THE TAVERN IN WAR
The tavern has ever played an important part in social, political, and
military life, has helped to make history. From the earliest days when men
gathered to talk over the terrors of Indian warfare; through the renewal
of these fears in the French and Indian War; before and after the glories
of Louisburg; and through all the anxious but steadfast years preceding
and during the Revolution, these gatherings were held in the ordinaries or
taverns. What a scene took place in the Brookfield tavern, the town being
then called Quawbaug! The only ordinary, that of Goodman Ayers, was a
garrison house as well as tavern, and the sturdy landlord was commander of
the train-band. When the outbreak called King Philip's War took place,
things looked black for Quawbaug. Hostile and treacherous Indians set upon
the little frontier settlement, and the frightened families retreated from
their scarcely cleared farms to the tavern. Many of the men were killed
and wounded at the beginning of the fray, but there were eighty-two
persons, men, women, and children, shut up within the tavern walls, and
soon there were four more, for two women gave birth to twins. The
Indians, "like so many wild bulls," says a witness, shot into the house,
piled up hay and wood against the walls, and set it on fire. But the men
sallied out and quenched the flames. The next night the savages renewed
their attack.
"They used several stratagems to fire us, namely, by wild-fire on
cotton and linen rags with brimstone in them, which rags they tied to
the piles of their arrows sharp for the purpose and shot them to the
roof of our house after they had set them on fire, which would have
much endangered in the burning thereof, had we not used means by
cutting holes through the roof and otherwise to beat the said arrows
down, and God being pleased to prosper our endeavours therein."
Again they piled hay and flax against the house and fired it; again the
brave Englishmen went forth and put out the flames. Then the wily Indians
loaded a cart with inflammable material and thrust it down the hill to the
tavern. But the Lord sent a rain for the salvation of His people, and when
all were exhausted with the smoke, the August heat, the fumes of
brimstone, and the burning powder, relief came in a body of men from
Groton and one brought by a brave young man who had made his way by
stealth from the besieged tavern to Boston. Many of the old garrison
houses of New England had, as taverns, a peaceful end of their days.
A centre of events, a centre of alarms, the tavern in many a large city
saw the most thrilling acts in our Revolutionary struggle which took place
off the battlefields. The tavern was the rendezvous for patriotic bands
who listened to the stirring words of American rebels, and mixed dark
treason to King George with every bowl of punch they drank. The story of
our War for Independence could not be dissociated from the old taverns,
they are a part of our national history; and those which still stand are
among our most interesting Revolutionary relics.
John Adams left us a good contemporaneous picture of the first notes of
dissatisfaction such as were heard in every tavern, in every town, in the
years which were leading up to the Revolution. He wrote:--
"Within the course of the year, before the meeting of Congress in
1774, on a journey to some of our circuit courts in Massachusetts, I
stopped one night at a tavern in Shrewsbury about forty miles from
Boston, and as I was cold and wet, I sat down at a good fire in the
bar-room to dry my great-coat and saddle-bags, till a fire could be
made in my chamber. There presently came in, one after another, half a
dozen, or half a score substantial yeomen of the neighborhood, who,
sitting down to the fire after lighting their pipes, began a lively
conversation on politics. As I believed I was unknown to all of them,
I sat in total silence to hear them. One said, 'The people of Boston
are distracted.' Another answered, 'No wonder the people of Boston are
distracted. Oppression will make wise men mad.' A third said, 'What
would you say if a fellow should come to your house and tell you he
was come to take a list of your cattle, that Parliament might tax you
for them at so much a head? And how should you feel if he was to go
and break open your barn or take down your oxen, cows, horses, and
sheep?' 'What should I say?' replied the first, 'I would knock him in
the head.' 'Well,' said a fourth, 'if Parliament can take away Mr.
Hancock's wharf and Mr. Rowe's wharf, they can take away your barn and
my house.' After much more reasoning in this style, a fifth, who had
as yet been silent, broke out: 'Well, it's high time for us to rebel;
we must rebel some time or other, and we had better rebel now than at
any time to come. If we put it off for ten or twenty years, and let
them go on as they have begun, they will get a strong party among us,
and plague us a great deal more than they can now.'"
[Illustration: Old North Bridge, Concord, Mass.]
These discussions soon brought decisions, and by 1768 the Sons of Liberty
were organized and were holding their meetings, explaining conditions, and
advocating union and action. They adopted the name given by Colonel Barre
to the enemies of passive obedience in America. Soon scores of towns in
the colonies had their liberty trees or liberty poles.
