Arrrrr The Pirate Mutiny of Captain John Fillmore Jr

 

John Fillmore Jr (1702–1777) (3rd cousin 8x removed)—the great-grandfather of U.S. President Millard Fillmore—lived through an extraordinary sequence of events after his capture by Captain John Phillips in late August 1723.

Capture on the Dolphin

In the spring of 1723, 21-year-old John Fillmore set out from Ipswich, Massachusetts, on his first major voyage aboard the fishing sloop Dolphin, commanded by Captain Mark Haskell. On August 29, 1723, while fishing off the coast of Newfoundland, the Dolphin was ambushed by the notorious pirate Captain John Phillips aboard the vessel Revenge.

One of Phillips’s crew members, William White (a former acquaintance of Fillmore from his apprenticeship days), recognized John and pointed him out to Phillips as a skilled, useful hand. Phillips offered Captain Haskell a deal: hand over Fillmore, and the rest of the Dolphin’s crew and vessel would be released unharmed. To save his crewmates, Fillmore voluntarily stepped forward, agreeing to serve under Phillips after the pirate captain swore an oath to set him free after two months of faithful service.

Nine Months of Forced Service

Phillips broke his promise. When two months passed and Fillmore requested his release, Phillips extended the period by three months. When that deadline expired, Phillips famously spat: "Set you at liberty! Damn you! You shall be set at liberty when I'm damned, and not before."

During his nine months of captivity, Fillmore witnessed constant brutality:

• Pirate Discipline: Phillips maintained a violent, unpredictable rule. In one paranoid outburst, he ran his sword through one of his own men and shot him in the head.
• Near-Execution: Following the murder of that crewman, a crazed Phillips turned to Fillmore, held a loaded pistol to his chest, and pulled the trigger. The gun misfired twice—and Fillmore managed to deflect the barrel away before Phillips played it off as merely "testing" his courage.
• Forced Labor: As a captive, Fillmore feigned obedience while constantly seeking an opportunity to strike back alongside other pressed men, including Edward Cheeseman (a navigator) and William White.

The Mutiny of April 18, 1724

By April 1724, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Phillips’s crew captured additional fishing vessels and spent the evening celebrating with a heavy drinking binge. Recognizing their chance, Fillmore, Cheeseman, and a few fellow captives plotted a morning assault while the surviving pirate crew slept off the alcohol below deck.

Around noon on April 18, four key pirate leaders—Captain Phillips, the Boatswain, the Master, and the Quartermaster (John Rose Archer)—came on deck. Armed with heavy broadaxes and carpenter’s tools, Fillmore and his co-conspirators struck:

1. The Assault: Fillmore split open the head of the pirate captain with an adze/broadaxe, while Cheeseman and others killed the Boatswain and Master, throwing them overboard.
2. Securing the Ship: The remaining officers and crew below deck were trapped and forced to surrender immediately upon realizing their leaders were dead.

Arrival in Boston & Legacy

Fillmore and his fellow mutineers sailed the captured pirate vessel into Boston Harbor on May 3, 1724, delivering the surviving pirates to the authorities.

• Court Verdict: The Court of Admiralty tried and convicted the surviving pirate crew. Several, including John Rose Archer, were hanged at Boston's Bird Island.
• The Trophies: For his heroism, the Admiralty Court awarded John Fillmore Captain Phillips's personal belongings: his silver-hilted cutlass, a heavy 4-foot sic pistol, a silver shoe and knee buckles, gold rings, and a carved tobacco box.

• Aftermath: Fillmore swore off the sea entirely after the ordeal. He settled inland in Norwich (Franklin), Connecticut, where he worked as a carpenter, mill owner, and farmer until his death in 1777. The silver-hilted pirate sword remained a treasured heirloom within the Fillmore family for generations, passed down directly to President Millard Fillmore.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

George Mason I: The Royalist Pioneer

 

George Mason I (1629–1686) was the patriarch of one of the most politically influential dynasties in early American history. His arrival in Virginia laid the wealth, status, and geographic foundation that directly enabled his great-grandson, Founding Father George Mason IV, to shape the American Republic.

Early life:

Born in Pershore, Worcestershire, England, George Mason I (9th great-grandfather) was a staunch Royalist (or "Cavalier") who fought for King Charles I and King Charles II during the English Civil War.

