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Links of Interest:
Homespun Clothes became Fashionable because of PoliticsSource: Barbier, Brooke. Boston in the American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire. Charleston: The History Press, 2017. January - "Colonies throughout North America agreed to a Nonimportation agreement to counter the Townshend Duties, beginning in January 1769, that prohibited merchants from importing British goods." Homespun clothing, "became a sign of patriotism to make one's own garments and shun British fashion." Merchants who continued to import British goods were listed in local newspapers, and their houses were peed on and windows broken (Barbier, 69). February - A crowd gathered in front of Theophilus Lillie's shop with protest signs because he carried imported British goods. A bad-tempered neighbor who was a British Customs officer and informant of smugglers, Ebenezer Richardson, "tried to grab the signs from the children and yelled at everyone to disburse." The crowd followed him home and threw trash at his house then rocks breaking some windows. Richardson "grabbed his musket" and fired into the crowd. Two boys were shot. An eleven year old boy, Christopher Snider, was killed and a nineteen-year-old man, Sammy Gore, was shot in the legs and hand and survived. They were taken to twenty-eight year old Dr. Joseph Warren, who became an outspoken leader of the Patriot cause (Barbier, 69-71). March - A week after Snider's death and
large funeral, on March 2nd a brawl between
rope-makers and soldiers happened near the
Boston waterfront. It started with a disparaging
remark by a rope-maker, Samuel Gray, to a
soldier looking for work. The soldier went and
got some more soldiers and the rope-maker called
his buddies and they had a fist fight. The
soldiers came back with even more soldiers and
they fought again. The rope-makers triumphed
each time (Barbier, 74). Boston Massacre - March 5 - Monday night with snow on the ground, a drunk young man insulted a lone soldier, Private Hugh White, guarding the customs house in Boston. White hit the man in the face with the butt of his musket and the man called out for backup. Pretty soon it was a mob of 200, many young and drunk, throwing snowballs and trash. White used his bayonet to keep the crowd away from him and called for backup. Seven soldiers and one officer arrived. They loaded their muskets. It appears a snowball thrown by dockworker, Crispus Attucks, hit one of the soldiers, Hugh Montgomery, in the shoulder and his musket went off. The other soldiers fired as well. "A the end of the shooting, three men lay dead, including Attucks (and the rope-maker, Samuel Gray) in the center of King Street. Two men would die later of their wounds. Six men were injured. This event became known by colonists as the "bloody Massacre." We know it today as the Boston Massacre. All the soldiers, except for those awaiting trial were shipped out on March 10. John Adams and Josiah Quincy Jr. defended the soldiers in court in August 1770. (Barbier, 74-75)." Change of Royal Governors in Boston, MassachusettsAugust - Governor Francis Bernard was recalled back to England by Lord Hillsborough. Bernard left Boston August 1st. The Bostonians celebrated much like their celebration over the Stamp Act repeal three years earlier in 1766. Nine colleges were founded during the colonial
period: Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 119 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010 see 1783 for next event... Gaspar de Portola claims California for Spain
(West) Venus visible between the Earth and Sun, unable to calculate distance between Earth and the Sun because of a "black drop" error when Venus reached the edge of the sun making it impossible to determine the astronomical unit until the next transit. See 1874 for next passing. Source: NASA, Click here for historical video Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine. "His first patent in 1769 covered a separate condensing chamber and other improvements of the Newcomen engine." Beginning of the Industrial Revolution. |
