USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
The Petition of the Town of Newburyport, in the County of Essex, humbly shews
That in the years 1775 & 1776, the said Town, in order to guard and defend themselves, & the neighbouring Towns, from the apprehended invasions, & attacks of the enemy, then infesting the Sea Coasts, and making depredations on the Maratime Towns of the State prepared & Sunk a number of piers in the Channel of Merrimack River, near the mouth thereof, built a fort, on Salisbury side of said River, and another on Plumb Island, near the entrance of the harbour, constructed a float- ing Battery, built a Barge, & made a number of Gun Carriages, the whole expence of all which amounted to the sum of two thousand four hundred & thirty-three pounds, eight shillings & two pence half penny as by the account thereof, supported by sufficient vouchers, ready herewith to be exhibited, will plainly & clearly appear.
That Merrimack river was then a channel of conveyance of Stores for the Army, that two Continental Frigates were then building in this Town which with other causes, peculiarly marked the Town as an object of vengeance to the Enemy, that said works were probably the means of preventing the Enemy from entering the harbour, destroying said Frig- ates, and spreding destruction thro this part of the State, and at the
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. I., pp. 445-447.
2 House of Representatives (Journal), pp. 100-102.
610
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
same time rendered it a safe assylum for vessels belonging to Boston, then in the power of the Enemy, & of those belonging to Marblehead, Cape Ann & other exposed Maratime Towns, and altho from the press- ing necessity of the case, these works were begun before there was time to apply for any order of the General Court for the purpose, yet there is no doubt, but that they would have directed them to have been done (if there had been) at the public expence, which clearly appears from this circumstance, that upon the report of a respectable committee, sent by the General Court to take a view of the situation of the Town & Har- bour, they fully manifested their approbation of said works, as prudent & necessary for the public safety, by making provision for supplying said Forts on Plum Island with Guns, Ammunition & Stores & maintaining a Garrison there for a considerable time.
The Town thus favored with the countenance & approbation of the government, & knowing that what they had thus expended was in the public service & for the public good, made no doubt, that the same would be allowed & paid by Government, and seasonably exhibited their account fairly vouched & applied for payment to the General Court, and have made repeated applications for payment since ; nevertheless, though these accounts have never been disputed, nor objected to, as unreason- able, or improper, nor the necessity & propriety of the works about which the money was expended called in question, nor any doubt made respect- ing its being for the public good, yet the Town has never been able to obtain any payment thereof, the refusal of which they have never been able to account for, and have ever considered as a very great grevience & to which they have hitherto been obliged with great reluctance to submit, they venture to say that no other expence of a like nature, and to any large amount by any other Town in the Goverment has been re- fused payment of ; and to every such expence, which the General Court has allowed & paid to a number of other Towns, in the commonwealth, this Town, has always contributed a large share, and when they call to mind the very great exertions they made, as great at least as any Town in the Government in proportion to their abilities, and the very great expences they incurred in the public cause, they are constrained to use the freedom, tho with all due decency and respect, to say that in their opinion, the gov- ernment is, & ever has been bound by every obligation of honor & justice to pay them this demand. The Town further beg leave as an additional rea- son for this repeated application to suggest that they have no where else to apply for payment as no accounts of individuals or Towns, or any other but the demands of the individual states as such will be received, or admitted by the Commissioners of Congress, appointed to examine the demands against the United States and if now refused they will be for ever pre- cluded from receiving any compensation whatever. Wherefore, and as the Town are still labouring under this & other heavy debts contracted in the defence of the country in the late war, and have been ever since, and still
REVOLUTIONARY WAR CLAIMS
6II
are paying Interest for the same, they humbly hope & trust, that payment of the principal at least, will be no longer denied or delayed, and that the Town will be considered by your honors, as having already suffered enough by being so long kept out of it, and by having paid as much In- terest, as the principal amounts to, without being oblidged to submit to a total, & final loss of the principal too. Firmly relying that Justice, tho long delayed, will at last be done them, your Petitioners humbly pray, that the said sum of £2433.8.2} may be ordered to be paid them out of any unappropriated monies, in the Treasury, by warrant from the Governour with the advice of Council, in satisfaction for their demand.
And as in duty bound will ever pray By order and in behalf of the Town of Newburyport, May 16, 1792.
MOSES HOYT SAMUEL BAYLEY
Select Men
NATH' CARTER, JR JOHN MYCALL
RICHARD BARTLET
of Newburyport 1
This petition was read in the house of representatives on the twentieth day of June following, but no definite action was taken at that date,2 and no further attempt to obtain reimburse- ment has been discovered.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., pp. 51-53.