• The Flight from England: Following the disastrous Royalist defeat at the Battle of Worcester (1651), Mason fled the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell, boarding a ship for Virginia around 1652.
• Establishing the Frontier Seat: He settled first in Norfolk County before moving north to Stafford County along Accokeek Creek. His plantation marked the far northern edge of the English frontier at the time.
• Military & Political Command: As Lieutenant Colonel of the Stafford County Militia, he commanded frontier defenses during the tumultuous skirmishes that led up to Bacon’s Rebellion (1676). He also served as High Sheriff of Stafford County and represented the region in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

The Direct Lineage to the Founding Father

The estate, public prominence, and political influence passed down directly through four generations of eldest sons, each named George:

  [George Mason I] (1629–1686) ── Cavalier Immigrant, Burgess & Militia Colonel

         │

  [George Mason II] (1660–1716) ── Justice of the Peace & Militia Commander

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  [George Mason III] (1690–1735) ── County Lieutenant & Planter (Drowned in Potomac)

         │

  [George Mason IV] (1725–1792) ── Founding Father & Author of the VA Declaration of Rights

The Legacy Handed to George Mason IV

While George Mason I built the empire through land grants and military force, George Mason IV inherited both the physical wealth and the philosophical tradition of colonial leadership.

• The Land & Wealth: By the time George Mason IV came of age, the land holdings secured by his great-grandfather and expanded by his grandfather and father encompassed tens of thousands of acres across Northern Virginia, including the land where Mason built his famous estate, Gunston Hall.
• The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776): Drawing on his family’s long heritage of public service, George Mason IV drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Its opening principles—that all men are inherently free and equal and possess unalienable rights—were famously adapted by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
• The Bill of Rights: Mason IV was one of the most prominent delegates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but he refused to sign the U.S. Constitution because it lacked an explicit protection of individual liberties. His stubborn principled stance earned him the title "Father of the Bill of Rights," as his arguments directly forced the adoption of the first ten amendments in 1791.

Comparison Across Generations

Metric / Aspect	George Mason I (Great-Grandfather)	George Mason IV (Great-Grandson)
Era	17th-Century Colonial Frontier	18th-Century American Revolution
Key Role	Militia Colonel & Burgess	Framer of the Constitution & Philosopher
Primary Legacy	Secured Northern VA land and estate	Authored VA Declaration of Rights & inspired U.S. Bill of Rights
Seat of Power	Accokeek Creek Plantation, Stafford Co.	Gunston Hall, Fairfax Co.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Scottish Enlightenment, American Independence and George Mason

 

The Scottish Enlightenment was one of the most intellectually fertile periods in European history, producing ideas that traveled directly across the Atlantic to forge the ideological engine of the American Revolution. Rather than adopting the abstract, centralized models of Continental thinkers, the American Founders drew heavily upon Scotland’s practical approach to human nature, governance, and fundamental liberties—an influence that ultimately shaped both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

At the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment was the concept of "common sense" realism, championed by philosophers like Thomas Reid, alongside the moral philosophy of Francis Hutcheson and David Hume. Hutcheson, often considered the founding father of the movement, popularized the doctrine that all human beings possess an innate "moral sense" capable of discerning right from wrong without relying on aristocratic authority or religious dogma. He argued that government exists to promote "the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers" and famously asserted a natural right to resist tyrannical rule.

These ideas found a direct conduit to America through educational institutions, most notably the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University). Its president, Scottish immigrant John Witherspoon—the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence—educated a generation of American leaders. Among his pupils was James Madison, the primary architect of both the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Under Witherspoon’s tutelage, Madison absorbed the Scottish view that political systems must be designed for real human beings driven by self-interest, rather than ideal citizens.

This practical philosophy directly influenced the push for independence and the structure of early American liberty:

• Philosophical Justification for Independence: Hutcheson’s belief in natural rights and the right to resist oppression supplied Thomas Jefferson with the intellectual foundation for writing that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed."
• Checks and Balances: David Hume’s political essays demonstrated that institutional checks, balances, and divided powers could harness factional self-interest to preserve freedom in a large republic, directly inspiring Madison’s arguments in Federalist No. 51.
• The Bill of Rights: Scottish common sense philosophy held that basic human liberties—such as freedom of conscience, speech, and trial by jury—were self-evident and essential for a virtuous society. Codifying these liberties into explicit amendments reflected the Scottish distrust of unchecked power and the desire to safeguard the individual against government overreach.

Ultimately, the American Founding was not merely an assertion of political independence, but a practical application of Scottish Enlightenment thought. By grounding individual liberty, governance, and rights in the observable realities of human nature, the Scottish philosophers helped transform abstract concepts of freedom into the enduring constitutional framework of the American Republic.

