1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. The two hundred and fiftieth 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: anniversary of the Boston Tea Party is right around the 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 1: corner on December sixteenth this year, which is twenty twenty three. 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: There have been various events related to this anniversary already, 7 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: leading up to a commemoration on the afternoon and evening 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: of the sixteenth, and the plan for that is to 9 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: culminate in a reenactment of dumping the British East India 10 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: Company's tea into Boston Harbor. There is an episode on 11 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party in the archive from way back 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, when the show was only 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: about six months old and was just almost a completely 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: different podcast from what it is now. And while I 15 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: definitely don't encourage people to take the name Stuff You 16 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class completely literally, you can't really describe 17 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party as lesser known, at least not 18 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: in the United States. At the same time, I wanted 19 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: to do something connected to all of this, and eventually 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,919 Speaker 1: I landed on Sarah Bradley Fulton, who is sometimes called 21 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: the mother of the Boston Tea Party. What we know 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: about Sarah Bradley Fulton is kind of a series of anecdotes. 23 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: They mostly trace back to the same sources, and those 24 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: can't really be corroborated. We can't prove that they didn't happen, 25 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: but we also can't prove that they did. So that 26 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: is where we will start. The first written mention at 27 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: least that we know of, connecting Sarah Bradley Fulton to 28 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party is from eighteen seventy three. It 29 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: was written by Eliza M. Gill for the Boston Tea 30 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: Party centennial, and it was printed in the Boston Evening 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: Traveler a day later. Gil was born in eighteen fifty 32 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: one and had been a school teacher before going to 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: work for the city of Medford, Massachusetts, and she was 34 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: also active in local history. She described the content of 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: her letter as something quote imparted to me by descendants 36 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: still living of men who took part in the Boston 37 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: Tea Party. So this letter includes some of the same 38 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,519 Speaker 1: basic points as our main source of information on Sarah 39 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: Bradley Fulton that was written by Helen T. Wilde about 40 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: twenty five years later. There are a whole lot of 41 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: like recently written articles about Sarah Bradley Fulton that are 42 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: point for point this article. Wilde was born in Medford 43 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty. She also worked as a school teacher 44 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: before eventually going to work for the city, first as 45 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: a clerk and then as a tax assessor. She and 46 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: Gil knew one another. Both of the held leadership roles 47 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,959 Speaker 1: in the Medford Historical Society, and both of them were 48 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: among the founders of Medford's chapter of the Daughters of 49 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: the American Revolution. That chapter was named for Sarah Bradley Fulton, 50 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: and when that chapter was first founded, wild was its 51 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: secretary and gil was historian. Wilde's piece on Fulton was 52 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: written for the eighteen ninety seven inauguration of the Sarah 53 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: Bradley Fulton Chapter of the DAR and it was later 54 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: printed in the Medford Historical Record and in American Monthly Magazine. 55 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: And just about everything that comes up in articles about 56 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: Sarah Bradley Fulton today traces back to this one piece. 57 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: Gil had not named the descendants still living that she 58 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: talked to when writing her letter to the Boston Evening Traveler, 59 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: other than saying that it was one of the descendants 60 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: of Sarah's husband, John, and Wild doesn't name her sources 61 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: in her piece either, but Fulton's grandson, also named John 62 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: f had been profiled by The Boston Globe the year before, 63 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: and he told some similar stories about his grandmother. As 64 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: a side note, this Boston Globe article includes a three 65 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 1: paragraph quotation that as presented as though it is in 66 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: Sarah Bradley Fulton's own voice and words. It's not totally 67 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: clear whether this was something she actually said or wrote, 68 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: or if this quotation was more like a literary device 69 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: That passage is gonna come up again later. This article 70 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: also describes John Fulton as walking quote arm in arm 71 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: with a modern analyst. So could that modern analyst have 72 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: been Wild or Gill or someone else completely different who 73 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: can say, we don't really know. And just to be clear, 74 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: that's not analyst like someone who analyzes things. It's