Author’s Note: In this installment, Albert describes the siege line forming around Boston as New England militias march to aid Massachusetts. He also meets a brash Connecticut officer with big ideas. DRS
Dear beleaguered reader,
For all of New England is here! In poking the hornet’s nest that is Boston, General Gage has angered not only the hornets, but the bees and wasps as well. Any with a stinger and a grudge is congregating around Boston, ready to pepper Mr. Gage with welts.
Connecticut, Rhode Islande, and New Hampshire have joined Massachusetts. Even men from the Vermont and Maine territories have arrived. And there is scuttlebutt of Virginia and Pennsylvania rifles marching to join us.
The harbor is surrounded by the light of ten thousand campfires. Even Gage is surprised, noting that “the rebels are not the despicable rabble too many have supposed them to be.... In all their wars against the French, they never showed such conduct, attention, and perseverance as they do now."
The local population has chosen their side, with country Loyalists trading places with urban Patriots inside the city proper. A new sense of identity is permeating among the ad hoc army as soldiers no longer see themselves as English or British, loyal to the crown, but as independent and free Americans determined to chart our own course in history.
Among the many new residents was a strapping young Captain Ben of New Haven, Connecticut. A book merchant by trade, the King’s Stamp Act placed an undue burden on the man, prompting him to action. He was made Captain of the Second Company of the Governor’s Connecticut Guard. An impressive title to say the least, it seemed adequate enough for the aspiring bookseller. At least for now.
Regaling us with his stories, he told us how he and his men, upon hearing of the conflict of late in Lexington, formed and prepared to march to our aid. Yet the town council and his superior officer refused to release powder and shot to supply his men. It was only when Ben threatened physicality did the council — and his superior — relent.
Since arriving, Captain Ben had ruminated on the lack of artillery our meager little army commands. He said he knew a place where some could be had, he only needed the men. In his quest, young Ben convinced the Massachusetts militia to commission him a Colonel and provided the funds to recruit a battalion along the way to his destination — Fort Ticonderoga.
The now-Colonel Ben set out on his own, leaving a few select captains to carry out the recruiting duties. In the wilderness, he met another Colonel, this one from Vermont, and the pair concocted a most daring strategy to capture the fort without a fight.
And they did just that!
The small garrison of forty-eight redcoats were well unaware of any hostilities between the crown and her American subjects and were taken without contest. Two smaller installations nearby were also taken in quick succession with the same expenditures.
Capturing the fort will provide the army around Boston with powder and shot and heavy cannon, if only it can get here in a most timely fashion.
We have received notice that a second Continental Congress is to assemble in Philadelphia in the next few days. It is anyone’s guess what the delegates will debate and decide under the current circumstances. They may choose reconciliation and accept defeat, or they may choose to fight.
May God Almighty guide them toward the right course of action as He sees fit.
New England has already decided.
Yours,
Alby Louder
