With a rare combination of wit, sympathy and scholarship, at our February meeting Dr. Ronald Hoffman took Round Tablers into the tormented inner life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and simultaneously illuminated the ambivalence and uncertainty that often gripped leaders of the American Revolution during the struggle. Dr. Hoffman, who is director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in Williamsburg, told us how the discovery of a document, signed by a Jesuit priest, testifying to the wedding of Charles Carroll and Elizabeth Brooke in 1757, left him baffled until he and his chief researcher in the Carroll papers, Sally D. Mason, found further documents that revealed the marriage did not involve Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The groom was his father! At this point the younger Carroll was twenty years old and had been studying in Europe for years. The son of the richest man in Maryland was illegitimate! The search for an explanation took Dr. Hoffman to Ireland and seven years of exploring the grim history of the Carrolls in that afflicted country, where the conquering Protestants had stripped the Carrolls and many other families of their lands and driven Charles Carroll the Settler to emigrate to Maryland. Whereupon Dr. Hoffman displayed a three-volume set of the hundreds of letters "Charley" exchanged with "Papa", Charles Carroll of Annapolis. In these documents the mystery marriage was ultimately explained. Not until Charley satisfied his father that he would be a worthy heir could he inherit the family's wealth, painfully accumulated to replace what they had lost in Ireland. In 1757, Charley had passed this unwritten test. When he returned to Maryland after 16 years of studying the classics and the law in Europe, he was ready to protect and expand the family's fortune. But his bitter Irish heritage made him one of the leaders in Maryland's revolutionary ferment. He became the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. Here Dr. Hoffman used the letters to show us this was no simple decision. More than once in the next two years, Charley wondered if he had made a terrible mistake. Maryland often teetered on anarchy. He told his father that even if the Americans won, the family would be lucky to emerge with a third of their fortune intact. Thanks to his education and the astute judgment of men and affairs he had inherited from Papa, Charley rode the whirlwind to victory and even larger fortune. He died in 1832, the last of the signers. To say that this psychological and political voyage left Round Tablers breathless would not be an exaggeration. There was tremendous applause and a rush to buy copies of Dr. Hoffman's superb book, Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland, A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782
Mike Harris reviewed The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War by David S. Syrett, University of South Carolina Press. Mike told us he had studied under Dr. Syrett and remained an admirer of the man, who passed away last year. Mike praised him for bringing military history out of the exclusive province of the service academies. The book's research is awesome. Its 168 pages of text are backed by 29 pages of footnotes. If you are interested in the influence of sea power on British, French, Spanish, Dutch and American politics and strategy -- and especially what England did to lose America, this book is a must read.
Belen Cookinham reviewed Bunker Hill by Janet Tinney, part of the American Patriot Series. She told us the book was misnamed -- it is really a life of Dr. Joseph Warren. The opening pages are episodic. The pace picks up after the Boston Massacre. The author graphically describes the heavy loss of life at Lexington and Concord. One scene troubled Belen somewhat: Dr. Warren is brought at night to General Gage's wife, who tells him the British plan to seize American powder and ammunition at Concord. In a backpage note, the author admits the visit is speculative. Mrs. Gage was American born and there were many rumors that she leaked this vital information. The author is very graphic about the British occupation of Boston, an unnerving mix of friendship and occasional rape and murder. The book's tragic conclusion, Warren's death at Bunker Hill, is well told. Belen recommended the book, especially for teenage readers. But adults would enjoy it as well.
Tom Fleming reviewed Almost A Hero: Andrew Elliot, The King's Moneyman in New York, 1764-1776, His Middle Years and Andrew Elliot's Philadelphia Odyssey, His Early Years, 1728-1764 by Edward H. Hart. Royal Fireworks Press, Unionville, New York. Tom began with a question: Was a two volume biography of Andrew Elliot asking too much of the reader? After all, what did Elliot do besides wring money out of reluctant, rebellious Americans as collector of customs in New York until the Revolution exploded in his face? Tom assured us that anyone interested in the inner workings of the great upheaval that created the United States of America will be fascinated by these books.
