A Farmer’s Letter Home

In the autumn of 1774, a farmer in Massachusetts wrote to his wife while away on business in Boston. His words were not of muskets or militias, but of harvests, flour, and hope for the winter.

“The talk of liberty stirs every man, yet the price of flour weighs heavier on our minds than the quarrels of Parliament. The merchants say molasses grows dear, and sugar near vanished from the market. I pray we may see both freedom and bread upon our table. Keep the children close and the hearth warm, and tell them their father’s heart is with them, though his body be far.”

Farmers like him lived at the crossroads of revolution and survival. While speeches echoed from taverns and town halls, households worried most about how to stretch flour, how to sweeten their bread without sugar, how to keep children fed. For many, the American Revolution was as much about daily bread as about independence.

Inspired by this letter, here is a recipe from Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery (1796), the first published American cookbook. It uses pumpkin—a staple for farmers who often lacked wheat or sweeteners during lean times.

Pumpkin Bread (Pompkin Loaf)
Adapted for the modern kitchen

• 2 cups cooked pumpkin

• 2 cups rye or whole wheat flour

• ½ cup molasses or honey

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp nutmeg

• 1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water

Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes. The result is a humble, nourishing loaf—a taste of resilience from a household that weathered both hunger and history.