These patriots grew amazingly bold in proclaiming their dissatisfaction
with the Crown and their allegiance to their new nation. The landlord of
the tavern at York, Maine, speedily set up a sign-board bearing a portrait
of Pitt and the words, "Entertainment for the Sons of Liberty." Young
women formed into companies called Daughters of Liberty, pledged to wear
homespun and drink no tea. I have told the story of feminine revolt at
length in my book _Colonial Dames and Goodwives_. John Adams glowed with
enthusiasm when he heard two Worcester girls sing the "New Liberty Song,"
in a Worcester tavern. In 1768 a Liberty Tree was dedicated in
Providence, Rhode Island. It was a vast elm which stood in the dooryard of
the Olney Tavern on Constitution Hill. On a platform built in its branches
about twenty feet from the ground, stood the orator of the day, and in an
eloquent discourse dedicated the tree to the cause of Liberty. In the
trying years that followed, the wise fathers and young enthusiasts of
Providence gathered under its branches for counsel. The most famous of
these trees of patriotism was the Liberty Tree of Boston. It stood near a
tavern of the same name at the junction of Essex and Washington streets,
then known as Hanover Square. The name was given in 1765 at a patriotic
celebration in honor of the expected repeal of the Stamp Act. Even before
that time effigies of Lord Oliver and a boot for Lord Bute, placards and
mottoes had hung from its branches. A metal plate was soon attached to it,
bearing this legend, "This tree was planted in 1646 and pruned by order of
the Sons of Liberty February 14, 1766." Under the tree and at the tavern
met all patriot bands, until the tree was cut down by the roistering
British soldiers and supplied them with fourteen cords of firewood. The
tavern stood till 1833. A picture of the Boston Liberty Tree and Tavern of
the same name is shown on the opposite page. It is from an old drawing.
[Illustration: Boston Liberty Tree and Tavern.]
The fourteenth of August, 1769, was a merry day in Boston and vicinity.
The Sons of Liberty, after assembling at the Liberty Tree in Boston, all
adjourned for dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern, or Robinson's Tavern in
Dorchester. Tables were spread in an adjoining field under a tent, and
over three hundred people sat down to an abundant feast, which included
three barbecued pigs. Speeches and songs inspired and livened the diners.
The last toast given was, "Strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp axes to
all such as deserve them." At five o'clock the Boston Sons, headed by John
Hancock in his chariot, started for home. Although fourteen toasts were
given in Boston and forty-five in Dorchester, John Adams says in his Diary
that "to the honor of the Sons I did not see one person intoxicated or
near it."
[Illustration: Stavers Inn.]
The tavern in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, known by the sign of Earl of
Halifax, was regarded by Portsmouth patriots as a hotbed of Tories. It
had always been the resort of Government officials; and in 1775, the
meeting of these laced and ruffled gentlemen became most obnoxious to the
Sons of Liberty, and soon a mob gathered in front of the tavern, and the
irate landlord heard the blows of an axe cutting down his Earl of Halifax
sign-post. Seizing an axe he thrust it into the hands of one of his
powerful negro slaves, telling him to go and threaten the chopper of the
sign-post. Excited by the riotous scene, the black man, without a word, at
once dealt a powerful blow upon the head of a man named Noble, who was
wielding the encroaching axe. Noble lived forty years after this blow, but
never had his reason. This terrible assault of course enraged the mob, and
a general assault was made on the tavern; windows and doors were broken;
Landlord Stavers fled on horseback, and the terrified black man was found
in a cistern in the tavern cellar, up to his chin in water. When Stavers
returned, he was seized by the Committee of Safety and thrust into Exeter
jail. He took the oath of allegiance and returned to his battered house.
He would not reglaze the broken windows, but boarded them up, and it is
said that many a distinguished group of officers feasted in rooms without
a pane of glass in the windows.
Popular opinion was against the Earl of Halifax, however, and when the old
sign-board was touched up, the name of William Pitt, the friend of
America, appeared on the sign.
The portion of the old Earl of Halifax or Stavers Inn which is still
standing is shown in its forlorn old age on the opposite page.
Mr. George Davenport, of Boston, a lineal descendant of old William
Davenport, owns one of the most interesting tavern bills I have ever seen.
It is of the old Wolfe Tavern at Newburyport. To those who can read
between the lines it reveals means and methods which were calculated to
arouse enthusiasm and create public sentiment during the exciting days of
the Stamp Act. The bill and its items read thus:--
"Dr. Messrs. Joseph Stanwood & Others of the Town of Newburyport for
Sunday expences at My House on Thirsday, Septr. 26th, A.D. 1765. At
the Grate Uneasiness and Tumult on Occasion of the Stamp Act.