Andrew Elliot was an insider from birth, the son of an influential Scottish lord and barrister, with an elder brother, Sir Gilbert, who was a leading MP and friend of Prime Minister Lord North. A younger brother, John, was a famous royal navy captain and also an MP. Andrew became collector with Sir Gilbert's help after failing as a merchant in Philadelphia, which Hart covers in Odyssey, a much shorter book. Far from being a ruthless spokesman for the hard liners who dominated the English approach to the colonies from 1763 to 1776, Elliot sympathized with the Americans and did everything in his power to make the aggressive revenue raising of the Crown more tolerable. He filled Sir Gilbert's mailbox with letters urging him to convince his friends in and out of Parliament to give more consideration to public opinion in America, which was growing dangerously hostile to England.
Elliot was a voice of civilized reasonableness crying in a more and more virulent political wilderness. It seems fitting that he resisted the mounting confrontation until the last possible moment. When a fellow Scotsman, Lord Drummond, appeared in New York in late 1775 pretending to be a secret emissary from the British government, the collector escorted him to Philadelphia to help make his appeal for a negotiated peace more palatable to Elliot's many friends in the Continental Congress. Too late he discovered that Drummond was a loose cannon with no authority to speak for anyone. The book closes with the deflation of Elliot's momentary dreams of being a hero who rescued the empire from a ruinous war. He becomes resigned to the sad fact that England will have to conquer America -- but we leave him resolving to be one of those who would do his best to heal the spiritual and economic wounds the war would inflict on America.
Tom concluded that Mr. Hart has written a tour de force of original research that he combines with a vigorous writing style and an eye for the apt quotation. A paperback edition is available from the author for $29.00, handling and shipping included. The address is: 26 Allen Road, PO Box 703, Phillipsport NY 12769.
"George Washington at Princeton," by Charles Willson Peale, previously mentioned in these pages as about to go on the market, was sold at Christie's for the highest price ever paid for an American portrait at an auction -- $21 million. Christie's had predicted $15 million as the possible top price. Now they too have learned not to underestimate George! The winning bid was placed by Pennsylvania art dealer C. L. Prickett on behalf of a client whose name he refused to disclose. He (or she) is rumored to be an American. The painting is considered the most accurate portrait ever painted of the Great Man.
The accuracy of Peale's portrait may be challenged by an exhibit which is due to open at Mount Vernon in the fall. The product of more than two years of scientific research, it consists of three statues of George Washington -- one at age 19, when he was a young surveyor before the French and Indian War, another at 45, when he led the Continental Army, and a third at 57, when he became president. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, the professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh who led the research team, flatly claims these are the most accurate depictions of Washington ever created. The life size sculptures will go on display at Mount Vernon as part of an $85 million renovation of the founding father's estate. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association recently issued pictures of the statues. There is not much resemblance between them and Charles Willson Peale's version of the man he saw and painted from life.
The New York Historical Society's landmark exhibit on slavery in New York broke all the attendance records in the 201 year history of the society. It attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors, including thousands of public school students, since it opened on October 7, 2005. May we remind our readers that our treasurer, Jim Davis, gave it a bravura review?
After reading endless reports on how little students know about American history, down to believing Washington was the commander in chief in the Civil War -- the Organization of American Historians recently amazed themselves and everyone else by reporting some good news in this department. On a recent Advanced Placement United States History exam after an introductory survey course in American history taken by 270,000 students annually, the examinees showed an encouraging ability to deal knowledgeably with historical documents such as excerpts from the Northwest Ordinance and the Federalist Papers. Their answers were also well informed when asked to write an analysis of the impact of the American Revolution on both slavery and the status of women. The three professors writing the report concluded: "students are familiar with and have a reasonable grasp of some of the major issues of the revolutionary era."
There would seem to be no end to Ben's third century birthday memorials. Lynne Saginaw, our book review editor, told us at the February meeting that there is another Franklin Institute, beside the famous one in Philadelphia. This one is in Ben's birthplace, Boston. It was founded with money from Franklin's will for the education of the sons of tradesmen. To this day it teaches practical professions, including some technologies that Ben never dreamed of. It currently has 388 students.
