The Revolution Needed Gunpowder
George Washington's correspondence to the Continental Congress in 1775 details over and over that his army had very little gunpowder on hand. If the British army in Boston had assaulted his siege lines, the fledgling Continental Army might not even have had enough powder to defend itself. Gunpowder was not manufactured in North America -- it had to be imported. "A fortunate capture of an ordinance ship would give new Life to the Camp and an immediate turn to the Issue of this Campaign" Washington wrote. As often happened in the early years of the war for independence, Washington turned to the regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Washington did not comment in writing about what must have been obvious at a glance:
About one third of them were men of African heritage, and not a few were Native American, while some were probably of mixed ancestry. What inspired Washington was their discipline, cohesion, skill with artillery and sailing, and high morale. Much of the rest of his army were disorganized civilian volunteers who knew little of military drill or tactics. While Washington had issued an order when he first took command to dismiss all Negroes from the service -- then thought better of it -- he never seems to have had any doubt about who to call on for the most difficult and essential assignments.
A lightly armed British ship carrying ordinance (military supplies) to America was reported missing in November 1775. British fears that the Nancy had been captured by Continental forces were unfounded. But, Washington was glad to have Captain John Manley and his crew put out to sea in the recently christened Lee, where they did find and capture Nancy. On board were two thousand muskets, thirty-one tons of musket balls, thousands of bayonets, two thousand cartridge boxes, kegs of flints, seven thousand 6-pound cannonballs, 150 carcass shells, and a brass mortar with 3000 shells. Unfortunately, they missed capturing the ship sailing a little ahead that was carrying all the gunpowder. But it was a great haul. The Lee went on to capture several more prize ships: Jenny, Betsey, Little Hanna, Happy Returns and Norfolk.
As early as August 1775, Washington had called on Colonel John Glover of Marblehead, commanding what became the 14th and then the 21st regiment of the Continental Army, to begin forming what became the United States Navy, and the Marines. Glover's men had been sailing together in fishing, whaling, and merchant fleets for years. Some of the ship owners had contacts with merchants in Spain, and the first large supply of gunpowder was purchased from Jose Gardoqui's merchant house in Bilbao. Although there was no American flag -- nor a declaration of independence -- the ships began using the famous revolutionary flag featuring a green tree and the motto "Appeal to Heaven."
Patrick K. O'Donnell's book, The Indispensibles:The Diverse Solder-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy and Rowed Washington Across The Delaware is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about the Marblehead sailors' and regiments' contributions to winning American independence.