Recently there has been much talk about dissatisfaction with the American political process etc....In having these discussions it amazes me how little most people know about their own history. They simply have no knowledge of what drove our ancestors, loyal Englishmen, to revolt against the Crown. As part of moving that discussion along I propose to do a brief profile of an American patriot- give a little background about who they were, what motivated them, their role in our freedom today..... There were thousands of people, largely unknown today, who helped shape the American Revolution, we owe them a great deal, the least we can do is hear their story. I plan to do one of these profiles each week if there is any interest.

We start with Ebenezer Mudgett, not exactly a household name. But first a little background. Most people know that the British navy was the uncontested ruler of the sea in the mid to late 1700's. Maintaining that dominance required a considerable volume of timber and other naval stores- pine pitch, hempen rope etc.....Britain by this time had very few trees of suitable size and type so the resources of the colonies, especially those of New England were critical to maintaining this dominance.

As a result the legislature of New Hampshire, at the urging of the Crown, passed an act in 1722 forbidding the harvest of any white pine tree (most suitable for naval use) over 12" in diameter. Doing so was punishable by a fine of between L5 and L50----not small amounts of money. Before any farmer could clear a field etc...a Kings Surveyor had to be called out and he would mark trees that belonged to the King with an arrow- these could not be harvested. This of course had a huge impact on the ability of colonists to build anything, to make a living harvesting timber etc... they had to use small wood essentially to do anything! The law was not strictly enforced for many years....

Then in 1771 a survey was ordered of colonial saw mills as it was felt that they were "poaching" the Kings trees. In fact, several saw mills in the town of Weare were found to be in possession of the Kings logs. They were ordered to pay a fine......and refused. On April 13, 1772 a sheriff and deputy were sent to arrest the owner of one of the Weare mills, Ebenezer Mudgett. The kings officers arrived in South Weare and retired for the night to a local inn. During the night the locals gathered to discuss what should be done......

Early in the morning 20-30 men, their faces disguised, led by Ebenezer Mudgett entered the room of the lawmen and beat them with tree branches- One blow for each tree they were charged with poaching. Then they shaved the mens horses tails and manes and cut off their ears, and forced the two men to ride out of town through a gauntlet of jeering locals. The sheriff of course went to a local town and raised a posse and came back to South Weare, the townspeople had mostly fled but they were able to find one man who apparently had participated in the raid. Eight men were eventually named and put to trial for "rioting". They were fined 20 shillings apiece for their assault on the sheriff and deputy.

This act of defiance (three years prior to Lexington and Concord) to the Crowns authority was memorialized in part in the Pine Tree Flag flown beginning in 1775 by some of the fledgling American navy which featured a lone pine tree and the words- An Appeal to God. The latter a reference to John Locke who noted in his Two Treatises of Government that when all peaceful means had been exhausted all that remained was an Appeal to God.

 

Never knew this story. Thanks.

 

I have done about 5 or 6 of these little "sketches". Most of the people are not known at all though a few are known in some circles....To me it's fascinating, many of these folks are VERY ORDINARY and yet they had significant roles in the fight for our freedom. I have especially concentrated on events that occurred BEFORE the fight at Lexington and Concord.

Many people seem to think that the events of April 19, 1775 were just a mass, spontaneous uprising....they were not! Years of careful planning and organizing, discussions, sermons, searches, arrests, penalties and fines, intrigue at many levels and even bloodshed metastasized on that day to bring it to it's bloody conclusion and the beginning of the fight for our freedom.

 

One thine that irritates me about the American "Revolution". It wasn't a "revolution" at all. It was a war of secession. We seceded from the British Empire. It really should be called the first war of American secession.

 

Incorrect.

REVOLUTIONARIES OR REBELS?

For those who might have not noticed, the former subjects of King George revolted. Whereas, the Confederate States violated the terms of the agreement that formed the perpetual union.

● REVOLUTION - The overthrow or repudiation of a regime or political system by the governed.

● REBELLION - Open, armed, and organized resistance to a constituted government.

. . .

British subjects in America, were not voluntary subjects. They revolted against their sovereign, which was not a violation of an agreement, but a repudiation of his authority over them.

Under America’s Republican Form, Americans who do not consent, are not governed, but served. Therefore, sovereign Americans cannot “revolt” since they’re not governed.

But the subject American citizens who did consent to be governed by the terms of the compact, were in violation of their agreement to serve. They were rebels in revolt.

 

This is probably one of my favorite pieces of this little series...

One of the principal complaints that the colonists had with their mother country was it's mercantilist system.

Generally (in greatly simplified terms) the system worked like this- colonies were used primarily for the production of raw materials of low value- agricultural products of all manner, food stuffs, timber, base metals.... These would be shipped to England to be made into value added manufactured goods which would then be shipped back to the colonies where because of trade restrictions they were some of the only products available for sale....primary complaints were lack of quality, high prices and lack of selection. The colonies were not allowed to produce much in the way of finished goods- no textiles, iron etc.....

