The Flame is Kindled: The Boston Tea Party

by guest blogger Megan Soja

On the fifth of December, 1773, Abigail Adams wrote to her friend Mercy Otis Warren regarding the recent arrival of tea ships in Boston. She described the response of the town, saying, “The flame is kindled and like lightning it catches from soul to soul.”

Only eleven days later, that tea would be thrown into the harbor in an act of defiance that we know today as the Boston Tea Party.

This December marks 251 years since that historic event which serves as the backdrop for my debut novel, Spark of the Revolution. It’s a story we’re all familiar with…rebels, dressed like Mohawks, descending upon the harbor in a rowdy mob to fight against an oppressive tax…or so I thought.

The tea tax itself was not overly oppressive, but it was seen as a tangible reminder that England could enforce laws which the citizens of Massachusetts had no say in. Thus, the famous words – "no taxation without representation."

There were three ships involved, carrying a total of 340 chests of tea. The colonists held multiple meetings in an attempt to gain permission to send the tea back to England. All efforts to do so were rebuffed.

On the evening of December 16th, when the last request to secure passage back to England had been denied, they turned instead to a secret plan developed by the Sons of Liberty – destruction of the tea.

Historians suspect that over 100 men participated, though they held their secret close for many years after. And while some disguised themselves to look like Mohawks, many others came as they were or used simple methods, like blackening their faces with soot, to hide their identities.

It was not a chaotic mob but a methodical approach. The men worked in an organized and quiet manner, securing pulley systems to hoist the heavy crates before breaking them open and dumping the tea overboard. The entire effort took less than three hours, and when finished, they swept the decks clean. Nothing else was damaged, save for a single padlock which they replaced the following day. No harm came to any of the crew, nor were the participants met with resistance by British troops.

What stood out to me most as I learned more about this event were the accounts passed down from participants through the years. We all recognize names like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, but it was the stories of everyday people that really caught my attention. Ordinary men who stepped up to do something extraordinary, hardly guessing what their actions would mean for the future of this country. Their protest that night lit the spark of the American Revolution. The flame was kindled, and it would not be put out.

The Boston Tea Party Museum features a wonderful collection of information on participants if you’d like to explore their stories further. The photos included here are from my trip to the museum where they also have two replica ships.

Spark of the Revolution: Patience Abbott leaves behind painful memories of England for a fresh start in America. But as tension grows in Boston, so does the distance between Patience and her estranged Loyalist father. When Josiah Wagner walks into her life, finally, she’s not alone.

Josiah Wagner forges tools by day as a blacksmith, and each night, forges plans with the Sons of Liberty. But when the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor lights the spark of the Revolution, Josiah finds himself drawn into its wake, pulling the woman he loves with him.

Megan Soja is a multi-award-winning author who writes stories with strong faith, rich history, and sweet romance. She lives in western NY with her husband and two daughters and loves having adventures with her family. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and playing French Horn.

Coffee in Colonial America by Elaine Marie Cooper

As I sit at my desk sipping my morning coffee, it occurs to me how strange it is that the United States has transitioned into a country of java-drinkers. It was not always so—especially before the American Revolution erupted in 1775.

 

In fact, even by 1773, American colonists had become so angry with Britain’s Parliament for all the taxation on their beloved tea, they threw overboard three cargo ships of the leaves into Boston Harbor. The Tea Party was definitely a statement of outrage that became a sacrifice for the Bohea (Boo-yee) lovers of Chinese tea.

And so coffee came on the scene as the drink of the Patriots. The demand of the rebels to abstain from drinking taxable tea was so great that the brew was strictly forbidden in the Colony of Massachusetts in 1775. Neighborhood committemen were assigned to monitor private households to ensure that only coffee or herbal teas were served.

Anyone caught drinking the banned brew of tea taxed by England would be deemed a Tory.

Drinking coffee was akin to declaring independence for America. Coffee became the preferred drink of the patriotic cause although many still desired the black or green tea that they had been accustomed to. But preferences aside, the popularity of coffee in America soared after the Boston Tea Party.

In fact, the Party itself was planned and the details plotted out in a coffee house called The Green Dragon. But while coffee was suddenly in high demand, it had actually arrived in the colonies in the late 17th century, at the same time as tea.

Coffee originated in the Arab countries but live plants were transported to greenhouses in Holland in 1616. From there, the Dutch began to grow this popular bean in India and Java (now called Indonesia). Within a few years, the Dutch were the main suppliers of coffee to Europe.

