James Otis - The Minute Boys of York Town

When Uncle 'Rasmus loses his temper because of some prank which we lads of James Town may have played upon him, he always says that no good can ever come of that in which "chillun an' women are mixed."

It had never entered my mind that there was in such a remark any cause for anger on my part, until that day when Saul Ogden repeated it, shaking his head dolefully as Uncle 'Rasmus always did, and speaking in the negro dialect so faithfully that one, not seeing him, might well have supposed his skin was black.

Of course you remember the engagement at Spencer's Ordinary, which place is the same as if I had said Spencer's Tavern, on the 26th of June in the year of Grace 1781, when Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers, and Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton with his Legion of Horse, began to "prance" around here, as Uncle 'Rasmus would put it, and we Virginians were disturbed in more ways than one.

There were a number of our people who would have been loyal to the king if Governor Dunmore had not written himself down such a consummate ass, and many even at this time whose sympathies were all with the struggling colonists, but who yet hoped matters could be settled without loss of honor to either side, meaning that the so-called rebels and his majesty might come together in friendship once more.

But when this "prancing" began; when Colonel Tarleton rode rough-shod over our people of Virginia without seeming to understand the meaning of the word "humanity," then it was that even those who had hoped against hope that the colonies might remain in peace and harmony with the mother country, began to realize it was no longer possible.

It had required five long, weary years, during which our Americans in the North had borne nearly all the brunt of this struggle against the king, and I dare not say how much of friendship, to persuade those few in Virginia who strove to hold some shred of loyalty to the king, that the time had come when they must take sides with those who had the best interests of the country at heart, no longer looking to royalty for relief.

Saul Ogden is my cousin, being but three days younger than I, who was, in August of 1781, just turned fifteen, and although it may seem strange to the lads of New England that we two Virginians knew so little concerning what was being done in this America of ours, it is true that until the engagement at Spencer's Ordinary there had never been a thought in our minds that we might be called upon, or that it would be possible for us to take any part in the bloody struggle which had been prolonged until it seemed of a verity that the people of New York and Boston must have come to an end of all their resources, so far as struggling against the king's soldiers was concerned.

It is true Saul and I had heard now and then that even boys in Massachusetts and in New York were enrolled, or had agreed among themselves, to act as Minute Boys, ready to do whatsoever they might, at any time, regardless of all things else save the proving of that Declaration of Independence to the satisfaction of the whole wide world.

It was on the day before the action at Spencer's Ordinary that I, Fitzroy Hamilton, and Saul, my cousin, met for the first time a little French lad by name of Pierre Laurens, who had come up from New Orleans with his widowed mother to visit at my home, after having spent a summer in Boston.

A companionable sort of a lad was this little French boy who waved his hands and shrugged his shoulders when he talked, as if they were in some way connected with his tongue; one who was able to tell many an entertaining story, and who had seen so much of this land of America that it was to Saul and me as if he was some great traveler, while we were only two country louts, never having strayed a dozen miles from home.

It is not of Pierre whom I have set myself down to tell; but it was necessary I should refer to him in order that you might understand how we two lads of James Town, who seldom went away from the plantation save to ride into the settlement, and whose longest journey had been from the James to the York river across that neck where one may best arrive at York Town, came to know that we might serve the Cause as Minute Boys.

It was little Frenchie who took it upon himself to tell us what he knew, he having met several lads in Boston who called themselves Minute Boys. He held up before Saul and me pictures of the duty we owed our homes, as if we Virginians needed to be taught our duty, and painted in glowing colors the honor and glory which was to be won by those lads who stood ever ready to perform the work of Minute Boys, until we were quite aflame with the idea.

I doubt much, however, whether anything would have come of it had it not been for that same engagement at Spencer's Ordinary, when Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, counting to ride over the Pennsylvania men under Colonel Butler as he had ridden over us Virginians, found much to his displeasure that it was not always possible for his high mightiness to do exactly as he wished.

Do not get the idea that I intend to make it appear as if the king's troops were worsted at Spencer's Tavern; but it was a drawn battle, as I have heard even those who really loved the king, admit, and it must have been a startling surprise to the swaggering Simcoe to have received even a check.

It was only natural that after this engagement Saul and I, egged on by Pierre, should talk quite seriously of forming a company of Minute Boys; but no sooner would we begin, and I strive to point out how we might do this thing or that which would advantage our colony of Virginia, than Saul would break in with the saying of Uncle 'Rasmus's, that where "chillun an' women were mixed" matters went awry.

Yet despite my cousin's seeming scorn, Pierre continued to urge that we enroll ourselves as Minute Boys, and when Saul asked irritably whether he believed any good would come to the Cause if only three lads were banded together, agreeing to do whatsoever they might, thereby, as you can see, throwing cold water on the scheme, Pierre, his hands waving and his shoulders shrugged nearly to his ears, would insist again and again that if no more than three should set themselves about striving to do something in aid of those who were battling against the king, much of good might be accomplished.

Then Saul, without really meaning to be unkind, would cry out that Colonel Simcoe had better have a care when our company of three Virginia Minute Boys set out on the war-path, and while his friendly scorn fretted me now and then, it did not distress Pierre in the least.

I say it did not distress him, and yet I may be mistaken, for after Saul had repeated Uncle 'Rasmus's maxim, and spoken sneeringly of the fear which a company of Minute Boys numbering three might produce throughout the colony, little Frenchie said, waving his hands as if to brush my cousin aside:

"Oh, well, if you are afraid, then it would not be of avail even though you had a company of twenty."

"Afraid!" Saul cried, the red blood flushing his face as he advanced almost threateningly toward the little fellow from New Orleans. "Do you dare come here and tell a Virginian that he is afraid of any person who walks this earth even though he wear a crown?"

"I did not say you were afraid," Pierre replied sweetly, still shrugging his shoulders and waving his hands. "I said if you were afraid, then it would not do for you to talk of being a Minute Boy. It is only those lads in the colonies who dare do this or dare do that, who could be of value to the Cause."

Now it is just possible little Frenchie was irritated when he made this reply; but however it came about, certain it is from that moment Saul ceased to throw cold water upon the plan of raising a company of Minute Boys, and no longer quoted Uncle 'Rasmus, or spoke scornfully of what might be accomplished, yet at the same time he was not enthusiastic about it until after that sixth of July, when at Green Spring plantation the British under my Lord Cornwallis met the Americans commanded by General Lafayette, the king's troops getting much the best of the battle.