To William Davenport Old Tenor
To 3 Double Bowls punch by Capt. Robud's Order L3, 7, 6
To 7 Double Bowls of punch 7, 7, 6
To Double Bowl of Egg Toddy 14
To Double Punch 22/6 Single bowl 11/3 1, 13, 9
To Double Bowl Punch 22/6 Double bowl toddy 12/ 1, 14, 6
To Bowl Punch 11/3 Bowl Toddy 6/ 17, 3
To Double Bowl Toddy 12/ bowl punch 11/3 1, 3, 3
To Double Bowl punch 22/6 Nip Toddy 3/ 1, 5, 6
To Mug Flip 5/ To a Thrible Bowl Punch 33/9 1, 18, 9
To Double Bowl Punch 22/6 To a Thrible Bowl
Ditto 33/9 2, 16, 3
To Double Bowl Punch 22/6 1, 2, 6
To a Double Bowl Punch 22/6 1, 2, 6
To Thrible Bowl Punch 33/9 Double Bowl Ditto
22/6 2, 16, 3
To Double Bowl Punch 22/6 Bowl Ditto 11/3 1, 13, 9
To Double Bowl Punch 22/6 To Double Ditto
22/6 Bowl 2, 5
To 6 Lemons 15/ To Bowl of Punch 11/3 1, 6, 3
To 2 Double Bowls Punch 2, 5
To Double Bowle Punch 22/6 bowl Punch 11/3 1, 13, 9
To 2 Double Bowles punch 1/5 To bowl punch 11/3 2, 16, 3
To bowl Punch 11/3 To bowl punch 11/3 1, 2, 6
To the Suppers which were cooked Hot 2, 5
To 8 Double Bowles Punch after Supper 9
To Double Bowl Toddy 12/ Bowl Punch 11/3 1, 2, 6
To Bowl Egg Toddy 7/ 7
To 6 pintes and 1/2 of Spirits @ 10/ per pint 3, 5
To a Breakfast of Coffee for Sd Company 2, 5
-----------
59, 17, 3
Lawful Money 7, 19, 7-1/2
Newbury Port 28 Sept. 1765.
Errors excepted William Davenport."
[Illustration: Handbill of Wolfe Tavern.]
There was also a credit account of eleven pounds received in various sums
from Captain Robud, Richard Farrow, and one Celeby.
It is impossible to do more than to name, almost at haphazard, a few of
the taverns that had some share in scenes of Revolutionary struggle. Many
served as court-rooms when court-martials were held; others were seized
for military prisons; others were fired upon; others served as barracks;
some as officers' headquarters; others held secret meetings of patriots;
many were used as hospitals.
Many an old tavern is still standing which saw these scenes in the
Revolutionary War. A splendid group of these hale and hearty old veterans
is found in the rural towns near Boston. At the Wright Tavern, in Concord
(shown on page 417), lodged Major Pitcairn, the British commander, and in
the parlor on the morning before the battle of Concord, he stirred his
glass of brandy with his bloody finger, saying he would thus stir the
rebel's blood before night. The Monroe Tavern, of Lexington (facing page
406), was the headquarters of Lord Percy on the famous 19th of April,
1775. The Buckman Tavern, of the same town (page 23), was the rallying
place of the Minute Men on April 18th, and contains many a bullet hole
made by the shots of British soldiers. The Cooper Tavern (page 68) and the
Russel Tavern (page 379), both of Arlington, were also scenes of activity
and participation in the war. The Wayside Inn of Sudbury (page 372) and
the Black Horse Tavern of Winchester were the scenes of the reassembling
of the soldiers after the battle of Lexington.
[Illustration: Sign-board of Wolfe Tavern.]
On the south side of Faneuil Hall Square in Boston, a narrow passageway
leads into the gloomy recesses of a yard or court of irregular shape; this
is Corn Court, and in the middle of this court stands, overshadowed by
tall modern neighbors, the oldest inn in Boston. It has been raised and
added to, and disfigured with vast painted signs, and hideous fire
escapes, but within still retains its taproom and ancient appearance. As
early as 1634, Samuel Cole had an ordinary on this spot, and in 1636,
Governor Vane entertained there Miantonomah and his twenty warriors. This
building, built nearly two centuries ago, was given the name of Hancock in
1780, when he became governor. In 1794, Talleyrand was a guest at this old
hostelry, and Louis Philippe in 1797. Washington, Franklin, and scores of
other patriots have tarried within its walls; and in its taproom were held
meetings of the historic Boston Tea-party.
