Marblehead Men

Sailors become Soldiers who become Sailors

One of the least appreciated units in the Continental Army was also the one that helped save the American cause in actions that provided the backdrop for several iconic commemorative paintings.

The people that live along the rocky New England coast are as hard and flinty as the landscape. At least they were during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. Tough and ornery men and women were the first to take real action against the perceived injustices of British rule. I guess carving a civilization out of a weather-beaten wilderness requires folks of tough mettle and stubborn ways.

New England's coast bred tough people

Among the toughest and most resourceful of that people were the men who sailed the cold and stormy waters along the North Atlantic coast, fishing, trading, and smuggling in weather fair and foul. It is only natural that a militia regiment raised from such stock would prove one of the go-to units of the struggle.

Marblehead Militia

All New England counties and some towns had militia units that formed a long tradition dating back to at least the late 17th century. These units were experienced in several wars fought against native tribes, Canadian neighbors, and their French masters.

At the outbreak of the struggle against Britain, the Marblehead militia was one of these. Because it was formed along the rugged New England coast, it naturally was made up of men who spent their civilian lives at sea.

Marblehead Militia

As things came to a head in April 1775, the regiment had the good fortune of gain a commander who would prove as tough and resourceful as the men he led – Colonel John Glover.  Under Glover, the regiment marched to Cambridge where they joined the army of New Englanders besieging the British at Boston.

During the siege, Congress created the new Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. The Marblehead Militia, nicknamed “Glover’s Regiment” became part of the Continental Army in June. It was initially termed the 23rd Massachusetts Regiment. Only the best militia units became Continental regiments, the first “professional” army of Americans.

The Continental Line

With their new status came a new name and the Marblehead militia was soon renamed the 14th Massachusetts Continental Line. As a continental regiment, they would now be subject to marching and fighting anywhere the army went, and anywhere George Washington led them. He would soon lead them south to face new dangers and new chances for glory.

Still, the regiment of some 750 sailors would not shed their heritage fully. Unlike other continental regiments, who began to wear similar uniforms of dark blue tunics with white or buff breeches and leggings topped off with a cocked hat, the Marblehead sailors dressed more like, well, sailors. The Marbleheaders wore distinctive blue jackets, white pants and white caps. But it was the skill not the look of these doughty sailors to soldiers that would be their greatest distinction.

Washington’s Navy

As the siege of Boston stretched on, Washington decided he needed a naval force to stem the flow of supplies to the British garrison. He charged the 14th Massachusetts Line with outfitting and manning four schooners for the effort. Glover himself even provided his own schooner, the Hannah.   His port at Beverly became the home base of “Washington’s Navy.” Fashioned on a shoestring, the small flotilla of five schooners managed to disrupt the British supply chain while bringing captured supplies to help the Americans. The Marblehead sailors also built most of the defense works that prevented the British from seizing the base.

Washington's Navy consisted of
fast schooners manned by experienced sailors

The Miracle on Long Island

Long before it became a traffic nightmare, Long Island was the picturesque and pastoral breadbasket of New York. In the summer of 1776, it became the crucible of the British plan to destroy the American rebellion.

Driven from Boston earlier that year, Lord William Howe’s reinforced army of over twenty thousand sailed into New York harbor and landed at Staten Island. Soon he transported his army across the water and quickly bottled George Washington’s forces along the heights of Brooklyn. Although there was fierce fighting, the British numbers and well-placed guns made Washington’s hold on the island a liability. He was faced with a forlorn defense and certain destruction, or try to escape.

British Landing at Long Island would soon threaten the
American Army and the cause

In a way, the latter was the hardest choice. The British naval power was even more overwhelming than their land forces. To cross in the face of these two elements would lead to certain disaster. But when a sudden fog descended over New York harbor on the night of August 29th, Washington was given a short window to act.

