AN UNDER-SUNG HERO

Last week at The Moth story slam in Boston, I told a live story about a “gig from hell” Dan and I performed in 1988 and got a great response. Later, some young women in the ladies room asked where they could hear my music. Since Dan and I have not been doing the club scene for quite a while, I explained that we were playing popular music of the 18th c. in historic sites these days. Then, on a whim, I asked if they knew who General John Glover was…blank stares all around. I said, “He is the main reason we all are not speaking with a British accent.”

Glover was a successful merchant and mariner in Marblehead, who, at George Washington’s request, leased his schooner, Hannah, to the government in 1775. He and his crew of privateers, along with four other Marblehead schooners, captured British vessels that were supplying British troops in Boston. Glover and his multi-racial, multi-cultural crew of “Marbleheaders,” went on to save Washington’s army on three occasions.

The Marbleheaders ferried 9,000 men, horses, oxen and cannon across the treacherous East River from Long Island at night in a fog bank, allowing them to escape capture by the British. Glover’s regiment of 750 men also delayed a British force of 4,000 troops while Washington’s army escaped at Pell’s Point (now the Bronx). Most famously, on Christmas eve 1776, Glover’s regiment ferried 2,400 soldiers, horses, oxen and artillery across the frozen, fast-flowing Delaware river in a blizzard. They marched nine miles to the garrison at Trenton which they captured, taking 900 Hession prisoners. They then marched back to the river and re-crossed it. Many were barefooted and without coats or blankets. Several men froze to death, but this action gave Washington a much-needed victory, raising the morale of the colonists and shocking Britain.

Glover sacrificed his considerable fortune, his health and the well-being of his large family for the sake of America. There are five Glover homes  a mile from my house: John’s original house and those of his four brothers. When her returned from the war, he purchased a farmhouse on the Marblehead/Swampscott border. He continued to serve his country until his death

So why the history lesson?John Glover’s farmhouse is under threat of demolition. The land surrounding it has been sold off to shopping centers, a gas station and car wash. The house has been used as a restaurant but now goes unnoticed, quietly falling apart. There is an effort underway to save and restore it; possibly relocating it.

Dan and I will be doing a Colonial concert to help raise money to save General Glover’s farmhouse. The General is buried within walking distance of our house. These days, there are very few heroic individuals willing to sacrifice all for the good of our country. This important, brave man’s last dwelling should be an historic landmark; perhaps a museum where we can bring our school children. I’m hoping that as we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, generations of Americans will celebrate John Glover and the Marbleheaders. America is in great need of heroes and heroines.

For information about John Glover read “The Indispensables” by Patrick K. O’Donnell. To learn more about the effort to save Glover’s farmhouse, go to:  savetheglover.org.