A quick note: my name is Mike Romero, and I'm a Historic Interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg. The postings I make on this site are my own personal opinions and research, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Colonial Williamsburg. With that said, enjoy the read!
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After fleeing the capital city of Williamsburg in the summer of 1775, Virginia's erstwhile Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore assembles a flotilla of small vessels to serve as a refuge for loyal British subjects and to strike back at the increasingly rebellious colonists. In early 1776, Dunmore writes to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Germaine describing some new recruits:
"I had frequent occasion to mention a Family of the name of Goodrich, natives of this Colony, this is a Spirited, Active, industrious Family, and it has cost me much trouble and pains (knowing the Service they would be of to which ever Party they joined) to secure them in His Majesty's Service...I have now five of their Vessels employed constantly running up the Rivers, where they have orders to Seize, burn, or destroy every thing that is Water born, that they can get at."
Dunmore's "trouble and pains" certainly pay off, as the "Spirited, Active, industrious Family" would prove quite troublesome on the waters of Virginia and the other soon-to-be United States throughout the American Revolution.
By the outbreak of the American Revolution, the family of John Goodrich, Sr. had been in Virginia for nearly 150 years. John himself owned a house in Portsmouth and a plantation in Nansemond County. He was well-known as a merchant, shipowner, and mariner with a penchant for smuggling. When it is discovered that a shipment of vital gunpowder has been imported to St. Eustatius by May 1775, revolutionary Virginians hope to put Goodrich's services to use. Writing from Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee suggests his compatriots "employ a Mr. Goodrich...a famous Contraband Man to send immediately some swift sailing Pilot Boats for 20 or 30,000 weight [of gunpowder] to supply the Countries." Goodrich employs two of his seven sons, William and Bartlett, to carry out the mission; they are entrusted with some 5000 pounds sterling in colonial bills of exchange and sent to the West Indies. By October, the Goodriches successfully return with between 4000 and 5000 pounds of gunpowder with which to support the cause of liberty.
And that's when they run into trouble.
Lord Dunmore is understandably leery of the Virginia rebels supplying themselves of military stores. Intercepted correspondence leads him to suspect the Goodrich family in the smuggling of gunpowder. John Goodrich, Sr. and his brother-in-law are apprehended and brought before Dunmore. Under questioning, they reveal that William Goodrich had already returned with the first load of powder, but apparently more awaited the Virginia patriots in St. Eustatius. In an audience with the governor, Goodrich, Sr. insists that his family undertook the mission out of the prospect of "good freight" for his family vessels rather than disloyalty. He offers to travel to St. Eustatius himself to retrieve surplus bills of exchange and the remainder of the gunpowder, so long as William is "arrested" for his own protection. Goodrich, Sr. is granted a writ of safe passage by Dunmore, but doesn't get far offshore before he is stopped by the HMS Kingfisher (who refuse to honor the safe passage) and sent back to the governor's custody. William himself is sent to St. Eustatius aboard HMS Otter, and succeeds in returning with 500 pounds in colonial bills of exchange. Father and son are released on parole with instructions to report aboard Dunmore's ship every ten days.
Goodrich's so-called "good freight" gets him in trouble with the patriots as well. Apparently while on the gunpowder mission, William Goodrich met with a British merchantman from Liverpool, and took aboard a multitude of items, "consisting of checks, cotton, ginghams, striped Holland, jeans, Scotch thread, printed linens, Irish linens, white lead, and linseed oil." All of these items were banned by the Acts of Association who refused to import goods from Great Britain until colonial grievances had been addressed. Knowing the foibles of the Association, William altered numerous manufacturer's marks, packaged the items in rum puncheons, and carried them back to Virginia where his father attempted to sell the cargo as "Dutch goods." When questioned by the Committee of Safety and later the Virginia Convention, the Goodriches later claim they were forced to take on the British goods in order to secure the gunpowder. Not buying it, the Virginia Convention declares that the Goodriches had intentionally violated the Association.
Faced with the erstwhile Royal Governor on one side and angry patriots on the other, the Goodriches were forced to choose a side. John Sr. remarked that he was "so harassed on both sides that he did not value his life." That being said, Goodrich and his sons (five of whom had reached adulthood) sided with Lord Dunmore. From that point forward, armed vessels commanded by the Goodrich family would prey on patriot plantations and shipping from Newfoundland down to Charleston.
