Expecting a Tumult: March–April 17, 1775

In the weeks preceding the outbreak of violence at Lexington and Concord, conflict was deepening. The letters in this case provide glimpses into ways this manifested across different walks of life.

John Westcott, a British sailor, was waiting to board his ship at Boston. He wrote that John Hancock, Samuel Adams, “The Printer” Isaiah Thomas, other patriot leaders, and everyday people had fled the city, remarking that “the people in the Countrey arming Them selves ripe for Rebelion.” [ITEM 7].

Meanwhile, on April 14 Thomas Gage opened a confidential letter from his superior, Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Dartmouth, that had taken nearly three months to reach its transatlantic destination [ITEM 8 is the copy Gage received April 16]. With clear irritation at Gage’s hesitations, the Secretary disregarded the General’s insistence that he would need 20,000 soldiers to put down the revolt underway and offered far fewer reinforcements. Dartmouth explained the legal justification for using force against the rebellious colonists, acknowledging that affairs in America “are now come to a Crisis in which the Government of this Country must act with firmness and decision.”