Next on our list is a new book from the University of Pennsylvania Press by Stanley Finger, a noted medical historian. Titled Doctor Franklin's Medicine, it reveals startling facts about Ben's interest in health and disease and his contributions to the medical science of his day. "He designed experiments, collected data, compiled tables to determine trends and outcomes," Finger writes. Ben founded what eventually became the first medical school in North America, he reported on the good results of smallpox inoculation, encouraging thousands of Americans to undergo the process. He explored the causes of colds and influenza and concluded they had little to do with being cold or wet. He played a key role in exposing medical quackery, especially the claims of Franz Mesmer, who asserted he could cure people by harnessing an inner magnetic force that permeated the cosmos.
Threatening to top all these newsbreaks is the announcement of a new seven volume biography of Ben by J.A. Leo Lemay. He explores, among many topics in volume one, the identity of the mother of Franklin's illegitimate son, William -- a subject that has baffled more than one Franklin biographer. There are also canny psychological insights. "Unlike his great contemporaries, George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Franklin often mocked himself." It all sounds fascinating. But what is there about Ben that isn't fascinating?
Tom Fleming recently got a nice surprise: a letter from the Sons of the Revolution informing him that his book, Washington's Secret War, The Hidden History of Valley Forge, has won the Fraunces Tavern Museum award. Previous winners include David Hackett Fischer, David McCullough and Joseph Ellis. The prize will be presented to Tom on April 24 at a dinner at (where else?) Fraunces Tavern.
According to a tip we picked up from a U.S. Air Force historian, the flyboys recently decided there might be something worth learning in our favorite war if they bothered to read about it. So they've issued a colorful 30 page brochure, recommending to top USAF officers and DOD civilians a reading list chosen by the Chief of Staff. The books include David McCullough's 1776, Richard Ketchum's Yorktown, and Edward Lengel's General George Washington. Off we go, into the wild blue 18th Century yonder!
The various horrors of these hulks to tell
These Prison Ships where pain and horror dwell
So begins the poem "The British Prison Ship" written in 1781 by Philip Freneau, most famously, the editor of the "National Gazette" where he supported various Republican (aka Democratic) causes against Federalist programs. But, perhaps, his true fame should be as one of America's first poets. Beginning with his commencement at Princeton in 1771, he began his homage to his country with "The Rising Glory of America" to be followed, in 1775, by literary attacks against General Thomas Gage during the siege of Boston.
Overwhelmed by his own words, Freneau joined the New Jersey militia, was captured, and spent eight months on board the prison ships "Scorpion" and "Hunter" where he experienced the torments of the infamous British prison fleet anchored at Wallabout Bay in New York Harbor. Here American sailors and soldiers were subjected to rotting food, smallpox, yellow fever, scurvy, and cruel uncaring guards. The ship "Jersey" was, by far, the most notorious of these floating hellholes. The daily call to "Turn out your dead" led to mass burials near the coastline. These poor souls from all the ships became known, collectively, as the "Jersey Dead," and their remains, placed in shallow graves, soon surfaced. A local property owner, John Jackson, buried them on his land, and there they remained until 1808 when government officials, led by the Tammany Society and inspired by articles in Freneau's paper, placed them in a tomb on Jackson's land. At the ceremony, Freneau read another poem: "Tomb of the Patriots." One hundred years later, President William Howard Taft dedicated the present burial site in Ft. Greene Park with the unveiling of the Jersey Dead monument.
Freneau would have been pleased.
For the February quiz, five winners knew the two 20th century NYC events related to the British takeover in 1664 and Washington's big day at Federal Hall in 1789. They were the 1939 & 1964 World Fairs.
Ron Blumer has submitted this question to the Quiz Master, for which he has received a free dinner: First recorded as a possibility by Benjamin Franklin in 1764, two other Founding Fathers, in a boat on a mill pond near Rocky Hill, New Jersey in 1783, set out to prove or disprove his observation. Who were these men and what were they looking for on that November evening?