Remember The Ladies - Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams's rich extant correspondence extends from 1761, her seventeenth year, to just before her death in 1818. In this half century she exchanged letters with a wide variety of correspondents, and turned her pen to an even wider variety of subjects. Men and women, sons and daughter, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, cousins, in-laws, friends from childhood, and a handful of non-related but brilliant public figures from several states were all treated to her acute observations and strong opinions upon matters of particular interest to her family, events in her hometown, issues that agitated all of Massachusetts, and major questions of national politics and international diplomacy. Interspersed with this commentary on the news were her general thoughts on education, history, and literature, and her insightful descriptions and comparisons of religion and social customs, and the staging of public events--festivals and parades, concerts and the theater--in Boston, London, and Paris.

At the center of this extraordinary woman's letter-writing career was her voluminous correspondence with her husband, John Adams. And the central theme of this correspondence was the Adamses' mutual concern for the political--and moral--state of their country. In the spring of 1776, after eighteen months of unusually voluminous correspondence with John, who was serving in the Continental Congress, Abigail was reaching the peak of her powers as a political analyst. Dazzled by her unexpected talents, John Adams wrote to her on 27 May 1776: "I think you shine as a Stateswoman of late, as well as a Farmeress. Pray where do you get your Maxims of State, they are very apropos [?]"1

Nothing Abigail ever wrote better exemplifies this gift than her celebrated "Remember the Ladies" letter of 31 March 1776. The full passage shown here is worthy of quotation:

"I long to hear that you have declared an independency—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited powers into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness." 2


In his reply to this remarkable letter, on April 14, John displayed both his embarrassment at Abigail's telling criticism, and his wit in deflecting it:

"As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that our struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That children and apprentices were disobedient--that schools and Colleges were grown turbulent--that Indians slighted their guardians and negroes grew insolent to their masters. But your letter was the first intimation that another tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented. --This is rather too coarse a compliment but you are so saucy, I wont blot it out. depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our masculine systems. Altho they are in full force, you know they are little more than theory. We dare not exert our power in its full latitude. We are obliged to go fair, and softly, and in practice you know We are the subjects. We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight."3 (JA)

Abigail's celebrated plea has drawn more serious attention from modern scholars, and has placed her, in the minds of many, in the role of a pioneering feminist. If by feminist one means a person convinced of the fundamental equality of women with men, and committed to improving the position of women in society and removing all inequalities before the law, then Abigail qualifies. The twentieth-century reader, however, should note that her concern was not with equality of political participation, which she did not advocate for women, but for equality before the law, particularly with respect to property rights and the right to the protection of the law within marriage. In this concern she anticipated the principal objectives of those who would campaign for women's rights in America in the several decades following the American Revolution. She was truly a woman ahead of her time. I respect Abigail Adams so very much.

Endnotes
1. Adams Family Correspondence. L.H. Butterfield et al., eds. Cambridge, Mass., 1963-1973, 1:420.
2. Ibid., 1:369-370.
3. Ibid., 1:382. John Adams considered and justified the exclusion of women from voting in a letter to James Sullivan, 26 May 1776, in Adams 1977, 4:208-213.

The Sons of Liberty

Patriots or Terrorists?

How A Society of Rebel Americans

Made Its Mark on Early America

SONS OF LIBERTY? or Sons of something altogether different? I suppose it all depends on a particular individual's point of view. To some, Sons of Liberty was a generic label for any opponent of the stamp tax. To others it was an intercolonial network of organized resistance groups that eventually evolved from structured resistance into revolution.

Raising the Freedom Pole in New York

For many Americans this American Revolutionary organization is as confusing as it is mysterious. But, what of this "secret" organization that played such an integral part in advancing the idea of American independence from Great Britain? What were the Sons of Liberty? Who were its members and how widespread was its support among the thirteen colonies comprising British America? What was the ideology and degree of political affiliation within the organization?

Shrouded in secrecy, the origins of the Sons of Liberty are in dispute. Some historical sources claim that the movement began in New York City in January 1765. A more popular claim is that the movement began in Boston, Massachusetts through the leadership of one Samuel Adams (a well known American Revolutionary firebrand) in early 1765. It is quite likely that the Boston and New York City chapters of the Sons of Liberty were organized and developed simultaneously.

Tradition has it that the Boston chapter gathered beneath the Liberty Tree for meetings while the New York City chapter met beneath the Liberty Pole for its meetings. For reasons of safety and secrecy, Sons of Liberty groups tended to meet late at night so as not to attract attention and detection of British officials and the American Loyalist supporters of the British Crown.