George Mason IV: A Cerebral Revolutionary

George Mason IV acted as the crucial bridge between abstract Enlightenment philosophy and codified American law. While he did not travel to Scotland for his education, his intellectual and political life was deeply intertwined with the Scottish Enlightenment’s core principles of inherent rights, civic virtue, and practical limits on power.

A Cerebral Revolutionary

Unlike many of his peers, Mason never attended college. Instead, he was largely self-educated, reading deeply into classical literature, philosophy, and the English Whig tradition in his youth. He absorbed the Enlightenment consensus that a republic could only survive if its citizens possessed "virtue"—which Mason defined as the willingness to subordinate private desires and ambition for the good of the community. Like the Scottish philosophers, Mason believed that prosperity was dangerous unless restrained by moral discipline and frugality.  

Drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)

When Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, he perfectly channeled the "common sense" realism of the Scottish Enlightenment. He famously opened the document by stating that "All men are born equally free and independent," possessing "inherent natural rights" that no government could strip away. This was a profound shift: rights were no longer privileges granted by a king, but observable, self-evident facts of human nature. Just weeks later, Thomas Jefferson—who was heavily influenced by Scottish Enlightenment thinkers like Francis Hutcheson—drew directly on Mason’s words to draft the Declaration of Independence.  

The Madison Partnership

Mason's ideas were further refined through his close collaboration with a young James Madison. Madison, who had been educated directly in the Scottish Enlightenment tradition at Princeton by Rev. John Witherspoon, worked alongside Mason to amend the Virginia Declaration of Rights to include absolute "free exercise of religion" rather than mere tolerance.

The Bill of Rights

Ultimately, Mason’s refusal to sign the U.S. Constitution embodied the Scottish Enlightenment's deep skepticism of human ambition. Scottish philosophers argued that humans are driven by self-interest, meaning centralized power would inevitably become tyrannical if left unchecked. Mason agreed, recognizing that a theoretical framework was not enough. He demanded that the fundamental, self-evident liberties of the people be explicitly written down to bind the hands of the new government—a stubborn, practical stance that directly forced the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

William Gibson: Quaker Pioneer Navigating the French & Indian War Frontier

 

William Thomas Gibson (7th great-grandfather)(1705–1771) was a Quaker pioneer who emigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, to Pennsylvania. His experience in the mid-18th century highlights the challenges faced by pacifist communities living along the dangerous colonial frontier.

Migration and Settlement

• Ulster to Pennsylvania: Gibson left Ireland during a large wave of Scotch-Irish and Anglo-Irish immigration, arriving in Pennsylvania during the 1700s.
• Frontier Location: He settled in Lancaster County and later in Cumberland County, west of the Susquehanna River. At the time, this area formed the outer edge of English settlement in North America.

Navigating the French and Indian War Frontier

Living in Cumberland County during the 1850s put Gibson directly in the middle of severe regional conflict during the French and Indian War (1754–1763):

• The Quaker Pacifist Dilemma: The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) held a core testimony of non-violence and strict pacifism. While colonial authorities and local Scotch-Irish neighbors organized armed militias and constructed stockade forts to defend against frontier raids, Quaker families were forced to navigate the violence without taking up arms.
• Tensions on the Frontier: The violent raids in the Susquehanna and Cumberland Valleys created immense social and political friction. Neighbors often viewed non-combatant Quakers with suspicion for refusing to join local defense militias or pay military taxes.
• The Fall of Quaker Political Control: The brutal realities of the French and Indian War on the Cumberland frontier ultimately forced a major crisis in Pennsylvania's government. In 1756, facing pressure from both British authorities and frontiersmen demanding military protection, Quaker leaders resigned en masse from the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, ending decades of Quaker political dominance in the colony.

Despite the surrounding conflict and instability, Gibson remained in Cumberland County through the war and its aftermath until his death in January 1771.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Rev. William Duncan: Patriot Pioneer of Culpeper County

 

William Duncan (7th great-grandfather)(1692–1781), often referred to in historical and genealogical records as "William the Elder" or "The Scottish Patriarch," was a foundational figure in the settlement of Culpeper County, Virginia.

Origin & Emigration

• Scottish Roots: Born in Scotland around 1692, he is traditional family lore's link back to Rev. William Duncan, a 17th-century Covenanter and Presbyterian minister in Perthshire/Dumbartonshire. 
• Arrival in Virginia: William emigrated from Scotland to colonial Virginia in the early 1700s, initially settling in the Northern Neck area. 
• Marriage: On February 11, 1722, he married Ruth Rawley (or Raleigh), daughter of Matthew Rawley, an English immigrant of Welsh descent. 

