Martha Washington is born

On this day in history, June 2, 1731, Martha Washington is born at her father’s estate in New Kent, County, Virginia. Martha Dandridge was the firstborn child of wealthy planter John Dandridge. As a child, Martha received a basic education, which was unusual for girls in that era. She was married at the age of 18 to Daniel Parke Custis, an even wealthier planter than her father, who was 20 years older than she.

Martha and Daniel lived at Daniel’s plantation, which was ironically called The White House. They had four children over the next few years, two of whom live past toddlerhood. Unfortunately, Daniel died in 1757, when Martha was only 26, leaving her in charge of a vast network of plantations covering over 17,000 acres in 5 counties and 285 slaves. With the assistance of her late husband’s business manager, however, Martha learned the intricacies of planning, managing and harvesting the tobacco crop and selling it to London merchants.

Martha was also now responsible for her two children, John Parke Custis, known as Jacky, and Martha Parke Custis, known as Patsy, who were only 2 years and 1 year when their father died. Years later, Martha would be stricken with grief because both children would die young. Patsy died at the age of 17 from an epileptic seizure and Jacky died at the age of 21 from “camp fever” contracted at the Battle of Yorktown.

Martha met and married George Washington in 1759. It is believed they knew each other for only a matter of weeks before he proposed and she accepted marriage. The two moved to Mount Vernon with Martha’s young children and began an idyllic life that by all accounts was loving and harmonious.

When the American Revolution broke out, Martha spent much of the next 8 years home alone at Mount Vernon, but she did travel to Washington’s encampments several times in the winters where she comforted her husband and entertained the officers and their wives. She was also known for rallying women, especially the wealthy, to give money to the Revolutionary cause and make supplies, such as blankets and clothing for the soldiers.

Toward the end of the Revolution, when young Jacky died, he left four children as well. Two of them ended up living permanently with George and Martha. Eleanor Parke Custis, called Nelly, was only 2 when her father died and George Washington Parke Custis, called Wash or Tub, was only 6 months. Since Martha’s children were all now dead and since George and Martha had no children of their own, they raised Nelly and Wash as their own.

Martha was a very private person and did not enjoy the public attention when her husband became President. She lived with him in New York and Philadelphia, where the capital was then located. She entertained guests and dignitaries with lavish dinner parties, but this was a duty to her and not necessarily an enjoyment.

After Washington’s presidency ended, Martha hoped to return to the quiet life at Mount Vernon, but a steady string of guests constantly arrived to visit her husband. When Washington passed away in 1799, Martha was grief stricken and was known to frequently say how much she missed him. When her own death neared less than 3 years later, Martha burned all the letters ever written between herself and her husband. Only two letters between them have survived. For this reason, very little is known about the personal relationship of the first President of the United States and his wife, and this is exactly how the very private Martha Washington intended it.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free Government.”
George Washington (1796)

The Boston Port Act takes effect

On this day in history, June 1, 1774, the Boston Port Act takes effect, closing down Boston Harbor from all shipping and trade in punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Boston citizens had thrown 42 tons of tea into the harbor in December of the previous year, as an act of protest against unjust taxation. The colonists had no representatives in Parliament and they believed it was unlawful to be taxed by a body in which they had no representation. The Boston Tea Party was the culmination of many years of protests and strife regarding taxation and representation.

Parliament was outraged at this act of defiance and set about bringing the rebellious Massachusetts back to order. A series of acts, known as the Coercive Acts in Britain, were passed in 1774, which shut down all self-government in Massachusetts, limited town meetings and moved the trials of government officials out of the colony. Other measures required all the colonies to provide housing for government troops, extended the boundaries of British Quebec and granted Catholic Quebec residents the right to practice their own religion, which was seen by the colonists as strengthening the heavily pro-British Quebec right next door.

The piece of the Coercive Acts, or, as they were called by the colonists, the Intolerable Acts, that caused more outrage in the colonies than any other, however, was the Boston Port Act. This act closed down the harbor to all trade permanently until the ruined tea was paid for, the lost customs revenues paid and order restored in Massachusetts. It placed armed warships in the harbor to enforce a blockade and filled Boston with troops to help patrol the wharfs.

The Boston Port Act placed heavy fines on violators. If anyone was caught trying to sneak through the blockade, the ships, cargo and any other property, such as horses or wagons used to transport the goods, were to be forfeited to the government and a fine of three times the value of the cargo was levied. Also, anyone caught trying to bribe officials into letting goods through and any officials involved in taking such bribes, were heavily fined.

The Boston Port Act, and the other parts of the Coercive Acts, were really the spark that lighted the American Revolution. Colonists across America were outraged. They realized that if Parliament was willing to do this to Boston, they could do it anywhere in the colonies. All of the colonies joined in a boycott of British goods and a plan was made to convene the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in September. The Congress was to plan a joint colonial response to the Coercive Acts and was the first joint action of the colonies against Great Britain.

The Boston Port Act did everything but bring Massachusetts back into submission. Instead, it united  the colonies in their resolve to protect their freedoms. The Continental Congress remonstrated with Great Britain to correct its grievances, but also recommended to all the colonies that they begin stockpiling weapons and ammunition in the event of war. This stockpiling led directly to British General Thomas Gage receiving instructions to capture the rebel supplies at Concord, Massachusetts, leading to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in April of 1775.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and wellbeing of society.“
Richard Henry Lee

The Mecklenberg Resolves are adopted

On this day in history, May 31, 1775, the Mecklenberg Resolves are adopted by Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. The Mecklenberg Resolves are an important document in understanding what most historians believe to be the fraudulent “Mecklenberg Declaration,” a declaration of independence allegedly passed by the county a year before the Continental Congress’ Declaration of Independence.

The original document passed by a committee of Mecklenberg County’s citizens burned in a fire in the year 1800. Dr. Joseph McKnitt, the son of someone involved in the passage of the original document, put out an article in 1819 with the alleged language of the “Mecklenberg Declaration.” He claimed this declaration of independence from Britain was made on May 20, 1775, more than a year before the official Declaration of Independence. This would place Mecklenberg County in the heady place of being the “first” in America to declare its independence from Great Britain.

Critics, including Thomas Jefferson, immediately pointed out several problems with the document. First of all, it contained several entire phrases from the Continental Congress’ Declaration (causing some to say Jefferson had borrowed heavily from the Mecklenberg Declaration himself for the Declaration of Independence). Others pointed out that there were no other copies or reports of such a declaration in contemporary sources. Indeed, why had no one ever even heard of such a document before now?

In 1838, historian Peter Force found a partial copy of some resolutions adopted by Mecklenberg County on May 31, 1775. This list was substantially different than McKnitt’s resolutions. Were there two sets of resolutions passed by the county eleven days apart? Critics pointed out that the alleged May 20 Declaration called for a complete separation from Great Britain, while the later May 31 document called merely for a suspension of British laws and the creation of an interim government until the Provincial Congress gave them more direction. This was much less severe than a complete separation. The County surely did not call for independence on the 20th and then backtrack and leave the door open for reconciliation on the 31st.

In 1847, the entire Mecklenberg Resolves were discovered in the archives of the South Carolina Gazette, which had printed the document when it was passed. In the eyes of most historians, this document proved conclusively that there was no such thing as the Mecklenberg Declaration. Instead, what most historians agree upon is that McKnitt, or someone else, tried to reconstruct the Mecklenberg Resolves from memory after the original was destroyed in the fire. Some 50 years had passed and either out of a desire to inflate North Carolina’s role in the Revolution or simply out of mistaken belief, he called the document a declaration of independence, when, in reality, it was no such thing.

