Date: April 23, 1775
Boston Committee to Dr. Joseph Warren.
Sir: The following proceedings contain the Agreement made between his Excellency General Gage and the Town of Boston. You are informed it is the earnest desire of the inhabitants, that such persons as incline to remove into the Town with their effects, may be permitted so to do without molestation, and they having appointed us as a Committee to write to you on this subject, we hope this request will be complied with, as the Town, in a very full meeting, was unanimous in this and every other vote, relating to this matter; and we beg the favour of as speedy an answer as may be. We are, most respectfully, your obedient humble servants,
James Bowdoin, John Pitts,
John Scollay, Ezek. Goldthwait,
Tim. Newell, Alexander Hill,
Thos. Marshall, Henderson Inches,
Samuel Austin, Edward Payne.
Source: Peter Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, Volume II, p. 374
Commentary: Within a day of commencement of the Siege of Boston, Joseph Warren undertook indirect negotiations with Governor General Thomas Gage with respect to transit of Loyalist refugees into British-occupied Boston and for stranded Patriots and families to be allowed to depart. Gage would not interact with Warren directly but channeled communications via chief Selectman John Scollay. Most Patriots were anxious to leave. The selectmen agreed to surrender their guns for “safe keeping” and urged Joseph Warren to agree to passage of Loyalist refugees through coalescing American siege lines into Boston.
The agreement soon frayed as the British, fearing an American frontal assault on the town, were slow to let unarmed Patriot de facto “human shields” depart Boston. Such an assault was the American intention in the days immediately following commencement of hostilities on April 19, 1775. Warren and the militia leaders rapidly gave up on the idea due to lack of gunpowder and feared losses. The British continued to implement their side of the agreement painfully slowly, a situation generating consternation among Bostonians and at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Warren’s associates trapped in Boston at this time included Rachel Revere, Paul’s spouse; Dr. Samuel Adams, Jr., Sam Adams’ son and Warren’s former medical apprentice; and Dr. William Eustis, who kept Joseph Warren’s medical practice open in British occupied Boston until April 30th.
John Scollay chose to remain in Boston through the siege, continuing the thankless role of intermediary and to look after his property as best he could. Scollay was the father of Miss Mercy Scollay, widower Joseph Warren’s unofficial fiancée and governess to his four children living as a refugee family in Worcester.
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