The Goodriches begin by raiding rebel held plantations along Virginia's waterways (stealing provisions for Dunmore's forces) and capturing rebel shipping. During the summer 1776 campaign for Gwynn's Island, Bridges Goodrich is in command of one of Lord Dunmore's armed tenders. John Sr. is given command of the privateer sloop Lilly, and expands operations to North Carolina. On April 14, Lilly is off Ocracoke Island when she meets the North Carolina schooner Polly loaded with corn and staves for the island of Madeira. Goodrich himself is known by the people of North Carolina, though his new loyalties come as a surprise; Polly's captain is invited aboard only to discover that his ship is being seized for King George. Not taking the event lying down, that night four whale boats full of North Carolina patriots manage to board Lilly, capture Goodrich, and retake the Polly. Goodrich is sent back to Virginia, where he is found guilty of "bearing arms against the Colony and aiding and assisting the Enemy," and is promptly imprisoned in far-off Albemarle County. Bartlett will join him in captivity, but both Goodriches will escape by the end of 1778 where they are found in active service of the British.
For the next several years, the Goodriches will act as British privateers up and down the Atlantic coast, calling for direct responses from Virginia and Continental forces alike:
In the spring of 1778, the Virginia ships Tartar, Dragon, and Southampton are dispatched on commerce protection duty. They sail with orders to cruise "backwards & forwards within the Limits of a few Leagues North of Cape Charles keeping always within fifty Leagues of the land and using their utmost diligence to capture the Enemys Cruisers, particularly those Commanded by the Goodriches." On June 29, the North Carolina Executive is informed that a Goodrich vessel supported by a brig drove two patriot vessels ashore at Hunting Quarter. By November, the Naval Committee of Congress is writes, "At present we consider it an Object of Importance to destroy the infamous Goodrich, who has much infested our coast, cruising with a squadron of 4, 5, or 6 armed vessels, from 16 guns downward from Egg Harbor to Cape Fear, North Carolina."
On May 16, 1779, approximately 30 British vessels under the command of Commodore Sir George Collier entered Chesapeake Bay. For the remainder of the month, Collier's ships cruised the waters of southeast Virginia, taking and destroying nearly every bit of patriot property they found afloat and ashore. 1800 British troops under General Mathew destroyed the town of Suffolk, raided Portsmouth, and burned the shipbuilding facilities at Gosport. Among the forces at Collier's disposal were four privateer vessels commanded by the Goodriches. Following Collier's withdrawal, the Goodriches remained behind to plunder plantations, burn warehouses, and attack shipping with support of the 16-gun HMS Otter and the 12-gun HMS Harlem. Among their victims was the galley Protector of the Virginia Navy: the Goodriches came upon the vessel as she was careened in the Great Wicomico River for repairs; the crew put up what resistance they could with musket fire, but were soon driven off and their vessel burned.
Towards the end of June, Richard Henry Lee described the ongoing depredations to a prominent Continental officer, and included a suggestion of what to do about it: "The Confederacy & the Boston can with infinite ease destroy the enemies vessels that are doing us so much injury, causing us so much expense by frequent calls for Militia – They have already burnt several private houses and one public warehouse with between 2 & 300 hhds of Tobo. and carried off such plunder & many negroes – Soon as they see the Militia gathering they embark and go to another unguarded place. They have 6 vessels, Otter 16, Harlem 12 Guns Kings Vessels – Dunmore 16, Schooner Hammond 14, Lord North 12 Guns & Fin Castle 2 three pounders, The 4 last are Guntridges [Goodrich’s] Pirates."
In October 1780, Virginia would be invaded again, this time by a squadron under Commodore Clark Gayton supporting a land force commanded by Major General Leslie. Once again, the remnants of Virginia's naval force would either be swept aside or sent scurrying into shallow creeks for shelter from the British. Included in Gayton's order of battle is the 20-gun privateer Arbuthnot commanded by John Goodrich, Sr., who had apparently joined the expedition following Sir Henry Clinton's agreement to appoint a vessel for the removal of Goodrich's wife and the family of one of his sons, all of whom had remained in Virginia since the start of the war.
I haven't found any direct references to the Goodriches beyond 1780, but given their past record, I imagine they remained active in the King's service until the ratification of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Goodriches were not the only people to place their loyalty to King George over an extensive family history in Virginia, but their efforts on the water set them apart. Aside from a relatively brief period of captivity for two of them, it seems that the Goodriches made it through the war relatively unscathed. One wonders if they were ever rewarded for their dedication to King and Country...
