Category Archives: Murder, Sweet Murder

Sugar, Molasses and Rum

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Before rum, there was sugar – from sugarcane. Sugar is present in many fruits and vegetables. Sugar beets, for example, have more sugar than an apple. There are also many types of sugar: glucose, fructose, lactose, with slight differences in their chemical structures. 

The sweetest of all is sugarcane.

Sugarcane is a picky plant, requiring heat, sunshine and water. It must be grown in a frost free environment. Discovered millennia ago, it grew first in New Guinea and from there spread to India and the Indian subcontinent. It did not reach Europe until many centuries later, during the Middle Ages, and it was rare and expensive. A description of a banquet in 1457 mentions sugar sculptures. As sugar was planted in Madeira and the Canary Islands, the demand for sugar increased tenfold.

Christopher Columbus brought sugarcane to the New World and the first sugar plantation was set up in Hispaniola. Slaves were imported to work the plantations and the desire for sugar continued to increase. With the plantations in the West Indies, sugar became cheap enough for most households to afford. From a few pounds consumed per capita in the colonies in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the amount rose to eighty pounds by the end.

Sugarcane is a grass. The crop is chopped into lengths, crushed and boiled. (Now much of this is done by machines but during the time of Will Rees, it was all done by hand.) The sugar we know and love is the crystallized result from the sugarcane syrup. Raw sugar is brown and has a higher molasses content. Slave accounts allude to the difficult and dangerous work connected to the production of sugar, from the chopping of cane to the boiling of the syrup. Slaves in the more northern states did not want to be sold down south: to the cotton or cane fields.

Molasses is a byproduct of this process. Once, it was discarded but the demand for molasses grew exponentially when it was discovered it could be fermented into an alcoholic drink. The fermentation of sugarcane juice is mentioned in Sanskrit texts. By the time of the sugar plantations in the West Indies, the enslaved were fermenting the molasses into ‘Rumbullion”, ‘kill-devil,’ and ‘screech’ – all forms of (probably undrinkable) rum. It rapidly gained in popularity, however, and was used as currency in Africa and was exported to Great Britain.

Sugarcane is a heavy feeder and requires about 660 gallons of water for every 2.2 pounds of sugar. So, not great for the environment as well as its role in obesity, tooth decay, diabetes, and other health risks.

Rum

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Rum was the lubricant and the fuel for the engine of commerce leading up to the American Revolution and a bit beyond. It was a favorite drink of the slavers, the slaves, and pretty much everyone else. Called Nelson’s blood (as well as a number of less flattering names), rum made up part of the British sailors’ pay.

What is rum? Rum is distilled from the molasses left over from sugarcane. The cane has particular requirement and cannot be grown in the temperate lands. It must be grown with lots of sun and water. It also needs intensive labor to cut, cart and process the cane under the tropical sun. A clear and distinct link between the growing demand for sugar and slavery can be drawn because, as plantations were turned over to cane, the needs of a large work force demanded more workers – Slaves.

The slaves needed to be fed. New England ships brought dried cod, picked up the molasses for transport to the distilleries in New England. The resulting drink (called among other things, screech, kill-devil, demon water) was put in casks and sent to Africa to purchase more slaves and also to Great Britain. This was the previously discussed Triangle Trade.

Ironically, the long trips over the ocean, stored in casks, made the rum more drinkable.

Although rum was still consumed after the War for Independence, as mentioned in Murder, Sweet Murder, it was falling out of favor as the new country’s beverage. Whiskey, from rye grown in Western Pennsylvania, and distilled in the country, was considered more patriotic and as such became the drink of choice.

Taverns Part I

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averns and coffeehouses were an important part of Colonial and Federalist life. They served as meeting places, inns, restaurants and more. Before post offices were built, taverns and coffeehouses also handled letters. In the early days of the colonies, taverns were built at ferry landings. Later on, when coaches began running, the taverns became handy stops and, in fact, Rouge’s tavern frequently sees an influx of passengers either going to or from Boston.

As one might expect, there was a wide range of comfort and amenities provided, ranging from a grand inn like the Raleigh in Williamsburg to the ordinary that served the ferrymen or waggoneers. In the last, the beds were likely to be hard wooden pallets, the mattresses filled with cornhusks or straw as well as fleas and other critters. Food offered was usually cornmeal mush.

All of the taverns mentioned in Murder, Sweet Murder, with the exception of the Painted Pig, which is my own creation, existed in 1801 in Boston. The Warren Tavern is still in use as a bar and restaurant. The Green Dragon, which was the Headquarters of the Sons of Liberty (and where much of the planning for the War of Independence occurred), was demolished in 1822.

The Triangle Trade

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The enslavement of thousands is a stain on the United States. The ripple effects are still being felt to this day.

Slaves were bought and sold in the northern colonies, but, by about 1800 these areas, states now in the new United States, had by and large forbidden the importing and sale of slaves. (That does not mean there were none; the slaves already present were allowed to remain.)

However, that does not mean merchants in the north were guiltless. Merchants, such as Lydia’s father, engaged in a three cornered trade in which New England businessmen took African slaves to the United States and the West Indies for work on the plantations, especially the sugar plantations.

The by product of making sugar, molasses, was shipped to New England for distillation into rum. That rum was exported to Great Britain and brought to Africa. The rum, and the profits from selling the rum, was used to purchase more slaves.

This trade was called the benign sounding Triangle Trade.

Boston

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Murder, Sweet Murder, the next Will Rees mystery, is set in Boston.

Since the birth of the United States, Boston has been one of the country’s most important cities. It was settled by the Puritans in 1630 and quickly became a trading center and hub of commerce.

During the 1770s, Boston was a hotbed of patriotic fervor. The taverns in Boston were instrumental in firing up the populace and planning. (More about that later.) The first shots were fired nearby and several battles, including Breed’s Hill, were fought within the town.

By the time Rees joins Lydia in Boston, and finally meets her family, the war has been over for twenty years.

Once the war was over, Boston’s economy recovered and the population grew significantly, so much so it went from a village to a town. Then, in 1822, the name was changed to the City of Boston.

Boston was also one of the first cities to adopt a metropolitan police force. In 1790, Boston’s population was 43,000 and the ability of night watchmen and constables to keep order and protect lives and property was already strained. The rapid growth that occurred beginning in the early 1800s, and increased with the influx of foreign immigrants, further stressed the system. In 1837, Boston established a police force modeled on the London police.

Murder, Sweet Murder – Will Rees number 11

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I spent most of my vacation working on edits for the next Will Rees: Murder, Sweet Murder.

It is a little amusing to be working so hard on the next in the series when Murder on Principle will not be published until August 3rd.

In this book, Rees and Lydia journey to Boston to investigate an accusation leveled against Lydia’s father. I wrote this one at the request of readers who wanted to know more about Lydia’s past.

I am so excited to present the cover of Murder, Sweet Murder. No publication date yet.