The Mob and the Peggy Stewart

Burning of the Peggy Stewart

Maryland State Archives

The burning of the tea ship Peggy Stewart in October 1774 came at the end of nearly a decade of growing tensions between the colonies and Britain over British taxes on the colonies. Since petitions on repealing the various taxes were repeatedly ignored by the British Parliament and King George III and boycotts of taxed goods were only partially successful, Americans began to grow frustrated and resentful. Some even turned to violence. The homes of several British tax collectors were vandalized or destroyed, and some officials fled in fear of being tarred and feathered or even being killed.

The Tea Act of 1773 was the latest of a series of despised taxes. The tea tax was required to be paid upon the arrival of tea shipments in the colonies, and after payment was made, the tea could be sold to the colonists. Ironically, the tea tax made the tea cheaper than previously. Despite the drop in overall price of tea, many colonists resented paying a tea tax and the middlemen, such as colonial merchants and smugglers, continued to bring in tea smuggled from the continent, which although more expensive did not have the hated tax attached to the cost. Attempting to find a reasonable solution, Maryland's Provinical Government established a non-importation resolution designed to prevent tea from being imported, unloaded, and sold in the colony.

On October 15, 1774, the ship Peggy Stewart sailed up the Severn River and into the Annapolis harbor with a load of “seventeen packages, containing 2320 lb. of that detestable weed tea.” Handbills were immediately circulated through the city calling for a public meeting. The Peggy Stewart was owned by a British Loyalist named Anthony Stewart, who was deeply in debt due to previous questionable money-making schemes, and this may explain why he took the gamble of bringing the tea to Annapolis.

Stewart had purchased the ship the year before, hoping it could avoid custom officials by its ability “...to pass and repass cleverly” as he reported to a friend. He named the ship for his seven-year-old daughter, Peggy Stewart, as well as the large brick Georgian mansion he owned near the Annapolis docks.

Stewart made the risky decision to pay the tea tax and unload the tea in full violation of the non-importation resolution. Even the Crown appointed tax collector warned Stewart that it would be a bad idea. Almost immediately, Stewart became one of the most hated men in Maryland.

On October 19, 1774, a public meeting of “a great number of very respectable gentlemen from Anne-Arundel, Baltimore, and Prince George's counties met…to examine into the affair.” Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, both future signers of the Declaration of Independence, met with Anthony Stewart and two of his colleagues.

In his defense, Stewart stated that he knew nothing about the tea shipment and that it was placed on the Peggy Stewart without his permission by his London agents. While the tea was ordered before the non-importation agreement went into effect, it is doubtful that Stewart was unaware of the order.

Stewart emphasized that no passenger or part of a cargo could be brought ashore until all the cargo was declared and all duties and taxes were paid. With this, Stewart tried to justify his actions as that of a humanitarian who cared deeply for the several crew members and fifty-three indentured servants aboard the Peggy Stewart.

Throughout his various claims, Stewart tried to convince everyone that he was not a loyalist but this was discounted by his past decisions.

Because Chase, Carroll, and other members of the gentry wanted to avoid violence, they convinced Stewart and his colleagues to sign an apology. A large and hostile mob listened as the trio publicly read their apology which stated:

“We …do severely acknowledge that we have committed a most daring insult and act of the most pernicious tendency to the liberties of America…and we will there commit to the flames or otherwise destroy as the people may choose, the detestable article which has been the cause of this, our misconduct.”

An account sympathetic to the mob of Marylanders stated they had gathered in “strong opposition” to the plan “and a spirited protest was entered against the resolution.” In contrast, an account by the Loyalist, William Eddis, states that while Stewart “…read his recantation, expressed in the most submissive and penitential terms, there were frantic zealots among the multitude who warmly proposed the American discipline of tarring and feathering.”

Some angry participants wanted to burn Stewart’s warehouse or business, while others shouted the motto: “Liberty or death!” As the situation worsened, a gallows was erected in front of the “Peggy Stewart House.”

A leader of the mob, Dr. Charles Warfield, stood before the house and offered Stewart two options: “You must either go with me and apply the torch to your own vessel, or hang before your own door.” Due to the “iminent Danger” to his own life and fear for the safety of his young daughter and pregnant wife, Stewart quickly agreed to burn the Peggy Stewart and the tea.

The 36-year-old Stewart rowed through the waters of the Severn River to where the Peggy Stewart was anchored “with her sails and colours flying.” He then ran his ship aground at what was then called Windmill Point and “…voluntarily set fire to the tea, and in a few hours, the whole, together with the vessel, was consumed in the presence of a great number of spectators.”

Despite the burning of his own ship, Stewart was subsequently burned in effigy. The loss of the Peggy Stewart was devastating to Stewart and his business. Eventually, he left Annapolis, moving back to England and later to Nova Scotia. Thomas Stone subsequently purchased the Peggy Stewart House and he lived there with his wife, Margaret, until their deaths in 1787.

The burning of the Peggy Stewart and its cargo of tea created a firestorm visible across Maryland. While some members of the Maryland gentry still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, diplomatic efforts were quickly proving ineffective. Moderates, like Thomas Stone, found the agenda more and more being determined by the lower classes who accepted mob violence, advocated war, and promoted independence.

Six months to the day of the destruction of the Peggy Stewart, the war that Stone and others feared began at two Massachusetts towns named Lexington and Concord. In a letter to his wife, Stone wrote of the war, "...how it will terminate, only God knows."

Note: The Naval Academy in Annapolis largely rests on landfill that was once part of the Severn River. A small historical marker is visible on the exterior of Luce Hall and it approximately marks the site of Windmill Point where the Peggy Stewart was burned.