Now it seems to me that I ought to begin this tale with the reason why some of us Boston lads decided it might be possible for us to work in behalf of the Cause, and in order to do that I must hark back to what has been done these two years past to us of Boston by the king, and those hangers on of his who counted on grinding us into the dust as if we were made of baser stuff than they.
We lads, being young, did not realize all the iniquity of which General Gage was capable, when his acts were purely political, and, perhaps, gave but little heed to our elders when we heard them predicting that he would ruin the colony if it should not be possible to check his unlawful career; but when on the first day of June, in the year of grace 1774, he closed our port of Boston to all vessels save those of the king's, shutting us up like mice in a trap to starve, or leave the colony as fugitives, then did we realize that the moment had come for something more than talk.
General Gage had brought soldiers from Halifax, Quebec, New York and even Ireland, to keep us of Boston in subjection to him, until the lobster backs out-numbered our people two to one, or so it seemed to me, and when he had us cooped up, through having set his hirelings to guard the Neck, thereby preventing us from going out, or our friends of the country from coming in, then did he crown the height of his oppression by making declaration that the port was closed to all.
He had under his command ships of the king enough to enforce this unrighteous act, and there we were, much the same as tied hand and foot. The poor people became beggars because there was no work by which they could earn money to buy food, while the rich found that with all their wealth it was impossible to purchase what was not for sale because of the scarcity, and meanwhile the king's lobster backs fed on the fat of the land, devouring us and our substance as did the locusts that were sent to aid the children of Israel.
Had it not been for the people in the other colonies who sent us rice, wheat and even money, there were many in our town of Boston who would have died of starvation. Why even the charitable men of London, who must have understood that we were being wronged, subscribed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the poor among us.
I have heard it said that even the most cowardly animal will fight when he is cornered and his life threatened, and so it was with us. The men banded themselves together as if for war, and made ready for the struggle which all knew must be near at hand, unless his majesty should succeed in gaining better sense than he had shown since our people built up for him a nation in this New World.
We lads did not believe it possible we could do anything at such a time; but looked forward to the day when, having come to man's estate, we might enlist as soldiers to drive out General Gage, and such as he, from among us.
Then the fortifications on the Neck were strengthened, the better to hold us prisoners; all the gunpowder belonging to the province that had been stored at Charlestown and Cambridge was seized by the man who had made of himself our jailor, and we were terrified by rumors that the king's ships were about to open fire on the town because our people were arming themselves.
The true men of New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and from all the country roundabout Boston, rose up in their might, marching at their best pace to our assistance, and General Gage must have understood that he was stirring up a hornet's nest, for the rumors were denied, and those who would have begun the war then and there, returned to their homes.
If you will believe it, there were, at the close of the year 1774, eleven regiments of British soldiers in Boston, to say nothing of all the artillery, and yet more were coming. Five hundred marines were landed from the Asia Man-of-War, and thousands of lobster backs were voyaging from the Jerseys, New York, and Quebec!