The Green Dragon Inn was one of the most famous of historic taverns. A
representation of it from an old print is shown on page 187. The metal
dragon which gave the name projected from the wall on an iron rod.
Warren was the first Grand Master of the first Grand Lodge of Masons that
held its meetings at this inn; and other patriots came to the inn to
confer with him on the troublous times. The inn was a famous resort for
the sturdy mechanics of the North End. Paul Revere wrote:--
"In the fall of 1774 and winter of 1775, I was one of upwards of
thirty men, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves with a Committee
for the purpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers and
gaining every intelligence of the movements of the Tories. We held our
meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern. This committee were astonished to
find all their secrets known to General Gage, although every time they
met every member swore not to reveal their transactions even to
Hancock, Adams, Otis, Warren or Church."
The latter, Dr. Church, proved to be the traitor. The mass meeting of
these mechanics and their friends held in this inn when the question of
the adoption of the Federal Constitution was being considered was deemed
by Samuel Adams one of the most important factors of its acceptance.
Daniel Webster styled the Green Dragon the Headquarters of the Revolution.
During the war it was used as a hospital.
[Illustration: Hancock Tavern.]
It is pleasant to note how many old taverns in New England, though no
longer public hostelries, still are occupied by descendants of the
original owners. Such is the home of Hon. John Winn in Burlington,
Massachusetts. It stands on the road to Lowell by way of Woburn, about
eleven miles out of Boston. The house was used at the time of the battle
of Bunker Hill as a storage-place for the valuables of Boston and
Charlestown families. The present home of the Winns was built in 1734
upon the exact site of the house built in 1640 by the first Edward Winn,
the emigrant. In it the first white child was born in the town of Woburn,
December 5, 1641.
The tavern was kept in Revolutionary days by Lieutenant Joseph Winn, who
marched off to join the Lexington farmers on April 19, 1775, at two
o'clock in the morning, when the alarm came "to every Middlesex village
and farm" to gather against the redcoats. He came home late that night,
and fought again at Bunker Hill.
The tavern sign bore the coat of arms of the Winns; it was--not to use
strict heraldic terms--three spread eagles on a shield. As it was not
painted with any too strict obedience to the rules of heraldry or art, nor
was it hung in a community that had any very profound knowledge or
reverence on either subject, the three noble birds soon received a
comparatively degraded title, and the sign-board and tavern were known as
the Three Broiled Chickens.
A building in New York which was owned by the De Lanceys before it became
a public house is still standing on the southeast corner of Broad and
Pearl streets; its name is well known to-day, Fraunces' Tavern. This name
came from the stewardship of Samuel Fraunces, "Black Sam," a soldier of
the American Revolution. The tavern originally bore a sign with the device
of the head of Queen Charlotte, and was known as the Queen's Head, but in
Revolutionary times Black Sam was a patriot, and in his house were held
many patriotic and public meetings. The most famous of these meetings,
one which has given the name of Washington's Headquarters to the tavern,
was held in the Long Room on December 4, 1783: whereat Washington sadly
bade farewell to his fellow-officers who had fought with him in the War
for Independence. In this room, ten days previously, had been celebrated
the evacuation of the city of New York by the British, by a dinner given
to General Washington by Governor Clinton, at which the significant
thirteen toasts were drunk to the new nation. Black Sam was a public
benefactor as well as a patriot. He established a course of lectures on
natural philosophy, and opened an exhibition of wax figures, seventy in
all, for the amusement of New Yorkers. His story, and that of the tavern
bearing his name, have been told at length many times in print.
[Illustration: Sam Fraunces.]
Another interesting Revolutionary inn in New York was the Golden Hill Inn.
The general estimate of the date of its building is 1694; then 122 William
Street was a golden grainfield, on one corner of the Damon Farm. After
three-quarters of a century of good hospitality it was chosen as the
headquarters of the Sons of Liberty in New York, and within its walls
gathered the committee in 1769, to protest against Lieutenant-governor
Colden's dictum that the colonists must pay for supplies for the British
soldiers. The result was a call for a meeting of the citizens and the
governor's angry offer of a reward for knowledge of the place of meeting.
The cutting down of the liberty pole on the night of January 17, 1770, and
the seizure of four red-coats by the patriots ended in a fight in the inn
garden and the death of one patriot. A century of stirring life followed
until 1896, when the old tavern sadly closed its doors under the pressure
of the Raines Law.
