TAR AND FEATHERING

TAR AND FEATHERING. The practice of applying hot tar and a coating of feathers to one's opponents was largely an American practice to intimidate. Dabbing hot tar on bare skin caused painful blistering and efforts to remove it usually resulted in pulling out hairs. The use of solvents to loosen the tar was also unpleasant especially when a substance like turpentine came in contact with burned skin. Application of the tar over the rival's clothing was considered a lesser punishment than placing it on bare skin. (1)

Just a few instances of this practice were recorded in the 1760s, but the passage of the Townsend Acts caused a sharp increase in its usage. It usually required the abuse of only one tax collector in an area for word to spread quickly. Other incidents occurred around the Tea Act in 1773. During the War for Independence, the tarring of Tories happened with greater regularity and ferocity, resulting in the deaths of several victims. (2)

The first person tarred and feathered in Iowa was a young man named Wheeler. This took place in Dubuque in the spring of 1834. There had been a young man wandering about the mines for some time in a deranged state of mind. A subscription of money was raised, and Wheeler hired to take the insane person home to his father in Missouri. (3)

Upon the return of Wheeler to Dubuque, someone charged him with having abused the insane person on board the steamer and with having left him at a wood yard, in Missouri, in a destitute condition. Wheeler was arrested. He declared that he was innocent, and asked them to write to the father of the insane person. Judge Lynch refused his appeal, and he was tarred and feathered and drummed out of town. (4)

A few days later a letter was received from the father of the deceased person. In the letter he thanked the citizens of Dubuque for returning his son and requested them to express to Mr. Wheeler his many thanks for the care and attention he had given to the wants of his son during his journey from the mines to his home in Missouri. (5)

The person who preferred the charge against young Wheeler could not be found. A man wanting to get a fight on his hands had only to charge some person with having been engaged in this tarring and feathering action. (6)

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Source:

1. United States History, "Tarring and Feathering," Online: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h569.html

2. Ibid.

3. Price, Eliphalet. "Dubuque in Early Times," Annals of Iowa, October 1865, XII, Online: http://iagenweb.org/dubuque/history/annals/Oct_1865_3.htm

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.