by Ben Tarnoff
40, By the time
“exceedingly well Counterfeited…”: Boston Post Boy, August 17, 1752. The report was reprinted in the Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal, August 18, 1752, and the New-York Evening Post, August 24, 1752; shorter notices of the arrest are also found in the Boston Evening-Post, October 9, 1752, and the New-York Gazette Revived in the Weekly Post-Boy, October 16, 1752.
40–41, Providence provided
Political struggle between Providence and Newport: Mack E. Thompson, “The Ward-Hopkins Controversy and the American Revolution in Rhode Island: An Interpretation,” William and Mary Quarterly 16.3 (July 1959), pp. 363–375. Rhode Island printed money by licensing “banks” to emit currency; see Henry Phillips, Historical Sketches of the Paper Currency of the American Colonies, Prior to the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Roxbury, MA: W. Elliot Woodward, 1865), pp. 101–111.
41, When Sullivan arrived
Among those linked to Sullivan in 1752 were Joseph Stephens, a miller; Elias Smith, a yeoman; and John Rosier, a boatman; see Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island, pp. 32–34. A wide range of people engaged in counterfeiting in colonial America, running the gamut from mariners to carpenters to schoolmasters to tavern keepers, and the majority of them were amateurs, not professional criminals; see Kenneth Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York (New York: American Numismatic Society, 1953), p. 198.
42, Sullivan’s anger didn’t
Sullivan’s strategy for freeing his colleagues: Sullivan, A Short Account, p. 10; Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial America, p. 188; Connecticut Gazette, April 13, 1756, reprinted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut (New York: American Numismatic Society, 1957), pp. 137–139.
42, A grand jury
Sullivan’s case and “a Transient Person…”: the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Gaol Delivery, Providence County, Record Book 1, September Term, 1752, Rex v. Sullivan, p. 94 (Judicial Archives, Supreme Court Judicial Record Center, Pawtucket, RI). Stephens’s case and “[F]or the sake…”: ibid., Rex v. Stephens, p. 97.
43, In September 1752
Sullivan’s and Stephens’s punishment: Connecticut Gazette, April 13, 1756, reprinted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 137–139. Counterfeiters were usually branded with the letter C, for “Counterfeiter,” but Sullivan and Stephens merited a harsher penalty: R for “incorrigible Rogue,” the same punishment given to runaway servants and slaves. They likely received the R because of Sullivan’s previous conviction and his “transient” status; for more, see James Fitzjames Stephens, A History of the Criminal Law of England, vol. 3 (London: Macmillan, 1883), pp. 272–275, and Lawrence Friedman, Crime and Punishment in American History (New York: Basic Books, 1993), pp. 40–41. Location of the town pillory: the Federal Writers’ Project, Rhode Island: A Guide to the Smallest State (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1937), p. 267. Rum distilleries: William Babcock Weeden, Early Rhode Island: A Social History of the People (New York: Grafton, 1910), p. 222.
43, Stephens’s punishment was next
The scene: Connecticut Gazette, April 13, 1756, reprinted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 137–139; Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 188–189; Sullivan, A Short Account, p. 10.
43–44, Sullivan had escaped
“[T]hey pursu’d me…”: Sullivan, A Short Account, p. 10. His sentence in the Superior Court of Judicature Record Book specifies thirty days’ imprisonment: relatively mild by today’s standards, but severe enough to make Sullivan break out of jail.
44, Sullivan’s performance
“a man of good Address…”: Connecticut Gazette, April 13, 1756, reprinted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 137–139.
45, Sullivan had more
Punishment in colonial America: Friedman, Crime and Punishment in American History, pp. 25–26, 36–41, 48–50.
45–46, It was in Dutchess
There’s no reliable estimate of how much counterfeit currency Sullivan made. In A Short Account, pp. 9–11, he admits to printing more than £27,000 of various colonies’ money. That figure is probably too low, especially if it’s supposed to reflect not just what Sullivan printed but the total amount of currency made from his plates. Since Sullivan left his plates in the hands of accomplices throughout the Northeast, there’s no way of knowing how many notes they produced. In August 1755, a group in Newport admitted to printing about £50,000 from Sullivan’s plates; if all of his accomplices made similar quantities, the total number could easily be in the hundreds of thousands. The Newport case: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial America, pp. 202–203.
