It was a Sunday in March 1776, too early in the year for demanding fieldwork but another opportunity for Ethan to perform some of his never-ending chores. This morning he was splitting shingles, surrounded by round sections of a large red oak tree, each carefully sawn two and a half feet long. The grain was almost perfectly straight, and it was a pleasure to divide each section down the middle with a blow of his ax and then, if needed, his chisels. He would then separate the two halves, then the quarters, and continue until each bolt of wood was about two inches thick. He removed the relatively soft heartwood in what had been the center of the tree and then, with his froe, he divided the bolts until he had a surprisingly large pile of shingles, about six inches wide and none more than a half inch thick. There was a rhythm to his work, which included placing the shingles into neat piles until he was ready to install them as the roof of a new cattle shed. With his strength and skill, this kind of work took little more effort than breathing, and he had plenty of time for his mind to wander from one subject to another.

Now, though, he was deeply troubled, feeling somehow that his entire way of life might be changed. He and Epsey had spent several hours during the previous afternoon and night reading a pamphlet called “Common Sense” that Aaron Hart had brought to their cabin. He said that the treatise had been distributed widely throughout the colonies and had created a furor. Militants had been delighted, monarchists were filled with condemnation, and most other citizens had been amazed at the inflammatory language used. Aaron added that almost every household in Charles Town and Savannah had purchased a copy.

Ethan realized that no longer could there be a moderating distinction between unrestrained condemnation of Parliament and statements of continuing loyalty to the crown. King George III was attacked personally in the pamphlet as “the Royal Brute,” monarchy was denounced as an unreasonable form of government, and there was an open call for complete freedom from British rule. These words were a shock, almost a sacrilege, to many people in the colonies who were loyal British subjects, and this included Epsey and Ethan. He had an uneasy memory of the hours he had spent in his brother’s shop in Hillsborough, when similar rhetoric was used to condemn the government and policies of Governor Tryon, and he could not erase the image of Henry’s lifeless body swinging at the end of the executioner’s rope.