USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 50
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Joseph Marquand and others
Nathan Poor December 14, 1781
Ship Diamond 160 tons burthen
John Babson
Zebulon Babson
and others
December 29, 1781
Letter of marque 8
Ship Antelope
Tristram Dalton and others
Edward Fettyplace February 6, 1782.
100 tons burthen Letter of marque 9
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXI., p. 417.
2 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXI., p. 431. 3 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXI., p. 436. 4 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXI., p. 449. 5 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXII., p. 60.
6 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXII., p. 76. 7 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXII., p. 83. Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXII., p. 89.
9 Massachusetts Archives, vol. CLXXII., p. 96.
William Wilcomb
and others
November 15, 1781
Ship Elizabeth 350 tons burthen Letter of marque 6
647
PRIVATEERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Schooners Ranger, Lee and Fly, brigantines Betsey and Stork, and many other vessels were probably granted commis- sions as letters of marque or privateers in addition to the ves- sels named in the above list, but no evidence of the fact has been discovered, except the following-described bonds on file at the state house in Boston, one signed September 25, 1776, by Peter Roberts, master of the schooner Ranger, owned by Jonathan Titcomb, Tristram Dalton, Thomas Thomas and Ebenezer Parsons ;" one signed November 27, 1776, by Nathan- iel Odiorne, master of the schooner Lee, owned by Joseph Marquand, John Coffin Jones and others ;2 one signed January I, 1779, by Nathaniel Bently, master of the brigantine Betsey, owned by John Tracy and others ;3 one signed July 6, 1779, by Nathaniel Bently, master of the schooner Fly, owned by Sam- uel Batchelder and others ;4 and one signed September 2, 1779, by John Coombs, master of the brigantine Stork, owned by William Coombs and Abel Greenleaf.5
1 Massachusetts Archives (Armed Vessels), vol. VII., p. 39.
2 Massachusetts Archives (Armed Vessels), vol. VI., p. 213.
3 Massachusetts Archives (Armed Vessels), vol. V., p. 26.
4 Massachusetts Archives ( Armed Vessels), vol. V., p. 279.
5 Massachusetts Archives (Armed Vessels), vol. VII., pp. 189-191.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812.
AT a town meeting held July 17, 1807, a communication from the committee of correspondence of Norfolk, Va., in re- gard to an attack made on an American frigate by an English ship-of-war, off the coast of Virginia, was read and the follow- ing resolutions were adopted :--
Whereas by a late Proclamation of the President of the United States it appears that an alarming outrage has been committed on the Amer- ican Flag by one of his Brittainick Majesties Ships of War; and where- as we deem it proper on an occassion so disturbing to the feelings of our fellow Citizens to publicly manifest our sentiments thereon, therefore be it
I. Resolved that we consider the attack made upon the United States Frigate Chesapeake by the British Ship of War, Leopard, a vio- lation of our national rights and an insult to our national dignity, no less humiliating than unwarrantable.
2. Resolved that the firm, dignified and temperate policy adopted by the President of the United States at this alarming Crisis shall have our most cordial approbation and support.
3. Resolved that we unite with our Government in wishing ardently for the continuance of peace on just and honorable terms : yet we are willing and ready to co-operate in the support of any measures, however serious, which may tend to secure the honor and safety of our country and we pledge our lives and fortunes to support the same.
## 4. Resolved that the Conduct of our Brethren at Norfolk and the vi- cinity, on this occasion, before the orders of Government could be obtained, was truly spirited and patriotic ; and that the selectmen be requested to return a respectful answer to their Communication with a copy of the proceedings of this meeting.I
On the twenty-second day of December following, congress passed a law forbidding the clearance of American vessels for foreign ports. Newburyport suffered severely by this arbi-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., P. 351.
