Level: U

DRA: 44
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Strategy:
Visualize
Skill:
Cause and Effect
Word Count: 2,377

5.3.11

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

ISBN-13:978-0-547-01749-5
ISBN-10:0-547-01749-9

by Holly Melton illustrated by Bob Dacey

1031597
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN

5_017499_OL_LRSE_CVR_L11_NightRemember.indd 1 12/3/09 11:13:44 PM

 A Night
to Remember

by Holly Melton
illustrated by Bob Dacey

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
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for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers,
Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Printed in China
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01749-5
ISBN-10: 0-547-01749-9
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If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers
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electronic format.
 Foreword
On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of
American Patriots disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians.
They marched to Boston Harbor and boarded three ships
filled with tea that belonged to the British East India
Company. The Patriots didn’t want the tea to be unloaded
on American soil. If it were, the colonists would owe a tea
tax. That night, the Patriots took matters into their own
hands. They dumped the tea into Boston Harbor. Some
people say that the American Revolution really began that
night—the night of the Boston Tea Party.
This story is a fictional account of the Boston Tea
Party. It is written from the viewpoint of a young man
who witnessed history in the making.

Events Leading to the Boston Tea Party

1763 French and 1765 Stamp Act 1767 Townshend Acts

Indian War ends
1773 Tea Act

1764 Sugar Act 1770 Boston Massacre

1765 Sons of
1773 Boston
Liberty formed
Tea Party

2
November 28, 1773
My name is Henry Parker. I am only 14 years of age,
but I am not too young to be a Patriot. These are exciting
days in Boston, and I write this account so that I may
remember events exactly as they occurred. I hope and
believe that we colonists will soon form a new country,
independent of British rule. War may be in our future.
Certainly, dissent is in our present.
We Patriots are angered by the actions of the British
government. The British Parliament passes laws we do not
agree with. To raise money, it taxes us unceasingly. Sugar,
glass, paint, paper, tea—it has taxed us on all these and
more. Yet we are not allowed to send representatives to the
British Parliament. Even a schoolboy such as I knows this
to be unfair.

3
 Most of the boys at my writing school are Patriots.
During the day we labor at handwriting and mathematics,
but after school we roam. Today my friend Thomas and
I walked homeward singing the Liberty Song. “Come, join
hand in hand, brave Americans all, And rouse your bold hearts
at fair Liberty’s call...”
As we passed the harbor, we saw that the British ship
Dartmouth had arrived. It carries a load of more than 100
crates of tea. Two other British tea ships with similar
cargoes are due in port soon.
The British government is trying to control all of the
tea that is sold here. Only their selected tea agents in the
colonies may sell it. The British have chosen only Loyalists
as tea agents. They will get the profits, and we will have to
pay a tea tax. The only way to prevent this from happening
is to send the tea ships away—or refuse to unload the tea.
The leaders of the Sons of Liberty are working to
resolve the situation. They will let us know soon if any
action is needed.
The Sons of Liberty is a secret Patriot society. I
believe my father is a member. I sometimes hear rumors
of meetings, and on those nights, he is suspiciously absent
from home. My sister Sarah claims to be a member of the
Daughters of Liberty. She is only ten years of age. When

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I tell her that she is not old enough to be a Daughter of
Liberty, she lashes back at me. “You do nothing but run
through the streets of Boston with your school friends,
singing your Liberty Song,” she says. “But I help Mother
make Liberty Tea from loosestrife leaves! I go to spinning
bees and spin wool for cloth!”
American women are doing many things so that there
is no necessity to buy British goods. They make herbal teas
from our plants, and they make cloth. All the same, Sarah
annoys me no end. She is too strong-willed in her conduct.

5
 December 15, 1773
Much has happened in the past few weeks. All three
tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, are
now docked at Griffin’s Wharf. The British have refused
our requests to send the tea ships away. The Patriots of
Boston have said that the tea shall not be unloaded.
Hundreds of people gather daily to look at the ships.
At school, we talk endlessly of the situation. More
than one of us have felt the schoolmaster’s ferule on our
knuckles for not attending to our studies. The ferule has
not fallen heavily, though, because our schoolmaster is
also a Patriot.
It irks me that I cannot join the Sons of Liberty.
The men say that we schoolboys are over-filled with
fervor. They fear that we will resort to violence when
violence is not called for. Not called for? The thought
infuriates me. I will never forget the massacre in Boston
in 1770. The next day, I went to the site where the lob-
sterbacks had killed our noble Patriots. I saw their
frozen blood on the icy ground.
At home, things are unsettled, and it is all because
of the tea ships. More and more, my father has been
absent in the evenings. Thomas said that there was a
Sons of Liberty meeting at his family’s house, and he

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saw my father there. Thomas was not allowed to attend
the meeting, but he served punch in another room. He
eavesdropped outside the door. He could not hear every-
thing, but he said that something important is going to
take place on the night of December 16.
Sarah grows more irritable by the day. She thinks it
unfair that girls cannot go to school as boys do. She is
envious that I rove about Boston freely while she stays at
home with nothing to distract her but her chores. Sarah
is desperate to witness the goings-on first hand.

