. The project of erecting
the jail in connection with the House of Correction at South Boston was
abandoned ; a large lot of land on the north-easterly corner of Cambridge
and Charles streets was purchased, and before the Mayor retired from office
he signed the contracts for the new building.

254 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The reforms in our public school system which Horace Mann and
George B. Emerson were advocating at this time received the cordial sup-
port of the Mayor. The " double-headed system," as it was called, under
which a grammar master and a writing master exercised a divided authority
over the schools, was abolished ; women were more generally employed as
teachers, and larger school buildings were erected.

At the municipal election on Dec. 11, 1848, John Prescott Bigelow, 1 the
Whig candidate, was elected by a majority of two thousand four hundred
and twenty-seven votes, although all shades of the opposition were repre-
sented in the four candidates who ran against him. He occupied the office
for three terms, and performed its duties with marked ability and discretion.

In his inaugural address at the organization of the government in 1849,
he dwelt particularly on the action of the mayor and aldermen of 1847 in
refusing licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors. The attempt, he said,
to suppress the traffic in that way had utterly fai4ed. The number of drink-
ing places had augmented to an extent never before witnessed, and there had
been an appalling increase of intemperance and its attendant crimes. He
therefore recommended that the license system be re-established, as, with
all its defects, it produced better results than the prohibitory system. The
Mayor's recommendation on this point was sustained by the grand jury of
Suffolk County, who expressed the opinion that " the entire interdiction of
the sale of ardent spirits, however beneficial its effects may be in small com-
munities, is wholly inoperative for good in a great city." But the aldermen
were unanimously opposed to the granting of licenses ; and on a test case
which came up in the board on March 3, 1849, the Mayor had not a solitary
supporter. A majority of the members of the board were re-elected for the
following year, and therefore the question was not taken up. In 1851 the
increase of drunkenness and crime caused the aldermen to propound cer-
tain interrogatories to Marshal Tukey. In reply to the question, " How
many places are there where intoxicating liquors are sold?" he stated that
there were fifteen hundred such places ; and in reply to the request " to
furnish an opinion as to the best method of checking the increase of crime
and the traffic in liquors," he contented himself with the simple state-
ment, " Execute the law." This novel proposition appears to have filled
the aldermen with such astonishment that they were unable to do anything
further that year. In 1852 a prohibitory liquor law was passed by the Leg-
islature. Governor Boutwell, who first vetoed the bill and afterward ap-
proved it, said " it contained new principles of legislation and was of doubtful
expediency." Before it went into effect the board of mayor and aldermen
granted about five hundred innholders and victuallers licenses under the

1 He was born in Groton, Mass., on Aug. 25, tion. The new mayor had taken an active inter-

1797, and was educated at Harvard College, est in City and State affairs, having served for

His father was a well-known lawyer, and his seven successive terms in the common council

grandfather, Colonel Timothy Bigelow, won an (1827-33), and for the same length of time (1836-

honorable reputation in the war of the Revolu- 42) as Secretary of State.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 255

provisions of the old law. A complaint was made by some of the prohibi-
tionists against Moses Williams, who had received one of the licenses, with
a view to testing the power of the board to grant it; but the court sustained
the license.

Mr. Bigelow did not look with much favor on the plans of his predeces-
sor for the erection of a new jail. He suggested that it might be found
advisable to cancel the contracts, and alter the old building in Leverett
Street. The aldermen decided, however, to proceed with the work, modify-
ing the plans so as to make a considerable reduction in the expense. The
building was completed in 1851, at an expense, including the site, of about
$450,000.

The great expense involved in introducing and distributing water, and in
raising the grade of the city's lands in the southerly section of the city justi-
fied the Mayor in criticising any further expenditures which would add to the
city debt. He called attention for the first time to the fact that the high
rate of taxation which these expenditures involved was inducing many of the
largest owners of personal property to escape into the country at the annual
period of taxation. The number of citizens who thus evade the payment
of their proportion of the expense of providing for the public safety and
convenience in the city where they reside during seven or eight months in
the year, and where their business is protected during the whole year, has
steadily increased since Mayor Bigelow's time. Several attempts have
been made to check it by legislative enactments ; but the decisions of the
highest court, as to the right of a man to choose his domicil, have made
the new legislation practically inoperative.

During the summer of 1849 Asiatic Cholera prevailed to an alarming
extent ; the death rate exceeded that of any previous year in the history
of the city. With a population of about one hundred and thirty thousand,
the number of deaths was five thousand and eighty ; one-fifth of the num-
ber being caused by the epidemic.

The seventh national census, taken in 1850, gave the city a population
of one hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty-one,
showing an increase of about sixty-two per cent during the preceding de-
cade. The rapid growth of the city at this period was due to the opening
of communication by rail with the West and by steamship with the East.
The assessors' valuation of real and personal property within the city this
year amounted to $i8o,ooo,5OO. 1 The tax levy was $1,237,000; and the
rate of taxation was $6.80 on a thousand. The funded debt of the city on
April 30, 1850, including water loans, was $6,195,144.35. In his address to
the city government at the beginning of 1850 the Mayor said: "I have
reason to believe that there is no other city in the world, certainly not in
our country, the affairs of which in proportion to its size are administered
at so great an expense as our own. The current annual expenditures of the

1 For an explanation of the remarkable increase in the valuation between 1840 and 1850 see
note to p. 234.

256 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

city of New York, with more than three times our population, do not more
than double those of Boston."

Among the noteworthy events of this year in which the local govern-
ment had an interest was the breaking up of a meeting in Faneuil Hall,
called to congratulate George Thompson, then a member of Parliament,
on his arrival in this country. Mr. Edmund Quincy presided. When
Wendell Phillips attempted to speak there were cheers for Webster, for
Jenny Lind, and for the Union, so loud and long continued that he was
unable to proceed. Mr. Thompson undertook to read an address, but was
obliged to give it up, and the meeting was declared adjourned. The per-
sons who interrupted the proceedings were good-natured, but determined
that neither Thompson nor his sympathizers should be heard. Marshal
Tukey, who was present with a considerable police force, took no steps to
check the disturbance ; and Mr. Quincy subsequently lodged a complaint
against him in the board of aldermen. At the hearing before a committee of
the board he met the charges against him with the statement that he acted
under the instructions of the mayor; and the committee so found, and ex-
onerated him.

At the beginning of the year 1851 the Mayor was able to state that
every section of the city was supplied with pure water. The whole cost
of the water-works at that time amounted to $4,321,000. The aggregate
length of streets, courts, and lanes through which main and distribution
pipes had been laid was ninety-six miles ; and the number of water-takers
was thirteen thousand four hundred and sixty-three.

During the year 1851 the new almshouse on Deer Island was completed
at a cost of about $150,000. The Mayor recommended that all the inmates
of the House of Industry at South Boston should be removed to Deer
Island ; and his recommendation was subsequently carried out. The system
of telegraphic fire alarms invented by Dr. William F. Channing was intro-
duced this year; and although the old-fashioned engines were then in use, it
was said to be hardly possible for a great fire to occur again. The first
steam fire-engine was introduced into the department in 1854. It was long
regarded as a failure, and the firemen found the English language quite in-
sufficient to express the contempt they felt for it. But continued experi-
ments led to improvements; and in 1860 the manual engines were banished
to those rural districts where the stagecoach was still in use, the steam-
engines took their place, and the character of the department was wholly
changed. The new fireman is as unlike the old fireman as the crew of a
modern steamship is unlike the crew of a sailing vessel of thirty years ago.

On April 2, 1851, the police arrested Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave, and
locked him up under the Court House to await the decision of the United
States authorities on a process for his rendition. The day-police, number-
ing at that time forty men, were armed with mariners' cutlasses, and drilled
in anticipation of a disturbance ; but as Sims was a disreputable fellow, the
public sympathy was not actively enlisted in his favor, and on April 12, at

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 257

four o'clock in the morning, he was marched down State Street under a police
guard, and placed without opposition on board a vessel bound for Savannah.
Mr. Charles Devens, Jr., then United States Marshal, applied to the mayor
and aldermen for a detail of police officers to aid in transporting Sims back
to the State from which he had escaped ; but the application was refused
on the ground that the city needed all its officers for home duty. 1

The board of aldermen of this year gained a sort of flickering notoriety
by refusing the use of Faneuil Hall for a reception in honor of Daniel
Webster. The ground of the refusal was that a similar application from
the Abolitionists had been denied for fear of a disturbance. The intense
indignation of Mr. Webster's friends can easily be imagined. On the day
following their refusal another meeting of the mayor and aldermen was
held, and a motion made to reconsider the action. The mayor and three
aldermen voted to reconsider, and four aldermen voted in the negative.
Mr. Moses Kimball, a member of the board, declined to vote, and there be-
ing a tie, the motion to reconsider did not prevail. At a meeting of the
common council held a day or two afterward an order was passed ap-
pointing a joint committee " to tender Honorable Daniel Webster, in the
name of the city council of Boston, an invitation to meet and address his
fellow-citizens in Faneuil Hall at such time as he shall elect." The mayor
and aldermen then met, and after passing a resolution asserting their own
dignity and independence, concurred unanimously in the action of the com-
mon council. When the committee waited upon Mr. Webster at the Revere
House and humbly asked him to signify his pleasure in the matter, he treated
them very coldly, and said he would give his answer in writing. The answer
was a curt one : " It will not be convenient for me to accept the invitation."
When election day came the mayor and aldermen found that political pre-
ferment was not to be obtained through snubbing Mr. Webster. They were,
all and singular, remanded to private life, and there they mostly remained.
In the following year, on an invitation from a new and revised city council,
Mr. Webster addressed his fellow-citizens in Faneuil Hall, " the doors on
golden hinges-turning," as Mr. Choate said.

The completion of the railroad lines connecting the city with the Canadas
and the great lakes was celebrated in September of this year. The official
report published by the city says : " However extensive and brilliant may
have been the public pageants on other occasions, not one, it is believed,
has on this continent surpassed, if any have equalled, that of September 17,
1 8, and 19." On the first day the President of the United States, accompa-
nied by the members of his cabinet, arrived and were received by the city and
State authorities ; and there was a military review on the Common. On the
second day there was an excursion down the harbor in the morning ; in the
afternoon, Lord Elgin, Captain General and Governor-in-chief of the British
Possessions in North America, arrived with his suite, and was formally re-
ceived by the Mayor ; and in the evening there was a grand military ball in

1 [See the chapter on "The Antislavery Movement." ED.]
VOL. III. 33.

258 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Union Hall. On the third day there was a procession, followed by a dinner
on the Common, at which three thousand six hundred persons sat down;
and in the evening, fireworks and illuminations. Altogether it was a very
brilliant affair, and the Mayor did the honors of the city very handsomely. 1

At the charter election on Dec. 8, 1851, there were four candidates for
the mayoralty. John H. Wilkins received a plurality of votes, but not
a majority; and a new election was held on December 24, at which Ben-
jamin Seaver, 2 the Whig candidate, was elected, receiving only one vote
more than the united votes of his opponents. Mr. Seaver held the office for
two terms. A service of five years (1845-49) in the common council had
given him a knowledge of city affairs which, with his business training and
his executive ability, made him an excellent chief magistrate. It was said
that he owed his first election to the police ; and it is undoubtedly true that
Marshal Tukey directed his men to work for Mr. Seaver ; but if the mar-
shal looked for special favor on account of his political support, he had
a very imperfect knowledge of the character of the man whom he had as-
sisted to office. The law then in force required the annual appointment of
police officers ; and when the Mayor came to make his appointments for the
year he made some changes which the marshal criticised rather freely.
Mr. Seaver was not a man to be criticised with impunity by a subordinate.
He lost no time in putting another man at the head of the police force, and
Marshal Tukey ceased to be a terror to anybody.

The new mayor looked upon the office to which he had been elected as
essentially a business office, and he applied business principles to his admin-
istration of it. During the preceding six years the city had been engaged
in works which had added largely to the city debt. Those works had been
substantially completed, and the Mayor felt that it was time to' pause and
husband the city's resources for a while before entering on any new enter-
prises. That the record of his administration does not occupy so large
a space as that of some others is an evidence of the Mayor's firmness in re-
sisting the temptation to make a name at the expense of the city. The
most important act of his administration was the vote to erect a building
for the Public Library; but the story of that institution's inception and
progress is to be told elsewhere. 3

On the recommendation of the Mayor a board of land commissioners
was established in 1853, to take the place of a joint committee of the city
council which had been found unequal to the duties imposed upon it; and
burials within the city limits, except in particular cases, were prohibited
after the first of July, 1853.