46, Sullivan set up
The dimensions of the Oblong: C. J. Hughes, “Just Beyond New York’s Suburbs, a Genuine Swamp,” New York Times, June 30, 2006. According to Margaret E. Herrick, Early Settlements in Dutchess County, New York (Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 1994), p. 102, Connecticut ceded the Oblong to New York in exchange for property along Long Island Sound; Connecticut revived the dispute in the nineteenth century and the case wasn’t formally resolved until 1881. Dover referred to a region spanning the present-day towns of Amenia, Dover, North East, Washington, Pawling, Beekman, and Clinton.
46–47, Dover presented a number
Settlement history of Dover and environs: Arthur T. Benson, “Glimpses of Dover History,” Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book 1921 (Poughkeepsie, NY: Dutchess County Historical Society, 1921), pp. 18–25; “A Paper Read by Miss Mary Hoag at the Oblong Meeting House, Quaker Hill, Sept. 29, 1920,” Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book 1921, pp. 13–14; Henry Noble MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of an American County (New York: Hastings House, 1956), p. 141; Herrick, Early Settlements in Dutchess County, p. 102.
47, Pioneers are usually
The wetlands of the Oblong: MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever!, pp. 130–132. Wolves and panthers: Alfred T. Ackert, “Dutchess County in Colonial Days,” a paper read before the Dutchess County Society in February 28, 1898, held by the New York Public Library’s Irma and Paul Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy.
47–48, If his choice
Dover Stone Church: Richard Francis Maher, “The Town of Dover,” The History of Dutchess County, New York, ed. Frank Hasbrouck (Poughkeepsie, NY: S. A. Matthieu, 1909), pp. 279–280. Description of Sullivan’s hideout: Connecticut Gazette, April 13, 1756, reprinted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 137–139.
48, Sullivan also put
Oblong gang: New-York Post-Boy, March 29, 1756. The phrase “Dover Money Club” was probably a coinage of the authorities: according to Kenneth Scott, “The Dover Money Club,” New York Folklore Quarterly 12.1 (Spring 1956), p. 17, the term surfaced as early as 1753, in connection with a mason from Stratford who obtained a large quantity of bills from the gang. Description of Joseph Boyce: Boston Evening-Post, September 10, 1744.
48–49, Without the Boyces
For more on the Boyce counterfeiting team, see Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, pp. 58–69. “the place where this…” and “The Heads of this Confederacy…”: ibid., pp. 58–59.
49, Despite their tough
Clarke’s efforts: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, pp. 62–66, and Counterfeiting in Colonial America, pp. 125–127. “Endeavour’d to make…”: from Clarke’s affidavit, quoted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, p. 63.
50, A student of counterfeiting
Amateur character of colonial law enforcement: Friedman, Crime and Punishment in American History, pp. 27–30; and David R. Johnson, “Foreword,” Scott, Counter-feiting in Colonial America, pp. xv–xvi.
50–51, Moneymaking was also
A vast majority of Americans lived in small, rural communities. On the eve of independence, only 7–8 percent of the population resided in towns of 2,500 or more inhabitants, according to John J. McCusker and Russell R. Menard, The Economy of British America, 1
607–1789 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991 [1985]), p. 250.
51, Anyone who wanted
Governor Gideon Wanton’s rejected proposal to the Rhode Island assembly: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, pp. 66–67.
51–52, The governor had good
The Boyces’ specialty was Rhode Island currency: ibid., p. 66. The flow of money across colonies: Joseph Albert Ernst, Money and Politics in America, 1755–1775: A Study in the Currency Act of 1764 and the Political Economy of Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973), pp. 35–36. “Our chief Justices…”: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, p. 66.
