March 5, 1770
Paul Revere’s drawing of the
“massacre”The real drawing of the “massacre”
Wednesday, May 15, 13
Shots of a MassacreMarch 5 1770
The whistles of the bullets echoed around the city of Boston. It seemed as if time had stopped. Ice ran down my spine as I looked out the window of my shop. Down the street, on King’s Street, I see blood trickling on the pavement like a little stream weaving itself between the dirt. It was hard to tell the difference between a Red Coat and a bloody man. Screams flooded my ears and tears show in my eyes as this event reminded me of the time when I traveled here with my family from Georgia, looking for a new life.
The ground shook as my stallions, with their white manes flashing in the light, pulled my carriage along the trail. Before the eyes of my family and I, there was a new life and a new beginning. I, Peter Smith, had arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in the March of 1769, about of year before today.
I am a male silversmith, as my last name says so and I proudly look up to the crown that sits in England after my ancestors came here long ago with the settlers. The crown is our symbol of hope and it shall always be our leader. I am no American though, as I come from Georgia I am a proud loyalist and I will always remain loyal to the crown.
I can understand the fury some settlers felt in the Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation stated that we, English colonists, were not allowed to go west of the Appalachian Mountains to keep us out of Indian business. However, we are not the center of the world. We colonists must realize that the king made this proclamation to help our butts from getting an arrow stuck in our bloody limbs! But here, in this new city, I have seen tension build between the Bostonians and the British soldiers. “Lousy lobsterbacks!” or “Go back home to England!” were chanted at the soldiers down and back the street. When a soldiers walked by on the street, a block later he would be soaking wet or have a crevice square on his butt. Everybody knew what happened, some snickered but loyalists, like me, always felt pity. It must be hell for those soldiers. After traveling six months to get here, they get treated like nothing at all. Who do these colonists think they are, god or something? But today, March 5, 1770 was the limit. The Bostonians deserved every bit of pain they received. 5 people dead? Hell, that seems too easy on the Bostonians. The King must show who is in power and who is right! And this was no massacre. These people were armed with clubs other weapons! What do they expect to happen when they throw snowballs at the soldiers? And after clubbing Captain Thomas Preston? All he was trying to do was order the soldiers to stand down and negotiate to the Bostonians to go away. Likewise, why would they yell “fire!” at the soldiers when the soldiers are panicking with all the people crowding them? Those people deserved to be shot because they brought it onto themselves. But hell, hope these colonists don’t get too feisty, like a cat guarding its food, over this “massacre”. And the new name for this event, the Boston Massacre, will always be remembered as a day where things change in the lives of each soul in the 13 colonies.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
June 10 1774
A picture I drew of the
Bostonians chanting in the
streets
The sons of liberty dumping the
tea into the Boston harbor that I
found in a dump
Wednesday, May 15, 13
Let us be taxed!June 10, 1774
"No taxation without representation!" is what the crowd cheers. What is this? After King George III used his money to fight a seven year long war in order to save us which put him in lots of debt, the Bostonians repay him with this? I proudly will be taxed if it is in order to save the crown and British from going bankruptcy. But I fear that I am alone on this thought here in Boston. If this were Georgia, my whole city would think alike and remain loyal to the crown. That is how it ought to be around here. What can be achieved from rioting and chanting to these soldiers? Hell, I’ll be surprised if they even lift an eyebrow to those rebellious pests.
The quartering act, the sugar act, the stamp act. We as colonists of England should proudly pay these taxes if it is to serve a purpose. I am willing to give my money or let soldiers stay at my house for a good cause. Those spoiled brats call themselves American. To hell with that! We are British citizens and our king fought a war for us so it is time we repay them by stop boycotting their goods. Who cares about the tar and feathers? If you are British, be proud of it and show what we are really made of to those colonial cripples!
Stamps here, stamps there, British goods here, British goods there, this is what I want! When this happens, we will stop being taxed and we will be treated just like any other Englishmen but for now, we pay the price of the war our beloved King fought against France, for us.
But sometimes there is a limit to what can be done. The colonists are out of control. Some “Americans”, calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, dressed up as Indians, on December 16, 1773, colonists stormed into a ship and dump all the imported tea into the Boston Harbor! “Hoorah!” they screamed cried as they called this the Boston Tea Party as I heard the next morning when I woke up to the cries of triumph the colonists howled. What will that reach for us, how will that help? All it will do is anger the king and we will be punished even more! And of course, we were punished by the Coercive Acts, also called the Intolerable acts by the colonists. These acts gave more power to the British Parliament and reduced town meetings, which angered the colonists greatly.