Henry J. Gardner, afterward Governor of the Commonwealth, was presi-
dent of the common council during Mr. Seaver's two terms; and on retir-

1 [See the chapter on " Canals and Rail- at the time of his election was engaged in busi-

roads," in Vol. IV. En.] ness as an auctioneer.

8 He was born in Roxbury, April 12, 1795; 8 [^ n Vol. IV., by the Editor of the present

educated at the Roxbury Grammar School ; and work. ED.]

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 259

ing from the chair on Dec. 29, 1853, he delivered an address in which he
gave prominence to the question of revising the city charter. He pointed
out so clearly and forcibly the changes which an experience of thirty years
had shown to be necessary, that the city council of the following year ap-
plied to the Legislature for a new act of incorporation which was granted on
April 29, 1854.

At the municipal election on Dec. 12, 1853, there were three candidates
for mayor : Benjamin Seaver, the nominee of the Whigs ; Jerome Van Crown-
inshield Smith, 1 the nominee of the Native American party; and Jacob
Sleeper, the nominee of the Temperance men. Mr. Seaver received the
highest number of votes, but not a majority; and on the third ballot, taken
Jan. 9, 1854, Dr. Smith was elected. During the interval beween the first
Monday in January and the date at which the new mayor was sworn in (the
sixteenth of that month) Mr. Benjamin L. Allen, the chairman of the board
of aldermen, acted as mayor.

The new mayor was a most indefatigable worker, and seemed to have
an ambition to leave some enduring memento in every department of
science, art, literature, and politics. Without undertaking to pass upon
his achievements in the more retired walks of life, it may be said that as
a man of affairs he was not entirely successful. He made a great many
suggestions for the improvement of the city government, but fortunately
for the city's credit few of them were carried out. He thought the po-
lice appointments would be improved if twelve men were elected by pop-
ular vote, one from each ward, with power to appoint all police officers,
subject to the approval of the mayor and aldermen. He recommended
the sale of Ouincy Market to private individuals ; the erection of an in-
sane asylum at Deer Island ; the erection of a tall tower on Beacon Hill,
for the use of the fire telegraph and fire department offices ; the forced
sale of city lands in order to promote the erection of buildings ; the ap-
pointment of a physician in every ward to be paid by the city for serving
the poor. He was never taken quite seriously as a chief magistrate.

In 1853 an act had been passed authorizing the city council to unite, by
ordinance, the watch and police departments ; but no action was taken un-
til the following year. On May 26, 1854, the old watch, Which had been in

1 Dr. Smith was born in Conway, New Hamp- Hall. Finding that the exhibition could be en-
shire, on July 20, 1800; graduated at Brown joyed without expense, he joined the moving
University in 1818, and subsequently took the de- throng, and was presently looking down from a
gree of Mcdicince Doctor at Williams College, quiet corner in the gallery upon what appeared
He served in the office of city physician for a to be a religious ceremony. He awaited in breath-
number of years, and in that way became familiar less expectation the advent of the animal whose
with city affairs. Like the famous Whittington, name was in everybody's mouth ; and it was not
he had a sort of premonition of his coming great- until after the ceremony was concluded that he
ness. The day on which he came to Boston to could be made to understand the significance of
seek his fortune happened to be the very day what he had witnessed. He had a presentiment
when the first mayor of the city was sworn into that he should some day be the central figure of
office. Seeing a large number of people moving such an exhibition, and he shaped his career
in one direction he asked the cause, and was told accordingly,
that a mare was to be inaugurated in Faneuil

260 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

existence as a department of the town and city government since 1631, was
abolished, and a police department was established, consisting of two hun-
dred and fifty men under the charge of a chief of police, two deputies, and
eight captains of divisions. The form of organization adopted at this time
was not materially changed until 1878, when the department was placed un-
der a commission appointed by the mayor. By an ordinance passed in 1863,
the system of annual appointments was changed to appointments during
good behavior.

On the very day that the new police force entered upon its duties it was
called upon, at a moment's notice, to suppress a riot in Court Square, caused
by the attempt to release Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, who had been
arrested by United States officers and confined temporarily in the city prison.
For nine days, while the hearing on the question of Burns's rendition was
going on, the city was in a fever of excitement. The efforts of the city au-
thorities were directed solely to the preservation of order, and the execution
of the mandates of the court. 1

On November 15 of this year the inhabitants voted to accept the revised
city charter. It went into effect for the purpose of electing municipal
officers on the second Monday in December, and for all other purposes
on the first Monday in January following. The principal changes intro-
duced by the new charter may be briefly summarized as follows: the
persons having the highest number of votes at municipal elections were
to be declared elected ; the mayor was deprived of his vote on matters
coming before the board of aldermen, and was given a qualified right to
veto all acts of the city council, and all acts of either branch where an ex-
penditure of money was involved ; the board of aldermen was enlarged
from eight to twelve members, and all the executive powers of the corpor-
ation, formerly vested in the selectmen of the town and in the board of
mayor and aldermen of the city, were transferred to it ; the mayor, when
present at meetings of the board, had the right to preside ; the school com-
mittee, which had consisted of the mayor, the president of the council, and
two persons elected annually from each ward, was enlarged by the election
of six persons from each ward, two being elected annually.

It was not the intention of those who drafted the new charter to curtail
the mayor's powers, but their work had that effect. Following the prece-
dent established by the elder Quincy, it had been customary for the mayor

1 Burns was taken into custody on the even- sons composing it flocked to the Court House
ing of May 24, 1854, and on the following day and attempted to break down the doors. One
taken before Edward Greely Loring, who was a constable was killed and several persons were
United States commissioner, and who also held seriously wounded. Burns was finally remanded
the office of judge of probate for Suffolk County, to slavery ; but subsequently he was bought by
On the evening of May 26, a great meeting was some Northern people and sent to Canada,
held in Faneuil Hall to protest against the outrage where he died in 1862. Edward G. Loring
on liberty. George R. Russell presided. While was removed from the office of judge of pro-
Wendell Phillips was speaking, a person entered bate, and was then appointed by the President
the hall and announced that a mob of negroes judge of the court of claims at Washington,
was in Court Square attempting to rescue Burns. [See the chapter on "The Antislavery Move-
The meeting immediately dissolved, and the per- ment " in this volume. ED.]

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 261

to act as chairman of all the most important committees of the city council ;
and as the chief executive officer of the corporation, and as a member and
chairman of the board which had not only succeeded to all the executive
powers formerly exercised by the selectmen of the town, but which had
equal powers with the common council as a legislative body, he was in
a position to exercise a powerful influence upon the management of city
affairs. Under the new charter, the mayor continued to have the power
of appointing police officers, but his appointments were subject to approval
by the aldermen, and the administration of the police department was placed
entirely in the hands of the aldermen. That board also had control of the
fire department, the health department, the markets, the streets, the county
buildings and the granting of licenses for various purposes ; and where their
action did not involve an expenditure of money the mayor had no power to
pass upon it.

There has been no general revision of the city charter since 1854. Nu-
merous changes have been made, both directly and indirectly, by subse-
quent legislation, the most important of which will be pointed out further
on ; but the mayor's power, although somewhat increased, is still far from
being what is necessary to secure a responsible and an efficient executive.

At the charter election in December, 1855, Alexander Hamilton Rice, 1
the " Citizens' " candidate, was chosen mayor for the ensuing year. The
Native American, or " Know-Nothing " party, as it had come to be called,
had fallen into disrepute, and its candidate, Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, failed
of an election by some two thousand votes. Mr. Rice possessed most of
the qualifications by which an enduring success in public life is achieved,
a pleasing address, a knowledge of men and affairs, more than ordinary
readiness and ability as a public speaker, and a keen sense of the popular
wishes. During the two years that he served in the office of mayor the
affairs of the city were managed with prudence and economy. In his first
address to the city council he announced as the guiding principle of his
administration the improvement of the institutions and means already pos-
sessed by the city, and the avoidance of new and dazzling enterprises which,
however promising, might prove in the end to be only costly experiments.

The most important act of the government during Mr. Rice's first term
was an agreement on the part of the city with the Commonwealth and the
Boston Water-Povver Company, by which provision was made for the im-
provement of the territory now known as the Back Bay. It should be stated
that previous to the year 1827 the city held the fee in about one hundred
acres of flats in this locality. In that year it ceded to the Boston Water-
Power Company its title to these flats in consideration of the right to dis-

1 Mr. Rice was born in Newton, Mass., on at the time of his election was the leading mem-
Aug. 30, 1818, and received his education in the her of a firm engaged in the manufacture of
public and private schools of the neighborhood, paper. He had served as a member of the
and in Union College at Schenectady. On leav- school committee and the common council, hav-
ing school he sought employment in Boston, and ing been president of the latter body in 1854.

262 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

charge the drainage from the adjoining territory into the Back Bay basin.
It was provided in the agreement made at that time that the water in this
basin should be kept at a certain specified depression below high-water
mark. This led to the erection of buildings on the surrounding territory at
a grade fixed with reference to the drainage into a bay several feet below
high-water mark, and presently the accumulation of sewage matter caused a
nuisance .from which the city has not yet ceased to suffer. In assenting to
this arrangement with the Water-Power Company, it must be said that Mr.
Quincy did not show his accustomed foresight. The exercise of the right
which the city had acquired created a nuisance which made the right value-
less. The new agreement entered into on Dec. 11, 1856, provided, among
other things, for the construction of a large sewer from Camden Street,
through lands of the Water-Power Company and the Commonwealth, to
Charles River. This tripartite agreement, although forming the basis of the
great improvement on the Back Bay, was never fully carried out ; and in
1864 a new agreement was entered into, establishing a more complete sys-
tem of streets and sewers for this territory.

The management of the public institutions of the city, including under
that head the House of Correction, the Houses of Industry and Reforma-
tion, and the Lunatic Hospital, was at this time in the hands of three distinct
boards, which were not always in harmony on questions affecting the city's
interests. Mr. Rice recommended that all these institutions should be
placed under the government of one board elected for different periods of
service, and composed in part of members of the city council and in part of
persons chosen from the citizens at large. In 1857 the Legislature passed
an act establishing such a board, and providing for the election of its mem-
bers by concurrent vote of the city council. The board is still in existence,
and has fully. answered the purpose for which it was organized.

In 1857 the Mayor recommended the establishment of a city hospital,
transmitting to the city council at the same time a memorial from several
leading physicians, giving their opinion of the necessity and value of such
an institution. In the following year an act was passed by the Legislature
authorizing the city to establish and maintain " a hospital for the reception of
persons who, by misfortune or poverty, may require relief during temporary
sickness." Elisha Goodnow, who died in 1851, had bequeathed to the
city twenty-five thousand dollars for a local hospital, provided it was estab-
lished either at the South End or South Boston ; but no definite action
was taken until 1860, when a site was selected at the South End on land
reclaimed from the sea, and a hospital building was erected thereon and
opened in 1864.

On Dec. 14, 1857, Frederic Walker Lincoln, Jr., 1 was chosen mayor for
the following year. He was known as the Faneuil-Hall candidate, having

1 Mr. Lincoln was a descendant of Samuel He was born in Boston Feb. 27, 1817, and re-
Lincoln, who settled in Hingham as early as 1637. ceived his education in the public and private

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 263

been nominated by representatives of different parties who held a conven-
tion for that purpose in Faneuil Hall. Charles B. Hall, his opponent, was
also put forward as a Citizens' candidate, but was badly beaten, Mr. Lincoln
receiving a majority of nearly four thousand votes.

As an administrative officer Mr. Lincoln was eminently successful. That
he won the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens to an unusual de-
gree is shown by the fact that, without any effort on his part, he held the
office of mayor for a longer time than any individual who preceded him or
who has succeeded him.

The first year of his administration was not marked by any measures of
special importance, unless the uniforming of the police may be so regarded.
That was an act of great local interest, and the policemen and their friends
said a good deal about copying the customs of the Old World, and turning
free Americans into liveried servants. But the citizens who had often
searched in vain for a policeman in citizen's dress looked favorably upon a
change which would enable them to know an officer when they saw him.