The Keeler Tavern was a famous hostelry for travellers between New York
and Boston. Its old sign-board is shown on page 205. During the
Revolution, landlord Keeler was well known to be a patriot, and was
suspected of manufacturing cartridges in his tavern. The British poured a
special fire upon the building, and one cannon ball lodged in a timber on
the north side of the house still is to be seen by drawing aside the
shingle that usually conceals it. A companion cannon ball whistled so
close to a man who was climbing the stairs of the house that he tumbled
down backward screaming, "I'm a dead man," until his friends with
difficulty silenced him, and assured him he was living. A son of the
landlord, Jeremiah Keeler, enlisted in the Continental army when but
seventeen; he became a sergeant, and was the first man to scale the
English breastworks at Yorktown. He was presented with a sword by his
commanding officer, Lafayette, and it is still preserved.
When Lafayette made his triumphal progress through the United States in
1824, he visited Ridgefield and the tavern to see Jeremiah Keeler, and a
big ball was given in the tavern in his honor. Jerome Bonaparte and his
beautiful Baltimore bride stopped there in 1804. Oliver Wolcott and
Timothy Pickering were other sojourners under its roof. Peter Parley gave
to the Keeler Tavern the palm for good cooking.
The old Conkey Tavern at Prescott, Massachusetts, saw the gathering of a
very futile but picturesque windstorm of Revolutionary grievance. It was
built in 1758 by William Conkey, on a lovely but lonely valley midway
between the east and west hills of Pelham. The Swift River running through
this valley was made the boundary in the town division in 1822, which made
eastern Pelham into Prescott. Captain Daniel Shays, the leader of Shays'
Rebellion, lived half a mile from the tavern on the Centre Range Road. In
the cheerful rooms of this tavern, Shays, aided by the well-stocked
tavern-bar, incited the debt-burdened farmers to rebel against their state
government. Here he drilled his "flood-wood," and from hence he led them
forth to Springfield, and on January 25, 1787, was promptly repulsed by
the state militia under General Lincoln. Eleven hundred men trooped back
to Pelham, and after four days of what must have proved scant and cold
fare in those barren winter hilltops, again sallied out to Petersham. Here
he was again routed by Lincoln, who, with his men, had marched thirty
miles without halt, from eight o'clock at night to nine the following
morning through a blinding, northeast New England snowstorm. A hundred and
fifty of Shays' men were captured, but their valiant and wordy leader
escaped.
[Illustration: Green Dragon Tavern.]
When the photograph (shown opposite page 188) was taken, in 1883, the old
timbers within the house were sound and firm, and the beams overhead still
bore the marks of the muskets of Shays' impatient men. It was a
characteristic "deserted home" of New England.
Nothing could more fully picture Whittier's lines:--
"Against the wooded hills it stands,
Ghost of a dead house; staring through
Its broken lights on wasted lands
Where old-time harvests grew.
"Unploughed, unsown, by scythe unshorn,
The poor forsaken farm-fields lie,
Once rich and rife with golden corn
And pale-green breadths of rye.
"So sad, so drear; it seems almost
Some haunting Presence makes its sign,
That down some shadowy lane some ghost
Might drive his spectral kine."
Since then the old tavern has fallen down, a sad ruin, like many another
on New England hills, in a country as wild and lonely, probably far
lonelier, than in the days of the Revolution and Shays' Rebellion. The
sign-board (page 190) is still preserved.
Eighteenth-century taverns had a special function which had a bearing on
their war relations; they were "improved" as recruiting offices. During
the years 1742 to 1748, and from 1756 to 1763, while England was at war
with France, the "listing" was brisk. Here is a typical advertisement
dated 1759:--
"All able-bodied fit Men that have an Inclination to serve his Majesty
King George the Second, in the First Independent Company of Rangers,
now in the Province of _Nova Scotia_ commanded by _Joseph Gorham,
Esq._; shall, on enlisting, receive good Pay and Cloathing, a large
Bounty, with a Crown to drink the King's Health. And by repairing to
the Sign of the Bear in King-Street, _Boston_, and to Mr.
_Cornelius Crocker_, Innholder in _Barnstable_, may hear the
particular Encouragement, and many Advantages accruing to a Soldier,
in the Course of the Duty of that Company, too long to insert here;
and further may depend on being discharged at the expiration of the
Time entertain'd for, and to have every other Encouragement punctually
compli'd with."
