Buggery case: Mingo; Massachusetts, January 29, 1712

Execution for "forcible buggery"

PROTECTED ENTRY: This entry by a named creator or site administrator can be changed only by that creator and site administrators, so they are responsible for its accuracy, coverage, evidence, and clarity. Please do use this entry's Comment section at the bottom of the page to suggest improvements. Thanks.

The diary of Samuel Sewall recorded that a grand jury, meeting at Charlestown, Massachusetts Colony, found reason to arraign "Mingo, alias Cocke Negro, for forcible Buggery." The following day, January 30, Sewall's diary added tersely:

Try'd the Negro, GOD furnish'd the Court with such a series and Frame of evidence that he was brought in Guilty. Not one word spoken on his behalf. Condemn'd.

On Friday, February 15, Sewall's diary included an entry seemingly referring to Mingo:

Went to Charlestown, and heard Mr. [Simon] Bradstreet [preach] from Provo 24:32 ["Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction"]. He brought it [the meaning of the proverb] down to the [unnamed] Condemned Malefactor then present; [Bradstreet?] had prayed excellently for him before: executed presently after Lecture. Mr. [William] Brattle Pray'd at the place of Execution.

Mingo, or Cocke Negro, a slave of Wait Winthrop, a chief justice of Massachusetts and major-general of the colony's militia, seems to have been executed under the Massachusetts law of 1697, which provided death for "buggery," meaning both bestiality and sodomy.

Sewall's statement that Mingo was guilty of "forcible Buggery" suggests that the crime in this case was sodomy (the issue of force versus an implicit consent would probably not have been cited if the case involved bestiality). However, no additional information has been found concerning this charge in the Winthrop Papers, existing newspapers, or Cotton Mather's diary.

Though "Mingo" may have been a common name for Blacks, the fact that a "Mingo" was mentioned as a mourner at Wait Winthrop's funeral in 1717 casts some doubt on the execution of "Mingo" in 1712.

Return to Age of Sodomitical Sin index • Go to next article

References

This entry is part of the featured exhibit Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin curated by Jonathan Ned Katz. As it is content created by a named author, editor, or curator, it is not open to editing by the general public. But we strongly encourage you to discuss the content or propose edits on the discussion page, and the author, editor, or curator will make any changes that improve the entry or its content. Thanks.