USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Winthrop > The history of Winthrop, Massachusetts ; 1630-1952 > Part 14
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were sitting ducks in their barges floating on Chelsea Creek, and fully exposed to the American Marksmen, who were sheltered on the banks of the Creek, these figures do not seem unreason- able. Putnam won the rank of major general as a result of this battle of Chelsea Creek. This, the second battle of the Revolu- tion, has been strangely disregarded by the historians of the war. Of course, it lacked the drama of Lexington and Concord, and the bloody defeat of Bunker hill, but it was a demonstration of the will and the ability of the patriots to fight and to win.
One result of the battle was to convince the patriot leaders that Chelsea and all its parts was indefensible against deter- mined British seizure, so an order was issued just after the battle by the General Court asking people occupying Islands and the coast in the vicinity to move their cattle to safe points inland. On July 10, 1775, the following order was issued: "The Com- manding officer of Chelsea is, ... to direct all cattle at Pulling Point, Shirley Point and the intermediate space between Powder- horn Hill and the Sea, to be driven off". As a result, it is likely that Pulling Point was entirely depopulated for the moment. Original documents still in existence show that John Tewksbury, James Tewksbury, Andrew Tewksbury, the heirs of the Bill fam- ily and John Sargent "obeyed the order of the Generall" and re- moved their families and cattle and flocks to places in Lynn, Saugus and Malden out of the way of the troops of King George. There were other families at the Point then but there is no rec- ord of their removal. However, it is practically certain that they also complied. After an exile of about seven weeks, the Winthrop farmers returned home with their families and their livestock and settled down in peace.
The various Winthrop families presented bills to the Gen- eral Court, for their forced removal. James Tukesbury's bill was for 17 pounds, 16 shillings and 21/2 pence. It was carefully itemized. Other bills presented are in the historical collection at the Deane Winthrop House. The farmers, apparently, were repaid for all expenses involved in moving their stock and their families, the cost of boarding both and also for any loss sustained.
Why the farmers returned is not known ; no reason has been discovered. Several reasons have been suggested, however. First, the left wing of Washington's Army rested in Chelsea and the marshes to the east and north afforded a natural barrier to troop movements. Second, detachments, perhaps outposts of Washington's men, were stationed in various parts of Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. Third, the drubbing the British received in the battle of Chelsea Creek gave the British a healthy respect for the patriots. If the rebels, the British reported, would only
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stand up in close formation in the accepted fashion, they could be quickly and easily killed. But the rebels did not follow accepted procedures of "civilized" war; they scattered to cover and shot very well. Finally, the Americans were fighting on their home grounds while the British were three thousand miles away from their home base and dependent upon a supply line which reached all the way back to England. The British were caught in a trap which Washington was daily building tighter. Thus it is no won- der the red coats did not raid the farms any longer.
Apparently Pullen Poynte suffered no military damage of consequence all through the occupation of Boston, but it was seriously affected by a British device of attempting to control a smallpox epidemic which broke out in Boston. The device was simply this: the British just loaded smallpox cases, along with aged and infirm persons, into small boats and landed them, sick and destitude, upon Winthrop's shore. For instance, “. .. on the 30th day of November, 1775, 300 people, sick, aged and infirm, with women and children were landed on Point Shirley". Today, with smallpox held under all but total control, we cannot com- prehend the fear every one then had for this fearful disease. and they lived or died just about in accordance with the quality of the nursing. Only men and women of real Christian spirit would serve as nurses.
It was one thing for the British colonies to place Indians in concentration camps and leave them to starve or subsist as best they might. It was something else for the British to put Americans in something the same position. Thus the Americans were compelled to do what possibly could be done and the very difficult task was met with courage and fortitude. The new State government, or what passed for such, organized a committee to take charge of the matter and Point Shirley was virtually sealed off to prevent the spread of the smallpox ". . . to other places of this Colony, which appears to be the intention of our Enemies."
Arrangements were made to remove the inhabitants of the Point from their homes, together with their furniture "as shall have been sufficiently smoked and cleansed. . ' The "poor of Boston" and all others set ashore at the Point by the British, that were "quite free from infection" were also to be smoked and cleansed and allowed to depart or were removed and placed in homes willing to receive them at the public expense. Due time was required from all persons at the Point, who had "been in the way of receiving the pox" before they were to be allowed free- dom.
