Tag: Tarring and feathering

Posted on February 20, 2022

This Week on Dispatches: Jane L. Green on the Story of Thomas Ditson

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Jane L. Green on her research into the life of Thomas Ditson, a man who went from being tarred and feathered by the British for illicit trading to becoming one of the first Massachusetts militiamen to engage the British at Concord. New episodes of Dispatches […]

by Editors

Posted on December 13, 2013August 28, 2016

5 Myths of Tarring and Feathering

1. Myth: Tarring and feathering could be fatal. Busted: The notion that hot tar caused severe, sometimes fatal burns is based on the assumption that “tar” meant the asphalt we use on roads, which is typically stored in liquid state at about 300°F (150°C). But in the eighteenth century “tar” meant pine tar, used for […]

by J. L. Bell