Document 6–3: George R. T. Hewes, Memoir, 1834

Reading the American Past: Printed Page 107

DOCUMENT 6–3

A Boston Shoemaker Recalls British Arrogance and the Boston Tea Party

The high-handed arrogance of many British officials rankled many colonists. British assertions of supremacy in face-to-face encounters with colonists seemed to parallel parliamentary assertions of power over the colonies. George R. T. Hewes, a shoemaker in Boston during the 1770s, refused to back down to a haughty customs official and participated in the Boston Tea Party. Many years later, when Hewes was more than ninety years old, he recalled those events in an interview published in 1834. Hewes's narrative illustrates the contagious assertion of colonial rights among many Bostonians in the 1770s.

George R. T. Hewes

Memoir, 1834

One day . . . as I was returning from dinner, I met a man by the name of John Malcom, who was a custom-house officer, and a small boy, pushing his sled along, before him and just as I was passing the boy, he said to Malcom, what, sir, did you throw my chips into the snow for, yesterday? Upon which Malcom angrily replied, do you speak to me, you rascal; and, as he raised a cane he had in his hand, aiming it at the head of the boy, I spoke to Malcom, and said to him, you are not about to strike that boy with your cudgel, you may kill him; upon my saying that, he was suddenly diverted from the boy, and turning upon me, says, you d —— d rascal, do you presume too, to speak to me? I replied to him, I am no rascal, sir, be it known to you; whereupon he struck me across the head with his cane, and knocked me down, and by the blow cut a hole in my hat two inches in length. At this moment, one Captain Godfry came up, and raising me up, asked who had struck me; Malcom, replied the by standers, while he, for fear of the displeasure of the populace, ran to his house, and shut himself up. The people, many of whom were soon collected around me, advised me to go immediately to Doctor Warren, and get him to dress my wound, which I did without delay; and the doctor, after [he] dressed it, observed to me it can be considered no misfortune that I had a thick skull, for had not yours been very strong, said he, it would have been broke; you have come within a hair's breath of losing your life. He then advised me to go to Mr. Quincy, a magistrate, and get a warrant, for the purpose of arresting Malcom, which I did, and carried it immediately to a constable, by the name of Justine Hale, and delivered it to him, to serve, but when he came to the house where Malcom was locked up, it was surrounded by such a multitude he could not serve it. The people, however, soon broke open the door, and took Malcom into their custody. They then took him to the place where the massacre was committed, and there flogged him with thirty-nine stripes. After which, they besmeared him thoroughly with tar and feathers; they then whipped him through the town, till they arrived at the gallows, on the neck, where they gave him thirty-nine stripes more, and then, after putting one end of a rope about his neck, and throwing the other end over the gallows, told him to remember that he had come within one of being hanged. They then took him back to the house from whence they had taken him, and discharged him from their custody.

The severity of the flogging they had given him, together, with the cold coat of tar with which they had invested him, had such a benumbing effect upon his health, that it required considerable effort to restore his usual circulation. ... I shall carry to my grave the scar which the wound Malcom gave me left on my head. ... [Hewes goes on to describe the Boston Tea Party and its aftermath.]

The tea . . . was contained in three ships, laying near each other, at what was called at that time Griffin's wharf, and were surrounded by armed ships of war; the commanders of which had publicly declared, that if the rebels, as they were pleased to style the Bostonians, should not withdraw their opposition to the landing of the tea before . . . the 17th day of December, 1773, they should on that day force it on shore, under the cover of their cannon's mouth. On the day preceding the seventeenth, there was a meeting of the citizens of the county of Suffolk, convened at one of the churches in Boston, for the purpose of consulting on what mea sures might be considered, expedient to prevent the landing of the tea, or secure the people from the collection of the duty. At that meeting a committee was appointed to wait on Governor Hutchinson, and request him to inform them whether he would take any mea sures to satisfy the people on the object of the meeting. To the first application of this committee, the governor told them he would give them a definite answer by five o'clock in the afternoon. At the hour appointed, the committee again repaired to the governor's house, and, on inquiry, found he had gone to his country seat at Milton, a distance of about six miles. When the committee returned and informed the meeting of the absence of the governor, there was a confused murmur among the members, and the meeting was immediately dissolved, many of them crying out, Let every man do his duty, and be true to his country; and there was a general huzza for Griffin's wharf. It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in, the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street, after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me, and marched in order to the place of our destination. When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties, for the purpose of boarding the three ships which contained the tea at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned, was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all the ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied, and delivered the articles; but requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches, and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders; first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water. In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship; while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us. We then quietly retired to our several places of residence, without having any conversation with each other, or taking any mea sures to discover who were our associates. . . . There appeared to be an understanding that each individual should volunteer his ser vices, keep his own secret, and risk the consequences for himself. No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at that time, that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months.

During the time we were throwing the tea overboard, there were several attempts made by some of the citizens of Boston and its vicinity, to carry off small quantities of it for their family use. To effect that object, they would watch their opportunity to snatch up a handful from the deck, where it became plentifully scattered, and put it into their pockets. One Captain O'Conner, whom I well knew, came on board for that purpose, and when he supposed he was not noticed, filled his pockets, and also the lining of his coat. But I had detected him, and gave information to the captain of what he was doing. We were ordered to take him into custody, and just as he was stepping from the vessel I seized him by the skirt of his coat, and in attempting to pull him back, I tore it off; but springing forward, by a rapid effort, he made his escape. He had however to run a gauntlet through the crowd upon the wharf; each one, as he passed, giving him a kick or a stroke.

The next day, we nailed the skirt of his coat, which I had pulled off, to the whipping post in Charlestown, the place of his residence, with a label upon it, commemorative of the occasion which had thus subjected the proprietor to the popular indignation.

Another attempt was made to save a little tea from the ruins of the cargo, by a tall aged man, who wore a large cocked hat and white wig, which was fashionable at that time. He had slightly slipped a little into his pocket, but being detected, they seized him, and taking his hat and wig from his head, threw them, together with the tea, of which they had emptied his pockets, into the water. In consideration of his advanced age, he was permitted to escape, with now and then a slight kick.

The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it was floating upon the surface of the water; and to prevent the possibility of any of its being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed them into those parts of the harbour wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles, so thoroughly drenched it, as to render its entire destruction inevitable. ... [Hewes goes on to describe the abuses visited on those who continued to sell tea.]

Mrs. Philips, a tory, . . . would import tea and sell to the tories. To witness the public indignation towards her, . . . a great number of young men in Boston, collected one Saturday evening and employed some menials to besmear her house with substances very offensive to the smell. She discovered what they were doing, and called out to them from her window, You rascals you may plaster, but I will sell tea as much as I please; but the condition in which her house was discovered the next morning, gave such publicity to her name and character, that her gains afterwards in the sale of that article, were acquired at the expense of her peace and the public odium.

There was also a man by the name of Theophalus Lilly, who imported and sold tea; and as a token of contempt and derision, some one nailed a sign upon a post in front of his house, with a hand painted upon it, with a finger pointing to his house, and a notice in writing under it “That is an importer of tea.”

From James Hawkes, A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes (New York: S. S. Bliss, 1834), 33–43.

Questions for Reading and Discussion

  1. What precipitated crowd action against the custom-house officer, John Malcom? What assumptions about the colonists were revealed by Malcom's behavior and by his statement, “Do you presume too, to speak to me”?
  2. How and why did Hewes and others destroy the tea? Why did they take care “to do no damage to the ship or rigging”?
  3. Hewes and the crowd took action against those who tried to take a little tea for themselves. Why? What values did the crowd see itself upholding?
  4. How did the attitudes of Malcom compare with those of the Bostonians who imported and sold tea after the Tea Party? Why did Hewes and other members of the crowd believe their actions were more just than those of Malcom and the tea sellers?