Mob Leader Mackintosh in Colonial Boston
Brief But Key Role of a Shoemaker in the Run-up to Revolution
Jul 30, 2009
One of the issues that led to the American Revolution was the Stamp Act, a measure passed by Parliament in 1765 to impose a tax on documents, newspapers, and other paper products, including even playing cards, in the colonies.
The reaction in the American colonies took many forms, some of them violent.
In Boston, much of that violence was orchestrated by Mackintosh, who turned 28 in the year of the Stamp Act.
Father Warned Out of Boston, Wrentham
Little about Mackintosh’s childhood is known. His father, apparently because of his doubtful ability to support himself, was “warned out” of Boston in 1753 and out of Wrentham, Massachusetts, in 1761. Mackintosh’s mother died when Ebenezer was about 14.
Mackintosh served almost eight months in the military, taking part in a failed expedition during the French and Indian War.
Before the Stamp Act, “Captain” Mackintosh was widely known as the leader of a gang of men and boys in Boston who gathered each year on Pope Day, November 5. They would push a cart with a grotesque effigy of a pope and other historical or legendary figures. The day would climax with a giant brawl with a rival gang with their own cart and pope.
Loyal Nine and Samuel Adams
In the spring of 1765, Bostonians knew the Stamp Tax was coming. Mackintosh’s skills as leader of this rough-and-tumble gang caught the attention of the Loyal Nine, a group of men groping for a strategy to deal with the hated Stamp Tax. The Loyal Nine, possibly in consultation with emerging patriotic activist Samuel Adams, recruited Mackintosh to manage acts of defiance.
The implementation of the Stamp Act required a stamp distributor, a person appointed by the British authorities to sell properly stamped—embossed—paper. Rumors had reached Boston that the distributor in Boston would be Andrew Oliver.
Thus, Mackintosh, evidently under the direction of the Loyal Nine, gathered his gang and others on the morning of August 14, 1765, around a handsome elm tree, which became known as the Liberty Tree. On the tree, gang members strung up several objects, including an effigy of a man with a label “A.O.” “A.O.” was clearly Andrew Oliver.
Old State House
Mackintosh led the mob—with the effigy of Oliver—to the Town House (now the Old State House), and then to Kilby Street, where Oliver owned a building. Mackintosh and his men, guessing that Oliver intended to use the building for selling stamped paper, quickly encircled the building, broke the windows, beat down the doors, and reduced the building to wreckage. The mob moved on to the Oliver family residence, brought forth the effigy, and, in a mock ceremony, cut off its head. Soon stones were flying at the house's windows. Eventually the mob moved off with the newly executed effigy and bits and pieces of the building from Kilby Street. The rioters took these prizes to a hill nearby, where they built a bonfire and then threw the effigy into the flames.
Mackintosh led the mob back to Oliver’s house later that night, eventually entering the house and smashing furniture.
Attack on House of Thomas Hutchinson
Less than two weeks later, Mackintosh led his mob on another rampage. This time it was against the house of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, who was rumored to favor the Stamp Act. After Hutchinson and his family fled, the rioters dismantled the house, tearing off its cupola, scattering papers and books, looting clothes, ripping down walls, and trampling fences.
Gold-laced Coat, Rattan cane, Speaking Trumpet
As mob leader, “Captain” Mackintosh—sometimes dressed in a gold-laced coat an carrying a rattan cane and a speaking trumpet—inspired an impressive level of discipline. On one occasion, he directed a parade of 2000 marchers in two files passed the Town House. He could silence his marchers by simply holding up a finger. When he ordered his followers to disperse peacefully, they did. A man bitterly opposed to Samuel Adams and the Loyal Nine called Mackintosh “sensible & manly” and “endowed with superior Honor” in carrying out the “dirty Jobs” of the Loyal Nine.
Into 1766, Mackintosh and his followers staged other acts to intimidate anyone who might consider buying or using stamped paper. In late February, following the arrival of a ship with stamped paper, Mackintosh obtained some of the paper, fixed a sheet to a pole, and put the pole in the public stocks. A designated “executioner” set the stamped paper on fire.
Stamp Act Repealed
The next month, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, and soon tensions between Britain her colonies eased, only to heat up later with renewed efforts to impose taxes in the colonies.
In 1766, Mackintosh married. About that time, he abandoned—or was removed from--his role as leader in the street violence. He retained, however, a keen patriotic spirit. He named his son Paschal Paoli Mackintosh after a well-known Corsican patriot.
Fondness for Edward Young’s “Night Thoughts”
We know only a few other fragments about him. We know he managed to learn to read and write. He loved poetry and had a special fondness for Edward Young’s “Night Thoughts.” As an old man he was described as slight. He had a nervous, talkative nature.
Mackintosh vanished from prominence and languished for a time in debtor’s prison. He later took part in the Boston Tea Party, survived the Revolution, and died in New Hampshire, where he is recalled in a historical marker near Haverhill.
Sources:
Anderson, George P., “Ebenezer Mackintosh: Stamp Act Rioter and Patriot,” Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volume XXVI, Transactions 1924-1926.
Carp, Benjamin L., “Fire of Liberty: Firefighters, Urban Voluntary Culture, and the Revolutionary Movement,” Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Oct., 2001), pp. 781-818.
Nicolson, Colin, The ‘Infamas Govener’. Boston, Northeastern University Press, 2001.
Zobel, Hiller B., The Boston Massacre, W.W. Norton Co., Inc., New York, 1970.
 |