For decades, many, in North Carolina in particular, believed in the Mecklenberg Declaration. In fact, the date May 20, 1775, is featured prominently on the State Seal and the State Flag. The day was celebrated as an official state holiday for years and taught as fact in history textbooks. Today, you can still find a few holdouts who cling to the idea that the Mecklenberg Declaration actually took place, but most serious historians have relegated it to a fallacious footnote of history.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which, being susceptible of very different glosses, beget in the mind a distrust of itself.”
James Madison (1790)

Iroquois Indians win the Battle of Cobleskill

On this day in history, May 30, 1778, Iroquois Indians win the Battle of Cobleskill when they destroy the settlement of Cobleskill, New York. The Battle of Cobleskill was the first move of a major Iroquois campaign against colonial settlements in western New York and Pennsylvania.

Joseph Brant (his English name), also called Thayendanegea, was an Iroquois leader who had strong ties to Great Britain. He had traveled to England and had a personal meeting with King George III a few years earlier. His parents were also Christian converts, hence, the westernized name and connections.

After the disaster of General John Burgoyne’s invasion into New York from Canada, the British Canadians began supplying Iroquois and Loyalist supporters in their fight against the patriots in New York. Brant helped plan a major campaign against the settlements in the region. He was adamant, however, that only militia or Continental Army soldiers be targeted. Settlers, women and children who did not resist were to be allowed to leave the area without being harmed.

Brant intended to attack Cherry Valley, New York, but was deceived into believing the village had more defenders than it actually had. He settled on Cobleskill, a small village of 20 families on farms along Cobleskill Creek in present day Warnerville, New York. Cobleskill was defended by local militia under Captain Christian Brown and a few dozen Continental Army soldiers under Captain William Patrick.

On May 30, 1778, the Iroquois attack began with a trick. A small band of Indians showed themselves at a distance from Cobleskill, causing the soldiers to take off after them. Captain Brown warned Captain Patrick this might be a ruse, but Patrick pursued the Indians anyway. Patrick’s troops chased them for about a mile before the trap was sprung and a large force of 200-300 Indians and Loyalists came out of the woods and surrounded the pursuers. Patrick and half his force were killed.

The Indians then turned on the village, which was still being defended by Captain Brown. Several soldiers hid in the home of George Warner which was burned down, killing them all. Many of the other homes in the village and their outbuildings were destroyed. Crops and livestock that could not be carried off were destroyed. When it was all done, Cobleskill was destroyed and 22 settlers were killed. Approximately 25 Indians and Loyalists were killed. 5 settlers were captured by Brant and given the option of integrating with the Indians or being sent to the British Fort Niagara as captives, which is the option the captives chose.

After the Battle of Cobleskill, the Iroquois raids continued against villages and forts along the New York and Pennsylvania frontiers, including what some call the worst atrocity of the American Revolution, the Cherry Valley Massacre, in November of 1778. The Iroquois campaign finally drew the wrath of the Continental Congress which authorized a major expedition against them. The Sullivan Expedition, named after General John Sullivan, began in the summer of 1779 and destroyed dozens of Indian villages. The expedition had little overall effect on the war, however, because most of the Indian warriors, though their homes were destroyed, were not killed and survived to continue the fight.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“It was by one Union that we achieved our independence and liberties, and by it alone can they be maintained.”
James Monroe

Banastre Tarleton wins the Battle of the Waxhaws

On this day in history, May 29, 1780, Banastre Tarleton wins the Battle of the Waxhaws, earning himself the epithets “Bloody Ban” and “Ban the Butcher.” British forces had captured Charleston, South Carolina on May 12, 1780 and Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis quickly took a large army to conquer the backcountry.

Cornwallis learned that John Rutledge, South Carolina’s rebel governor was fleeing to the north with Colonel Abraham Buford and 400 Virginia Continentals. Cornwallis could not move his army fast enough to catch Rutledge before he escaped, so he sent Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, head of the Loyalist British Legion, ahead with around 270 men to capture Rutledge.

