On this day 250 years ago, in Boston, Patriot merchant John Andrews wrote to his business colleague in Philadelphia William Barrell about life in Boston with the Port closed to all commerce. He wrote that:

Our wharfs are intirely deserted; not a topsail vessel to be seen either there or in the harbour, save the ships of war and transport, the latter of which land their passengers in this town tomorrow. Four regiments are already arrived, and four more are expected.

Andrews predicted “we shall experience the worst of evils, a civil war”.

Source Henry Steele Commager & Richard B. Morris, The Spirit of Seventy-Six, The story of the American Revolution as told by its participants at pp. 27-28.