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Lexington Killings Heap Outrage on British

All ranks of men amongst us are in arms. Nothing is heard now in our streets but the trumpet and drum; and the universal cry is “America to arms!”

A Philadelphia Lady

To a British Officer in Boston

Boston, Massachusetts: Apr. 28, 1775. News of the Lexington killings brought a mob of protesters into the streets of New York last week where they raided the city’s arsenal and commandeered over 600 muskets. Apparently, the protesters seized all the custom houses and public buildings in that port city of 20,000.

While hundreds of self-described Patriots rioted in New York, thousands of Boston refugees inched their way along Orange Street to British checkpoints at the Boston neck.

Boston’s evacuation resulted from an agreement reached between General Gage and the Massachusetts’ Committee of Public Safety. Both Gage and the Committee gave notice; they entered into the agreement for humanitarian purposes only. Boston had suffered an extreme shortage of food and medical supplies since Gage closed the port in April of last year.

Several epidemics of smallpox among Boston citizens and British troops had ravaged the occupied city. Many in Boston feel that Gage initiated the agreement because he fears an uprising among the city’s Whig inhabitants who are angered at the Lexington massacre. The agreement also provides that Loyalists who evacuated the city before Gage’s arrival be allowed to return unmolested by the rebels.

Though rebel leaders acknowledge it is to Gage’s advantage that his troops are quartered in a city populated by people friendly to the Crown, they argue that many Patriot sympathizers have been harassed and threatened by Boston Loyalists close to Gage and his officers. They also contend that the poor in Boston, who suffered extreme hardships during the winter months, now have an opportunity to leave the city under the blanket agreement.

The rebel Massachusetts’ Provincial Congress has directed towns within its jurisdiction to supply refugees with transportation and money to sustain themselves during relocation. It is estimated the population of Boston, which numbered over 15,000 before Gage and his troops arrived, will shrink to a few thousand after the exodus is completed.