Tarleton made an impressive trek over 100 miles in 53 hours on horseback, finally catching up to Buford’s rear guard on May 29th. Tarleton’s men and horses were exhausted. He could not press them anymore and needed to slow Buford down. He sent a negotiator demanding Buford’s surrender, hoping this would stop Buford for a while. Buford had learned of Tarleton’s approach and sent Rutledge ahead to safety. When the surrender demand was delivered, Buford replied with a terse, “Sir, I reject your proposals, and shall defend myself to the last extremity.” When Tarleton received the reply, he quickly put together an attack and charged the patriots.

Buford waited until the last minute before he ordered his men into a battle line. As Tarleton’s dragoons (soldiers on horseback) charged the American line, Buford did not order his men to fire until the dragoons were within ten yards of the line. This proved to be a disastrous move because the dragoons were barely phased by the gunfire and quickly trounced through the American line, causing numerous injuries and causing them to scatter in every direction. Many of the Americans laid down their weapons and attempted to surrender.

What happened next is unclear due to extreme differences in the reports of those involved. Some accounts indicate that Buford sent a white flag of surrender. Just as the flag bearer approached Tarleton, Tarleton’s horse was shot from under him and he tumbled to the ground. The British soldiers thought Tarleton was dead and thought the white flag was a ruse intended to deceive Tarleton and then kill him anyway. They began to attack the wounded and captured without impunity, killing them with bayonets where they lay. Other accounts indicate there was no white flag at all, but that the British began killing their captives indiscriminately when they thought Tarleton was killed.

In the end, 113 Americans were dead and 150 wounded. The British had only 5 killed and 12 wounded. The Battle of the Waxhaws, named after the region where the battle took place, and also called the Waxhaw Massacre or Buford’s Massacre, earned Tarleton an infamous reputation and the epithets “Ban the Butcher” and “Bloody Ban.” He was accused of ordering his soldiers to kill the captured Americans and giving them no quarter. The perceived atrocity led to a huge increase in volunteers to the patriot militia. In reality, Tarleton’s men were probably to blame for killing the wounded after thinking their commander had been killed.

Tarleton’s reputation became that of a villain, even in today’s popular culture. In the 2000 movie, The Patriot, the villain, Colonel Tavington, is loosely based on Tarleton. Tavington is portrayed as a bloodthirsty killer, burning civilians in churches and murdering children in front of their parents. In reality, Tarleton could be vulgar, but this is an extreme misrepresentation of who he was.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“As long as property exists, it will accumulate in individuals and families. As long as marriage exists, knowledge, property and influence will accumulate in families.”
John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1814

George Washington starts the French and Indian War

On this day in history, May 28, 1754, George Washington inadvertently starts the French and Indian War at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. For decades, France and Great Britain had competed for control of the Ohio River Valley. In 1753, the French began building a string of forts in the area and pushing out British traders.

Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia had been ordered to protect the area from French aggression. He sent a 22 year old Major George Washington with a letter demanding the French depart the area, but the letter was rebuffed. Dinwiddie then ordered the construction of a fort at the forks of the Ohio River and ordered Washington to protect its construction.

Washington raised a small force of militia and Indian allies, including his friend, Mingo chief, Tanacharison. As they neared the location of the already under construction fort, they met the fort’s crew, who informed them that a French army had demanded their evacuation, taken over the site and begun building their own fort, which became known as Fort Duquesne.

When the commander of Fort Duquesne learned Washington’s small army was approaching, he sent another officer, Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, with an order that they leave French territory. Washington, who had been instructed by Governor Dinwiddie to repel the French, even if it meant bloodshed, had begun building Fort Necessity south of Fort Duquesne. When he learned of the approach of Jumonville’s men, he decided to attack.

Jumonville had about 35 men with him. Washington had 40 militia and 12 Mingo Indians who surrounded the French camp while many of them slept. When the fighting began, nearly all of the French were captured or killed within a few minutes. What happened next is murky because of conflicting accounts, but it would result in the death of Jumonville and the elevation of George Washington to a figure known in the courts of Europe for the first time.

Apparently Washington, who did not speak French, was attempting to interrogate Jumonville and the communication was difficult. He may have left Jumonville unattended for a period, during which either Tanacharison or a militia member killed Jumonville in cold blood. Some accounts say Tanacharison tomahawked Jumonville in the head and washed his hands in Jumonville’s brains. Others say a militia member shot him. The reason for Jumonville’s killing is unclear. Washington’s official account to Governor Dinwiddie states that Jumonville was killed in the battle, but doesn’t state how.

After the Battle of Jumonville Glen, a full sized French force came out of Fort Duquesne and chased Washington back to Fort Necessity. The French captured the fort and Washington surrendered on July 3, 1754, the only time he ever surrendered in battle. Washington signed a surrender document written in French that he could not read and may have not been translated properly to him. The document stated that Jumonville had been “assassinated”  and Washington was later blamed of ordering the assassination by France. This affair led to the first time that Washington’s name became known abroad in an international context. The result of all of this was an escalation of British and French troops in the area and the outbreak of the French and Indian War two years later.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.”    
George Washington

The Burrowes Mansion is raided

On this day in history, May 27, 1778, the Burrowes Mansion is raided in Matawan, New Jersey. John Burrowes, Sr. was a wealthy grain merchant living in Matawan, then known as Middletown Point. Burrowes gathered the grain from the New Jersey countryside, milled it in his own mills and then shipped it by boat to New England and New York City. Because of his very large grain business, Burrowes was called the “Corn King” by locals.

Burrowes was aligned with the patriots during the time leading to the American Revolution. He was involved with the Sons of Liberty during the Stamp Act crisis and served in New Jersey’s rebel congress once the Revolution began. Monmouth County’s first militia group to gather against the British trained in his front yard.

Burrowes’ son, John Burrowes, Jr. became a Major of the militia and served in the Continental Army during the battles in New York and New Jersey. John married Margaret Forman during the war. Margaret stayed with the elder Burrowes’ family at their mansion in Matawan while John Jr. was away fighting. Every chance he could, he got away to come to visit his young wife.

As in most communities, Matawan was divided between patriots and Loyalists. Loyalist sympathizers became aware of John’s frequent visits to Matawan and set a trap for him. When they received intelligence that he would be home toward the end of May, they sent word to the “Greens,” a group of Loyalist refugees gathered on Staten Island who would exact vengeance on local patriots for their involvement with the rebels.

On May 27th, John Jr. was visiting at the mansion when the Greens landed nearby and headed toward the property. Local patriots, however, noticed them and quickly warned the Burrowes family. John was able to escape out the back of the house, swim the creek and hide in the woods before the Greens arrived. Local patriots fought with the Greens as they arrived and began to set fire to Burrowes’ mills and storehouses.

When the Greens knocked down the front door of the mansion around midnight, young Margaret came down the stairs in her nightgown and shawl. A British soldier demanded that she give him her shawl to wrap around a wounded soldier. Margaret refused and said something along the lines of, “You’ll not get my shawl or anything else here to aid a British subject.” The angered soldier then struck her with his sword hilt and went upstairs looking for Burrowes. Margaret survived the attack, but was injured severely. She lived for several more years, but died in the 1780s, some believe due to complications from her injuries.

The soldiers searched the house for Burrowes, Jr., but did not find him, even firing shots into the attack from the second floor, the holes of which can still be seen today. Several patriot militia were killed or captured during the raid, including John Burrowes, Sr., who was captured, but later released. Much of the furnishings of the house were brought out and burned on the lawn. All the mills and storehouses were destroyed, but the house itself was spared. The fortune of the Burrowes family was destroyed in the raid, illustrating the personal tragedy suffered by many individuals during the Revolution. Both father and son died several years later at sea and penniless. Today the Burrowes mansion has been completely restored and is the home of the Matawan Historical Society.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com    

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.” Thomas Jefferson (1813)