(from George Hewes, eyewitness account in
Yankee Life by Those Who Lived It
edited by June Barrows Mussey)
ON THE NIGHT of December 16, 1773, American patriots, disguised as Indians, jettisoned 342 chests of British tea owned by the East India Company into Boston Harbor. Its London warehouses bulging with seventeen million pounds of unsold tea, the company resolved to unload its cargoes already docked at Boston Harbor, by force if necessary. Parliament had enacted a law that gave the East India Company the exclusive right to import tea into England duty-free, then ship it across the Atlantic to the East Coast. If the tea was unloaded as planned on December 17, the American colony would bear the burden of three pence a pound customs duty. Politically that was taxation without representation. Economically the Yankees preferred to smuggle in their tea.
From the British perspective, the destruction of 342 giant chests of East India Company tea was neither vandalism nor theft—it was treason. After the Boston Tea Party’s defiance, Parliament cracked down with harsher laws. Boston was to be blockaded until she paid for the lost tea. Judges, marshals, and sheriffs were no longer to be elected; rather they would be appointed by the royal governor. The governor was empowered to commandeer private houses in any town to quarter his redcoat soldiers. Meetings to debate citizen rights were forbidden. Committees of correspondence—which coordinated their political activities with their counterpart committees in other towns and colonies—were outlawed. With a finality bordering on sadness, King George III wrote: “The dye is now cast. The colonies must either submit or triumph.” Paul Revere, the principal express rider for the Boston Committee of Safety, carried the news of the Boston Tea Party to New York.
Sixteen months later, Revere received the famous “one if by land, two if by sea” signal from a lantern atop Boston’s North Church. He rowed across the Charles River with muffled oars, mounted his horse, and galloped to Lexington to warn John Adams and John Hancock that eight hundred British soldiers were on their way to arrest them and seize the patriots and their caches of arms and gunpowder. The next day at Lexington and Concord, “the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world.” Critics claimed in those days that “Bostonians were better at resolving what to do, than doing what they had resolved.” The Boston Tea Party, followed by the uprising of the minutemen at Concord, dispelled that illusion.
George Hewes was one of the “Indians” at the Boston Tea Party. He knew the risks and consequences. To avoid recognition he and his fellows smeared their faces with war paint and dressed like Mohawk Indians. Here is Hewes’s eyewitness report.
IN EVER KNEW who proposed we destroy the tea in Boston Harbor. Only by a friend’s allusions to the participation of certain people in whom I had confidence, together with the knowledge I had of the spirit of the times, gave me confidence that a sufficient number of associates would accompany me in this enterprise. The tea was contained in three ships, laying near each other, at what was called at that time Griffin’s wharf. They were surrounded by armed ships of war. The commanders of these men-of-war had publicly declared that if the rebels (as they were pleased to style the Bostonians) should not withdraw their opposition to the landing of the tea before a certain day—the 17th day of December, 1773—they should on that day force it on shore under cover of their cannons. On the day preceding the seventeenth, we held a meeting of the citizens of the county of Suffolk, convened at Old South Church in Boston, for the purpose of consulting on what measures might be considered expedient to prevent the landing of the tea, or secure the people from having to pay the duty. At that meeting a committee was appointed to call on Governor Hutchinson, and request him to inform them whether he would take any measures to satisfy the people on the object of the meeting. When this committee first visited the governor, he told them he would give them a definite answer by five o’clock in the afternoon. At the hour appointed, the committee again repaired to the governor’s house. On inquiry they found he had gone to his country seat at Milton, a distance of about six miles. When the committee returned and informed the meeting of the absence of the governor, there was a confused murmur among the members, and the meeting was immediate dissolved. Samuel Adams declared: “This meeting can do no more to save the country.” Others cried out, “Let every man do his duty, and be true to his country.” And there was a general huzzah for Griffin’s wharf. It was now evening. I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian. I carried a small hatchet (which I and my associates denominated a tomahawk) and a club. In the shop of a blacksmith I painted my face and hands with coal dust. I then repaired to Griffin’s wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared on the streets, after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was. We joined forces and marched in order to the place of our destination. When we arrived at the wharf, there were three of our number who assumed an authority to direct our operations, to which we readily submitted. They divided us into three parties for the purpose of boarding the three tea ships at the same time. The name of him who commanded the division to which I was assigned, was Leonard Pitt. The names of the other commanders I never knew. We were immediately ordered by the respective commanders to board all ships at the same time, which we promptly obeyed. The commander of the division to which I belonged, as soon as we were on board the ship, appointed me boatswain, and ordered me to go to the captain and demand of him the keys to the hatches and a dozen candles. I made the demand accordingly, and the captain promptly replied and delivered the articles; but he requested me at the same time to do no damage to the ship or rigging. We were then ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard. We immediately proceeded to execute his orders. We cut and split the tea chests with our tomahawks, in order to expose them to the effects of the water. As we were throwing the tea overboard, there were several attempts made by some of the citizens of Boston and its vicinity, to carry off small quantities of it for their family use. To effect that object, they would watch for an opportunity to snatch up a handful from the deck, where it had became plentifully scattered, and put it into their pockets. One Captain O’Conner, whom I well knew, came on board for that purpose, and when he supposed he was not noticed, filled his pockets, and also the lining of his coat. But I detected him, and gave information to the captain of what he was doing. We were ordered to take him into custody. Just as he was stepping from the vessel, I seized him by the skirt of his coat, and in attempting to pull him back, I tore it off, but springing forward, by a rapid effort, he made his escape. He had however to run a gauntlet through the crowd upon the wharf. Each one as he passed gave him a kick or a stroke. The next day we nailed the skirt of his coat, which I had pulled off, to the whipping post in Charlestown, the place of his residence, with a label upon it, commemorative of the occasion which had thus subjected its owner to our popular indignation. Another attempt was made to save a little tea from the ruins of the cargo, by a tall aged man, who wore a large cocked hat and white wig, which was fashionable at that time. He had slightly slipped a little into his pocket, but being detected they seized him. Taking his hat and wig from his head, they threw them, together with the tea they had emptied from his pockets, into the water. In consideration of his advanced age, he was permitted to escape, with now and then a slight kick. In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship. Those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. We were surrounded by armed British ships, but no attempt was made to resist us. We then quietly retired to our several places of residence, without having any conversation with each other, or taking any measure to discover who our associates were. Nor do I recollect having had the knowledge of the name of a single individual concerned in that affair, except that of Leonard Pitt, the commander of my division, who I have mentioned. There appeared to be an understanding that each individual should volunteer his services, keep his own secret, and risk the consequences for himself. No disorder took place during that transaction, and it was observed at that time, that the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months. The next morning, after we had cleared the ships of the tea, it was discovered that very considerable quantities of it were still floating upon the surface of the water around the harbor. To prevent the possibility of any of it being saved for use, a number of small boats were manned by sailors and citizens, who rowed out into those parts of the harbor wherever the tea was visible, and by beating it with oars and paddles, so thoroughly drenched it, as to render its entire destruction inevitable.