portsmouthhistorynotes

There were divided loyalties on Aquidneck Island. Many in Newport were Loyalists while those in the countryside favored the Patriot side. Although her husband was fighting for the Americans, Mary Gould Almy was a vocal Loyalist. Ater the war the Mary and her husband Benjamin lived happily as a couple. John Hattendorf’s book on Mary Gould Almy’s Journal 1778 provides a wealth of information on the lady and her background.

Mary was born on December 16, 1735 in Newport, Rhode Island. She was raised as a Quaker by her parents, James Gould and Mary Rathbun Gould, but she was baptized at Trinity Church when she was 18. One of her sisters was married to the Stamp Master during the Stamp Act Riots. She married privateer Captain Benjamin Almy in 1762 and the two had eight children together. Almy was questioned for his loyalty because of his wife’s Loyalist stand, but that concern was dismissed as unfounded. He had been detained at Lancaster Castle in England, but he made it back to Rhode Island in 1778 to volunteer for the Rhode Island militia to support the Continental Army in the Rhode Island Campaign.

Mary was a boarding house keeper at the Jaheel Brenton Townhouse facing Thames Street in Newport. At the time of her diary writing she had six of her eight children with her. She also rented a “safe” place at Benjamin Church’s house south of the city. She would send her mother and children there for security once the French arrived.

As Mary writes her journal with her husband as her intended audience, she lets him know that she will write “with Spirit” because of her dislike for the “Nation that you call your friends.” She foresees that this Campaign will end badly for the Americans. She comments that as the French Navy arrives at Brenton Neck, they wait for the Americans. The British were manning the old batteries and throwing up new ones. The noise made it difficult for her children to sleep. The morning came with a thick fog until they saw that the British had set fire to their own ships. “All the fleet in motion. Everything in Consternation – the inhabitants much distress, the batteries all spirited all warlike Preparations the streets filled with carts and ordinance.”

As the Siege progresses, Mary comments that an order has been given to burn any building within 3 miles of the Town so they will not be used as barracks by an invading army. She sees “a Scene of Wretchedness before this once happy and Flourishing Island.” On August 11 she writes of “a Violent Storm come on before day and continue – thundering, Lightenings most terrible – all the day the wind blew a perfect hurricane..” The storm continues on Tuesday with “much violence.” She writes that the storm was still going. She writes to her husband – “Mr. Almy I am not like the driver I mentioned yesterday who if he could but be quiet cared not who govern. I am for English Government and a English fleet.” She noted the American siege works going up close to the town. “Our people beholding it every morning with wonder and astonishment and really Mr. Almy my Curiosity was so great as to which to behold-the entrenchment that I suppose you was behind.”

Mary describes the retreat of the Americans (Battle of Rhode Island) and that the Hessians had overtaken an American party at Mr. Redwood’s house. “Leaving the roads strewn with dead bodies from East road was a scene of Blood and Slaughter from Cozen Almy’s Down the foot of Quaker Hill…” Cartloads of solders came into town. “Fine youths with their arms taken of in a moment in short its too far beyond my description the horrors of that day will never be quite out of my rememberance – I quited company and hid myself to mourn in silence for the wickedness of my Country (the Americans).

Mary Gould Almy was a Loyalist, but after the war she had some Patriots staying at her boarding house – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson! Thomas Jefferson was a guest at Almy’s in June 1784. Her most famous guest was George Washington, who stayed a night there on August 17, 1790, during his trip to Rhode Island. Almy saved the silk bed covering from the bed where Washington slept.

A Smith College project on Voices of the American Revolution has an interesting point to make. “Mary’s letters demonstrate the unique position of women during the American Revolution. Legally, women were dependents of their husbands. As a result, while Mary held ultra-Loyalist views, she faced no repercussions for her beliefs from Rhode Island Patriots. Her husband’s position in the rebellion secured her safety and status. Additionally, Mary’s letters convey an equal sense of commitment to her political ideals and her husband’s safety—demonstrating how precisely the American Revolution divided colonies, towns, and even married couples.”