Memorial
Day is about remembering America’s fallen who died in the service of their
country. One forever-young unsung hero’s sacrifice, although largely forgotten,
was crucial in realizing the idea of liberty in a country yet to be born.
Countless
times, the fate of the nascent American nation depended on the right person
being in the right place at the right time–like the gallant 26-year-old
Marblehead captain James Mugford Jr. who captured the largest single prize of
the Revolutionary War, the Hope. Mugford captained Franklin, one of
Washington’s cruisers, the ship proudly flew one of America’s first flags:
“Appeal to Heaven.”
On May
10, 1776, five weeks into her journey across the Atlantic, the Hope, a British
282-ton transport ship carrying a staggering 1,500 barrels of priceless
gunpowder, mysteriously separated from her eleven-ship escort in a thick fog.
Her disappearance was even more suspicious because, before their departure from
Cork, the flotilla commander had received an anonymous letter questioning the
loyalties of the ship’s master, Alexander Lumsdale.
Seven
days later, American privateer Captain Mugford spotted the lone vessel creeping
toward Boston through his spyglass. His privateer, the Franklin, had set out
from Beverly, Massachusetts, two days earlier with only a skeleton crew of
twenty-one men because of the difficulty of recruiting mariners, as newly
established prize courts had been holding up their wages. Mugford had only
managed to secure his current crew because he had personally secured wages for
a dozen core men.
With the
Hope in sight, the Marbleheaders put the sails of the Franklin to the wind and caught up
with the heavy British ship. “Appeal to Heaven” fluttered in the wind. The flag
represented something truly extraordinary. In October 1775 shortly after the
first of Washington’s cruisers left port to attack the Royal Navy, Joseph Reed
suggested to John Glover, “What do you think of a Flag with a White Ground, a
Tree in the Middle, the Motto ‘Appeal to Heaven’?” Congress and Washington were
already taking an unprecedented step toward independence and sovereignty in
authorizing warships. Flying a separate flag was a monumental leap forward to
independence.
This
remarkable story and dozens of others are told in the bestselling book The Indispensables: Marblehead’s Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the
Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware.
The book recently released in paperback is a Band of Brothers-style treatment
of the regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts, a unique largely unknown group
of Americans who changed the course of history.
Ignoring
the Hope’s 4- and 6- pound swivel guns, they courageously boarded the larger
vessel and were shocked to find themselves evenly matched to the Hope’s crew of
eighteen. They were even more surprised when Captain Mugford demanded her
manifest from Captain Lumsdale. The prize carried one thousand carbines, stacks
of bayonets, five gun carriages, piles of cartridge boxes, and an astonishing
1,500 barrels of gunpowder–enough powder to supply either army’s needs for a
month.
Adding
to the appearance of divine providence, the Hope, escorted by the Franklin, ran
aground just outside Boston harbor. Two months earlier, Congress had declared a
day of prayer and fasting. Colonial church goers emerged from their respective
houses of worship on the designated afternoon of May 17 to see the captured
ship in the harbor as if in direct answer to their prayers. Elated, they
immediately began divesting her of her precious cargo and dispersing it.
Mugford
intended to return to sea to hunt more British transports joined by Lady
Washington. But as the two American ships sailed out of Boston Harbor, Franklin
grounded near the same spot as had the Hope.
Despite
the Crown evacuating Boston a month earlier, two British warships still lurking
outside Boston Harbor saw Mugford’s stranded vessel. The British captain
ordered a boarding party to attack the disabled ship. That night between nine
and ten o’clock, the British sailors, led by Lieutenant Johnathan Harris
carrying a silver-hilted sword, rowed silently toward the Franklin and the Lady
Washingtonin at least five boats.
Mugford
hailed the boats as they slithered across the black water toward his vessel. In
answer, they called back that they were from Boston. Mugford warned the
boarding party, “Keep off, or I will fire upon [you]” as he simultaneously
commanded his men to ready the guns and ordered his anchor cut so that the
Franklin’s broadside, and her guns, faced the oncoming row boats. Ignoring
their pleas, for God’s sake, not to fire, Mugford fired his musket, and the
crews of Lady Washington and Franklin followed suit. The musket and cannon
balls sailed across the water, tearing into the small boats as well as the
flesh and bone of the men aboard them. They managed to sink two small boats,
but before the Franklin’s cannon could discharge another deadly blast, some of
Lieutenant Harris’s men were already aboard Mugford’s ship. Mugford and his men
peppered the boarders with small arms and harpoon spears, even cutting off the
hands of soldiers as they laid them on the gunwale.
Old
Burial Hill Cemetery, Marblehead, MA, Patrick K. O’Donnell.
Mugford
was described “with outstretched arms . . . righteously dealing death and
destruction” before he received a mortal wound to his chest. He cried out, “I
am a dead man, don’t give up the vessel, you will be able to beat them off.”
And beat them off they did, sending the remaining combatants limping back to
the British warships, although they lost their beloved captain in the fight.
His crew sailed his body back to Marblehead, where thousands thronged to pay
their respects, and he was buried with highest honors as the first captain in
Washington’s navy to die in combat. James Mugford, forever young turning 27
years old on the day of his death would never see America declare independence
a month and a half later, but the priceless cargo he seized would help secure
our freedom, which is never free. Today, we remember him and many other
Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion for the cause of liberty
under their proud flag, “Appeal to Heaven.”
Old
Burial Hill located in Marblehead, MA, the main tombstone is Captain Mugford,
Patrick K. O’Donnell
Credit:
Patrick K. O’Donnell
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