In 1859 an act was passed by the Legislature, to take effect when ac-
cepted by the citizens of Boston, annexing to the city a considerable tract
of land and flats on the Back Bay, formerly included within the city of Rox-
bury ; and providing that no buildings should be erected between Arlington
Street and Charles Street. The act was accepted by an almost unanimous
vote of the citizens on April 26, 1859, and a plan was soon after adopted
for the improvement of the Public Garden. An attempt was made by
several public-spirited individuals to preserve the Back Bay as an open
space for sanitary purposes, and to that end a number of elaborate plans
were submitted to the State and city authorities ; l but the General Court
saw an opportunity to put some money into the State treasury by cutting
the territory into house lots, and greed carried the day.

In 1859 Mr. Lincoln was successful in securing the co-operation of the
United States authorities in the preservation of Boston Harbor. It appeared
from the testimony of the old pilots that the water was shoaling in many
places in the harbor, owing to the encroachments upon the headlands and
islands. In a special message to the city council, the Mayor recommended
the appointment of a commission of United States officers to make a sci-
entific examination of the subject. The recommendation was approved,
and the Mayor went to Washington and saw the heads of the Treasury,
War, and Navy departments, Cobb, Floyd, and Toucey, three men who
occupy a bad eminence among American cabinet officers. They were ex-
tremely gracious to the representative of Boston, and immediately complied
with his request to detail General Totten, chief of the engineer corps, Pro-
schools. When only thirteen years of age he branch of the State Legislature (1847-48), and
was apprenticed to a maker of mathematical in- had been a delegate to the Constitutional Con-
struments, and at the time of his election to the vention of 1853.

mayoralty he had risen to a prominent position 1 [One is given in the folio edition of Drake's

among fhe business men of the city. He had Boston. See also Documents of the Massachusetts
served two terms as a member of the lower Senate, No. 186, 1859. ED.]

264 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

fessor Bache, superintendent of the coast survey, and Commander Davis
of the Navy, to make the proposed examination. During the seven years
following, the commissioners made ten reports, which have been of im-
mense value in securing appropriations from the National Government for
the improvement of the harbor, and in preventing by wise legislation any
further encroachments upon the ship-channels. 1

The national census of 1860 gave the city a population of 177,992. The
valuation of real and personal property for purposes of taxation amounted
to $276,861,000. The amount of tax raised for State, county, and city pur-
poses was $2,530,000; and the rate was $8.99 on the $1,000. The funded
city debt amounted to $8,491,599.

In the latter part of this year another collision occurred between the
Abolitionists and those who were opposed to the Antislavery agitation.
Through the instrumentality of some rather obscure individuals a meeting
was called in Tremont Temple, on December 3, to commemorate the anni-
versary of the execution of John Brown, and to consider the question,
How can American Slavery be abolished? The election of a Republican
President, and the threatening attitude assumed by the South, had the
effect of making a good many men, especially those whose business inter-
ests would be endangered by any disturbance of the established order of
things, deprecate any expressions in this section of the country which would
appear to identify the Republican party with the supporters of John Brown ;
but in undertaking forcibly to prevent such expressions they only scattered
the coals and propagated the fire. The promoters of this meeting, having
hired the hall for a legal purpose, had a right to be protected in its use;
but the city authorities did not protect them. A large number of persons
opposed to the objects of the meeting quietly entered the hall as soon as
the doors were open, elected their own chairman and secretary, and adopted
a series of resolutions, in which John Brown and all " aiders and abettors
in his nefarious enterprise " were heartily denounced ; and it was declared
that the people of this city " had submitted too long in allowing irrespon-
sible persons and political demagogues of every description to hold public
meetings to disturb the public peace and misrepresent us abroad." " They
have become a nuisance," the resolutions said, "which in self-defence we
are determined shall henceforward be summarily abated." In the midst of
the confusion consequent upon these proceedings the chief of police en-
tered the hall accompanied by several trustees of the building, and stated
that he had orders from the Mayor to dismiss the meeting and to clear the
hall ; which he proceeded to do. In the evening the Antislavery people
held a meeting in a small church for colored people at the West End,
and although riotous demonstrations were made in the streets, the police
force was sufficient to preserve order. It was known that the Mayor had
taken the precaution to have two companies of cavalry under arms at

1 For further details in regard to the meas- the chapter on " Boston Harbor " in Vpl. IV. ;
ures taken for the preservation of the harbor, see also City Documents, 1859-66.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 265

their armories to act in case of emergency. On the following morning
the Advertiser said :

" The cry of ' free speech,' which will no doubt be set up on behalf of those who
yesterday saw their meeting taken out of their hands, can find little support among
unprejudiced observers. . . . Sensitive as the chord is which any appeal for free
speech touches, it will hardly vibrate in response to the appeals of those who claim
that glorious privilege only to abuse it ; and what abuse of it could be more flagrant
or more deserve condemnation than to use it simply as the means -of adding to a great
national excitement the peril of misleading one section of the country as to the senti-
ment which pervades the other, and embittering still further that controversy which
now divides the States of the Union."

This may be taken as a fair expression of the sentiments of moderate
Republicans of that day.

In the charter election of December, 1860, political feeling ran very
high. Joseph Milner Wightman 1 was the candidate of both wings of the
Democratic party and of the Old Line Whigs. Moses Kimball was the Re-
publican candidate. The Webster Whigs were still a power in Boston, both
socially and politically, and they threw the whole weight of their influence
against Mr. Kimball on account of his action as a member of the board of
aldermen that refused the use of Faneuil Hall in 1851 for the Webster recep-
tion. Mr. Wightman, who had formerly acted with the Whig party, but
who had been carried into the Democratic ranks by the Antislavery agita-
tion, was elected by a majority of over three thousand votes.

As an executive officer Mr. Wightman was not wanting in energy or in
honesty of purpose ; but he lacked dignity and discretion. His administra-
tion fell upon an important period in our municipal history. The extraordi-
nary demands upon the city authorities, growing out of the war, enlarged the
powers and duties of the mayoralty to an unprecedented extent, and raised
many questions new to municipal legislation. It required a man of much
more than ordinary ability to manage the affairs of the city at such a time
to the satisfaction of a community which had been favored with chief magis-
trates who were generally dignified and sometimes wise. But while Mr.
Wightman was not a man of more than ordinary ability, he possessed a
good deal of energy and enthusiasm, and it was a time when energy and

1 He was born in Boston on Oct. 19, 1812, duction of water into the city first led him to
and was the son of English parents. At the take an interest in local affairs. He was ex-
early age of ten he had been obliged, by the tremely active in promoting the scheme which
death of his father, to leave school and become was finally carried out, and from that time forth
apprenticed to a machinist. While serving out he has had a conspicuous part in municipal
the terms of his indenture he eagerly availed politics. He was a prominent member of the
himself of every opportunity to acquire a knowl- school committee for ten years (1845-55), anc ^ a
edge of mathematics, geometry, natural philos- member of the board of aldermen from April,
ophy, and mechanical engineering ; and soon 1856, when he was elected to fill a vacancy,
after coming of age he went into business as to January, 1859. In both these positions he
a manufacturer of philosophical apparatus. The performed services which have been of perma-
discussion of the question concerning the intro- nent value to the city.
VOL. III. 34.

266 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

enthusiasm were wanted. He was put into the office by those who had
been opposed to the election of a Republican President, but no one ever
had occasion to charge him with lukewarmness in responding to the de-
mands of the national administration for means to put down the Rebellion.

The Antislavery agitators, who were indignant over the failure of a Re-
publican mayor fully to protect their freedom of speech, looked with con-
siderable alarm upon the accession to power of a Democrat who might be
inclined to shut them up altogether ; and it seemed to them that the time
had arrived to call in country Republicanism, which was of a more radical
type than city Republicanism, to redress the balance. On Jan. 21, 1861, an
order was introduced into the State Senate for the appointment of a joint
special committee to consider the expediency of amending the charter of
Boston so that its police should be appointed by the authorities of the
State. While the order was under consideration, on January 24, the Anti-
slavery Society held its annual meeting in Tremont Temple. The galleries
and the rear of the hall were filled with persons who interrupted the pro-
ceedings by hisses and groans. The Mayor was called upon by the officers
of the meeting to suppress the disturbance. He sent thirty policemen,
but they made no serious effort to preserve order. Finally, on the writ-
ten request of the trustees of the building, who feared injury to their
property, the Mayor went to the meeting, accompanied by the chief of
police, and under his instructions the galleries were cleared and order re-
stored. As soon as he withdrew the disturbance was renewed, and the meet-
ing was then adjourned until evening, with a view to having the admission
to the hall regulated by tickets. Some of the disturbers announced their
determination to remain in the building until the evening meeting was held ;
and the Mayor, being apprehensive of a riot, instructed the chief of police
to clear the hall, close the doors, and prevent any meeting from being held
in the evening. There was no such riotous spirit abroad as would justify
such an arbitrary measure. The police might have preserved order if they
had been properly instructed so to do by their superiors. After such an
affair the proposition to place the control of the city police in the hands of
the State authorities was favored by a good many persons who had no love
for the Abolitionists. A committee of the General Court was appointed,
and a great deal of testimony was taken in regard to the condition of
the police force and the improper influences to which it was subjected by
the mayor and aldermen ; but although a precedent for the action proposed
had been established by the New York Legislature, and had thus far worked
well, the sentiment in favor of local self-government was too strong to be
overcome even by the fervid rhetoric of the Antislavery leaders, and it was
decided to let Boston manage her own affairs until her incapacity for so
doing had been more fully demonstrated. The question was brought up
several times in after years, but always with the same result.

Soon after the war broke out, the city was called upon to appropriate
money for a variety of purposes not authorized by existing laws. To have

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 267

refused to appropriate the money on the ground of a want of authority
would have seriously impeded the work of furnishing men and supplies for
the army. It is to the credit of the city authorities, and especially of the
Mayor, that they did not hesitate to take the responsibility of using the
city's money to do whatever was necessary to minister to the comfort of
the soldiers and of the soldiers' families. Many persons who received com-
missions to organize military companies had no means to provide quarters
or subsistence for their recruits, and the Governor had no power at that
time to establish camps where the volunteers might be maintained, drilled,
and disciplined at the expense of the State. The city provided recruiting
stations and paid for the subsistence of the men until they were mustered
into the service of the United States. Uniforms and other clothing were
also provided for the Boston volunteers ; and regiments from other States,
and from other portions of this State, passing through the city to the
seat of war, were welcomed and refreshed on the Common or in Faneuil
Hall. For these purposes about one hundred thousand dollars were ex-
pended from the city treasury during the year 1861. Among other
measures instituted by the city council of 1861 for the benefit of the
volunteers and their families was one which involved only a trifling ex-
pense to the city, but which was of incalculable value to the persons
concerned. Arrangements were made by which the commanders of com-
panies or regiments were enabled with little trouble to collect a portion
of the money which their men received from the government paymaster
and transmit it, without expense, to the mayor, to be deposited by him in a
savings-bank, or paid to such persons as the soldier might designate. A
very large amount of money was transmitted in this way, and many poor
families had occasion to bless the Mayor for saving them from the necessity
of receiving aid in a form which made them feel that they were objects of
charity. In the following year the benefit of this system of allotments
was extended by an act of the Legislature to the families of all the Mas-
sachusetts volunteers, the money being transmitted to the State treasurer,
and by him distributed to the several city and town treasurers ; but some
of the Boston regiments continued to send their money directly to the
Mayor until the close of the war, as it reached its destination more quickly
in that way.

In his address to the city government at the beginning of 1862, the
Mayor strongly recommended the erection of a new city hall. The subject
had been before the city council many times during the preceding twelve
years, but the two branches had not been able to agree either upon a site or
upon the plans for a building. Although there was strong opposition to
entering upon any new enterprises while the resources of the people were
being so heavily taxed to maintain the national government, a majority of
the city council this year voted to build a new hall on the site of the old
one, at an estimated expense of $160,000, and the corner-stone was laid
on Dec. 22, 1862.

268 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The requisitions made in July of this year for men to serve in the army
created almost a panic and led to the offer of heavy local bounties for vol-
unteers. The city began by paying a bounty of one hundred dollars for
men credited to its quota; and afterward, in order to compete with other
municipalities which were offering much larger amounts, the payment was
increased to two hundred dollars. The city was able to meet the demands
made upon it without resorting to a draft ; but by the end of the year nearly
a million dollars had been expended in premiums for volunteers.

The election of December, 1862, resulted in the defeat of Mr. Wight-
man, and the reinstatement of Mr. Frederic W. Lincoln in the mayor's
office.

