The Final Meeting and the Tea Party

Samuel Adams
After Alonzo Chappel/ The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) attended the meeting from which the plans for the Boston Tea Party were born.

By December 14, 1773, support for the boycott of British tea had reached neighboring towns, who had communicated messages of support. Signs were posted all over the city of Boston announcing another meeting in the Old South Meeting House. At least 5,000 people showed up, some of them waiting outside in the street [source: Boston Tea Party]. (To get a sense of how impressive a gathering that was, consider that the population of Boston at the time was only about 15,000 [source: The Old South Meeting House].) Some now legendary figures from early American history attended the meeting, including Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock.

The attendees told Francis Rotch, owner of the Dartmouth, to ask Governor Hutchinson for permission to sail out of Boston and back to England. The protesters decided to take a break and meet again at 3 p.m., allowing Rotch time to meet with Governor Hutchinson. Rotch eventually returned during the afternoon meeting and reported to the assembled crowd that Governor Hutchinson would not let the ships leave without unloading the tea.

At that moment, the crowd could take no more. Someone dressed like an American Indian let out a war cry. Others echoed the cry while some in attendance called for everyone to rush to Griffin's Wharf and make Boston Harbor into "a teapot" [source: Boston Tea Party]. A mob rushed to Griffin's Wharf, divided into three groups -- one for each of the ships -- and began opening crates and dumping tea into the sea.

While a large mob attended the Boston Tea Party, little violence occurred. The ships' crews generally stood by impassively and the surrounding British warships did not fire their weapons. Some local residents who tried to make off with tea found themselves shoved and kicked by protesters. One of the revelers reported that after the destruction of the tea "the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months" [source: The American Revolution]. Still, the lack of violence does not mean that the patriots weren't determined; the next day some of them returned to Griffin's Wharf and, seeing some tea still floating on top of the water, they approached it in small boats and destroyed what remained by hitting it with their oars.

Did Protesters Use Indian Disguises?
One of the most enduring images from the Boston Tea Party is of protesters dressed as American Indians, throwing crates of tea into the ocean. In fact, only some of mob wore disguises and many of them were just that -- disguises that didn't even represent Indian dress. Some people simply smeared soot on their faces or used what was available to hide their appearance. But there are some scholars who argue that the image of the Mohawk Indian was symbolic, representing oppressed peoples, and had been used in other anti-taxation, tea-destroying protests [source: Boston Tea Party]. The Sons of Liberty had previously used names of American Indian tribes. However, accounts from the time, such as in "The Massachusetts Gazette," indicate that the men were focused on concealing who they were [source: The Old South Meeting House]. And what appeared to be Indian weapons, such as tomahawks, had a practical use: opening the cargo containers so that the tea could be dumped into the harbor.