Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
Virginia Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood had given the men he had sent to hunt down Blackbeard strict instructions to look for any documents showing that the notorious pirate had clout over NC Governor Charles Eden. Spotswood knew his expedition into North Carolina was illegal and was trying to find some evidence to bolster his case when the Crown's representatives came asking tough questions. His men while searching on board the Adventure found a letter written by Secretary of the Colony of NC, Tobias Knight, to Blackbeard under a quilt that would make quite a donkey of Mr. Knight in the eyes of the Crown but would hardly have said to have proven the need for Spotswood's invasion of another colony.
Colonel Thomas Powell's letter about the Spotswood invasion to Governor Charles Eden. Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina |
Lt. Maynard captured 10 "pirates" at the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet. One of these whose 70 wounds
dwarfed the number (25) that Blackbeard had suffered. At least in number if not in kind. This was Samuel Odell who along with 5 other men rounded up by Spotswood's forces at Bath Town and survivors of the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet were tried as pirates on March 12, 1719 in Williamsburg, VA. All but Odell and Israel Hands (who received a King's pardon) were condemned as the court bought Odell's story that he was a drinking buddy of Blackbeard that found himself thrown about just like a sanddollar is cast by the sea or a
discus by an Olympian athlete. It was
trendy to have the condemned taken by cart to Capitol Landing Road "Gallow's Road", have them make a speech about the wickedness of their ways as guided by an attending minister, and then pull the carts away from the sentenced whose necks were surrounded by nooses. All of this was watched by an eager mob where concessions of some kind were hardly
taboo.
http://www.usni.org/heritage/blackbeard