In addition, this was done primarily on an "accounts" basis- very little hard money- specie- changed hands, the official policy was that any gold or silver was to be returned to England. This created a severe liquidity crisis in America where it was estimated that at the time of the Revolution there was no more than L 1.5 at most in actual Specie per person.

Due to these restrictions, wrote into law and enforced by the Crown, a very large number of Americans were engaged in the smuggling trade- John Hancock himself operating a number of such ventures. The rocky farms of New England provided only a small amount of agricultural surplus for export, so the enterprising Yankees developed the distillation of rum as a primary industry. Massachusetts and Rhode Island were home to many dozens of distilleries which were quite lucrative. Rum of course is made of molasses, a byproduct of sugar refining.

The West Indies were the source of the molasses needed to make rum. Problem.....much of West Indies was owned at the time by the French, Dutch and Spanish. The volume of the entire molasses crop of the British controlled portion of the West Indies could not have supplied 25% of the colonial need for molasses......The colonists were forbidden from trading with these enemies of England or at best the exchanges were heavily taxed.....SO, the colonists smuggled molasses to supply their distilleries, the taxes were not much enforced- everyone was making money.

In 1764 (notice 11 YEARS before Lexington) Parliament passed the Sugar Act. The Act actually reduced the taxes on foreign molasses from 6 pence to 3 but this decrease was coupled with vows to strictly enforce the duties. The Royal Navy was dispatched in large numbers to enforce the duties and began regularly seizing ships and their crews. This was of course quite problematic for the smugglers and purchasers of foreign goods, especially those in need of molasses....

So it was that the HMS Gaspee, captained by Lieutenant Dudington began patrols in the Naragannset Bay area in early 1772. Dudington was much reviled by the locals, he routinely confiscated not only contraband but provisions for his vessel from local farmers and merchants. Even honest cargos were often impounded and sent to far off Boston where their owners were out considerable expense in trying to free them.

In June of '72 there was a deadly game of cat and mouse being played between the Gaspee and the packet ship Hannah. The captain of the Hannah was a capable and veteran smuggler, Benjamin Lyndsey. The Gaspee was trailing the Hannah and fired a cannon shot ordering her to "heave to" and be boarded. The young captain would have none of it. He crowded sail and turned hard into the bay....this was dangerous water, shallow and filled with reefs, narrow and really a dead end....Dudginton, having played the game many times was confident, certainly he believed it was only a matter of time now...... On the Hannah, Captain Lyndsey was smiling as the Gaspee bore down on him.........Suddenly the Gaspee stopped dead in the water, her crew thrown about in the dark....She had grounded on Namquid Point, the Hannah, empty in fact, had sailed right over the treacherous reef.

Lyndsey went ashore immediately to the tavern of local merchant John Brown who summoned his most capable sea captain- Abraham Whipple. Whipple quickly put together a mob of 65 men who boarded 8 whale boats and rowed out to the stranded Gaspee. At first, in order to get close, one of the boatmen pretended he was the local sheriff with a warrant for Dudingtons arrest (for his pilfering of supplies etc...). Dudington gave the order to fire on anyone who attempted to board his ship. The Rhode Islanders stormed the Gaspee, a shot rang out and Dudington was severely injured. The crew was removed and Gaspee was set fire and burned to the water line! Royal inquiries substantially cleared Dudington of any wrong doing and failed- despite the fact that nearly everyone knew those involved and a substantial reward offered, to find a single perpetrator of this act of treason and piracy.

Abraham Whipple had gone to sea at an early age. During the French and Indian War he commanded a privateer owned by Joseph Brown, the Game Cock, capturing 23 French ships. Between the wars he captained several ships primarily for merchants John and Moses Brown.

During the American Revolution, Whipple was commissioned a captain in the Continental Navy, and given command of 24-gun frigate Columbus. One of his first cruises as captain was in support of the very first combined Navy and Marine Corps amphibious landing which had as it’s objective the capture of military supplies from the British at Nassau, Bahamas.

Returning from the Caribbean Whipple captured five British ships. Unfortunately, on March 27, 1778, his ship ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island. Whipple and his men were able to strip the ship of essential equipment and escaped capture on land.

The 28 gun frigate Providence was Whipples next command. Within a month of his loss of the Columbus he ran the British blockade damaging the HMS Lark in the effort. He crossed the Atlantic bearing important dispatches to France where he took on a cargo of munitions to support the patriot cause. While re crossing the Atlantic he encountered several British ships capturing three of them.

His ability was noticed and rewarded; Captain Whipple was given command of three ships. While commanding this group he took one of the largest prizes of the entire war when he was able to capture eleven ships out of a single British convoy!

Whipple’s good fortune would run out however in Charleston, South Carolina. Arriving there shortly before it’s siege by the British. His ships were stripped of guns to support the defense of the important port city which surrendered after four months on May 12, 1780. Taken prisoner Captain Whipple was eventually released on condition that he no longer participate in the war. Following the war Abraham Whipple took up farming and when the Ohio Territory opened up for settlement he moved his family near the present day city of Marietta, Ohio which he helped found.