This patriotic society had its roots in the Committees of Correspondence. The "Committees" were colonial groups organized prior to the outbreak of the American War for Independence and were established for the purpose of formally organizing public opinion and coordinating patriotic actions against Great Britain. These original committees were loosely organized groups of private citizens formed in the New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island colonies from 1763-1764.

It was the Boston Committee of Correspondence that directed the Boston Tea Party action of December 16, 1773. Upset with the lack of redress concerning the new tax on tea established by the British government for importation of tea to Boston, a small band of the Boston Committee of Correspondence members (approximately fifty in number) led by Samuel Adams, proceeded to empty three ships worth and 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor in protest.

Was this an early terrorist action or a patriotic action. Surely, the answer lies with perspective. If you were a British official, this action was treasonous and punishable by death. If you were an American colonial citizen, this event would be seen as a glorious action of the freedom fighters worthy of praise, pride, and acclaim.

During a series of protests linked to the Sons of Liberty, colonists burn and sack the house of the Massachusetts Lieutenant governor, Thomas Hutchinson. Essentially, the Sons of Liberty organized into patriotic chapters. As a result of the heavy debt incurred from the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and the resulting burden of increased British possessions in the Americas gained as a result of victory in the war (Canada, Louisiana land area known as "New France," and several former French islands of the West Indies), British Parliament decided to station British "regular" troops in the American colonies to keep the French from attempting to recapture Canada and to defend the colonies against the Native American Indians. It should be noted that the vast majority of Native Americans sided with the French in the North American Theater of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and had a notorious record of carrying out terrifying raids against British colonists in the frontier regions of the New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina colonies dating back to the middle seventeenth century. For example the Battle of Point Pleasant in Virginia.

With all this dbot the Stamp Act of March 1765 was instituted to help defray the costs of maintaining British troops in the American colonies by issuing tax stamps for a wide range of public documents including: customs documents, newspapers, legal papers, and licenses. The British government believed that this stamp tax passed specifically for the American colonies was quite fair and just as a means to help pay their share of the huge national debt incurred from the Seven Years War. After all, reasoned Parliament, had not the colonies directly benefited from the war and the expulsion of the French threat from Canada? The tax was heavy and did not sit well with American colonies The issue was just what was far? The colonists responded with outrage and indignation.

The Stamp Act, like the Sugar Act before it, reasoned the colonists, was yet another example of Parliament trampling on the colonial legislature's right to tax their own people. Actions and attitudes of colonists regarding perceived British monetary atrocities against their well being formed the foundation for the rallying cry of American patriots across the land namely, "no taxation without representation."

The Sons of Liberty organizations responded to the Stamp Act of 1765 in various ways. The New York Sons of Liberty declared in December 1765 that they would "go to the last extremity" with their lives and fortunes to prevent the enforcement of the Stamp Act. This declaration included the use of violence if necessary. Acts of rebellion against the Stamp Tax in New York City included an incident from January 9, 1766 in which ten boxes of parchment and stamped paper were delivered to City Hall and immediately confiscated, unpacked, and burned by secret leaders of the New York Sons group.5 Some merchants simply refused to pay the stamp excises. Printers, lawyers, laborers and small shopkeepers simply ignored paying the duty and carried on business as usual.

From November 1765 through March 1766, New York’s organized resistance aligned and opened communication channels with Philadelphia, New London, Boston, rural Massachusetts, Albany, Portsmouth, Newport, New Brunswick, Baltimore, Annapolis, Norfolk, by March 1766. The Sons of Liberty became an intercolonial network of great significance. The emergence of organized local resistance groups and their often simultaneous merger into an intercolonial organization of a new type and significance began only in the closing months of 1765, and never really caught on until February 1766.

Sometimes, the actions and reactions of the Sons of Liberty to the Stamp Act took a violent turn as recorded in a local New York City merchant's diary in April, 1765. Violence broke out with the arrival of a shipment of stamped paper to the Royal Governor's residence. Cadwallder Colden, the acting Royal Governor of the New York colony and scholarly correspondent of Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Samuel Johnson, was extremely frightened of the patriotic group and so locked himself up securely inside Fort George immediately after he received the stamped paper from British officials. A few hours after receiving the official papers, a raucous mob captured the governor's gilded and spectacular coach and reduced it to a pile of ashes. From here the mob (consisting largely of extremist elements of the New York Sons of Liberty) raced uptown to the home of Fort George's commander, smashing numerous windows and breaking into the wine cellar to sustain their "patriotism" before descending on the rest of the house in a convulsion of vandalism. Tarring and feathering Loyalists — those individuals who sympathized and were supportive of the British Crown, royal tax collectors, and other officials — was a common practice carried out by the more radical elements of the organizations.