People like me who believe in these taxes have to pay the price with you darn colonists! And that tea could have drunken the tea in the morning just like any other family does in England and had fun with our families, NOT GETTING A PUNISHMENT FOR AN INCIDENT THAT CHANGED NOTHING AT ALL! Curse them colonists, curse them to the ends of hell and please father, help them come to their senses before they do anything more stupid than they have already done.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
July 5, 1776
King George III’s picture
which I keep in my roomDeclaration of Independence copy
handed out to people in the streets
with John Hancock's giant signature
Wednesday, May 15, 13
Please Sign your John HancockJuly 5, 1776
“Sign your John Hancock right here,” they told me as I was signing a paper. This phrase has been popular ever since yesterday, July 4, 1776 when the delegates of almost every colony signed the Declaration of Independence. After so many years of yelling, “No taxation without representation!” they Jinally start to change.
A month ago I moved here, to Philadelphia. I couldn’t handle Boston no more. It was full of American patriots who would go mad in order to deceive the crown. The “massacre” 6 years ago and the rebellious minds against taxation drove me away. But here, in Philadelphia, I feel safer and more at ease. But today, a change has occurred to me. The declaration was signed and I fear the worst.
Three days ago, on July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to review Thomas Jefferson’s work of the Declaration. As Jefferson was the Jiercest and strongest writer in the congress, he was elected to write the Jinished declaration but four others, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman were all named to produce the Jirst draft of the declaration which followed along the path of, all humans have equal rights. But we were born with equal rights! Even if it doesn’t seem so with the King, he is no selJish pig. He knows the needs of the people and we must remember he saved us from them French and Indians!
But once this declaration was approved, 56 delegates of the continental congress signed it. With their signatures, they have all blasted themselves. How do they expect the King to not hang them? How would the colonists make an army that could defeat the strongest military in the world? The sprit may be important, but people must be realistic. I’d rather live my life and a King, whom I admire deeply, than throw away my life and get convicted of Treason.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are written on the paper of independence. We have life, we have liberty and we should appreciate life while we can, not beg for more. The king could easily just slaughter us and let us rot out here in America, a six month voyage from England, but no, he sends soldiers over to protect us from foreign nations and also Indians. The King uses his money for us. Why do we, colonists from England, ask for more? The King gives us what we deserve so we should pay him our respect and try to earn his trust if we want more. That is how we should have approached the king from the beginning, not chant in the streets or bully the soldiers. But most of all, we should have kept the Declaration of Independence out of hand and proudly be a colony of England. We already have the natural right to live so why don’t we use it and make King George III proud of us? Let us loyalists pray that King George III takes the declaration as a joke and does not let the chains off of the Red Coats.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
December 26, 1776
Art drawn by my friend of
the Hessian soldiers
Another drawing that the same
friend drew after we escaped from
the battle
Wednesday, May 15, 13
The loss of the battleDecember 26, 1776
I screamed I screamed. Christmas night was supposed to be a happy night, not a bloody massacre! The continentals took us by surprise. We didn't have time to reach for our muskets before George Washington led the bloody continental army into the fort. We couldn’t see it coming. I wish I could live this day freely and happily for the one time in the past few months, ever since I joined the Royal British army.
I still remember the day when the Red Coats came to my house in Philadelphia. They were moving north in the colonies, sieging one city at a time. But the man asked me if I wanted to join the army. He said I would be a hero and treated well once the war was over. He made a promise to me saying that the war would end within a few months. I thought of what he said and gave him the answer of yes, I would happily join the Royal British army and Jight along with my fellow Englishmen.
But the promise wasn’t kept. Sure we had never lost a battle for the longest time, but the bloody war raged on. Blood had been splattered onto my palms as my comrades fell down to the ground. I was not excused to help my friends and the only thing I could do was Jight for him and push forward in the battle. I hate it but I cannot turn back now. I agreed to Jight and I will not betray my word.
But they would not give up. No matter how many battles we won, they would keep coming at us. They’d use barbaric ways of Jighting such as Guerilla warfare and take out my friends one at a time. I could not forgive them but more then anything, I wanted to war to end.
Lexington and Concord, the place where the Jirst shot of the war was Jired. That one shot that dragged all of us into hell. The shot heard around the world, as people called it, the end of peace and the beginning of hell as the minutemen faced the Red Coats head to head. They had no chance, yet they stayed and didn’t turn their backs. “Do not Jire unless Jired upon!” they would tell their men but something went wrong. Either a misJire or an accident it doesn’t matter. The war had started and there was no turning back.
Yesterday, December 25, 1776, the tide of the war changed. The continental army Jinally won a battle, a very major battle. 900 out of the 1500 men at Trenton were captured along with 22 killed and the patriots did not lose any. Most of these men were the German mercenaries, Hessians. I barely made it out in one piece. With one friend, we both snuck out to the forest as soon as the Jirst gunshot was echoed throughout the camp as if god was warning us to run. I was relieved I did not drink a pint of beer or else I would have turned out to be one of the unlucky people.
