The Knowles Riot, also known as the Impressment Riot of 1747, was a three-day riot in Boston (then part of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay) which began on 17 November 1747, in response to the impressment of 46 Bostonians by Rear-Admiral of the White Charles Knowles into the Royal Navy. Hundreds of mostly working class rioters rampaged through Boston, paralyzed the colonial government, and captured several naval officers and the sheriff's deputy. After Knowles threatened to bombard the town, the governor of Massachusetts, William Shirley, persuaded him to release the Bostonians in exchange for the hostages.
The riot was the largest ever impressment riot in North America, and the most serious incident of unrest by colonists in British America prior to the protests over the Stamp Act 1765.Brunsman (2007), p. 328. A few days after the incident, an anonymous writer—probably Samuel Adams—published a pamphlet praising the rioters for defending their natural rights. This was the first time the ideas of John Locke were used to justify resistance to the authority of the Crown in the American colonies.Pencak (2011), p. 107.
Background
During the War of the Austrian Succession, the Royal Navy again expanded its domestic use of impressment: the practice of forcing men, usually sailors, into naval service. A captain who found himself shorthanded would send a press-gang, armed with cudgels and cutlasses, onto a merchant ship to capture sailors for his own crew, often with the cooperation of local authorities. Those who were impressed remained in the Royal Navy for three years or until they were discharged, escaped or died. Men at risk of impressment resented the practice for the same reasons that made recruiting difficult in the first place: the work was hard and dangerous, and for skilled sailors especially, the wages were low. Sometimes they resisted, and several riots ensued in England over impressment.Brunsman (2007), pp. 329, 331.
In the Thirteen Colonies, British law governing impressment had been different and became subject to dispute; by the Trade to America Act 1707 (6 Ann. c. 64 s. 9) Parliament had exempted those in the American colonies from impressment,An Act for the Encouragement of the Trade to America., p.804] but it later claimed that the exemption had been a temporary measure during that war. During King George's War a similar ban on impressment in the West Indies was enacted by the Sugar Trade Act 1745 (19 Geo. 2 c. 30), but with exceptions in the last sectionAn act for the better encouragement of the trade of his Majesty's sugar colonies in America., p.472 it caused further confusion and controversy. As a result, American colonists who resisted impressment often believed that they were within their legal rights to do so. Boston seamen were particularly insistent on this point, for a number of reasons. Many of them had taken part in the Siege of Louisbourg, and in return for their service had been promised by Commodore Peter Warren of the Royal Navy that they would not be impressed. Furthermore, because Boston depended on its seamen to transport food and fuel to the city, Governor William Shirley made a point when issuing impressment warrants of limiting them to non-residents of Massachusetts on inbound vessels. Outbound vessels, fishing vessels, and coasters were strictly off limits.Tager (2001), p. 57.
In November 1745, a press-gang killed two sailors—both veterans of Louisbourg—during a struggle in a Boston boardinghouse. Two of the killers were caught and sentenced to death by hanging, but the verdict was found to be invalid by the Crown and overturned.Tager (2001), p. 63. The incident destroyed whatever goodwill the navy may have had in Boston, and set the stage for a violent uprising. As historian John Noble put it, "the temper of the town was quite ready for such an outbreak."Brunsman (2007), p. 353; Noble (1897), p. 8. Rear-Admiral of the White Charles KnowlesSeveral sources refer to Knowles as a commodore. He attained the rank of commodore in 1742 and was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the White in 1747. See Brunsman (2007), p. 333, and Lee (1892), p. 292., who was active in the Americas during the war, had a habit of disregarding local laws and customs when pressing men into service on his warships. In 1743, he provoked a violent incident in Antigua when he ordered the impressment of the crew of a British privateer, a drastic measure normally reserved for national emergencies.Brunsman (2007), pp. 343–344.
Impressment
In the fall of 1747, a squadron under Knowles's command was anchored at NantasketBrunsman (2007), p. 356. in Boston Harbor, being repaired and restocked in preparation for a trip to the West Indies. Desperately in need of personnel, Knowles flouted tradition when he sent press-gangs to round up sailors in the harbor and along the waterfront without first obtaining a warrant from Shirley. Knowles had been repeatedly warned by Warren to "shew what Lenity you can...to the people of those Colonys" and "to give them no room for complaints." Nevertheless, on the evening of 16 November 1747, and into the next morning, Knowles's press-gangs captured some 46 men, treating them roughly and ignoring their protests that they were Massachusetts residents.Brunsman (2007), pp. 351–354. Not all were on inbound ships, and some were not even seamen, but carpenters and laborers on their way to work.Tager (2001), pp. 52–53. One outbound ship, Mercury, was left almost completely unattended when 16 of its 19 crewmen were taken, and sustained serious damage as a result.Lax (1976), p. 185.