648
649
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812
trary restriction of commerce. Items like the following were frequently published in the newspapers of the day :-
[April 5, 1808] The following is a correct list of vessels now laying in this port embargoed : 15 ships, 27 brigs, I barque, 27 schooners. Total, 70 vessels.I
[July 12, 1808] There are now collected in our harbor 24 ships 28 brigs and 27 schs-this is the first six months product of farmer Jeffer- son's embargo.I
[July 15, 1808] Our wharves have now the stillness of the grave,-in- deed nothing flourishes on them but vegetation.I
At a town meeting held August 9, 1808, a committee was appointed to prepare a petition to be presented to Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States, praying for a change in the policy of the national government. To this petition the president replied, on the twenty-sixth, that he was author- ized by an act of congress to suspend the operation of the embargo when hostilities between the belligerent powers of Europe ceased, but he was unable to grant the prayer of the petitioners " as no peace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting neutral commerce is known to have taken place."2
January 12, 1809, a committee appointed by the inhabitants of Newburyport reported a series of resolutions, which were accepted and ordered to be sent to the merchants and manu- facturers of neighboring towns, denouncing the embargo as unnecessary and unwise, hostile to the best interests of the country, threatening the liberties of the people, and violating the principles of the constitution. The activity displayed in the enlistment of soldiers was condemned in the following terms :-
Resolved that we view with inexpressible alarm the organization of a great and unusual military force in time of peace ; a force whose desti- nation is studiously concealed, and whose object it is impossible to con- jecture unless it be to overcome the community and enforce measures
1 Newburyport Semi-Weekly Herald.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 368.
650
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
warring at once with their wishes their interests and their most precious rights.1
At the same meeting, a long and spirited memorial was adopted urging the members of the General Court to exert their influence to prevent, if possible, "the utter destruction of trade and commerce and restore peace and prosperity to our unhappy country."'
Congress repealed the embargo act March 1, 1809, but many perplexing and irritating complications followed, which finally resulted in a war with Great Britain, in 1812.
At a town meeting held June 15, 1812, a committee was appointed to prepare a memorial, or address, to be presented to the General Court pledging financial aid to, and support of, the measures adopted for the safety and protection of the people of this commonwealth, " and also expressing their dis- approbation of the late declaration of war."2
To this memorial the General Court replied in a communi- cation, which was read at a meeting held in Newburyport July 1, 1812, when the town voted to unite with other towns in Massachusetts in the election of a president of the United States "who shall be free from foreign influence, who will cherish and protect Commerce, and have a suitable regard for the interests of the northern section of the union ;"3 and also voted to appoint a committee of five to confer with the inhabitants of other towns in the county and agree upon some plan of action.
Although the war was unpopular in Newburyport several privateers were fitted out to prey upon the commerce of the enemy. The Manhattan, Captain McCuller, sailed July 13, 1812, " on a cruise." She was fitted out by James Prince, Benjamin Merrill, Simeon Copps, William Stickney, Joseph Williams and Elias Jackman, " all democrats of the first water."4
The brig Decatur, carrying fourteen guns and one hundred
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 373.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 431.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 434.
4 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, July 24, 1812.
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812
651
and sixty men, under the command of Capt. William Nichols, cleared at the custom house in Newburyport on the fourth day of August following. She captured in less than two months the following-described vessels :-
August 22, 1812, the bark Duke of Savoy
23
" brig Thomas, in ballast
66
25
66
66
Elizabeth with a cargo of salt and coal
66
26
66
Devonshire with a cargo of fish and oil
66
26
66
Concord sent into Halifax as a cartel with twenty prisoners
66
26
66
Hope in ballast, burned at sea
66
30
66
66
66
William and Charlotte with lumber for the English government
Sept. Į
66
¥
ship Diana with a cargo of rum, sugar and coffee1
66
I
66
brig Fame with a cargo of sugar and rum'
The Decatur arrived in Newburyport September 23, 1812, with fifty-four prisoners, including two ship-masters and two mates.2
Captain Nichols sailed on his second cruise November 24, 1812. Previous to the twenty-fifth day of December follow- ing he captured the brig Devonshire and sent her to the coast of France, Wingate Pillsbury of Newburyport, prize master.3 Subsequently, he captured another vessel, name unknown, which was also sent to France. January 9, 1813, he captured the ship Neptune, with a cargo of brandy, wine, jewelry and dry goods. The Neptune arrived at Portland, Me., in charge of a prize crew, and a pilot, familiar with the harbor, was sent down to bring her to Newburyport.4
The privateer Decatur was captured January 17, 1813, by the British frigate Surprise, carrying thirty-eight guns, and taken into Barbadoes.5 Captain Nichols was confined for
1 The ship Diana and the brig Fame were subsequently re-captured by a British armed vessel and sent to England. (Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, December 15, 1812.)
