Was it fake news? Royalists saw only the devil whispering “You are mine” in former Salem minister Hugh Peter’s ear, a sign of his malevolent intent in sending homeless London orphans to New England in the civil war years. Join historian Samuel Fullerton in exploring this 17th century conspiracy theory as Royalists marshalled the power of print media to tar Peter’s arguably benevolent project with accusations of subjecting young people to the evils of Puritanism. Click here for an 86-minute presentation posted on February 11, 2026 by the Partnership of Historic Bostons.

Presenter Samuel Fullerton is assistant professor of history at University of North Texas. His specialty is early modern Europe and colonial America. Hugh Peter (or Peters) was an English preacher, political advisor and soldier who supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War and later the trial and execution of Charles I. Following the Restoration, he was executed as a regicide.

Peter became highly influential during the English Civil War. He employed a flamboyant preaching style that was considered highly effective in furthering the interests of the Puritan cause.

By the spring of 1646, the royalist cause was in shambles and thereafter Charles’s allies rarely identified New England as a destination for kidnapped young people.