2 House of Representatives (Journal), vol. XIII., p. 114.
CHAPTER XVI.
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
JEREMIAH O'BRIEN was captain of the sloop Unity when she attacked and captured the English armed cutter Marga- retta in the harbor of Machias, Me., June 12, 1775. Two weeks later, the following resolution was passed by the provin- cial congress, then in session at Watertown :-
Resolved, That the thanks of this Congress be, and they are hereby given to Capt. Jeremiah O'Brien and Capt. Benjamin Foster, and the other brave men under their command, for their courage and good con duct in taking one of the tenders belonging to our enemies and two sloops belonging to Ichabod Jones, and for preventing the ministerial troops being supplied with lumber ; and that the said tender, sloops, their appurtenances and cargoes remain in the hands of the said Captains O'Brien and Foster and the men under their command, for them to use and improve, as they shall think most for their and the public advantage, until the further order of this, or some future Congress, or house of representatives ; and that the Committee of Safety for the western parish of Pownalborough, be ordered to convey the prisoners taken by the said O'Brien and Foster from Pownalborough jail to the Committee of Safety or correspondence for the town of Brunswick; and the committee for Brunswick to con- vey them to some committee in the county of York, and so to be con- veyed, from county to county, till they arrive at this congress.I
In the columns of the Essex Journal and Merrimack Pack- et, a newspaper published in Newburyport, the following no- tice appeared on the eleventh day of August :-
Last Tuesday Capt. O'Bryan passed through this Town with seven officers and Ichabod Jones, a well known enemy to this Country, who were taken prisoners from three or four of the Enemy's vessels at Ma- chias ; and the day following seventeen men more from the same place, all on their way to Head-quarters.
On the twenty-first day of August, the General Court voted
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXXXVIII., p. 172; and printed journals of the provincial congress, p. 399.
612
613
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
to appoint officers and enlist men to navigate the vessels fitted out at Machias for the defence of the sea coast,' and two days later passed an order to pay "Capt. Jeremiah O'Brien, com- mander of the armed schooner Diligent & of the sloop Machias Liberty, now in the harbor of Machias " the sum of one hun- dred and sixty pounds and supply the vessel with men and ammunition; " for all of which and the captures he shall make he [Capt. O'Brien] is to account with this Court."2
On the first day of November, the General Court passed " An act for encouraging the fixing out of armed vessels to defend the sea coast of America, and for erecting a court to try and condemn all vessels that shall be found infesting the same,"3 and on the twenty-fifth a special committee appointed by congress made the following recommendation which was accepted and adopted :-
... that no master or commander of any vessel shall be entitled to cruise for or make prize of any vessel or cargo before he shall have ob- tained a commission from the Congress, or from such person or persons as shall be for that purpose appointed in some one of the United Colonies.4
Privateers were probably fitted out in Newburyport previous to the twenty-fifth day of November, as the following item published in a Salem newspaper seems to indicate :-
Last Saturday a Privateer, belonging to Newbury Port, carried into Portsmouth a schooner of 45 tons loaded with potatoes and turnips in- tended for the enemy in Boston.5
In December, the sloop Game Cock, twenty tons burthen, and the schooner Washington, fifty tons burthen, were equipped for service as privateers. The owners of these vesssls wrote to Benjamin Greenleaf, a member of the General Court, then in session at Watertown, as follows :-
1 Massachusetts Archives (Court Records), vol. XXXIII., pp. 135 and 136; and vol. CCVI., pp. 277-280.
2 Massachusetts Archives (Court Records), vol. XXXIII., p. 153; and preced- ing chapter, pp. 569-571.
3 Province Laws, vol. V., ch. VII., pp. 436-441. This act was repealed February 14, 1776, and a new one passed, providing for the more effectual fitting out of armed vessels. (Province Laws, vol. V., pp. 462-468).
4 American Archives, fourth series, vol. III., p. 1927.
5 Essex Gazette, November 24-30, 1775.
614
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
NEWBURYPORT, Dec. 8, 1775.
HONOURED SIR :
We are engaged in fixing out Captain Peter Roberts, the bearer, in a small sloop, for a privateer, and have to ask the favour of you to assist him in procuring a commission for that purpose as we are all pretty much engaged in privateers, powder vessels, recruits &c and cannot, with any convenience come down. If you will stand in with Captain Roberts as a bondsman we hereby engage to stand between you and harm, as though our names were down instead of yours in the bond.