The Holland connection brings up another interesting tidbit from my research. A mortar and pestle for “braying” coffee beans into powder was brought over on the Mayflower in 1620 by passengers William and Susanna White. The emigrants onboard the Mayflower had resided in Holland for a time before leaving for the New World. Thus, the first coffee may have arrived with the first colonists arriving at Plymouth, although there was no record of the beans actually carried as cargo onboard.

According to Dennis Picard, historian at Storrowton Village museum, “coffee was shipped and purchased green, and the homeowner had to roast each batch either in a spider (a frying pan with legs) or a metal drum shaped roaster.” It was then ground with a mortar and pestle.

Crank coffee grinders began to be used in homes in the early part of the 19th century.

The first literary reference to coffee consumption in North America is from 1668, when coffee houses were established in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities. Often these coffee houses also served other beverages, such as tea, ale and cider.

A reference to coffee and tea is found in Shirley Glubock’s Home and Child Life in Colonial Days:

“In 1670, a Boston woman was licensed to sell coffee and chocolate, and soon coffee houses were established there. Some did not know how to cook coffee any more than tea, but boiled the whole coffee beans in water, ate them, and drank the liquid; and naturally this was not very good either to eat or drink."

At the time of the Stamp Act, when patriotic Americans threw the tea into Boston Harbor, Americans were just as great tea drinkers as the English. Coffee-drinking, first acquired in the Revolution, has also descended from generation to generation, and we now drink more coffee than tea. This is one of the differences in our daily life caused by the Revolution.”

Just one of the many differences, indeed.

My favorite excerpt about coffee and the American Revolution was an incident recorded by Abigail Adams in 1778, and quoted in Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin:

“An eminent, wealthy, stingy merchant (also a bachelor) had a hogshead of coffee in his store, which he refused to sell…under six shillings per pound. A number of females, some say a hundred, some say more, assembled with a cart and trunks, marched down to the Warehouse and demanded the keys which he refused to deliver. Upon which one of them seized him by his neck and tossed him into the cart. Upon his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys when they tipped up the cart and discharged him; then opened the Warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into the trunks and drove off…a large concourse of men stood amazed silent spectators.”

I suppose the moral of that tale is, never stand between a woman and her coffee—especially during a Revolution!

I want to thank all the readers of my blog posts at Heroes, Heroines and History. I have much writing to do for my contracted novels and must bid a fond farewell as a regular contributor. It has been a pleasure and I hope to see you at my own website blog posts! www.elainemariecooper.com

 

 

Why Mohawk Disguises For a Tea Party?

The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor by Nathaniel Currier, 1846

by Guest Blogger Heidi Chiavaroli

Exactly 246 years ago tonight, a group of Boston Patriots disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped an estimated £10,000 (1 million dollars in today’s economy) of tea in Boston Harbor. They were protesting taxes. They were protesting being told where to buy their tea. They were protesting being denied a voice.

When I began research for my novel, The Tea Chest, I came upon one of the only women mentioned during the treasonous event—Sarah Bradlee Fulton. Sarah was a Bostonian lady who was not shy in sharing her Patriotic sympathies, whether it be confronting an entire regiment of Redcoats who’d stolen wood from the Continental Army, spying in Loyalist-occupied Boston, or coming up with (and helping to implement) the idea of the Mohawk disguises to dump the tea the night of December 16, 1773. I was fascinated with this woman and decided to create a fictional friend for her, Emma Malcolm (my historical heroine), who would help Sarah in some of these endeavors.

But first, I had to understand why an 18th-century woman would come up with the idea of such a disguise. Sure, I suppose if I were to commit treason on a cold December night, I’d want the safety of a disguise as well. But why a Native American? While a modern-day reader of history may think it insensitive, if we can peel back the layers of reasoning, we might begin to understand this disguise of choice that Sarah suggested.  

Massachusetts Bay Colony Seal

Of course, no one really believed Mohawks traveled over 200 miles, boarded the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, and dumped the tea in Boston Harbor. It was ludicrous. But the masquerade did give the men who committed the crime a scapegoat (no matter how unbelievable), and the mystery and unity of the disguise successfully provoked fear in those who threatened their voices.

At that time, colonists and Native Americans had already shared a long, gruesome history. Colonists feared their Native neighbors at the same time that they admired how passionately they fought. And with the centennial anniversary of King Philip’s War, captivity accounts were reprinted, becoming popular reading in 1773 Boston. These stories renewed the fear, and even hatred, of the Native Americans. 