Ironically, the Sons of Liberty ultimately took their name from a debate on the Stamp Act in Parliament in 1765. Charles Townshend, speaking in support of the act, spoke contemptuously of the American colonists as being "children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence...and protected by our arms." Isaac Barre, member of Parliament and friend of the American colonists, jumped to his feet in outrage in this same session to counter with severe reprimand in which he spoke favorably of the Americans as "these Sons of Liberty." American colonists had several friends supportive of their views on the tax situation including: William Pitt (the Elder), Charles James Fox, Edmund Burk, and others.

Typically, members of this organization were men from the middle and upper classes of American colonial society. Although the movement began as a secret society, for reasons of safety and anonymity, the organization quickly sought to build a broad, public base of political support among the colonists. Frequently, cooperation with undisciplined and extralegal groups (city gangs) set off violent actions. Even though the Sons seldom looked for violent solutions and eruptions, they did continue to elicit and promote political upheaval that tended to favor crowd action.

While British officials accused the Sons organizations of scheming to overthrow the true and legitimate government of the American colonies, the Sons of Liberty viewed their official aims in more narrow terms, organizing and asserting resistance to the Stamp Act. Outwardly, the Sons of Liberty proclaimed their unfaltering loyalty and allegiance to King George III of Great Britain and emphasized their support of the English Constitution against the usurpation of royal officials. For eleven years, 1765 to 1776, American colonists saw British Parliament as the collective "bad guy," not the king!

The Sons of Liberty as a viable movement first broke up with the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. However, the organizational network was revived in 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts (a series of excise duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the colonies.) From 1768 until the end of the American Revolution, Sons of Liberty groups remained in active correspondence with one another throughout the thirteen American colonies and each group took charge of organizing and effecting resistance movements against what they perceived as unfair British taxation and financial strangulation within their respective colonies. The Sons of Liberty as an active movement disbanded in late 1783.

Were they a terrorist organization?

The British certainly believed they were. After all, the Sons were advocating overthrow of the status quo government and independence for the thirteen colonies. Were they a patriotic organization? Many American colonists certainly believed they were. The Sons represented to them the American freedom fighter personified, fighting for their rights and ultimate independence. *It should be noted that the Loyalists also had their version of Committees of Correspondence and Sons of Liberty namely: the United Empire Loyalists.* (We will save that for another blog entry.)

Finally, the decision on the Sons of Liberty comes down to a variation on historians who say, "one man's terrorist is another man's patriot." The ultimate conclusion must be left to the individual.

Notes:

Microsoft (R) Encarta, "Committees of Correspondence" (New York: Funk & Wagnall's Corp. Pub., 1993) CD ROM.
CD Sourcebook of American History, "The Boston Tea Party" by Thomas Hutchinson (1773) America, vol.3, p. 96 (Provo, Utah: Infobase, Inc., Pub., 1995) CD ROM.
Division of Archives and History, The American Revolution in New York: Its Political, Social, and Economic Significance (Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1926) 15.
Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, eds., The Readers Companion to American History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1991) 1023.
The American Revolution in New York 18.
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. "Stamp Act" (New York: Compton's NewMedia, Inc. Pub., 1994) CD ROM.
Robert Leckie, George Washington's War (New York: Harper Collins, 1990) 49.
Leckie, 48.
Foner and Garraty, 1008.
American Revolution in New York 239

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Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

This is one of my favorite videos. I decided to share it with you today. It has nearly 2 million hits on Youtube. I see comment after comment from teachers who say they are searching the web for things that they can show their students to get them excited about American History.

(Note to Self - Project: Make good videos for school children and post them on Youtube.)

I had no such technical wonders to ignite my passion for American History growing up. Mine all came from my family, books and teachers who could tell history like it ought to be told...with passion and knowledge. If you are just such a student searching the web and find this posting. It is here for you. I invite you to read on, for in the postings of this entire blogsite are things that will not only help you in your studies but, help you become a good citizen of our country and hopefully inspire you to learn more. There is so much to tell. Let the the cries for liberty, and justice from the past ring in your continuing pursuit of knowledge about our great nation. I invite you to follow me, for you will find that I have a great history to tell you.

I confess, in find this video entertaining, and hope you do too. I am related to the gentleman from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson and many more wonderful patriots.

Enjoy.

Colonial Dates - Why is There a Difference?

