Gunpowder and Tea Cakes: My Journey with Felicity

I tell Ben and Felicity I’d like to wait for the militia. Ben nods, but he tells us to stay close. The green lawn in front of the Governor’s Palace is filling with people. I see women carrying baskets and men carrying satchels. Others carry bricks and knives. I can’t help wondering whether I’ve made a big mistake when I suggested we stay to watch. But both Ben and Felicity look more excited than nervous, so I don’t say anything.

A few men and women talk amongst themselves. I overhear one woman saying that threatening Governor Dunmore will only bring trouble. Another says the British are trampling our rights. Our men must protect our freedom. I notice most of the people gathered around are white, but some black people have clustered beneath a tree. Maybe they are free, but they may be slaves who are running errands who have stopped to watch the commotion. What do they think when they hear Patriots shouting for freedom? I Imagine they dream of liberty, too.

We reach a small cluster of people surrounding a deeply tanned man in stained and worn work clothes. A woman asks him what the governor’s plans are, because he works for the governor. I notice he has long black hair tied into a ponytail, and I realize he must be Indian. The man shrugs and says he doesn’t know the plans. And he walks off.

Ben says the man is the governor’s Cherokee interpreter. He helps with communicating with the various Indian tribes. Felicity says four Shawnee men live at the Palace, too. I had never thought about Indians getting mixed up in the American Revolution. I want to ask what the Cherokee and Shawnee people think of the Patriots’ plans, but then a man behind us begins to shout that Captain Brandon’s militia is here.