52–53, The growing interconnectedness
The redemption period and the amount of outstanding paper bills: Malcolm Freiberg, “Thomas Hutchinson and the Province Currency,” New England Quarterly 30.2 (June 1957), pp. 203–206. Paper money from other colonies flooding in: Ernst, Money and Politics in America, 1755–1775, p. 39. Oath about foreign money: Andrew McFarland Davis, Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, pt. 1 (New York: Macmillan, 1901), p. 236.
53, What Hutchinson realized
Franklin’s cartoon originally appeared in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, in the spring of 1754. The image and motto resurfaced a couple of decades later, when American revolutionaries rallied for colonial unity against the British.
54, In the summer
Cady’s brief career: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 108–110, and Counterfeiting in Colonial America, pp. 191–193.
54–55, Cady’s case wasn’t
Munroe and “heard tell…”: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island, pp. 36–37.
55, Stashing bills at
Newspapers instructed their readers how to detect counterfeit bills not only out of a sense of public service but for self-interested reasons as well. Since the newspapers’ printers often printed the colony’s money, they had an interest in removing forged currency from circulation. Warnings printed in 1754 in the New-York Gazette and the New-York Mercury: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, pp. 82–84.
55–56, Sometimes the stress
Ide’s case and “being apprehensive…”: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island, pp. 37–38.
56, While tramping across
Farming and fishing along the Merrimack: Kimball Webster, History of Hudson, N.H., ed. George Waldo Browne (Manchester, NH: Granite State Publishing, 1913), pp. 18–21. The towns in the Merrimack region where Sullivan enlisted accomplices included Nottingham West (now Hudson), Merrimack, Londonderry, and Goffstown. The boundary dispute between New Hampshire and Massachusetts: Webster, History of Hudson, N.H., pp. 137–139. Hutchinson’s role: Malcolm Freiberg, “How to Become a Colonial Governor: Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts,” Review of Politics 21.4 (October 1959), p. 648.
56–57, Few people knew
Rogers’s physical appearance: Caleb Stark, Memoir and Official Correspondence of Gen. John Stark (Concord, NH: G. Parker Lyon, 1860), p. 387. Rogers’s biography: Allan Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” in Robert Rogers, Ponteach or the Savages of America: A Tragedy (Chicago: Caxton Club, 1914), pp. 17–22, 27–31, 33.
57, When Rogers went
Rogers’s first encounter with Sullivan: Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” p. 41, and Burt Garfield Loescher, The History of Rogers’ Rangers, vol. 1 (Published by the author, San Francisco, 1946), pp. 17–18. The region’s dense pine forests: Webster, History of Hudson, N.H., p. 19.
57–58, Sullivan and Rogers
Rogers’s travels: Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” p. 34.
58, Whether by playing
According to Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” p. 41, Sullivan didn’t show up to buy the oxen because he became alarmed and fled the region. Sullivan may have disappeared briefly, but he certainly returned, because he had further contact with Rogers and others in the Merrimack Valley. “Just Grounds to Suspect…”: from the warrant, dated January 24, 1755, Provincial Court of New Hampshire #27267, held by the New Hampshire State Archives in Concord; for a transcription of the document, see Loescher, The History of Rogers’ Rangers, pp. 264–265. Meshech Weare: Joseph Dow, History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire, From Its Settlement in 1638, to the Autumn of 1892, vol. 2 (Salem, MA: Salem Press Publishing and Printing, 1893), pp. 1030–1031.
58, The trial that took
The records of the 1755 trial: the Provincial Court of New Hampshire #27267, the New Hampshire State Archives.
58–59, Winn’s wife hated
Winn’s wife complained about Sullivan to Ezekiel Greeley, who volunteered the details in his examination. Greeley added that “the greater part of [Sullivan’s] talk when sober” was about making money; other testimony confirmed the counterfeiter’s frequent drinking. “Damn you for a pack…”: from the testimony of John McCurdy, included in the trial records. Sullivan’s arrival in the Merrimack region and his collaboration with Winn: Kenneth Scott, “Counterfeiting in Colonial New Hampshire,” Historical New Hampshire 13.1 (December 1957), pp. 19–20.