The expenditures for war purposes during, the years 1861 and 1862,
although illegal and often extravagant, were never called in question by the
people ; but what they did question was the expediency of erecting public
buildings, widening and extending streets, and spending the city's money
on other works which, in view of the tremendous crisis through which the
country was passing, might well be postponed. The expenditures for what
is known as "city junketing" began to assume rather formidable propor-
tions about this time, and to excite the comments of the taxpayers. Junket-
ing is not a modern vice. It has been the custom from the earliest times for
the city magistrates to have occasional feasts or, as Washington Irving
calls them, gormandizings at the public expense; and so the name of
alderman, originally used to designate the elderman, the man of the high-
est wisdom and experience in the Teutonic community, has come to be
applied to the man of

" Fair round belly, with good capon lined."

But while the ancient alderman was satisfied with an occasional feast, his
modern prototype seems filled with the desire to feast all the time ; and the
question as to the extent to which this desire should be gratified has fre-
quently entered into the municipal elections in this city, and has sometimes
determined the choice of a chief magistrate.

Mr. Lincoln was elected to bring the city government back to a more
careful expenditure of the public money; and so well satisfied were the
people with his efforts in that direction, that they continued him in office
through four successive terms.

During the latter part of the year 1862 the cities and towns of the Com-
monwealth had engaged in a ruinous competition for men to fill their sev-
eral quotas under the calls of the President for additional troops. The
raising of money by taxation for the purpose of paying bounties was
illegal, and might have been stopped at any time on the application of ten
taxpayers to the highest court of the Commonwealth ; but the local au-
thorities were sustained by the great body of the people in almost any meas-
ure that was likely to avert a draft ; and no man was willing, or rather no

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 269

man dared, to throw any obstacles in the way of procuring volunteers for the
army. When the Legislature met in January, 1863, the Governor recom-
mended that bounties should be equalized and assumed by the State, to be
paid by a tax on the property and polls of all the people. An act was
accordingly passed forbidding towns and cities from raising or expending
money for the purpose of offering or paying bounties to volunteers under
future calls of the President, and a State bounty of fifty dollars was offered
in lieu of all local bounties. In the summer of 1863, the city having failed
to meet the requisitions for men by voluntary enlistments, it was found nec-
essary to resort to a draft. On the afternoon of July 14 two assistant pro-
vost marshals were serving notices upon the men who had been drafted for
military service, and who lived in rather a disreputable quarter at the North
End of the city, when they were suddenly assaulted by a woman whose
husband was numbered among the conscripts. The cries of this infuriated
woman acted like a preconcerted signal upon the people in the neighbor-
hood. In an instant the narrow, crooked streets in the vicinity of the great
manufactory of the Boston Gas-Light Company were filled with a mob of
which women were the leaders, the most frightful of all mobs. The
marshals fled for their lives, and the local patrolmen, coming to their rescue,
were set upon and beaten nearly to death. One gallant officer, a man of
noble physique and of undaunted courage, attempted to make head against
the terrible throng, but he was borne down, trampled upon, and maimed for
life. The police rolls of the city still bear his name ; and although he has
never been able to do another day's service, no taxpayer grudges him the
continued compensation of an active officer.

In a short time the whole North End of the city was in a state of revolt.
The police of the First Division retreated into their station, which was threat-
ened with assault. Then the city authorities saw that they had serious work
on hand. For two days previous a portion of the city of New York had been
under the control of a mob ; and although there had been some indications
of a disposition in this city to resist the enforcement of the draft, it was not
believed that there would be any concerted resistance. It appeared after-
wards that quite a formidable organization to resist the laws had been
partially formed ; but the leaders in that organization were probably as
much taken by surprise at the sudden outbreak on the afternoon of the
fourteenth as were the city authorities. Having taken possession of the
streets at the North End, and surrounded the police station, the mob paused
and awaited the next move of the city authorities. The composition of
the mob was changed in the mean time. The men came from their work in
the gas-house and elsewhere and took the places of the women. They pur-
posed to test the question whether the Government had a right to drag them
from their homes to fight in a cause in which they did not believe. The
news of the great uprising in New York had been circulated among them,
and its temporary success greatly stimulated their determination to resist.
" I'd rather fight here, where I can go home to dinner," said one, " than in

270 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

the Southern swamps, where they don't have regular meals." But as a
whole the assemblage was not a humorous one : it was taciturn, and took
rather a serious view of the situation.

The Mayor was first informed of the disturbance by the marshal whose
assistants had been mobbed. He was soon satisfied from the police reports
which followed that extraordinary measures must be taken to preserve the
peace. He acted with great promptness and resolution. There were only
three local militia organizations in the city at that time : the independent
company of Cadets (the prescriptive body-guard of the Governor), a bat-
talion of cavalry, and a battery of light artillery. To these the Mayor
issued his precepts, as authorized by the laws of the State, directing them to
report to him forthwith, armed and equipped for service. This force was
strengthened by several military organizations then in camp at Readville,
preparing for service in the field, and by detachments from the heavy artil-
lery and infantry companies on duty at the forts in the harbor. The Cooper-
Street Armory, occupied by a light battery, was situated in the very midst of
the riotous populace. The members of the local company had assembled
quietly in the armory during the afternoon, without attracting much atten-
tion. It was about seven o'clock in the evening when a company of United
States artillery from Fort Warren marched down into the disturbed quarter
to join the local battery. It was hooted and hissed while on the way, but
was allowed to enter the armory without serious opposition. Then the mob
closed in around the building in a dense mass, and began to break the win-
dows. A lieutenant of the light battery, who attempted to pass through
the crowd, was beaten and trampled upon. The men sent out to rescue
him could regain the armory only by firing and using their bayonets. Then
the building was assaulted in earnest ; the brick sidewalks and cobble-stone
pavements were torn up and hurled against the doors. A citizen standing
at one of the windows inside the armory was killed by a pistol-shot. Just
as the mob was about to effect an entrance through the front doors, which
they had partially battered down, a loaded cannon was fired from within. Its
charge tore through the mass and demolished a part of the opposite house-
front. There was a moment's pause, and then the attack was renewed ; but
the firing of the infantry from the windows and doors dampened the ardor
of the assailants, and a diversion was presently created by the proposition to
sack Reed's gun-store, in Dock Square. In the mean time, the other militia
organizations had been brought together, and were about to march to the
Cooper-Street Armory, with the Mayor at their head, when word was re-
ceived of the movement in the direction of Dock Square. A plan of the
Square as it existed at that time, with the great number of narrow streets
and lanes radiating from it, bears a very close resemblance to the centre
of a spider's web. If the rioters had obtained arms from the numerous
gun-shops in the neighborhood, and established themselves in this spot,
they might, with intelligent leaders, have held the approaches against a
greatly superior force; but as they came pouring in from the North End,

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

271

they were met by an advance guard of policemen, who held them in
check until the Mayor with his military force came up and effectually dis-
persed them. One gun-store was broken into and a considerable quantity
of arms taken ; but the men who took them were scattered before they
could make use of their weapons.

That was the end of the famous draft- riot in Boston. The whiff of
grape-shot at the Cooper-Street Armory and the repulse at Dock Square
disheartened the rioters. Those who had been drafted concluded that it
would be less hazardous to fight the Southern rebels than to fight Mayor
Lincoln. There were some slight disturbances in different sections of the
city during the succeeding twenty-four hours, and a considerable portion of
the military force was kept on duty for several days ; but the spirit of the
mob had been effectually crushed before midnight of the fourteenth. The
number of rioters killed is unknown, as the bodies were in most cases con-
veyed away secretly and buried without any official permit.

There was no further attempt to obstruct the operation of the Conscrip-
tion Act. Of the twenty-six thousand one hundred and nineteen 1 men
furnished by Boston for service in the army and navy, it appears that only
seven hundred and thirteen were drafted. In the year 1864 the city ob-
tained, through an act of Congress, credit for a large number of men who
had enlisted in the navy since the beginning of the war; and although that
gave a surplus of about five thousand men to offset any future requisitions,
recruiting was continued with unabated zeal until the end.

In 1864 an important and a much needed improvement was made in the
municipal organization for the relief of the poor. Under the provisions of
the first city charter one person was elected in each ward of the city to be an
overseer of the poor, and the persons thus chosen constituted the board of
overseers, with all the powers formerly exercised by the town board. In
the administration of their department they claimed the right to spend
money to any extent and in any manner they saw fit. Grocers, coal-dealers,
and others got elected on the board for the sole purpose of furnishing, either
directly or indirectly, the articles for which the city paid. Mayor Quincy
attempted in 1824 to obtain additional legislation by which the doings of
the board would be brought under the supervision of the city council, but
he failed ; and his successors who afterward renewed the attempt failed,
for the reason that the people could not be made to understand why the
persons elected by them to the board of overseers were not as trustworthy
as those elected to the city council. The change effected in 1864 was due

1 The Mayor in his message to the City to the message. (City Document No. I, 1866.) I
Council, at the beginning of the year 1866, gives have not been able to find either in the city
this as the total number of men furnished by clerk's office or the adjutant-general's office any-
Boston, as far as ascertained, at that date : thing more complete or accurate than the state-
army, seventeen thousand one hundred and ment furnished by the Mayor. [See General
seventy-five; navy, eight thousand nine hun- Palfrey's chapter on " Boston Soldiery," in the
dred and forty-four. The several organizations present volume, and Schouler's History of Massa-
in which they enlisted are given in the appendix chusetts in the Civil War. ED.|

272

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

more, perhaps, to Alderman Norcross than to any other person. As the
chairman of a committee which investigated the subject in 1862, he ex-
posed the loose and irresponsible methods of the old board so effectually
that the city council petitioned the General Court for authority to appoint
the overseers and to audit their accounts. An act giving that authority was
passed April 2, 1864; and the new board, composed of honest and capable
men, was organized July 4 following, with Robert C. Winthrop as chairman.

.On September 18, 1865, the city government took possession of the new
City Hall, on School Street, and listened to an admirable address by Mayor'
Lincoln. Since January, 1863, the mayor, the city council, and some of the
heads of departments had occupied the building belonging to the Massa-
chusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association, on the corner of Chauncy and
Bedford streets. The new hall was well fitted for the accommodation of
the government of that day ; but the growth of the city has since made it
necessary to hire outside offices for many of the departments.

On April 4, 1865, an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the
city to build the new reservoir, since known as the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.
This enlargement of the water-works became necessary to save the water
which was wasted at the lake when it overflowed, and to have a larger
supply than the Brookline reservoir to draw from in case of accident to
the aqueduct. The cost of this work, including the handsome driveway
which was constructed around the reservoir, was $2,450,000. The city
was also authorized the same year to cut a street through Fort Hill. This
led to the entire removal of the hill. Washington Square, which crowned
its summit, once an attractive green spot, surrounded by the fine houses
of wealthy residents, had come to be a turfless, unwholesome piece of
ground, surrounded by tenement houses of the lowest class. The work
of cutting through the street was begun Oct. 15, 1866, and the whole ele-
vation was removed by July 31, 1872. The amount of earth carried off,
partly by an elevated railroad, to fill Atlantic Avenue and the docks on the
landward side, and partly by carts, to raise the grade of the territory which
had had its drainage impaired by the filling of the Back-Bay basin, was
five hundred and forty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-eight cubic
yards. The total cost of the improvement was $1,575,000. The mayor
and aldermen had extraordinary powers from the General Court to take
private property and assess the damages.

In the year 1866 the Legislature gave the city what it had been long pray-
ing for, that is, power to lay out, widen, and grade streets, and to assess
upon each of the estates abutting on such streets a sum not exceeding half
the amount which the estate is benefited by the improvement. Previous
to the passage of this act the street widenings in the old portion of the city
had generally been made by taking portions of estates where the owners
had given notice of intention to build. By pursuing this policy the ex-
pense of paying for buildings and for breaking up the occupants' business
was saved ; but it was nevertheless a very expensive way of doing the work,

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 273

as the assessments for damages on account of taking property in that way
were generally very heavy, and the city was unable to get the benefit of the
widening in the increased value of the property for purposes of taxation
until the improvement was completed. The whole amount expended by the
city for laying out, widening, and extending streets, from June I, 1822, to
May i, 1880, was $26,691,495.85. Had the city government steadily ad-
hered to the " prospective plans for the improvement of the streets," adopted
in 1825 under the administration of Mayor Quincy, a considerable portion
of this enormous expense would have been saved.

