Jesse Dunbar

Who was Jesse Dunbar?

Jesse Dunbar was a Tory from Halifax, a town in Plymouth County, located in what was then called the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In 1774, while anti-British colonists - also known as Whigs or Patriots - tried to stage a boycott on British goods, Jesse Dunbar bought some "fat cattle" from Mr. Thomas, a Mandamus Counsellor from England. The purchase was a violation of the boycott, but by no means illegal. He was approximately 31 years old at the time.

After driving the oxen back home to the town of Plymouth, Jesse Dunbar slaughtered, skinned, and hung up one of the oxen. Rumor spread about where the oxen had come from, and soon a committee of Whigs came to extralegally enforce the boycott by stuffing Jesse Dunbar into the belly of the ox carcass. After stuffing Dunbar into the belly of the ox, the Plymouth mob put the ox carcass into a cart and pushed the cart 4 miles out of town. The mob also stole three more cattle and a horse from Mr. Dunbar.

The Plymouth mob forced Jesse Dunbar to pay them one dollar for the ride. The Plymouth mob also handed over the punishment of Jesse Dunbar over to a mob from Kingston, Massachusetts.