Editing Yarmouth, Massachusetts (section)

===American Revolution===

Yarmouth was the site of an active group of the [[Sons of Liberty]] during the [[American Revolution]].<ref>{{harvnb|Swift|1890|p=465}}: "There was a patriotic body, here as elsewhere, called the Sons of Liberty, who met usually in the night time and made the few loyalists and those suspected of being such, very unhappy. Two 'liberty poles' were erected…. Anyone found guilty of drinking taxed tea, or of making impudent remarks, was required to dance around these liberty poles and make a solemn recantation of their errors and promises of amendment."</ref> The town's militia mustered to provide assistance to the [[minutemen]] at the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], but the militia returned home upon news that the rebels had already triumphed on the field.<ref>{{harvnb|Swift|1890|pp=465–66}}: "When the alarm of the country was sounded by the demonstration upon Lexington and Concord, the town's militia started out for the scene of operations, the western company under Captain Jonathan Crowell mustering sixty officers and men. They had not proceeded far before intelligence of the rout and retreat of the British troops reached them and they returned home."</ref> In March 1776, Yarmouth troops served as part of [[George Washington]]'s forces during the [[Fortification of Dorchester Heights]].<ref>{{harvnb|Swift|1890|p=466}}: "General Washington, having early in 1776 determined upon the expulsion of the British from Boston, wrote to the council of Massachusetts Bay, submitting to their wisdom 'whether it may not be best to direct the militia of certain towns, contiguous to Dorchester and Roxbury to repair to the line at those places with arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, instantly, upon a given signal,' and the suggestion was favorably received. Yarmouth was one of the towns called upon. Captain Joshua Gray, who commanded the militia, at once set forth, accompanied by a drummer, to call for volunteers. Everyone was ready and willing to go. The night was spent in preparation. In the chamber of the ancient house now standing at the corner of Hallet and Wharf streets, the mothers and daughters spent the night in molding bullets and making cartridges, and at early dawn eighty-one men, under the command of Captain Gray, were on the march for Dorchester."</ref> A meeting of Yarmouth citizens declared the town's independence from Great Britain on June 20, 1776.<ref>{{harvnb|Swift|1890|p=466}}: "A meeting was held June 20, 1776, in which it was unanimously 'Voted, that the inhabitants of Yarmouth do declare a state of independence of the king of Great Britain, agreeably to a late resolve of the General Court, if in case the wisdom of Congress should see proper to do it.' This resolve they did their part to carry out, so far as lay in their power. Their men nearly all joined the patriot army."</ref> As a coastal community, Yarmouth was subject to blockade by the [[Royal Navy]] throughout the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{harvnb|Swift|1890|p=466}}: "Their commerce and fisheries were destroyed, and they suffered untold hardships and privations for seven long years."</ref>