Abraham Whipple, sunk the first British vessel of the American Revolution, years before hostilities broke out at Lexington and Concord...... He served his country ably and at the conclusion of the war returned to private life. It is because of men like him who answered their nations call to duty, many of them now unknown, that we are free.

 

Great story about Whipple at Nassau.

The USN named ships after both.

 

“Yankee Doodle came to town, For to buy a firelock, We will tar and feather him, And so we will John Hancock.”

What? As every American school boy and girl know those are NOT the words to one of this countries favorite patriotic songs! But they were…….

The roots of Yankee Doodle lie in a song British soldiers marched to which mocked the colonials they had been sent to police. Generally the song is attributed to a British Royal Army Surgeon, Richard Shuchburg. While serving during the French and Indian War he was quite unimpressed with the colonial troops he served with and penned the song as a description of them. The above verse was added later to fit “current events” during the British occupation of Boston and the colonies which began in 1768.

The term “doodle” is generally accepted as coming from the German word dudel, meaning roughly fool…..another well known line of the song includes Macaroni. This is a reference to a rather effeminate type of wig worn by men of questionable manhood at the time…..The colonists were held in rather low esteem by their British countrymen.

So was there a Yankee Doodle and how did the song go from being one of derision to the anthem of the American Revolution? It begins with a man named Thomas Ditson and a well known form of punishment most often associated with the American patriot cause.

Tarring and feathering pre dated the American Revolution. In fact, reference can be found to the practice as far back as the Crusades in directives from Richard the Lion Heart as a means of discipline in the Navy. How did it work? First, we need to understand that the tar talked about was not the same thing that modern Americans first think about. The tar of tar and feathers was generally pine based naval tar which was used aboard ships as a means of sealing a ship against water intrusion and to coat ropes on board.

This type of pine tar was a major export of the colonies- North Carolina alone shipping over 100,000 barrels a year to England- now you know why they are called Tar Heels even today! It was a very important commodity to the Royal Navy of the time. The tar was highly viscous and had a fairly low melting point- about 130-140 degrees. While it was quite unpleasant and mild burns could certainly result it was not the death sentence that the use of a coal tar would have been with its much higher melting point.

In a typical tar and feathering the victim would be held down and the pine tar applied over their clothes. They would then be smeared with feathers and either tied to a pole or placed in a cart and driven out of town where they would be mocked and jeered by the locals along the route.

The punishment became a favorite of the colonists when dealing with agents of the Crown in the lead up to the Revolution. Probably the most well publicized incident occurred in 1774 when a Loyalist customs official, John Malcolm, was set upon by a mob of Boston patriots who stripped him bare and then applied tar and feathers, threatened to hang him and to cut off his ears!

Thomas Ditson was a 33 year old farmer in 1775 living in the town of Billerica. He had been married 14 years to his wife Elizabeth, at the time they had five children. As everyone in the colonies knew in 1775, war was coming and Thomas had a problem…..He wanted to join the local Billerica Minute Men, but needed a weapon. The export of “military stores” to the colonies had been banned in 1774 by the Crown and there was a mad scramble on for armaments of all kinds. Finding a suitable weapon would not be easy. So it was that he went on March 8, 1775 to Boston to sell some produce and perhaps to buy a musket.

Once in Boston Thomas met with Sgt. John Clancy of the 47th Regiment of Foot who offered to sell him a musket. The two men began drinking and bargaining over the musket, Ditson may have urged the sergeant to desert…. Unknown to Ditson it was a setup.

He was seized by a group of nearby Regulars and eventually stripped naked and tar and feathered from head to toe. A sign was hung around his neck saying ““American or Democracy exemplified in a villain who attempted to incite one of the soldiers of his Majesty’s 47th Regiment to desert and take up arms with rebels against his King and country”. He was then paraded through the streets while the fife and drums of the 47th played Yankee Doodle. A large crowd of angry Bostonians gathered, the soldiers were ordered to load and make ready…..but cooler heads prevailed and an officer told Ditson he was free to go, the crowd dispersed.

On Ditsons return to Billerica the town was enraged. They immediately voted to raise a full company of minute men, Thomas Ditson enlisted. The Minute Men of Billerica would not have long to wait to exact their revenge. On April 19, 1775 as the British retreated to Boston, a short distance from Concord they had to cross a narrow bridge surrounded by stone walls, ditches and large rocks.

Here, the Minute Men of Billerica, including Thomas Ditson lay in wait. Near the bridge the terrain forced the retreating columns flankers in on them and the militia could safely close to effective musket range. Like Lexington earlier, it is unclear who fired the first shots but as the troops crossed the bridge, volleys were exchanged and several British Regulars were killed or wounded. This exchange is known as Merriams Corner.

Thomas Ditson, forever known as Yankee Doodle, served throughout the Revolutionary War, losing the sight of one eye in service to his country. He survived the war and lived to the ripe old age of 87, dying in 1828. American patriots adopted the song used to ridicule them and Thomas Ditson making it a source of pride and inspiration that continues to this day.

 

Very interesting thread.
Thanks for taking the time to share here and in public.