7
 December 16, 1773, early afternoon
What a morning it has been! At ten o’clock, thou-
sands of Patriots gathered at the Old South Meeting
House. I stood at the back of the crowd. Our business
was pressing—we needed to decide what to do about the
tea ships.
After much discussion, our leaders decided to make one
more legal attempt to send the tea away. They persuaded
Francis Rotch, owner of the tea ship Dartmouth, to visit the
Royal Governor of Massachusetts in person. The Patriots are
making Rotch ask for permission for the tea-laden ships to
leave the harbor. Since Governor Hutchinson is a Loyalist,
we do not have high hopes.
Thousands of people are now waiting for Rotch to
return to the meeting house. I believe that today’s events
(including those to come) will change our future. I am
eager to do my part. But for the moment, I shall return
home. Mother has prepared a delicious dinner, and I have
promised to tell Sarah the results of this day’s meeting.

8
December 17, 1773
Last night, Boston Harbor became the world’s largest
teapot! I must recount how it happened.
Yesterday after dinner, I prepared to return to the Old
South Meeting House. I had some difficulties leaving
home, however, as Sarah would not let go of my arm. “I
want to come with you!” she said, tugging insistently at my
sleeve. Mother told her that young girls did not belong at
such meetings. As I left, Sarah whispered, “I will see you
later!” That worried me.
At the meeting house, the mood was tense. Francis
Rotch had not returned. As the hour grew late, men lit
candles to ward off the darkness. When at last Rotch
arrived, he reported that he had not been successful.
One of our strongest leaders, Samuel Adams, then
surveyed the huge crowd. “This meeting can do nothing
more to save the country,” he said.

9
 I later discovered that his words were a prearranged
signal to the Sons of Liberty. With cries of “Hurrah for
Griffin’s Wharf!” and “Boston Harbor a teapot tonight!”
they put their plan into action.
Some men began to dress themselves in the outfit of
the Mohawk Indians. Others appeared at the Old South
Meeting House already dressed in their disguises. They
wore feathers on their heads and old blankets and ragged
clothing. Their faces were smeared with coal dust and red
paint. They carried hatchets, which they called “toma-
hawks.” The costumes were not convincing, but they served
their purpose. Loyalists and British soldiers would not be
able to identify the Patriots.
With whoops and hollers, the “Mohawks” rushed
from the meeting house. Most of us followed them. As I
ran out the door, I saw my friend Thomas. We headed for
Griffin’s Wharf together. We were joined by men and boys
from all over Boston. One “Indian” brushed by me on the
way to the wharf. For a brief moment, I thought I recog-
nized my father—and then he was gone.
We arrived at the wharf. Although it was nighttime,
numerous lamps and torches lit up the sky, making it as
bright as day. The crowd numbered in the hundreds and

10

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 grew by the moment. Soon there were thousands of
onlookers. Thomas and I watched as the men who were
dressed as Mohawks gathered near the tea ships. Three
men assumed the authority of leaders and divided the
men into groups of 40 to 50 each. In an orderly manner,
the three groups began to board the Dartmouth, the
Eleanor, and the Beaver.
“I wish we could join them,” said Thomas.
“I wish we could, too,” said an impertinent voice
beside me.
Sarah had appeared out of nowhere. “I told you I’d see
you later!” she said.
My sister cannot hold her saucy tongue. “How did you
get here?” I asked.
“I descended a rope,” she answered smugly.

11

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 Sarah was not jesting. Earlier that evening,
Mother sent her upstairs to bed. When Sarah heard
the activity in the streets outside, she knotted her
bedding together and hung it out the window. After
sliding down it to the street below, Sarah rushed to
the wharf.
“How did you know to come to the harbor?” I
asked her.
“I overheard Mother and Father talking last
night!” Sarah crowed triumphantly. “I knew about the
tea party before you did!”
Sometimes my sister tries my patience sorely.
“And why did you not convey this information to me?”
Thomas interrupted us. “Stop arguing. You’re
missing the fun!”
We turned our attention to the ships. The
captains had handed over the keys to the holds.
Neither the captains nor their crews protested or
interfered in any way. The Patriots began to
retrieve the tea. This was a difficult process, as the
tea chests weighed hundreds of pounds each. Sailors
on the wharf helped the Patriots attach block and
tackle to the chests and hoist them onto the decks.

12

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 Once the tea chests were on the decks, the Patriots got
to work with their hatchets and axes. As thousands of us
watched in almost total silence, they split open the chests
and dumped their contents overboard. The tea began to
fill the harbor, floating on the surface like thick seaweed.

