Rachel Wall (c. 1760 – October 8, 1789) was an American
female pirate
Although the majority of pirates in history have been men, there are around a hundred known examples of female pirates, about forty of whom were active in the Golden Age of Piracy. Some women have been pirate captains and some have commanded enti ...
, and the last woman to be hanged in
. She may also have been the first American-born woman to become a
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
.
Early life
Wall was born Rachel Schmidt in
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
, in the
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
, to a family of devout
Presbyterians
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
.
She lived on a farm outside Carlisle, but was not happy, and spent most of her time at a waterfront. While at the waterfront, she was attacked by a group of girls, and rescued by a man named George Wall. They two later married.
Career as a pirate
Wall and her husband moved to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, where he took a job on a fishing schooner. When George came back, he brought with him five sailors and their lovers,
and persuaded Wall to join them. In one week, the party had spent all their money and the schooner set sail again, upon which George suggested they all become pirates.
He borrowed another schooner from a friend,
and the party set sail.
Wall and her crew worked in the Isle of Shoals, just off the
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
coast.
After storms Wall would stand on the deck and scream for help. When passers-by came to give aid, they were killed and all their goods stolen. The crew was successful in capturing 12 boats, stealing $6,000 cash, an indeterminate amount of valuables, and killing 24 sailors, all between 1781 and 1782.
Arrest and execution
Eventually, after her husband and the crew washed out to sea by accident,
Wall returned to Boston and resumed her role as a servant. However, she still enjoyed going to the docks and sneaking into harbored boats, stealing things from inside. Her final robbery occurred when she saw a young woman named Margaret Bender, wearing a bonnet which she coveted. She attempted to steal the bonnet and rip Margaret's tongue out, but was caught and arrested. She was tried for robbery on September 10, 1789 but requested that she be tried as a pirate, while maintaining that she had never killed anyone.
However, she was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to be hanged on October 8, 1789.
She is said to have quoted "...into the hands of the Almighty God I commit my soul, relying on his mercy...and die an unworthy member of the Presbyterian Church, in the 29th year of my age", as her final words.
[''Piracy, Mutiny, and Murder'', pp. 68–76. by Edward Rowe Snow. Published by Dodd Mead, in 1959. ] Her death marked the last occasion a woman was hanged in Massachusetts.
References
Further reading
*''Life, last words and dying confession, of Rachel Wall: who, with William Smith and William Dunogan, were executed at Boston, on Thursday, October 8, 1789, for high-way robbery'' (Boston printed broadside)
*''Boston's Histories: Essays in Honor of Thomas H. O'Connor'' by
Thomas H. O'Connor Thomas H. O'Connor (1923-2012) was a professor and university historian of Boston College who published hundreds of books and academic papers on Boston, New England, and American history. O'Connor was known as "the dean of Boston historians".
Biogr ...
, James M. O'Toole, and David Quigley.
*''The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting'' by Thomas C. Leonard.
External links
Rachel Wall at ThePirateKing.com*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Rachel
1789 deaths
American female pirates
American pirates
People from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
1760 births
Year of birth uncertain
18th-century pirates
People executed for piracy
Executed American women
Women sentenced to death