Here is a link to a virtual tour of "Old Ironsides", the USS Constitution.
Well worth a few minutes to see ships of that era.

https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/streetview/us-highlights/uss-constitution-deck/Jjoh75kl7doAAAQZN_qRbA?gl=us&heading=16&pitch=72&fovy=75

 

Wonderful stories, and they serve to highlight the thesis of Ori Brafman in his rather timely treatise entitled The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. Indigenous "rebels" without formal "leadership" will triumph over the most massive armies...in time. [See, e.g. Iraq and Russia/USA]

None of the "unknown heroes" about whom you write were "leaders" elected or appointed by some uber-patriotic Colonist organization. They were ordinary people doing extraordinary things by seizing the moment, acting without the need for direction from any central body, and then...fading away into the crowds.

But, of course, such an approach is totally irrelevant to our "modern times".

How sad that such thrilling examples of courage are not merely ignored, but suppressed in today's "common core" education. We are losing our history, and thus, the very essence of our strength as a free people and a nation.

My nephew returned from grade school after a lesson about Columbus. "He was a bad man," the teacher had told them, "who mistreated his sailors."

 

Logistics wins wars. Few military strategists would dispute this generalization. Logistics were a major part of the rise and fall of Napoleon and the ultimate victory of the Allies over the Axis in World War Two. Following George Washington’s ill fated New York campaign of 1776 the defense of his supplies and supply lines was much on his mind. A man important to that defense was Colonel Henry Ludington.

Colonel Ludington had served with the British Army at the age of 17 in the French and Indian war from 1756 to 1760 in Canada. He continued to serve His Majesty following that conflict, being commissioned as a Captain in 1773. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1775 he renounced his loyalty to the Crown and was commissioned as a Colonel in the New York Militia. As such he had command of 400 men- mostly poorly trained and equipped farmers and tradesman, part time and somewhat reluctant soldiers at best.

His primary mission during the war was maintenance of law and order and the imposition of patriot will on the many Loyalists of Westchester and Duchess Counties, New York. The Hudson Highlands as the area was known was important in the war effort. It was a critical invasion route and a hotbed of intrigue and Loyalist enlistment and incitement resulting in generalized lawlessness and frequent attacks against patriot sympathizers.

One of the many hazards engendered by the breakdown of law occasioned by the war were bands of thieves called “cowboys” or “skinners” depending largely on which side they supported….. These men would descend on the isolated farms of the area and steal horses, cattle and other supplies which would then be sold to the British or American armies. This sort of “foraging” was endemic to warfare of the period, some of it sanctioned officially, much of it simply for personal gain…..

Colonel Ludington was so successful in his defense of local patriots from marauders and in raising militiamen to serve the cause that General Howe himself offered a substantial reward for his capture. In early 1777 an important duty of the Colonels’ was helping to secure vast stores of war supplies which had been successfully evacuated to Danbury, Connecticut from White Plains prior to that calamitous Patriot defeat. Though Washington had been defeated at White Plains, the supplies that were saved would allow him to fight on.

After this lengthy introduction you might think this piece was about Henry Ludington, not so. Rather, it is about Sybil Ludington, first born child and daughter of the good Colonel.

In 1777 Sybil Ludington was 16 years old and would be best described as a “tom boy”. The first of twelve children, she loved the out of doors and was a very accomplished equestrian. While growing up she rode her fathers’ thoroughbred throughout the countryside, both side saddle and “astride”. Only a year before she had been given a horse of her own, a year old colt whom she named Star.

Throughout 1776 the Ludington home was frequently visited by men under the Colonels command to drill and attend to other military matters. Sybil was infected with the patriotism of these men and came to understand the seriousness of their cause and made it her own. Due to her love of riding and knowledge of the countryside she was frequently given small errands of service to her father. On the evening of April 27, 1777 one of those errands would assure her of an important place in American history.

The rain had poured down all day on April 27, 1777 near the Ludington home. That evening a knocking came at the door-- loud, insistent, frantic…..Colonel Ludington opened the door to find a bedraggled and exhausted courier-- “Danbury is being sacked by the British, you must raise your men!” the man exclaimed. This was a crisis of epic proportions. The stores of food, weapons, medicines and camp equipment were of vital importance to the war effort and the British this close were within striking distance of a full on invasion…..

Colonel Ludingtons’ men had been released from service just days before in preparation for the planting season- they were, after all, mostly farmers…..How could he rouse them, in the dark, spread out over 40 miles of wild countryside? He asked the courier to continue on his ride while the Colonel would wait at his home, the rally point for the men so he might get them ready to march as they arrived. The courier though was unfamiliar with the area and unable to continue due to exhaustion from the cold, wet ride.

Sybil Ludington volunteered to make the dangerous journey to rouse the militia from their scattered homesteads, through the sparsely populated countryside thick with Skinners, Cowboys and Loyalists…...If she were caught by any of them she would likely be killed, perhaps physically violated… her beloved horse stolen at a minimum…. She prepared quickly and mounting Star, set out.