We are, sir, respectfully your very obedient servants.
JONATHAN TITCOMB MOSES LITTLE TRISTRAM DALTON STEPHEN & RALPH CROSS. JACKSON, TRACY & TRACY.
P. S. The sloop Game Cock, burden about twenty tons.
To B. GREENLEAF. 1
NEWBURYPORT, Dec. 8, 1775.
SIR :
The needful of this is to beg the favour you will assist the bearer, Captain Offin Boardman, in getting a commission for the schooner Washington as we have fitted her for a privateer. In case you would be bondsman for Captain Boardman we will, at all events, indemnify you. Your compliance with this request will lay us under the strongest obli- gations to you.
We are, with respect, your most humble servants,
THOMAS JONES NATHAN BLODGET JOHN STICKNEY ABNER GREENLEAF JOSEPH MARQUAND.
To the HONORABLE BENJAMIN GREENLEAF, EsQ.
Commissions were granted to Capt. Peter Roberts and Capt. Offin Boardman at a meeting of the council held on the eleventh day of December following.2
On the fifteenth day of January, 1776, the brig Sukey was brought into Newburyport, taken, it is said, by the privateer Washington, Capt. Offin Boardman, master, and the same day the ship Friends was captured by a crew of seventeen men, in three whale boats, under the command of Captain Boardman. The ship was discovered in the offing, flying English colors, evidently uncertain what course to steer. Joseph Stanwood, John Coombs, Gideon Woodwell, Enoch Hale, Johnson Lunt,
1 American Archives, fourth series, vol. IV., p. 1229.
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
615
CAPT. OFFIN BOARDMAN.
Cutting Lunt and others, whose names have not been ascer- tained, concluded that she had lost her bearings and had mis- taken Ipswich bay for Boston harbor. Assisted by Captain Boardman they procured three whale boats, and taking advan- tage of the out-going tide they soon crossed the bar and came within speaking distance of the ship. In answer to the en- quiry, " Where are you from and where bound ?" came back the prompt reply " From London bound to Boston." "Do you want a pilot ? " asked Captain Boardman. Receiving an af- firmative reply, he offered to serve in that capacity, and was soon standing on the ship's quarter-deck engaged in conversa- tion with the English captain.
Meanwhile the boat's crew, armed with boarding-pikes and pistols, quietly ascended the ship's gangway and suddenly as-
616
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
sumed a threatening attitude, whereupon Captain Boardman taking command of the ship ordered her colors to be struck. His orders were obeyed and a few hours later the ship was safe- ly moored at one of the wharves in Newburyport.1 The next day Jonathan Jackson wrote to the colonial authorities at Watertown, as follows :-
NEWBURY PORT, January 16, 1776.
To the President of the Honorable Council of the Colony of the Mas- sachusetts Bay.
SIR: Yesterday forenoon appeared in our Bay a brig and a ship which were suspected to be enemy's vessels. These vessels were soon taken and brought safe into the river. The ship was from London eleven weeks since and is named The Friends, Archibald Bowie, master, burden about two hundred tons, laden with coals, porter, pickled cabbage, vinegar, live hogs, &c. for Government service. The ship was to enter Boston, as a transport. The brig was from Cork, about ten weeks since, and is named the Sukey, Mandatt Engs, master, burden about ninety tons, lad- en with beef, pork, butter, hams, tongues, potatoes &c and owned by Lewis Grey of Boston. Both these vessels were bound to Boston. There were two passengers in the brig, viz : Lieutenant Hill of Earl Percy's regiment2 and Mr. John Gray, son of Harrison Gray, Esq. We thought it best to forward the two masters and these two passengers to the honourable Council to dispose of them as they may think fit, and to make what in- quiries they may choose. . ..
In behalf of the Committee of Safety for this town I am, sir, your very obedient servant.
JONATHAN JACKSON.3
' History of Newbury (Coffin), pp. 251 and 252; History of Newburyport (Mrs. E. Vale Smith), pp. 107 and 108.