Further directives allowed the Committee in charge of the "pest" houses at Point Shirley to "make use of any old, decayed
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Stores, barnes or fish Houses, as fuel for the relief of the sick. and distressed, and if necessary, to take down any public build- ing there, for the Purpose aforesaid." Such supply of fuel was shortly exhausted and the General Court, which had authority, in February issued another directive. "We desire you (John Tukesbury, evidently in charge of the unfortunate) would Cutt down any Trees on Hon. James Bowdoin's farms (Winthrop Highlands) for the use of the Distressed poor now at Point Shirley and we will hold you harmless."
John Tuxbury (as the name was spelled in another docu- ment) on February 7, 1776, sent an order to Ebenezer Hall, Esq., which read "Please to send down one barrill of your best bis- quitt when you send ye two barrills of Rum." This order was counter-signed by Daniel Sigourney, one of the members of the committee in charge appointed by the General Court. Thus it is clear that the infant State was assuming all responsibility of sheltering, feeding and housing the sick and the poor.
This was a considerable burden, considering the chaotic financial situation. For example, the bills John Tukesbury pres- ented to the Court for the first month of the deportation from Boston, possibly November of 1775, included nearly half a ton of mutton, a large quantity of corn meal and various other cart- loads of supplies to a total of 107 pounds, 6 shillings and 63/4 pence. It is to be remembered that food was relatively cheap then.
After a time the pest abated and the Committee of the Gen- eral Court was finally able to remove the sick from the Point, holding all suspicious persons however, until they were demon- strably free of the disease, or else down with it. Those who did suffer so were then removed to the regular Smallpox Hospital at Cambridge. It is to be remembered that then, smallpox was con- stantly appearing among the inhabitants of Massachusetts, burn- ing usually as a low fire-but a fire which at times flared up into a conflagration. Hence smallpox hospitals were maintained regu- larly like tuberculosis hospitals today and each town had, or shared with an adjoining town, a pest house for use during epidemics.
After the British evacuated Boston, March 17, 1776, under the threat of Washington's cannon from Dorchester Heights, the smallpox still continued a major threat. Chelsea, seeking to protect itself, passed a series of orders which forbid making use of the Point, or any portion of the town as a smallpox camp or hospital. Doctors and citizens were specifically forbidden to establish private hospitals even in a single room of any house. This order was annulled in 1783, in favor of Dr. John Warren, and other physicians associated with him, and they were allowed
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to establish a smallpox hospital at Point Shirley-but the opera- tion of the hospital was limited to one year.
While the departure of the British freed Boston and the mainland, it must be pointed out that the British Navy con- trolled the ocean. American shipping was at a standstill, save for American privateersmen. In a very real sense, these priva- teers (ships taken from merchant service, armed and sent out by authority of the Continental Congress to prey upon British shipping) did a marvelous job. They hurt John Bull's merchants very badly in their vital spot, their pocket books, and the clamor for cessation of hostilities was one of the reasons for Britain's willingness to sign a peace after Washington's victory at York- town.
It was one episode of this privateering that brought Win- throp its one real naval battle of the War. This was the brilliant victory gained by Captain James Mugford, Jr., a victory gained at the cost of his own life.
The business began in 1775 when a British frigate, the Lively, sailed into Marblehead, then famous for the quality of its daring sailors. It was the custom of the British Navy to keep its manpower at strength by the practice of impressment-since no sailor in his right mind would endure the brutal treatment, the foul food and the perils of service. A squad of sailors, heavily armed, led by a commissioned officer usually, would go ashore at night and descend upon a tavern and seize whatever able-bodied men were to be found. These were marched under threat of death if they bolted, to the shore where they were taken aboard the ship needing men. Many of them, being so brutally treated that they were unconscious, had to be carried aboard. In the morning they were brought before the Captain at the break of the quarter-deck and he picked out the men he thought would be useful. The rest, mostly old and infirm, were dumped ashore. These impressed seamen were then a part of the British Navy and compelled to obey orders for as long as was necessary.
