When Americans think of traitors, the first name that comes to mind is that of Benedict Arnold, the trusted general who betrayed his country during the Revolutionary War. Another important figure who apparently betrayed the patriotic cause was Benjamin Church. His actions and motives remain something of a mystery. They certainly puzzled his contemporaries.
Mayflower Descendant, Grandson of Famous Fighter
Church, a Boston physician, was thoroughly American: He was a Mayflower descendant and one of his grandfathers, Captain Benjamin Church, was a famous participant in King Philip’s War, a bloody and terrifying Indian uprising in colonial New England.
Dr. Church’s educational credentials were also impressive. He graduated from Harvard—in the same class with John Hancock—and went to London for training in surgery. Furthermore, he had an established record for public service. He had treated the ill at the public almshouse and, during epidemics, freely administered smallpox inoculations to the poor.
Key Member of Boston Committee of Correspondence
Church had other talents as well. As Church was drawn into the patriot cause in the 1760s, patriot leaders learned to appreciate his writing skills and made use of the doctor on many key committees, including the Boston Committee of Correspondence. He was among the top patriot leaders in Massachusetts as the Revolutionary War started.
In 1775, with the British bottled up in Boston, and patriots controlling the countryside, George Washington arrived in Massachusetts to take charge of the American army. Washington soon came into possession of a mysterious letter. A young woman had entrusted the letter to a Newport, Rhode Island, man for delivery to an officer on a British vessel. The Newport man, suspicious and sympathetic to the patriot cause, did not deliver it, but instead opened it. It was written in some kind of code.
Coded Letters to the Enemy
That man passed it on to one of Washington’s generals, who directly delivered it to Washington. Washington promptly had the woman tracked down. This "subtle, shrewd jade" said little at first, but then made a shocking revelation: The author of the letter was Benjamin Church. The woman was his mistress. Church’s marital infidelity was hardly a secret. Hints of it had appeared in print some six years earlier. But the possibility that Church was passing on coded letters to the enemy was stunning.
Church, who that summer had been appointed chief physician to the army, was soon arrested. Someone was sent to round up Church’s papers. A search found nothing incriminating but evidence that some letters had been removed. Meanwhile the coded letter, dated July 22, was deciphered. It told about the strength of American forces and American military plans. It included detailed instructions for making a reply. It’s ending: “Make use of every precaution or I perish.”
Guilty of Communicating with the Enemy
Church was brought forth to defend himself. Church confessed to writing the letter but protested that he was just trying to baffle the enemy. After all, he pointed out, much of the information given was false. Washington’s council of war found Church guilty of communicating with the enemy.
For some, Church’s treachery was not entirely surprising. He had raised eyebrows earlier by mingling a little too freely with loyalists. Paul Revere, for one, had had his suspicions.
Sam and John Adams Astonished
For most leaders, however, Church’s betrayal was a huge shock. Both John Adams and Sam Adams seem confounded. Sam pointed out that the information Church passed on did not seem to expose the weakness of the American army—which would be the aim of a traitor. John called the incriminating letter “the oddest Thing imaginable.” Said John: “In short I endeavor to suspend my Judgment, Don’t let us abandon him for a Traitor without certain Evidence.”
One Boston minister urged that Church be hanged. But patriotic leaders were less severe on Church than might be expected. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress expelled him but did not charge him with any crime. Still, leaders could not just let Church go. Eventually, the Provincial Congress passed the matter on to the Continental Congress, which ordered Church’s transfer to a jail in Connecticut for the time being.
Mob Attacked House Where Church Stayed
There his health declined. Responding to petitions from his doctor and his family, the Continental Congress allowed Church to go to Boston in June 1776, three months after the British evacuation of the town. Almost as soon as Church arrived in Boston, a mob attacked the house where he was staying. To prevent further disorder and to protect Church, town selectmen ordered that Church be taken to jail.
In July 1777, authorities planned to hand Church over to the British in exchange for American prisoners. A mob, however, rose up to block the exchange. In January 1778, Church was given permission to go into exile, provided he not return to America until the end of the war. He left for Martinique. On the way, the vessel carrying him carried him sank with no trace.
Sources:
Bellesiles, Michael. “Church Benjamin.” Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History. Ed. Harold Selesky. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. 212-213. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 May 2010.
French, Allen. The Siege of Boston. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1911.
Kiracofe, David James. "Dr. Benjamin Church and the Dilemma of Treason in Revolutionary Massachusetts." The New England Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Sept. 1997), pp. 443-462.
Warren-Adams Letters, Vol. 1, 1743-1777. The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1917.
Brian Deming - Brian Deming has a master’s degree in American history from Northwestern University. He has taught U.S. history and media history at ...
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