2 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, September 25, 1812.
3 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, December 25, 1812.
4 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, February 19, 1813.
5 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, March 19 and June 5, 1813.
By the Commissioners for con- ducting His Majesty's Trans- port Service, for taking Care of Sick and Wounded Sea- men, and for the Care and Custody of Prisoners of War.
THESE are to certify, That William Vicholo
as described on the Back hereof, merecen, Prisoner of War,
ismercon Merchant tebel' a longter
has been released from Chatkan and permitted to return to the United Fare, fotos in Exchange for
2
late Prisoner of War ----
AND WHEREAS the said Ur Nicholo
is permitted to proceed direct, and without Delay, from to Dayton! !
All and singular His Majesty's Officers, Civil and Military, are hereby desired and required to suffer zen to pass accordingly, without any Hindrance or Molestation whatever, provided he leave this Kingdom within Days from the Date hercof: but if he should deviate from the Route hereby pointed out, or be found in this Country after the Time allowed to him , Will be liable to immediate Apprehension and Imprisonment.
Given under our Hands and Seal of Office, at London, this twenty four Day of 1814.
N.B. All Certificates having any Part of them filled up un Erasures, are to be con- sidered as false, and of.no Validity.
-
Gratis,
CERTIFICATE OF RELEASE OF CAPT. WILLIAM NICHOLS.
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812
653
Name, William Nichols
Rank,
Age, Forty Six Years,
Stature, Give
Feet, Liven' Inches.
Person, Middle.
Visage, Long
Complexion, Follow
Hair, Black
Eyes, Brown
Marks,
7 Non
or
0
Wounds, &c.
PERSONAL DESCRIPTION.
thirty-four days, in a pen or cage built on the quarter-deck of a prison ship, and not allowed to communicate with any one except his guard. He was subsequently sent to England as a prisoner and detained there until exchanged, by order of the government, and permitted to return home.I
The schooner Yankee, fitted out as a privateer in August, 1812, Captain Pillsbury of Newburyport, master, was captured near the West India islands on the twenty-third day of Octo- ber by an English cruiser, and sent into Barbadoes.2 In 1813, the brig Argus carrying thirteen guns, made several voyages as a letter of marque under the command of Capt. Harry Parsons. She carried a cargo of merchandise from Boston to Nantz in April of that year. On her return voyage she captured, August thirty-first, the British ship London Packet,
1 The certificate of release reproduced on the opposite page is taken from the original certificate in the possession of George E. Hale, of Newburyport, grandson of Captain Nichols. The above description isendorsed on the back of the certificate. Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, December 29, 1812.
654
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
with a cargo of hides ; September ninth, the brig Atlantic, with a cargo of sugar, cotton and indigo; and September twenty- first, the brig Jane, which she released, with the crews of the vessels previously captured.'
Alarm posts were established on Plum island to give notice of the approach of hostile ships, and, October 3, 1812, the se- lectmen were requested " to cause certain cannon belonging to the town to be mounted (not exceeding five) and to furnish the necessary apparatus for the same."2 On the seventh day of April following a committee appointed to consider the defenceless condition of the town reported substantially as follows :-
During the Embargo in 1807, when there was little or no prospect of war, the Government of the United States ordered several pieces of cannon for the defence of this harbour, and that just before the present war (and perhaps after the administration had determined on it) Govern- ment ordered these Cannon to be taken away. Your committee are however of the opinion that it is advisable, and would recommend, that the selectmen be authorized to make application to the Governor and Council of this Commonwealth for a pair of Field Pieces should circum- stances, in their opinion, require it.3
[April 22, 1813] voted that the selectmen be authorized to apply to Government for Powder and Ball and all other apparatus belonging to Field Pieces.4
After considerable delay the governor and council conclud- ed to furnish the cannon and ammunition asked for and the following communication was sent to the selectmen of Newburyport :-
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, BOSTON, Sept. 3, 1813. To EBENEZER MOSELEY, EsQ., Chairman of Selectmen, Newburyport.
SIR : The commissioners for sea coast defence have concluded that two eighteen pound cannon (iron) mounted on traveling carriages should be furnished to the town of Newburyport for its defence,-likewise fifty muskets and accoutrements complete with a suitable quantity of ammuni-
1 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, October 5, 1813.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 436.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 445.
4 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 450.
655
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812
tion both for the cannon and small arms. Perhaps horses for removing the cannon might be more economically provided in Newburyport than here. I should by the first opportunity wish you to inform me of the terms upon which suitable teams may be obtained ; immediately after the receipt of that information I will inform you of the mode determined on by the commissioners for the conveyance of your supplies, meanwhile I am very respectfully sir,
your obedient servant J. BROOKS.I
On the eighteenth day of September, the United States sloop-of-war Wasp was launched from the ship-yard of Orlando B. Merrill and Major William Cross in Newbury.2 She was taken to the upper long wharf, so called, at the foot of Market street, Newburyport, and there fitted for sea.
Sailors enlisting for service " on board the U. S. ship-of-war, called the Wasp, now laying in Newburyport, Johnston Blake- ley, commander," were offered two months wages in advance.3 The British frigate Majestic was then cruising in the vicinity of Cape Ann and the report was circulated that she had land- ed fifty or sixty men on Plum island for the purpose of cap- turing the unfinished vessel. The rumor created considerable excitement, but proved to be unfounded.4 The Wasp, how- ever, was hauled out into the stream and anchored in the channel of the river. Her heavy guns arrived and were mounted on the gun-deck in the month of January following.
On Friday evening last [February 18, 1814] an elegant Ball was given by the officers of the U. S. sloop-of-war, Wasp, on board that ship which for novelty of appearance and elegance of style has seldom been exceed- ed in this place.5
The Wasp, in command of Capt. Johnston Blakeley, sailed for Portsmouth, N. H., on the twenty-second day of February
1 Archives, Adjutant General's Office, Boston, Mass., Letter Book B., p. 13.
History of Newbury (Currier), p. 488.
3 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, September 24, 1813.
4 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, November 25, 1813.
The Majestic, carrying five hundred and fifty men and sixty-four guns, captured several vessels between the Isles of Shoals and Cape Ann; one of them, the schoon- er Two Brothers, Joseph Lovett, master, she released and sent into Newburyport. (Newburyport Herald, November 30, 1813.)
5 Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette, February 22, 1814.
656
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
and arrived there the same day. After receiving naval sup- plies, heavy guns and ammunition she sailed from that port for a cruise on the English coast. During the following sum- mer, she captured thirteen merchant vessels, " destroying twelve of them and sending one into port." On the ninth day of October, she spoke the Swedish brig Adonis, near the Cape de Verde Islands, and was never heard from afterward. She probably sank, with all on board, after a severe engagement with an English frigate in the month of November following.1
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Newburyport held Feb- ruary 7, 1814, Jeremiah Nelson, Joseph Dana, John Fitz, Capt. Thomas M. Clark and Capt. William Farris were appoint- ed to prepare a memorial to be presented to the General Court praying for the adoption of measures necessary to secure to the citizens of this commonwealth their constitutional rights and privileges. They attended to the duty assigned them and submitted the following report which was accepted :-
To the Honorable Senate and the Honorable House of Representa- tives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; we the inhabitants of Newburyport, in the County of Essex, qualified to vote in public affairs in town meeting assembled, on Monday, February 7, 1814, respectfully represent,
That although we have full confidence that our sentiments and feelings have been faithfully expressed by our Representatives in your honorable body, and in the congress of the United States, yet in a crisis like the present if there be a mode of expression more forcible and emphatick, such a mode we are constrained to adopt. We are not now assembled to consider ordinary questions respecting the well being of the republick. We are called in common with our fellow citizens of the Eastern States to consider whether the Republick still exists, or whether in the govern- ment under whose oppression we now suffer we have any rights, privi- ledges and interests worth a struggle to maintain. It is not our intention to enumerate in detail the parts of that system of infatuated national pol- icy which, in so short a period, has wasted the substance and prostrated the character of the nation ; which has paralized the hand of labor and industry, and converted into a theatre of crime and wickedness, a coun- try which lately was, and still might be, the most prosperous and happy portion of the globe. On this head the language of petition and remon- strance addressed to the government of the United States, the guilty
