Caleb clark's journal

Caleb Clark’s Journal
By Lucy Jonas

Friday, February 28, 14

March 27, 1765- Two Days after the
Scumbag Passed the Stamp Act
I can’t believe this. That miserable scumbag thinks that
he can do what ever they want to us colonists just
because we live under his rule. King George III has no
idea what it is like to be on this country, we can barley
buy food as it is, but now he wants to tax us. My father
served in the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763.
And what does the king do to thank him? He starts
taxing everything. Looking back on it now, I’m surprised
that my father survived that hideous war. Being tall and
skinny like me, he was made an easy target for the arrows
of the Indians. And with his bright red hair, he wasn't
hard to spot.

I remember the day the treaty was signed. I was only 12. It was joyous of course, but
I will never un-live that horrible 8 years when my father served. The sound of the
soldiers celebrating clashed with the memory of gunshots in my head. We lived so
close to the battlefield that we could see the smoke of the canons. I remember him
visiting and talking to my mom about the horrible living conditions and little food.
Dad also said that because we had the strongest army in the world, the French and
Indian War should not have been hard. But most British officers were gentlemen who
had bought their positions, so they were not qualified for their positions and never
really served in the war. They even also bought them for their sons. So only them foot
soldiers really knew what the real war was like. That night I saw father really happy
for the first time. As soon as the treaty was signed his face light up like a child when
he saw a toy. Life looked so good, we were going to start over and forget this, we even
moved to Boston. But I never thought that the tyrant that we called our king would
betray us like he has now.


Some may say that I’m crazy for getting mad at all of
this stamp act business, they say that you should just put
up with paying extra for everything that has a stamp on
it. They say that it is to help cover the depth from the
war. But I am not that naïve. I know that the tyrant that
is controlling Britain is just trying to make a quick pound
off of us colonists. Every time I see a stamp on anything
I just get mad. Everything, and I mean everything had a
stamp on it. Some these things included newspapers,
documents, and even playing cards. Why would you tax
playing cards? That King is just trying to take what little
joy we have left, and nobody is trying to stop him. We
have no voice in parliament, which means we don't have
rights


Memories

Here are three stamps from tea, grain, and ﬂour.


December 18, 1773- The Incident

It has been two days since we poured the tea in the
harbor. It has been two days since I joined the revolution
against those red coats. Ever since the Boston manicure
the blockheads have been nothing but trouble. They
killed 5 people. I can’t believe it. Those ﬁve people
could have been my family or me. This was loss for the
revolution, we thought that we could never come back
from it, but of course we did. The Boston tea party was
much worse, not for us, but for the red coats.


I can still smell the fresh herbal smell of the British tea,
which I was helping unload from the boats that came in
from England. For the most part it was a good day, the
sun was shining and people were friendly, what more
could a person want. I remember my best friend Copper
ranting on about how we should get more rights and less
taxes, he was right. But the only thing that bothered me
was that I didn't want to get into trouble with those Brits
because I can’t go to jail, I have to help feed my family.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for crushing that King into
the ground but how are we going to do it without getting
in trouble.


All of a sudden, we hear couple of men starting to yell
stuff about freedom and independence. And what used
to be three men, turned into about 200 men yelling,
that's including Copper and I. The yelling turned into a
full out riot. There where people chiming in everywhere
with their yells for justice. Copper, being the
troublemaker as he is, decided to stir the pot even more
by picking up a splintery crate of tea and throwing it in
the harbor. I joined him in throwing away the symbol of
our slavery to the British in to the harbor. One man put
indian feathered hats on us, and we didn’t care. The
deep blue slowly turned more and more brown as we
threw more and more tea in to the ocean. Some red
coats tried to stop this but they were no match for us
colonists. With over 200 of us and a lot less of them,
they were obviously out numbered.

We continued throwing the crates into the
harbor until there was no more to throw, by
this time it was almost sunset. The vivid
oranges painted the sky. And then it
occurred to me, this started it. This event
has started a revolution. Of course the
Boston massacre sparked an idea, but
people we to scared off to even think about
pushing more. Now it is full blow ﬁre. The
day of the Boston tea party is the day that
this riot turned into a revolution. And I for
one, hope that it will prevail.

Memories

My favorite picture of what the Boston tea party
looked like from shore

July 6th, 1776- Declaring
Independence
The day that we signed the discoloration of independence was one of the happiest
days in my life. But of course declaring independence is different to actually getting
it. We still have a lot of work to do regards to gaining independence from the red
coats. It has only been a year since the accident of Bunker Hill, and my leg has
healed but the events that happened that day are still fresh scares.
The battle of Bunker Hill was the bloodiest battle I’ve ever been in. It was a cool spring
morning; the due was shimmering on the wild flowers as we marched through the
meadow. What a lovely day for a battle, I thought sarcastically, nothing horrible could
ever happen on a day like this. Copper was with me behind the fort that we made over
night. There were about 1,500 of us colonists dug behind the fort that was barley
holding together. Some British ships started fire and as far as I know, only hurt a few
people. By the time the sun was in the middle of the sky the British troops had landed. I
didn't know much at the time, but I knew that about 2,400 British soldiers out numbered
us. The first two assaults were hard to beat, I barley got by with out having my head
blow off. all around me there were wounded and dead man, I tried no to look at them
because I couldn't stop think that I could be one of the men.

