The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-01-21
From the Washington Constitution
THE FIRST REVOLUTIONARY BLOOD WAS
NOT SIZED IN MASSACHUSETTS.

To John G. Legrand, Baltimore, Did.
In your highly patriotic and very able letter to
Reverdy johnson, of the 1lth inst, published in
the Sun of this morning, you say to him. I'D para
graph:) ain the euiogium which you thought
proper to deliver on Massachusetts you say, and
truly, that in the great struggle for independence
the first blow was struck in that State" And
again doth paragraph) you say: "And here let
me remind you, sir, that although the first strug-
gle in the revolution was the soil of Massachu-
setts," &c.
Thus do we find that even our best historical
scholars are "Peter Parleyized" into error. Be-
all our national histories have been written
by Northern men who quite naturally, the most
honest of them, laud the North, and too much so
ignore the South, of the South, thought
lessly ignorantly, permit all credit to the North
at the expense of the South just as of America
forget Miss Andrews, the heroine of Norfolk to
lisp the more euphonc name Of Florence Nightin-
gale; albeit the latter was not one-tenth, or one
hundredth, part the heroine which the former
was.
Now, the first blow of the Revolution, whether
in its mental, moral, or physical sense, was not
struck upon the soil of Massachusetts, but on that
of North Carolina.
Confessedly the first blood shed in Massachusetts,
was at Concord and Lexington, April 16, 1775,
bancroft viii, 1851 while in North Carolina blood
was shed in the same cause at the battle of the Ala
nance River, May l6, III, just three years and
eleven months before the battle of Lexington. Ban
croft vi, 395, and Wheelers History North Carroll
ma H., 10y,
The "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
acknowledged by Bancroft, was proclaimed at
Charlotte, N. c., in May, IT'S, more than year
before that of Philadelphia. (Wheeler's North
Carolina l., 69).
At the very time while disguised 8ostonians
were passionately pouring tea into the harbor of
that city, South Carolinians, undisguised, were
coolly compelling consig of similar cargo at
Charleston to resign, and defeating the collector
in his efforts to sell the for duties thus per-
hitting the whole cargo to rot. bancroft vi,
4SS.l
The ''Peter Parleys" claim for Massachusetts the
first suggestion of independence, because Samuel
Adams moved them thereto in September, 176S.
Bancroft vi, 1872 But even in this he had been
anticipated by Richard Bland. OF Virginia, March
81, 1766. bancroft ", Az
Nor was Massachusetts, the first to oppose YER
bally, the course of the mother country, for Ban
croft says, ". a. February, 1881 "The first
opposition came from the General As
sembly of New York. In the spirit of loyalty
and language of reverence, they pleaded with the
King"
But "the people of North Carolina, in an address
of the Assembly, claimed the right and exclusive
privilege of imposing their own taxes;' while at
the same time ''the Assembly of Massachusetts, in
the vain hope of being heard by the House of Com
mons, yielded to the persuasiors of Hutchinson,
and consented to plead for the liberties and privil
eges long enjoyed, arithom making the claim of
right" All this in October, 1764 bancroft ",
223-4.)
| might 90 on to Gull evidences without limit,
that in the South public sentiment was far ahead
Of that at the North; but must consult your pa
Hence. Respectfully, yours,