Dulwich, Massachusetts
May 28^th, 1775

Fruition —

Sis —

We have engaged with the Parliamentary Army.

We rose early & assembled on the Green, & met there with the rest of the victualing Party. Here we heard detail of our Commission: The Parliamentary Army, it was known, graze a great Bustle of Livestock on the Grasses of Hog & Noddle’s Islands. We was to assemble on the Shore of Boston Harbor & meet Others shortly before Low Tide & then together we cross to Hog Island & from there, to the farther Island, Noddle’s. When the Channel between Hog Island & the Mainland was at its lowest, we was to drive the Livestock off the Islands over to Chelsea, with the squatter Animals poled over to the mainland on Scows.

Little by little we hope to deprive the Army of their Meat & Hay, and with them trapped in the Town they will Feel the Pinch & mayhap then, once their Troops are Starving, mayhap Parliament will take Notice that we are in Earnest.

We commended ourselves to God & marched to the Shore in no even Formation. Shem & John was lagging behind, striking each other on the Shoulders, & Prince was before us, playing upon the Fife. He had nothing with to fight save an old Saber someone had granted him, but we did not expect Engagement, our Detachment being instructed to fetch home the Livestock while Others from the Company shewed forth Arms, if such a display should become Requisite.

Farmers came from out their Houses to watch us pass; as did their pretty Daughters, & we waved & called that we should be back in the Evening.

When Prince put aside the Fife his Face was a Thing to see, for he walked without Words — as he does always — but with a Smolder not his usual Custom, & there was about him a Skeleton Air, the Eyes staring & fiery, & I saw finally the Sadness had Left Him, & now instead there was a Hunger which he would slake at all Costs.

He would seize his Freedom by any Means.

Seeing him, now my Vitals were Boiling by Knowledge of what we was to do, facing the strongest Army in the World; & my Spirits were in a Ferment; & my Heart beating quick in my Breast as I saw the Faces of those who marched with me, the Fine Men of our Town, that we had come here to fight & perhaps to die.

For two Miles we marched & then came to the Shore of Boston Harbor, & there, across a little Channel, largely gray with Mud, stood Hog Island, & its Hills were soft with Grass like unto the Hills of Judah.

There was assembled there flat Boats to take us across, and Oyster Boys to pole them along through the Rushes. Prince & I shared one with Shem & John, which giddy Pair near capsized the Boat playing a Slapping Game, until Mr. Gower called out to them, “My Friends, we are about to cross the profound Flood into open Rebellion. These are not Waters for Laughter.”

There burnt the Sun of Massachusetts Bay above us, the Eye of God too, & the Kelp was around us, & the grassy heaped Hills was before us, where grazed dumb Beasts. ’Twas a rustic Scene, and yet, so must the River Rubicon have looked to the great Cæsar when he forded it, and so declared himself the Enemy of Rome.