Sources:
1. Cross, Charles Brinson. A Navy For Virginia: A Colony's Fleet in the Revolution. (Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1981).
2. Stewart, Robert Armistead. The History of Virginia's Navy of the Revolution. (Richmond, Mitchell, & Hotchkiss, 1934).
3. Tormey, James. The Virginia Navy in the Revolution: Hampton's Commodore James Barron and His Fleet. (The History Press, 2016).
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| John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, Virginia's last Royal Governor. |
"I had frequent occasion to mention a Family of the name of Goodrich, natives of this Colony, this is a Spirited, Active, industrious Family, and it has cost me much trouble and pains (knowing the Service they would be of to which ever Party they joined) to secure them in His Majesty's Service...I have now five of their Vessels employed constantly running up the Rivers, where they have orders to Seize, burn, or destroy every thing that is Water born, that they can get at."
Dunmore's "trouble and pains" certainly pay off, as the "Spirited, Active, industrious Family" would prove quite troublesome on the waters of Virginia and the other soon-to-be United States throughout the American Revolution.
By the outbreak of the American Revolution, the family of John Goodrich, Sr. had been in Virginia for nearly 150 years. John himself owned a house in Portsmouth and a plantation in Nansemond County. He was well-known as a merchant, shipowner, and mariner with a penchant for smuggling. When it is discovered that a shipment of vital gunpowder has been imported to St. Eustatius by May 1775, revolutionary Virginians hope to put Goodrich's services to use. Writing from Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee suggests his compatriots "employ a Mr. Goodrich...a famous Contraband Man to send immediately some swift sailing Pilot Boats for 20 or 30,000 weight [of gunpowder] to supply the Countries." Goodrich employs two of his seven sons, William and Bartlett, to carry out the mission; they are entrusted with some 5000 pounds sterling in colonial bills of exchange and sent to the West Indies. By October, the Goodriches successfully return with between 4000 and 5000 pounds of gunpowder with which to support the cause of liberty.
And that's when they run into trouble.
Lord Dunmore is understandably leery of the Virginia rebels supplying themselves of military stores. Intercepted correspondence leads him to suspect the Goodrich family in the smuggling of gunpowder. John Goodrich, Sr. and his brother-in-law are apprehended and brought before Dunmore. Under questioning, they reveal that William Goodrich had already returned with the first load of powder, but apparently more awaited the Virginia patriots in St. Eustatius. In an audience with the governor, Goodrich, Sr. insists that his family undertook the mission out of the prospect of "good freight" for his family vessels rather than disloyalty. He offers to travel to St. Eustatius himself to retrieve surplus bills of exchange and the remainder of the gunpowder, so long as William is "arrested" for his own protection. Goodrich, Sr. is granted a writ of safe passage by Dunmore, but doesn't get far offshore before he is stopped by the HMS Kingfisher (who refuse to honor the safe passage) and sent back to the governor's custody. William himself is sent to St. Eustatius aboard HMS Otter, and succeeds in returning with 500 pounds in colonial bills of exchange. Father and son are released on parole with instructions to report aboard Dunmore's ship every ten days.
 |
| James Barron, Captain of the armed schooner Liberty and eventually Commodore of the Virginia Navy. Sometime before January 16, 1776, Barron seizes the sloop Dorothy, captained by Bartlett Goodrich. |
Faced with the erstwhile Royal Governor on one side and angry patriots on the other, the Goodriches were forced to choose a side. John Sr. remarked that he was "so harassed on both sides that he did not value his life." That being said, Goodrich and his sons (five of whom had reached adulthood) sided with Lord Dunmore. From that point forward, armed vessels commanded by the Goodrich family would prey on patriot plantations and shipping from Newfoundland down to Charleston.