Have you ever wondered what is meant by dates of the form 24 February 1616/1617 (where the year is written as two numbers, separated by a slash)? At one time, I thought they probably represent uncertain dates, and wondered why so many researchers were content with inexact years in so many dates..

I now realize that the date 24 February 1616/1617 represents a single, known date--the two years and a slash are required to unambiguously represent a specific day. This posting today attempts to explain what it all means.

New Year's Day in Colonial America

For most of us (using western calendars today) the new year begins on January 1. That is because the Gregorian calendar (the one commonly used in the world today, named after Pope Gregory) works that way: Every January 1 is the beginning of a new year.

During most of America's colonial period, however, March 25 was the first day of the new year. In 1750, for example, the year ended on 24 March 1750; the following day was 25 March 1751. In that time period, New Englanders were still considered part of Great Britain, which continued to use the "old" Julian Calendar (named after Julius Caesar) until September 1752.

The Transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar

Prior to the reign of Julius Caesar (Emperor of Rome), the calendar had no leap years. Without leap year adjustments, the calendar used in Rome before Julius would drift completely around every 1,461 years. In an attempt to check the drift, Julius added a leap year every four years, beginning in the year 46 B.C. In order to implement his transition, the year 46 B.C. had 445 days, and was referred to by Romans as the "year of confusion."

With leap years every four years, the annual drift of the calendar was far less serious. However, by the sixteenth century (the 1500s), it had become obvious to scientists that adding an extra day every year overcompensated for the drift. To fine-tune the drift, it was determined that years that are multiples of 100 (the years 1700, 1800 and 1900, for example), should have no extra leap day--unless the year is also a multiple of 400 (such as 1600 or 2000), which would still have the leap day (!!).

In 1582, Scientists finally convinced Pope Gregory that it was time to adjust the calendar. In Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Catholic parts of Switzerland, 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582--the ten days from 5 October to14 October were skipped in those areas.


In England, Henry VIII had broken with Rome only about fifty years earlier (creating the Church of England), so the English weren't inclined to follow the Pope's lead in the transition to the Gregorian calendar. By the mid-18th century, however, it became apparent that England (and her colonies) could avoid the transition no longer. A calendar reform bill of 1751 entitled "An Act for regulating the commencement of the Year, and for correcting the Calendar now in use" set the stage for the transition: 2 September 1752 was to be followed by 14 September 1752. Additionally, 31 December 1752 would be followed by 1 January 1753 (rather than 1 January 1752).

The command "cal 9 1752", issued on my FreeBSD computer, gives the following output, which shows what September 1752's calendar looked like:

September 1752

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa

1 2 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Converting Vital Records Dates to Slashed Dates

Dates that appear in Colonial vital records before 2 September 1752 are Julian dates. In any given year, the dates from 1 January through 24 March are candidates for "slashed" years. The year before the slash is the year actually recorded (generally) in documents of the period. The year after the slash is one year later--for the benefit of minds that think that the new year begins on 1 January (?).

NOTE: You shouldn't ever find slashed dates in the range 25 March through 31 December. (If you do find them, then they probably indicate uncertainty of some sort--they are not the slashed dates discussed here.)

What Date Is It Really?

The dates recorded in original birth, marriage, death and other vital records in New England prior to September 1752 are Julian dates--in accordance with the calendars used during that time period. When you copy the dates into your records, you should enter the dates as they were recorded originally. If the dates lie between 1 January and 24 March (inclusive), you should enter the year as recorded, followed by a slash and the subsequent year.

Today's Colonial Gift

Today's Colonial Gift From Whiskers

Is a webite that gives a tremendous amount of information for those who are researching their colonial ancestors. It is called, Colonial Ancestors.com and is very well worth navigating. You will find records on the individual colonies. The battles during colonial days. Who took the oath of fidelity or allegiance, and where. Check this out! You will be delighted with the information that you find here.

Take the link below:

Colonial Ancestors

Portrait of Daniel Boone

The Adventures of Daniel Boone
Formerly A Hunter;
Containing a Narrative of the Wars of Kentucky


The publication of Daniel Boone's "Adventures" in 1784 served to immortalize Boone the frontiersman as an American legend and a true folk hero. Published by John Filson on Boone's 50th birthday, the narrative describes in Boone's own words his exploits in the Kentucky wilderness from May, 1769 to October of 1782.

The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone was subsequently published in The American Magazine in 1787 and again in a book by George Imlay in 1793. The latter publication is the source wherein we present the complete text.

Boone's first-person narrative as he wrote it.