2 Then in Boston.
3 American Archives, fourth series, vol. IV., p. 792; and Massachusetts Ar- chives, vol. CXCIV., pp. 202 and 203.
The cargo of the brigantine Sukey, from Ireland, consisted of
29 Tierces of best Beef
1 Tierce of best Pork
18 Barrels ditto
9 Half Barrels ditto
31 Half Barrels ditto
II Barrels ditto
150 Firkins of Butter
8 Puncheons of Oats
72 Casks ditto
8 Firkins of Lard
64 Firkins of Tongues Barrel ditto
19 Kegs of Tripe
2 Casks of Peas
Io Half Barrels ditto
109 Hampers of Potatoes
and 10 Puncheons of Claret Wine
The cargo of the ship Friends, from London, consisted of
52 Chaldron of Coals 20 Hogsheads of Vinegar 86 Butts of Porter 16 ditto Sour Krout 30 Hogsheads ditto 23 Live Hogs
" for the use of the ministerial army at Boston."
(Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, January 19, 1776, in Boston Athenaeum.)
617
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Four days later, Lieutenant Hill and his servant were sent to General Washington, at Cambridge, by order of the council, as stated in the following letter :-
WATERTOWN, 20th Jany 1776.
SIR :-
The Council upon Examination of several persons who were sent here by the Committee of Safety of Newburyport & were taken on board a ship from London & a Brig from Cork, both bound to Boston, find that one of the passengers in the latter is a Lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment (Earl Percy's) now in Boston, They have therefore ordered the sd Lieutenant Hill with his Servant to be sent to yr Excellency to be dis- posed of as you may think proper.
In the name & by ordr of the Committee
HIS EXCELLENCY GENL WASHINGTON I
W. SEVER.
Captains Bowie and Engs were returned to the committee of safety in Newburyport with the following instructions : -
COUNCIL CHAMBER, Jany 20, 1776.
GENTLEMEN,
We have sent to your care Archibald Bowie and Madatt Engs masters of the two vessels lately taken and carried into Newburyport and you are requested to see that the above mentioned persons do not go without the limits of sd Town and if you see cause therefor you are de- sired to confine sd persons or either of them 'till the further order of the Council.
In the name & by Ordr of the Council
W. SEVER, President.
The COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, NEWBURYPORT.2
John Gray of Boston, who was accused of corresponding with the enemies of his country, was ordered, by the council, to be kept in close confinement in the jail on King, now Federal, street, Newburyport.3 In order to secure his release, James Otis, one of the prominent leaders of the revolutionary period, wrote as follows " to the Honorable Council at Bos- ton."
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCIV., p. 224.
2 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCIV., p. 223.
Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXIV., p. 242.
618
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
BARNSTABLE, Febr 3d 1776.
GENTLEMEN,
At the Earnest Solicitation of my Daughter in Law the wife of my son Samuel Alyn Otis, I have Presumed to write a Line to your Honours in Behalf of her Brother, John Gray, who we hear is confined to New- bury Gaol. How far he was concerned in the affair so as to be confined in a Gaol you that have had the examination of that matter are certainly the Best judges. I would just hint to your honours that as he is a minor and must be supposed altogether under the Direction of others whether in case sufficient Bondsmen should appear in his Behalf that he shall not go into Boston in such a time as you shall sett, nor supply our enemies nor correspond with them, whether he may not be confined to some Town in the county until the Court shall otherwise order. But I must leave the matter with your Honours Discretion hoping I shall be excused, Considering my Caution in giving these hints, and gentm your most obedient & Humble Servt
JAMES OTIS I
This letter evidently had the desired effect, for on the eighth day of February the council ordered the removal of John Gray from Newburyport to Barnstable, provided that Samuel Allyne Otis, with sufficient sureties, gave a bond for one thous- and pounds " that the said Jno Gray shall not pass without the limits of the said town of Barnstable or correspond with the Enemies of America or supply them with Provision of any kind."2
How long Capt. Archibald Bowie was detained in Newbury- port is uncertain. The following letters indicate that he was anxious to return to England and that he was granted permis- sion to go there in a vessel sailing from some other port than Boston.
NEWBURY PORT, Sth Feb. 1776.
GENTLEMEN,
I beg leave to represent to you that I am the person that commanded the ship Friends, taken and brought into this Port, and being well in- formed that the masters of the vessels taken by the Continental Armed Vessels has got Liberty from Genl Washington to return to Great Brit- tain in the best manner they can, also their private property has been given to them and that their liberty is more extended than you have thought proper to allow me.
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCIV., p. 239.
2 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXCIV., p. 240.
619
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Presuming that I am in no shape more culpable than any of these masters I am in hopes you will be pleased to allow me the same Indul- gence as has been granted to them by his Excellency Genl Washington, I am your obdt & most humble servant
ACHD BOWIE.
