On Tuesday, October 2, a fine turnout of Round Tablers enjoyed a visit with a galaxy of mostly forgotten Revolutionary heroes. Our host was fellow Round Tabler Arthur Lefkowitz, author of the much acclaimed book, George Washington's Indispensable Men, The 32 Aides-de-Camp who Helped Win American Independence. Not only did Arthur dazzle us with his knowledge of this assemblage of talent and commitment to the glorious cause, he brought along slides of many of the principal aides at dramatic moments in their careers, such as the confrontation with General Charles Lee during the battle of Monmouth. Arthur described the awesome work habits of these young men -- often from dawn until midnight, writing orders, reports, and above all, drafting letters for the workaholic father of the country, who toiled as hard or harder in the same cramped often cold (or in summer stifling) quarters. Their reward, aside from the sense of a job well done? A chance to dine with George Washington at dinner and supper, to discuss the problems of the Continental Army, to listen to him reminisce about his early military career, to enjoy, in short, the status of semi-sons. Who could pass up such an opportunity? Well, it turns out, there were a few dropouts, such as Aaron Burr, who did not hit it off with the Great Man. But they were the exceptions. The story of the aides gives us a look at how much of the war was won at Washington's headquarters, thanks to these remarkable young Americans. Thank you, Art, for a night to remember.
Tom Fleming reviewed Love and Hate in Jamestown by David A. Price, published by Knopf. This is a new look at the Jamestown story from a refreshingly modern point of view. Price makes this quarrelsome group of Englishmen who founded their nation's first colony in America come alive, with their warts showing. He also makes you care about them, in spite of their numerous character defects. The hero of the story is John Smith, whom Price casts as the first American, a man who cared nothing for the class distinctions that were destroying Jamestown. Also vividly alive for the first time is Pocahontas, the courageous young Indian woman who saved Smith's life and made the survival of the colony far more probable, thanks to her influence with her aged father, Chief Powhatan. Price brings this shrewd, devious character marvelously alive too. In his telling, there are neither evil whites nor innocent victimized Indians. Both sides had their virtues and their vices. Tom concluded this was a book that is both a good read and a learning experience in one lively package.
Tom also reported on Bolt of Fate, Benjamin Franklin and his Electric Kite Hoax by Tom Tucker. This is a book with only one idea, which the author doggedly pursues. He does not think that Ben Franklin ever flew his famous kite to prove that electricity and lightning were identical. Mr. Tucker has read a lot about 18th Century science and about Ben Franklin. He develops Franklin's long career as a hoaxer in various newspapers in America and England. He examines the furious rivalries of the scientists of the era -- by far the best part of the book. But in the end, he fails to prove that Ben faked his kite experiment. Granted, Mr. Tucker arouses a lot of suspicion. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prove that something did NOT happen. Eventually it becomes Ben's word against Tom Tucker's. That leaves the reader with the feeling that he has wasted a lot of time.
Jim Davis reviewed Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Military Engineer of the American Revolution by Francis Casimir Kajencki, Southwest Polonia Press, El Paso Texas, 1998. Jim found the book had much to offer. It has detailed descriptions of "Kos’s" engineering work at Ft. Ticonderoga, Saratoga and West Point. He was especially ingenious at the siege of Ninety Six, South Carolina, where he used advances and parallels still preserved to this day by the National Park Service. But the book fails to be even slightly objective about "Kos." The author adores the man and relentlessly refutes his critics and quotes every pro-Kosciuszko historian in sight. Even more distressing is the author's virulent dislike of the French, who rejected "Kos" when he applied for engineering training in France. He portrays Kosciuszko as the victim of intriguing French engineers in America. Jim's final word: "Beware this book!"
Lynne Saginaw (aka Simone Legree, head of our burgeoning book review
program)
reported on George Rogers Clark and the War in the West
by Lowell H. Harrison, a reprint of a 1976 essay on Kentucky in the
Revolution. The war in the west was war in miniature, with tiny armies
determining the fate of huge swathes of the continent. The hero of the
book is 23 year old Lt. Colonel George Rogers Clark. Using psychology
as well as force, he unified the quarreling militias of the region,
intimidated the British and Indians and won this virtually separate
war. Enemies forced him out in 1782, and he died all but forgotten in
1818. TK found the book "wonderfully well researched and gracefully
written." It's definitely on the recommended list.