She rode through the night from her family home to nearby Carmel and on through several other small villages- Mahopac, Kent Cliffs, Farmers Mills spreading the message to muster. She arrived back at home just as day broke. The trip had been over 40 miles.

She was greeted by the sight of her father, with over 400 of his men beginning the march to Danbury. Unfortunately, they would arrive too late, the town was sacked, many of the critical supplies burned as they were too numerous for the British to carry off. Colonel Ludington was joined by several other colonial militias and they engaged the British who chose to retreat. The patriot militias, numbering nearly 1000 men by now, fought furiously, enraged at the sacking of Danbury. British archives recording that in one two hour stretch they suffered 60 enlisted men and 5 officers killed. The patriots literally chased the British back to the ships they had disembarked from only days before, some Redcoats actually drowning in their haste to make it aboard! While valuable supplies had been lost a British invasion of critical terrain by over 2,000 troops had been thwarted.

Sybil Ludington was recognized some time later for her ride that night by none other than George Washington himself, who visited her home thanking her for her contribution. She would later marry but not for long, her husband dying of yellow fever. With a young son to support she applied for and received an Innkeepers license and was able to support herself that way for many years. She passed away in 1839 at the age of 77.

Her story remained largely unknown until 1907 when an account of her ride was widely published. In 1961 The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a statue of her near Lake Gleneida, New York. She was for many years a controversial figure with many disputing the details of her ride. In 2000 however the book Sybil Ludington: The Call to Arms, was published and laid to rest many of the points of contention. Now you too know her story.

 

Isaac Davis. You may not know the name but you know his face….. In 1775 he was 30 years old, married for over ten years to his wife Hannah, the father of four children, two sons and two daughters. He lived near the town of Acton, Massachusetts where he farmed and supplemented his income as a gunsmith.

In the early 1770’s, feeling that war with Britain was imminent and always mindful of the traditions of legality, the colonists began to take control of the colonial Militia system- and many of the other local systems of governance that had sprung up under colonial charters and tradition. The militia system had existed for over 100 years at this point having been used during the French and Indian wars and during the many outbreaks of Indian unrest. Many colonial militia men had served during the French and Indian war alongside regiments of their fellow colonists from throughout the land.

In taking control of the militia system the colonists legitimized their use of force to a large extent. They took control by ousting either peacefully or through direct action (threats and in some cases outright violence) the Crown loyal officers that were in control, replacing them with those loyal to the colonists. During the war the militia served not only as a military force but also kept the peace and enforced things like the boycott of British goods, kept Loyalists and those on the fence from acting against the Patriot cause etc..…When the British withdrew from an area it was the militia that essentially acted as local authority, further giving the patriots legitimacy.

In the early morning hours of April 19, 1775 a horse ridden by Captain Robbins of the Acton Militia drew to a rough halt in front of a home, he dismounted and pounded on the door.... Captain Robbins was carrying the news that “the regulars were out” to the home of the recently elected Captain of the Acton Minute Men…… Isaac Davis.

Davis’s men were some of the best trained and equipped in all the colonies. As a gunsmith he had made sure their weapons were in good repair, had made bayonets for all of them along with cartridge boxes which were much faster to reload with than a powder horn. He held regular drill behind his home where the Acton Minute Men would shoot and practice other military skills.

Men, heavily armed, soon appeared in the yard from the darkness, fathers and sons, brothers, friends and neighbors….Some perhaps reflecting on a recent Sermon from the fiery local Reverend, William Emerson where he had asked them in considering force to resist tyranny to reflect on 2 Chronicles, 13:12-“Behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry aloud against you”….Others joked and blustered nervously…they were quieted by Captain Davis who admonished them that some might be dead before the day was done….A superstitious man by all accounts Captain Davis himself was probably troubled by a bad omen that had come to him within the week- an Owl, the symbol of death, had entered his home and perched on one of his favorite guns for some time…..

When his men had mustered he paused briefly before leaving to speak with his wife, who was tending to their children, several of whom were deathly ill. He said to her only, “Take good care of the children” and led his men out for Concord.

Arriving at Concord Davis’s company assembled with several other local militia groups, nominally in charge due to his rank was Colonel Barrett. They discussed strategy and it was decided that rather than directly confront the Regulars they would withdraw to a hill overlooking the town where they could watch and take action if necessary. The Regulars entered the town finding few military stores which they had come to destroy other than three cannons whose muzzles they spiked and carriages they burned.

Unfortunately, the carriages happened to catch fire to the local church and meeting house greatly increasing the column of smoke. Upon seeing the volume of smoke the militia men became agitated with the cautious Colonel Barrett one asking him, “Will you let them burn the town?” It was decided the militia would now advance. The militia of Concord by rights should have lead the way- it was their town….but there was considerable hesitation…this was treason…..

Finally, Captain Davis and his Acton Minute Men were asked, would they lead the way? His response, well documented- “I have not a man afraid to go” and they began their advance on the town. Minutes later, Isaac Davis would lie dead, a British musket ball piercing his chest, he would be the first American officer to die in the Revolution.