Riot
On the morning of 17 November, a mob of about 300 locals, wielding cutlasses and clubs, captured a lieutenant of the Lark in retaliation for what they considered an illegal press. Attempting to free the officers, the sheriff of Suffolk County, Benjamin Pollard, arrested two of the rioters. The sheriff and his deputies often assisted the navy's press-gangs, which did little to endear them to the townspeople. The mob attacked the sheriff, forcing him to release his two prisoners, and taking one of his deputies as a hostage. One witness wrote later that the sheriff "was glad to get off with a Broken Head, tho' he was in danger of losing it." Thomas Hutchinson, then the Speaker of the House and an outspoken critic of impressment, managed to persuade the mob to release the lieutenant, who had not been part of the press-gang, and brought him to the governor's mansion for safekeeping. Upon hearing what had happened, Shirley called for the militia to "suppress the Mob by force, and, if need was, to fire upon 'em with Ball."Lax (1976), pp. 186–187; Tager (2001), p. 66.
No sooner had he given this order than the angry mob appeared at his front door with three more naval officers and Knowles's servant as hostages. Armed with a cutlass, a spokesman for the mob accused Shirley of having issued an illegal impressment warrant. Shirley denied the charge and called the man an "Impudent Rascal"; his son-in-law, William Bollen, knocked the man's hat off. Shirley claimed there were seven or eight armed officers in the house who were "ready to stand upon their Defence, in case the Mob should be so outrageous, as to attempt to break into the House." He then escorted the officers into the house while Hutchinson calmed the crowd and persuaded them not to follow.Lax (1976), p. 187; Tager (2001), p. 67. The rioters still had one hostage: the sheriff's deputy, whom they beat in the governor's courtyard, and put in stocks.Tager (2001), p. 67. After the mob left, the governor headed to the Town House at the corner of King and Cornhill Streets, which was home to the Massachusetts General Court. Upstairs in the Council chamber, he spoke with members about his plans for dispersing the mob and offering rewards for informants.
The House of Representatives, which met on the first floor of the Town House, assembled that day to discuss the incident. House records suggest that they were sympathetic to the rioters, "inasmuch as it hath been represented to this House, that sundry Inhabitants of this Province have been taken from their lawful Employments, and forcibly carried on board his Majesty's Ships of War." As dusk fell, they adjourned. They had probably been informed that the mob was on its way, and left without warning the others so that the townspeople could present their demands directly to the governor and the Council. Only Hutchinson and a few other representatives went upstairs to confer with the governor.Lax, (1976), pp. 187–189. Minutes later, an angry mob surrounded the Town House, breaking all the first-floor windows with stones and brickbats and forcing their way in. The exact nature of the crowd has been the subject of some debate. Town officials claimed that "the said Riotous Tumultuous Assembly consisted of Foreign Seamen, Servants, Negros & other Persons of mean & vile condition." Some historians believe this was an effort to deflect blame,Brunsman (2007), p. 363. while others treat it as fact.Hardesty (2016), pp. 128–129. Hutchinson estimated the crowd's size at "several thousand," remarkable in a city with a population of just 16,000. In addition to sailors and other maritime workers, the crowd likely included most of Boston's militia, as well as some middle-class shopkeepers and merchants, women, and others whose lives were affected by impressment.Brunsman (2007), p. 360.
Several militia officers who were assembled on the first floor were forced up a narrow staircase into the Council Chamber, creating a bottleneck which halted the mob's progress and gave the governor a chance to address them. At Hutchinson's urging, Shirley promised he would do his best to obtain the release of the impressed men. The rioters were not satisfied. A spokesman came forward and demanded to know why the men convicted in the press-gang killings of 1745 had not been executed. The governor explained that the execution had been suspended by order of the king. The spokesman then issued a thinly veiled threat, asking Shirley if he remembered the Porteous Riots in Edinburgh, in which Captain John Porteous of the Edinburgh City Guard had been "hang'd upon a sign post." Shirley replied that he remembered it well, and that he "hop'd they remember'd what the Consequence of that proceeding was to the Inhabitants of the City," another not-so-subtle threat of violence.Lax (1976), p. 189; Tager (2001), p. 69. Promising to return the next day, the crowd left the Town House, but continued rioting through the night. In a symbolic gesture, they dragged a barge onto Boston Common and burned it, believing it to be the property of the navy.Brunsman (2007), p. 359. Afterwards, they split up into groups to find more hostages. Rioters broke into the naval hospital and raided the homes of several residents, taking four or five petty officers hostage. Meanwhile, Shirley helped smuggle some of Knowles's officers out of town and onto a barge that carried them safely back to the fleet.Lax (1976), pp. 190, 192; Tager (2001), p. 70.