analyst 75 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: an n al like someone who is involved in the 76 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: animal of history. Right. There are some discrepancies between what 77 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: Eliza M. Gill wrote and Helen T. Wild's piece a 78 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,679 Speaker 1: couple of decades later, Like according to Gill's letter, Sarah 79 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: Bradley and John Fulton were not married yet when the 80 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,840 Speaker 1: Boston Tea Party happened, but according to Wild, they were. 81 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: Wild is correct. We also don't really know the explanation 82 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: for the discrepancies, like if the information came from different people, 83 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: or if Wild and Gil each talked to the same 84 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: person and their recollection changed over the years, or if 85 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: new documentation was unearthed, or some other possibility. Regardless, what 86 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: we're talking about today was definitely part of local law 87 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,919 Speaker 1: in Medford and Fulton family law by the mid to 88 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century, but there's no direct evidence to substantiate 89 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: a lot of it, and no corroborating accounts from the 90 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 1: same time, like there were no friends of Sarah Bradley 91 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: Fulton who wrote about her in their diary that we 92 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: have unearthed so far to kind of back up these stories. 93 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: Although some of the Bradleys were documented as being actively 94 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: involved with the Colonists uprising, there are no written mentions 95 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: of Sarah Bradley Fulton or her family members in connection 96 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: to the Boston Tea Party until about one hundred years 97 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: after the fact. Her grandson John was in his thirties 98 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,839 Speaker 1: when she died, and he did know her, but that 99 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: was also decades after the Boston Tea Party happened, and 100 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: then the Boston Globe profile and Wilds Peace for the 101 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: dar Those are written another sixty more years or so 102 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: after her death. There are also some details that seem 103 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,839 Speaker 1: maybe a little questionable. We will talk about them. We 104 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: do know that Sarah Bradley Fulton was a real person. 105 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: She was born Sarah Bradley on December twenty fourth, seventeen forty, 106 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Her birth was registered with the town 107 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: of Dorchester, although her last name in the registry is 108 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: spelled bradleydl e Y instead of Brdlee. Allegedly, this spelling 109 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: change was intentional because there were so many Bradley's that 110 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: it was getting hard to keep up with who was 111 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: related to who. At the time, Dorchester was its own town, 112 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: but it was annexed by the City of Boston in 113 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy. In seventeen sixty two, so skipping ahead quite 114 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: a bit, Sarah Bradley married John Fulton. Later they moved 115 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: to Medford, where they lived for the rest of their lives. 116 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: They had at least ten children together, with seven or 117 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: eight of them surviving to adulthood, I found slightly different 118 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: names and counts among different sources. A few years after 119 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: getting married, Sarah Bradley Fulton reportedly became active in the 120 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: Daughters of Liberty. As with the more widely known Sons 121 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: of Liberty, the origins of the Daughters of Liberty are 122 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: pretty murky. It also seems like the name Daughters of 123 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: Liberty was used for established organizations as well as more 124 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: broadly for women who were, in one way or another 125 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: working toward the same overall goals, that is, resisting British 126 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: taxation and advocating for the rights and freedoms of Britain's 127 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: colonies in North America. This is another case or we 128 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: don't have specific documentation of what she was doing, but 129 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: both the Sons and Daughters of Liberty started to coalesce 130 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty five in response to the Stamp Act. 131 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: This is a tax on legal documents and printed materials 132 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: that Parliament passed in the wake of the Seven Years 133 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,079 Speaker 1: War as a way for Britain to bring in more revenue. 134 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: All such documents had to be stamped as proof that 135 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: the tax had been paid, and a lot of people 136 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: in the colonies objected to this tax, both because of 137 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: the tax itself and because the colonies did not have 138 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: direct representation in the Parliament that had passed it, so, 139 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: in other words, no taxation without representation. In the wake 140 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: of protests and unrest and various threats against tax collectors 141 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: and other British officials, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 142 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty seven, while stressing that it did have the 143 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: right to tax the colonies. Soon after, Parliament passed another 144 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: set of acts known as the Townsend Acts. One of 145 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: the towns In Acts was the Revenue Act, which established 146 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: duties on various goods including lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea. 147 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: Another of the acts, the Indemnity Act, was passed a 148 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: few days later and lowered the duty on the East 149 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,959 Speaker 1: India Company's tea imports into England and also refunded duties 150 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: on tea that was then exported to the American colonies 151 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 1: or to Ireland. This was really an effort to try 152 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: to save the East India Company from financial collapse. Smugglers 153 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 1: were bringing a lot of Dutch East India Company tea 154 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,200 Speaker 1: into the colonies, which could be sold much cheaper than 155 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: British East India Company tea with all its duties in place, 156 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: People were still not happy about these taxes. Though. While 157 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: the Sons of Liberty were known for public and sometimes 158 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: to destructive protests like hanging officials and effigy and eventually 159 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: the destruction of the Tea that later became known as 160 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party, the Daughters of Liberty were not 161 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: usually out in the streets demonstrating. Instead, they wrote letters 162 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: and gathered signatures. They organized boycotts of British goods, and 163 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: they sought out locally made alternatives. When the Sons of 164 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: Liberty organized non importation associations in which merchants would agree 165 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 1: not to import British goods, the Daughters of Liberty worked 166 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: on ways to deal with all the resulting shortages. Linen 167 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 1: and cloth were among the goods that merchants refused to 168 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: import from Britain, so the Daughters of Liberty's part in 169 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: this included a lot of spinning. Spinning bees were already 170 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: a thing, but especially in the Northeast, they became a 171 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: widespread act of collective resistance among colonial women, as did 172 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: wearing homespun like Here's a description from the Boston Chronicle 173 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty six quote on the fourth instant eighteen 174 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: daughters of Liberty, young ladies of good reputation, assembled at 175 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: the house of Doctor Ephraim Bowen in this town in 176 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: consequence of an invitation of that gentleman who had discovered 177 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: a laudable zeal for the introducing home manufacturers. There they 178 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:21,079 Speaker 1: exhibited a fine example of industry by spinning from sunrise 179 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: until dark, and displayed a spirit for saving their sinking 180 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: country rarely to be found among persons of more age 181 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: and experience. In the wake of all of this, the 182 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: value of imports from Britain into the colonies dropped enormously 183 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: between seventeen sixty seven and seventeen sixty eight, although this 184 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: drop was largely focused in the North. In terms of 185 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: British imports, things didn't really change all that much in 186 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: the South at all, with the exception of the tax 187 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: on tea. The Towns and Acts taxes were repealed in 188 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy. We're going to come back to the Tea 189 00:11:55,679 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: and the Boston Tea party after we have a sponsor break. 190 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,079 Speaker 1: While Sarah Bradley Fulton and her husband John established their 191 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: home in Medford, which is northwest of Boston on the 192 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:20,480 Speaker 1: Mystic River. Her brother, Nathaniel Bradley, continued to live in Boston. 193 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,560 Speaker 1: He was a carpenter and a craftsman, and according to 194 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: Helen T. Wilde's account, friends and neighbors gathered at his 195 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: home at the corner of Hollis and Tremont Streets for 196 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:36,040 Speaker 1: codfish suppers on Saturday nights. In her words, his carpenter 197 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,959 Speaker 1: shop and kitchen became quote meeting places for Boston's most 198 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: devoted patriots. And again, according to Wilde's account, the Bradley 199 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: home in Boston was one of the places where men 200 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: prepared for the Boston Tea Party, although that name was 201 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: not coined until decades after it happened. The Boston Tea 202 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: Party circled back to Britain's efforts to keep the British 203 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: East India Company afloat in terms of both revenue and 204 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: offloading enormous amounts of tea that were sitting in London 205 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: warehouses unsold. Enormous as in about seventeen million pounds of 206 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: unsold tea. Parliament passed the t act on May tenth, 207 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy three, which gave the British East India Company 208 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: the right to ship tea directly to the colonies, rather 209 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: than having to ship it to Britain first. The company 210 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: was also allowed to employ its own agents to sell 211 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: tea rather than going through colonial merchants, since it was 212 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: no longer having to ship tea to England and pay 213 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: a duty on it there. This meant the British East 214 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: India Company could start selling tea in the colonies for 215 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 1: less than the price of smuggled Dutch tea. But to 216 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: a lot of people in the colonies, access to cheaper 217 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: tea was not what mattered. It was that tax they 218 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 1: would be paying if they bought it. Although the Townshenacts 219 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: tax on tea had still been in place between seventeen 220 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 1: seventy and seventeen seventy three, and there were still a 221 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: lot of people the colonies who refused to drink tea 222 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: during those years, the Tea Act really revived people's anger 223 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: and frustration over this issue. A lot of people in 224 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: the colonies really doubled down on their boycott of tea, 225 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: and the Daughters of Liberty promoted alternatives sometimes called Liberty Tea, 226 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: including mint, raspberry leaf, and various herbs and roots. Ships 227 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: arriving in American ports were met by angry mobs and 228 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: forced to leave still laden with their tea. On November 229 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: twenty eighth, seventeen seventy three, a ship called the Dartmouth 230 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: arrived in Boston. The Eleanor arrived on December second, and 231 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: the Beaver on December fifteenth. Each of these ships carried 232 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: more than one hundred chests of East India Company tea, 233 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: but the ships themselves were owned by local merchants. Newspapers 234 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: had started reporting on shipments of tea that were headed 235 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: for the colonies in October, so the Sons of Liberty 236 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: had been holding public meetings on the issue for weeks 237 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: before these ships started arriving, at locations including the Liberty 238 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: Tree near Boston Common and Faniel Hall. These meetings grew 239 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: after the Dartmouth arrived, with organizers moving to the Old 240 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: South Meetinghouse to accommodate the larger crowd. So people like 241 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: the Sons of Liberty demanded that these ships be sent 242 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: back to England, but the Collector of Customs refused to 243 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: let them leave the harbor without the duties being paid 244 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: on the tea. Of course, the people who owned these 245 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: ships did not want to pay a duty on a 246 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: product that could not be unloaded or sold. While officials 247 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: in other port cities had allowed ships carrying tea to 248 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: return to England, Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor Thomas Hutchinson insisted 249 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: that the ships remain in the port until the tea 250 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: was unloaded, and he stationed two gunships at the harbor 251 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: to prevent their departure. He was not interested in de 252 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: escalating the situation at all. The last of a long 253 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: series of public meetings was held at the Old South 254 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 1: Meetinghouse on December sixteenth, seventeen seventy three. That day, the 255 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: governor was once again asked if the ships could be 256 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: sent back to England, and he once again refused. There's 257 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: a little bit of fuzziness regarding the sequence of events 258 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: from here. There's a popular story that Samuel Adams gave 259 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: a pre arranged signal for the men to go down 260 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: to the harbor to destroy the tea, by saying this 261 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: meeting can do nothing more to save the country. But 262 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: this is another thing that didn't appear in writing until 263 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: almost one hundred years after the fact. Regardless, shortly after 264 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: getting this last update on the governor's refusal, a group 265 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: of men boarded the dartmouth the Eleanor, and the beaver 266 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: broke open the more than three hundred crates of tea 267 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: they were carrying and dumped the contents into the harbor. 268 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 1: At least some of these men were dressed in costumes 269 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: meant to resemble indigenous people. Here's an account from participant 270 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: George Hughes, written in eighteen thirty four years after this 271 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: event occurred. Quote. It was now evening, and I immediately 272 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with 273 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, 274 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: with which and a club. After having painted my face 275 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, 276 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: I repaired to Griffin's Wharf, where the ships lay that 277 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street 278 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who 279 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,400 Speaker 1: were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who 280 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: fell in with me and marched in order to the 281 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: place of our destination. There's really no first hand documentation 282 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: about why, specifically at least some of the men were 283 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: in these costumes, and it's also not clear what exactly 284 