Recollections of the Boston Tea Party
by George R. T. Hewes
I dressed myself in the costume of an Indian,
equipped with a small hatchet, which I and
my associates denominated the tomahawk,
with which, and a club, after having painted
my face and hands with coal dust in the shop
of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf,
where the ships lay that contained the tea.
When I first appeared in the street after
being thus disguised, I fell in with many who
were dressed, equipped and painted as I was,
and who fell in with me 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
ships which contained the tea 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
the 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 requested me
at the same time to do no damage to the ship
or rigging. We then were ordered by our
commander to open the hatches and take out
all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to
execute his orders, first cutting and splitting
the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the
water.
In about three hours from the time we
went on board, we had thus broken and
thrown overboard every tea chest to be found
in the ship, while those in the other ships
were disposing of the tea in the same way, at
the same time. We were surrounded by
British armed 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 measures to discover who were our associates; nor
do I recollect of our 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, whom I
have mentioned. There appeared to be an
understanding that each individual should
volunteer his services, keep his own secret,
and risk the consequence 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.
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