Pioneer of Culpeper County (Bromfield Parish)

• Settling the Frontier: Duncan moved westward into what was then Orange County, establishing a homestead in the section that became Culpeper County upon its formation in 1748. 
• Bromfield Parish: He became a prominent landowner and civic leader in Bromfield Parish (a parish of the established Church of England covering parts of Culpeper and modern-day Madison/Rappahannock counties). 
• Establishing a Dynasty: William and Ruth had a large family (including sons Rawley, William Jr., Charles, James, and Townsend). His sons and grandsons served as militia members in the French and Indian War and later fought in the American Revolution, dispersing the Duncan name across Kentucky, Tennessee, and the wider American frontier. 

Patriotic Service & Legacy

• Patriot of the Revolution: Despite his advanced age during the American Revolution, William Duncan contributed to the American cause by supplying provisions to the Virginia militia, earning recognition as a Revolutionary War Patriot (DAR Ancestor #A035007). 
• Will and Estate: His last will and testament, dated in Bromfield Parish, was admitted to probate in Culpeper County Court on October 15, 1781. He died at approximately 89 years of age, leaving behind an extensive land estate and dozens of descendants who helped shape the early American Republic. 

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Iron and Reins: The Unbroken Life of David Solomon Bailey

 

Elkhorn Nebraska c. 1890

From Buckeye Roots to the Iowa Frontier

The story of David Solomon Bailey began on December 8, 1837, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. Born to Orange Bailey and Lydia Waggoner, David spent his earliest years among the hardwood forests and expanding settlements of central Ohio. But mid-19th-century America was defined by relentless westward motion, and the Bailey family was no exception.

In 1845, when David was just seven years old, the family loaded their belongings into a covered wagon and joined the pioneer trail bound for the Iowa Territory—a raw, newly opening frontier on the banks of the Mississippi River. The journey was grueling, but the hardest blow fell shortly after their arrival. In August 1847, in Marion Township, Davis County, Iowa, nine-year-old David suffered the devastating loss of his mother, Lydia.

Growing up fast in the Iowa countryside, David learned the heavy physical labor of frontier farming. By his early twenties, he settled in nearby Moravia, Appanoose County. It was there that he met and courted Sophia Boyd, the daughter of Valentine Boyd, a respected local blacksmith in Union, Iowa. The young couple married on March 13, 1859. With his new father-in-law shaping iron at the forge, David set out to build a quiet life as an Iowa farmer, welcoming his first son, William, shortly before the nation fractured into civil war.

Guerrilla Terror and the Call to Arms

For the first three years of the Civil War, David remained home in southern Iowa, tending his farm and raising his young family. Southern Iowa, however, was not far from the bloody border conflicts of Missouri. By late 1863 and early 1864, the region was plagued by violent, pro-Confederate bushwhackers and guerrilla raiders who crossed the border to terrorize civilian settlements, loot farms, and ambush Union sympathizers.

The sudden, chaotic threat to his home and family transformed a 27-year-old husband and father into a soldier. On February 18, 1864, David left his farm in Van Buren County and traveled to Keokuk, Iowa, enlisting as a private in Company G of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry.

  [FEB 18, 1864]          [MAR 16, 1864]            [JUNE 1-9, 1864]           [JUNE 10, 1864]

Enlisted at Keokuk ──► Mustered into Co. G ──► Sturgis Expedition March ──► Battle of Brice's Cross Roads

                       (Memphis, TN)           (Memphis to Mississippi)        (Severely Wounded)

Mustered into service on March 16, 1864, Private Bailey was deployed to Memphis, Tennessee, joining his regiment for patrol duties against Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. In June 1864, Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis led a Union column of 8,000 men deep into northern Mississippi to pin down Forrest's cavalry and protect Sherman's vital supply lines during the Atlanta Campaign.

Disaster at Brice’s Cross Roads

On the sweltering, 90-degree morning of June 10, 1864, the column met Forrest’s forces near Guntown, Mississippi, at an intersection known as Brice’s Cross Roads. Company G of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry dismounted and entered dense oak thickets, using multi-shot Spencer repeating carbines to hold back aggressive Confederate charges for hours.