Daniel Boone's Adventures is available now on the Internet. His first-person narrative appears as he actually wrote it, using the grammar and syntax current in America in the 1700s. The only concession made — and that only for the purpose of making Boone's personal account easier to read — is the substitution of "s" in place of what appears as an "f" in the original text. This is a good thing to know when researching documents from this period.


Portrait of Daniel Boone
In his autobiographical narrative Boone tells of his passage through the Cumberland Gap, leading a party of settlers that cut the Wilderness Road in 1775. Boone's trailblazing efforts opened a door beyond the Alleghany Mountains, establishing a route used by thousands in the first westward migration.

Read more: Daniel Boone Biography - life, family, children, death, history, wife, son, information, born, time, year

Ancestry.Com "Who Do You Think You Are?"

When one begins the journey of finding those that have come before them, it is especially important to be ready to confront some of the realities of their life as it was. The series "Who Do You Think You Are?" is full of just such pondering. Below is the first episode in the long search for Actress Kim Cattrell. Please take a moment and listen to the beginning of her story as she searches for important answers in her life.

It is easy to get caught up in the emotional part of her story. Like anyone else we hope she finds the answers that she seeks, and that they are acceptable to her.

Many people find this, as the hardest barrier to researching their past.

What if so-in-so was a beggar man, thief? Or worse? What deep dark secrets has my family kept for all these years?

And the all important one? Do I really want to know?

The answer is yes.... You do. Why?

I have been doing genealogy research for a number of years with my mother and cousins. I can tell you unequivatably that what you will find, will strengthen you. Understandings are never too late in any one's life. Peace comes to those who seek understanding.

Genealogy does not define you as a person. Rather it gives you the power to define who you are, and where you came from. It explores why you eat what you eat, practice the faith you do, even wear the clothes that you wear. It answers where your family traditions came from. Why you think, and talk the way you do.

It lets you define yourself.

My research going back hundreds of years, has taught me more about the living part of history than any book could have. How? Because I am attached to people who lived that history. I know what part of history my family took part in. Whether you are a immigrant of the 1600's to America or a more recent patriot. You have a unique story that is beautiful in all of it's telling.

Because it is your story.

Yes, I have learned some things I never knew. The next important step is to put them into historical context. You may recognize the old adage, "You do not know someone, until you have walked in their shoes?" Genealogy puts this into action.

That is what genealogy is about to me. Putting on new shoes, learning new things, and most importantly learning what they mean to me.

So I encourage you to take classes in genealogy. Your local library is a good source. Look also for recognized organizations such as the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, The Sons of American Revolution. There are so many lineage societies and truly devoted and qualified genealogist who can help you on your journey.

It is a journey of a lifetime, and definitely one you should not miss!

Good luck!

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

This historic proclamation was issued by George Washington during his first year as President. It sets aside Thursday, November 26 as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer."

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas
"it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness: "

"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.


Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

While there were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington's proclamation, this represents the first to be so designated by the new national government.

After their first harvest, the colonists of the Plymouth Plantation held a celebration of food and feasting in the fall of 1621. Indian chiefs Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset joined in the celebration with ninety of their men in the three-day event.

The first recorded Thanksgiving observance was held on June 29, 1671 at Charlestown, Massachusetts by proclamation of the town's governing council.

During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of thanksgiving throughout each year. A Thanksgiving Day two hundred years ago was a day set aside for prayer and fasting, not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom. Later in the 18th century each of the states periodically would designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop.

Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration was held in December of 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

Later, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today.

Women of the Revolution - YouTube

Here is a little YouTube video on Women and their impact on the American Revolution.

Women in The American Revolution

Spies in the American Revolution

During the Revolutionary War, women applied the traditional skills they learned as homemakers to espionage work. Both the British and American armies recruited housewives and young girls as cooks and maids. With their almost unrestricted access to soldiers' campsites, these women could eavesdrop on conversations about troop movements, leadership changes, and equipment shortages and deliveries without raising suspicion. Often at great peril, they secretly provided this critical intelligence data to military and civilian leaders. Some reported directly to General Washington, who came to highly value the information he received from these "agents in place." My personal favorite is the Abigail Adams whom I reinact for schools and civic organizations. Her letters were vital to her husband John Adams. She could tell him what was going on far from where his work was being done. Her correspondences often effected many of her husbands decision and those whom he worked closely with, including General Washington.

So as husbands, sons, brothers, fathers, and uncles tpically took up arms, these women served as the eyes and ears for military leaders, providing invaluable intelligence information throughout the war. Allied with either the British loyalist or American patriot cause, spy networks sprang up throughout the colonies. The one notable exception was Debra Sampson. Her story is for another blog.

