Calls for independence shook the wealthy gentry with their grand mansions in Chestertown and their patchwork of prosperous Kent County plantations and farms. It was in the interest of the upper echelons of Kent County society to remain loyal to the Crown. Yet the Revolutionary spirit did ignite, as Chestertown protested parliament's duty on tea and sent flour to aid the poor in the closed port of Boston. While militia was raised, Kent County's true value to Washington was as a key breadbasket for his Continental army. Still, the revolutionaries found it difficult to gain a firm foothold. Religious and social tensions created a charged atmosphere as Loyalists burned rebel mills to the ground only to be in turn attacked by rebel mobs. Author Theodore Corbett unravels the complexities of a community thrust into war.
