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Joseph Stebbins- A Pioneer at Outbreak of the Revolution

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JOSEPH STEBBINS
A PIONEER IN THE OUTBREAK OF THE
REVOLUTION

BY GEORGE SHELDON.

There cannot be too much honor paid to the memory of those who set themselves to the work of freeing this colony from the tyrannical grasp of Great Britain. They were men of nerve, persistence and faith in their cause and in one another. They had the firm belief that they should finally succeed in their herculean task.

That the task was herculean is graphically shown in the following cry uttered in March, 1775. "Are we ready for war? Where are our stores —where are our arms—where our soldiers—where our generals—where our money—the sinews of War? They are nowhere to be found. In truth, we are poor, we are naked, we are defenceless, yet we talk of assuming the front of war! of assuming it, too, against a nation, one of the most formidable in the world ; a nation ready and armed at all points ; her navies riding triumphant on every sea, her armies never marching but to certain victory! What is to be the issue of the struggle we are called upon to court? What can be the issue, in the comparative circumstances of the two countries, but to yield up this country an easy prey to Great Britain." This and like eloquent addresses had no effect on the New England rebels of the Revolution.

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