NO “Tea Bags” at Boston Harbor

Contrary to what the American media have been reporting these past few weeks, no “Tea Bags” were thrown into Boston Harbor during the American Revolution. The colonial tax protesters threw crates of tea into the harbor, which may have contained these oven-baked “Tea Bricks.” There was NO SUCH THING as a “Tea Bag” in those days. The Boston Tea Party happened in 1773. The “Tea Bag” was invented 135 years later, in 1908.

Our colonial ancestors were protesting the raising of taxes without representation when they stopped purchasing and drinking British tea. When the brave Bostonians of so long ago, participated in their Boston Tea Party, there was no such thing as a “Tea Bag” anywhere in the world. One method of shipping tea to colonial America was to pack the dried leaves into heavy, compressed, baked bricks, as illustrated above, tightly packed in wooden crates. This protected the tea leaves from mildew and dampness during the long months at sea and in storage.

America’s media such as Chris Matthews of MSNBC and Anderson Cooper of CNN got it wrong when they described these current tax protests as “Tea Bag” Parties.

UPDATE: Here is a great photograph of some of the original tea which washed up on the shoreline after the Boston Tea Party of 1773: Massachusetts Historical Society 

The image, Tea Bricks – NOT Tea Bags!, is subject to copyright by barneykin. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin.

Buckingham County Patriots

When Americans of today think about the history of equality, equal protection and equal civil rights, their thoughts are dominated by the history of desegregation, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the antislavery debates of the 1830s. However, long before the slavery debate, Virginians were debating different standards of equality regarding religious diversity. In eighteenth-century Virginia, there was one church rule, and in those days, the church was the law as the head of the church was the British monarch. These discussions and petitions and desires for religious freedom by rank and file Virginians had much to do with fomenting the American Revolution.

While American patriots of New England were throwing crates of tea into Boston Harbor objecting to British taxes, Virginians were standing for religious equality for all, including dissenters. With these petitions they were demanding disestablishment of the Church of England, the outlawing of the Church’s assessments, and the banishment of the Church’s ministers, who were working for the Crown.

This petition was signed by American Revolutionary War patriots of Buckingham County, Virginia on 7 December 1780. The signatories believed that “The Exercise of any of the learned professions gives their Professors an influence which improperly apply’d may prove dangerous to the State.” They therefore petitioned the government at Williamsburg to punish “professed Enemies to the State” by passing laws to “Silence all Nonjuring Preachers of every Denomination” and deprive them of their benefits, “to prohibit men who refuse to give proof of their attachment to the present Government from the Exercise of either the professions of Law or Physic, and to Levy double taxes upon all Nonjurors.”(”Nonjurors” meant those who were loyal to England.) These petitioners signed their names, knowing that their necks would be on the chopping block if England was able to squash the rebellion. This petition is available on-line at the Collection of the Library of Congress where there is much more information as to the relationship between these Virginia petitions and the quest for freedom that birthed a new nation, the United States of America.

My fifth great grandfather, DAVID STINSON, along with his brothers, were brave enough to sign this petition. I have made a transcript of this document HERE.

The image, Petition of 7 December 1780, is subject to copyright by barneykin. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.

A Real Daughter

This member of the Daughters of the American Revolution was a “real” daughter of a soldier of the American Revolution. This memorial is at Trinity Churchyard Cemetery, Broadway and Fulton Streets, New York City, New York.

The image, Daughter of a Soldier of the Revolution, is subject to copyright by Sheena 2.0™. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.

A Hero’s Home

This is the John Paul Jones House on Caroline Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The photograph was made between 1910 and 1915, when the building was occupied by Gately’s Groceries. The old photograph is from the collection of the Library of Congress. This was the only home in America of John Paul Jones, an American Revolutionary War hero and father of the United States Navy. His most famous words were “I have not yet begun to fight!” Today, the John Paul Jones home serves as a “Seafarers Coffee House.” Fredericksblogger has a photograph of the way it is today.

Sail Fast in Harm’s Way – John Paul Jones

The image, John Paul Jones House, Fredericksburg, Va. (LOC), is subject to copyright by The Library of Congress. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.