[Illustration: Conkey Tavern.]
In the "French War of 1744," the Governor of Jamaica sent his "leftenants"
to Philadelphia to fill up his regiments. It was worth "listing" at the
Widow Roberts' Coffee-house in those days, when every "sojer" got six
shillings a week extra, and his family carried free to Antigua if he
wished it, and land to settle on in that glorious country when war was
over. Brisk and cheerful was the enrolment, and I trust all lived happy
ever after in the tropic land, so far away in miles and environment from
the Quaker town of their youth.
It was pleasant work, also, for "gentlemen sailors" in 1744. The colonies
whisked out on the high seas that year a hundred and thirteen full-manned
privateers. Wealthy merchants gathered around the inn tables to join
fortunes in these ventures; plans were quickly matured; and the articles
of agreement signed by these rich ship-owners were quickly followed by
articles of agreement to be signed by the seamen. Oh, what prizes these
cruisers brought into port! There are no items in the newspapers of that
day under the head of Philadelphia and New York news save lists of prizes.
When these half-pirates came in, cannon were fired, the whole town turned
out, and the taverns were filled with rejoicings. The names of the ships
and their captains were household words. The captured cargoes were carried
ashore; inventories were posted in the taprooms, and often the goods were
sold within the welcoming tavern doors.
[Illustration: Sign-board of Conkey Tavern.]
It has been said that taverns bearing names of ships, maritime phrases,
and seafaring titles were usually chosen as shipping offices for the
enlistment of privateersmen and marines on men-of-war. It is more probable
that the most popular tavern in any locality frequented by sailors and
seamen was the one chosen, whatever its name. In the _Boston Post Boy_ of
June, 1762, is the following notice:--
"NOW BOUND ON A CRUIZE OF SIX MONTHS
Against His Majesties enemies, The Brigantine _Tartar_, a Prime Sailor
mounting Fourteen Six Pounders, Twenty Culverines, and will carry One
Hundred and Twenty Men. Commanded by William Augustus Peck. All
GENTLEMEN SEAMEN
and able bodied Landsmen who have a mind to make their Fortunes, and
are inclined to take a Cruize in this said Vessel, by applying at this
King's Head Tavern at the North End, may view the Articles which are
more advantageous to the Ship's Company than were ever before offered
in this Place."
To those who know the condition of Jack Tar aboard ship a century ago, and
the attitude which Captain Peck doubtless assumed to his seamen the moment
the _Tartar_ was started on this "Cruize," there is a sarcastic pleasantry
in the term Gentlemen Seamen used by him in common with other captains
ashore, that might be swallowed in a taproom with bowls of grog and flip,
but would never go down smoothly on shipboard.
Gentlemen sailors were frequently impressed in a very different manner.
The press-gang was one of the peculiar institutions of Great Britain, and
its aggressive outrages formed one of the causes of "Madison's War," as
old people liked to term the War of 1812. The _Virginia Gazette_ of the
first of October, 1767, tells of a far different scene from that indicated
by the plausible words of Captain Peck; one in which a Norfolk tavern took
a part:--
"It appears that Captain Morgan of the Hornet, Sloop of War, concerted
a bloody riotous Plan, to impress Seamen, at Norfolk, Virginia, for
which Purpose his Tender was equipped with Guns and Men, and under
cover of the Night, said Morgan landed at a public wharff, having
first made proper Dispositions either for an Attack or Retreat; then
went to a Tavern, and took a chearful Glass, after which they went to
work and took every Person they met with and knock'd all down that
resisted; and dragg'd them on board the Tender but the Town soon took
the Alarm, and being headed by Paul Loyal, Esq., a Magistrate, they
endeavor'd to convince Captain Morgan of his Error; but being deaf to
all they said he ordered the People in the Tender to fire on the
Inhabitants, but they refused to obey their Commander's orders and he
was soon oblig'd to fly, leaving some of his Hornets behind, who were
sent to Gaol."
[Illustration: Naval Pitcher.]
It is astonishing to read of such ruffianly kidnappings under the
protection of the British Government, and to know that seamen and sailors
who had been so treated would assist in such outrages on others. It is
only one of the many proofs that we meet everywhere in history of the
thick-skinned indifference and cruelty of nearly all of the human race a
century ago.
It was far worse in these matters in England than in the colonies. Mr.
Ashton tells us that in one night over two thousand one hundred men were
pressed in London alone. Riot and bloodshed accompanied those infamous
raids; sometimes a whole town turned out to resist the officers and ship's
men.