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,880 Speaker 1: those costumes entailed. Some participants' first hand accounts used generic 285 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: words like Indian or Indian dress, including that of Joshua Wyeth, 286 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,199 Speaker 1: who wrote the first published account from a participant more 287 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: than fifty years later. One Boston news report from a 288 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: couple of days after the event describes the men as 289 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: dressed as quote Mohawks or Indians. Well, another references Indians 290 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: from Narraganset, and still other accounts mentioned that at least 291 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: some of the men were not in indigenous dress at all. 292 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: We also don't definitively know why the Mohawk and the 293 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: Narraganset were the nations that were specifically named in various 294 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: news reports and other accounts. But these are not the 295 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 1: same indigenous nation. The Mohawk or the Kenyukinaka are one 296 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: of the six nations of the Hudenashani. They're an Iroquois 297 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: speaking people. Their ancestral homeland is in what's now eastern 298 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: New York State, as well as adjacent parts of Canada 299 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: and Vermont. The Narraganset are an Algonquian speaking people whose 300 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: ancestral homeland is in what's now Rhode Island. So these 301 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 1: are two different nations from two different language groups whose 302 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: homelands are hundreds of miles apart. Neither of them are 303 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 1: among the nations whose homelands are near what's now Boston. 304 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: The reason for adopting this dress also is not clearly 305 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: documented anywhere, but a lot of colonists, particularly colonists who 306 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: were aligned with groups like the Sons of Liberty, already 307 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,640 Speaker 1: saw Indigenous people as something of a symbol representing ideas 308 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:19,200 Speaker 1: like autonomy, freedom, and unity. People had warned so called 309 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: Indian dress and other protests against British policies. Prior to 310 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: the Boston Tea Party in New York, Broadsides signed the 311 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:31,159 Speaker 1: Mohawks had been circulating warning people against assisting with the 312 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: landing of ships carrying British tea. The destruction of the 313 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: tea was also a symbolic protest, and dressing as Native 314 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: Americans or in clothing inspired by indigenous dress was symbolic 315 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: of the men's connection to America, not to Britain. So 316 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: this may have been meant as a basic disguise or 317 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: to try to deflect suspicion away from the colonists, But 318 00:19:55,200 --> 00:20:00,239 Speaker 1: Indigenous imagery already had these additional layers of maning and 319 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:05,199 Speaker 1: There's obviously also some irony here. Colonists were appropriating indigenous 320 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: imagery as an emblem of ideals like freedom while also 321 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: waging war against indigenous nations and violating treaties and generally 322 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 1: viewing Indigenous peoples as savage and inferior. Also, the idea 323 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: that these men were specifically dressed as Mohawk rather than 324 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: more generically Indian or possibly narraganset like that doesn't seem 325 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:30,679 Speaker 1: to have really solidified until decades later. Okay, So, to 326 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 1: get back to Sarah Bradley Fulton. According to Wilde's account, 327 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: some of the men who participated in the destruction of 328 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: the tea met and prepared at her brother Nathaniel Bradley's 329 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: carpenter shop. Fulton and her sister in law, who was 330 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:49,120 Speaker 1: just referred to as Missus Bradley in surviving accounts, were 331 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: there to help. This is also one of the discrepancies 332 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,479 Speaker 1: between wild and gil Eliza m. Gill's letter says this 333 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: happened at the home of Bradley's father, not her brother. 334 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,640 Speaker 1: The letter also says that John Fulton and four Bradley 335 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: brothers Nathaniel, Josiah, David and Thomas, were all involved. That 336 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,680 Speaker 1: passage from the Boston Globe that reads like a quote 337 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: from her says that Sarah Bradley Fulton helped her brothers 338 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: quote make a perfect disguise, And some sources describe Fulton 339 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,199 Speaker 1: as having been the one to come up with the 340 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: whole idea that the sons of liberty should dress like 341 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: indigenous men. Is really not clear who first gave her 342 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: the credit for doing that, But as we just established, 343 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: so called Indian dress had already become part of the 344 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: culture of protest among the colonists, especially in the Northeast, 345 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: and doing this already had some layers of symbolic meetings. 