The heart of the Revolution beat strongly in Seacoast New Hampshire. Four months
before Lexington and Concord, Portsmouth had thrown off its British governor.
George Washington's secretary Tobias Lear was a local boy. His father built John
Paul Jones ship Ranger. NH militia outnumbered all others at Bunker Hill. These
are stories still missed by most texts.
Benning Wentworth, political heir to his brother John, had been royal governor
for nearly 25 years when the colonial kettle began to boil. He had grown fat and
wealthy chartering scores of New Hampshire towns to the west, and keeping a piece
of the action for himself. As Surveyor General of the King's Woods, he did a tidy
business managing the seemingly endless state forests that, at the time, theoretically
stretched from the Seacoast all the way to New York. Historians credit Benning
Wentworth's corrupt, yet efficient political machine with shaping Portsmouth into
a stylish capital city during a very difficult time in history. But a year later
his personal excesses and passage of the unpopular British Stamp Act in 1765 convinced
him to step aside in favor of nephew John Wentworth II.
A Portsmouth native and a strong opponent of the Stamp Act, John Wentworth was
not in office a year when the Revenue Act, taxing fine goods such as glass and
tea, was passed by Parliament. Now disgruntled merchants joined printers, lawyers
and other professions in protest. Creating a new country was less on their minds
than asserting their rights as "Englishmen." In the process of alienation, they
were becoming Americans. When, in 1774, Governor Wentworth disbanded the local
citizen's Assembly, they simply moved meetings to a tavern in Exeter where a Provincial
Congress was in the making. Tavern owner Nathaniel Folsom and John Sullivan of
Somersworth (soon to be New Hampshire's first "president") were elected to attend
the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Local militias trained in the town commons.
When Seacoast patriots stole 200 barrels of gunpowder from British soldiers at
Fort William and Mary in nearby New Castle Island, they crossed a line that could never be uncrossed.
No shots were fired in this early revolutionary act, just months before the shot
heard round the world at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Most of the New
Hampshire regimen was quickly on hand for the Battle of Bunker Hill. Though rarely credited, the Granite State forces of over 1,000 men outnumbered
the combined troops from both Massachusetts and Connecticut at this pivotal point
in history.
When Governor Wentworth discovered a mob pointing a cannon at his Pleasant Street
home, he took the hint. Wentworth removed his family to Boston and later to Nova
Scotia where many towns were founded by fleeing New Hampshire loyalists.. Portsmouth,
formerly the premier Loyalist haven, was now the only New Hampshire town without
direct British government supervision.
From the orderly public reading of the Declaration of Independence, signed by
two local citizens, to the close of the century, the Seacoast remained at the
political center of the Revolution. Two of the new nation's first ships of war
were built here. Portsmouth residents might had seen John Paul Jones, who lived there 18 months, or Lafayette,Paul Revere, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, even President George Washington striding down the narrow streets. The list of Seacoast dignitaries forms a Who's
Who of the nation's founding fathers, now barely known but for the streets and
historic houses that bear their names. Yet this is a time when the city grew wealthy
from the exploits of privateers and when most of the state's 626 Black slaves
(down to 158 in 1790 and to 8 by 1800) lived in the Seacoast. It was a time when
public hangings were still possible, when poverty earned a prison term and the
equivalent contributions of Revolutionary women are stories still waiting to be
told.
Copyright (c) 2005 SeacoastNH.com. Text by J. Dennis Robinson, All rights reserved.
First appeared here in 1997.
Calendar
Mother Courage May 16 - 17, 2008 Our mainstage season wraps up in May with the Senior Youth Repertory Company production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children. Through Brecht’s stark vision, the play relentlessly questions the distinctions between war, bu...
Remembering Oney Judge May 17, 2008 PORTSMOUTH -- In commemoration of the Bicentennial Anniversary Year that ended the legal U.S. Atlantic Slave Trade and Annual Spring Symposium From Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 9 am to 1 pm -
Keynote: Cheryl LaRoche describing him life at Presid...
Books & Blooms Sale May 17, 2008 BRENTWOOD -- Our Annual Books & Blooms Sale is scheduled for Saturday, May 17th from 9 - 11:30 am! Come to the Mary Bartlett Library, 22 Dalton Road in Brentwood, to purchase lots of books for little money - and purchase great plants at great prices. Pl...
Lighthouse Cruise May 17, 2008 Lighthouse cruise from Portsmouth aboard the Thomas Laighton, sponsored by the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company. This cruise will leave from the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock at 315 Market Street in Portsmouth, across from the Sheraton Harbors...
American Lighthouse Foundation Annual Dinner May 17, 2008 Portsmouth Elks Lodge, 500 Jones Ave., Portsmouth, NH. Buffet dinner featuring garden salad, baked stuffed haddock, chicken breast with fruit glaze, roast beef, and more. The featured speaker at the dinner will be Chris Mills, author, former lighthous...
2nd Portsmouth Peace Treaty Commemorative Concert May 17, 2008 Seacoast Wind Ensemble presents “Peace & The Presidency: Music for Washington, Lincoln & Theodore Roosevelt” featuring Aaron Copeland's "Lincoln Portrait" narrated by Phillips Exeter Chaplain Robert Thompson. At The Music Hall. In 1905, diplo...
Free Gaelic Football Clinic May 18, 2008 Gaelic Football is a FUN, fast moving high scoring game that incorporates the skills used in playing soccer and basketball.
When- Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Where- Stevens Field-Stratham, NH
Ages- 5-12-Boys & Girls
Cost- FREE!!
Prior Expe...
Mother Courage and Her Children May 18, 2008 Our mainstage season wraps up in May with the Senior Youth Repertory Company production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children. Through Brecht’s stark vision, the play relentlessly questions the distinctions between war, bu...
4 Walls 1 Roof Meeting May 19, 2008 Join the new "seacoast chapter" of 4 Walls 1 Roof, a network of women business owners and professionals who collaborate on a variety of marketing initiatives for our respective businesses. Members offer services or products for home owners, fr...
Greenability Lecture & Soup May 19, 2008 EXETER -- Blue Moon Natural Foods, 8 Clifford Street, Exeter, celebrates its thirteenth year with “an intergenerational green initiative” that includes three different cooking series running through May. The anniversary schedule of events promoting h...