On this day 250 years ago in Boston, four Selectmen (similar to city council members today) of Boston, John Scollay, Thomas Marshall, Timothy Newell, and Samuel Austin, signed a letter that was carried under a flag of truce to the Continental Army lines at Roxbury and then delivered to General Washington:

As his Excellency General Howe is determined to leave the Town with the Troops Under his Command. a Number of the Respectable Inhabitants being very Anxious for its preservation & Safety, have Applyed to General Robertson for this purpose, who at their request has communicated the same to his Excellency Genl Howe, who has assured him that he has no intention of destroying the Town Unless the Troops under his Command are molested during their Embarkation, or at their departure by the Armed force without, which declaration he gave Genl Robertson leave to communicate to the Inhabitants; If such an Opposition should take place we have the greatest reason to expect the Town will be exposed to Intire destruction. as our fears are quieted with regard to Genl Howe’s Intentions. we beg we may have some Assurances that so dreadfull a Calamity may not be brought on by any measures without—as a Testimony of the truth of the Above we have signed our Names to this paper Carried out by Mesrs Thomas & Jonathan Amory & Peter Johonnot who have at the earnest Intreaties of the Inhabitants through the Lt Governor Sollicited a flag of Truce for this purpose.

Although they had remained in Boston under British occupation during the siege, the four Selectmen were all Patriots, and would be reelected as Selectmen after the British evacuated Boston. Thomas Marshall would become an officer in the Continental Army and serve until the end of the War. However, the messengers who delivered the letter — Thomas and Jonathan Amory and Peter Johonnot — were Loyalists, and Washington and his officers were initially skeptical of the claim that General Howe had agreed not to destroy the city.

Source: “Boston Selectmen to George Washington, 8 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0314. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 434–435.]