Glover Broughton (1796-1869) was born in Marblehead, the fourth son of Nicholson and Susanna Glover Broughton. He was a direct descendant of the Capt. Nicholson Broughton who commanded the Hannah, the first armed ship of the American Navy. Glover Broughton was a teenager, just 15, when he joined the crew of the privateer America, and was serving on the ship when it was captured and its crew imprisoned at the infamous Dartmoor Prison in Britain.
His letters and papers leave little doubt that Glover Broughton was a hero. He was able to escape from Dartmoor, where the British government insisted on holding American prisoners of war well after peace had been declared and the War of 1812 was over. Broughton drew the world’s attention to the inhuman treatment prisoners were subjected to in a rhyming long form poem that detailed the April 6, 1815, massacre that took place at Dartmoor. He also drew a map of the prison from memory to accompany the poem.
Once Glover Broughton returned to Marblehead, he became a successful merchant and also served the town of Marblehead in a variety of offices including town clerk and postmaster. One of the driving forces throughout his life was his determination to pursue government pensions for his fellow privateers and their widows. To make sure he missed no one, Broughton made a hand-calligraphed alphabetized list of every one of the 726 Marblehead men who served as privateers from 1812-1815, and added the names of nine additional privateering men from other towns who had been imprisoned at Dartmoor with him.
As Broughton viewed it, the United States government granted pensions to seamen in the Navy and soldiers in the Army, so why not grant privateers, who served with the same valor and whose prizes helped fill the country’s coffers, the same benefits?
Broughton drew the map and wrote the poem mentioned above as part of his efforts to obtain pensions and benefits for surviving privateers and their widows and children. His vivid portrayal of the “horrid massacre” made the name of “the blood thirsty Shortland,” the officer who ordered his men to fire on the prisoners, anathema to generations of Marbleheaders.
The Broughton family papers, stored in acid-free boxes in the Marblehead Museum, contain letter after impassioned letter from Broughton and others to Congress, detailing the dedicated service and hardships endured by privateers and asking for fair treatment of privateers and their survivors. Broughton was particularly incensed that the Bounty Land Act of 1855, which granted tracts of 160 acres in the West and Midwest to veterans, specifically excluded privateers. As the years passed, his letters became more impassioned. He also wrote pension applications for many privateers and their families.
Broughton’s efforts and determination, along with the persistence of Marbleheader James Gregory, were finally successful, after many years pleading their case, and in some years persuading the House of Representatives to grant the pensions but failing to convince the Senate.
Broughton’s direct descendant and namesake, Glover Broughton, 96, of Marblehead, has read numerous books about his famous ancestor and has a restored lithograph of Dartmoor hanging in his dining room. While the 19th-century Glover Broughton wasn’t a direct inspiration in his life, he relates that both he and his father chose to serve their country on the sea.
“My father was a Marine after the First World War,” Broughton said. “He served on an aircraft carrier. So when I graduated from high school he said ‘You’re either joining the Marines or going to college.’ I chose the first one.” Broughton’s tour of duty was from 1946 until just before the Korean conflict. Asked if he enjoyed his career on the sea, Broughton laughed and, like a true Marbleheader, replied, “Of course!”
He didn’t give up on college, though — using the benefits of the GI Bill he graduated from Wentworth College and was hired by the former United Shoe Machinery right out of college. He retired at age 57 after 33 years. Not that he’s the least bit idle — he keeps a busy schedule that includes a weekly round of golf, a pastime he’s enjoyed most of his life.
As this series has shown, with the help of Marbleheaders on land and at sea, the often dangerous job of privateering was an effective help to the new democracy, filling its near-empty coffers and the pockets of the seamen who successfully returned home after dangerous voyages. There are many other parts to this story — perhaps members of your own family were among the valiant privateers.
Marblehead resident Jo Ann Augeri Silva, a retired journalist, author, public relations professional and educator, was an editor of the Marblehead Reporter.
