Historic Timeline

The following is a table of the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party.

Dates:

November 28, 1773

The Dartmouth ship arrives in the Boston harbor with the first shipment of tea.

November 30, 1773

Due to the disagreement with the Tea Act by the Bostonians, John Singleton Copley decides to mediate between the Consignees and the Bostonians. The Bostonians find the offer of the Consignees to store the tea as unacceptable.

December 13, 1773

Bostonians learn that Consignees in Philadelphia and New York resign.

December 16, 1773 (Morning)

Bostonians make a last attempt to try and convince Governor Hutchinson to send the tea shipment back, but their efforts are futile. Samuel Adams declares "This meeting can do nothing more to save this country"

While leaving the church a group of people shouted "Boston harbor a tea-pot tonight! The Mohawks are come!"

December 16, 1773 (Evening)

Between 6 p.m and 9 p.m. a group of men dressed as Mohawk Indians throw 342 chests of tea overboard into the Boston harbor; the approximate cost of the tea was £10,000.

List of Tea Party Participants

Who actually boarded the ships and dumped the tea overboard on December 16, 1773?

Over 5,000 colonists participated in the fateful meetings at Old South Meeting House that decided the fate of the tea in December of 1773, but only about 100 to 150 men actually boarded the ships to destroy the tea. Participants in the destruction of the tea swore themselves to secrecy and did not acknowledge each other when aboard the ship.

The following list was compiled by Benjamin Carp for his book:

Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America

Nathaniel Barber, (1728-1787): merchant and insurer, NEC, SOL, petition

Samuel Barnard, (1737-1782): farmer

Adam Beals, (1754-1834): cabinet-maker

Thomas Bolter (Bolton), (1735-1811): housewright or ropemaker

James Brewer, (1742-1805): pump and block maker, watch

Thomas Brimigion, (1754-1843): later a farmer

Stephen Bruce, (1746-1806): merchant, SOL, MAS, petition, watch

Benjamin Burton, (1749-1835): mariner, ship carpenter

Jeremiah Cady, (1752-1848): mason

Nicholas Campbell, (1732-1829): sailor

Thomas Chase, (1737-1787): distiller, Loyal Nine, SOL, NEC, MAS, watch

Benjamin Clarke, (1727-1783)

John Cochran, (1749-1839): later an innkeeper

Gilbert Colesworthy, (1744-1818): caulker

Adam Collson, (1738-1798): leather dresser, NEC, SOL, MAS, watch

James Foster Condy, (1746-1809): bookseller, NEC, petition, watch

Charles Conner, (1734-1793): coastal trader, innkeeper, horse trader

Samuel Coolidge (1753-1816)

Samuel Cooper, (1755-1840): cooper’s apprentice

John Cowdery, (1757-1835): later a soldier and prison supervisor

John Crane, (1744-1805): house carpenter, SOL, watch

Edmund Dolbeare, (1757-1796): cooper’s apprentice, later ship carpenter

Joseph Eaton, (1750-1825): hatter

Joseph Eayres, (1733-1790): housewright, SOL, watch

Benjamin Edes, (1732-1803): printer, SOL, Loyal Nine, NEC, watch

William Etheridge, (1739-1776): mason

Nathaniel Frothingham, (1746-1825): coachmaker

John Gammell, (1751-1828): carpenter

Thomas Gerrish: mariner

Samuel Gore, (1751-1831): painter

Moses Grant, (1743-1817): upholsterer, NEC, petition, watch

Nathaniel Greene, (1738-1791): merchant, SOL

Samuel Hammond, (1749-1842): farmer

William Hendley, (1748-1830), mason

George Robert Twelves Hewes, (1742-1840): shoemaker

John Hooton, (1754-1844): oarmaker’s apprentice

Elisha Horton, (1757-1837): later a papermaker

Samuel Howard, (1747-1840): caulker

Edward Compton Howe, (1741-1821): ropemaker, petition

Richard Hunnewell, (1737-1805): 1731-1805: mason, watch

Daniel Ingersoll (Ingollson), (1750-1829): carpenter

Samuel Larrabee, (1753-1844): coastal trader

Joseph Lee, (1744-1831): merchant

Amos Lincoln, (1753-1829): housewright’s apprentice

Matthew Loring, (1751-1829): leatherworker

Ebenezer MacIntosh - 36, 1737-1812, early revolutionary.

John Martin, (1752-1817): journeyman, distiller or trader

Thompson Maxwell, (1742-1832), farmer and teamster

Archibald McNeil, (1750-1840): ropermaker

Henry Mellus, (1752-1832): mariner

Thomas Melvill, (1751-1832): merchant’s clerk

William Melvin, (1742-1832)

William Molineaux, (1718-1774): hardware merchant, SOL, NEC

Francis Moore, (1740-1833): baker

Thomas Moore, (1753-1813): operator of a commercial wharf

William More

Anthony Morse, (1753-1803): later a tavern keeper

Eliphalet Newell, (1735-1813): later a tavern keeper

Samuel Nowell, (1744-1833): boat builder or ship carpenter

Joseph Pearse Palmer, (1750-1797): merchant, petition, watch

Joseph Payson, (1743-1833): housewright

Samuel Peck: cooper, MAS, watch

William Pierce, (1744-1840): barber

John Peters, (1732-1832): mariner or shopkeeper

George Pillsbury, (1753-1832): schoolteacher or mariner

Lendall Pitts, (1747-1787): merchant

Thomas Porter, (-1800): merchant

Henry Prentiss, (1749-1821): merchant

Edward Procter, (1733-1811): merchant, tavern keeper, SOL, NEC, MAS, petition, watch

Henry Purkitt, (1755-1846): cooper’s apprentice, later a farmer

John Randall, (1750-): farmer

Paul Revere, (1735-1818): silversmith and engraver, SOL, NEC, MAS, petition, watch

Benjamin Rice, (1722-1796)

Isaac Ridgeway, (1758-1840): caulker’s son

Joseph Roby, (1753-1836): tinman or trader

John Russell, (-1778): mason

William Russell, (1748-1784): schoolteacher

Robert Sessions, (1752-1836): laborer, later a farmer

Joseph Shed, (1731-1812): carpenter, later a grocer

Benjamin Simpson, (1755-1849): bricklayer’s apprentice

Peter Slater, (1760-1831): ropemaker’s apprentice

Ephriam Smith, (1752-1835): mariner

Thomas Spear, (1753-1812): blacksmith

Samuel Sprague, (1753-1844): mason’s apprentice

John Spurr, (1749-1822): carpenter

James Starr, (1740-1830): cooper

Phineas Stearns, (1736-17980: farmer, blacksmith

Ebeneezer Stevens, (1752-1823): carpenter

Elisha Story, (1743-1805): physician, SOL, NEC, watch

James Swan, (1754-1831): counting house clerk, NEC, petition

Abraham Tower, (1752-1832): shipbuilder, farmer, fisherman

Lemuel Trescott, (1750-1826): carpenter

Bartholomew Trow , (1736-1806): cordwainer

Thomas Urann, (1723-1792): ship joiner, NEC, MAS, watch

*Thomas Wells, (1746-1810): blacksmith, MAS

Alexander Whaley, (1746-1833): later a blacksmith or gunsmith

Nathaniel Willis, (1755-1831): housewright, watch

Joshua Wyeth, (1758-1832): blacksmith’s apprentice