Battle Stage	Tactical Development
Morning (10:00 AM)	Dismounted 3rd Iowa Cavalry holds the line against fierce attacks in stifling heat.
Afternoon (1:30 PM)	Exhausted Union infantry arrives; Forrest launches simultaneous double-flank attacks.
The Panic (3:30 PM)	Union lines collapse; an overturned wagon blocks the Tishomingo Creek bridge, triggering a retreat.

As the Union retreat collapsed into chaos across Tishomingo Creek, hundreds of severely wounded men were left behind at makeshift field hospitals. Among them was Private David Bailey, whose right leg had been shattered by enemy fire. Unable to walk, David was captured as a prisoner of war. A field surgeon performed an emergency amputation of his right leg below the knee under crude conditions.

  [JUNE 10, 1864]           [SUMMER 1864]          [FALL 1864 - SPRING 1865]       [SEP 11, 1865]

Severe Leg Wound & ──► Confederate Field Hosp. ──► Paroled to US Gen. Hospital ──► Honorably Discharged

   Amputation             & Mobile Care              (Memphis / Keokuk)              ("Disch Wounds")

Because caring for amputees strained Confederate resources, David was paroled under a flag of truce in late 1864 and transferred to Union general hospitals in Memphis and Iowa. He spent fifteen grueling months recovering from infection and learning to navigate life on a wooden peg leg before receiving his medical discharge on September 11, 1865.

The Frontier Teamster of Nebraska

1905 Sophia (Boyd) & David Bailey with their

brother-in-law Frances Holland Shonkwiler

Returning to Moravia, Iowa, missing his right leg would have permanently sidelined many men, but David refused to accept invalidism. Driven by the promise of cheap land under the Homestead Act—which allowed Union veterans to count military service toward residency requirements—David gathered Sophia and their growing family. Between 1867 and 1869, they journeyed 200 miles west in a covered wagon to Douglas County, Nebraska, settling near Elkhorn along the newly completed Union Pacific Railroad.

                    1890 OMAHA FREIGHT & TEAMSTER NETWORK

                    

  [Union Pacific Railyards] ──► [Jobbing District & Warehouses]

                                          │

                                (Heavy Drayage Vans)

                                          │

  [Stockyards & Smelters]   ──► [Paved Streets vs. Mud Roads]

On the Nebraska prairie, David turned his physical limitations into a specialized craft. While hand-plowing on a peg leg was grueling, handling draft horses relied on voice, hands, balance, and quiet authority. David began breeding Belgian draft horses—massive, calm, muscular horses prized for heavy hauling.

By 1890, Omaha had exploded into a roaring metropolis of 140,000 people, serving as the "Gateway to the West." David worked as a heavy commercial teamster, maneuvering broad-chested draft teams pulling iron-axled drayage wagons loaded with timber, grain, and machinery through crowded downtown streets. To drive heavy teams with an amputated leg, he relied on custom wagon modifications, including a high, padded box-seat and custom foot-braces to leverage the wooden wheel brakes.

  [1867–1869]  Move to Nebraska ──► Settled Elkhorn, Douglas County; daughter "Pink" born 1870.

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  [1870s–1880s] Draft Horse Breeding ──► Raised Belgian draft horses for farm and city freighting.

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  [1890s]      Omaha Teamstering ──► Hauled industrial drayage; partnered in Fowler seed business.

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  [JUL 19, 1915] Final Rest     ──► Passed away at age 77; buried in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

As the agricultural industry expanded, David connected his draft-horse operation with local trade. When his daughter Mahalia Margaret ("Pink") married Charles B. Fowler, David partnered with his son-in-law in the booming regional seed and grain business, hauling sacks of seed corn and grain between farms and rail depots in Waterloo and Elkhorn.

Despite enduring the loss of his daughter Celestia in 1893 and his beloved wife Sophia in 1908, David remained a steady fixture of Western Douglas County. When he passed away on July 19, 1915, at the age of 77, local newspapers honored him as a true pioneer veteran—a man who lost a limb on a Civil War battlefield but built a legacy through sheer grit on the Nebraska frontier.

Battle Stage

Tactical Development

Morning (10:00 AM)

Dismounted 3rd Iowa Cavalry holds the line against fierce attacks in stifling heat.

Afternoon (1:30 PM)

Exhausted Union infantry arrives; Forrest launches simultaneous double-flank attacks.

The Panic (3:30 PM)

Union lines collapse; an overturned wagon blocks the Tishomingo Creek bridge, triggering a retreat.

1890 Iowa, (front row l-r) Orange Bailey, David Solomon Bailey, 

David Jackson Bailey and Sophia Boyd Bailey (back row unknown)

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy