Sons of Liberty
During the early stages of the American Revolution, Willett became an informal leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York City. His main participation was as a rabble-rouser and street brawler. When news arrived on April 23, 1775 of the battles at Lexington and Concord he and others broke into the New York City arsenal and seized the weapons. On June 6, 1775 when the British soldiers in New York decided to evacuate the city, Willett stopped the soldiers from taking spare arms with them. On July 20, 1775 he and other members of the Sons of Liberty procured a sloop, surprised the guard, and captured a British storehouse at Turtle Bay.
Read more about this topic: Marinus Willett
Famous quotes containing the words sons of, sons and/or liberty:
“Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No—we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“Oh, God will save her, fear you not:
Be you the men you’ve been,
Get you the sons your fathers got,
And God will save the Queen.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“The republic, as I at least understand it, means association, of which liberty is only an element, a necessary antecedent. It means association, a new philosophy of life, a divine Ideal that shall move the world, the only means of regeneration vouchsafed to the human race.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)