Boston, 1776

by Jd Dickey

Relive the chaos, courage, and color of the American Revolution’s capital city while meeting those who led the fight in the nation’s War of Independence.

Features nine immersive walking tours on seven period-style maps— plus 45 historical images!

Welcome to Revolution City—where the air smells of tar, booze, gunpowder . . . and rebellion.

In Boston, 1776, author J. D. Dickey leads us through the turbulent streets, tub-thumping taverns, and radical strongholds of a town at war with an empire. Far from the powdered wigs and genteel debates of history textbooks, this book guides us through the real Boston of the American frenzied, dangerous, and fiercely alive.

Join the crowds in taprooms where rebel plots were hatched. Witness mobs rise up over the price of bread. Stand with patriots as they sharpen bayonets on Bunker Hill, and watch as Loyalists get tarred and feathered. Drink the rum made on the town docks, sample the sinful in the city’s back alleys, and gaze at John Hancock’s mansion gleaming above gritty streets filled with the almshouse, workhouse, and jail.

From the harbor wharves and seedy brothels to renowned assembly halls like Old South Meetinghouse and Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1776 leads us on a vivid tour of the vital hub of the Revo-lutionary War. At every stop along the way, we encounter iconic names like Revere and Adams, but also the forgotten men and women who bled and brawled for freedom in every corner of Boston.

Upon America’s 250th anniversary, Boston, 1776 portrays the Cradle of Liberty and the American Revolution as never raw, radical, and roaring with life.

Genres: Nonfiction, American Revolution, History

424 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 24, 2026

Reviews

[Christina Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tour of Boston in 1776 explaining locations and history leading up to that day. An interesting idea in how it is laid out, but a little dry for my tastes.

[Liam Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conceit of this book is that it is a guidebook written for the visitor to Boston in the summer of 1776.  The town is in rough shape after battles and siege of the previous year, yet celebrating the recent declaration of independence for the American states.  Dickey guides us through a town that is not only physically smaller before landmaking and annexation, but also has a small town feeling among its population.  Neighborhood by neighborhood (as well as the then separate towns of Charlestown, Roxbury, and Dorchester) we visit sites that are already of historical interest, learning of important events and people in that location, but also the daily life of everyday people of varied backgrounds.  Dickey does an excellent job of tying together disparate historical events and showing the connections among them.  This book is full of historical details including many that I'm not familiar with despite decades of reading about Boston history and leading historical walking tours.

Favorite Passages:

On their off time, soldiers took jobs at workshops, docks, and ropewalks, working for wages less than those of hometown laborers and taking jobs away from residents who desperately needed them. More alarmingly, the British troops fought with local night watchmen who dared to question their movements after dark, and they behaved boorishly on and off duty. They drank to excess, and patriot newspapers reported their transgressions in detail. One journal condemned the “drunkenness, debaucheries, and other extravagances which prevail by means of the troops being quartered in the midst of a town, where distilled spirits are so cheap and plenty.”



Surprisingly, the main lawyer for the grenadiers’ defense would be John Adams, ardent patriot and Samuel Adams’s cousin. The younger Adams took the job to show the Whig faction was just as committed to protecting the traditional rights of British subjects (including trial by jury) as the Crown was to violating them. Through skillful legal maneuvers, Adams got a jury to acquit Preston of murder and, in a separate trial, helped five of the seven grenadiers to go free as well, though two would be convicted of manslaughter and branded on the thumbs. Samuel Adams and other radicals denounced the lenient verdicts, but the outcome did forestall another riot, at least for the moment



One thing is certain: Almost everyone wants the town to recover from the last decade of conflict, chaos, and financial near ruin. Not only have trade and commerce been crippled, but due to the exodus of patriots before the siege and the exodus of loyalists after it, the town has plummeted from more than 15,500 citizens to 2,700 and is only now recovering some of those resident.



Assuming you’re in good health, you can choose to get inoculated—as five thousand Bostonians have been, and as Washington has ordered his troops to be. During periods when the procedure is allowed, a physician will make a small incision in your skin with a lancet carrying the virus, and you will have to isolate yourself as you endure some milder symptoms of the disease. Once you’re free of those symptoms, you will have lifelong immunity, provided there isn’t a complication from the procedure. About six in one thousand people die from inoculation—a figure that might seem unsettling, but is actually far less than the fatality rate of the disease itself (one in ten).



As you stroll about the wharves, you might hear the sailors called “Jack Tars,” or even “Jolly Tars.” It’s true they can have a rough look, with baggy tar-smeared breeches, short jackets and Monmouth caps, and copious tattoos, but they’re as committed to the Revolution as any genteel patriot with a Harvard degree or a law office. They call themselves the Sons of Neptune (matching the more-famous Sons of Liberty) and have participated in most of the boycotts, protests, and uprisings that have animated the town over the last thirty years. None of these revolts were more violent than the riots of 1747—recalled as “the most spectacular series of impressment riots in the eighteenth century”—which countered the attempts the Royal Navy to force sailors to serve in the fleet by kidnapping them from the streets and breaking into their homes. The old salts haven’t forgotten the outrage, making just one more reason for them to serve the cause of independence from the decks or the docks.



Many whalers are black and find in the work a freedom they don’t have on shore. Some advance up to mate or harpooner, and in a few cases, to captain. Overall, one in six sailors is black, and they make up a good portion of local residents too (one in ten). However, like most towns in America, Boston is a slave town, and the majority of the caulkers, smiths, and sailmakers you see working in the yards are not free to quit their labors or get paid for them. Some merchants are known to hold or traffic in slaves and place advertisements for buying or selling them in newspapers. Enslaved mariners often get the worst jobs in the most dangerous conditions. Free black laborers face a similar struggle but at least have the option of negotiating their wages or quitting a job if they don’t like it.