346 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,679 Speaker 1: So even if she was the person who said, and 347 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: also where this y'all should do this? Yeah, like that 348 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,160 Speaker 1: was something people were already doing. The accounts we have 349 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: of Sarah Bradley Fulton's involvement very a little bit. Either 350 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: she stayed behind to keep the water hot so the 351 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: men could remove whatever they'd put on their faces when 352 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: they returned, or she went down to the harbor to 353 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,360 Speaker 1: watch from a distance and then left before the men 354 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: did to get everything ready. And there's some suggestion that 355 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,400 Speaker 1: a British soldier or spy stopped by the Bradley Holme 356 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: at some point during the evening, either while Fulton was 357 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,640 Speaker 1: there with her sister in law or after the men 358 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: had come back and removed their costumes. But this soldier 359 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: or spy concluded that there was just some laundry or 360 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: other housework being done, and he moved along. Wild's account 361 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: describes it this way, quote, Nathaniel Bradley's principles were well known, 362 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: and a spy, hoping to find some proof against him, 363 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: peered in at the kitchen window, but saw these two 364 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: women moving about so quietly and naturally that he passed on, 365 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: little dreaming what was really in progress there. Uh, this 366 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: isn't one of the things that doesn't really make sense. 367 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: Though Gill's letter and the Boston Globe profile mentioned this 368 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: as well. All three of them seemed to make it 369 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: sound like this guy came and looked in the window 370 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: and left unnoticed. So how did anyone know they had 371 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: that he had been there. This is what the Internet 372 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: would call a plot hole. Regardless of all that, toward 373 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: the end of the nineteenth century, in the AARW, when 374 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: Wild and Gil were writing about Sarah Bradley Fulton, the 375 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: Bradley home at the corner of Tremont and Hollis became 376 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: known as the Tea Party House. There were even photo 377 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: postcards of it available for sale, which is what people 378 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: had to content themselves with after the house was torn 379 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: down in eighteen ninety eight. We will talk about Sarah 380 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,919 Speaker 1: Bradley Fulton's life after the Boston Tea Party, after a 381 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Tensions between Britain and its colonies and the 382 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: Americas had been growing for years before the Boston Tea Party, 383 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,239 Speaker 1: which again was not called that until much later. Those 384 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: tensions escalated really dramatically and its aftermath tea protests continued 385 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: in Massachusetts and other colonies. In seventeen seventy four, Parliament 386 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: passed a set of laws that came to be known 387 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: as the Intolerable Acts as one of several putative measures. 388 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: The Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and 389 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: conquered in April of seventeen seventy five. According to Helen T. 390 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: Wilde's account of Sarah Bradley Fulton's life, she was actively 391 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: involved in the war, hearing Paul Revere's ride to raise 392 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: the alarm as he passed through Medford on April eighteenth, 393 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: he allegedly made a little pit stop for some Medford rum. 394 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: On June seventeenth, the Medford militia fought at the Battle 395 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,399 Speaker 1: of Bunker Hill, across the Charles River from Boston and 396 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: down the Mystic River from Medford. Fulton organized local women 397 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: to work as nurses in a field hospital that was 398 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: set up in an open area by Wade's tavern. In 399 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: Wilde's words quote, among them, the steady nerves of Sarah 400 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,439 Speaker 1: Fulton made her a leader. One poor fellow had a 401 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: bullet in his cheek, and she removed it. She almost 402 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,120 Speaker 1: forgot the circumstance until years after he came to thank 403 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 1: her for her service. A year later, Major John Brooks 404 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: of Medford needed a message delivered to General George Washington 405 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: at the front and asked Fulton's husband to do it. 406 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: She went herself instead, and according to a story passed 407 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,440 Speaker 1: down in her family as recorded by a great great 408 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: great great granddaughter, Fulton concealed the message in the hem 409 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: of her skirt, and then after the war, Washington came 410 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: to thank her in person for delivering that message. Again 411 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 1: in Wilde's words quote, it is said that, according to 412 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: the fashion of the day, John Fulton on this occasion 413 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: brewed a potation whose chief ingredient was the far famed 414 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: product of the town. The little silver mounted ladle was 415 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,680 Speaker 1: dipped in the steaming concoction in the first glass for 416 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: Missus Fulton's new punch bowl was sipped by his excellency. 417 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: This was the proudest day of Sarah Fulton's life. The 418 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: chair in which he sat and the punch bowl and 419 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: ladle were always sacred and are still treasured by her descendants. 