The Liberty Pole-chapter 9-16-Part Series

In September of 1774, the Continental Congress voted to support Boston and stand up to the British. They set up the Continental Association to shut off trade with England. Throughout the colonies, militias met and trained secretly. Special units called minutemen were formed to be ready to assemble and fight at a moment’s notice. Holmes Hole had its own militia and a handful of minutemen, but they knew they would be no match for the British Navy. It remained in their best interest to stay neutral, no matter what their hearts might dictate. The British, for their part, were taking no chances. Martha’s Vineyard was too important to naval operations to trust its accessibility to the loyalties of the Vineyarders. In late October, a British transport pulled into Holmes Hole and offloaded a regimen of British Regulars to be quartered in homes of the citizens, whether they liked it or not. Because the Daggett home was relatively small and the Daggett family relatively large, only one soldier was to be quartered with them.

Polly was fully prepared to hate Private Abel Butler. She was not fully prepared for him to be a lonely, far-from-home seventeen year old who loved cats, children, fishing in the Hole on his day off, and her mother’s fresh baked corn bread.

“What business do you have coming over here and living in our house and eating our food and telling us how we can live?” Polly asked him petulantly when he first arrived.

“No business at all, Miss,” Abel said apologetically. “If I had my way I’d be home on our farm in the Yorkshire dales with my widowed Mum and my brothers and sisters. I don’t give a fig about you Americans.”

“So why did you come then?” asked Polly.

“Because when King George says you’re in the army, you say “Yes Sir!” and salute or else you’ll find a bayonet’ er.. that is’you’ll find yourself in a heap of trouble. So here I am, like it or not.”

Hard as it was to hate someone who so clearly bore you no ill will, Polly was determined to remain aloof. The British were the enemy, after all, and like it or not, it was Private Butler’s job to enforce British rule and spy on the Daggetts and their friends and neighbors.

The winter came and went. Abel roughhoused with Polly’s six brothers, helped her mother with chores and he lent her father a hand whenever he could. He even succeeded in charming Polly’s cat, Rusty, who had long ago learned to give boys a wide berth. By spring, Abel had managed to win Polly over too.

“Am I a traitor, do you think?” she asked Maria and Nell one April afternoon. “I can hardly think of Abel as the enemy anymore. He has almost become a part of the family.”

“Of course you’re not a traitor,” said Maria. The three girls sat peeling potatoes for a stew Maria’s mother was preparing to serve in the tavern that night. “I think he’s handsome and nice.”

“Me, too,” said Nell, who worked part-time at the tavern for wages now. She flashed a sly grin. “You’re sure it’s sisterly thoughts you’re having and not something more?”

“Nothing more. Quite sure.” said Polly, putting her nose in the air. She did not add that her heart still belonged to Caleb, even though it had become increasingly obvious over the winter that Nell did return Caleb’s affection. Polly sighed.

Maria sighed, too. “I wish we had gotten Abel instead of those two bloody-backs we have staying here with us,” she said. “All they ever do is order us about and run squealing to their superiors with every comment they overhear in the tap room.”

“Hush,” whispered Polly with a nervous glance at the taproom door.

“It’s all right. They’re not here now,” said Maria. “They’re drilling with their company out by Tashmoo Pond. I wish they’d all tumble in and drown.”

“Well, nothing could be worse than that swine of a sergeant we have living with us.” Nell pouted. “He’s forever pinching me on the cheek and smacking me on the rump. It’s not right that decent folk should have to tolerate such ruffians.”

There was a footfall on the back doorstep and all three girls jumped and turned as one. The door swung open and Caleb Allen strode in.

“Caleb,” cried Maria. “You gave us a fright!” Then she laughed with relief. “We have all grown so jittery living under the constant watch of these British.”

“Not for much longer,” said Caleb gravely. “It has begun.”