54 A. H] VerrlU — Tiehitions heticeen Bermuda and the 



It seems quite probable that Captain Ord had previously been 

 informed of tlie gunpowder in Bermuda, and of the means of secur- 

 ijig it, and that when he heard of the rewards offered by Congress 

 for the importation of gunpowder, he hui'ried back to Bermuda and 

 secured it. The intervening time Avas sufficient for that purpose. 

 But whether the Americans took it from the magazine, or received 

 it from friend)}' Bermudians, who had taken it out to them in boats, 

 is uncertain. In Bermuda the latter view seems to have been held. 

 The voj^age from Bermuda in the sailing vessels of that period 

 usually took at least a week, and usually a longer time in summer. 

 So that if the seizure took place on Aug. 14th, the powder could not 

 have reached Philadelphia before the 22d to 28th, and probably 

 rather later than that, perhaps a week or more later. Possibly it 

 may have been taken directly to New York, Providence, or some 

 other port nearer to Washington's army than Philadelphia. But it 

 is certain that Washington had not heard of its ai-rival up to Sept. 

 6th, when he wrote the circular letter to the Bermudians, to be taken 

 there by Capt. Whipple, and probably he had not heard of it before 

 Capt, Whipple sailed, Sept. 12th. This would tend to make the 

 date of Aug. 14th, for the seizure, seem more probable. The powder 

 that was received by the " Lucy," Aug. 6, must have left Bermuda 

 about July 28th, or earlier. According to some traditions and pub- 

 lished accounts, there were two vessels concerned in the seizure : 

 one of them from South Carolina, and the other from Philadelphia. 

 If so, part of the gunpowder may have been taken directly to South 

 Carolina, where it was much needed at that time. It is probable 

 that, as a matter of safet}', no official record was made of the arrival 

 of this captured powder. Many of the warlike acts of the secret 

 committees of that period were never recorded, for good and suffi- 

 cient reasons, as affairs then stood. 



Recently, Miss Caroline Clifford Newton, daughter of the late 

 Professor H. A. Newton, of Yale Universitj'", has called my atten- 

 tion to the fact that Captain Samuel Stiles, of Georgia, has been 

 reputed to have taken a part in the seizure of the gunpowder. He 

 was the great-great-grandfather of Miss Newton. He was an 

 adventurous ship captain, who owned his own vessels, and was 

 engaged in commerce at that time. Miss Newton states that accoi-d- 

 ing to famih"^ traditions he took a prominent part in that affair, 

 importing some of the powder in his own ship. He ma}-, indeed, 

 have commanded the second vessel, said, in the contemporary 

 accounts, to have hailed from South Carolina, as mentioned above. 



