On this day 250 years ago in Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston’s General Committee interviewed Captain Ball of the Britannia about the tea on board his ship that had docked the previous day. Ball admitted that there were seven chests of “the mischievous Drug” aboard his ship, but gave multiple excuses for transporting the tea to Charleston. Ball first claimed that “he was an entire Stranger to [the tea] being on board his Ship, ‘till he was ready to clear out when he discovered that his Mate had received [the tea] in his Absence” and that “as soon as he made the Discovery, he did all in his power to get them relanded, but all his Endeavours, for two days together, proved ineffectual.” Apparently that excuse was not persuasive so Ball produced a document that had been notarized in London before his departure stating he had no responsibility for the tea aboard his ship. According to a subsequent newspaper account, Ball hoped this would “acquit him from the Suspicion of having any Design to act contrary to the Sense of the People here, or the Voice of all America.” The General Committee would deal with the tea the next day.

Source: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/the-charleston-tea-parties/

Also on this day 250 years ago in Boston, General Thomas Gage wrote to Lord William Barrington, the British Secretary at War to request reinforcements. Gage wrote “If you think ten thousand men sufficient, send twenty; if one million is thought enough, give two; you save both blood and treasure in the end.” Presumably recognizing that there were fewer than 20,000 soldiers in the entire British Army at that point, Gage also wrote that “foreign troops must be hired, for to begin with small numbers will encourage resistance.”

Fischer, David Hackett, Paul Revere’s Ride, Oxford University Press, New York (1994) at p. 51.