420 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: That far famed product of the town mentioned in Wilde's 421 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: account was that rum that was allegedly enough of a 422 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: draw to entice Paul Revere to stop for some while 423 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: warning people of an advancing army. Distilling rum was also 424 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: a major part of the New England economy. In one 425 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: of the ways it was interconnected with slavery. The sugar 426 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: that was used to make the molasses that was turned 427 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: into rum in New England distilleries was grown and processed 428 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: at slave labor camps on islands in the Caribbean. There's 429 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,880 Speaker 1: also a story about the siege of Boston. A load 430 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: of firewood was expected to come through Medford, or maybe 431 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: was being harvested at one of Medford's woodlots, and it 432 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 1: was meant for Revolutionary troops in Cambridge. Knowing that this 433 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: wood would likely be confiscated by the British, Fulton sent 434 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: her husband to buy it, hoping that the British soldiers 435 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: would respect it is his private property. This didn't work out, 436 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: and the soldiers confiscated it anyway. This is one of 437 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: the things I have some questions about, like how they 438 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: knew about this wood and why they thought that buying 439 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: it would leave it untouched, because you know, the British 440 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,919 Speaker 1: confiscating property from people was kind of a thing. In 441 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: Wild's words quote, when his wife heard the story, she 442 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: flung on a shawl and went in pursuit. Overtaking the party, 443 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,640 Speaker 1: She took the oxen by the horns and turned them around. 444 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: The men threatened to shoot her, but she shouted defiantly 445 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: as she started her team shoot away. Astonishment, admiration, and 446 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 1: amusement were too much for the regulars, and they unconditionally surrendered. 447 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 1: It's a delightful story, even though there's some question marks. Yeah, 448 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: for sure. At some point after the war, the Marquis 449 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: de Lafayette reportedly visited the Fulton home and he was 450 00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: seated in the same chair and served from the same 451 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 1: punch bowl as Joris, which Washington had been years before. 452 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: In Wild's account, the chair, punch bowl, and ladle were 453 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,199 Speaker 1: always sacred. The punch bowl was donated to Mount Vernon 454 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,680 Speaker 1: in Fulton's memory in two thousand and six. Some accounts 455 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: described this punch bowl as silver, but the one that 456 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: was donated to Mount Vernon is porcelain. After the war, 457 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: the Fultons bought a house on the road that ran 458 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 1: from Medford north to Stoneham. John Fulton died on February ninth, 459 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety, when Sarah was forty nine. Decades later, on 460 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 1: November ninth, eighteen thirty five, Sarah Bradley Fulton died in 461 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: her sleep at the age of ninety five, and she 462 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: was buried at Salem Street Cemetery in Medford. At the 463 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: first town meeting to be held after her death, the 464 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: road she had lived on was renamed Fulton Street in 465 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,480 Speaker 1: her honor. As we said at the top of the show, 466 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: the Medford chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution 467 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: was named for Sarah Bradley Fulton. When it was established, 468 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: the DAR placed a marker at Fulton's burial site in 469 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, made from the stone that had served as 470 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: the door stop at her Medford home. It reads Sarah 471 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: Bradley Fulton seventeen forty to eighteen thirty five, Heroine of 472 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: the Revolution, created by the Sarah Bradley Fulton Chapter of 473 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: the DAR. Nineteen hundred, poet and playwright Grace Stett Austin 474 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: wrote a play called Sarah Bradley Fulton Patriot, a Colonial 475 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: drama in three acts in nineteen nineteen. Austin was born 476 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: in New Hampshire, but at this time was living in Bloomington, Illinois, 477 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: and she wrote this play under the auspices of the 478 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: Letitia Green Stephenson chapter of the DAR. Letitia Green Stephenson 479 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: was the wife of Adelaie Stevenson, vice president under Grover Cleveland, 480 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: and she was one of the founders of that Bloomington chapter. 481 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: To circle back on the authors of those two sources 482 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: of information on Sarah Bradley Fulton that we've been talking about, 483 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: Eliza m. Gill lived in her family's home in Medford 484 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: for more than sixty years before eventually moving to Waltham 485 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: message Chusetts. Toward the end of her life. She died 486 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: there on February tenth, nineteen twenty three, at the age 487 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: of seventy one. In addition to her work with the 488 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: DAR and the Medford Historical Society, she was also a 489 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: member of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, also 490 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. 