Boston Port Act: 3/7/1774

On MARCH 7, 1774, the British passed the Boston Port Act, closing the harbor to all commerce to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. Surrounding towns rallied by sending food.

William Prescott, who later commanded at Bunker Hill, wrote: "Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock...If we submit to these regulations, all is gone."

William Prescott continued: "Our forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy their liberties, both civil and religious, and transmit them to their posterity...Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed?"

Upon hearing of the Boston Port Act, the Virginia House of Burgesses stated May 24, 1774: "This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension...from the hostile invasion of the city of Boston in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbor are, on the first day of June next, to be stopped by an armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the members of this House, as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition, for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights."

American Minute with Bill Federer

William Prescott: 2/20/1726

A Revolutionary War Colonel, he built the fortifications at Breed's Hill and commanded the militia at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. He fought in the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. His name was William Prescott, born FEBRUARY 20, 1726.

After the Boston Tea Party, where colonists threw 342 chests of British East India tea overboard, Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, blockading the harbor and starving the inhabitants. The Committee of Correspondence sent word to the other Colonies, who called a Day of Fasting and Prayer, June 1, 1774, "to seek divine direction and aid."

In August of 1774, William Prescott led the men of Pepperell, Massachusetts, to deliver loads of rye to Boston's inhabitants, telling them: "We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort and relief, knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock."

William Prescott continued: "We consider that we are all embarked in (the same boat) and must sink or swim together. Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And may He, of His infinite mercy, grant us deliverance of all our troubles."

American Minute with Bill Federer