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PLYMOUTH
IN THE REVOLUTION:
The Plymouth Homefront |
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| The Wreck
of the General Arnold, 1778 |
Plymouth's worst shipwreck occurred
over Christmas of 1778, when the American privateer General Arnold wrecked in
Plymouth Harbor.
| The inhabitants of this town were called
to witness a catastrophe, truly appalling to humanity. The brig General Arnold,
mounting 20 guns, having a crew of 105 men and boys, commanded by Captain James Magee of
Boston, sailed from that port on Thursday, the 24th December, found on a cruise. On
Friday, anchored off Plymouth harbor, being destitute of a pilot. In the night heavy
gale drove her on the White Flat. She soon filled with water... A tremendous
storm of wind and snow came on, and a considerable number of men died on Saturday
afternoon and in the night... |
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On Monday [December 28], the inhabitants
passed over the ice to the wreck. Here was presented a scene unutterably awful and
distressing. It is scarcely possible for the human mind to conceive of a more
appalling spectacle. The ship was sunk ten feet in the sand, the waves had been for
about 36 hours sweeping the main deck, the men had crowded to the quarter deck, and even
there they were obliged to pool together dead bodies to make room for the living. |
| Mug recovered from the General Arnold |
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70 dead bodies frozen into all imaginable postures
were strewed over the deck... Those bodies that were to be deposited in coffins
were first put into the town brook; a considerable number were floating on the water,
fastened by ropes, that their form might be made to conform to the coffin. But about
60 were thrown into a large pit... on the southwest side of the burial ground.
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| For more information about Captain James Magee, click HERE. |
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| Joanna
White Winslow (c1744-1829) |
I am told... that there can be no difficulty in
obtaining a grant of land and rations for myself and two little girls ...
You are aware of the sacrifices Mr. Winslow made to his loyalty. I was just on the
point of going to Nova Scotia when news reached me that a violent fever had ended Mr.
Winslow's life, which ... sunk me into despair...
Here I have no prospect but beggary - every article of furniture taken.
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Joanna White Winslow to
cousin Benjamin Marston in Nova Scotia, 1783
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Many women were left in difficult
circumstances when their husbands left for war. Joanna White Winslow, wife
of banished Tory Pelham Winslow, suffered when her husband was declared an enemy of the
state. Pelham, nephew of Loyalist Edward Winslow Senior, was a barrister who had
made a reputation for himself as "an obnoxious Tory." He had fled to
Boston to serve with the Loyalist forces at the beginning of the war, leaving Joanna to
support their two young daughters. After being declared an enemy of the state in
1778, Major Winslow's possessions, including his law books and dining room table,
were confiscated.
After her husband's death in New York in 1783, Joanna took her children
to Nova Scotia, entreating Loyalist relatives to help her find a means of support.
She returned to Plymouth a few years later and opened a millinery shop in her parents'
house. Her daughter Mary married distant cousin Henry Warren, son of Plymouth
Patriots James and Mercy Warren. Their marriage helped to heal a family which had
been torn apart by war. |
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| Polly
Watson Hutchinson (1754-1803) |
Joy to my dear Polly - Joy to myself - Joy to this
happy morn, which blest the world and me, with a child like thee. When we look back,
one or two years only, what cause for gratitude! what shall we say then to seventeen
Years full of goodness?
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The war separated parents
from children, husbands from wives. The Hutchinsons were separated by the Atlantic
Ocean for many years. Elisha Hutchinson of Boston and Mary ("Polly")
Watson of Plymouth were married in 1772, when Polly was only 18. The couple was very
much in love as can be seen from Elisha's letters.
The couple had strong ties to local Loyalists -- Polly's grandfather was
the unpopular Judge Peter Oliver, and Elisha's father was Massachusetts Royal Governor
Thomas Hutchinson. Elisha was disliked because his father had named him one of the
official distributors of Boston tea. The couple's family connections made them very
unpopular with Patriots in Plymouth. When they visited Polly's parents there in
January of 1774, an unruly mob surrounded the Watson house and demanded that the couple
leave immediately, in spite of a fierce snow storm.
Later that year, Elisha sailed for England for financial reasons.
Polly, who was pregnant with their second child, stayed in Plymouth with her
parents. Their daughter Margaret was born in 1774. Soon after, Polly returned
to Boston. Even though he was homesick for New England, Elisha was unable to return
because of his Loyalist politics. Polly, who had served as president of a club of
Loyalist women while trapped in besieged Boston, finally joined her husband in England in
1777. Margaret stayed in Plymouth with her grandparents until the end of the war.
After the war, the Hutchinsons lived for a while in France, then returned
to England and settled near the Olivers. They never went back to Massachusetts. |
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| Townspeople suffered as the wartime
economy went from bad to worse. Continental currency plummeted in value.
Sarah Sever of Kingston wrote to her father Wiliam in January of 1776 "I
almost despair of the means of Subsistence by the Calamitys of the times."
Inflation was so bad that a farmer was said to have sold a cow for $40 in the spring and
then paid $40 that fall to buy a goose for Thanksgiving! In 1777, the Provincial
Congress met to fix prices to "prevent monopolies and oppression." |
Voted to raise the sum of twelve hundred pounds
Lawfull money for supplying the Soldiers and their Familys with the necessarys of life as
they want agreeable to a late order of the General Court.
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Records of the Town of
Plymouth, August 24, 1779
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| Many families endured hardship
with husbands and fathers away at war. More than 600 soldiers from the Plymouth army
served in the military. Several towns were obliged to provide assistance for needy
families of soldiers. |
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