I beg leave to solicit the Letters Inclosed may be permitted to pass to Boston.
To the Honbl the Council at Watertown.I
COUNCIL CHAMBER, Feb. 20, 1776.
GENT :
Capt. Archd Bowie (who was lately taken in the ship Friends and bro't into yr port) in a Letter addressed to the Council has requested that his private property taken in the ship may be restored unto him and that he may be suffered to return to Great Britain. To the latter re- quest there is no objection provided he can get there in any suitable way, but he is by no means to go into Boston, nor travel through the country with a view to procure a passage, or on any other pretence, which you are desired to prevent. The Council declined passing any order respecting his property as Courts are erected for the purpose of trying & determin- ing such captures.
Capt Bowie may be informed that the letters he inclosed have been dld to Gen1-Washington in order to be sent to Boston and he will doubt- less cause them to be sent the first convenient oppy
In ye name & by order of ye Council
Committee of Safety at Newburyport.2
B. GREELEAF.
April 3, 1776, a series of resolutions relating to the grant- ing of commissions for private ships of war and letters of marque and reprisal were adopted by the continental congress, requiring captains and owners of vessels to give bonds to ob- serve certain rules and regulations in regard to the capture of British ships and cargoes, and providing for the sending out of blank commissions " to the General Assemblies, Coun- cilors or Committees of Safety in the United Colonies " to be filled out and delivered to persons entitled to receive them.3 Several months later, the following order was adopted by the governor and council of the colony of Massachusetts Bay :-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXIV., p. 264.
2 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXIV., p. 263.
3 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CXXXVIII., pp. 307 and 308 ; and American Archives, fourth series, vol. V., pp. 1657 and 1658.
620
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
[August 22, 1776] Ordered that the Resolves of the Honble Congress of the 3rd of April last Respecting persons applying for Commissions or Letters of Marque & Reprisal be published in the several Newspapers in this state that all persons fitting out such vessells may know how to make application for their commissions.I
February 25, 1776, a brig under the command of Capt. Daniel Lunt of Newburyport, was captured "about two leagues distant from Cape Ann " by the English sloop-of-war Lively. Captain Lunt was taken to Boston and confined on board an East India merchantman in the harbor. He escaped on the night of March twentieth, and subsequently published an account of his capture and the treatment that he received while a prisoner. The committee of correspondence in New- buryport accepted his statements as reliable and annexed to the account the following certificate :-
In Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety NEWBURYPORT April 19, 1776.
Voted That the several Printers on the Continent be and hereby are desired to publish the foregoing Narrative of Capt. Daniel Lunt. And we do hereby certify that the said Captain Lunt was born and brought up among us, and is esteemed a man of truth and we think full credit may be paid to said narrative.
By order of the Committee JONATHAN TITCOMB, Chairman.2
The privateer Yankee Hero was probably launched early in the spring of 1776. A commission granted Capt. James Tracy reads as follows :-
Colony of the Massachusetts Bay.
The major part of the Council of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- land to Ja. Tracey, Gentleman, greeting :
Whereas James Tracey, Jonathan Jackson, Nathaniel Tracey, John Tracey and Joseph Lee, Merchants, have at their own expense, fixed out and equipped, for the defence of America, a vessel called the Yankee Hero, burthen about one hundred and twenty tons, and have recom- mended you as a suitable person to be commander thereof : We have thought fit to commission you for the purpose aforesaid, and do accord-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXV., p. 142.
2 American Archives, fourth series, vol. V., pp. 759 and 760.
621
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
ingly, by these presents give you, the said James Tracey, full power, with such other persons as you shall engage to your assistance, to sail in the said vessel on the seas, attack, take and bring into any port in this Col- ony all armed and other vessels which shall be found making unlawful in- vasions, attacks or depredations on the sea-coasts or navigation of any part of America, or improved in supplying the fleet and army, which have been or shall at any time be, employed against the United Colonies, or employed by the enemies of America in any respect whatsoever; and also all vessels whose masters or supercargoes shall have had designs of carrying supplies of any kind to the enemy, or that shall be returning from the enemy after having carried such supplies, that such proceedings may be had thereon as are required by a law of this Colony entitled " An act for encouraging the fixing out of armed vessels to defend the sea coast of America, and for erecting a Court to try and Condemn all ves- sels that shall be found infesting the same." And you are hereby direct- ed in all your proceedings to govern yourself by the said act.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.