Peter Tondee’s Tavern

From the museum at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution:

The Georgia room is modeled after a room from Peter Tondee’s tavern in Savannah, Georgia. The tavern, no longer standing, was in business from 1770-1785. Objects seen in the room are based on Tondee’s probate inventory. Taverns fulfilled numerous functions providing food, drink, lodging, and rooms for entertainment and meetings. Tondee’s tavern served as a meeting place for the “Sons of Liberty”, and was the site of the raising of the first Liberty Pole and the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Georgia. After Peter Tondee’s death, his widow, Lucy Mouse Tondee, operated the tavern until 1783. (NSDAR Museum, Virtual Tour of Peter Tondee’s Tavern)

Battle of Iron Works Hill

In December 1776, after significant victories over the Americans, the British army, resting upon its laurels, went into winter quarters in New York and New Jersey. The British wrongly assumed that Washington’s forces in Pennsylvania were also in winter quarters.

On December 17th, General Washington ordered 600 of his forces, mostly untrained men and boys from nearby towns augmented by two companies of Virginia soldiers, to cross the Delaware River and march via Moorestown to Mount Holly, New Jersey.  At Mount Holly the rebels set up a few “3-pounder” artillery pieces on Iron Works Hill, causing the Hessian commanders at Black Horse and Bordentown to believe they were being opposed by 3,000 men. By Christmas Eve, Washington’s plan had lured 2,000 Hessians to the The Mount in Mount Holly, to engage the supposed “thousands” of rebel forces occupying Iron Works Hill. Then at nighttime, while the Hessians were making merry, indulging in the confiscated contents of a local brewery, the Americans stealthily evacuated their positions and marched to Moorestown. On December 26, Washington’s army was able to wax victorious at the Battle of Trenton, capturing 1,000 prisoners. Part of that victory by the Americans is attributed to Washington’s plan a week earlier at the Battle of Iron Works Hill.

I am sorry to report that the photograph that was here of the reenactment of the Battle of Iron Works Hill in Mount Holly, New Jersey that took place on 13 December 2008, has been removed from Flickr’s public viewing.

We Are That Posterity!

Are We Worthy?

“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.” ~John Adams letter to his wife Abigail Adams, 26 April 1777.

The photograph displayed is of Peacefield, John and Abigail Adams’ home in Quincy, Massachusetts. Their descendants lived here through the centuries and presented the home to the National Park Service with its contents intact.

The image, Peacefield (John Adams home in Quincy), is subject to copyright by Lady Tracy o’ the Disk. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.

Graves at Old Tennent Church

The lovely Old Tennent Church sits atop a hill in the middle of its cemetery in Tennent or Manalapan, New Jersey. The original Presbyterian congregation was organized about 1692, and met in a log structure. The third structure, seen here, was built in 1751, and was twenty-seven years old at the time of the Battle of Monmouth. On Sunday, June 28, 1778, General George Washington, with about six thousand men, passed by the Old Tennent Church. That morning Washington had been at Englishtown where, from the sound of cannons firing, he understood that his advance forces under General Lee were battling the British. One hundred yards beyond the church door Washington met the first straggler who told him that Lee had retreated from the British. A few yards more and the General came upon Lee himself in retreat. Washington sternly rebuked his General, hastened forward, and rallied the retreating Continentals. The renewed battle continued until evening when the British were driven back. During the night to Washington’s surprise, the British retired. This victory by the rebels, snatched from the jaws of defeat, gave new hope and courage to the American colonials.

The church was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Monmouth, when wounded soldiers were carried to the church where members of the congregation tended them. The battle was so near that walls of the church are riddled with holes from cannonballs. The pews still bear scars of the surgeon’s saw and bloodstains of the wounded and dying. Those Revolutionary War soldiers who died at the hospital are buried in the cemetery, along with British soldiers. There are antique cannons on the grounds. An active congregation continues worshipping at the Old Tennent Church.

The image, When You Think About It, The Revolution Wasn’t That Long Ago., is subject to copyright by Sister72. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.

The Real George Washington

National Geographic Channel is launching the first annual Expedition Week starting November 16 through November 23, featuring seven straight nights of exciting programs that take you from the ancient pyramids to the depths of the ocean and from lost cities to the outer space.

The Real George Washington  Wednesday, November 19, at 9 p.m. ET/PT

Happy Birthday Marines

The United States Marine Corps has been protecting America since the Second Continental Congress raised two battalions of Continental Marines in 1775. The Marine Corps is still exhibiting “Uncommon Valor” in protecting America from harm. The inscription above is from the famous Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, Virginia.

The image, Iwo Jima Memorial, is subject to copyright by wageorge. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin, an administrator of “The Revolution ed” pool.