While his name may not be well known today, his face is. In 1875 to commemorate the day of Lexington and Concord a monument was erected near the spot where Davis fell. It shows a man carrying a musket leaving his plow to head into battle. The model for that statue was Isaac Davis, the sculptor carefully studying his descendants to capture his face and using his actual plow as a model for the statue of the iconic American Minute Man. The base of the statue is inscribed with the first stanza of the famous poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson- grandson of that fiery Revolutionary pastor- “By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to Aprils’ breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world”

 

5 generation back from me a 16 year old Cherokee boy walked from the mountains of NC/VA border to the home of George Rogers Clark and served as a Indian spy against the Torres and then a Minuteman and served with Clark in the capture of the British fort and the capture of British Henry Hamilton. He was with Clark until the end of the war. If you don't know the history of George Rogers Clark, you need to read it.

Pops

 

The 'tarheel' handle was given to Carolina troops during the un-civil war by general r.e. Lee when the Carolinians stood their ground in the face of a superior federal force's charges.

 

Thank you very much for your history lessons. What you have put on these few pages is unfortunately more American History than most of the children get in our liberal public schools.
I for one would love to read more of your research.

 

Simply outstanding. Thank you.

 

Sources?

Thanks for posting the stories! I enjoy reading about our brave patriots who risked their life, family and fortune for what they believed in and to establish this great country.

Do you have a couple of sources you glean these stories from? They sound similar to the stories shared at an Appleseed shoot I went to last year.

 

Thanks for posting the stories! I enjoy reading about our brave patriots who risked their life, family and fortune for what they believed in and to establish this great country.

Do you have a couple of sources you glean these stories from? They sound similar to the stories shared at an Appleseed shoot I went to last year.

I take information from a number of sources depending on the event I'm trying to discuss. Once I focus on a certain event I just try to identify the people involved and then research them through the internet, scholarly articles, books etc.... for example most of the Isaac Davis' material comes from Paul Reveres' Ride but some was gathered online as well.

I don't intend these "stories" as scholarly articles. My main purpose is simply to interest- entertain, people long enough for them to learn a little something about the people who made this country possible...I make the stories as factual as I can, relying on the generally agreed historical facts...but I try to emphasize that these long ago patriots we owe so much to....were often very ordinary people.....They had families and jobs and the normal concerns of every day life. They went to Church- or not...They were pious and upright people...and smugglers and thieves of the Kings Timber too....Those "heros" of long ago are people just like THE READERS, and in revealing that I hope to inspire a new generation of American Patriots. We need them now more than ever.

 

This installment is somewhat different than the others. It does not center around a particular individual but rather a group of people. When I originally set out to write it I had considered Colonel Isaac Shelby as the subject but soon realized that while important to the ultimate outcome- and a VERY INTERESTING person worthy of your investigation, he was not the real "hero" of the day so to speak, that honor falling to his men, largely unknown.....


The Over Mountain Men

The war for American Independence had been waged for five years by September of 1780. The patriot cause had been hard fought with many triumphs and defeats. While initially most of the fighting had occurred in New England, by September 1780 the British had seized much of the south, dividing the patriot forces and lands in half in an effort to bring the war to a conclusion. Large portions of the Carolinas were under British control including the important sea ports, Georgia had been subdued and Lord Cornwallis was then mounting an expedition into Virginia. While initially the cause of much Crown boasting, this southern strategy, would ultimately prove to be the undoing of the British mission.

As Cornwallis planned his expedition he took care to secure his western flank, placing in charge of that mission the very able Major Patrick Ferguson then in command of a large number of local, Loyalist Tory Militia. Ferguson had been in the service of the Crown since the age of 17 and at 36 was a competent soldier who in the words of one of his Tory allies was, “well informed in the art of war”. He had served in the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) in Europe. By 1780 he was an experienced leader having participated in the Battle of Brandywine where he was wounded by a patriot musket ball which shattered his right arm. Ferguson recovered from his wounds but never regained the use of the arm, training himself instead to shoot and even wield his saber with his left arm.

Ferguson took his mission seriously. While the Continental Army had very few troops in the south, Ferguson was very much aware that there were large numbers of American fighting men beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. They had recently clashed at the Battle of Musgrove Mills with the militia getting the decidedly better end of the matter. In an effort to essentially side line these potential adversaries and frustrated that they would not sign loyalty oaths and swear allegiance to the Crown, Ferguson made a critical mistake. Selecting an American prisoner he dispatched the man to carry a message to the rugged Over Mountain Men….”desist from their opposition to the British Army, and take protection under his standard, or he would march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword”….

The message was not well received and did not have the desired effect.

