The fishermen who saved the Revolution
When Americans picture the Revolutionary War, they usually think of George Washington, the Continental Congress, or the minutemen at Lexington and Concord. Few have heard of the men from a small, rocky fishing port north of Boston who rescued Washington's army not once but twice in 1776. They were the Marbleheaders, and their true story inspired our graphic novel, Marblehead.
A town shaped by the sea
In the 1770s Marblehead, Massachusetts, was one of the busiest fishing ports in the colonies. Life on the cold North Atlantic demanded discipline, seamanship and teamwork, because a crew that couldn't work together didn't come home. The waterfront drew free and enslaved Black sailors and Native Americans alongside white fishermen, which made Marblehead's crews more diverse than most colonial communities.
When Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (known to colonists as the Intolerable Acts), the town organized a militia. In May 1775 it came under the command of John Glover, a Marblehead fisherman and merchant who owned his own ships (American Battlefield Trust).
Glover's "amphibious regiment"
The Marblehead men joined the Continental Army in 1775 as the 21st Massachusetts Regiment and were reorganized as the 14th Continental Regiment on January 1, 1776 (Wikipedia: 14th Continental Regiment). Nearly 500 strong and made up mostly of seamen, mariners and fishermen, they became known as the "amphibious regiment."
Glover's ship Hannah was chartered by Washington to raid British supply ships, which is why Marblehead is often called one of the birthplaces of the American navy.
One of the Continental Army's few integrated units
What makes the regiment remarkable today is who served in it. The Washington Crossing Historic Park describes Glover's men as one of the few integrated units in the Continental Army, with Black soldiers serving alongside white and Native men, though gaps in the muster rolls make exact numbers hard to determine (Washington Crossing Historic Park). Historian Patrick K. O'Donnell notes that the regiment's rolls described roughly a third of the men as "dark complexion" (American Heritage).
One of them was Caesar Glover, who was kidnapped from Africa as a child, enslaved in Marblehead, enlisted in 1775 and rowed in the Delaware crossing. You can read his story in our post about the two Caesars.
The night they saved the army: Brooklyn, August 1776
After the Battle of Long Island, Washington's army was trapped in Brooklyn with its back to the East River and about 20,000 British troops in front of it. On the night of August 29, 1776, in rain and fog, Glover's mariners ferried thousands of soldiers, along with horses, supplies and cannon, across the river to Manhattan in small boats. By morning the army had escaped (American Heritage). Without that rescue, the Revolution might have ended that summer.
Pell's Point, October 1776
Weeks later the British landed on Long Island Sound in an attempt to cut off Washington's retreat. On October 18, 1776, Glover led his brigade, about 750 men, against a much larger British force at Pell's Point, using stone walls for cover. The delay gave Washington's army time to withdraw toward White Plains (American Heritage).
Crossing the Delaware, December 25–26, 1776
By December, the Continental Army was shrinking and morale was collapsing. Washington planned a desperate surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. Getting there meant crossing the ice-choked Delaware River at night.
Beginning around 6:00 p.m. on Christmas night, the Marbleheaders and Pennsylvania boatmen loaded soldiers, artillery and horses into Durham boats and ferries and rowed them across through a fierce nor'easter of sleet and snow. At Trenton, Glover's men helped block the Assunpink Creek bridge to cut off the Hessians' escape, and afterward they led the return crossing with about 900 prisoners (Washington Crossing Historic Park).
The victory at Trenton, followed by Princeton, revived the American cause. December 2026 marks its 250th anniversary.
After 1776
Most of the regiment's enlistments ended on December 31, 1776, and the unit disbanded. John Glover returned to the army as a brigadier general in 1777, served at Saratoga and West Point, and later served as a delegate to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution (American Battlefield Trust).
An honest and complicated story
The Marbleheaders' story isn't a simple one. Men who weren't yet free rowed the boats that carried an army fighting for liberty. Caesar Glover was enslaved by John Glover's own brother, and Massachusetts wouldn't end slavery through its courts until the early 1780s. As Mark Rodgers of The Clapham Group writes in "Two Caesars," stories like this let Americans honor something and reckon with something at the same time.
That is the story Marblehead tells through the eyes of three young soldiers, one white, one Black and one Native, who fought for their own future and for a new nation.
Pre-order Marblehead today and bring this little-known chapter of the American Revolution to your family, classroom or library.
Sources and further reading
• American Battlefield Trust, "John Glover"
• Washington Crossing Historic Park, "What Role Did the Marbleheaders Play in the Crossing?"
• Patrick K. O'Donnell, "Glover and the Indispensables Save Washington's Army," American Heritage; adapted from his book The Indispensables (2021)
• National Park Service, "Caesar Glover: A Legacy of Service and Resilience"
• New England Historical Society, "The Red, Black and White Men of Glover's Regiment"
• George Athan Billias, General John Glover and His Marblehead Mariners (1960)
• David McCullough, 1776 (2005)
• Mark Rodgers, "Two Caesars," The Clapham Group
