News of the bloodshed in Massachusetts on April 18-19, 1775 spread quickly throughout the colonies. Very few on either side of the imperial disputes were pleased with those events. On the 19th, I shared George Washingtons reaction in Virginia. Today, I would look at a different perspective. On May 6, the Governor of New Jersey, William Franklin (pictured here) wrote a despondent letter to Lord Dartmouth from his mansion in Perth Amboy (also pictured). To Franklin, the clash between the Regulars and colonial militias had given him “…Reason to apprehend that an amicable Accommodation will be with Difficulty, it at all, effected at this time.” Furthermore, the events were proving to be a destabilizing force as he tried to cling to power in his own colony: “The accounts we have from Massachusetts Bay…have occasioned such an Alarm and excited so much Uneasiness among the People throughout this and the other Colonies, that there is Danger of their committing some outrageous Violences before the Heats can subside. They are arming themselves and forming into Companies, and taking uncommon Pains to perfect themselves in Military Discipline.” Later, Franklin expresses his fear that the rising rebellious spirit will “…endanger the Lives & properties of every Officer of Government in the King’s Colonies…” He was right to worry. Determined to defend the imperial order, Franklin remained in New Jersey in a losing effort to combat the deepening rebellion. He was placed under house arrest the following January, remaining a captive until exchanged in 1778. After years as a prominent leader among the Loyalists in New York, Franklin left for England in 1782 where he was fated to spend the rest of his life. On a personal level, the war proved an insurmountable obstacle in his relationship with his father, the famous revolutionary leader Benjamin Franklin. -Ranger Garrett Image accessed from Wikimedia Commons
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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