We ran out of ammunition on the third assault and as I was
running for cover, I felt a sharp burning pain in my left calf.
I screamed and looked down to see the bloody remains of
my ruined leg. But I kept running to the fort. Everything
was going fuzzy because of the loss of blood, and as I
jumped into the fort everything went black.
I woke up a couple hours later in the back of a carriage with
about 5 other wounded soldiers. The laid there lifelessly until I
spoke up asking about what had happened. One of them said
that after the third assault the British surrendered because they
loosed to many men. They said that in the end the British
had lost to many people and we won. While the wounded
soldiers kept ranting about how bad the conditions were and I
looked down at my bloodied leg and tried to move it. It's a
miracle! Even with the unbearable shooting pain, I can still
move it. I assume that my shin is badly broken and will never
heal as well as it was. But still, at least is didn't fall off.

It occurred to me that Copper was ﬁghting
beside me. I vaguely looking back right
before I black out, seeing the lifeless body
of my friend lying on the ground with
bloody stains showing where he got shot.
My best friend, dead by the hand of those
nasty horrible red coats. We will win, not
just for me, but also for my best friend
Copper.


Memories

Getting ready for the second assault from the
British


October

st
21

1781- The Final Battle

It’s finally over. All of the pain and
suffering is over. We finally beat the red
coats for good. It took many things to beat
them during the battle of Yorktown, but
I’m sure the dedication and passion of all
of our soldiers to gain freedom for those
miserable tyrants really paid off on the
battlefield. Two days ago we ended their
rain over us.

In the dead of night as the wind hollered
through there air we slowly made our way to
Yorktown, to launch a surprise attack on the
drunken British. Every soldier knew that we
were going to win, how could we lose with
Guerilla Warfare that have been thought of by
our very own George Washington. Along with
that, we called in help from out friends in
France. I couldn’t help but feeling nervous,
because the last I was in battle, I almost lost my
leg. Still as I limped closer and closer I felt
accomplished and happy that this entire
revolution going to be over. And we won it.

As we got closer to the red coats base, by now we were so
close that we could see the pale faces of the drunken
soldiers, a thought occurred to me. After we win, what
will we do with Lord Cornwallis? I mean are we going to
capture him or send him back to the scum that he came
from. I needed to stay focused on not getting my other leg
shot off. As the first shots were fired I ducked down to
avoid getting hit. It was hard to see through the
suffocating smoke of the cannons but I knew that near by
there were French ships sinking the British ships. I
jumped up and fired, hitting a man in the leg. Seeing the
blood spread through his white pants I couldn't help but
feel sorry for the old chap, I reminded me so much of
what it was like for me. But I couldn't afford to be sorry,
not now, not ever.

A couple hours later, the ﬁre had
subsided, and we set up camp
surrounding the red coat’s base ready for
a long siege. There was talk about the
French ships getting ride of all of the
British ships and are now surrounding
Yorktown. I believe the gossip because
there was no way that they could have
survived the raft of the attacking French
ships.

Fast-forward three days and I was October
th, my birthday, and what a day to have
19
it. The news of Lord Cornwallis’s
surrender had spread throughout the
colonies. And that's all we needed. The
Americans have won for once! I can’t wait
to get home and start my life as a new
American. But I shouldn’t get ahead of
myself. We really haven’t become a real
country yet. But I know that in a few short
years we will be.

Memories

A map of where we
attacked in Yorktown


November 7th 1783- The Treaty of Peace
I am an American, not a red coat, not a Brit, just an
American. Ever since the Treaty of Pairs two days ago, I
have been a citizen of America.
We ﬁnally have all of the colonies to ourselves. We get the
entire last east of the Mississippi River. Which means that
Boston is now safe from the tyranny of King George III.
Being 31 now it was about time I settled down and started
a family. Ever since the Battle of Bunker Hill, I bought a
cotton farm. Now because of the treaty, there are no taxes
on land, so business is be good. I also needed to get away
from all of the noise that comes from the big city of
Boston, ever since the battle, I have always hated loud
noise. It reminds me too much of the loud shriek of a
bullet.

I realize having a farm means having slaves, and I do
have 3. But i don't look at them as slaves. To me they
are more as employees. I feed them well and the each
have a warm bed to sleep in, now does that sound like
the life of a slave? I thin I’ll probably give them their
freedom anyway because I know that they will still keep
working for me, and it seems like it's the thing to do now,
set your slaves free.
Also, another upside to gaining independence is the right to
believe in anything I want to believe in. Now I don't have
to stick to the Church of England. I was always curious
about explore new things but had never been able really
explore.

Looking back on the whole revolution, I noticed that we went from
a bunch a rich white guys running everything, to another bunch of
rich white guys running everything in a democratic way. Not that I
have a problem with that but its kind of ironic in a way. I am so
excited to vote and have a say in something for once. I have
started from the bottom if the heap but now after I buy my farm
and have a family I’ll ﬁnally have a good life. The new idea of that
fact that birth doesn't make you better than another person really
helped me accomplish everything. I mean I England won the war
I would be working as a stable keeper, or worse.


On the whole, I think that winning
freedom for Americans helped everyone in
America. We got freedom, rights to vote,
no taxes on land, and the right to choose
what you believe in. Also the loyalists got
their land back and got released from
prison. Even the slaves beneﬁted from this
change. At least now I know that I will be
okay for the years to come, and to me,
that's what really maters.

Memories

A sketch of the sining of the Treaty of Paris


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