In the charter election of December, 1866, Otis Norcross, 1 the Republi-
can candidate, was successful, receiving nine hundred more votes than his
Democratic opponent, Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. Mr. Norcross held the
office of mayor only one year. His failure to receive the customary re-
election for a second term was due, perhaps, to a certain stiffness of virtue,
which, in political life at least, seldom receives the reward it merits. His
administration is chiefly to be commended for what it did not do. It fell
upon a time when some very sensible people were congratulating the
country on the blessing of being in debt, and when municipal aid was
sought and often granted for the promotion of private enterprises. A
great number of projects, involving the expenditure of millions of dollars,
were under consideration when Mr. Norcross took office ; and had he not
been a man of considerable firmness, one who had an intelligent idea of
the scope and purpose of municipal government, and old-fashioned notions
concerning municipal indebtedness, the city would have been committed
to some enterprises of very doubtful expediency. Among other measures
which claimed the attention of the government was one for the improve-
ment of the flats on the northerly shore of South Boston, extending from
Fort Point Channel to Castle Island. The improvement was intended partly
for the benefit of the harbor, by deepening the ship-channel and increasing
the movement of the water therein, so as to prevent it from shoaling, and
partly for the direct benefit of commerce, by providing additional facilities
for the delivery at deep water of freight from the West. It was proposed
that the city should enter into a contract with the Commonwealth to fill
these flats, build docks, streets, sewers, and bridges, and reimburse itself by
the sale of the property to corporations and individuals. It was a magnifi-
cent scheme, but the Mayor did not believe that the city ought to under-
take to carry it out alone. He endeavored, and successfully, to secure the

1 Mr. Norcross was the descendant of Jere- of correction, a member of the school commit-
miah Norcross, who came to this country in tee, president of the water board, treasurer to
1638, and shortly afterward settled at Water- the overseers of the poor, and for three years
town. He was born in Boston Nov. 2, 1 81 1, and (1862-1864) a member of the board of alder-
was educated at private schools and at the Bos- men. In all these positions he performed ser-
ton high school. At the time of his election he vices of lasting value to the city, by introducing
was one of the leading merchants of the city, better business methods, and raising the stand-
He possessed a thorough knowledge of muni- ard of official duty,
cipal affairs, having been a director of the house
VOL. III. 35.

274 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

co-operation of all the parties interested, the State, the city, and the
railroad corporations which desired additional terminal facilities. Had
the city undertaken to do the whole work, it would have been called upon
to spend an enormous amount of money, and the property would probably
have been thrown upon the market, before it could be utilized so as to cover
the cost of the improvement. 1

In his inaugural address the Mayor called attention to the unhealthy con-
dition of the territory lying south of the Public Garden, caused by the want
of suitable drainage. This territory was on the border of the Back Bay,
and had been built upon before a grade was established, and when there
was a right of drainage into a basin in which the water did not rise more
than three feet above low-water. The filling of the basin by the Common-
wealth and the Water-Power Company made it necessary to extend the
sewers to points where the natural rise of the tide prevented the sewers
from discharging their contents during the greater part of the day. The
drainage of the whole territory lying west of Washington Street, between
the Public Garden and the Roxbury line, was injuriously affected by the
Back Bay improvement; but it was only within the district lying between
Boylston Street and Dover Street, which had been built upon many years
before any scheme for filling the adjoining flats had -been seriously con-
sidered, that the injury was of a character to call for immediate action.
The householders in that locality thought that the city should bear all the
expense of providing suitable drainage, but the city authorities took the
ground that the estates should be assessed for a portion of the benefit
which would accrue from raising the grade of the territory. The subject
had been discussed for some years, and with much bitterness. Mr. Nor-
cross recommended an application to the Legislature for special authority
to abate the nuisance and to recover a portion of the expense for so doing.
His recommendation was adopted ; and an act was passed during the ses-
sion of 1867 giving the city authority to take that portion of the territory
known as the Church-Street District, raise the grade, and either reconvey
the several estates to their former owners upon payment of certain ex-
penses, or sell them to the highest bidder. The act contained provisions
new to the legislation of the State ; but it was drawn with great care by
an eminent jurist, and it enabled the city to carry out a great sanitary im-
provement without hardship to the fiumerous individuals whose property
was taken, and without large expense to the city. In the following year
the provisions of the act were extended to the territory known as the
Suffolk-Street District, thereby covering all the low territory lying between
the Public Garden and Dover Street. The net cost to the city of carrying
out these improvements amounted to $2,558,745. Forty-seven acres of
territory, occupied by one thousand two hundred and thirty buildings, and
two thousand one hundred and fifty-five families, were included within the
provisions of the legislative acts. The streets, alleys, and back-yards were

1 The plan of improvement which was adopted is described in the chapter on " Boston Harbor."

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 275

raised to the grade of eighteen feet above mean low-water ; the cellars were
raised to the grade of twelve feet ; and the buildings were raised to cor-
respond to the grade of the streets. It took four hundred and five thou-
sand three hundred and four cubic yards of gravel, mostly brought from
the country by steam power, to do the filling. The work was not entered
upon until June, 1868, after Mr. Norcross had gone out of office; and it was
not completed until 1872.

Near the close of the year 1867 the city council passed orders approv-
ing certain plans for the erection of a new hospital for the insane, on a lot
of land purchased for the purpose several years before in the town of
VVinthrop. The hospital at South Boston, erected in 1839, and enlarged in
1846, was reported by the directors for public institutions to be over-
crowded at times, and to be lacking in many of the conveniences which
medical experts deemed essential to the proper care of the insane. The
Mayor, while recognizing the need of some improvements in the accom-
modations furnished to the city's patients, was strongly opposed to the
erection of a hospital on the exposed headland at Winthrop, and was op-
posed to the erection, on any site, of a building projected on the magnifi-
cent plans which had received the approval of the city council. He vetoed
the orders, and saved the city from building and maintaining a very ex-
pensive institution which it was clearly the duty of the State to provide,
and which the State did provide some ten years later.

Among the notable events of this year was the annexation of the city of
Roxbury to Boston. The subject had long been under consideration.
Commissioners appointed by the governments of the two cities in 1866 to
confer upon the subject reported early in 1867 in favor of the project, and
on June I the Legislature passed an act, to take effect upon its acceptance
by a majority of the voters in the two cities, providing that all the territory
then comprised within the limits of Roxbury, with the inhabitants and es-
tates therein, should be annexed to and made a part of the city of Boston
and the county of Suffolk, and should be subject to the same municipal
regulations, obligations, and liabilities, and entitled to the same immunities
in all respects as Boston. On the second Monday in September the inhab-
itants of the two cities voted to accept the act, 1 and on the first Monday
in January following Roxbury became a part of Boston, constituting the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth wards.

Roxbury at the time of its annexation contained about thirty thousand 2
inhabitants, and real and personal property valued for purposes of taxation
at $26,551,700. Most of the wealthy residents had their places of business
in Boston ; and the controlling argument for annexation in this case, and in
the case of other municipal corporations subsequently annexed, was that
many men doing business in Boston were forced by its limited area to live

1 Boston: yeas, 4,633; nays, 1,059. Roxbury: 2 Twenty-eight thousand four hundred and

yeas, 1,832; nays 592. [See Mr. Drake's chapter twenty-six, by the census of 1865.
in the present volume. ED.]

276 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

outside of the city, and to lose the privilege of voting on questions of local
government where they had the larger interest. Another argument in favor
of the union, and one which had some influence probably, was that the
relations between the two municipalities had recently become much more
intimate through the occupation of the territory reclaimed from the sea on
both sides of the narrow neck of land which had formerly united them by
only a very slender tie.

The municipal election held on Dec. 9, 1867, resulted in the choice of
Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleflf, the Democratic candidate, for mayor,
who received about five hundred more votes than Mr. Norcross. Dr. Shurt-
leff l had long sought the office of mayor, but not, it may be said, from
any unworthy motives. He had spent a great deal of time in the study of
the early institutions of the New England colonies, and had a very intimate
and peculiar knowledge of Boston, its history, its traditions, its govern-
ment, and its people. To be the chief magistrate of the town he knew
so well, and for which he had the love that an antiquary feels for the sub-
ject of his studies, seemed to him a very great distinction. His fellow-
citizens, recognizing his sincerity of purpose, kept him in the office for
three terms, although he lacked the more important qualifications for a
good executive. The constitution of his mind was so peculiar that long
contact with men and affairs failed to give him any real knowledge of hu-
man character, or of the proper methods of government. He took con-
siderable pride in the fact that he was the first mayor of Boston who had
always belonged to the Democratic party; and it appears that he is the
only mayor of Boston, up to the present day, who can claim that distinction.
Mr. Wightman, Mr. Gaston, Mr. Cobb, and Mr. Prince, who belonged to
the Democratic party at the time of their election, had formerly been mem-
bers of the Whig party. But it cannot be said that Dr. Shurtleff used the
office to further the interests of any political organization. He gave so
little satisfaction to his party associates that they opposed his re-election for
a third term, and he was taken up and elected by the Citizens, who saw in
the Democratic opposition an element dangerous to good government.

His administration was marked by considerable activity on the part of
the city government, especially in the matter of widening and extending
streets in the business portion of the city. In 1868 Atlantic Avenue was
laid out across the docks between Fort Point Channel and the East Boston
Ferry ways, covering almost exactly the site of the ancient " barricade," 2
which connected the north battery with the south battery, or Sconce. The
cost of this improvement amounted to nearly two and a half million dol-
lars. In 1869 Broadway, the main thoroughfare through South Boston, was
extended across Fort Point Channel to Albany Street, at an expense of

1 He was born in Boston on June 29, 1810, is printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Decem-
and graduated at Harvard College in 1831. A ber, 1874, p. 389.
brief memoir of Dr. Shurtleff, by C. C. Smith, 2 [See Vol. II., p. 502. Eo.J

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 277

nearly a million dollars; and Federal Street, which had long been the
principal thoroughfare from the old portion of the city to South Boston,
was widened at an expense of about half a million dollars. These im-
provements were made necessary by the rapid growth of South Boston.
During the ten years between 1860 and 1870, the population of that division
of the city had increased more than fifty per cent, and the taxable value
of property had more than doubled.

A similar development had been going on in East Boston during the
same period. For many years there had been great dissatisfaction with the
accommodations furnished by the corporations which operated the ferries
between East Boston and the city proper. The People's Ferry Company,
chartered in 1853, conveyed all its property, except its boats and franchise,
to the city in 1859. The interest on the amount paid for the property was
in the nature of a subsidy to the company; but owing to the bad location
of the ferry landings, and to bad management on the part of the directors,
the ferry did not pay its running expenses, and in 1864 the boats were with-
drawn and sold, and the city took possession of the ferry-ways, which it had
purchased in 1859. The East Boston Ferry Company was chartered in 1852,
and, having obtained possession of the ferry landings most convenient for
public travel, was enabled to do a business which gave it a small return on
the capital invested. But the people of East Boston were unwilling that
any corporation should make money out of the highway which, as they
said, they were obliged to use in going from their homes to pay their taxes
at the City Hall. The large amount of money expended for bridges to
South Boston was used as an argument in favor of establishing a free
bridge or free ferries to East Boston. In 1868 the Legislature chartered
a company to build a bridge over tidewater between the ferry landings ;
but the United States authorities interposed to prevent the project from
being carried out, as a bridge would have obstructed the passage of war
vessels to and from the Navy Yard at Charlestown. In 1869 the city en-
tered into a contract with the East Boston Ferry Company to purchase its
franchise and property for the sum of $275,000; and on April I, 1870, the
city government took possession of the ferry, and has since operated it
through the agency of a board of directors elected by the city council.
The tolls are fixed by the board of aldermen, at a rate which pays a little
more than the actual running expenses.

On June 4, 1869, the inhabitants of Dorchester and Boston voted to
accept an act of the Legislature uniting the two corporations; 1 and on the
first Monday in January following the ancient town, which received its
name in the same order of the court of assistants that gave Boston its name
and its corporate existence, became the sixteenth ward of the city. The
State census of 1865 gave Dorchester a population of ten thousand seven
hundred and seven; and the national census of 1870 gave the same terri-

1 Vote of Boston : yeas, 3,420 ; nays, 565. Barrows' chapter on " Dorchester in the Last
Dorchester: yeas, 928; nays, 726. [See Mr. Hundred Years," in the present volume. ED.)

278 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

tory a population of twelve thousand two hundred and fifty-nine. The old
town organization was maintained in all its strength and purity up to the
time of the union with the city. Most of the inhabitants belonged to the
well-to-do class, who had an interest alike in their native town and in
the city to which they resorted for business. The valuation of the real and
personal property in Dorchester for purposes of taxation in 1869 amounted
to $20,315,700.

The valuation of property in the whole city on May i, 1870, amounted
to $584,089,400, an increase of $307,228,400 during the previous decade,
or 1 10.96 per cent. The total funded debt of the city at that date amounted
to $18,687,350.91. The total tax levy made on May i, 1870, amounted to
$8,636,862, an increase of $6,106,862 since 1860; and the rate of taxation
had risen during the same period from $8.99 to $13.65 on $1,000. The
ninth census of the United States, taken on June i, 1870, gave the city a
population of 250,526, divided as follows: native males, 79,599; native fe-
males, 82,941 ; foreign males, 40,318 ; foreign females, 47,668

By an act of the Legislature of 1870 an important amendment was made
to the city charter. All the powers formerly vested in the board of alder-
men, in relation to laying out, altering, or discontinuing streets or ways in
the city, were transferred to a board of street commissioners, consisting of
three persons, elected by the qualified voters of the city for a term of three
years, one to be elected each year. By subsequent enactments the powers
of the board have been somewhat curtailed. Where the estimated ex-
pense of the street improvement exceeds $10,000, the concurrence of the
city council is necessary to make the action of the commissioners binding;
and by a two-thirds vote of the members of each branch, the city council
may require the commissioners to lay out, alter, or discontinue any street.
The power to abate taxes was also transferred from the aldermen to the
commission. The establishment of this board was the beginning of some
important changes in the organization of the city government. In the
original organization the aldermen took the place of the selectmen, con-
stituting the executive board of the government, of which the mayor was
the chief officer. They also formed one branch of a council which took
the place of the town-meeting. The legislative and executive powers of the
corporation were therefore united in the same body. This was well enough
in a city of small size, with a homogeneous population; but in 1870 Bos-
ton had ceased to be a small city, and there was not that readiness on the
part of the substantial men in the community to serve the city gratuitously
which had been shown at an earlier day, when the service was less arduous,
and when it was felt to be more of a neighborly office. The aldermen who
happened to be in office, however, at the time any change was proposed
by which their powers or duties would be curtailed, generally put them-
selves in opposition to it ; and it was only when the departments which
they administered were found unequal to any emergency, that they gave
way to the popular demand for the transfer of their more important exec-

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 279

utive powers to persons specially selected for the purpose, and compensated
for their services. These changes, and the influences by which they were
brought about, will be described when I come to deal with the administra-
tions under which they occurred.

The charter election on Dec. 12, 1870, resulted in the choice of William
Gaston, 1 the Democratic and Citizens' candidate, for mayor, who received
three thousand more votes than his Republican competitor, Mr. George O.
Carpenter. An able lawyer, and a man of high character, Mr. Gaston had
the respect of all classes in the community ; but he lacked that essential
requisite fora good executive, determination. He made up his mind
with great difficulty, and it required a painful effort for him to act on any
new or important question. He held the office of mayor for two years,
and would have been re-elected for a third term had not an emergency
arisen calling for a more energetic chief magistrate.

The most important act of the city government during his administra-
tion was the adoption of an ordinance to establish a new board of health.
The city charter vested in the city council ample powers for the preserva-
tion of the public health, and authorized them to constitute either branch,
or any committee of their number, or any other persons appointed for the
purpose, a board of health for all or for particular purposes. For many
years the aldermen had constituted the board of health, and the chief
executive officer of the health department was elected annually by the city
council. In cases of emergency, such as the prevalence of contagious or
infectious diseases, the aldermen were aided by a board of consulting
physicians, who were also elected by the city council, and who, like the
aldermen, received no compensation for their services. As the city in-
creased in size many important questions affecting the public health were
constantly arising, questions which the aldermen were not competent to
deal with ; but they were slow to recognize their incompetency, and were
quick to take offence at the advice tendered by their medical assistants.
As a consequence, the leading physicians refused to serve in a position
where they had no power to carry out the measures which they recom-
mended ; and the aldermen soon found themselves losing the respect
and confidence of the community. In the year 1871 a joint committee
appointed to investigate certain complaints relating to the sale of unwhole-
some meat found that there were no proper restrictions upon the intro-
duction of bad meat into the city markets, and that the health of the
inhabitants was endangered by the want of an efficient board of health. In

1 Mr. Gaston was the descendant of a Hu- the common council of that city five years (1849-
guenot family that came to this country in the 53), and its president two years (1852-53) ; was
first half of the eighteenth century; and was city solicitor five years (1856-60), and mayor two
born in South Killingly, Conn., on Oct. 3, 1820. years (1861-62). He had formerly been a mem-
He was graduated at Brown University, Provi- ber of the Whig party, but the Antislavery agi-
dence, R. I., in 1840, and began the practice of tation had carried him, with many of his eminent
law in Roxbury in 1846. He was a member of associates of the bar, into the Democratic ranks.

280 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

his address to the city council, at the beginning of 1872, Mr. Gaston urged
the passage of an ordinance to establish an independent board ; and his
recommendation was enforced later in the year by the neglect of the alder-
men to take any effective measures to check the small-pox, which prevailed
to an alarming extent. The aldermen were unable to withstand the force of
public opinion, and on December 2 an ordinance was passed authorizing
the mayor to appoint, with the approval of the city council, three persons
to constitute the board of health, to serve for a term of three years each.
As a sort of compromise, the duty of cleaning the streets and cesspools,
and collecting offal and ashes, the work in which a considerable number
of laborers were employed, was placed under the charge of a joint com-
mittee of the city council. The appointment of a superintendent of health,
a city physician, and a port physician, was given to the new board, but the
exercise of this power was subject to the approval of the mayor. Mr.
Gaston failed to make any appointments on the board before retiring from
office, and the duty of carrying the ordinance into effect devolved upon his
successor.

In the year 1871 the supply of water from Lake Cochituate was found
to be insufficient for the growing wants of the city, and a competent en-
gineer was appointed to make an examination of all sources of supply
within fifty miles of Boston. This examination resulted in an application
to the Legislature the following year for authority to take water from Sud-
bury River and Farm Pond. The authority was granted, and a temporary
connection was immediately made between Sudbury River and Lake Cochit-
uate, which furnished an adequate supply during the summer of 1872 ; but
this connection could not be made permanent without interfering with the
privileges of the mill-owners along the line of the river; and it became a
serious question for the government to consider, whether the need for an
additional supply of pure water was so imperative as to justify the very
heavy expense which would be involved by taking all the waters of the
river, within or above Framingham, as authorized by the act of the Legis-
lature. During the unusually dry season of 1874, a temporary connection
was made with the Mystic water works, which supplied Charlestown ; but
it was soon found that the connection could not be maintained without de-
priving Charlestown and its dependents of an adequate supply; and on
Jan. 2, 1875, orders were passed authorizing the Cochituate water board,
as the agent of the city, to take the waters of Sudbury River and Farm
Pond and conduct them by a separate conduit to Chestnut Hill Reservoir, a
distance of eighty-three thousand nine hundred and twelve feet. The city
is now receiving from this source a supply equal to twenty million gallons
daily, which can be doubled by the construction of additional storage
basins. The cost of the additional supply has already amounted to over
$5,000,000; and the entire cost of the Cochituate and Sudbury works on
April 30, 1880, amounted to $16,341,908.25. The cost of constructing the
Mystic works amounted at that date to $1,614,648. The average daily

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 281

consumption of water during the year 1879 amounted to 34,579,370 gal-
lons, of which 8,883,470 were drawn from Mystic Lake, and 25,695,900
from Cochituate Lake and Sudbury River.

In 1871 the Legislature established a new department in the city govern-
ment, known as the Department for the Survey and Inspection of Buildings.
The chief officer is appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the city
council, for a term of three years ; and the assistant inspectors and clerk are
appointed by the chief officer with the approval of the mayor. The depart-
ment had been organized but a few months when the great fire of 1872
occurred, and at the extra session of the Legislature which followed, the
provisions of the building law were greatly modified with a view to prevent
the use of combustible materials in the construction of buildings within
certain limits to be prescribed from time to time by the city council.

A description of the great fire does not fall within the scope of this
chapter, therefore I shall refer to it only so far as may be necessary to show
the effect it had upon the city government. There was a good deal of
dissatisfaction with the management of the fire department during the fire,
and this dissatisfaction subsequently found expression in the defeat of the
Mayor when nominated for another term, and in the reorganization of the
department. It is natural that the people should hold the chief executive
of the government largely responsible for the efficiency of the executive
departments under him, although by the letter of the law he may have little
or no control over them. Mayor Quincy (the senior) was quick to see that
if anything went wrong in any department of the government (the mayor's
duties were then partly legislative and partly executive) he would be held
accountable, and he felt that the people were right in holding him account-
able. Therefore he made the " glittering generalities " concerning the
powers of the executive "blazing ubiquities." By the charter of 1854
the powers of the mayor especially in the matter of controlling legislation
were somewhat curtailed ; but still there is enough in the general powers
given him as the chief executive officer of the corporation, and in the in-
junction " to be vigilant and active at all times in causing the laws for the
government of the city to be duly executed and put in force," to justify the
people in looking to him for such prompt and energetic action as the emer-
gency may call for. Mr. Gaston failed to make his paramount authority as
chief executive felt, not only in the case of the great fire, but in the meas-
ures taken to check the terrible disease from which, for want of suitable
sanitary precautions, many lives were sacrificed during the last months of
his administration. While, therefore, his general policy in the management
of the city affairs was approved by all classes, the lack of energy shown in
these two instances raised a strong opposition to his retention in office ; and
at the election on Dec. 10, 1872, Henry Lillie Pierce, 1 who was nominated

1 Mr. Pierce, the descendant of an English his native town and in the academy at Milton,
family that settled in Watertown in 1638, was and the academy and normal school at Bridge-
born in Stoughton, Mass., Aug. 23, 1825. He water. Although actively engaged in business
received his education in the public schools of since the twenty-fifth year of his age, he has
VOL. III.-^-36.

282 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

by the Republicans on a non-partisan platform, received a plurality of
seventy-nine votes.

Mr. Pierce brought to the mayor's office not only good business principles
and an intimate knowledge of municipal affairs, but an ability for dealing
with public questions very rare among men not specially trained for office.
In his inaugural address he recommended the reorganization of the fire and
health departments, and the revision of the city charter. He did not con-
tent himself merely with recommending these measures which he thought
essential to the good government of the city ; he had that sense of respon-
sibility in seeing them carried out which is the chief requisite of a good
executive. Within ten days after taking office he organized a new board of
health, and took effective measures to check the loathsome disease from
which the people were dying at the rate of about fifty a week. The re-
organization of the fire department met with strong opposition. The move-
ment was made to appear as a sort of reflection on the conduct of the
members during the great fire. Now the firemen had behaved on that
occasion with characteristic spirit and bravery, but for want of an intelli-
gent head their efforts were badly directed. Many of them, however, did
not appreciate this, and they made the cause of their chief their own. Had
it not been for another serious fire on May 30, 1873, which went far to de-
stroy the public confidence in the management of the department, it is
hardly probable that the Mayor's recommendation could have been carried
out. It required no additional legislation on the part of the State to enable
the city council to place the department under a paid commission, and
on October 24 an ordinance was passed giving the mayor authority to ap-
point, with the approval of the city council, three fire commissioners, to
hold office for three years each. The duty of extinguishing fires and pro-
tecting life and property in case of fire, was intrusted to these commission-
ers ; and to enable them to perform their duty in the most efficient manner,
they were authorized to appoint all other officers and members of the
department and fix their compensation. The Mayor lost no time in carry-
ing the ordinance into effect, and a considerable reduction in the rates of
insurance soon testified to the efficiency of the new organization.

