This humble drum saw service in two battles — one over labor rights and one to keep the country whole.
In 1860, Marblehead employed 3,000 people in local shoe factories, including 1,000 women. Factory workers endured low wages and long hours. Women earned just $4 per month while men earned $8, and shifts lasted 16 hours. Factory workers across Essex County felt the strain, and in response, Lynn shoemakers formed a union called the Mechanics Association.
When factory bosses refused to negotiate, workers across New England went on strike. On Feb. 22, 1860, 20,000 shoe workers in Marblehead and 23 towns turned off their machines and walked out of the factories. This began the largest labor strike in America before the Civil War.
On St. Patrick’s Day, 500 women marched through the streets of Marblehead to a rally in Lynn. The Marblehead Brass Band, two local fire brigades and three militia companies escorted the women to the Lynn Town Common. Britt Bartoll, a member of the Lafayette Guard, banged the drum seen here as part of the procession.
Marblehead women carried banners emblazoned with provocative slogans like “Down with Tyranny,” “Our Bosses Grind Us” and “We Are Not Slaves.” When they arrived in Lynn, the crowd gave “three cheers for the Marblehead girls.”
However, women left the strike a few days later when they discovered that the organizers only sought pay raises for men, who feared that negotiations would break down if they fought for their shoe worker sisters. The strike ended with modest victories six weeks later: men earned a wage increase, and the factories agreed to recognize unions.
One year later, as the Battle of Fort Sumter led the nation into war, President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to enlist in the Union Army. Britt Bartoll banged this drum again while escorting a group of brave men to the Old Town House. They organized into companies by Knott Martin, Francis Boardman and Richard Phillips, and boarded a train to Faneuil Hall, the first Massachusetts soldiers to answer Lincoln’s call.
Jarrett Zeman is the assistant director of the Marblehead Museum. “From the Vault” is a partnership between the Marblehead Museum and the Current.
