Fragile Freedom

Lord Dartmouth had put it plainly to Governor Thomas Gage, “the sovereignty of the king over the Colonies requires a full and absolute submission.” Still few in Parliament had perhaps seen it going like this when, in February of that year, they had declared the Colony in an open state of rebellion, and pledging English lives and property to putting it down. Now even with the re-enforcements of Lieutenant-General Hugh Percy arriving with a thousand fresh troops to aid the expedition of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, the Patriots had refused to relent. They pushed forward without giving an inch to British Regulars as they inflicted heavy casualties on them. Once, where they had perhaps been able to be talked down, it had now gone too far. Shots had been fired, blood had been shed, and the war was upon them. It had to be dawning on Governor Gage, as he looked out late in the evening and saw the camp fires surrounding the city, that there would be no submission, there would be no obedience in the colonies exce