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Diary of William Cuffee
by Alie Eryn
All ideas of slavery are so against
the Declaration of Independence. We
wrote the Declaration to be independent people and not be ruled by any
King and not be slaves to any human being who is exactly the same as
ourselves in many different ways.
 Click play to hear my story |
Today a committee and I went onto the ships to dump the British tea into the bay.
On the 16th of December in the evening, I dressed myself up as an Indian. I wore hatchet pretending it was a tomahawk. After painting my face with coal dust, we went to Griffin’s Wharf where the ships were that had the tea. When I first appeared in the street dressed as an Indian, I saw many gentlemen dressed as was I.
When we got to the Wharf, three gentlemen took command to divide us into three parties so each party could board one of the three ships that held the British tea. I was under the command of Leonard Pitt.
We were told by our commanders to board our respective ships at the same time. We quickly obeyed. Mr. Pitt ordered me to go to the captain to demand twelve candles and the keys to the hatches . I made the demand to the captain. The captain promptly gave me the items and asked that we not harm the ship or its rigging.
Mr. Pitt told us to open the hatches to get the tea chests to throw them overboard. We followed his order as quickly as possible to get rid of the British tea, cutting the chests open with our “tomahawks” so they would be thoroughly soaked by the depths of the bay. It took us about three hours and though we were surrounded by armed British ships, there was no attempt to stop us.
We then all went home none of us knowing who each of us were except for our commanders.
~ William Cuffee ~
Dear Diary,
The next morning it was noticed that quite a few chests were still floating in the bay. Citizens and sailors took small boats and rowed out to beat on the floating chests so no tea could be saved. I am proud to say our mission went according to plan.
I am proud that I dumped the tea with the committee because being a slave to the British is not right. I think being a slave for anyone is not right. I am glad I am an abolitionist. It is a sin to God and to nature to enslave people. King George doesn’t have the right to make us slaves to all his taxes and unreasonable laws.
Even Benjamin Franklin thinks the same as I do on this issue because he wrote a letter to Dean Woodward trying to tell dean that King George needs to stop forcing Africans to North America to become slaves. I do not think that King George will ever go along with that though.
I even remember reading about John Q. Adams and how some people called him the “hell-hound of slavery.” All ideas of slavery are so against the Declaration of Independence. We wrote the Declaration to be independent people and not be ruled by any King and not be slaves to any human being who is exactly the same as ourselves in many different ways. So, all the things I did with the committee, I feel no guilt because I am proud to be an abolitionist.
~ William Cuffee ~
1 YEAR LATER
Dear Diary,
I have just returned from a trip to Virginia to see my Aunt Emily in Charlottesville, Virginia. I saw how they treated slaves there and it disgusts me. They are so skinny and because they barely ever get fed. They just make them do everything they say and anything that pops in their sick, deranged minds. It kills me to see people treated so badly but I could not do anything I was just visiting I did not live there. So there for I could do nothing to save these innocent people from these terrible happenings.
Epilogue
After the Boston Tea Party happened, Will grew older and got married . A couple of years later they had a baby boy named Will Cuffee II . Shortly after he had his son his wife’s sister, Mary, died of a horrible disease that the doctors could not treat. A lot of sadness filled the family. They cried long after her death. His wife was still crying for her sister roughly a year later.