A Woman Delivering Equipment at a Fort in 1782

More and more records are beginning to surface that suggest something of what these “patriots in petticoats” endured and contributed to the American Revolution. Aiding their cover were prevailing attitudes toward women by their male counterparts: females were considered innocent and non-threatening. As such, few commanders viewed these colonial homemakers as cause for concern, despite the fact that they were using women as secret agents to gather vital intelligence for their own armies. This however did not stop the brutality these women suffered under the hands of the British. Sexual Assault has always been a part of warfare and our patriot women were often the victims of this crime.

Espionage and counterespionage were as commonplace during the 18th century as they were in the 20th century during the Cold War and even today. During the Revolutionary War, spies for both England and America obtained and transmitted information about troop movement, supplies, fortifications, and political maneuvers. Loyalists in America (or Tories as they were often called) were happy to provide secret information to the Crown. Even Benjamin Franklin's son William, who was a loyalist, spied on his own father and reported the elder Franklin's activities to the British authorities.

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress created the Committee of Secret Correspondence, which was charged with gathering intelligence and "corresponding with our friends in Great Britain and other parts of the world" to gain information that would be helpful to the American cause and to forge alliances with foreign countries. Benjamin Franklin, who supervised the Committee's work, worked closely with General George Washington, interpreting and directing foreign and military intelligence activities.

Even before setting up the Committee of Secret Correspondence, the Second Continental Congress had created a Secret Committee by a resolution on September 18, 1775. The Committee was given wide powers and large sums of money to obtain military supplies in secret, and was charged with distributing supplies and selling gunpowder to privateers chartered by the Continental Congress. The Committee also took over and administered the secret contracts for arms and gunpowder previously negotiated by certain members of the Congress without the formal sanction of that body.

The Secret Committee employed agents overseas, and gathered intelligence about Tory secret ammunition stores and arranged to seize them. They sent missions to plunder British supplies in the southern colonies, arranged the purchase of military stores through intermediaries so as to conceal the fact that the Continental Congress was the true purchaser, used foreign flags to protect its vessels from the British fleet.

On June 5, 1776, the Congress appointed John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Edward Rutledge, James Wilson, and Robert Livingston "to consider what is proper to be done with persons giving intelligence to the enemy or supplying them with provisions." The same Committee was charged with revising the Articles of War in regard to espionage directed against the patriot forces. There was no civilian espionage act, and military law did not provide punishment severe enough to afford a deterrent, in the judgment of Washington and other Patriot leaders. On November 7, 1775, the Continental Congress added the death penalty for espionage to the Articles of War.

Methods of Espionage
Like modern secret agents, American and British spies during the American Revolution used a number of methods for hiding and transmitting information, including invisible ink, secret codes, and blind drops. A secret code would be set up that used letters or numbers to stand for other words. In order to decode the messages, the recipient needed a key or code book.

Several kinds of invisible ink were used by both sides during the war. One type was activated with heat and others by various chemicals. The invisible message was usually written between the lines of another letter, which would appear to be totally innocent. Upon receipt, the reader would either heat the letter over a flame or put it into a chemical bath to reveal the hidden message.

Letters or messages would be left at a blind drop, which was a location that was agreed upon in advance, such as a park bench or hollow tree. The message would be left by one person to be picked up later by another. Sometimes messages would be cut into slivers and stored in the hollow stem of a quill. Hollow silver balls were also used to store and carry messages. Not much larger than a musket ball, these balls could be easily concealed, or even swallowed if the messenger were captured.
With the British capture of Philadelphia on September 26, 1777, and with the Continental Army opposing the invaders with declining numbers, General Washington needed immediate, first-hand intelligence of the enemy's intentions, motions, and condition. To supervise this vital work he sought for a man of intelligence and discretion, familiar with local inhabitants and locale, and who could be relied on to produce fresh, correct information by whatever direct or devious means were necessary. The General's choice fell on Major John Clark Jr. of Pennsylvania, Aide-de-Camp to Major General Nathaniel Greene.

Although Clark's assessments and information as chief of spies were not always exact (nor could they be expected to be in such a risky task), the correspondence between Washington and Clark reveals the exceeding pains and dangers experienced by Clark and his various spies to supply the Commander-in-Chief with the best advice possible.

George Washington was a skilled manager of intelligence. He utilized agents behind enemy lines, recruited both Tory and Patriot sources, interrogated travelers for intelligence information, and launched scores of agents on both intelligence and counterintelligence missions. Although he regularly urged all his officers to be more active in collecting intelligence, Washington relied chiefly on his aides and specially designated officers to assist him in conducting intelligence operations.