The Over Mountain Men as they were known were a fiercely independent lot who lived a rough and tumble existence in the wilderness largely beyond the daily interference of the King. They were in fact living an illegal, squatters existence beyond the mountains. Following the French and Indian war, as a way of minimizing conflict -and the need for costly British military intervention, with the various Indian tribes and French hold outs of the Ohio Valley (the lands west of the Appalachians to the eastern shores of the Mississippi) the Decree of 1763 had forbidden settlement in that region. However, many of the people living in the “New World” in the early and mid 1700’s were recent arrivals who found that opportunity was quite limited. Recall that the American Colonies were nearly 150 years old at this time, the best land between the mountains and the Atlantic had long been settled, businesses long established. It was not an easy thing for a poor recent immigrant, some who came as indentured servants, to make any better a life than he had left in Europe….but over the mountains, there was plenty of good land and new business opportunities…..and few Royal Officials to enforce the Kings decrees. Combined with the generally independent nature of the new arrivals these powerful forces drew them west, without regard of the Kings Proclamation.

Major Fergusons messenger delivered his ultimatum to a colonial Milita Commander by the name of Isaac Shelby. Colonel Shelby was greatly incensed that an officer of the Crown would threaten to burn down his home and that of his neighbors. He immediately conferred with other militia commanders including John Servier and it was decided that Fergusons ultimatum could not be ignored and had to met with force. As news of the threat spread among the mountain people, men began sharpening hatchets, checking rifle flints, casting balls and packing food….. These men began their muster at Sycamore Shoals where they were addressed by a Presbyterian minister who sent them to battle with the following exhortation- “The enemy is marching hither to destroy your homes, go forth then, in the strength of your manhood to the aid of your bretheren, the defense of Liberty and the protection of your homes”. Along their march through the wilderness, the men were joined by hundreds of others from all corners of the American frontier.

As the frontiersman made their way east, Major Ferguson had advanced into territory along the border of the Carolinas. As he advanced he sought to rally as many Tories as he could, ultimately 1,100 men would join him. During his march, Ferguson found that he was beset by “an inundation of barbarians rather larger than expected.” As a result, he sent a dispatch to Cornwallis requesting immediate reinforcement. While waiting for reinforcement he chose to encamp at the top of Kings Mountain, a rocky 150 foot high plateau.

The journey of the Over Mountain Men took several days and covered well over 300 miles. On October 7th, 1780 after marching throughout the night in pouring rains, the Over Mountain Men, now numbering as many as 1,200 would encircle the plateau and begin to advance up its’ slopes. They were met by furious volleys from the summit that initially pushed them back, with a yell, they advanced and swarmed over the Tory militia. Major Ferguson, attempting to rally his troops horseback was brought down by a volley of fire. In a little over an hour of heavy fighting the Over Mountain Men had killed 200, wounded 160 and taken over 700 prisoners losing only 29 of their own in the battle.

No less a figure than General Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in North America, would later comment regarding the Battle of Kings Mountain as being, “the first link in a chain of evils” ending in “the total loss of America”. Major Fergusons defeat would result in Cornwallis, his western flank clearly insecure, abandoning his Virginia campaign and retreating to South Carolina. From there he would be harassed by General Nathanael Greene who would force him from the Carolinas to settle at Yorktown.

The Over Mountain Men, under the leadership of Isaac Shelby and other frontier militia commanders, without formal orders, most without formal military training, without any Continental Army support and without pay, fighting for their homes, their families and their very way of life- had won the battle on which many scholars agree the tide of the war turned.

 

They are a nice, comfortable length, and just go to show that common folk are often the pivot upon which greatness turns.

Keep 'em coming!

 

You are extending a wonderful service good sir. My thanks to you.

 

Great stuff! Keep em coming as you can!

 

Let's move this into the "five star" list.

Members should click on the "Rating" column at the top of the story, enter five stars, and make their opinion count.

These vignettes are outstanding. Based upon OUR ANCESTORS, here in OUR COUNTRY, they have a value which transcends fiction.

 

cowpens militia at kings mountain

Some of Picken's militia headed to kings mtn to join in the fight after defeating Tarleton and his redcoats at cowpens.
My great great great grand included, he owned a rifle.

 

After being away from it for quite awhile I am thinking of writing a few more pieces. The difficulty in writing these pieces is not in the writing itself, they are after all simply short autobiographies. The real problem is in FINDING the people to write about, they are by nature "unknown"....

I have another piece written but the scholarship on this person is very divided, the evidence of what they did points many ways at once so I am reluctant to post it. What I may do is make a "composite" like I did with the Over Mountain Men so that while they are made known I don't improperly attribute.

My next piece, working on it now, will be about the role of American Marksman in the Revolution. What a few skilled men with individual weapons can do is very much under rated.....

And thank everyone for their kind words, it means a lot as any of the authors here can attest to.

 

I have another piece written but the scholarship on this person is very divided, the evidence of what they did points many ways at once so I am reluctant to post it...

While I appreciate your hesitancy this is hardly a scholarly forum. Consider posting it with a disclaimer and a request for additional information. You may be surprised that someone on the forum is able to help you find the true history behind your story.

 

“Disperse ye rebels, disperse!”…On the morning of April 19, 1775 these words or similar were shouted by British Major John Pitcairn to the militiamen hastily assembled before him on the Lexington green. Shortly thereafter, a shot rang out and a general discharge on the British side followed, the American Revolution had begun. History next records Major Pitcairn at the Battle of Bunker- Breeds Hill. There, like so many British soldiers in that battle, the man many blamed for the entire conflagration would be killed by an American patriot.