God help us all and help us end this bloody war.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
The country where
the Treaty of Paris
was signed
A drawing hung up all over America
of Lord Cornwallis surrendering to
George Washington
September 4, 1783Wednesday, May 15, 13
Independence and defeatSeptember 4, 1783
NO BLOODY WAY! I refuse to accept this! I will not tolerate this joke at all until I rot to death! America has not defeated us, the British, in this eight yearlong war. A ragged army, merely formed of farmers, has defeated the most powerful army in the world! How? How could this happen? These were the thoughts of thousands and thousands of British people, especially King George III. The continental army has done the impossible. No one would have thought this could happen. It was as if the world had Jlipped upside down and our souls drifted out to space.
As scary as it seems, I was there, at Yorktown when we started to crumble. Lord Cornwallis led us to Jight the continentals but turned back our forces and “Jled” to Yorktown. His plan was to lure the continentals in and once they got to the peninsula, they would suffer utter defeat, as the Naval cannons would bombard them to pink mist. But it did not happen. Americans had support form France and, only a few years ago, started training the soldiers more and more to be stronger and better disciplined. But that was not it as their navy snuck up, like hawks, behind ours. With our ships vulnerable, the French massacred them ruthlessly and sank every single one of the beauties. We were all surrounded. Yorktown was a Peninsula, meaning water surrounded us in three different directions. The French navy in the sea and the continentals, with the help of some French, stormed towards us like a big rain cloud inching its way down the horizon. We had not choice but to surrender after having 500 deaths during this battle. 6,000 of us British soldiers surrendered at Yorktown. This battle was a great devastation to any British man or woman.
I was a prisoner of war for a very long as the war raged on. After Yorktown, there were no big battles. We knew we had lost. The British in New York were our only hope but as time had told us, it was impossible for a miracle to happen for us.
The war ofJicially ended on September 3, 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. On that day, I was Jinally released from prison in dishonor. As I had nothing left here in the united colonies, I had decided to go back to England, where I can call home.
Today, my family and I are aboard a British ship, carrying fellow soldiers and their families back to England, all of us having the same thoughts. Before I left, I saw glimpses of rebuilding and rumors of a new government in the United States of America. They called this government the Articles of Confederation. But rumor also has it that this government is a failure and one man, James Madison, is in charge of making a new one.
The blood shed throughout the war had tormented us British and we do not know how we can pick up our lives again. But one thing is clear, the American colonies had done the impossible of defeating the most powerful military in the war, the British army. But as impossible as it seems, there is still a Jlare in some British soldiers mines of losing to the colonies at war. I cannot believe how they still seek vengeance upon the Americans but war changes people in one way or another. All I can pray to god is for help in the years to come and the hope that England will not seek war against the colonies any more.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
CITATIONS
! Mackenzie, John. "American Revolution War." American Revolution : The Battle of Yorktown. Chalfont Web Design, 2002. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.britishbattles.com/battle-yorktown.htm>.
Penner, Lucille R. Liberty! New York: Scholastic, n.d. Print. Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Change this text to the title of the section. Digital History. Retrieved (insert the date your retrieved the information here without parentheses) fromhttp://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/(add the complete URL for the specific page) "PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS TOOL." Primary Source Analysis Tool. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/>. Adams, Abigail. "Letter to Her Husband." Primary Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2013. <http://revolutionaryvoices.wikispaces.com/file/view/primary_source_letter_Abigail_Adams_Letter_to_Her_Husband_%28original%29.jpg/325462000/primary_source_letter_Abigail_Adams_Letter_to_Her_Husband_%28original%29.jpg>. "No Taxation Without Representation." No Taxation Without Representation. JK, n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://
Wednesday, May 15, 13
CITATIONS
! "Boston Massacre Historical Society." Boston Massacre Historical Society. Boston Massacre Historical Society, 2008. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.bostonmassacre.net/pictures/pictures4.htm>.
Holshouser, Hellen. "Heart of a Southern Woman." Our Grandfather Crossed the Deleware and Fought with George
Washington! Helen Holshouser, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://heartofasouthernwoman.blogspot.com/2013/02/our-grandfather-crossed-deleware-and.html>.
"Hessian Jager." Hessian Jager. N.p., 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://www.battleofgrotonheights.com/images/hessian_yager.jpg>. "King George III Pictures." King George III Pictures. Social Study Network, 2011. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://www.venturausd.org/balboa/Anter/SSN/Revolutionary_Era/King_George_III/King_George_III_pics.html>. By: Lauren, Elizabeth, Zoey. "Boston Tea Party." Boston Tea Party. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, n.d. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://www.cr-cath.pvt.k12.ia.us/lasalle/Resources/8th Websites 2013/Lauren Elizabeth Zoey Rev War/Elizabeth Janey rev war/Boston_Tea_Party.html>.
Wednesday, May 15, 13
CITATIONS
! Ashford, Elizabeth. "Antique French Map." Antique French Maps. Encore Editions, n.d. Web. 14 May 2013. <http://www.encore-editions.com/antique-french-maps-map-3565011-rand-mcnally-and-company-1897-france-maximum-size-30-x-40>.
Wednesday, May 15, 13