Probably the first Patriot organization created for counterintelligence purposes was the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. It was made up of a series of groups established in New York between June 1776 and January 1778 to collect intelligence, apprehend British spies and couriers, and examine suspected British sympathizers. In effect, there was created a "secret service" for New York which had the power to arrest, to convict, to grant bail or parole, and to jail or to deport.

Nathan Hale is probably the best known but least successful American agent in the War of Independence. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Long Island, Washington called for a volunteer to spy on the British and report to the American command with details of future battle plans. Hale volunteered, but he had no training, no contacts in New York, and no channels of communication. He was captured behind enemy lines while trying to slip out of New York, was convicted as a spy and went to the gallows on September 22, 1776, where he said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

The Setauket Spy Ring
While the British controlled New York City, there was much that the commander in chief needed to know: the sizes and numbers of vessels in the harbor and how they were protected; the number of men guarding the city, and how they were deployed; descriptions of forts and redoubts that had been built by the British; the state of the provisions, forage, and fuel to be attended to, as also the health and spirits of the army, navy, and City.''

The Setauket spy ring - also known as the Culper Ring - began its activities on a small scale in 1778, with Abraham Woodhull, alias Samuel Culper, doing much of the snooping in New York. The ring employed both men and women, and based its operations in New York and Long Island. Most members of the espionage group used their professions as cover, relying on customers and patrons from the British military to divulge information about British military operations voluntarily. Several members of the Culper Ring were caught by British occupation authorities, but the ring never stopped feeding information to American authorities during the war.

Anna Smith Strong
The spies in the Setauket Spy Ring included a Long Island woman who was a strong and ardent patriot. Anna Smith Strong devised a wash line signal system to identify for Abraham Woodhull the whereabouts of Caleb Brewster's Whaleboat, so that Woodhull could find him and pass along the messages meant for General Washington. To avoid detection by the British, Brewster had to hide his boat in six different places, each identified by a number.

Clothesline Signal System

Nancy Strong, as she was known by friends and neighbors, hung laundry on the clothesline in a code formation to direct Woodhull to the correct location. A black petticoat was the signal that Brewster was nearby, and the number of handkerchiefs scattered among the other garments on the line showed the meeting place. Using the most ordinary of personal items and improvising on the most ordinary of personal tasks, Nancy made an extraordinary contribution to the cause of freedom.

Lydia Darragh
Officers of the British forces occupying Philadelphia used a large upstairs room in the Darragh house for conferences. When they did, Mrs. Darragh would slip into an adjoining closet and take notes on the enemy's military plans. Her husband, William, would transcribe the intelligence in a form of shorthand on tiny slips of paper that Lydia would then position on a button mold before covering it with fabric. The message-bearing buttons were then sewn onto the coat of her fourteen-year-old son, John, who would then be sent to visit his elder brother, Lieutenant Charles Darragh, of the American forces outside the city. Charles would snip off the buttons and transcribe the shorthand notes into readable form for presentation to his officers.

Ann Bates
Ann Bates was a loyalist spy for the British forces. She was a teacher in Philadelphia, and began spying for the British sometime in 1778. She posed as a peddler, selling thread, needles, knives, and utensils to the American camp followers. In this manner, Bates traveled through rebel camps, counting the number of men and weapons, and meeting with other loyalist sympathizers in the American army. On May 12, 1780, Bates requested to leave Clinton's espionage ring and join her husband, a gun repairman with the British Army, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Agent 355
355 was the numeric substitution code designation used by the Setauket Spy Ring to represent the word woman. This agent was referred to simply as 355 to protect her work and life. She supplied timely and accurate information to General Washington, played an important role in counterintelligence missions that uncovered Benedict Arnold's treason, and facilitated the arrest of Major John André, head of England's Intelligence Operations in New York. Her true identity remains a mystery today.

Many other heroic Patriots gathered the intelligence that helped win the War of Independence, and their intelligence duties required many of them to pose as one of the enemy, incurring the hatred of family members and friends - some even having their property seized or burned, and their families driven from their homes. Many of them gave their lives to help establish America's freedom.

After the end of the Revolution, and the establishment of an independent United States government, most military and espionage institutions were dissolved. Until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, American intelligence agencies and services were exclusively wartime organizations, rapidly assembled in times of conflict, and dissolved in times of peace.

Truth be told, women fought right along the men in many occassions. They were known to follow the camps and cook, clean and nurse the soldiers. They also fired a cannon or two.

