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| The Discovery of a Cooper's Journal
Sheds New Light on the Boston Tea Party by
Nawal M |
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March 8, 1770
To My Dearest Brother,
I am in Boston, and it is horrible over here having witnessed the King
Street Massacre. A couple of days ago it happened. I was working
in my shop with Matthew, my son. And Hannah was at church, or at least
that’s what I thought. Matthew was about to make his first barrel,
since he is my apprentice. Until today I have taught him a lot about
being a cooper, but I don’t think he fully knows the trade. I
told him to get the tools he needed: some wood, iron wedges, buck saw,
chisels, pad auger, sun plane, and a compass. We needed all of
the tools and today my son was to end his apprenticeship and become a
cooper beside me.
On the day of the killing I opened the door to get some fresh air, and
all of a sudden I heard people yelling “Fire!” I told Matthew to grab
buckets full of water. We ran to King Street and as soon as we
got there, we realized there was no fire, but what we saw was the
scariest thing I have ever seen. There was blood
everywhere, shooting of guns, and rocks being thrown.
Some people were even throwing their buckets.
There were maybe hundreds or maybe thousands of people and one of them
was Hannah. Could you believe that? She was there when she
was pregnant with our child, and the weather was so bad I could see my
breath and the water in my bucket was frozen. I grabbed her and
Matthew and left. Back at the shop, I decided to close the shop
down and take the family home. I could barely sleep that night,
knowing how close Laverett Street is to King Street.
Your Dearest Brother,
Samuel Elmwood Thomas
December 15,1773
To My Dearest Brother,
I am sorry I haven't written to you for so long but so many things have
been going on in this town. Oh, I hate the Parliament and our King. The
crown thinks this is all about money. They think that we can’t pay
three pence. We wouldn’t care if it was a thousand pence. All we want
is “TAXATION WITH REPRESENTATION.”
You might not know what I am talking about, but the King has put tax on
tea. As you know, back in England the East India Tea Company is going
bankrupt, because we are buying our tea from the Dutch and not from
them. So the East India Tea Company decided to talk to the King. They
asked if they could sell their tea to us and if he can drop the Tea
Act. He said yes to everything but dropping the Tea Act.
I bet you are wondering how I know all of this. Don’t tell anyone but I
know the Sons of Liberty. I befriended them a few years ago when they
came to my shop and asked me if they could have meetings in my shed.
They have been having meetings up there. Even though I shouldn't, I
sometimes go and listen to what they are talking about. A few weeks ago
I heard them talking about dumping tea. The weird thing is that they
asked me to help them with the tea dumping.
As much as I hate the British, I dare say this was going too far.
But on that cold snowy day my brain and my mouth weren't working
together. I told them maybe. And they said they were going to have a
meeting at the Town House. They told me to dress like a Mohawk and put
coal on my face. I was told to listen to the words “THIS MEETING COULD
DO NO MORE FOR OUR COUNTRY.” They said when I hear those words I must
go to the dock and destroy nothing but the tea, and also I am not
allowed to steal a thing.
Your Dearest Brother,
Samuel Elmwood Thomas
December 18,1773
To My Dearest Brother,
For the last two days the most amazing and the most tragic things have
been happening. I got dressed and went to the meeting at the Town
House. The Patriots and the Loyalists kept arguing. When everybody
thought it would be never ending, they finally came up with a
conclusion, to send Captain Rotch to the governor and ask him if they
could send the tea back to England. That way, they both agreed, the
Loyalists don’t have to break the law and the Patriots don’t have to
pay the tax. So they sent Rotch off. He traveled four miles to get
there and four miles to get back.
Rotch was gone for hours and it was crowded and freezing so I went home
to get some lunch. When I finally got home my wife had already
made lunch. Before I could even get in the house, I knew she had made
fish muddle, gingerbread, and some shepherds pie. It smelled good and
tasted even better.
Early in the evening I went back to the meeting. A while later, Rotch
came back and the information he had was shocking. The governor said
no. We were so close to having peace. The Patriots stood up and then
Samuel Adams said “THIS MEETING COULD DO NO MORE TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY.”
That was the signal. The Sons of Liberty and a couple of other people
sat off to the dock. I went with them. There was this big ship
called the Dartmouth waiting. We all got on the ship and started
dumping the tea. There was so much tea on that boat that I didn’t think
we would get finish by the end of the night. The scariest thing was
that the British came by and everybody thought we were going to get
caught, but we didn’t.
So after we were done, we all went back to my shop to celebrate. The
next morning when the birds were singing I had a big knock on my door.
It was the Sons of Liberty. They wanted me to go down to the dock and
beat down the tea that was still floating in the water with them so
people won’t steal it. I really didn’t know what they meant, until I
finally got there. The king was so furious when he heard what we did
that he shut down the harbor, and send in soldiers. He said he would
open our harbor back if we paid him the cost of the tea. We told him
that when we get representation we will pay him back. But trust
me my brother, we will get our freedom no matter what it takes and we
won’t be paying a shilling of our money.
Your Dearest Brother,
Samuel Elmwood Thomas
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Historical References:
1. Boston Tea Party:Department Of Humanities. Computing.1994.
2. R. ConradStein.The Boston tea party.Connecticut, Children Press.1996
3. Recht,Lucille Penner. Rally Mohawk.2002.
www.kidport.com/Reflib/usahistory/AmericanRevolution/teaparty.htm.
4.Swift,Debbie.BostonTeaPartyShip.2006.www.Bostonteapartyship.com/htm
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