Tarring and feathering
Public torture used as extrajudicial punishment and protest.
Tarring and feathering involved stripping a victim to the waist or completely naked, then coating them with wood tar—either poured or painted on—before covering them with feathers, often by tossing handfuls or rolling the person in a pile. This was a form of public torture used mainly as extrajudicial punishment or revenge, appearing in medieval Europe and its early modern colonies, as well as on the early American frontier, where it served as vigilante justice. The image of a tarred-and-feathered outlaw still stands as a metaphor for harsh public condemnation.
During the American Revolution, the punishment was common in the Thirteen Colonies. The most famous colonial case involved John Malcolm, a Boston customs official, who was tarred and feathered by Patriots in January 1774.
The earliest known mention of the practice comes from orders issued by King Richard I of England in 1189 for his navy heading to the Holy Land. The rules stated that a convicted thief or felon would have his head shaved, boiling pitch poured over it, and feathers or down scattered on top so he could be identified, then cast ashore at the first landing place. A later instance, recorded in 1623 by James Howell in Madrid, described the German Protestant military leader Christian the Younger of Brunswick. After capturing a place with two monasteries, he had feather beds ripped open and the feathers dumped in a hall, where naked nuns and friars, their bodies oiled and pitched, were forced to tumble in the pile. In 1696, a London bailiff trying to serve a warrant on a debtor in the Savoy precincts was tarred and feathered, wheeled to the Strand in a barrow, and tied to a maypole near Somerset House as a makeshift pillory.
The practice reached North America and grew more common in the mid-18th century. During the 1760s, it was increasingly used to protest the Townshend Revenue Act and those enforcing it. After a lull between 1770 and 1773, the Tea Act of May 1773 sparked a new wave of incidents. In 1765, during the Stamp Act crisis, Archibald McCall, a wealthy Loyalist landowner in Virginia, insisted on collecting the stamp tax. A Patriot mob stormed his house in Tappahannock, threw rocks through windows, seized him, and tarred and feathered him. In 1766, Captain J. William Smith was tarred, feathered, and dumped into Norfolk harbor by a mob that included the town's mayor.
- Earliest mention
- 1189, in orders issued by Richard I of England for his navy
- Common era
- Medieval Europe, early modern period, early American frontier
- Notable region
- Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution
- Typical victims
- Customs officials, Loyalists, tax collectors, religious figures, debtors
- Associated with
- Vigilante justice, extrajudicial punishment, protest
Lore & Background
The earliest mention of the punishment appears in orders that Richard I of England issued to his navy on starting for the Holy Land in 1189. A later instance appears in a 1623 account of the Bishop of Halberstadt, who caused nuns and friars to be oiled and pitched and tumbled among feathers. In 1696, a London bailiff was tarred and feathered and taken in a wheelbarrow to the Strand, where he was tied to a maypole as an improvised pillory.
The practice was exported to the Americas, gaining popularity in the mid-18th century. Throughout the 1760s it saw increased use as a means of protesting the Townshend Revenue Act. During the crisis over the Stamp Act in 1765, Archibald McCall was tarred and feathered in Virginia. In 1774, Boston customs official John Malcolm was famously tarred and feathered. During the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, federal tax agent Robert Johnson was tarred and feathered. In August 1775, Thomas Brown was tarred and feathered by Patriots in South Carolina.
Reader's Guide
Tarring and feathering served as a brutal tool of social control and political protest, particularly in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. It was used by Patriots to intimidate Loyalists, customs officials, and tax collectors, as seen in the cases of John Malcolm, Archibald McCall, and Thomas Brown. The punishment was also employed by Loyalist soldiers, as when Thomas Ditson was tarred and feathered by British soldiers in 1775. Later, during the Whiskey Rebellion, farmers used the same method against federal tax agents. The practice continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, targeting religious figures, schoolteachers, and women, as in the 1906 case of Hattie Lowry. Its legacy endures as a metaphor for severe public criticism, though the actual practice declined as legal systems developed. The entry highlights the wide range of victims and contexts, from medieval naval discipline to American frontier vigilantism, showing how tarring and feathering was adapted across centuries and cultures as a form of extrajudicial punishment.
Did You Know?
- The earliest mention of tarring and feathering appears in orders issued by Richard I of England in 1189 for his navy, where boiling pitch was poured on a thief's head and feathers strewn on it.
- Customs Commissioner John Malcolm was tarred and feathered twice: first in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in November 1773, and again in Boston in January 1774, where he was beaten and forced to drink tea until he vomited.
- During the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791, federal tax agent Robert Johnson was tarred and feathered by a disguised gang in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
More in Feathers 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced