Continental Navy

Chaplain Hallet. Despite his omission from the list of officers and men of the frigate Confederacy on pages 601-602 of the “Record of Service of Connecticut Men, Part I, Naval Record of Connecticut, 1775-1783″ edited by Henry P. Johnston (1889), a former Major Hallet apparently entered on board the frigate Confederacy in the capacity of chaplain prior to the vessel’s departure from New London, CT for her maiden voyage on Saturday 1 May 1779. The Confederacy was operating in the Delaware Bay by the end of May when Elias Boudinot sent a letter to George Washington revealing that Hallet or Hollet was accused by two persons of being an agent in British service. Apparently Elias’ brother Elisha Boudinot, Commissary of Prisoners for New Jersey, had received sworn statements from John Brown and Ichabod B. Barret on 18 May 1779 indicating that Mr. Hollet had been a British recruiting officer and was observed recruiting on Long Island “dressed in a uniform with a scarlet coat.” A prominent New Jersey lawyer prior to the American Revolution, Elias Boudinot was made Commissary-General of Prisoners in May 1777 at General Washington’s request. In that position, Colonel Boudinet was responsible for the care of British prisoners and for supplying provisions to American prisoners held by the enemy. Due to his proximity and connections with New York, the commissary-general was acquainted with espionage activities on both sides and although Boudinot had left the post in July 1778, his opinion on such matters was well trusted. Forwarding the accusation to the Board of War, Washington added in a letter dated Saturday 22 May 1779 and quoted by Parker C. Thompson in “The United States Chaplaincy, Vol 1” (1978), “If the facts are true which it contains, the Chaplain on board the Confederacy appears to be a very improper person for such a Trust.” The Marine Committee of the Continental Congress responded with a letter from John Brown to Captain Seth Harding of the Confederacy dated Wednesday 26 May 1779, “Sir, I am ordered by the Marine Committee to desire that you will send up the Chaplin of your Ship to the place under a Guard so as to be brought before the committee on friday evening next at Six O’clock.” It is not known if the frigate came back into Philadelphia early enough in June to deposit the former chaplain at the Marine Committee’s doorstep for their 4 June 1779 inquisition. Nothing more is known concerning the personal history or the outcome of the accused turncoat. Sometime during the Summer or early Fall of 1779, Major Hallet was replaced as chaplain by Presbyterian clergyman Robert Keith who went on board the frigate Confederacy near Philadelphia.

George Richards. Born near Newport, RI about 1755, little is known about the early years of George Richards. One source suggests his father was a lawyer named David who probably died at Newport on 29 March 1761 at the age of 49 and was a Quaker. Congregationalist pastor of East Church in Salem, MA; William Bentley writes in his diary published one hundred years after this 1814 entry that George Richards “had a brother who died in Salem, in humble condition, whose sallies of wit were known to persons of every name, & they were sure upon first notice. I have repeatedly noticed him in my Journal, administered the charities of his brother, & performed the last offices for him at the close of his life.” This brother David died on 20 November 1810 at the age of 58. The Richards brothers also had a sister Agnes who died on Sunday 16 September 1792 in Boston at the age of 33. Continue reading →

Thomas Erskine Birch. The Rev. Thomas E. Birch is one of five Continental Navy Chaplains listed in Mess Night Traditions by Charles J. Gibowicz (2007). Most genealogical sources note Birch’s birth as 22 August 1763 at either St. Kitts or St. Christopher in the British West Indies. Thomas Erskine Birch was born to Dr. Charles Birch (1729-1768) of St. Kitts and Christina Frye (1732-1778) of Monserrat. Thomas came from a long line of Church of England clerics that included two uncles- Rev. John Neville Birch of Leasingham and Rev. Thomas Birch of Thoresby, both in Lincolnshire, England- and his grandfather the Rev. Jonathan Birch, Vicar of Bakewell in Derbyshire. According to family historian Bernie O’Neil, Thomas E. Birch “briefly attended Oxford through the efforts of his uncle Rev. John Neville Birch”. Continue reading →