| Citation |
NHG-P.775.038
2 Jun 1775:22 (971)
Cambridge, May 25. The following letter contains an account
of the transactions of the military at the fire in Boston,
which raged with great fury all night; and will give the
public some idea of the present wretched police of that once
well governed town.
Extract of a Letter from Boston. I propose to give you a
circumstantial account of the late fire, previous to which
please to observe, that for ten days past, a report has been
propagated, that the Liberty Party intended to set fire to
the town in different places as soon as the greater part of
them had got out. The General took the alarm, and took the
engines under guard, and appointed new captains; the late
engine men took umbrage at it; but to the point. I being
informed the barrack was on fire, ran through the street
crying fire, (as no bells rang) but was stopped by a man who
told me it was the officer's order not to cry fire, one
having threatened to beat the man's brains out that did.
The drums all this time beating to arms. When I came to the
fire I found no engine there. Applying to one of the late
engine men to know the reason, was informed that he had
applied for the engine, but the bayonet was pointed at him,
and he was told that he must apply to some officer for an
order before he could have it. After this fatal delay the
engines appeared with the new appointed captains & military
firewards, and a miserable figure they cut, the former not
knowing how to obey if the latter had known how to command.
. . [10 more lines]
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