Therese McNally told us about Bootmaker to the Nation, the Story
of the American Revolution by John Slade. A novel in the form of a
memoir by two war veterans, it tells the entire story of the Revolution
through their eyes. One, Benjamin York, is a former British cobbler who
deserts his warship in Boston and joins the Americans. There he meets
Genevieve Byrnes, the other veteran in the story. She is an expert rider
who serves as a courier for General Washington. Therese found the book's
720 pages much too many for these two characters to sustain. The author
has done prodigious research and seems determined to use it all. He
also sermonizes too much. The result is a lot of repetition and terminal
boredom -- which is unfortunate. The best part of the book is the section
on Yorktown.
Newspapers recently made much of a manuscript given to the Library
of Congress that supposedly clears up the mystery of how the British
caught and executed Nathan Hale for spying. Reporters all but gloated
about Hale's "monumentally naive mistakes" that led to his capture. The
manuscript was written by a Connecticut loyalist, Constable Tiffany. A
descendant gave it to the Library. According to Tiffany, Major Robert
Rogers, the guerilla hero of the French and Indian War, who switched to
the British side early in 1776, spotted Hale and conned him into admitting
he was a spy by pretending to be a rebel too. Rogers supposedly invited
Hale to dinner at his quarters and soon a detachment of redcoats arrived
to take Hale away for hanging. The story omits a great deal of what we
know went on in New York during the days of Hale's mission. Tom Fleming
explored it in detail in an article in New York Magazine many years
ago. For one thing, Tiffany apparently makes no mention of the great
fire which burned down a third of New York. This was set, Tom argued with
much supporting evidence, by men from Hale's company, who were trained to
deal with incendiary material, having served on fireships on the Hudson
River. Several were caught and hanged in the act and the enraged British
and loyalists in the ravaged city launched an angry search for any and
all suspects with New England accents. This made the rattled Hale, who
had no prior knowledge of the plan to set the fire, an easy target. There
was no need for Rogers to lure him into confessing anything; he was under
suspicion the moment he opened his mouth. Essentially, Nathan Hale was
a spy who was unlucky.
During the last week of October, a group of modern whiskey makers
came to Mount Vernon and resurrected a George Washington not many of us
know: the successful distiller. In 1797, after he left the presidency,
Washington decided to get into the liquor business. He built a distillery
three miles from Mount Vernon, and obtained a "mash bill" or recipe of
rye, corn and melted barley to make the stuff in a copper still above
an open fire.
It must have been lipsmacking good. Sales were brisk enough for
Washington to record a $7,500 profit in the first year -- the equivalent
of about $105,000 in today's dollars. The modern whiskey makers confessed
to being apprehensive about how the 21st century version would taste. A
sip or two enabled them to pronounce it "spicy and aromatic." The
Distilled Spirits Council, the whiskey industry's trade group, has decided
to spend $1 million to excavate the site of the original distillery and
rebuild it. They plan to produce two barrels which will age for several
years and then be auctioned off in an estimated 96 bottles to benefit
the Mount Vernon estate. Bottoms up, George!
Not all of us are as obsessed with the state of New Jersey as
Tom Fleming. But at the October meeting, Tom convinced many of us that
are Revolutionary treasures in a two CD package recently produced by
Joseph Nemeth, titled: "New Jersey, Crossroads of the Revolution, in
Song, Story and Image." Disc 1 concentrates on audio and narration, and
features songs such as "Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier" and "How Stands The
Glass Round", many played by the musicians of the Brigade of the American
Revolution. Disc 2 has an Historic Sites and Artifacts Slide Show with the
Caldwell House, Washington's Crossing, and a Monmouth hedgerow followed
by a Map Slide Show with maps covering Washington's retreat across New
Jersey in 1776 and the road to Monmouth and other battles. Finally comes
a Patriot and Loyalists slide show, with portraits of Lord Stirling,
William Livingston, William Maxwell and other Garden State heroes,
a collage of British generals and a print of the daring British spy,
Joshua Huddy. Mr. Nemeth spent over three years on the project. You can
order copies from his website, jgnproductions@aol.com or write to him
at 13 Jefferson Avenue, Edison NJ 08837. The price is $20.00.