59–60, In his examination
“I saw a man…”: from Rogers’s examination, dated February 7, 1755, included in the trial records.
60, Rogers was lying
In his testimony, John McCurdy claimed Rogers had more interactions with Lewis. For the justices’ memorandum on the results of their investigation, see Loescher, The History of Rogers’ Rangers, pp. 267–269.
60–61, In the spring
The skirmish, subsequently known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen: Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766 (New York: Vintage, 2001), pp. 5–7, 52–59. Washington’s men didn’t kill all thirteen Frenchmen. Some of them, including their commander Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, were slain by the Indians after they surrendered.
61, These were the first
The lead-up to the war: Anderson, Crucible of War, pp. 36–41, 112.
61–62, As with the last
Rogers and Frye: Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” pp. 40–41, and Loescher, The History of Rogers’ Rangers, pp. 18–19.
62, While in Portsmouth
Rogers’s negotiation and Frye’s complaint: Nevins, “The Life of Robert Rogers,” pp. 41–42.
62, Rogers so successfully
Carty Gilman: Scott, “Counterfeiting in Colonial New Hampshire,” pp. 26–27; Scott includes an image of the note to Gilman. “Gilman, for God’s sake…”: quoted in Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial America, p. 202.
62–63, Rogers presumably wanted
An overview of British forces and the reasons for training more irregular units: Daniel Marston, The French-Indian War, 1754–1760 (Oxford: Osprey, 2002), pp. 16–21.
63, Rogers’ Rangers
Expansion of the Rangers: Marston, ibid., p. 18. Rogers didn’t invent ranging, but he certainly helped popularize and codify it. The “rules of ranging” used by the current U.S. Army have been modified and expanded since Rogers’s day.
63–64, While Sullivan shared
Silence Dogood incident: Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), p. 29. “Let all men…”: from the 1743 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack, in Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography and Other Writings, ed. Ormond Seavey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 280.
64, Sullivan took the advice
Sullivan’s pseudonyms: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island, pp. 31, 37, and Counterfeiting in Colonial New York, p. 81. The counterfeiter used the aliases John Pierson and Isaac Washington in Rhode Island, and the name Benjamin Parlon in New York. An example of an accomplice using an alias to deny knowing Sullivan was Joseph Munroe, a Massachusetts farmer caught passing counterfeit bills in Newport. Munroe confessed that a stranger named Smith had given him the notes, although Smith was clearly Sullivan. In
A Short Account, Sullivan claims that his real name was John, and that he created the alias Owen Sullivan after running away from home in Ireland.
64–65, Sullivan’s various names
Purchasing a barrel of Spanish wine: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island, p. 37. Buying drinks for everyone at the tavern: Scott, “Counterfeiting in Colonial New Hampshire,” p. 20.
CHAPTER THREE
66, The sound of gunshots
The scene: Kenneth Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut (New York: American Numismatic Society, 1957), p. 117, and Counterfeiting in Colonial America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000 [1957]), p. 198.
66–67, The crew was led
Sanford’s hometown was near the present-day town of South Salem, New York, which was renamed to distinguish it from another Salem farther north. Sanford’s career: Scott, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, pp. 116–117, and Counterfeiting in Colonial America, pp. 196–199. The story of Sanford’s arrest is found in the Waterbury court records: New Haven County, Superior Court Files, Box 311, 1751–1754, Case #32, Rex v. David Sanford, in the Records of the Judiciary Department at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford. “Say nothing…”: from the testimony of Elisha Hall, one of the travelers, who gave an account of the incident to the court at Waterbury on January 26, 1754, included in the trial records. Sanford’s raids: Mary Louise King, Portrait of New Canaan: The History of a Connecticut Town (New Canaan, CT: New Canaan Historical Society, 1981), p. 51. The Connecticut countryside: Daniel W. Teller, The History of Ridgefield, Conn.: From Its First Settlement to the Present Time (Danbury, CT: T. Donovan, 1878), p. 241.