Since the early 17th century, Massachusetts—and Boston, in particular—was often symbolized with the image of a Native American. The 1629 seal of Massachusetts depicted a Native man, and the Province House copper weather vane was an Indian with a bow. Even Paul Revere used the Native Americans in a design used to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. English cartoonists portrayed the colonists as petulant, whining, rebellious Native Americans. Benjamin L. Carp, in his book Defiance of the Patriots, states that English writers “were calling an American-born white New Englander a ‘tame Indian’ and worrying that American-born English people were taking on ‘Indian’ characteristics such as dishonesty, laziness, and indulging their children.”

The Savages Let Loose, or the Cruel Fate of the Loyalists

Satire by William Humphrey, 1783

While we now realize that this derogatory way of thinking was not only wrong, but prejudice, Boston Patriots chose not to shun this identity, but rather embrace it. Painting their faces with lampblack, slicking their hair with oil, and donning blankets and tomahawks, the men vowed to do no harm to anything or anyone but the tea. They vowed to act in honor even while committing the act of treason.

It also wasn’t coincidence that the leaders of the Sons of Liberty—Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, John Hancock, and Thomas Young—made certain they were publicly seen at Old South Meeting House at the time of the dumping. In this manner, these men, who represented “the Body of the People” and who gave voice to formal protests against the Tea Act, separated themselves from the treasonous act at the same time that the Mohawk disguises separated the treasonous act from “the Body.”

Either way, the disguises accomplished what they set out to do—create fear, send a message, and conceal identities. While Sarah Bradlee Fulton played a pivotal role in the Tea Party, this was actually just the beginning of what she (and Emma!) would accomplish for the Patriots during the Revolution.

The Tea Chest

Boston, 1773
Emma Malcolm’s father is staunchly loyal to the crown, but Emma’s heart belongs to Noah Winslow, a lowly printer’s assistant and Patriot. But her father has promised her hand to Samuel Clarke, a rapacious and sadistic man. As his fiancée, she would have to give up Noah and the friends who have become like family to her—as well as the beliefs she has come to embrace.

After Emma is drawn into the treasonous Boston Tea Party, Samuel blackmails her with evidence that condemns each participant, including Noah. Emma realizes she must do whatever it takes to protect those she loves, even if it means giving up the life she desires and becoming Samuel’s wife.

Present Day
Lieutenant Hayley Ashworth is determined to be the first woman inducted into the elite Navy SEALs. But before her dream can be realized, she must return to Boston in order to put the abuse and neglect of her childhood behind her. When an unexpected encounter with the man she once loved leads to the discovery of a tea chest and the document hidden within, she wonders if perhaps true strength and freedom are buried deeper than she first realized.

Two women, separated by centuries, must find the strength to fight for love and freedom…

and discover a heritage of courage and faith.

Heidi Chiavaroli writes women's fiction, exploring places that whisper of historical secrets. Her debut novel, Freedom's Ring, was a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Booklist Top Ten Romance Debut. She makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and her two sons. Visit her at heidichiavaroli.com

Coffee in Colonial America

As I sit at my desk sipping my morning coffee, it occurrs to me how strange it is that the United States has transitioned into a country of java-drinkers. It was not always so—especially before the American Revolution erupted in 1775. 

In fact, even by 1773, American colonists had become so angry with Britain’s Parliament for all the taxation on their beloved tea, they threw overboard three cargo ships of the leaves into Boston Harbor. The Tea Party was definitely a statement of outrage that became a sacrifice for the Bohea (Boo-yee) lovers of Chinese tea. 

And so coffee came on the scene as the drink of the Patriots. The demand of the rebels to abstain from drinking taxable tea was so great that the brew was strictly forbidden in the Colony of Massachusetts in 1775. Neighborhood committe men were assigned to monitor private households to ensure that only coffee or herbal teas were served.

Anyone caught drinking the banned brew of tea taxed by England would be deemed a Tory. 

Drinking coffee was akin to declaring independence for America. Coffee became the preferred drink of the patriotic cause although many still desired the black or green tea that they had been accustomed to. But preferences aside, the popularity of coffee in America soared after the Boston Tea Party.

In fact, the Party itself was planned and the details plotted out in a coffee house called The Green Dragon. But while coffee was suddenly in high demand, it had actually arrived in the colonies in the late 17^thcentury, at the same time as tea.

            Coffee originated in the Arab countries but live plants were transported to greenhouses in Holland in 1616. From there, the Dutch began to grow this popular bean in India and Java (now called Indonesia). Within a few years, the Dutch were the main suppliers of coffee to Europe.

