By John J. Henry
Anniversaries are a time to look back, to celebrate milestones and achievements; it is also a time to remember the misfortunes and hardships that some of the members of our society experienced leading to the creation of our new nation and to reflect upon those events as we reconnect with our past.
During the upcoming two years a constellation of past historical events will be occurring which are significant to both our national and local histories, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
As this year comes to a close a lesser known local historical event will be concluding; the 400th Anniversary of the, settlement of Winnisimmet, (now Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop), when an adventurous 22-year-old young man from Devonshire England, named Samuel Maverick, journeyed from Weymouth England arriving at Wessagusset , (now Weymouth), Massachusetts in 1623 to pursue his fortune in British North America. A short time after his arrival he decided to move on from Wessagusset traveling to the north side of the Mystic River, at the junction of Massachusetts Bay, arriving at an area of land in 1624, then populated by the Rumney Marsh Indians, part of the indigenous people of the Pawtucket nation, on land that they called Winnisimmet. Maverick took possession of the lands of Winnisimmet from the Rumney Marsh Indians by occupation, in keeping with the adverse land acquisition provisions of British law, thus establishing Winnisimmet as the fourth permanent British North American settlement in Massachusetts. Maverick would quickly develop the land that he occupied constructing a home, with a palisade defensive fortification enclosure, on the Winnisimmet hillside facing the Mystic River. Although in early conflict with the Rumney Marsh Indians Maverick subsequently established a harmonious fur trading relationship and friendship with them. During a smallpox epidemic outbreak Maverick ministered to the medical needs of the Rumney Marsh Indians and buried 30 of their dead in one day.
In June of 1630 Maverick would greet, the legendary John Winthrop, the Puritan leader of the Massachusetts Bay Company, at his Winnisimmet home, as Winthrop traveled from his Salem outpost to Boston Harbor in search of a suitable location for the capital of his Massachusetts Bay Company settlement, his proverbial new Jerusalem, which Winthrop referred to as his, “city upon a hill”, a model for the building of a new Puritan society in North America. Maverick would render essential services to Winthrop’s Massachusetts Bay Company, as Winthrop labored to establish a home for his Puritan religious community as well as his, British North American economic colony. Winthrop would later establish Boston as the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1634 and he then quickly annexed all of Winnisimmet, including the lands of Rumney Marsh and Pullen Point as part of the new Puritan Town of Boston. Maverick would remain as a resident of Winnisimmet for a short time until he deeded his hillside estate and a portion of his other Winnisimmet land holdings to Richard Bellingham in1635. By then Maverick had already moved on from Winnisimmet to his new home at Noddle’s Island, (now East Boston), in Massachusetts Bay.
While it is fitting and appropriate to recognize Maverick as the first English settler of our area, 400 years ago in 1624, it is inappropriate to condone Maverick’s less then honorable character, stature and reputation since Maverick shamefully became the first slave trader in Massachusetts, committing New England’s original sin. It should be noted, that Maverick was a product of his seventeenth century English times that condoned slavery for both cultural and economic reasons. Moreover, slavery was a major component of British economic Imperialism that relied heavily upon slavery for the establishment of British North American agricultural plantations, to acquire resources and produce agricultural products for shipment back to England. The cultivation, of agricultural products, required substantial feudal forced labor by both indentured servants as well as Negro slaves to become a successful economic venture.
In 1645 John Winthrop, who had served as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on six different occasions, wrote about British North American economic expansion stating: “I do not see how we can thrive until we get…a flock of slaves sufficient to do all of our business…and it will be cheaper to maintain twenty Negro slaves cheaper than one English servant.” A number of those very slaves now rest in our Rumney Marsh burial ground located on Butler Street.
Slavery in Massachusetts would last for 159 years.
It was not until the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, and its subsequent judicial interpretation in1783, that ultimately brought an end to slavery in Massachusetts.
On March 27& 28,1775, members of our town’s militia joined together with 1000 militia men from all of the then New England colonies, and tenaciously confronted 400 British Royal Marines, with their fleet of three naval vessels, assault barges and field artillery, encountering British troops beginning at the inner islands of Boston Harbor and ending in the marshlands and mudflats of Chelsea Creek, near Slade’s Mill, resulting in the capture and sinking of the British Royal Navy schooner “Diana”. The Battle of Chelsea Creek, although mostly forgotten to history, was notable since it was the first planned offensive battle of the Revolutionary War; the first instance of military cooperation by the New England colonies, battling the Redcoats; the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War; the first capture of a British vessel of war; and the first time that artillery was used by the colonial militia against the British. While the colonial losses were minimal the Redcoats lost sixty-four of their elite troops.
On April 19,2025 our nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the, “Short heard round the world”, on April 19th 1775, when we celebrate the confrontation of Massachusetts colonists and British Redcoats at Lexington and Concord, marking an important battle of our war for Independence from Great Britain and another transition from a war of words to one of bullets.
Although little known, by many of our current Revere citizens, a number of the then residents of our early town played an important role in this confrontation for independence from Great Britain, when the pastor of The Church of Christ at Chelsea, (now Revere), Reverend Phillips Payson, lead a party of men from his church congregation halting the retreating British Redcoats, after the confrontation at Lexington and Concord, engaging the Redcoats at Menotomy, (now Arlington), in an intense rear action confrontation, when the men of the church congregation killed a number of the Redcoats and took several of the enemy as prisoners. By their courageous action the men from our town enshrined themselves in the history of our nation by their heroic participation in this important confrontation of the American Revolution for Independence from Great Britain. Also, for his heroic leadership of the men from his church congregation, Pastor Phillips Payson would become forever known as “Fighting Pastor Payson”. Payson would go on to participate, with John Adams as a contributor, in the writing of the Massachusetts Constitution and as a founding member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, along with John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine and John and Samuel Adams.
Twenty days later, on June 17,1775, the colonists once again battled the British Redcoats at the bloody battle of Bunker Hill. The battle, which actually occurred at Breed’s Hill, only lasted two hours, however, the losses were significant resulting in 1,054 British casualties and 450 colonial losses, demonstrating the fighting ability of the colonial forces to effectively do battle against the British Redcoats.
Over one year later, on July 4,1776,the Second Continental Congress of the thirteen American Colonies, meeting at Philadelphia, sent a bold message to the King and Parliament of Great Britain by proclaiming the American Declaration of Independence, from Great Britain.
Recognition of our past, acknowledging historical events and experiences of a bygone era, including both positive and negative aspects, allows us to gain important insights and lessons learned as we strive to shape a better future. We can’t change history but we certainly can learn from it. As William Shakespeare wrote in his play, “The Tempest”,
“The past is prologue.”
John J. Henry served as City Clerk of the City of Revere for thirty-two years from 1977-2009. He has written numerous articles, over the years, about the early history Revere.
