The Clow Rebellion was a Loyalist insurrection that took place in mid-April 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It took place on the Delaware side of the Maryland-Delaware border and was led by Cheney Clow (sometimes spelled "China" Clow). The rebellion was suppressed by Maryland and Delaware militia.
The insurrection was spurred by a foraging party that arrived in the area in late-February under the command of Henry Lee, who collected supplies for the Continental Army stationed at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Discontent over the foraging party led to the formation of an insurrection in March, which grew larger by mid-April, and coalesced under the command of Clow. The insurgents were active in both Maryland and Delaware. Commanding about 200 Loyalists, Clow constructed a fort on his own property, northwest of Dover, near what is today Kenton, Delaware. General William Smallwood sent Colonel Charles Pope to quell the insurrection in early April. He gathered local militia, and approached Clow's fort to investigate on April 14. Clow responded by sending 150 of his men to oppose Pope's militia, and "a smart fire" erupted which left one dead on each side. Pope was forced to retreat, and called upon reinforcements to disperse Clow's force. Pope received reinforcements from both the Maryland and Delaware militia, and attacked Clow's fort again on April 16 or 17, and dispersed the Loyalists. The militia then burned the fort, and captured many of the Loyalist insurgents, although Clow escaped.
Clow's arrest, trial, and execution
In 1782, Clow was arrested for treason by the State of Delaware. Clow was convicted and sentenced to hang in 1783, although the execution was not carried out until 1788.[1]
References
- ^ Bodle, Wayne (2009). "'The Ghost of Clow': Loyalist Insurgency in the Delmarva Peninsula". In Tiedemann, Joseph S.; Fingerhut, Eugene R.; Venables, Robert W. (eds.). The Other Loyalists: Ordinary People, Royalism, and the Revolution in the Middle Colonies, 1763–1787. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. pp. 19–44. ISBN 978-1-4416-1250-2. OCLC 369172727.
Further reading
- Hancock, Harold Bell (1972) [1940]. "The Critical Period". The Delaware Loyalists. Boston: Gregg Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-8398-0800-8. OCLC 654348849 – via Internet Archive.
- Mason, Keith (1990). "Localism, Evangelicalism, and Loyalism: The Sources of Discontent in the Revolutionary Chesapeake". The Journal of Southern History. 56 (1): 23–54. doi:10.2307/2210663. ISSN 2325-6893. OCLC 5545467379.
- Nath, Kimberly M. (2016). The British are coming, again: loyalists, property confiscation, and reintegration in the mid-Atlantic, 1777-1800 (PhD thesis). University of Delaware, Department of History. pp. 65–68. ISBN 978-1-369-12886-4. OCLC 968210149.
- Turner, Joseph Brown (1912). Cheney Clow's rebellion. Wilmington: The Historical Society of Delaware. OCLC 892813136 – via HathiTrust.
External links
- Cheney Clow's Last Stand on YouTube
- "Cheney Clow's Rebellion". Delaware Public Archives - State of Delaware. May 22, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- Mandresh, Jason (February 5, 2020). "Cheney Clow's Loyalist Rebellion...And His Murder Trial". Founder of the Day. Retrieved January 26, 2024.