The American Revolution had its roots in a number of cultural and political differences between Great Britain and its North American colonies. The most immediate grievances stemmed from the French and Indian War (1754-1763), which strained relations between Britain and the colonies. After the war ended, Great Britain instituted a series of actions that each made sense on its own, including a series of efforts to increase revenues from the colonies. All of these moves backfired badly, and in total proved disastrous. By 1775 the colonies were in a state of open revolt. Loyalties varied from town to town in many parts of the colonies. New York and many other regions were mainly loyal to the British, but New England was primarily opposed to British rule and Boston was one of the most strident centers of resistance. A British effort to seize Colonial military supplies and arrest opposition leaders led to fighting at Lexington and Concord near Boston on April 17, 1775. The Colonial militias mobilized against the British, and the Continental Congress, which had been formed to negotiate differences with Great Britain, now found itself in charge of a country. The revolution’s effects would be felt throughout the colonies, as men like the Deerfield, Massachusetts, “minutemen” on the alarm list shown here left their families, farms, and other duties to support the revolution for varying lengths of time during 1775 and 1776. Battles and victories on both sides continued into 1781, four years after the Battles of Saratoga in autumn 1777 marked a turning point in favor of American independence that included gaining France’s support. By May 1780 there was no rebel army south of Virginia, but over the next year and a half, the British lost the war as guerilla tactics, poor supply, and the steady drain of skirmishes weakened their army. On October 6 1781, with American General George Washington’s forces also in position, French siege guns began pounding British General Cornwallis’s fortifications. Cornwallis surrendered on October 20th. Faced with another defeat, the British Parliament forced the prime minister to resign and suspended military operations in North America. When the treaty was finally signed in 1783, Britain surrendered all of its North American colonies except those in Canada, and the new nation was at peace. Unsettled times would continue, however, for those who had stayed loyal to Britain. One such person was Elijah Williams (1745-1793), who was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and later settled in Keene, New Hampshire. In his “History of Deerfield,” author George Sheldon notes that Williams became a captain in the British army. After the war, his estate was confiscated, and like some other loyalists he ended up settling in Nova Scotia, Canada. On a return trip to collect debts, which was his legal right, Williams faced mob violence, escaping on horseback “in peril of his life.”