The Boston Tea Party

    On the day of December 16, 1773 my husband and I ventured down to my brother, Nathaniel's, house in Boston, Massachusetts. I went down there quite often but today was different. A large group of patriots had been planning to dump the tea from three British ships into the sea. My own husband, John, and brother, Nathaniel, were among this group of men.

     I had came up with the idea for the men to dress up as Mohawk Indians and paint their faces so no one would be able to recognize them. I spent almost the whole day of December 16th getting cloths, and rags, and war paint ready for the group of men. I was sitting in the kitchen talking to Maria, Nathaniel's wife, when the large group of men came marching through the door. It was time for me to do my job. It took a few hours to paint all of their faces and get them ready, but when I was done you could barely recognize who anyone was.

     Maria and I put on our warm winter jackets and slipped out the door into the cold winter air to walk down to the harbor. At the appointed hour of 7:00, I saw the group of men marching down the street with the spirit of freedom burning in their eyes. They had serious looks on their faces and in their hands they each carried an ax or hatchet. When they got to the harbor they boarded the three ships quickly and quietly.

     Thousands of spectators stood and watched in silence as the men struck the chests of tea with their axes. The sound of the ax blades splitting into the wood pierced the air. Once the crates were open, the patriots began to toss all of the tea into the sea. Within a few hours the patriots had emptied all of the 342 crates of tea into the sea.