The Forgotten First Shots of the Revolution

I had not heard this story before I came across this article on Breitbart news. Unbeknownst to me the first shots of the Revolution were not in April of 1775 but four months earlier at Fort William and Mary near Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

I do not want to give away too much here because I want you to read the article. There was a group of patriots who had learned of reports that King George III had signed a secret order banning the export of arms, gunpowder, and military supplies to the colonies. The Crown had concluded the best way to resolve their differences with America was to disarm New England. The Patriots were determined to prevent it.

When the Marblehead Committee of Correspondence learned from their Salem informants about the Crown’s disarmament plan, they dispatched riders with letters informing the Portsmouth Patriot leaders to secure the gun powder and weapons at the fort.

The patriots were convinced that time was running out, so a group of men paraded through the streets of Portsmouth recruiting volunteers to help them seize the gunpowder located in the King’s fort. Within hours, several hundred Patriot volunteers from both sides of the river clambered into boats on their way to the fort.

Can any of you imagine an event like this happening today?

The author of the article states that the fight over gun control is in our DNA. I hope so. These men had a lot of courage to raid the Kings fort, courage that I do not see today in the general populace.

If I were to go on here, I would be describing the raid itself and I could not do a better job than the article and its author Patrick K. O’Donnell. Patrick is a great historian and story teller of battles and the men who fought them.

Please if you want to read about a group of extremely courageous men that raided a Fort to secure gun powder and weapons because they would not allow the King to be disarm them then read the article here.