The recommendation for a revision of the city charter was also strongly
opposed, on the ground that it looked to a centralization of power; but the
mayor was finally authorized to appoint a commission. to consider the sub-
ject. Benjamin R. Curtis, the eminent jurist, accepted the position of chair-
man, but he died before the work was entirely completed ; and his place
was filled by George Tyler Bigelow, formerly Chief-Justice of the Supreme

always taken a deep interest in public affairs. Legislature for four years (1860-62, 1866); and

The pro-slavery course of the Democratic party, on the annexation of Dorchester to Boston he

to which he originally belonged, led him in 1848 was chosen to represent that part of the city

to join in the organization of the Free Soil party, (where he had long been a resident) in the board

and afterward to become an active member of of aldermen during the two years ending 1870-

the Republican party. He was a member of the 71.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 283

Court. In their report, submitted at the beginning of the year 1875, the
commissioners said :

" The lapse of half a century since the adoption of the first charter has wrought
great changes in the city and in its municipal affairs. Its population in 1822 was only
a little more than forty thousand. It now contains upward of three hundred and
forty thousand. Its territory at that time embraced an area of about two thousand
acres ; now it includes more than twenty-one thousand five hundred acres. Its valu-
ation in 1822 amounted only to about forty-two million; in 1874 it rose to upward of
eight hundred million. The change has not been merely in the extent of its territory,
the number of its inhabitants, and the amount of its taxable property. The character
of its population has greatly changed. Instead of a small, compact community, the
leading citizens of which were well known to each other, it has become a large me-
tropolis, with a population spread over a large extent of territory, divided into numer-
ous villages, widely separated, having but few interests in common, and the inhabitants
of which are but little known to each other. With these changes have come their
natural consequences. Many institutions, public works, and organizations have grown
up or been established, such as the public exigencies require, and which have added
largely to the duties of the public officers of the city, essentially changed their char-
acter, and rendered their administration more difficult and complicated. ... It would
seem to be clear that duties so numerous and important cannot be properly superin-
tended and managed by persons who render gratuitous services only, or who are
chosen to office not for their experience in the duties which they may be called to
perform, or their peculiar fitness and skill in the work of the different departments
which they may have hi charge."

The draft of a new charter, which the commissioners submitted with their
report, provided that the mayor and the members of the city council should
hold office for three years ; that the city council should have entire control
over all appropriations of the public money and the purposes for which it is
expended ; that the heads of the several executive departments should be
appointed by the mayor with the approval of the city council; and that the
school committee should be reduced to two members from each ward.
Some of the recommendations made by the commissioners have since been
carried out, but the report as a whole never received the approval of the
city council.

Among other important matters which engaged the attention of the city
government during the year 1873 were the street improvements within the
district covered by the great fire of the previous year. The cost of these
improvements amounted to over five million dollars. The old streets were
so narrow and crooked that it was at first proposed to lay out the territory
on an entirely new plan ; but it was found on examination that the city
could not give a good title to the land included in the old streets, and the
improvement was, therefore, restricted to the widening and straightening of
the old ways.

The city council of this year also passed an order requesting the trustees
of the Public Library to open the reading-room connected with that institu-

284 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

tion on certain hours every Sunday. Similar orders, passed in 1865 and
1872, had been vetoed by the mayors then in office, partly on the ground
that the law officer of the city was of the opinion that the opening would be
a violation of the statute relating to the observance of the Lord's Day, and
partly on the ground that it was contrary to public policy. Mr. Pierce was
heartily in favor of the measure ; and with his approval it was carried into
effect, and its wisdom has hardly been questioned since.

The boundaries of the city were considerably enlarged this year by the
annexation of Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton. 1 At the election
in November, 1873, Mr. Pierce was chosen a member, of the National
House of Representatives to fill a vacancy in the third Congressional district,
caused by the death of Mr. William Whiting. In order to take his seat in
the House on the first Monday in December, he resigned the office of
mayor; and in accordance with the provisions of the charter the duties
were performed for the remainder of the year by Leonard R. Cutter, chair-
man of the board of aldermen.

At the municipal election in December Samuel Crocker Cobb 2 was
chosen mayor for the ensuing year by a nearly unanimous vote. For the
office of chief executive he was singularly well fitted, not only by experi-
ence in municipal affairs, but by a disposition in which great energy and
courage were joined to high-bred courtesy and genial frankness. Although
not specially identified with any political party, his sympathies, after the
dissolution of the Whig party to which he originally belonged, were gen-
erally with the Democratic party on national questions. He was a firm
believer, however, in a non-partisan administration of local affairs ; and so
well did he act up to his convictions in that matter, that the Citizens
elected him for three successive terms, the last time against the united
opposition of the two leading political parties. During these three years
( 1 874-76) a great many important measures were acted upon by the city
government.

In his inaugural address the Mayor recommended the establishment of
several public parks in different sections of the city, easily accessible to

1 Charlestown at this time contained about century. The paternal ancestor, Henry Cobb,
30,000 inhabitants, and covered an area of 586 emigrated to the Plymouth Colony as early as
square acres. Brighton contained about 5,000 1629, and settled at Barnstable, where he died in
inhabitants, and covered an area of 2,277 square 1679, leaving seven sons. He was fitted for col-
acres. West Roxbury numbered about 9,000, lege at the Bristol Academy in Taunton, but came
and its territory embraced an area of 7,848 to Boston at the early age of sixteen, and engaged
square acres. By the census of 1870 the popu- in the foreign shipping business, which he was fol-
iation of Charlestown was 28,323 ; of Brighton, lowing at the time he entered the mayor's office.
4,967 ; of West Roxbury, 8,683. [See the chap- He served as a member of the Roxbury board of
ters on "Charlestown," " Roxbury," and " Brigh- aldermen in 1861-62 ; and after the annexation of
ton," in the present volume. En.] that city in 1867 he was chosen as its first repre-

3 He was born in Taunton, Mass., on May sentative in the Boston board of aldermen. He

22, 1826, and was the descendant of an English also served as a member of the board of direc-

family of good condition that settled in that tors for public institutions from 1869 to the close

town during the latter half of the seventeenth of the year 1873.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 285

the people. The subject of enlarging the public grounds had already
received some attention. In 1869 the General Court passed an act pro-
viding for the appointment of a mixed commission, part by the State and
part by the city authorities, with power to take lands and " lay out one or
more public parks in or near the city of Boston." The act was not to take
effect unless accepted by two-thirds of the inhabitants of Boston, who might
exercise the right of voting on the question ; and failing to receive the re-
quisite number of affirmative votes, it became void. In accordance with the
Mayor's recommendation a new application was made to the Legislature ;
and in 1875 an act was passed authorizing the mayor, with the approval of
the city council, to appoint three park commissioners, with power to take
lands, lay out public parks, and make rules for their government. The
operations of the commissioners were restricted, however, by a provision in
the act that no expenditures could be made by them, and no obligations
entered into beyond the appropriations of money made from time to time
by the city council. This act was duly accepted by the citizens on June 9,
1875, and the commissioners were appointed in the following month. Be-
yond preparing plans and estimates no action was taken by the commission-
ers until 18771 when, with the approval of the city council, they purchased
one hundred and six acres of flats on the westerly side of the Back Bay, at
the average price of ten cents per square foot. The assessments which
they were authorized to levy on the adjoining lands, on account of their in-
creased value from the establiehment of the park, have made the net cost of
the property to the city only about thirty thousand dollars. The commis-
sioners have since recommended, and the city council has now under con-
sideration, the purchase of a large tract of land in West Roxbury, the
purchase of certain lands and flats at City Point, in South Boston, and the
acquisition from the State of a strip of flats on Charles River, in the rear of
Beacon Street and Charles Street, for an ornamental embankment and
driveway. Connected to some extent with the park improvement, as a
sanitary measure, was the plan for an intercepting sewerage system prepared
by an able commission appointed by the Mayor in 1875. The plan was
adopted in 1877, and an appropriation of $3,713,000 was made to carry it
out. It involved the construction of about thirteen miles of intercepting
sewers, the establishment of pumping works at Old Harbor Point, and a
tunnel, under Dorchester Bay, to the outlet in deep water beyond Moon
Island. The work has not yet (1880) been completed.

To carry on the important work of procuring an additional supply of
water from Sudbury River, to which reference has already been made, the
Mayor urged the appointment of a paid commission, organized on the same
basis as the health and fire boards ; and on the petition of the city coun-
cil the Legislature of 1875 passed an act authorizing the appointment of
such a commission, to be known as the Boston Water Board. The board
was organized in the following year, and all the powers conferred by the
statutes of the Commonwealth, in relation to supplying the city with water,

286 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON:

were delegated to it ; but in the exercise of its powers the board is subject
to the supervision of the city council.

In his first address the Mayor referred to the inability both of the State
and the city police to execute the law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating
liquors, and stated that he would " use all legal means to carry into effect
a law which should have for its object the regulation and restraint of the
liquor traffic." In the following year the Legislature passed a license law,
and its execution in the city of Boston was given to a board of three li-
cense commissioners, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city
council.

By an act of the Legislature passed in 1874 the mayor was authorized to
appoint, subject to the approval of the board of aldermen, three persons
to constitute a board of registrars of voters. Previous to that time the
preparation of the voting lists had devolved upon the city clerk. There
was much dissatisfaction with the manner in which the ward officers per-
formed their duties of receiving, counting, and returning votes. The city
charter provided for the annual election of a warden, clerk, and six inspec-
tors, by the qualified voters in each ward. These offices were filled in many
instances by persons who were barely able to read and write, and who were
utterly incapable of properly performing the duties. The aldermen con-
stituted the returning board for the city ; and being called upon after every
election to recount more or less of the votes, the grossest errors were often
discovered in the ward returns. In 1876 the mayor was authorized, with
the approval of the aldermen, to appoint three of the six inspectors of elec-
tions in each ward. By putting the responsibility for the selection upon
the mayor, and increasing the term of office to three years, it was expected
that an honest and intelligent discharge of the duties would be secured ;
but the reform did not go far enough ; interested parties still controlled a
majority of the ward officers. In 1878, therefore, on the petition of the city
council, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the board of assessors
of taxes to divide each ward of the city into voting precincts, containing
as nearly as practicable five hundred registered voters ; and, in addition to
a warden and clerk elected by the inhabitants of the precinct, the mayor,
with the approval of the aldermen, was authorized to appoint two inspec-
tors, representing different political parties. Under this system it is com-
paratively easy to detect errors or frauds either in the registration of voters
or in the returns of elections.

In 1875 the Legislature passed an important act to regulate and limit
municipal indebtedness. It provided that cities and towns in this Common-
wealth should not become indebted to an amount, exclusive of loans for
water supply, exceeding in the aggregate three per centum on the valuation
of their taxable property ; but in any city or town where the indebtedness
amounted, at the time the act was passed, to two per centum on its valua-
tion, permission was given to increase the debt to the extent of an additional
one per centum. At the time the act took effect this city was indebted

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 287

more than two per centum on its valuation (about two and three fifths), and
was therefore authorized to increase the debt one per centum on its valua-
tion of May i, 1875, namely, $793,961,895. Any debts contracted for other
purposes than constructing general sewers and supplying the inhabitants
with pure water are made payable within a period not exceeding ten years,
and the city is required to raise annually by taxation an amount sufficient
to pay the interest as it accrues, and eight per centum of the principal until
the sum raised is sufficient to extinguish the debt at maturity. Debts in-
curred in constructing sewers may be made payable at a period not exceed-
ing twenty yeans ; and for supplying water, at a period not exceeding thirty
years. The Mayor seized the opportunity afforded by the passage of this
act to urge upon the city council the policy of raising by taxation, annu-
ally, a sufficient amount of money to pay for all expenses incurred by the
city, except for the enlargement of the water works. He was able to show
that, if the government abstained from contracting new loans, the sinking
funds already established would free the city from all except the water debt
in eight years; but while the government was ready then, and indeed has
at all times been ready, to applaud any general proposition looking to the
reduction or extinction of the debt, its virtuous resolutions have seldom
stood in the way of any scheme which seemed to meet the popular favor ;
and it may fairly be presumed that the indebtedness of the city will be kept
very' near the limit authorized by law.

Perhaps the most notable event of Mr. Cobb's administration, certainly
the one. which possesses the greatest historical interest, was the celebration
of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. On the even-
ing of June 1 6, 1875, there was a very remarkable meeting in Music Hall.
Many of the men who had taken a leading part in the war of the Rebellion
rebel and patriot ; the soldier of the Union and the soldier of the Con-
federacy met for the first time in peace and with a common object, the
commemoration of the most important of the series of events which re-
sulted in the creation of an independent nation. The Mayor's address of
welcome was admirably adapted to the spirit of the meeting, and met with
a very cordial response from the city's guests. On the following day there
was a great procession, composed of various military and civic bodies, and
an oration on the site of the historic battleground by Charles Devens, Jr.,
at that time a justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth.