Andrew Eliot might be the bravest preacher in town. He was one of the first to criticize the Stamp Act and has long leaned toward Whiggish politics, but he chose to remain in town during the siege and continue leading his New North congregation. It was a bold step, and he was soon serving hundreds of other Protestants whose ministers had decamped for the countryside, even providing them with food and medicine since many were lower class or poor. But the war proved too much for him. Upon witnessing the ruination of the town and the collapse of its population, he could only react in horror: “poor Boston May God sanctify our distresses which are greater than you can conceive—Such a Sabbath of melancholy and darkness I never knew.” Since then, his health has suffered greatly, and if you chance to meet him, you might think the siege had never ended.



Even with the strength of their community, black residents of this and other parts of Boston face many challenges. Employers pay them less than whites, and if they own their own businesses, competitors can try to sue them to drive them out of business, knowing the law will not treat them fairly. Town and provincial statutes forbid them from carrying sticks or canes or knives, loitering on the Sabbath, and buying food in the country and selling it in town. The General Court also forbids interracial sex and marriage, and designates anyone born to such a union a “molatto bastard child.” Enslaved people face greater restrictions: They can’t buy or sell goods, keep hogs or swine, stay out after 9:00 p.m., defy an order from a slaveholder, or even gain their freedom without a bond posted for their release. In defiance of such laws, some bondsmen have escaped their captivity and fled to the countryside, while others have found refuge in West Boston, in neighborhoods just like this one.



Unlike former colonies to the south, Massachusetts permits enslaved people to own property, receive a trial by jury, and sue in court. Accordingly, they have filed suit when a slaveholder’s promise of manumission is revoked, or when he subjects them to cruel and barbaric treatment. They can also petition the legislature to grant them relief. In 1773, a slave named Felix demanded that the General Court improve the welfare of the enslaved, since they were subject to oppression contrary to moral law and human dignity. The next year, another petition from a group of bondsmen said they had a right to freedom and liberty like everyone else and asked for one day a week to work for themselves, so as to gain enough money to purchase their freedom. Prompted by the petitions and by changing public opinion, the Assembly again passed a bill to ban the import of slaves into the colony—though Governor Hutchinson, himself a slaveholder, refused to sign it.



Roxbury has suffered £24,412 worth of damage. When Abigail Adams came to visit, she was shocked by the conditions you see before you, writing to John, “Roxbury looks more injured than Boston, that is, the houses look more torn to pieces. I was astonished at the extent of our lines and their strength.” Another writer put it in more detail: Nothing struck me with more horror than the present condition of Roxbury. That once busy, crowded street is now occupied only by a picket-guard. The houses are deserted, the windows taken out, and many shot-holes visible. Some have been burnt, and others pulled down to make room for the fortifications. A wall of earth is carried across the street to [an] old house, where there is a formidable fort mounted with cannon.



Roxbury has suffered £24,412 worth of damage. When Abigail Adams came to visit, she was shocked by the conditions you see before you, writing to John, “Roxbury looks more injured than Boston, that is, the houses look more torn to pieces. I was astonished at the extent of our lines and their strength.” Another writer put it in more detail: Nothing struck me with more horror than the present condition of Roxbury. That once busy, crowded street is now occupied only by a picket-guard. The houses are deserted, the windows taken out, and many shot-holes visible. Some have been burnt, and others pulled down to make room for the fortifications. A wall of earth is carried across the street to [an] old house, where there is a formidable fort mounted with cannon.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't know how to rate this. It was well researched and filled with lots of interesting facts about Boston in Revolutionary times.

However, it was also quite dry and tedious at times. There truly is such a thing as too much information, and it was on vivid display here. The information overload made it difficult to truly enjoy the book as my mind kept wandering and shouting, "Let's be on with it already!" as I read. The overly long chapters didn't help - it should never take over an hour to read a single chapter!

Being a lover of all things history and learning, I planned to thoroughly enjoy this book. I found myself a bit disappointed instead.

That said, it was, as I stated, clearly well researched. Though overly wordy, the writing was nicely done. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in Boston's history or the Revolutionary War. It would definitely make a good research tome.


*I won a copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to all who made that possible.

[Kathleen Pappas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide for a visit to Boston in 1776, after the siege and evacuation of British March 17, 1776. Colonial details are included: history beginning with the Massacre on King Street (Boston Massacre) and the Boston Tea Party. We witness Paul Revere's ride, the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill. We meet again the revolutionary personages of the Sons of Liberty: Sam Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, John Adams. We observe colonial lifestyles of arts/crafts, architecture, trade, food and spirits. We take a trip through each of Boston's neighborhoods beginning in the North End progressing to Roxbury and Dorchester site of British withdrawal under the command of George Washington. This is a super read as we celebrate 250 years of liberty.

[Keith Mokry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly felt like walking the Boston Freedom Trail in the city as it was. The research that went into the "world-building" of the book seemed thorough, warts and all. And the book gave me a greater appreciation for the bold strategies and brave actions that were taken during the outset of the Revolutionary War. My only complaint would be that there are snippets of text that I read to be unfair and ex post facto judgments of people of a different time and place, such as poking fun at medicinal remedies containing mercury or turpentine.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

on my reading list for Road Scholar Boston trip.
A bit tedious, more like a travelogue than a story but well-done, well-researched.