Lancaster declared war on Great Britain 250 years ago this week [The Scribbler] | Local Voices

New England Minutemen, some dressed for war in their finest clothes and at least one fellow wearing his wedding suit, fought the Revolutionary War’s first battles against British soldiers at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775.

Hundreds of reenactors commemorated those battles in Massachusetts last weekend, reminding tens of thousands of spectators that the war began long before the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Lancaster patriots soon pledged to join the fight against British rule. On May 1, 1775 — 250 years ago this coming Thursday — the Lancaster County Committee of Observation declared war on Great Britain.

Local leaders had gathered a week or so after April 19, when news of “the shot heard round the world” reached Lancaster by way of Philadelphia.

On April 27, the Committee of Observation had called a meeting at Adam Reigart’s Grape Tavern, 32 N. Queen St., to consider what the local response should be to a British government deemed tyrannically oppressive, especially in its tax policy.

The committee had 76 members. Lancaster’s leading citizen, Edward Shippen, then 74, was elected chairman. Shippen was a reluctant rebel, believing at first that war could be avoided by compromise. The battles at Lexington and Concord changed his mind.

Fellow committee members included William Atlee, a former chief burgess of Lancaster; William Bausman, a merchant and former burgess; and Dr. Adam Simon Kuhn, a leader of the German-speaking community.

The committee called for a second gathering at 2 p.m. on May 1. To make certain that all members would attend, Francis Bailey, a printer operating at 8 W. King St., the former offices of LNP, created handbills to send to committee members throughout Lancaster County, which at that time included present-day Dauphin and Lebanon counties.

The committee wasted little time in adopting an angry war resolution damning “the most unjust, tyrannical and cruel edicts of the British Parliament” and vowing “to defend and protect the religious and civil rights of this and our sister colonies with our lives and fortunes to the utmost of our abilities. …””

Two days later, the committee ordered a census to discover how many able-bodied men lived in Lancaster County and to make an inventory of available gunpowder and lead. The committee purchased more than 1,200 pounds of powder and 3,287 pounds of lead from local merchants.

Furthermore, the committee called on the citizens of Lancaster to form military companies of up to 100 men that would prepare to wage a war for independence.

Two Lancaster companies joined with companies from other Pennsylvania counties to form a battalion of nearly 1,000 riflemen under the command of Col. William Thompson, a veteran of the French and Indian War, and Dr. Edward Hand, a former British soldier who would become one of the outstanding generals of the Revolution.

This battalion joined the Continental Army at Boston in August 1775. During ensuing skirmishes with British soldiers occupying the city, a cannon ball struck Private William Simpson’s ankle. His foot was amputated. He died two days later —Lancaster’s first war casualty.

For thousands of soldiers from Lancaster and throughout the colonies who left their families at home, the war became a long slog through crushing defeats and crucial victories until the British surrendered at Yorktown in 1781.

Two battles in New England in April 1775 and a declaration of war by 76 men gathered at a tavern on North Queen Street in Lancaster 12 days later helped start a revolution that jolted the Western world.

Jack Brubaker, retired from the LNP staff, writes “The Scribbler’’ column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.