According to British scholar David Ovason, the Great Seal on the
dollar bill reveals America's destiny. Ovason, who wowed reviewers with
The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital a couple of years
ago, claims that there are two significant images on the dollar bill
-- the truncated pyramid and the American eagle with the shield at its
midsection, both framed in circles. The greatest secret is the pyramid,
which includes the irradiated triangle that seems to complete the larger
structure below it.
The pyramid, with its lopped-off capstone -- the Egyptians revered
the top -- was an historic reality. "The Islamic invaders, once they
captured Egypt, removed the face of the pyramid at the top and used it
to build their mosques in Cairo," Ovason says.
"It means that for man to return to his spiritual heritage,
as we must do eventually, the Americans are charged with the destiny
of replacing that pyramid. It's the destiny of the U.S. to build on
the foundations already given. The stones on the foundation bear the
date 1776. So that means the pyramid is specific to the United States
of America."
Crown Point was next, with Ed's take on the razed French fort and
the unfinished British fort. The Pells of Ft. Ticonderoga were our next
subject. Tories who escaped to Canada, they returned after the War of
1812 to restore the fort. They had played in its ruins as children. Here
Ed related the rivalry between Arnold and Ethan Allen over the Green
Mountain boys attack in 1775. Ed told us Allen's probable words to the
British commander. They had nothing to do with God or Congress and were
unprintable in school books.
Did you know the Burgoyne expedition of 1777 had 150 sailors
under a separate naval command who handled the ships and boats supplying
the royal army? They also used bateaux as pontoons to cross the Hudson
River. We concluded our battlefield tour by visiting Arnold's nameless
"leg" monument at Saratoga and viewed the newly re-opened Saratoga
battlefield monument which still contains the empty niche for Arnold's
statue. Inside are bas reliefs of the history of the region and the name
of Arnold! A strange sort of hero worship.
West Point was next. We walked Trophy Point, viewed the Hudson
River chain links and saw Arnold's nameless plaque in the old Cadet
Chapel. Last stop was the remains on the Robinson House, where Arnold
received his copy of the letter to Washington, revealing John Andre's
capture. We walked across the road to the river's edge, tracing the
traitor's escape route to the HMS Vulture. Another great tour with the
master, Ed Bearss.
The October quiz, "A Family Tree," had a gender mixup. Maybe
that's why no one answered it. Here it is again: My grandson led New
York's "Excelsior Brigade" at the Battle of Chancellorsville. My great
great great granddaughter won an Academy Award. Who am I?
Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania have
a unique place in the founding of our nation. What is it?
Free drinks to the first three winners of either
quiz!
At the October meeting we displayed a beautiful history chart of
the American Revolution. several of you expressed interest in obtaining
a copy. Information about buying the chart can be found at the web site
www.learningwithease.com
Nathan Hale, Dunderhead?
First in War, First in Peace and
Not Bad at Whiskey
Discs to Remember
The Secret of the Great
Pyramid
Treasurer's Tidbits
Walking in the Footsteps of Benedict Arnold II
When last we visited Ed Bearss and the History
America Benedict Arnold tour, we had just entered Lake Champlain from
Canada. Our next stop was Plattsburgh, where Ed gave us an upclose
view of the battle of Valcour Island. Here, on Oct. 11, 1776, Arnold,
with a greatly outmanned and outgunned fleet of small ships, was badly
defeated by British naval forces. But he delayed their invasion long
enough to make the increasingly fierce cold weather compel the British
to return to Canada. Ferrying to Vermont, we visited the Lake Champlain
Maritime Museum in Burlington, with its excellent exhibits on the lake's
history. Highlight is the USS Philadelphia an exact floating replica of
an Arnold warship. The original is in the Smithsonian.
Treasurer's Trivia Treat
The December Quiz
Messages from the
Chairman
Back Issues
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