One of our former speakers, Michael Bellesiles, who spoke to us about his biography of Ethan Allan several years ago, is in hot water. Several historians are challenging the research for his book, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, accusing him of fabricating his facts. Bellesiles claimed that an examination of probate records and other sources showed only a minority of 18th Century Americans -- about 14 percent -- owned guns. The book won the prestigious Bancroft Prize last year. The National Rifle Association attacked the book. Mr. Bellesiles has defended himself by claiming to be a victim of a smear campaign. But some of his critics have found alarming gaps and misstatements in his research. For instance, he claimed to have examined records in San Francisco that were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. The Round Table enjoyed Mr. Bellesiles' visit and admired his biography of Ethan Allan. We hope he can clear up these problems and restore his reputation.
A flap is growing large in Pennsylvania about a plan to build 72 luxury houses on private land inside Valley Forge National Historical Park. ``Valley Forge is a national shrine and should be one of America's best national parks, not a park under siege,'' says Joy Oakes of the National Parks Conservation Association. The land in question is valued at $70 million. It is the site of a former nursery. It has been acquired by Toll Brothers, the largest builder of luxury homes in the nation. How did private property get inside the park? Congress made Valley Forge a national historical park in 1976 and expanded its boundaries. But it did not put up enough money to buy all the private property included within the new borders. No less than 480 acres of the park's 3,466 acres are privately owned.
What to do? Write your congressperson for starters, stating that the ARRT is opposed to this bad idea.
Whassat? you're probably saying, trying to make sense of the preceding headline. For those in the historical know or who want to get there, Villa La Pietra is the name of NYU's magnificent center in Florence, Italy. Recently a group of historians from around the world gathered there to discuss ``the internationalization of American history.'' Sounds alarming? Sure, but their intentions are good. They want to see more historians teaching American history with an eye to what was happening elsewhere in the world while Washington's men froze at Valley Forge or Picketts' men went up Cemetery Hill. A number of the papers at the conference are being published by the University of California Press, Rethinking American History in a Global Age. Our only worry is whether we can handle the history of the rest of the world when most of the country barely knows what happened in the United States of America.
Cathy Corley has won again! Fellow revolutionaries, this contest is for everyone. All are welcome; thus prizes will be expanded! But first, the correct answers to Stony Point.
1. Ft. Lafayette at Verplanck's Point was Stony Point's counterpart on the eastern shore of the Hudson River. 2. The forts commanded both entrance to the Hudson Highlands and King's Ferry crossing, thus controlling both north-south and east-west traffic on the Hudson. 3. The Americans were led by Gen. ``Mad'' Anthony Wayne; the British by Col. Henry Johnson. 4. The axemen were led by Lt. Col. Francois DeFleury and Maj. John Stewart. 5. The leaders of the troops filling the breach were Lt. George Knox and Lt. James Gibbons. 6. The Americans used the bayonet (Remember Paoli!). 7. Had Sir Henry Clinton's resignation been accepted, he would have been replaced by Lord Cornwallis.
Identify these military leaders from the Rhineland:
The first two Patriots or Loyalists with the correct answers receive a free dinner; the next four receive a free drink. Dust off those books! Don't be shy, the treasurer's private funds are still ample.
The New York Grenadiers
The February 2002 issue of Military Heritage contains an excellent article entitled ``The Brooklyn Campaign: America's Dunkirk May Have Been a Miracle.'' Written by James E. Held it is based greatly upon John Gallagher's 1995 work ``Battle of Brooklyn 1776'' and is definitely worth reading for its scholarship, graphics and pictorials. But it is the secondary article ``The New York Grenadiers'' written by Marko Zlatich which most impressed this writer.
Those of us who study the Civil War know that it was far from being simply a war between Blue and Gray. Both sides wore those colors as well as multi colored wardrobes based upon French Algerian Zouaves. Confusion was sure to reign on the battlefield as you faced regiments dressed in similar garb.
The Battle of Brooklyn (or Long Island, as we have long been taught) presented equal challenges, especially for the British, as the New York Grenadiers were in the field. The Grenadier Company of New York was one of nine independent companies on the militia rolls of NYC at the outbreak of hostilities in Lexington. Founded in 1765, its commander was Capt. William Alexander, who would lead them eleven years later in Brooklyn as Maj. Gen. Lord Stirling. He was succeeded by John Lasher who commanded the company during the governorship of William Tryon (1773-1775) and it was his Excellency, impressed by the loyalty of this company, who expanded their numbers. Little did he know that their loyalties would soon change!
Tryon dressed his companies in typical British uniforms. The Grenadiers wore blue coats with red facings (as did British artillery) and red fronted miter caps. Other members of Lasher's battalion wore equally confusing uniforms: the German Fusiliers and Fusiliers Company wore blue faced red and bearskin caps; the Oswego Rangers wore blue, but the Ranger Company dressed in green. Add firing, smoke, fifes & drums, and the screams of the injured; it does not take much to understand the confusion of this battle.
New York's hometown guard was levied into service with the Continental Army on June 7, 1776 (the same day Richard Henry Lee presented Virginia's Resolution for independence in Philadelphia) and transferred to the command of Brig. Gen. John Morin Scott. They served with distinction protecting Washington's right flank during the withdrawal, standing beside a company of Marylanders. The company recorded several missing officers and men, and Capt. Abraham Van Dyck was captured. Scott's brigade participated in the retreat north from the city and was discharged on Dec. 1, 1776.