(Elkhart County, IN) - A veteran dating back to the time of the Revolutionary War has been honored in northern Indiana.
William Tuffs is the only known Hoosier to have taken part in the Boston Tea Party. Of course, Tuffs wasn’t a Hoosier at the time he protested against British taxation on December 16, 1773. Born in Boston, Tuffs was a 23-year-old working with his father as an innkeeper when he took part in the historic event. He later recounted that he disguised himself by sticking feathers in his hat and smudging his face with paint. His job was to assist in lifting the chests from the cargo hold to the other participants above deck.
Tuffs went on to serve in the Revolutionary War. Somewhere along the line, he moved west to Elkhart County, Indiana, where he lived out the rest of his days on a farm near Middlebury. Today the William Tuffs Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Elkhart carries on his memory.
Recently at the cemetery in Bristol where Tuffs is buried, representatives from the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum paid a visit to place a commemorative marker on his grave. The museum has set more than 120 similar markers at sites across the country since 2018.
