About
the Greenwich Tea Burners [From"History
of the early settlement and progress of Cumberland County, New Jersey, and of
the currency of this and the adjoining colonies," by Lucius Q.C. Elmer, Bridgeton,
N.J.: George F. Nixon Publishers, 1869]
"Those
familiar with the history of the English colonies
in North America, will remember that it was the persistence
of the British government in taxing the people, without
allowing them to be represented in Parliament, that
brought on the Revolution, and hastened their Independence.
In 1773, all those taxes were repealed but the duty
on tea, which our forefathers not only resolved not
to sue, but which they would not suffer to be landed
and offered for sale. The East India Company, which
then had the monopoly of this commodity, was encouraged
to send it to this country, and was allowed a drawback
of all the duties paid in England, it being supposed
that the cheapness of the article would tempt our
people to purchase largely. Cargoes were sent to all
the large seaports; but at some places the tea was
not permitted to be landed, and at others it was stored,
but not allowed to be sold. In December, a party disguised
as Indians boarded one of the ships in Boston harbor,
and threw the tea into the water."
"A
brig, called the 'Greyhound,' bound to Philadelphia,
with a cargo of tea, the captain of which was afraid
to proceed to his place of destination, in the summer
of 1774 came into the Cohansey, landed his tea, and
had it stored in the cellar of a house standing in
front of the then open market-square. This house is
not now standing, and the market-square has been enclosed
as a private property. Imitating the example of the
Bostonians, a company of near forty men was organized,
with the concurrence of the committee of safety of
the county, of which Jonathan Elmer, the royal sheriff,
was an active member, who disguised themselves as
Indians, and on the night of December 22, 1774, broke
into the store-house, took out the boxes of tea, and
burned them in a neighboring field."
"The owners of the tea commenced actions of trespass
against such of the disguised Indians as they thought
they could identify, in the Supreme Court of the State,
Joseph Reed of Philadelphia and Mr. Petit of Burlington,
being their lawyers. Money for the defense was raised
by subscription and Joseph Bloomfield, then residing
at Bridgeton, George Read of New Castle, Elias Boudinot
of Elizabethtown, and Jonathan D. Serjeant of Philadelphia,
all eminent counsellors, were employed on behalf of
the defendants. No trial, however, ever took place.
The plaintiffs were ruled to enter security for the
costs, which being neglected, a judgment of non pros
was entered at May Term, 1776, but at the succeeding
term security was filed, and the non pros set aside.
The new constitution of the State, adopted in July,
having displaced the Royal Judges, and their places
being filled in the succeeding winter with Whigs,
the actions were dropped, and no further proceedings
took place on either side."
Philip
V. Fithian, one of the "tea burning" participants, made this note in
his journal, "Friday 23 -- Last night the tea was, by a number of
persons in disguise, taken out of the house and consumed with fire. Violent and
different are the words about this uncommon manoeuvre among the inhabitants. Some
rave, some curse, and condemn; some try to reason; many are glad the tea is destroyed,
but almost all disapprove the manner of destruction."
The names
of most of the participants appear on the granite monument erected in their memory
at Greenwich, New Jersey, in 1908, by the State of New Jersey.
The
bronze tablet on the Greenwich monument states:
IN HONOR OF THE
PATRIOTS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY,
NEW JERSEY
WHO, ON THE EVENING OF
DECEMBER
22, 1774
BURNED BRITISH TEA NEAR
THIS SITE~ (On
the east side is)
TEA BURNERS | EBENEZER
ELMER | LEWIS
HOWELL | TIMOTHY
ELMER | RICHARD
HOWELL | JAMES
EWING | JAMES
B. HUNT | THOMAS
EWING | JOHN
HUNT | JOEL
FITHIAN | ANDREW
HUNTER, JR. | PHILIP
V. FITHIAN | JOEL
MILLER | (On
the west side is)
TEA BURNERS | ALEXANDER
MOORE, JR. | HENRY
SEELEY | EPHRAIM
NEWCOMB | JOSIAH
SEELEY | SILAS
NEWCOMB | ABRAHAM
SHEPPARD | CLARENCE
PARVIN | HENRY
STACKS | DAVID
PIERSON | SILAS
WHITEKAR | STEPHEN
PIERSON | AND
OTHERS |
|
