Friends of History Camp

Recognizing our Friends of History Camp for their additional support with these benefits:

• Name in the session guides for that year’s History Camp.
• Name on signage at that year’s History Camp.
• Name listed on the Friends of History Camp page (this page).
• An invitation to the annual Friends of History Camp reception on Friday evening before History Camp Boston.
• That year’s limited edition pin made exclusively for the Friends of History Camp.

Please join us as a Friend of History Camp this year with your donation of $150.

About the 2024 Friends of History Camp Pin

This pin depicts a stone tower that stands atop a hill in Somerville, Massachusetts, in an area that used to be part of Charlestown. It was built early in the 1700s as a windmill. In 1747, as the British Empire was at war against France and Spain, people realized that the tower could be useful for storing gunpowder. It stood at a distance from houses, and the stone walls would direct the force of any explosion up through a light wooden roof into the air.

There never was a gunpowder explosion at this site, but what happened there on September 1, 1774, set off a political upheaval. Gen. Thomas Gage, the royal governor, was trying to tamp down resistance to the Massachusetts Government Act and other Coercive Acts. As governor, he commanded the provincial military. Gage decided to move the militia’s gunpowder from that tower into Boston before it could slip into the hands of the resistance. At dawn on the morning of September 1, redcoat soldiers quietly entered the tower and removed all the powder.

News of that action—and dire exaggerated rumors about the British military attacking civilians—spread west. Overnight, men gathered in their town militia companies and marched toward Boston. On September 2, an estimated 5,000 militiamen thronged into Cambridge, demanding that every royal appointee in town resign. Historians later dubbed this event the “Powder Alarm.” By the end of that day, it was clear that Governor Gage no longer exercised any authority in the province outside of Boston. For all practical purposes, the rest of Massachusetts was independent of royal control.

Read more about the timeline of events in our handout from our Spring 2024 3-day program about 1774, The Pursuit of History: Rebellion in New England.

History Camp is a project of the non-profit organization The Pursuit of History, a registered non-profit devoted to bringing people from all walks of life together around history.

2024 Friends of History Camp

Last updated July 24, 2024

Become a Friend of History Camp 2024 with your donation of $150 in 2024 as a single donation or through a recurring donation.

2023 Friends of History Camp