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DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION AND THEIR TIMES
1769-1776
A Historical Romance
BY
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1896
Copyright, 1895, BY CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN.
_All rights reserved._
SIXTH THOUSAND.
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.
ELIZABETH HOOTON WARREN]
INTRODUCTION.
No period in the history of our country surpasses in interest thatimmediately preceding and including the beginning of the RevolutionaryWar. Many volumes have been written setting forth the patriotism andheroism of the fathers of the Republic, but the devotion of themothers and daughters has received far less attention. _This_ volumeis designed, therefore, to portray in some degree their influence inthe struggle of the Colonies to attain their independence. Thenarration of events takes the form of a story--a slight thread ofromance being employed, rather than didactic narrative, to morevividly picture the scenes and the parts performed by the actors inthe great historic drama. It will not be difficult for the reader todiscern between the facts of history and the imaginative parts of thestory.
Eminent educators have expressed the opinion that history may be moresuccessfully taught through the medium of fiction than by any otherform of diction. The novels of Sir Walter Scott, notably "Waverley,""Ivanhoe," are cited as presenting pictures of the times moreeffectively than any purely historic volume. The same may be said of"Uncle Tom's Cabin," as illustrating the state of affairs in our owncountry preceding the War of the Rebellion. It may be questionedwhether any work of fiction in the world's history has been sofar-reaching in its influence as that portrayal of the institution ofslavery by Mrs. Stowe. Believing that the spirit of the times can bebest pictured by the employment of romance, I have adopted that formof narrative.
The story opens in the fall of 1769. The Stamp Act had been repealed,and the irritation produced by that act had been allayed. It was aperiod of quiet and rest. The colonists still regarded themselves asEnglishmen and loyal to the crown. Information came that His MajestyGeorge III. was determined to maintain his right to tax the Coloniesby imposing an export duty on tea, to be paid by the exporter, who, inturn, would charge it to the consumer. The first resistance to thatclaim was the agreement of all but six of the merchants of Boston notto import tea from England, and the agreement of their wives anddaughters not to drink tea so imported. It was a resistance which hadits outcome in the destruction of three cargoes of tea by the historic"Tea-Party,"--a resistance which became equally effective in the otherColonies, if less dramatic than in Boston. The determination of themothers and daughters to abstain from its use brought about a changein social life, and was influential in awakening a public sentimentwhich had its legitimate outcome in the events at Lexington, Concord,and Bunker Hill.
There were causes other than the Stamp Act, Writs of Assistance, andthe Tax on Tea, which brought about the Revolution.
"Whoever would comprehend the causes which led to the struggle of theColonies for independence," says John Adams, "must study the Acts ofthe Board of Trade."
In this volume I have endeavored to briefly present some of thoseacts, in the conversation of Sam Adams with Robert Walden, that theschool children of the country may have a comprehension of theunderlying causes which brought about resistance to the tyranny of themother country. The injustice of the laws had its legitimate result ina disregard of moral obligations, so that smuggling was regarded as avirtuous act.
In no history have I been able to find an account of the tragic deathand dramatic burial of the schoolboy Christopher Snider, given inchapter VIII. It was the expression of sympathy by the people infollowing the body of the murdered boy from the Liberty Tree to theburial-place that intensified the antagonism between the citizens andthe soldiers of the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth regiments of theking's troops, which led, the following week, to the Massacre of March5, 1770. Bancroft barely mentions the name of Snider; other historiansmake no account of the event.
To explain the motives and the play of forces which brought about theRevolution, I have endeavored to set forth society as it was not onlyin Boston but in Parliament and at the Court of George III. Mosthistorians of the Revolutionary period regard the debt incurred byGreat Britain in the conquest of Canada as the chief cause of the war,through the attempt of the mother country, subsequently, to obtainrevenue from the Colonies; but a study of the times gives conclusiveevidence that a large portion of the indebtedness was caused bymismanagement and the venality and corruption of Parliament.
To set forth the extravagance and frivolity of society surroundingKing George, I have employed Lord Upperton and his companion, Mr.Dapper, as narrators. The student of history by turning to Jessee's"Life and Times of George III.," Molloy's "Court Life Below Stairs,"Waldegrave's "Memoirs," Horace Walpole's writings, and many othervolumes, will find ample corroboration of any statement made in thisvolume.
The period was characterized by sublime enthusiasm, self-sacrifice,and devotion, not only by the patriots but by loyalists whoconscientiously adhered to the crown. In our admiration of those whosecured the independence of the Colonies, we have overlooked thesacrifices and sufferings of the loyalists;--their distress during thesiege of Boston, the agony of the hour when suddenly confronted withthe appalling fact that they must become aliens, exiles, andwanderers, leaving behind all their possessions and estates,--an hourwhen there was a sundering of tender ties, the breaking of hearts.
I have endeavored to make the recital of events strictly conformablewith historic facts by consulting newspapers, documents, almanacs,diaries, genealogical records, and family histories.
It was my great privilege in boyhood to hear the story of thebattle of Bunker Hill told by three men who participated in thefight.--Eliakim Walker, who was in the redoubt under Prescott,Nathaniel Atkinson and David Flanders, who were under Stark, by therail fence. They were near neighbors, pensioners of the government,and found pleasure in rehearsing the events of the Revolutionary War.My grandfather, Eliphalet Kilburn, was at Winter Hill at the time ofthe battle.
It was also my privilege to walk over Bunker Hill with RichardFrothingham, author of the "Siege of Boston," whose home was on thespot where Pigot's brigade was cut down by the withering fire from theredoubt. Mr. Frothingham had conversed with many old pensioners whowere in the redoubt at the time of the battle. In my account of theengagement I have endeavored to picture it in accordance with thevarious narratives.
I hardly need say that Ruth Newville, Berinthia Brandon, and MaryShrimpton are typical characters, representing the young women of theperiod,--a period in which families were divided, parents adhering toKing George, sons and daughters giving their allegiance to Liberty.
I am under obligations to the proprietors of the "Memorial History ofBoston" for the portrait of Mrs. Joseph Warren. The portrait ofDorothy Quincy is from that in possession of the Bostonian Society;that of Mrs. John Adams from her "Life and Letters."
The historic houses are from recent photographs.
I trust the reader will not regard this volume wholly as a romance,but rather as a presentation of the events, scenes, incidents, andspirit of the people at the beginning of the Revolution.
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN.
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