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Edward Telfair Chapter
(Savannah, Georgia)
THE LIBERTY BOYS
The Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War, should have brought peace, stability, and opportunity for profitable expansion into the west to the British colonists in North America. It did not.
Rather, it left the crown with a heavy burden of debt and the continuing expense of maintaining a large standing army in America, both to face the still restive Indians and, truth be told, to keep the French and Spanish honest. Parliament concluded to allow the colonists the privilege of paying for their own protection by levying a series of increasingly burdensome taxes and duties.
At the end of the French and Indian War, goodwill toward the crown had been almost universal. There had been no sentiment toward revolution nor even resistance. These were British citizens, subject to the crown, imbued and endowed with all the rights and privileges of such... and pleased to be so. But with each new tax, complaints grew, and when complaints evolved into resistance, enforcement evolved into repression. Backyard gossip and street-corner complaints developed into organized meetings and committees. News of the latest British outrages spread from colony to colony by horseback rider and by ships plying the Atlantic coastal waters, and then within the colonies by called meetings. As the colonists organized, the names "Sons of Liberty" (from a speech made by British Member of Parliament, Isaac Barre, in a speech in opposition to the Stamp Act) or less formally, "The Liberty Boys," were commonly adopted.
Anti-British sentiment was slower to form in Georgia than in the older, more established colonies for several reasons. Georgia was a frontier colony with vast lands and often hostile Indians. Georgia welcomed the army and was more willing to endure the costs and inconveniences of supporting a military presence. Georgia was blessed with some highly capable governors, notably James Wright, who well represented the crown and helped quell unrest. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Georgia was only thirty-one years old, having been founded in 1733, when the first of the new taxes, the American Revenue Act, (commonly called the Sugar Act), was enacted. Most Georgians were first or at most second generation immigrants with a strong residual loyalty to the mother country. This latter fact became even more important as we see families with split positions on independence. Most notably the Jones and Habersham families had patrirchs with strong Tory allegiances and sons who were among the leaders of the local revolutionaries.
On June 5th of 1775 the first Liberty Pole in Georgia was erected in Savannah, in front of Peter Tondee's Tavern. The Tavern became a hub of Revolutionary sentiment with secret and not-so-secret meetings held to discuss provocations and plan actions. Liberty poles were a symbol of simmering Revolution and when a red banner or liberty cap was hoisted, a call to meetings. Like most American cities, Savannah was divided into two hostile factions with a larger group in the middle who hoped for peace. Those who supported the crown preferred to be called loyalists but were more commonly known as tories. Those who supported Independence were called Sons of Liberty, Liberty Boys, or as the crown considered them, rebels.
On January 2, 1766, the Liberty Boys marched on the Governor's Mansion to protest the Stamp Act. Governor James Wright met them at the gate armed with a single-shot, muzzle-loading pistol. After some minutes of haranguing, the Boys dispersed, their protest delivered, and with no one injured. The same event ten years later would likely have resulted in bloodshed. On May 11, 1775, The Boys raided the Royal Armoury located on the extreme eastern portion of the city, well away from the population. They were successful in seizing 600 pounds of gunpowder for the Revolutionary cause, at least some of which made its way to the Patriots near Boston. On January 18, 1776, the Boys, led by Major Joseph Habersham arrested Governor James Wright and his Council. Wright was placed under house arrest from which he subsequently escaped, making his way to the British fleet, then anchored off Tybee Island.
We will briefly mention a few local Liberty Boys of note:
- Archibald Bulloch
Archibald Bulloch was a Revolutionary soldier, a leader of Georgia's Liberty Party, and the state's first chief executive and commander in chief. Bulloch was one of the signers of the invitation to meet at Tondee's Tavern in Savannah on July 27, 1774, to discuss the "critical situation" resulting from the recent acts of the British Parliament to tax the colonies "without the consent of the people." The 1775 Provincial Congress of Georgia, meeting at Tondee's Tavern, elected Bulloch to be its president. Archibald Bulloch was the great-great-grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States.
- Joseph Habersham
Son of James Habersham, notorious Tory and one-time Acting Governor of Georgia. Joseph led the party that placed Governor James Wright under house arrest. He rose to be a colonel in the Continental Army. He also served in the Continental Congress and was a member of the Georgia convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States.
- Noble Wimberly Jones
Son of Noble Jones, an original pioneer of Savannah, owner of Wormsloe Plantation and strong Tory. The son, Noble Wimberly Jones, led the raid on the armoury which led to seizing 600 pounds of gunpowder. Noble W. Jones immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in Savannah, Ga., in 1733; studied medicine and practiced in Savannah 1756-1774; member of the Council of Safety and the Provincial Congress in 1775; member of the State House of Representatives in 1777 and 1778; moved to Charleston, S.C., in 1778; captured at the fall of Charleston in 1780 and imprisoned at St. Augustine, Fla.; exchanged in 1781; moved to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1781 and engaged in the practice of medicine; Member of the Continental Congress, accredited to Georgia, in 1781 and 1782; returned to Savannah, Ga., in 1782 and resumed the practice of medicine; president of State constitutional convention in 1795; died in Savannah, Ga., January 9, 1805; intered in Bonaventure Cemetery. At his death, he was the last survivor of the original immigrants who sailed with James E. Oglethorpe.
- John Milledge
Milledge was born in Savannah, the grandson of an original settler of Georgia. He was tutored privately and studied law. After being admitted to the bar, he opened a law practice in Savannah. At the onset of the Revolutionary War, Milledge was part of the group that took colonial governor Sir James Wright as a prisoner in 1775. He also took part in a raid of Savannah's royal armory to procure gunpowder for the revolutionary cause. When the British captured Savannah, Milledge escaped to South Carolina, where American patriots nearly hanged him as a spy. He participated in the Siege of Savannah in an attempt to drive the British forces out. The city of Milledgeville, Georgia is named for him.
- Peter Tondee
Peter Tondee is an example of how a man of meager means could, by determination and hard work, rise above his station as an orphaned indentured servant to that of a Free Man to a Master Carpenter, to a land owner and finally as a minor local public official. Peter was an orphan and a Huguenot when he was brought to Savannah abord the James, the second ship to arrive in Savannah. We know him best as the tavern keeper in whose long room met the Liberty Boys. Tondee was, however more than a host. He was actively engaged and served as doorkeeper to keep spies out of the debates and planning sessions. His tavern actually served as the seat of state government for a period.
The Liberty Boys functioned only a short time. With the advent of hostilities, most of the younger men signed up with either the Continental Army, or one of the Georgia Militias. The older men of influence were called either to the Continental Congress or the Provincial Congress, or to one of the formally established committees. Older men of less influence faded into the background. But in that short time, Georgia's Liberty Boys and their companions from the other colonies formed the seedbed of the American Revolution.
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