The Flag of Our Union, Making Pirates Popular

From 1846 to 1870, The Flag of Our Union (first called Gleason’s) printed, a weekly newspaper and pamphlet novels at 6 Tremont Street.[1] The Flag of Our Union, located near Boston Harbor and run by Frederick Gleason, provided books for sailors, who would often stop in and browse for books to read in their leisure time aboard ship.[2] They, as well as other Boston residents, gravitated towards books about sea crime and adventure due to their and the city’s strong connection with the ocean.[3] As a result, The Flag of Our Union (and its previous iterations) published books about pirates such as Blackbeard (1847), The Pirate Queen (1847), and Francisco, or the Pirate of the Pacific (1845) by Benjamin Barker; The Corsair King (1847) by Charles Averill; The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main (1847) and The Red Revenger: or, The Pirate King of the Floridas (1852) by Ned Buntline; and many more. It is important to note that the price was 3 or 4 cents per book, which made them accessible to and popular with the working class.[4]

In many books published by The Flag of Our Union, pirates are painted as evil and villainous, and sailors are painted as brave and heroic. Given that the name The Flag of Our Union shows support for the state, it makes sense that sailors are painted as heroes and pirates as antisocial. Among this class of books is the popular The Pirate Queen (1847) by Benjamin Barker. This book is about a group of people who were sailing when a pirate ship stops them. The crew courageously decides to fight the pirates and defend their ship: “bravely did the ship’s officers and crew struggle in that dreadful carnage… [they] proved themselves prodigies of valor and sent the soul of many a ferocious pirate to its last account.”[5] Although the crew loses against the pirates, they are depicted as extremely courageous. This scene is meant to inspire sailors to act bravely and patriotically to fight pirates, even if that meant their death.

The Flag of Our Union also published another popular book in 1847 about pirates called Blackbeard, or The Pirate of the Roanoke, which paints sailors as morally good and superior to pirates. This book includes instances of kidnapping, murder, and attempted murder. In this book, Blackbeard, an evil and bloodthirsty pirate, kidnaps two people and separates them from their crew. The crew then rescues them, and a “fight [begins], and soon [becomes] general, but although the pirates [fight] desperately, they [are] soon overpowered by the superior numbers and coolness of their adversaries.”[6] This reading offers a sense of adventure and fantasy that people cannot get in their everyday lives. In addition, because all is right at the end of the book, this and other novels published by Frederick Gleason allow readers a sense of adventure while ultimately also reinforcing the stability of the nation state. Such a reality appeals to sailors and other people who rely on the sea for raw goods because they need to use and want to trust the ocean.

The Flag of Our Union books were not only sold in Boston but also well beyond this coastal city, starting with the phenomenal success of Fanny Campbell, the piratical novel by Marturin Murray Ballou (which you will hear more about later on this walk). The popularity of this novel led Ballou and Gleason to co-found what quickly became The Flag of Our Union, “the United States’ largest publishing plant.”[7] Through Gleason’s publishing efforts, modern fictional pirate stories took off—and remain a type of literature still popular today with those invested in a thrilling read about adventure among the high seas.

— Serena Rizzo

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[1] “The Flag of Our Union.” The Library of Congress. Accessed October 1, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85036056/.
[2] Paul A. Gilje, To Swear like a Sailor Maritime Culture in America 1750-1850. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 183.
[3] Gilje, To Swear like a Sailor Maritime Culture in America 1750-1850, 184.
[4] Shelley Streeby, American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture. (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Pr., 2006), 87.
[5] Benjamin Barker The Pirate Queen, or, The Magician of the Sea: a Tale of the Piratical Era. (Boston: Flag of Our Union Office, 1970), 16.
[6] Benjamin Barker Blackbeard, or The Pirate of the Roanoke (Boston: F. Gleason, 1847), 47.
[7] Anderson, "Female Pirates and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Fictions" Pirates and Mutineers of the Nineteenth Century: Swashbucklers and Swindlers. 96-115.

Pictured: The Corsair Kidd. By Charles Averill (Boston: F. Gleason Publishing Hall, 1847). Francisco, or the Pirate of the Pacific. A Tale of Land and Sea. By Benjamin Barker (Boston: United States Publishing Company, 1845). Red Rupert, The American Buccaneer. By Lieutenant Murray (Boston: Gleason's Publishing Hall, 1848). The Red Revenger: or, The Pirate King of the Floridas. By Ned Buntline. (Boston: F. Gleason's Publishing Hall, 1852).

**To go to John Hancock’s Grave (Site 13), head west on Tremont St. At the intersection of Tremont Street and Beacon Street, take a right and then left to cross Beacon Street. Continue on Tremont Street, and turn right into Granary Burying Ground. Turn left and the destination will be on the right.**