In this Marblehead raid was one young man, James Mug- ford. He had been but recently married and when his bride heard the horrid news, instead of bursting into tears, she, like a stout Marbleheader, took a dory and rowed out to the frigate. There she faced the Captain and so gallantly pleaded for her husband, that Mugford was released forthwith.
While aboard the frigate, Mugford learned of the approach- ing arrival of supply ships from England for Boston. Angered at the British, he conceived the idea of taking out a ship and capturing one of these. An acquaintance, Archibald Selman, owned a little schooner, the Franklin, a tiny craft which was
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regularly employed in fishing. Selman, also indignant no doubt, listened and an agreement was made with General John Glover to commssion the schooner as a privateer to prey upon British shipping. Otherwise, the Franklin would have been a pirate. The agreement, informal as it was, made the schooner a ship of the United States Navy.
For six shillings a month per ton, Selman agreed to furnish the ship and to bear all expenses. The hope of profit, of course, came from the sale of any vessels and their cargoes seized. The danger was the loss of the ship-and of the death or capture of all her crew. This was a risk carelessly borne, for life was very cheap in those days, even more so than now, and the profits for "lucky" privateers were enormous.
The Franklin, hardly more than a yacht by today's stand- ards, was fitted out with four small cannon, two swivels, 16 mus- kets, 12 pistols and 16 cutlasses. Under Captain Mugford, the crew consisted of a minimum of 17 men and a maximum of 30. In such a craft this handful of Marbleheaders, all experienced fishermen, sailed away. On Friday, May 17, 1776, (no supersti- tion there) the Franklin, fell in with the British supply ship Hope, out of Cork, Ireland, and loaded with powder and ammuni- tion. She was an ordinary merchant ship of 300 tons burden, armed with six cannon and carried a crew of 17.
The action, which took place only a few miles off shore, and all but under the shadow of the guns of a British fleet lying at anchor off Nantasket, had to be swift and decisive. Mugford's tiny ship could never hope to escape from the fleet which would come out like angry hornets at the first sound of cannon. The Hope did surrender without much fuss and Mugford sent a prize crew aboard. The British fleet, as anticipated, began chase but Mugford, headed north in great haste. Boston was the only port of any size held by Americans. Anywhere else, the British would simply follow him in and retake the Hope and probably hang Mugford and his crew on the spot without the formality of a trial. So, sailing past the usual entrance to Boston harbor, as a ruse to keep the British ships standing out to sea to cut him off to the north and east, he came about just beyond the present Graves Light and made for Shirley Gut. Unfortunately, he missed the narrow entrance and the Hope went aground on Fawn Bar, hard and fast.
The British, not knowing the channel either, hesitated about following Mugford into the shoal waters, preferring to wait until high tide. This gave Mugford an opportunity. He sent word of his plight to Boston by the Franklin and the value of his prize, and soon a swarm of small boats came down the harbor and through the Gut. The bulk of the priceless powder was loaded
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into these small boats and taken to safety at Boston while the so lightened Hope was soon able to slide off the bar and follow them into safety. The value of the cargo was set at between 40,000 and 50,000 pounds. It consisted mainly of 25 tons of gun- powder, 1,000 stands of arms, a number of carriages for cannon, entrenching tools, some dry goods and provisions. To the pa- triots, the cargo was beyond price.
Why the Hope left the rest of the British supply fleet, which went to Halifax, is unknown. There were rumors that the mas- ter of the Hope deliberately sought capture by the Americans but all evidence found fails to support this allegation. Probably the story was put out as British propaganda to cover the loss of the Hope which certainly should have been protected as she neared Boston, probably on the way to the British fleet at Nantasket. Certainly, the pursuing British detachment could have sent small boats in while the Hope lay in plain sight for hours on Fawn Bar, with the patriots busy as hornets unloading her. It would seem that the British were just attempting to cover their failure.
Anyhow, no propaganda could cover the next episode. On the evening of May 19, 1776, the Franklin, her crew anxious for more prize money, sailed once more, in company with the Lady Washington, another schooner with 25 men armed only with muskets and pistols. The British fleet was patroling off shore, for Boston was under blockade, but the two hoped to slip out to sea under cover of darkness. However, the Franklin's luck was out and she grounded on practically the same spot as had the Hope. All attempts to refloat her failed.
The British learned, somehow, of the plight of the Franklin and started off a series of boats loaded with marines. The Frank- lin could do nothing but fight where she was. Boarding nets were rigged, the shrouds were soaped so that no marine could climb aboard that way, and the guns were all double-shotted. As the British boats approached, with their regular beat of oars rowed with all but mechanical precision, Mugford swung the Franklin around by means of the windlass and waited.
The British came within earshot and Mugford warned them to keep off. "We are friends come to visit you," a mocking voice replied. Probably there were 13 boats bearing more than 200 men in the attacking force. Depressing his cannon until they bore just ahead of the boats, now dashing to the attack, Mugford ordered "Fire!" and his cannon exploded. The effect was great but the British were held in strict discipline and the officers ordered the boats on until the bows of each rubbed against the sides of the little Franklin. She was like a fox surrounded by a pack of snarling dogs. The crew of the Franklin, although under a constant hail of musket bullets, fought bitterly with their own
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muskets and then with pike, axe, marlin spike and sword, killing, killing and killing! For over an hour the savage struggle con- tinued; neither side would give in.
Finally the British began to withdraw, dropping away on the strong current racing out of the Gut. Just at the moment of victory, Mugford fell, shot through the side. "We have won," he cried, "Don't give up the vessel." Just as he died, the British withdrew altogether and the black night fell silent.
Captain Cunningham, in the Lady Washington, who had refused to flee before the British came, had just as bravely de- fended his schooner. On his ship no man was killed or wounded, and the only casualty on the Franklin was the death of Captain Mugford. This seems strange in view of the fierce struggle and the fact that the British lost 70 men killed.
This battle was apparently the only one fought at Winthrop. It is appropriately honored by a bronze tablet erected at the southerly end of the Shore Drive by Deane Winthrop Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
In May of 1776 an earthern fort was built at Point Shirley in an effort to command Shirley Gut but no record exists of any shots ever being fired from it. The fort was on the easterly end of the low hill near the corner of Shirley Street and Tafts Avenue. Until a few years ago, traces of the fort were still evident.
In June of 1776, Washington, determined to drive the Bri- tish fleet away, ordered the islands and the shores on both sides of the harbor entrance to be occupied by troops, half of whom were drawn from the Continental Army and half of whom were local militia. The fire thus opened upon the British fleet proved so annoying that they put out to sea and ended the blockade. They fired a single shot before leaving and on their way past Little Brewster sent a boat ashore to burn the little lighthouse then upon that island.
Point Shirley was occupied at this time by a company of militia under Captain Benjamin Blaney of Malden. Some 57 men were in this company, members of the Malden Militia. They held the Point for three days and drew pay for that time and for 20 miles of travel.
During the Revolution, the greatest number of Chelsea's soldiers and officers came from Revere Center for Chelsea itself was then a very small place, as was the present town of Winthrop.
Captain Sprague who commanded the Chelsea forces in the beginning, was an old man (63) and unable to continue actual fighting after the struggle became organized under Washington. The balance of his service, after the first year, was considerable but civil in nature. His wife was Rachel Floyd, daughter of John Floyd III by his first wife, Mary Tuttle. Her great-grand-
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1907. At crest of Point Shirley hill looking south to the resurrected remains of Revolutionary fort. The boy is Roland H. Howard (son of Channing Howard) in back of whom is the Sturgis house on Siren St.
ABOUT 1915. Steamer "Sight Seer" steaming south through Shirley Gut. View looking toward Deer Island from the tip of Point Shirley.
father was Captain John Floyd, the first of the Floyds in this section and the ancestor of the present-day Floyds of Winthrop. The Tewksburys also trace descent from Captain Sprague through his daughter, who married Captain Stowers.
Other Chelsea men in the Revolution included: Lieutenant Watts, a relative of Governor Bellingham, through whom the Beachmont property of Bellingham came into the Watts' family; Samuel Clark, who fought throughout the war and became a captain; Joseph Green, son-in-law of Captain Sprague and his son Joseph Junior, who but 17 when he enlisted, was an enthu- siastic soldier; Sergt. Samuel Floyd, whose wife, Susanna Sar- gent, lived in the old Gibbons House at Thornton before her marriage; Captain Joseph Cheever, who with his brother Nathan and his half-brother Joshua, also fought throughout the war; various members of the Pratt family, including Daniel, John, Ezra, Joseph, Samuel Hatton Pratt, Thomas and Caleb. The latter was also a son-in-law of Captain Sprague. It would seem that, as in Winthrop, the Chelsea Revolutionary soldiers were related commonly by ties of blood and marriage.
Among others, was Sergt. Abijah Hastings. He finally be- came a lieutenant and after the war, besides being a selectman, moderator and town clerk of Chelsea, taught school at Pullen Poynte during the years between 1785 and 1797.
Mention should be made also of the Sales family, who once gave the name of Sales Farm to all of Beachmont. John Sales Jr. served in the war and his father was a member of the Pro- vincial Congress in 1775-1778. John Sales Jr. married Sarah Floyd, daughter of John Floyd III and sister of the wife of Cap- tain Sprague. Aside from harassing the retreat of the British from Concord on April 19, 1775, it is probable that the only serious engagement of most of the Chelsea Company, aside from those who served later under Washington, was the Battle of Chelsea Creek. For example, during the battle of Bunker Hill, the Company stood guard on the Chelsea shore to prevent any flanking attempt on that side. For the balance of the war, the company served as guards within their own town.
After the British evacuation of Boston, the great burden of the war was lifted from Chelsea but the community did its full share in supplying men, money and supplies for the Continental Army as the war flowed south past New York and Philadelphia until the triumph at Yorktown. The constant and continued de- mands for men and money made by the Continental Congress upon Massachusetts nearly exhausted the resources of the state while, at the same time, trade and commerce were practically extinct. Money was something that no one possessed.
Locally, the effects of the war were clearly to be seen. With
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many men away, farms were neglected of necessity and as labor grew scarcer and scarcer the state found increasing difficulty in finding men to meet the military quotas. Grass undoubtedly grew in the roads-but then, they were dirt roads in those days. To raise men, the government offered bounties and good ones, but, notwithstanding this inducement, Chelsea in 1778 and 1779 was compelled to resort to a draft to gather men. Times were hard, bitter hard, and the support of the war became difficult to an extreme, but none the less, Chelsea met her quotas for men and money faithfully.
Pullen Poynte was particularly unfortunate. As recorded, in May of 1775, the inhabitants were forced to vacate their homes at a time when spring planting was underway. The families were away but seven weeks, it is true, but this was the critical time and as a result much of the year was lost so far as crops were concerned. Thus impoverished, the inhabitants labored un- der not only heavy taxation and loss of manpower but the loss of markets for what they did raise in subsequent years.
And in addition Pullen Poynte was levied upon to supply food for military forces stationed on guard duty. The commis- sary department of Colonel Baldwin's regiment, from which unit the guards were drawn, kept records of this requisition which in- cludes sheep sent them to care for until needed. We read in these papers that the following Winthrop residents supplied sheep as follows: Seth Wood, 17; Jonathan Belcher, 43; David Belcher, 156; Andrew Duxbury (Tukesbury) 73; Nathaniel Belcher, Jr., 38; James Tukesbury, 83; John Sargent, 39; and John Tukesbury, 63. It is of record that Winthrop farmers were paid for whatever property was taken and for their services, too.
As a result of the lamb and mutton diet supplied to the soldiers, sheep began to be scarce as the war progressed with a resulting shortage of wool for clothing for both the military and civilians. Thus a committee was appointed, consisting in part of Captain Samuel Sprague, John Tewksbury, Joshua Cheever, Andrew Tewksbury and David Belcher, to obtain wool with which to weave blankets for the army. An order was also issued that " ... no person shall be allowed to sell wool out of town, till the inhabitants of the town be supplied with wool, both for their own use and for the use of the soldiers."
After Yorktown and the securing of American Independ- ence, peace and quiet descended upon Pullen Poynte-a peace which has not been broken in all the years since. No hostile foot has ever stepped again on Winthrop soil and no shot has been fired in war inside the town. We have done our full share in all the wars of the United States but they, at least until the present, have been far away.
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