1
Spring 1768
Boston
If ye would feel the pulse of humankind, Duncan McCallum’s Scottish grandfather once declared, just look to a busy harbor. From his perch in the church tower overlooking the forest of masts in Boston harbor, Duncan indeed felt as if he were glimpsing the pulsing heart of the colony. In quick succession he pointed to three of the nearest vessels.
If ye would feel the pulse of humankindjust look to a busy harbor“Brig from Jamaica with a cargo of rum,” the square-shouldered youth beside him eagerly answered, “next a fast bark just arrived from Liverpool with cordage and Dutch porcelain. And that filthy one with the wide beam, she’s a banker fresh from the cod beds off the Newfoundland.” Henry Knox was slow of body, but his mind was more agile than that of any eighteen
