Boston 1775

History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in New England.

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Saturday, August 22, 2026

Benjamin Davis, Baker?

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The record of Benjamin Davis, Sr. ’s appearance before the Loyalists Commission in Canada states of his time in New York : He was then a ...
Friday, August 21, 2026

In Exchange for John Callender

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In June 1777, as quoted here , the Massachusetts General Court voted to send imprisoned Loyalist Benjamin Davis, Jr., with his father to ...
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Thursday, August 20, 2026

The Capture and Release of Capt. Samuel Richards

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By 1777, both sides of the Revolutionary War held a significant number of prisoners . Some of those people were soldiers or sailors captur...
Wednesday, August 19, 2026

“Leave for his brother Benjamin, his son and servant, to depart this State”

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As the year 1777 began, the Loyalist Benjamin Davis remained in the Boston jail along with his son and an enslaved servant. Davis refus...
Tuesday, August 18, 2026

“‘Subject’ to an authority founded on the late Declaration of Independence”

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During the siege of Boston , Benjamin Davis, Sr. , signed up for the Loyal American Association, which appears to have been a pro-Crown mili...
Monday, August 17, 2026

The Losses of Benjamin Davis

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In the newspaper reports on the May 1775 fire on Boston’s Town Dock, Benjamin Davis ’s name appears only as the man who used to use (“impr...
Sunday, August 16, 2026

“May God preserve this second Sodom”

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On 25 May 1775, one week after the New-England Chronicle ’s initial, hazy report on the fire that started in the 65th Regiment’s barracks, ...
Saturday, August 15, 2026

Spreading the News of the Spread of a Fire

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We can see the spread of news in the spring of 1775 through articles on the fire in Boston on the night of 17–18 May 1775. The first prin...
Friday, August 14, 2026

“The 65th lost their Arms, Cloathing, and everything”

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Yesterday I quoted the first newspaper account of the fire at the 65th Regiment ’s barracks on the Town Dock, rented from the Loyalist m...
Thursday, August 13, 2026

“A fire broke out in the barracks of the 65th regiment”

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When the British army returned to central Boston in 1774, Benjamin Davis, Sr. , rented his store on the south side of the Town Dock as a b...
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Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Benjamin Davis, Jr., at the Boston Massacre

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On 4 Apr 1756, Trinity Church in Boston recorded the baptism of “Benjamin Davis, Son of Benj. & [blank].” Benjamin, Jr.’s mother was ...
Tuesday, August 11, 2026

“We went to see Mr. Davis in Jail”

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As I wrote back here , the lore in Benjamin Davis ’s family was that his third wife, Alice , left him soon after their marriage in 1768 beca...
Monday, August 10, 2026

Listening to Abigail Adams on Paper

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A comment about yesterday’s quotation from Abigail Adams has prompted me to veer off into some linguistic digging. Referring to Benjamin...
Sunday, August 09, 2026

“The Women from the Windows asking Davis whether he wanted any Gingerbread”

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Massachusetts ships captured the Peggy on its voyage from Halifax to New York on 22 July 1776, as described yesterday . The civilians a...
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