Loyal Nine

Mostly middle-class businessmen, the Loyal Nine enlisted Ebenezer Mackintosh to rally large crowds of commoners to their cause and provided the protesters with food, drink, and supplies.

As the leader of the South End gang, Mackintosh could easily gather two or three thousand men on short notice.

Some felt he had allowed the protests to become too violent, particularly the August 26 raid that destroyed the home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson.

[8] Fearing Mackintosh was another "Masaniello" (an Italian fisherman who had led a proletarian rebellion in the 17th century), they replaced him with Thomas Young and William Molineaux, members of their own social circle.

At the actual event, Bass, Chase, Crafts, and Edes actively participated in the destruction of British East India Company tea.