THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040311
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Olde Towne Journal
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Most local history buffs have heard of wealthy Colonial merchant Andrew Sprowle and how he started Gosport shipyard in 1767. He would have been even more famous, however, had he not cast his lot with the tories and their leader, Virginia's last royal governor, Lord Dunmore.
Sprowle can be forgiven for joining the losing side, however, as Dunmore was an ally and friend who literally moved in with Sprowle after the British evacuated the Colonial capital at Williamsburg.
Once Dunmore decided to flee Portsmouth in May 1776, Sprowle packed his bags and joined his fellow Royalists in a disease-ridden exile on Gywnn's Island, now Mathews County. There in several unmarked graves, Sprowle, age 62, and dozens of others found their final resting place.
This much is generally known among the scholars of that period, but what of his family? Did he have a wife or children? Who were they? What happened to them after the British left Portsmouth?
Trying to find out anything about the wives of local historical characters is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Only on the rarest occasions did a wife step out from the strictly prescribed role of 18th century woman and make her mark in public - much less in history.
Fortunate are we, however, to have the brief, but fiery history of Mrs. Andrew Sprowle.
Of all the places one would start to look for information on Mrs. Sprowle, the Naval Documents of the Revolutionary War would be last. But there among the sea battles and naval engagements is exactly from where Catherine Hunger Sprowle, wife and widow of Andrew Sprowle, speaks to us today.
It is through the anguish of a grieving widow and tormented mother that her words stand out among naval legends.
According to the record, soon after her husband's death, Sprowle petitioned the British naval commander, Captain Andrew Snape Hamond, on June 17, 1776, for permission to see her oldest son, by a previous marriage, who was a prisoner of war in the Carolinas.
Hamond agreed to give Sprowle an official pass allowing her to travel to Colonial authorities in Williamsburg where she might get permission to see her son. An emissary was sent from Hamond's ship, HMS Otter, under flag of truce to the then American-occupied island, and shortly after, Sprowle was on her way to the Virginia capital.
In Williamsburg, she met the American commander, General Andrew Lewis, who, after hearing her request, referred it to the Committee of Safety. The matter was then placed under ``advisement.'' The committee, however, did not look upon Sprowle's request favorably, as the Chesapeake was under continual harassment by the British navy and the Goodrich family, wealthy Tories who raided Virginia vessels for plunder, and were old friends of the Sprowles.
Instead, the committee ordered Sprowle back to Hamond's ship, allowing her only to write a letter to her son, which they promised would get through. Much to her surprise, upon her arrival at Gywnn's Island she was refused permission by Dunmore to rejoin her exiled friends and neighbors.
First spurned by the Americans and now by the British, she was every bit a woman without a country. She was not yet defeated, however, and used what influence she had left to have Thomas McCullock, the fleet notary, file a petition ``against the conduct of Lord Dunmore.''
Trying to soothe the fiery widow, Hamond brought Sprowle aboard HMS Otter where she railed against Dunmore, accusing him of failing to execute her husband's will and codicil. Knowing well that the royal governor always had his way, Hamond took a neutral stand when Sprowle asked that he intervene on her behalf. Hamond convinced Sprowle to take passage on schooner Betsy then preparing to sail for Glasgow, Scotland.
As she gathered what few belongings she had left for the voyage home, Sprowle fired a verbal broadside at Dunmore that would have cost any lesser person her head. Accusing Dunmore of having ``barbarously condemned'' her to leave her friends and family behind, she claimed that Dunmore had taken advantage of the Sprowles as he was ``himself but a little ago protected and supported by my ever Dear deceased Husband.''
Apparently there had been previous mistrust between Andrew Sprowle and Lord Dunmore, as Mrs. Sprowle signaled her departure by writing that the royal governor had not allowed ``her to take a family inventory or to pack my own parafamalia(sic).''
As the Betsy set sail from Virginia, she remembered her husband's warning as they left Portsmouth to leave Dunmore's fleet, ``but not till she had settled his affairs so as not to be lost to her or his heirs.''
Whether Lord Dunmore's stubborn and cruel actions were part of a plan to mislead the widow and confiscate her estate or part of a jealous streak he had for her husband, history doesn't say. But the incident does reveal a woman of spirit and courage who stood up to one of Royal Virginia's most tyrannical governors.
According to the record, Catherine Hunger Sprowle lost her fortune, but she had the last word. ILLUSTRATION: File illustration
The USS Delaware, the first ship drydocked in America, enters
Gosport shipyard in Portsmouth.
by CNB