The Holland connection brings up another interesting tidbit from my research. A mortar and pestle for “braying” coffee beans into powder was brought over on the Mayflower in 1620 by passengers William and Susanna White. The emigrants onboard the Mayflower had resided in Holland for a time before leaving for the New World. Thus, the first coffee may have arrived with the first colonists arriving at Plymouth, although there was no record of the beans actually carried as cargo onboard.

According to Dennis Picard, historian at Storrowton Village museum (West Springfield, MA), “coffee was shipped and purchased green, and the homeowner had to roast each batch either in a spider (a frying pan with legs) or a metal drum shaped roaster.” It was then ground with a mortar and pestle.

Crank coffee grinders began to be used in homes in the early part of the 19^thcentury.

The first literary reference to coffee consumption in North America is from 1668, when coffee houses were established in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities. Often these coffee houses also served other beverages, such as tea, ale and cider.

A reference to coffee and tea is found in Shirley Glubock’s Home and Child Life in Colonial Days:

“In 1670, a Boston woman was licensed to sell coffee and chocolate, and soon coffee houses were established there. Some did not know how to cook coffee any more than tea, but boiled the whole coffee beans in water, ate them, and drank the liquid; and naturally this was not very good either to eat or drink.

At the time of the Stamp Act, when patriotic Americans threw the tea into Boston Harbor, Americans were just as great tea drinkers as the English. Coffee-drinking, first acquired in the Revolution, has also descended from generation to generation, and we now drink more coffee than tea. This is one of the differences in our daily life caused by the Revolution.”

Just one of the many differences, indeed.

My favorite excerpt about coffee and the American Revolution was an incident recorded by Abigail Adams in 1778, and quoted in Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin:

“An eminent, wealthy, stingy merchant (also a bachelor) had a hogshead of coffee in his store, which he refused to sell…under six shillings per pound. A number of females, some say a hundred, some say more, assembled with a cart and trunks, marched down to the Warehouse and demanded the keys which he refused to deliver. Upon which one of them seized him by his neck and tossed him into the cart. Upon his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys when they tipped up the cart and discharged him; then opened the Warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into the trunks and drove off…a large concourse of men stood amazed silent spectators.”

I suppose the moral of that tale is, never stand between a woman and her coffee—especially during a Revolution!

 Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that recently released: War’s Respite (Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

Only Surviving Chest from the Boston Tea Party

Blogger: Amber Schamel

When my family and I visited Boston this past fall, we had the pleasure of seeing the Boston Tea Party museum. It's a fantastic place with actors bringing the characters and events of the past to life. If you ever get a chance to go, this museum is worth the stop!

I love visiting the places I've read about, because you almost always learn something you didn't come across during your research. For me, the new tidbit was found at the center of the Tea Party Museum. The artifact was mesmerizing as it rotated in a glass cylinder, illuminated by a light designed to highlight the carvings and paintings on its sides. The Robinson Tea Chest.

During the night of the Boston Tea Party, the 'Indians' used tomahawks to break open the chests of tea and throw the contents into the harbor. They were thorough in their work. The tea chests were demolished and only slats of wood remained, floating in the foamy harbor. Of the 340 chests destroyed, only two survived. A teenager by the name of John Robinson spotted one of them half buried in sand while walking along the shore the next morning. He took it home and put it in a storage space underneath the stairs. It survived the war in that hiding place and has been passed down in the Robinson family for generations. Someone painted flowers on one side, someone else etched a game board into the bottom. It was used as a doll house, and even a nest for a litter of kittens. But the Robinson family diligently kept the story of the chest alive and passed the history and artifact along. In 2012, the chest became a part of the Tea Party Museum upon its grand opening.

Tea Chest Exhibit at Boston Tea Party Museum.

So how do we know this chest is an actual East India Company artifact that was indeed a part of the tea party? Fair question. Besides the oral history of the chest as provided by the Robinson family, there is also a letter and affidavit from one of the recipients of the crate. Helen Ford Waring, who inherited the crate from her mother, had a specific fascination with the relic and traced its path back up the family tree to John Robinson. This information proved valuable when the Smithsonian Institute contacted the family in regards to the artifact. In addition, forensic testing revealed traces of the salt-water from Boston harbor, and period accurate wood and nails, confirming the oral legend of the box. Thus, the Robinson Tea Chest stands as one of the most interesting artifacts of the Boston patriots.

Replica of the Robinson Chest

If you'd like to learn more about how the box was passed down through the years, you can read more details on the museum website: https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/partners/a-box-worth-keeping

Do you have any heirlooms or artifacts passed down in your family? I'd love to hear about them!

 *****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  She lives in Colorado and spends half her time volunteering in the Ozarks. Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at www.AmberSchamel.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!