Mr. Cobb was succeeded in the mayor's office by Frederick Octavius
Prince, 1 who was elected in December, 1876. He was the candidate of the
Democratic party ; and partly through the influence of the national elec-
tion held the month previous, and partly through his own personal popu-
larity, he received about five thousand more votes than his opponent,

1 Mr. Prince came of a good family, long in his native city and at Harvard College, and
resident in Boston, where he was born Jan. 18, subsequently became a member of the Suffolk
1818. He was graduated at the Latin School Bar.

288 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Nathaniel J. Bradlee, who was not only the candidate of the Republican
party but of the Citizens' organization. Mr. Prince had held no office in
the city government previous to his election as mayor, and his knowledge
of municipal affairs was somewhat limited ; but his readiness and ability as
a public speaker, and his tact and courtesy as the representative of the city,
especially on festive occasions, have been accepted as an offset, to some
extent, for any shortcomings in the business administration of the office.
Having been elected as the special representative of a party, he found
some difficulty in making the demands of his supporters agree with the
best interests of the city; and he did not always succeed in doing so. It
may be said, however, that he endeavored to carry out the policy of re-
trenchment inaugurated by his predecessor, and that during the first part of
his administration his efforts in that direction were measurably successful.
In 1874 the tax levy had reached the enormous sum of $12,000,000. The
panic of 1873 had proved most disastrous to the owners of real estate,
especially to a large class of speculators in the lands recently annexed to
the city. The policy pursued by the local assessors of maintaining a high
valuation of real property created much dissatisfaction, and there was a
general demand not only for a reduction of valuations, but for a reduction of
expenses. In response to this demand the city's expenses were reduced in
1875 and 1876 to the extent of $2,775,098; and the valuation of real estate
was reduced in 1876 from $558,000,000 to $526,000,000. In 1877 a further
reduction of over half a million dollars was made in the tax levy, without
detriment to the public service, and the real estate valuation was reduced
to $481,000,000; but the spirit of economy which prevailed at the begin-
ning of this year did not continue to the end. An order was passed by
the city council to run the East Boston ferries at the city's expense ; and
although the Mayor was informed by the city solicitor that the order was
illegal, he gave it his approval. The opponents of the measure went to the
supreme court, and obtained a writ of mandamus directing the city to con-
tinue to collect the tolls established by the board of aldermen. The ap-
propriations for carrying out the plan for improved sewerage ($3,713,000),
for erecting a new building for the English High and Latin schools ($35<V
ooo), and for a Back Bay park ($450,000), measures initiated by previous
city governments, met with general approval.

When the time came for selecting candidates for the next city govern-
ment, the dissatisfaction with Mr. Prince's administration found expression
in a petition, signed by some twenty-five hundred tax-paying citizens
" representing all parties and all classes," asking Mr. Henry L. Pierce,
who had retired from Congress at the end of four years' service, to allow
his name to be used as the Citizens' candidate for mayor. The call was
too imperative to be disregarded ; and Mr. Pierce stood as the candidate of
the Citizens and also of the Republicans. Mr. Prince was renominated by
the Democrats. There was a very bitter contest, which resulted in the

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 289

election of Mr. Pierce by a majority of about two thousand three hundred
votes.

On taking office Mr. Pierce made an address to the city government,
which was highly commended by the representatives of all parties. Refer-
ring to some of the schemes which had been devised for improving our
local government by a limitation of the suffrage, or by transferring the
more important duties to commissions appointed by the State authori-
ties, he said : -

"While I am fully sensible of the defects in our present system of municipal
administration, I cannot help regarding with distrust any scheme for curing them by
a radical change of the New England system under which we have grown up, and
which, notwithstanding its defects, has thus far produced better results than any other
system that has been tried in this country. ... It is hardly probable that a con-
dition of things can arise in any city in New England where those who have an in-
terest in maintaining order will be outnumbered by those who hope for some personal
benefit by creating disorder ; therefore, if those who have interests at stake will bestir
themselves to protect their interests, and there is no safety in any scheme which can
be devised unless they do so, they can better accomplish their purpose by outvoting
their opponents than by undertaking to deprive them of privileges they now possess.
In a recent argument in favor of extending household suffrage to the counties in Eng-
land, Mr. Gladstone says the franchise is an educational power. The possession of it
quickens the intelligence, and tends to bind the nation together. It is more impor-
tant to have an alert, well-taught, and satisfied people than a theoretically good legis-
lative machine."

The most important act of Mr. Pierce's second administration was the
reorganization of the police department. The regular police force at this
time consisted of seven hundred and fifteen men. They were appointed by
the mayor with the approval of the aldermen, and held office during good
behavior. The powers of the mayor, the aldermen, and the chief of police
were not clearly defined, and in consequence the discipline of the depart-
ment was very lax. Mayor Cobb, in his address to the city council of 1876,
had strongly urged the appointment of a commission to administer the
department ; but the Democrats were at that time united in their opposi-
tion to the creation of any more " three-headed commissions," and there
were some prominent Republicans who doubted the expediency of giving
any more power to the mayor. While the feeling against commissions in
general was not much changed during the two following years, the growing
inefficiency of the police department was so clearly seen that when Mayor
Pierce pointed out the improvements which had been made in the fire and
health departments by putting them under commissions, and declared his
belief that a like improvement would follow the appointment of a commis-
sion to have charge of the police department and the execution of the laws
in relation to the sale of intoxicating liquors, public opinion forced the city
council to give its sanction to the measure. An act was obtained from the
Legislature authorizing the mayor, with the approval of the city council, to
VOL. in. 37.

290

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

appoint three commissioners to serve for a term of three years each. The
appointments of the mayor were readily confirmed, and the commissioners
organized on July 8, 1878.

A further reduction of nearly $900,000 was made in the tax levy of this
year; so that, although the assessors made a reduction of seventeen million
dollars in the valuation of property, the rate of taxation was reduced from
$13.10 to $12.80 on a thousand.

At the end of the year Mr. Pierce declined a re-election ; and Mr. Fred-
erick O. Prince was again brought forward as the candidate of the Demo-
crats. His opponent was Colonel Charles R. Codman, who was the nominee
of the Citizens and Republicans. The feeling that Mr. Prince had been
rather hardly pressed in the preceding election led to a sort of reaction in
his favor, which returned him to office with a plurality of about seven hun-
dred votes. There was a marked improvement in his administration during
his second term, so that he had the partial endorsement of a Citizens' nomi-
nation for a third term, and was elected by a majority of about two thousand
six hundred votes over Mr. Solomon B. Stebbins, the Republican candidate.
During these last two years (1879-80), the time of the government has
been occupied mainly in carrying out the important measures previously

AUTOGRAPHS OF THE MAYORS.

BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.

291

AUTOGRAPHS OF THE MAYORS.

adopted, the improvement of the sewerage system, the construction of a
park on the Back Bay, the enlargement of the water works, the construction
of sewers in the Mystic valley to preserve the purity of the water supplied
from that source, and the erection of a costly building for the English High
and Latin schools. The most important among the new projects now (1880)
under consideration are the establishment of public parks in West Roxbury,
at South Boston Point, and on the banks of Charles River ; and the erection
of a new county court house, and public library building. 1 On Sept. 17,
1880, the city government celebrated the two hundred and fiftieth anniver-
sary of the settlement of Boston. A bronze statue of John Winthrop, 2 which

1 For the last named purpose the General
Court of 1880 granted to the city, free of rent, a
parcel of land containing about thirty-three thou-
sand square feet, situated on the southerly cor-
ner of Dartmouth and Boylston streets ; the only
conditions being that the erection thereon of a
library building should be begun within three
years, and that the library should be open, under
reasonable regulations, to all the citizens of the
Commonwealth. [See the chapter on " Libraries "
in Vol. IV. ED.]

2 A heliotype of this statue is given in Vol. I.
Jonathan Phillips, who died in July, 1860, be-
queathed to the city of Boston $20,000 " as a trust
fund, the income of which shall be annually ex-
pended to adorn and embellish the streets and
public places of the city." On the recommenda-
tion of Mayor Cobb in 1875, the aldermen voted
to use a portion of the income from the fund to
erect a statue of Josiah Quincy. The order was
given to Mr. Thomas Ball, and the statue was
placed in front of the city hall, as a companion

292 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

had been erected in Scollay Square, was unveiled in the morning. Then
followed commemorative services in the Old South Church, where the Mayor
delivered an address of some length on the character and services of Win-
throp ; 1 and later in the day there was a great procession, the largest, it was
said, that ever walked the streets of Boston.

And here the sketch of Boston " under the mayors " comes to an end.
During the fifty-nine years that the city government has been established
the population of Boston has increased from about 45,000 to 362,535;
more than eight fold. About 215,000 persons live within the area covered
by the first city charter; and 147,500 persons live on the territory which
has been annexed since 1867. The current expenses of the city in 1822
amounted to $249,000; in 1880 the appropriations for current expenses, in-
cluding interest on the city debt, amounted to $10,190,387, a forty-fold
increase. The valuation of property for purposes of taxation amounted in
1823 to $44,896,800; in 1880, to $639,462,495, an increase of about four-
teen-fold. The highest valuation of taxable property, $798,755,050, and the
largest tax levy, $12,045,902, were in 1874, the second year after the great
fire, which destroyed about seventy-five million dollars worth of property.

Of the twenty-three persons who have held the office of mayor of Boston,
thirteen were born in the city ; all of them were born in New England ;
eleven were graduates of Harvard College, and three were graduates of
other colleges. Some of them have been men of distinction ; most of them
have been men of ability ; no one of them has retired from office with any
stain resting upon his character. The city has been fortunate in the charac-
ter of the men who have served her, both in the legislative and executive
departments of the government. The high standard of official integrity
which has been maintained is largely due to the efforts of those citizens who
have associated from time to time to resist the introduction of national party
politics into the management of the city business. They have for many
years held the balance of power between the two great political parties, and
they have kept the leaders of both in wholesome fear of the consequences
of making appointments to office for party purposes, or of using the city's
money to promote party interests.

piece to the Franklin statue, and unveiled Oct. Robert D. Smith, Esq., City Document, 103, 1880.

n, 1879. See Mayor Prince's address, City Docu- A portion of the income from this fund was also

ment, 1 1 5, 1879. In '879 the aldermen contracted used to beautify the lot of land at the junction of

for copies in bronze of the two representative Columbus Avenue and Pleasant Street, on which

statues of Massachusetts in the capitol at Wash- there is the group emblematical of Emancipa-

ington, Samuel Adams, by Miss Anne Whitney, tion, presented to the city in 1879, by Mr. Moses

and John Winthrop, by Richard S. Greenough, Kimball. See City Document 126, 1879.
the expense of making them to be charged to the l See City Document, 1880, containing a full

income from the Phillips Fund. The statue of account of the celebration, prepared by Mr.

Adams was unveiled July 4, 1880. See oration by William H. Lee.

CHAPTER III.

BOSTON AND THE COMMONWEALTH UNDER THE CITY

CHARTER.

BY HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN D. LONG, LL.D.,

Governor of Massachusetts.

HE subject of this chapter has its beginning in the presentation to the
General Court of the following petition: 1

"The undersigned, being a Committee authorized and instructed by the Town of
Boston, most respectfully represent

" That the present size of the Town renders it impossible any longer to carry into
effect the principles on which its present government is founded, as this is presumed
to be exercised by the inhabitants at large, assembled in Town-meeting. There is no
Hall in the Town capable of containing all the legal voters ; and if such a room ex-
isted its dimensions would be too extensive to admit of wise conceit or true delibera-
tion by the citizens. The duty of attending Town -meetings is therefore becoming
more and more neglected ; and a very small minority of persons now decide upon the
public concerns of the whole community. The consequences are a want of unity,
regularity, and responsibility in the management of the prudential affairs of the Town.
The evils of such a state of things have been hitherto diminished by the intelligence,
prudence, and integrity of the different Boards that have been separately entrusted
with the management of various branches of Town affairs, yet no skill nor integrity
can supply the deficiencies of the present system, which oblige the Town so frequently
to trouble the Legislature with applications for minute local regulation. Trusting that
the Town may continue to partake in the growing prosperity of the Commonwealth
with which its own is so inseparably and entirely blended, the time must soon arrive
when the inconveniences and losses incident to an impracticable form of government
will be greatly and oppressively increased. The experience of actual disadvantages,
together with a principle of foresight, have convinced a majority of the citizens that
the present moment of calm in the public mind is a suitabl