SOURCES
National Society Daughter of The American Revolution
Female Agents
Spy System 1777
World of Influence
The Setauket Spies
Intelligence Operations
The American Revolution
Organization of Intelligence
Washington's Eyes and Ears
Spy Letters and the Revolution
Intelligence in the Revolutionary War
Intelligence in the War of Independence
Revolutionary War Espionage and Intelligence

Abigail Adams to John Adams

Abigail Adams wrote to John Adams on March 31, 1776

"I long to hear that you have declared an in dependency - and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than our ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."

Workshop: Anatomy of a DAR Genealogy Application/Supplemental

Workshop: Anatomy of an DAR Application/Supplemental

When: Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Time: 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Where: Smoky Hill Library
Address: 5430 S. Biscay Circle, Centennial, CO 80015.

Hunting for that elusive patriot in your ancestry? You know he (or she) is there, but you haven’t quite made the connection. Or maybe you’re not sure if your documentation will pass muster with the genealogists at DAR Headquarters. This is the workshop for you!

Whether you’re working on your initial application for membership in DAR, or toying with the idea of submitting a supplemental on another patriot in your lineage, you will benefit from attending this workshop.
To register or for more information, contact the webmaster.

This Day in History - October 13, 1775

When fighting broke out in 1775 the American colonists had no large gunboats, no naval cannon or shot, no warship construction experience, and no captains and crews with experience in multi-ship naval battles. In contrast the British navy had hundreds of large gunships, hundreds of experienced officers, excellent maps, could attack anywhere along the thousands of miles of America's ocean coastline and could deliver troops and firepower well inland via the hundreds of navigable rivers on the eastern seaboard. The U.S. responded to this challenge with an active program of building warships, retro-fitting merchant vessels for military duty, capturing British supply ships and warships, borrowing warships from France, and making an alliance with France (and through France drawing in Spain) that would secure cooperative use of naval power that was larger than Great Britain's.

Timeline to Creation of the U.S. Navy

On 1775 Sep 02: General George Washington commissioned Nicholson Broughton of Marblehead MA as captain of the Hannah, to lead eight schooners based in Massachusetts in what became known as "George Washington's Navy" The original schooners included the
. . . Hannah -- 78 tons and a crew of 43 (sailed Sept 5, ruined by grounding Oct 10)
. . . Harrison -- 64-tons, 4 guns (under Capt. William Coit of Norwich CT)
. . . Washington -- 160-tons, 10 guns, and a crew of 74

Their first mission was to intercept British cargo vessels supplying the British garrison in Boston, and during the 26 months in which this fleet was part of the Continental Army they captured 55 enemy ships. Ships of the Continental Army provided one of America�s greatest naval successes at the battle of Valcour Island in 1776, when a fleet commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold delayed a British invasion from Canada so that they had to withdraw for the winter. This gave time for American strength to grow so that it could overwhelm the next invasion force in 1777 at Saratoga.

1775 Oct 13 is considered to be the birthday of the United States Navy, since this was the day that the Continental Congress ordered that two large vessels be fitted out with 10 cannon each. Note: From 1922 to 1946 Oct 27 was widely observed as Navy Day.

On 1775 December 13 the Continental Congress authorized the construction of three 74-gun ships-of-the-line and thirteen frigates for the Continental Navy. All thirteen frigates were constructed, but only one ship-of-the-line was completed. The Continental Navy later included the world's first military submarine. See Other Ships below.

On 1775 Dec 22 Congress commissioned

Commander-in-Chief: Esek Hopkins
Captains:
Dudley Saltonstall for the 24-gun frigate Alfred
Abraham Whipple for the 24-gun frigate Columbus
Nicholas Biddle for the 14-gun brig Andrew Doria
John Burrows Hopkins for the 14-gun brig Cabot
First Lieutenants: John Paul Jones, Rhodes Arnold, Eli Stansbury, Hoysted Hacker, Jonathan Pitcher
Second Lieutenants: Benjamin Seabury, Joseph Olney, Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver, James McDougall
Third Lieutenants: John Fanning, Ezekiel Burroughs, Daniel Vaughan

Several states created state navies, and many American merchant ships added cannon and obtained letters of marque so that they could serve as privateers -- sailing the world's oceans and capturing British merchant ships, harrassing the smaller ships of the Royal Navy, and threatening British military supply lines

Source:
Navy: An Illustrated History: The U.S. Navy from 1775 to the 21st Century (Illustrated History (Zenith Press)) (Hardcover)by Chester G. Hearn
Chester G. Hearn (Author)