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By Frank R. Stockton
Originally published in 1896
AT the time when the American colonists began
to be restless under the rule of Great Britain,
the people of New Jersey showed as strong a desire
for independence as those of any other Colony, and
they were by no means backward in submitting to
any privations which might be necessary in order to
assert their principles. As has been said before, the
people were prosperous, and accustomed to good living,
and it was not likely that there was any part of
America in which a cup of well-flavored tea was better
appreciated than in New Jersey.
But when the other colonists determined to resist
unjust taxation, and resolved that they would not use
tea, on which a heavy tax was laid without allowing
the American people to have anything to say about
it, the patriotic people of New Jersey resolved that
they too would use no tea so long as this unjust tax
was placed upon it. When the tea was destroyed in
Boston Harbor, the Jersey patriots applauded the act,
and would have been glad to show in the same way
what they thought upon the subject.
But when tea was shipped from England, it was
sent to the great ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston; and what was used in New
Jersey came from these places after the consignees
had paid the tax. However, to show their sympathy
with the efforts which were being made at the seaports
to prevent the landing of tea, the New Jersey
people, that is, those who belonged to the Whig party,
–
which was the patriotic party, and opposed to the
Tories, who favored England, – formed an association, the members of which bound themselves to buy
or use no tea until the tax should be removed.
There is a story told of Hugh Drum of Somerset
County, who was so thoroughly in earnest on this
subject, and who probably supposed that the weak
little Colonies would always have to submit to the
power of Great Britain, that he took an oath that
never again during the rest of his life would he take
a cup of tea; and although he lived a great many
years afterward, during which the Americans imported
their own tea without regard to what any
other country thought about it, Mr. Drum never
again drank tea.
But at last an opportunity came for patriotic Jerseymen
to show that they were not behind the other
colonists in resisting the attempt of Great Britain to
force upon them this taxed tea.
Nearly a year after the tea had been thrown overboard
with tea, and bound to Philadelphia – put into
Cohansey Creek, a small stream which runs into Delaware Bay, and anchored at the little town of Greenwich.
in Boston Harbor, a vessel from England – loaded
This vessel, called the "Greyhound," was afraid to go
up to Philadelphia, because from that port tea ships
were sent back to England as soon as they arrived,
as was also the case in New York. So the captain
of the "Greyhound" thought it would be a good plan
to land his tea at Greenwich, from which place it
could be taken inland to its destination. Here the
cargo was unloaded, and stored in the cellar of a
house opposite the open market place.
This business of forcing tea upon the American
colonists had become a very serious matter to England ;
for the East India Company had now in their
warehouses at London seventeen million pounds of
tea, and, if there should be no sale for any of this
in the American market, the loss would be very severe.
Consequently every possible method was resorted to,
in order to have the tea landed on American soil; it
being believed, that, if the tea once got into the hands
of the dealers, the people would overcome their prejudices
to its importation, and begin to use it again.
Therefore the captain of the "Greyhound" thought
he was doing a very sharp thing when he sailed up
Cohansey Creek and unloaded his tea. That cargo
was landed, and in those days an English captain of
a tea ship might well be proud of having performed
such a feat.
But it is not likely that the captain of the "Greyhound"
had ever before sailed into a port of New
Jersey, large or small, or had anything to do with
Jerseymen ; for if he had, he would not have been
so well satisfied with the result of the voyage.
The people of Greenwich could not prevent the
landing of the tea, for there was no organized force
at the place, nor could they order the "Greyhound" to
turn round and go back to England; but they would
not allow their town to be made use of as a port of
entry for this obnoxious merchandise, simply because
it was a little town, and could not keep English ships
out of its waters. A meeting of the patriotic citizens
was held, and it was resolved that no tea should go
out of Greenwich to comfort the bodies and contaminate
the principles of people in any part of the Colonies;
and they would show their British tyrants that
it was just as unsafe to send tea into Cohansey
Creek as it was to send it into the harbor of Boston.
Having come to this determination, they went immediately
to work. A party' of young men, about
forty in number, was organized; and in order to disguise
themselves, or strike terror into anybody who
might be inclined to oppose their undertaking, they
were all dressed as Indians. They assembled in the
market place, and. then, making a rush to the house
in which the tea was stored, they broke open the
doors, carried out the tea, split open the boxes in
which it was contained, and made a great pile of it
in an open space near by.
When tea is dry and in good condition, it will burn
very well, and it was not many minutes before there
was a magnificent bonfire near the market place in
Greenwich; and in all that town there was not one
man who dared to attempt to put it out. Thus the
cargo of the "Greyhound" went up in smoke to the
sky. It must have been a very hard thing for the
good ladies of the town to sit in their houses and
sniff the delightful odor, which recalled to their
minds the cherished beverage, of which, perhaps,
they might never again partake. But they were Jerseywomen,
of stout hearts and firm principles, and
there is no record that any one of them uttered a
word of complaint.
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
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