Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1898-01-26
The First Blood Of the Revolution.

Vermonters have been wont to claim
that the first lood Of the Revolutionary
struggle was shed at Westminst on the
18Th of March, 1875, when, as the inscrlp-
ton on his monument records, William
French twas shot by the hands of Cruel
Ministerial tools of Georg ye 3D." But
there are rival claims. Some Massachu-
setts people assert that the frs blood was
shed at Salem. on tn 26th of February,
l775-ftteen days befue the Westminster
massacre-when Gen. Page having learned
that the patriots were mounting some old
cannon. taken in the French war at Salem,
sent thither battalion OF 800 men und-r
Lieut. Col Leslie, who met in the town
mob SO large and threatening that he
thought it the proper plan to retrace his
steps to Boston. 1t is claimed that bayo-
nets were lowered and some of the men
who barred the way were pricked with
them. much earlier collision between
a squad of British soldit rs and mob, in
New Y ork city, in January, 1910, has also
been cite as the first instance OF the she'd
ding of blood in the contest for indepen-
dence. This latter event has now come
freshly into notice. Within week past a
bronze tablet has been placed on the wall
of the Broadway corridor of the New Y ork
postoffice by the Daughters of the R-volu-
ton of that city, bearing the following in
scription:
.'On the Common of the city of New
Yofk, where this bni ding now stands,
there stood from 1866 to 1875 lib rty
pole, erected to commemorate the repeal
of the stamp act 1t was repeatedly de-
stroyed by the violence of the To les, and
as repeatedly replaced by the Sons of LIB
erty. who organ ID constant watch and
guard. In its defence the first blood of
the American Revolution was shed on JAN
uary Is, 1870
A. d. 1897. Erected by the
MARY WASHING TON COLONIAL
CHAPTER"
This tablet was unveiled on the 18th in
slant and Gen. James Grant Wilson deliv-
cred an ad ress in the course of which he
read the following passage from letter
written January %, 1870:
1--WE are all in confusion in this city,
New York. The soldiers have cut and
blown up the liberty pole and have caused
much trouble between the inhabitants. On
Friday last between Burling slip and Fly
Market was an engagement betwe en- the in
habitants and the soldiers, when much
flood was split One sailor got run
through the body who has since died. One
man got his skull cut in the most cruel
manner. On Saturday the City Hall bell
rang for an alarm, when was anotht r battle
between the inhabitants and soldiers, hut
The ldirrs met with Rubbers, the chic fest
part being sail, rs with clubs 10 avenge the
death of their brother, which they did with
courage and made them all run to their
barracks. What will be the end Of this
God only knows"
Whether the blood split in this tracas
can properly be called the Fl st ma tyr
lood f the revolu'ioA," of course drpeIds
on the date when the American revolution
can properly be- said to have begun. His
torians have not commonly placed that
date earlier than the year 1915. There
was already Sc ious friction between the
colonies and the King, in 100. The pres
ence Of British troops to uphold the
oppressive me ,sures OF the British govern
ment was obnoxious to the men OF tie col
onies; but they bad not as yet dett rmined
10 throw off the yoke. The liberty they
cl,imed, and tor which the lib rty pole on
the New York common stood, was liberty
under the royal government, not indepen-
dence of it. If the collisions between the
New York sailors and Eng lsh S liers in
January, l770, could be called pa is OF the
revolution then the similar o. curI.nce In
Boston in NJ arch of that year known as
:. the Boston Massacre in which the sol
diers fired on the mob aud killed three cit
| liens, would have been placed by histori-
ans among the overt acts of revolution.
But that event has not been so classed.
The Revolution was impending but had
not begun.
When however, the royal posse. attacked
the court house at Westminster, VT, the
revolt was in active preparation. The first
continental congress had assembled, the
mort f Boston had been closed by British
,hips, and British army assembled at
Boston. The minute men of Massachu-
sets and Conn lieut. were casting III bull
let's which +, W lays later ,lew hundreds
Of rpdcoats at Concord Bri ge and Run-
ker Hill. The Green Mountain Boys had
a'r.adv engaged to take Ticonderoga.
The revolution had begun.
Ii q British bayonet was stained with