1 History of Newbury (Currier), p. 624.
657
THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812
author of our calamities, has been exhausted in vain. The archives of your honorable body have been swelled with our complaints. Your appeals in our behalf have been equally unavailing. The voice of an injured and suffering people has been treated with neglect and contempt. The national government regardless of our rights and insensible to our sufferings and those of the nation, still pursues its melancholy and destructive career. The war with Great Britain still proceeds with unre- lenting obstinancy. A war waged without just cause and without any adequate object. A war in which a Christian nation is drawn into a con- test unchristian and inhuman, odious in the sight of God and man, in which no pious man can offer his prayers, no patriot his wishes, for suc- cess ; a war of invasion originating in falsehood and fraud, conducted throughout with worse than idiotic folly and imbecillity, in all its stages stamped with the most unequivocal signatures of divine displeasure. In a war of this character the lives of thousands of our citizens have already been sacrificed, and thousands of our hardy and intrepid mariners have been compelled to quit their country and to seek employment in the ser- vice of foreign nations for subsistence. In support of such a war all classes of citizens in the Eastern states are involved in calamities hither- to unparallelled ; the ordinary employments and means of subsistence of multitudes have ceased and with the exception of a few wealthy individ- uals the people are called to submit to the privation not only of luxuries but of many other articles which from long habit have become necessa- ries of life. Nor amid all our sufferings and privations have we even the poor consolation to believe that they will be but temporary, or that they have contributed in any degree to prevent or diminish the debt created by the war; on the other hand under the present system we can see no prospect of their end or alleviation.
Although scarcely arrived at the close of the first act of the horrible drama, by the most profuse and wanton expenditures of publick monies, the mass of debt already incurred exceeds the whole debt of the United States at the close of the late Revolutionary war, and we have but too much cause to fear that at the close of the war, even if it should arrive at an early period, it will leave the nation with an intolerable load of debt, a sad inheritance of taxes and poverty to surviving generations. In. such a debt have we no reason to apprehend the extinction of republican liberty and the destruction of that happy equality in circumstances, priv- iledges and enjoyments of the citizens which has hitherto constituted the glory and strength of the New England Republicks? In the stockhold- ers of such a debt shall we not realize an odious, haughty aristocracy to support whose luxury the landholders, the trader, the artisan and the oth- er classes in society must be doomed to perpetual and insupportable bondage. But as though this war were not intrinsically, and in its neces- sary incidents, sufficiently burdensome to the people of this Common- wealth, the late act interdicting Commerce even between citizens of the
658
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
same state by which a considerable portion of our people are deprived of their ordinary and in many instances their only particular means of obtaining their necessary supplies, seemed alone wanting to appropriate- ly close this war of cruelty and oppression.
We reprobate this act as violatory of the constitution ; we reprobate it because it vests despotic power in the President and raises up petty despots in every corner of the land ; and because it imposes wanton re- straints upon freemen calculated to irritate them to desperate resistance, or to crush their spirits and convert them into slaves. In this unhappy and almost desperate condition of our beloved country we rejoice that we have in our state government a constitutional barrier against acts of vio- lence and oppression, from whatever source they may proceed. We re- joice in the late publick expressions of the Supreme Executive of the Legislature to recognize the principles and the spirit which formerly achieved our liberty and independence, and which, we trust, will now preserve the sacred deposit. If the liberties of the American nation are doomed to perish, we will indulge the hope that under your guardianship, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, even if alone, will defend to the last the inheritance purchased with the blood of their fathers.
We, therefore, humbly and earnestly pray your honorable body as you would preserve the tranquility of the people of this Commonwealth, pre- vent the horrors of insurrection, and the fatal effects of individual resis- tance to acts of oppression, to devise and adopt without delay such meas- ures as to you, in your wisdom, shall appear most expedient and effica- cious to secure to the citizens of this Commonwealth the enjoyment of their constitutional rights and priviledges and more especially the right of mutual intercourse by water, as well as by land, of which they have been wantonly and unjustly deprived ; and we the people of Newburyport do hereby solemnly pledge ourselves to your honorable body, and to our fellow citizens, to support, with our lives and fortunes, such measures as shall be adopted by you for the redress of our grievances and in defence of our rights, and we will be prepared at a moments warning to obey the call of duty and our Country.1
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