The Goodriches begin by raiding rebel held plantations along Virginia's waterways (stealing provisions for Dunmore's forces) and capturing rebel shipping. During the summer 1776 campaign for Gwynn's Island, Bridges Goodrich is in command of one of Lord Dunmore's armed tenders. John Sr. is given command of the privateer sloop Lilly, and expands operations to North Carolina. On April 14, Lilly is off Ocracoke Island when she meets the North Carolina schooner Polly loaded with corn and staves for the island of Madeira. Goodrich himself is known by the people of North Carolina, though his new loyalties come as a surprise; Polly's captain is invited aboard only to discover that his ship is being seized for King George. Not taking the event lying down, that night four whale boats full of North Carolina patriots manage to board Lilly, capture Goodrich, and retake the Polly. Goodrich is sent back to Virginia, where he is found guilty of "bearing arms against the Colony and aiding and assisting the Enemy," and is promptly imprisoned in far-off Albemarle County. Bartlett will join him in captivity, but both Goodriches will escape by the end of 1778 where they are found in active service of the British.
 |
| Detail of a painting by Nowland Van Powell depicting an American privateer battling a British vessel. |
For the next several years, the Goodriches will act as British privateers up and down the Atlantic coast, calling for direct responses from Virginia and Continental forces alike:
In the spring of 1778, the Virginia ships Tartar, Dragon, and Southampton are dispatched on commerce protection duty. They sail with orders to cruise "backwards & forwards within the Limits of a few Leagues North of Cape Charles keeping always within fifty Leagues of the land and using their utmost diligence to capture the Enemys Cruisers, particularly those Commanded by the Goodriches." On June 29, the North Carolina Executive is informed that a Goodrich vessel supported by a brig drove two patriot vessels ashore at Hunting Quarter. By November, the Naval Committee of Congress is writes, "At present we consider it an Object of Importance to destroy the infamous Goodrich, who has much infested our coast, cruising with a squadron of 4, 5, or 6 armed vessels, from 16 guns downward from Egg Harbor to Cape Fear, North Carolina."
On May 16, 1779, approximately 30 British vessels under the command of Commodore Sir George Collier entered Chesapeake Bay. For the remainder of the month, Collier's ships cruised the waters of southeast Virginia, taking and destroying nearly every bit of patriot property they found afloat and ashore. 1800 British troops under General Mathew destroyed the town of Suffolk, raided Portsmouth, and burned the shipbuilding facilities at Gosport. Among the forces at Collier's disposal were four privateer vessels commanded by the Goodriches. Following Collier's withdrawal, the Goodriches remained behind to plunder plantations, burn warehouses, and attack shipping with support of the 16-gun HMS Otter and the 12-gun HMS Harlem. Among their victims was the galley Protector of the Virginia Navy: the Goodriches came upon the vessel as she was careened in the Great Wicomico River for repairs; the crew put up what resistance they could with musket fire, but were soon driven off and their vessel burned.
Towards the end of June, Richard Henry Lee described the ongoing depredations to a prominent Continental officer, and included a suggestion of what to do about it: "The Confederacy & the Boston can with infinite ease destroy the enemies vessels that are doing us so much injury, causing us so much expense by frequent calls for Militia – They have already burnt several private houses and one public warehouse with between 2 & 300 hhds of Tobo. and carried off such plunder & many negroes – Soon as they see the Militia gathering they embark and go to another unguarded place. They have 6 vessels, Otter 16, Harlem 12 Guns Kings Vessels – Dunmore 16, Schooner Hammond 14, Lord North 12 Guns & Fin Castle 2 three pounders, The 4 last are Guntridges [Goodrich’s] Pirates."
In October 1780, Virginia would be invaded again, this time by a squadron under Commodore Clark Gayton supporting a land force commanded by Major General Leslie. Once again, the remnants of Virginia's naval force would either be swept aside or sent scurrying into shallow creeks for shelter from the British. Included in Gayton's order of battle is the 20-gun privateer Arbuthnot commanded by John Goodrich, Sr., who had apparently joined the expedition following Sir Henry Clinton's agreement to appoint a vessel for the removal of Goodrich's wife and the family of one of his sons, all of whom had remained in Virginia since the start of the war.
I haven't found any direct references to the Goodriches beyond 1780, but given their past record, I imagine they remained active in the King's service until the ratification of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Goodriches were not the only people to place their loyalty to King George over an extensive family history in Virginia, but their efforts on the water set them apart. Aside from a relatively brief period of captivity for two of them, it seems that the Goodriches made it through the war relatively unscathed. One wonders if they were ever rewarded for their dedication to King and Country...
Sources:
1. Cross, Charles Brinson. A Navy For Virginia: A Colony's Fleet in the Revolution. (Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1981).
2. Stewart, Robert Armistead. The History of Virginia's Navy of the Revolution. (Richmond, Mitchell, & Hotchkiss, 1934).
3. Tormey, James. The Virginia Navy in the Revolution: Hampton's Commodore James Barron and His Fleet. (The History Press, 2016).
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