Benjamin Church
Benjamin Church was a notable figure in colonial America, born to a Boston merchant and educated at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1734. He trained in medicine under Dr. Joseph Pynchon and furthered his studies in London. Upon returning to Boston, he established a successful practice and became aligned with the patriot cause, befriending prominent figures such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Church was an active member of the Sons of Liberty and contributed to the Whig movement through his writings, particularly during 1768 and 1769. He gained recognition as an orator following his speech commemorating the Boston Massacre in 1773, and was involved in early revolutionary activities.
However, suspicions about his loyalty arose when he was accused of communicating with British forces, particularly after he was intercepted while attempting to send an encoded letter to a British officer. Despite his claims that the letter was meant as a ruse, Church was found guilty of treasonous activities and imprisoned. He was eventually released under guard but disappeared at sea while attempting to leave for the West Indies. Church's complex legacy highlights the tensions within the revolutionary movement and the challenges faced by individuals during this tumultuous period in American history.
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Benjamin Church
Physician
- Born: August 24, 1734
- Birthplace: Newport, Rhode Island
- Died: January 12, 1778
- Place of death: At sea
Biography
Benjamin Church was born to a colonial Boston merchant and deacon in the Hollis Street Congregational church. The younger Church attended the Latin School in Boston and graduated from Harvard College in 1734; next, he studied medicine under Dr. Joseph Pynchon and in London. When he returned to Boston, he brought with him his new English wife, Hannah Hill, and began establishing himself as a skilled and reputed physician and surgeon.
His name also became quickly associated with the patriot cause, as he befriended the likes of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. As one of the Sons of Liberty, he wrote prolifically in support of the American colonies’ cause, writing during 1768 and 1769 for The Times, a newspaper focused on Whig causes. In 1770, Church was the first physician to arrive at the site of the Boston Massacre, and the experience would lead him to deliver the speech, “To Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of May 1770,” on the Massacre’s third anniversary. This speech established Church as an impressive orator.
Early in the escalating tensions between the colonies and Great Britain, some of Church’s contemporaries began suspecting him of disloyalty when the minutes of private meetings kept reaching the British forces. But most of Church’s colleagues retained faith in him as one of their own, and his fellow patriots in 1774 selected him as a delegate to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. But controversy again fell upon Benjamin Church in April, 1775, following the battles of Lexington and Concord, when Church was traveling between Cambridge and Boston for medical supplies. According to Church, British officers seized him mid-journey for an interview with General Thomas Gage, but some were skeptical and opined that Church had sought out the British general.
He continued in the good graces of most patriots, accepting the appointment of surgeon general and director of hospitals in July, 1775. However, shortly after beginning his new position, Church sent, through a prostitute, an encoded letter to British Major Cane in Boston. The letter was intercepted by Church’s fellow colonials, and it was determined that Church had been providing information on the colonists’ military operations. In the letter, he proclaimed his loyalty to Britain. Still, Church denied charges of disloyalty and argued that his letter was meant to throw off British forces and to convince them that American forces were stronger than they really were so that the British army would not attack the patriots during a time in which they were short on ammunition. His peers did not believe Church’s explanation, and he was convicted of “communicating with the enemy,” and imprisoned in Norwich, Connecticut. In ill health, he was granted leniency in 1776, released from jail under guard, and allowed in mid- 1776 to leave Boston for the West Indies. The ship on which Church was sailing was never heard from again and was presumed lost at sea.