Conn«licul e Irish-AmerIcan HilforlcalSociety TtJ 5banacbie /anualJl-Feb'UCII'JI2DD.J Vol. xvNo. , ~---------------------_. Toundinq Tather John Adams defended irish sailors in case that .was prelude to Boston Massacre and American Xevolution. n June 1769, Connecticut's Honorable Thomas Hutchinson, impressment ofmen by the royal nearing its home port with a I newspapers recounted details Esq., Lieutenant Governor of navy. Plagued by shortages of cargo of salt from Europe. Lt. of an important trial in Boston this Province. The Honorable manpower on ships where Henry Panton led a party that where four Irish sailors were Robert Auchmuty, Esq., Judge crewmen were subjected to boarded the Marblehead ship imprisoned on charges of of the Court of Vice Admiralty. brutal treatment, the navy filled with the intention of impressing murdering an English naval The Honorable Andrew Oliver, its ranks by boarding and several of its crew. officer. Esq., Secretary of this Province. carrying offcrewmen from ships Two ofthe six crewmen were The case, in which the Robert Trail, Esq., Collector of on the high seas or by sending Massachusetts residents and thus Irishmen were defended by the His Majesty's Customs for "press gangs" to comb the streets exempt from impressment by famous John Adams, ranked not Portsmouth. John Nutting, Esq., and taverns of seaports for provisions of an agreement too far behind the Boston Collector of His Majesty's unsuspecting civilians. between the colonial government Massacre among a growing Customs for the Port ofSalem. A typical case of and the British navy. The other number ofclashes between royal "The Court was formed for impressment involving four - Corbett, Fanning, Conner authorities and American the Trial of Michael Corbett, Connecticut residents occurred and Ryan - were Irishmen who, colonists that eventually led to Pierce Fanning, William Conner in 1760. Two New Londoners, knowing that they would be open revolt against the mother and John Ryan, charged with John Brown, a student, and targeted for impressment, hid in country. being concerned in the Murder Singleton Church, in whose the hold of the Pitt Packet. Lt. On June 2, 1769, the of Lt. Panton of His Majesty's home Brown boarded, sailed for Panton ordered the Irishmen out Connecticut Journal in New Ship Rose; but some Doubts New York City on Church's of the hold, but they refused and London published this notice of having arisen whether the sloop on New Year's Day. On vowed to defend themselves the commencement ofthe trial: Prisoners were not intitled to a Jan. 5, just as they were arriving even though the only weapons "Boston - May 29 - On Trial by Jury, the Court was in New York, their boat was they had were an antiquated Tuesday last His Majesty's adjourned to Thursday Morning boarded by a press gang from the musket and a harpoon. When commission for the trial of Nine o'Clock, who in the mean royal navy ship Fowry. They Panton had his men tear down piracies, robberies and felonies Time took under Consideration were freed only after New York the bulkhead protecting the on the high seas was read and a the Prisoners' Right to a Trial by authorities intervened and Irishmen, one of them hurled the court formed as follows: His Jury as aforesaid. The Court was supplied two substitutes to serve harpoon, striking the British Excellency Sir Francis Bernard, further adjourned to this on the Fowry. lieutenant in the neck and Baronet, Governor of this Morning Eight o'Clock." The Boston case unfolded severing his juglar vein. Panton Province. The Honorable Samuel At issue in the Massachusetts when the British frigate Rose in died within minutes and the four Hood, Esq., Commodore and courtroom was one of the April 1769 intercepted the brig Irish sailors were imprisoned in Commander of His Majesty's English practices most detested Pitt Packet owned by Richard Boston on charges of murder. Ships in these parts. The by American colonists: Hooper of Marblehead, as it was (Please turn 10 page 2) Page 2 irishmen triggered case rivaling Boston Massacre in importance (Conlinuedfrom page I) choice but because they were Head, and an Irishman. Atlantic coast, including the Their case was scheduled to be kidnapped by the notorious "Miles Murphey, Twenty­ Connecticut Gazette published heard not by a jury in a civil press gangs. Harsh discipline Four Years of Age, 5 Feet, 5 in New London. Two of the court but by the special further alienated such unwilling Inches high, of a Swarthy deserters were Irishmen: admiralty court. The case soon sailors and they jumped ship as Complexion, wears his own "Thomas Short, Aged about became a cause celebre. soon as they reached port. The short, black Hair and an 26 Years, of a dark "Nothing roused Americans to navy did everything it could to Irishman. Complection, about 5 Feet 4 greater fury," observed one hunt down and punish deserters. "William Lockhart, Twenty­ Inches high, wears a Wig or historian on the case, "than the When the British fiigate Five Years of Age, 5 Feet 10 Cap, a native of Ireland, a well practice of kidnapping citizens, Cygnet wintered in New London Inches high, of a Dark set stout Man, has a speck on forcing them into the service." in )763-64, three seamen and Complexion, much pitted with one or both his Eyes. Another historian wrote, three marines deserted. All the the Small Pox, and wears his "Jeremiah O'Hara, aged "The feeling against sailors were Irishmen and one of own short Black Hair, and an about 30 Years, of a Swarthy impressment and the denial of the three marines was a Irishman. black Complection, smooth trial by jury ran so high in the Prussian. The skipper of the "Gabriel Bean, Twenty­ Faced, wears a Wig or Cap, a colonies," that their conviction Cygnet, Capt. Charles Leslie Eight Years of Age, 5 Feet 7 well set stout Man, about 3 Feet by the special court might have offered a reward of £2 sterling Inches high, of a Brown 7 Inches high, a native of led to an attempt to forcibly for information on the Complexion, wears his own Ireland." rescue them with a clash whereabouts of the deserters. long, Black Hair, Red Breeches, Sources: Connecticut Gazette, Dec. between Bostonians and the His advertisement In Waistcoat, and a Blue Jacket; 2, 1763, April 6, 1764; Connecticut British garrison "even more Connecticut newspapers he's a Prussian." Journal, June 2, 1769; John Adams and the American bloody than the Boston described them thus: In 1763, when four sailors Revolution by Catherine Drinker Massacre 10 months later." "Daniel McClean, Twenty­ deserted from His Majesty's Bowen; John Adams by Page Retained by the Irish sailors, Seven Years of Age, 5 Feet, 5 Ship Alborough in Halifax, Smith, VoL 1; Growth of the Adams intended to challenge the Inches high, of a Brown Nova Scotia, British authorities American Revolution by Bernhard jurisdiction of the court and Complexion, wears a Wig or advertised for their capture in KnoUenberg. demand a trial by jury. When Cap, with many Scars on his newspapers up and down the the court declared that it properly had the right to try the case, Adams began his case by Multiculturalism in U.S. histOl1/! You bet there is! stating, "May it please Your There is a school of thought fushionable today among some historians and politicians that would Excellencies and Your Honors, have everyone believe that placing emphasis on the contributions ofminority ethnic and racial groups my defense of the prisoners is is dangerous and represents a watering down of the history of the United States. The article above that the melancholy action for about the HMS Rose incident in 1769 reveals how wrong-headed is that narrow view of our history. which they stand accused is Those who oppose the multicultural approach to history would emphasize the role ofFounding Father justifiable homicide and John Adams in winning an acquittal, but would completely ignore the fact that by taking a stand therefore no crime at alL" against impressment, the four Irish sailors were doing just what Bostonians did when they dumped tea Before Adams could into Boston Harbor to protest unfair taxation. The fact that numerous Irishmen and Prussians served continue, the court went behind on and deserted from British warships in America in colonial times is another clue to the multicultural closed doors. The next morning, makeup of our history and our people. Events in Boston just a few months after the HMS Rose case apparently sensitive to how provide similar examples of the importance of multiculturalism in our past. On Feb. 22, 1770, in a volatile the situation was, the dispute over adherence to the non-importation tactics adopted by colonists, a young apprentice named court announced a verdict of not Snyder, the son ofa German immigrant, was shot dead, stirring up more resentment among the people guilty for all four defendants. ofBoston. On March 5 that year, three men were killed in the so-called Boston Massacre. They were The HMS Rose case wasn't shot by British soldiers who had been harassed by a mob. John Adams defended the soldiers and the only time when the affairs of described the mob as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tars." Of the the British Royal Navy made three shot and killed, the first was Crispus Attucks, a Bostonian of mixed African-American and the pages of Connecticut's Native-American blood, who was said to be the leader of the crowd. The second was Patrick Carr, a papers.