Copy of Declaration of Independence seized by British in 1776 unearthed, along with the story of its owner
Copy of Declaration of Independence seized by British in 1776 unearthed
In May of this year, retired insurance executive Michael Scurr was combing through historic documents at Britain’s National Archives, where he has volunteered for the last 11 years. Scurr was examining part of a vast archive of correspondence with the British admiralty and an associated trove of documents seized from American ships by the British during the American Revolutionary War. While examining documents seized from the American privateer ship the Dalton, Scurr came across a document which was described in the correspondence simply as “another paper”.
What he had found was a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in Exeter, NH, days after the original Declaration was signed. Only 11 of the Exeter Declarations are known to have survived, and this was the first of its kind to be found outside the US.
The Dalton was captained by Eleazer Johnson and operated as a privateer for the fledgling American government. Privateers were private ships licensed by a government to carry out attacks on ships belonging to other governments during times of war. Captains and crews of privateers were entitled to a share of either a bounty or the cargo of any ships they captured.
Through extensive research of other documents, researchers from the National Archives (UK) have reconstructed some of Johnson’s extraordinary story.
Eleazar Johnson and the Dalton
Eleazar Johnson, Jr., was just 29 when he set sail from Newburyport, Massachusetts on 15 October, 1776, as the newly appointed captain of the Dalton. The Dalton was a 20-gun brigantine on a mission to attack British vessels in the Atlantic on behalf of the new American government. However, they were unsuccessful. On Christmas Eve, 1776, the Dalton was sighted off the coast of Portugal by the HMS Raisonable, a 64-gun Royal Navy ship. Massively outgunned, the Dalton attempted to evade the Raisonable for 7 hours before surrendering without a fight.
Johnson and his crew of 120 men were taken prisoner and the Dalton was seized as a prize by her captors. During questioning, Johnson stated unabashedly that he was “a Subject to the United States of America” and that he was operating under “a Commission of War” signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress.
The Dalton’s crew were eventually imprisoned in Old Mill Prison in Plymouth, England. Old Mill Prison operated as a prisoner of war camp for over a century from the Seven Year’s War in the late 17th century to the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. These camps were considered to be a more humane alternative to Britain’s infamously overcrowded and disease-ridden prison hulks. Nevertheless, inmates at these early POW camps were also subject to privation and disease.
A Great Escape?
The Diary of Charles Herbert, a 19-year-old Dalton sailor and fellow Old Mill Prison inmate, documents one of the prisoners’ attempts at escape by means of digging a tunnel in 1778:
“A great quantity of dirt has already come out of this hole, and we have much trouble in concealing it. We have filled every hole and corner in the prison where we can with safety hide it, and a great many large stones are laid fore and aft the prison, in piles, under our hammocks, with old garments laid over them.”
The National Archives (UK) article states that Johnson and his fellow inmates undertook several escape attempts from the prison, but says these attempts were unsuccessful. However, a letter from a collection of papers belonging to Benjamin Franklin suggests that Johnson did manage to escape.
In February 1778, Henry Johnson (formerly captain of the USS Lexington) posted a letter from Rotterdam seeking assistance from the American Commissioners in Paris, one of whom was Franklin:
“Honorable Gentlemen:
Yesterday I arrived here from England after effecting my escape from Mill Prison. I have in Company Capt: Eleazer Johnson of the Dalton.”
The brief missive also alluded to “the shocking Treatment of our bretheren in Mill Prison”. It’s unknown whether Johnson returned to the fight for American independence following his ordeal.
A genealogy website shows an Eleazar Johnson, Jr., died in on July 3, 1788, at the age of 42 and was buried in Newburyport, MT. He was survived by a wife and several children. Without further confirmatory documents, it’s impossible to be certain whether this is our Eleazar Johnson, Jr., but the biographical details seem to line up.
Happy Independence Day!
