Everything Must Go: Property, Uncertainty, and Freedom in the Evacuation of Boston

Abstract: When the British army evacuated Boston in March of 1776, over one hundred ships carried soldiers, civilians, and goods out of Boston, but Massachusetts privateers captured the final ship and brought it as a prize to New Hampshire. On it they found looted merchandise, fervent Tories, British soldiers, their wives and families, and four Black Bostonians. Few historians have paid much attention to the Evacuation of Boston, and none to the fate of the Elizabeth . But the debates over what to do with the ship’s contents, and especially with its people, reveals the surprisingly confusing world of political loyalty even in 1776. The stories of the four Black Bostonians in particular reveal how their struggles for freedom, which included alliances with both the American and British military – shaped revolutionary ideas about the future of slavery itself.