13

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 The sight of the shattered chests and the aroma of
wet tea leaves stirred me greatly. Others must have felt
the same, for a number of volunteers joined the Patriots
on board to help discard the tea.
Thomas could no longer contain himself. “I’m going
to throw some tea overboard myself!” he said to me. “Will
you join me?”
I was sorely tempted, but I had a young sister by my
side. Mother and Father would never forgive me if they
heard I abandoned Sarah to embark on a tea ship.
“You go,” I told Thomas miserably. “I can’t leave
Sarah alone here.”
A small hand slipped into mine. “I’m sorry,” said my
sister quietly.
14
 Sarah and I watched as Thomas ran to the Dartmouth
and boarded the ship. In short order, he was bracing himself
against a mast and helping a “Mohawk” tip over a heavy
chest. I admit I felt a twinge of envy at the sight.
Sarah was fascinated with the goings-on. “Imagine
how many millions of cups of tea there are in the water!”
she said.
“They will never be drunk,” I assured her proudly.
I had spoken too soon. Apparently at least one of
the volunteers did not have noble motives after all; he
had boarded a ship in order to take some tea for his own
use. It was Sarah who made the discovery.
“Thief! Scoundrel!” she suddenly shouted, bolting off
after a man who rushed past us. As I ran after Sarah, I saw
that the man’s pockets were bulging with tea.

15
 Sarah was swift, but the man was swifter. Darting
through the crowd, he headed away from the harbor,
toward the cramped and hidden alleyways of the city.
“Help! Stop the tea-stealer!” cried Sarah.
The onlookers turned their attention from the ships to
Sarah, and then to the man she was pursuing. In a trice, two
burly men had collared the thief and hauled him back to the
wharf. They took the tea out of his pockets, threw it into
the water, and tossed the scoundrel in after it.
The crowd cheered. “Well done, child!” they said to
my sister.
I was proud of Sarah. She does not lack courage.
On the tea ships, the Patriots continued their
labors. It took over three hours to dispose of all the tea.
Afterwards, the decks were swept clean, and everything
was put back in place. The ship’s officers were brought
to the decks to confirm that no damage had been done.
Then, accompanied by the music of a fife, the successful
“Mohawks” fell into line and marched away.
Sarah and I walked slowly homeward, discussing
the events of the evening. While I had not anticipated—
indeed, had not welcomed—my sister’s presence, her
Patriot spirit had impressed me greatly. We agreed it
was best, however, that our parents not discover her
absence from home that evening.

16
 It was our plan that Sarah should return to her room
by climbing the knotted bedding that she had left hanging
from the window. But our plans were thwarted. As we
approached home, a figure emerged from the shadows. It
was Father… and he was dressed as a Mohawk. Father was
as surprised by our presence as we were by his. Perhaps
because of this, he did not chastise Sarah overmuch. We
went inside together.
I shall remember last night forever. I believe that
when the Patriots boarded the tea ships, our country
embarked on a voyage toward freedom.

17

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 Glossary
block and tackle a system of pulleys and ropes used to lift
heavy objects

ferule a wooden stick similar to a thick ruler, used as

punishment in schools

lobsterback an insulting nickname for British soldiers,

who wore a red coat as part of their uniform

Loyalist an American colonist who supported the British

(also called a Tory)

Old South Meeting House the largest meeting place in

colonial Boston; Patriots held important meetings here

Patriot an American colonist who rebelled against the

British (also called a Whig)

Sons of Liberty a secret society of Patriots formed in 1765

to oppose the Stamp Act

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 Responding
TARGET SKILLCause and Effect Think about
the events of December 16, 1773, recounted by
Henry Parker in A Night to Remember. Then copy
and complete the chart below to show how the
events are related as causes and effects.

Cause Cause Cause

Francis Rotch asks ? ?
Governor Hutchin-
son to allow the
tea ships to leave
Boston Harbor.

Effect
?

Write About It
Text to Self Henry and his sister, Sarah, witness an
important event. They realize that this event will
change their lives. Think of an important event you
have witnessed. Write two paragraphs to describe the
event and explain how it affected you.

19

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 TARGET VOCABULARY

bracing pressing
conduct representatives
cramped shattered
distracted surveyed
embark viewpoint

TARGET SKILL Cause and Effect Tell how events are

related and how one event causes another.

TARGET STRATEGY Visualize Use text details to form

pictures in your mind of what you are reading.

GENRE Historical Fiction is a story whose characters

and events are set in a real period of history.

20

5_017499_LR3_1OL_NightRemember.i20 20 12/20/07 9:49:43 AM

 Level: U
DRA: 44
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Strategy:
Visualize
Skill:
Cause and Effect
Word Count: 2,377

5.3.11

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

ISBN-13:978-0-547-01749-5
ISBN-10:0-547-01749-9

by Holly Melton illustrated by Bob Dacey

1031597
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN

5_017499_OL_LRSE_CVR_L11_NightRemember.indd 1 12/3/09 11:13:44 PM