491 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 1: Helen T. Wilde died in nineteen forty eight at the 492 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: age of eighty eight. In addition to her work that 493 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: we've already talked about, wild was part of the Medford 494 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: dar's efforts to purchase and restore a property known as 495 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: Royal House. To that end, she helped establish the Royal 496 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: House Association in nineteen oh six. Today, Royal House is 497 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: a museum called the Royal House and Slave Quarters, which 498 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: we visited Holly and I back in twenty sixteen. We 499 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,479 Speaker 1: talked more about this house and its history in our 500 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 1: episode Belinda Sutton's post Enslavement Petitions. We haven't talked very 501 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: much about slavery in today's episode, but enslaved people in 502 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: Massachusetts were advocating for their own lib before and during 503 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War, and it was through that advocacy that 504 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: the Supreme Judicial Court effectively abolished slavery in Massachusetts in 505 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three, and during and after the war, Belinda Sutton, 506 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: who was enslaved at Royal House, petitioned to be paid 507 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: for her years of labor while she was enslaved by 508 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: the Royals. We are going to run our episode on 509 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 1: this as our next Saturday Classic. Yeah. Uh. I also 510 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: have a little bit of listener mail. All right, it 511 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: is from Kristen. Kristen says, good morning, Tracy and Holly, Wow, 512 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: you're Marie Lawrence. Podcast popped up on my YouTube feed 513 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: this morning. Marie Lawrence is having a moment. I'm so 514 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: excited that you were struck by her work when you 515 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,160 Speaker 1: were in Paris and that you feature her in your podcast. 516 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: I learned a lot from your research. It's curious why 517 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: she didn't want Suzanne Moreau to sell her paintings or 518 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: research her. I was wondering why other than the fact 519 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 1: that she was a woman, queer and that her work 520 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: was figurative and subtle in the boundaries that they pushed against. 521 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 1: I volunteer as a docent at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, 522 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: where we have the first major exhibition of Marie Lawrencen's work. 523 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: In over thirty years, our curators have put together the 524 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: exhibition and catalog Marie Lawrence Sapphik Paris that explores her 525 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: life and the vast output of her work paintings, poetry, illustrations, 526 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: the Maison Cubiste, the Ballet le beche, and how her 527 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: sexuality is a large part of twentieth century modernity. Which 528 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: is a wonderful exhibition and I hope you have fine 529 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: time for a visit before it closes on January twenty first, 530 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Thanks for all you do, Kristin. Kristin, 531 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: thanks so much for this email. In a real weird irony, 532 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: I got this email as my spouse was returning home 533 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: from a trip to Philadelphia that he took without me. 534 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: I'm not this is not a criticism. I was not 535 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: planning to go with him. I had other things going on, 536 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: including I had other things going on on Monday while 537 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: he was on the way back when we got this email. 538 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: So maybe I will make a little trip to Philadelphia 539 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: sometime before we will see I mean, obviously there's a 540 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: lot going on between now and January twenty first, as 541 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: we are approaching the end of the year, but I 542 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: sure do like the idea making a little trip down 543 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: there and doing that because I did, like. I haven't 544 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: re listened to that episode, but I definitely remember just 545 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: being so captivated by her work and immediately like I 546 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: want to do an episode on this person. So thank 547 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: you so much for letting me know about this U, 548 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 1: And now I have let our listeners know too. If 549 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: you would like to send us a note about this 550 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,240 Speaker 1: or any other podcast, We're at History Podcasts, adiheartradio dot com. 551 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: We're all over social media at Mison History, which is 552 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: where you will find us on Facebook and Instagram and 553 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: the X thing, and still not any of the other 554 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: ones because I don't know, I just haven't been real 555 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: motivated to do that. You can subscribe to our show 556 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app and wherever else you'd like to 557 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is 558 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 559 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,799 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 560 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.