Not Your Usual Raid
An unusual raid took place on the morning of August 17th in Connecticut. Perhaps I should let someone who was a witness — at least, more of a witness than I — tell the story:
This morning, at East Hartford, Connecticut, sallied from the Lyon Tavern and its dependencies, a corps of female infantry, of twenty rank and file, with a flank guard of three chosen spirits of the male line, and marching westward about one mile in martial array and excellent order, saving stride and gabble, these attacked and carried, without opposition from powder, law, or conscience, Mr. Pitkin’s store, in which was lodged a quantity of sugar designed for the army, of which they plundered and bore away in triumph two hundred and eighteen pounds. A travelling gentleman falling in with the rear, whom they mistook for the owner of the spoils, was attacked and drove with great fury; but being well mounted, made his escape. The whole was completed in two hours, and without loss of blood, except from a few accidental scratches of side arms, underslung without scabbards.
What in the world? I’m not quite sure. I’m not sure who Mr. Pitkin was, but I’ve found references to at least three Pitkins in Connecticut who supported the Revolution, and one of them was apparently from Hartford. I’m guessing that this store owner, even if he wasn’t one of those men, also was in favor of the Revolution, and the sugar was evidently meant for the American army, so taking the sugar doesn’t seem like a sort of mob action meant to punish or frighten him.
Whatever it was, it at least makes an amusing story — at least to us who weren’t there. The person who wrote it was evidently a man, and he poked fun at the women, but it certainly wasn’t just a joke to them; they wouldn’t have done it without some serious reason. My best guess is that there was a shortage of sugar, and that the women weren’t willing to let it be sent to the soldiers in camp, who could live without it at least as well as they could.
Why would there have been a shortage? Because sugar was something that they couldn’t produce at home, so it had to be brought in by ship from the West Indies, and the British navy made it hard for anything to be shipped in. Also, the amount of supplies being sent to the American army around Boston probably contributed to a shortage of some supplies in New England.
Source
Diary of the American Revolution, vol.1, p. 128