Beginning in 1656, due to a fear of insurrection, blacks in the American colonies had been disallowed from military service or training. As war with Britain approached this policy was rescinded by the Massachusetts Committee of Safety and free blacks were recruited into the militia. By the end of the conflict most estimates are that between five and eight thousand blacks had served. One of the first to enlist was Peter Salem. Peter was born a slave to Army Captain Jeremiah Belknap some time around 1750. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities he was sold to Major Lawson Buckminster who freed Peter so that he might serve.

Peter’s first taste of combat came on April 19, 1775 when he was present at Concord having enlisted with Captain Simon Edgels Minute Men Company. He would subsequently enlist in Colonel John Nixons Fifth Massachusetts Regiment. It was while fighting with the Fifth at Breeds Hill that he would earn a venerated place in American History.

Following the British retreat, rout, from Concord they began to fortify Boston and the surrounding area against attack. The colonials, reinforced by men from throughout the colonies and numbering nearly 20,000, sought to cut off supplies to the besieged city by denying overland access to Boston which was essentially a peninsula. Part of the British plan was to fortify the Charlestown peninsula which was to the north of Boston across the bay. Relying on a vast network of spies and informers the Americans learned of the British aims and sought to deny them by building fortifications on Bunker Hill, the highest terrain on the Peninsula, Breeds hill lying to the south and closer to Boston. The hope was that this would force the British to abandon Boston entirely.

During the night of June 16, 1775 General Prescott and 1,000 Colonial troops are working feverishly to erect a breastwork on Breeds Hill having bypassed Bunker Hill attempting to seize ground within cannon shot of Boston and it’s harbor. The British ensconced in Boston were much alarmed when they awoke the following morning to find an earth works some 160 feet long and 30 feet high complete with a fence at it’s top occupied by the Americans only a short distance across the harbor. British warships in the harbor respond by bombarding the American position.

British General Howe immediately convened a war council and dispatched 2,000 soldiers across the bay to roust the Americans from the critical terrain. In the ensuing battle the British advanced twice into murderous volleys from the American positions. Reinforced by 400 soldiers General Howe orders a third assault. Running low on ammunition the patriot position is overrun with heavy hand to hand combat reported. The cost to the British though was very high- 1,054 casualties-226 dead and 828 wounded with damage to their officer corps being especially grievous. One hundred commissioned officers were dead or wounded including many of General Howe’s command staff. The overall casualty count was the highest of any battle during the entire war. General Clinton commented on the Pyrrhic nature of the victory noting that, “A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion of America”.

Major Pitcairn was one of the fallen officers. Having survived the earlier two attacks he leads 300 of his Marines on the final assault. As he crested the patriot breastwork Major Pitcairn cries, “The day is ours”! He is cut down by a shot to the head, and falls into the arms of his son, a marine in his command……he will succumb to his wounds later that day.

Peter Salem is widely credited with firing that shot though there is some dispute on the point, records and accounts being fragmentary. What is not in dispute is that Peter Salem and other black soldiers, numbering many thousand, contributed greatly to the revolutionary cause, many serving with distinction.

Peter Salem would go on to serve for nearly five years in the militia until he was discharged, December 31, 1779. During that time he fought at the battles of Saratoga and Stony Point. He would die at the age of 66, penniless. He was buried at the Old Burying Ground in Framingham, Massachusetts which was rather unusual and gives some idea of his status in the community. During this time blacks were typically not buried in the same cemetery as whites.



********** The account of Peter Salem firing the shot which killed Major Pitcairn is not well settled. There are many conflicting accounts of what happened. It is well documented though that he was present at Bunker Hill. One thing that makes the historical record even murkier is the fact that there was another black militia man present at the Battle, Salem Poor. Salem Poor, is often credited with killing British Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie at Bunker Hill- but that is contested and unsettled as well.

However, records clearly show that Salem Poor was cited by Colonel William Prescott and 14 other American officers as follows: “The reward due to so great and Distinguised a Character. The Subscribers beg leave to Report to Your Honorable House (Which We do in justice to the Character of so Brave a man) that under Our Own observation, we declare that A ***** Man Called Salem Poor of Col. Fryes Regiment, Capt. Ames. Company in the late Battle of Charleston, behaved like an Experienced Officer, as well as an Excellent Soldier, to Set forth Particulars of his Conduct would be Tedious, We Would Only beg leave to say in the Person of this ***** Centers a Brave and gallant Soldier. “

To have drawn such commendation from no less than 15 white officers there can be little doubt as to the heroism and character under fire of Salem Poor.

 

Let's start with the simplest argument first.

We agree that nations get their power from the consent of the individuals governed. Yes or no?
Having given such consent, the individuals may withdraw that consent if they decided it was necessary. Yes or no?

 

One of the better threads I've seen on this board. You must know where you've been to better decide where you are wanting to go. An addition to the list as a good read if I may.
William Diamond's Drum: the Beginning of the War of the American Revolution: Arthur Bernon Tourtellot: Amazon.com: Books