So under the cover of darkness and a shroud of fog, he made the gambit and moved his army in the face of the enemy. His instrument was the 14th Massachusetts’ sailor-soldiers. For hour after hour, Glover’s men rowed boat after boat, transporting soldiers, horses, and what equipment they could take without alerting the British who waited just a few hundred yards distant.

Glover worked his men through the night to save an army

Despite the dark and the fog, the Marblehead men navigated flawlessly and silently. A splash or the bumping of boat against boat could easily have alerted the Royal Navy whose warships lay in anchor nearby. By the next morning, they had transported some 9,000 men from the jaws of the British lion to the temporary safety of Manhattan.

The miracle retreat from LI saved the army and the cause

A War of Maneuver

The regiment’s utility was display throughout the “war of maneuver” that had Washington scurrying from one position to another to avoid destruction by the British. Glover’s men delayed the British advance at Kips Bay, gaining time for the rest of the army to escape to the safety of Harlem.
As the campaign shifted north to Westchester, the regiment once more played a critical role – this time as soldier-sailors.

Glover's sailors to soldiers stymie the British at Pelham

On October 13th, a force of some 4,000 British and Hessians pushed inland from Pelham Bay. But along the stone walls intersecting the farmland waited the 750 men of the 14th Massachusetts and John Glover. They fought the British to a standstill, trading space for time and allowing the Continental Army to prepare for this new onslaught. Scouting and raiding, Glover’s men proved they were as adept with stone and earth under their feet as the wooden decks of their schooners. They captured supplies and enemy prisoners and then helped man the artillery when Washington and Howe clashed at White Plains.

The Crossing that Shocked the World

By December of that year, a battered and greatly reduced Continental Army reached the end of its tether as it stared across the Delaware River. Just hours behind the advanced guard of a British column led by Major General Charles Cornwallis was closing fast. The Marblehead men gathered up anything that floated for miles up and down the river and then quickly ferried the ragtag army to safety.

Gen Charles Cornwallis nearly bagged
Washington but for the Marblehead Regt.

But their greatest challenge lay ahead. With enlistments dwindling with a new year that was just days away, Washington had short window to do something with his army besides hightail from the redcoats. General Howe gave him the opportunity. Thinking the Americans beaten, he scattered his army into winter quarter garrisons, leaving just a few isolated brigades in West Jersey.

The Glover Regiment bringing Washington to destiny

Washington turned to Glover’s men once more. In another secret night time operation, Washington called on the seasoned sailors to man a different kind of boat. Long and sleek, the Durham boats were propelled by digging long poles into the river bottom. In a night of snow mixed with rain, file after file of Continentals, ill clad, poorly fed but determined, silently piled into the boats under the watchful eyes of the sailors. Through the night powerful arms dug staffs into the swirling water. Strong legs and backs moved the boats, brimming with men and equipment, across the fast moving current and to the dark and danger of the jersey side. Despite the ice flows, Glover’s sailors managed to ferry over 2,000 troops and 18 guns.

Sailors to soldiers as Glover's Marblehead Regiment
 joins the night march on Trenton

But their work was not finished. The sailors now switched to soldiers and marched the harrowing nine miles to Trenton, fighting well in the short battle that shocked the world and saved the cause. Their last act was to take the army back across the river, for their enlistments too were up and the regiment disbanded.

Down to the Sea in Ships

Glover stayed on with the Continental Army but his men went home. New England was never a major theater for the rest of the struggle, but it played a critical role nonetheless – supplying the cause and striking the British at sea.  Glover’s veteran soldiers now turned to sailors once more, in a different type of war, less dramatic but also quite devastating to the British.

Privateers devastated British merchant shipping and tied down
the Royal Navy

Some took up smuggling, a critical means of supplying the war effort. Others went a step further and turned to privateering, taking on British merchant vessels in a war that deprived the British of wealth and sustenance, while bolstering America’s scarce resources. The Marblehead men played no insignificant role in taking the more than 3,000 vessels captured during the war.