Just before sunset on the afternoon of December 13, 1774, Paul Revere
jumped from his foam-covered steed in front of a house in Durham, New
Hampshire, rushed in and informed its owner, Major John Sullivan, that
two regiments of British regulars were about to march from Boston to
occupy Portsmouth and the fort in its harbor. In an instant Sullivan
made up his mind as to what it was his duty to do, and within less than
two hours he had gathered his force and was ready for business.
The party, sixteen in number, boarded an unwieldy, sloop-rigged old
craft and darted off down the river to Portsmouth. It was a clear, cold
moonlight night, and presently the crude masonry of old Fort William and
Mary loomed up in the distance, reminding them of the fact that they
were close on to their quarry. When within a rod or so of the shore
their vessel grounded in the shallow water, and in silence they waded to
land, mounted the fort, surprised the garrison and found themselves
victorious without the loss of a man or even of a drop of blood.
Securing the prisoners, the patriots at once broke into the magazine,
where they found one hundred pounds of powder. The powder, along with
one hundred stand of small arms, was put aboard of their craft and taken
back to Durham, where it was buried under the pulpit of the old
meeting-house in front of Major Sullivan’s house.
Six months later the battle of Bunker Hill came off, and it was this
same powder, captured by Major Sullivan at Fort William and Mary, that
enabled the Americans to kill so many of the British in that historic
encounter. Powder was exceedingly scarce in the patriot army, and
Sullivan, anticipating that such might be the case, filled “old John
Demerett’s ox-cart” with the powder he had buried under Parson Adams’
pulpit and sent it over the sixty-odd miles of rocky road to Boston,
where it was destined to do such good service in the cause of liberty.
It was the news of Sullivan’s capture of Fort William and Mary that
precipitated the Revolution. After such a daring deed Lexington was a
foregone conclusion. In the words of another, “Sullivan was the first
man in active rebellion against the British government, and he drew with
him the province he lived in.” In an address on the history of this part
of New Hampshire, Rev. Quint, of Dover, referring to the attack on the
fort, said: “The daring character of the assault cannot be
over-estimated. It was an organized investment of a royal fortress where
the king’s flag was flying and where the king’s garrison met them with
muskets and artillery. It was four months before Lexington, and
Lexington was resistance to attack, while this was deliberate assault.”