January 4, 1776

In late 1775 in Queen’s County, New York, the cat was “let out of the bag.” This news item, initially printed in a New York City newspaper, described how a group of boys set their dogs loose on a cat, and chased after on horseback. The scene is easy to imagine—boys on horses, trailing after dogs, trailing after a cat. But this was wartime. And, as the article described, the sight of young men racing on horseback was mistaken as an alarm by “an Assemblyman, whose imagination converted them into Yankees.” Letting the cat out of the bag evidently caused a panic on Long Island, as people fled or sought shelter, until they were “told the confusion was occasioned by a few boys hunting some cats.” 

This story may be truthful, exaggerated, or completely invented. In any event, it gives a sense of the anxiety permeating communities in 1776. People worried that the British occupation of Boston was merely the beginning, and that the war could be at their front door at any moment. This article is also a reminder of how young the men participating in the conflict could be. The sight of boys on horseback made the assemblyman think of war, not play. Their innocent fun—though perhaps not from the cat’s perspective—was perceived very differently by their neighbors.

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

NEW-YORK, January 1.
[...]
The other week, some boys in Queen’s county, having caught several cats, went to the plain, with their dogs, to have the pleasure of hunting them. A cat, being let out of the bag, was pursued by the dogs, and the lads, who were on horseback, followed in full chace. The cat led them towards Hempstead, and just at that instant they were seen by an Assemblyman, whose imagination converted them into Yankees. He set off immediately post-haste to alarm the people, who had for some time dreaded a visit from their friends in New-England, and a great part of the country were thrown into the utmost consternation; some betook themselves to flight for safety, and others sought shelter in recluse and solitary places, where they concealed themselves until hunger compelled them to venture out, which they did with ghastly countenances, and upon observing the coast clear, they sneaked back to their homes, when they were told the confusion was occasioned by a few boys hunting some cats. A justice of the peace was absent from home three days on this occasion.