With this issue of the newsletter comes a form on which you can cast your votes for the ten best books on the American Revolution. There are no limitations on dates of publication. You can vote for Mercy Warren's ancient opus if it catches your fancy. But the Board of Governors decided to limit the field slightly -- to nonfiction. Sorry Kenneth Roberts! For a followup maybe we'll do the ten best novels. All entries should be signed and dated. A computation of the results will appear in a future newsletter.
Most history buffs know (or think they know) that the melody for our national anthem was an old English air, to which John Stafford Smith, the organist of Gloucester Cathedral, wrote lyrics entitled "To Anacreon in Heaven." This is the gospel according to Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, music librarian at the Library of Congress, who wrote 116 closely printed pages on the sources of the song in 1914. But in the 1940s, a little manuscript music book turned up in the Sutro branch of the California State Library. In it was the tune of the Star Spangled Banner under the title, "The Royal Iniskillings." The owner of the book was one William Brown, an officer in the 6th battalion of the Iniskillings, previously a trumpeter in their band. Brown was from Mullaghdun in County Fermanagh, in Ireland's province of Ulster. Irish researchers went to work and soon discovered that in Mullaghdun The Star Spangled Banner was known as "the tune the Americans pinched for their national anthem." Further research traced the melody to Iniskillings bandman William M'Keag, who wrote it as a march for his 8th battalion.
That branch of the Iniskillings had a troubled history. In 1798 when a French army landed in Mayo, not far from County Fermanagh, to support the revolt of the United Irishmen, the 8th battalion deserted the British ranks and rushed home to defend their kin. When peace was restored the battalion was dismissed from the royal army and most of them emigrated to Boston. They took their song with them. There the tune was converted into another song, "Adams and Liberty" to celebrate President John Adams' defiance of France in the Quasi War of 1798-1800, It was first published in American Vocal Companion in 1798. Fast forward 16 years to Francis Scott Key watching the British fleet bombard Baltimore. He wrote new verses to this familiar American (so he thought) tune, making himself and the melody immortal.
This is startling stuff. Refutations or defenses of this version of the birth of our anthem will be happily reprinted by the editors.
Not long ago, Rear Admiral Doug Teeson, U.S. Coast Guard Retired, the head of Mystic Seaport, discoursed to visitors from the Society of the Cincinnati on a curious historical object -- the long lowslung water taxi, American Star, that brought the Marquis de Lafayette ashore at Castle Garden on the Battery when America's favorite Frenchman began his triumphal 1824-5 tour of the nation. A fleet of such boats operated in New York harbor and along the Hudson and East Rivers. They often raced each other, and the American Star was a frequent winner. In 1824, when a British frigate visited New York, the Star's crew challenged the warship's gig to a race. A reported 50,000 New Yorkers lined the Battery and other vantage points to cheer on the Americans. There was citywide jubilation when the Star won going away. That was the chief reason why the Star was chosen to bring Lafayette ashore at Castle Garden. Carried away by such proximity to fame, the coxswain of the Star (possibly also the owner) declared that he wanted to give the boat to Lafayette as a gift. He hoped he would take it back to France. Lafayette was deeply moved, and did exactly that. He erected a special building on his estate and displayed the Star to visitors, no doubt adding with relish the story of how she had defeated the British gig. After the Marquis's death, it was moved to the carriage house. There it was discovered by Paul Cadman of the American Ambulance Service during World War I. In the 1970s, a team from Mystic Seaport journeyed to the estate and carefully measured the old boat, which Admiral Teeson says was still in good condition. They produced an exact replica, which is on display at Mystic. On special occasions it is put in the water and rowed by a four oared crew, displaying the same speed that delighted Lafayette so long ago.
Last month Round Tablers congratulated themselves for getting a preview of PBS's Benjamin Franklin, with writer Ron Blumer and wife/producer Muffie Meyer as guides. Now we can mingle self congrats with even more effusive congratulations to the show's creators. BF the show and BF the personality swept the country and sent critics racing to their thesauruses to find extra adjectives for the praise it so richly deserved. The ratings for the first night were 61% above PBS's prime time average. The second night did almost as well up against West Wing, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, The Bachelor and Law and Order! The LA Times said "Benjamin Franklin makes history flat-out fun." The Philadelphia Inquirer called it "richly researched and imaginatively produced." The Seattle Post Intelligencer said it was "a lesson in great television." People Magazine said: "Ben comes up big!"
CNN.Com./Technology recently reported that the University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center has put 37 volumes of Washington's papers online. They constitute more than 17,400 documents, from letters to diary entries. They cover everything from weighty political matters to squabbles over army ranks and range from the French and Indian War to GW's presidency. "His personality comes through on every page," says Frank Grizzard, associate editor of the Papers of George Washington documentary project. "Washington was a very good writer."
John T. Hayes, world class authority on the cavalry of the American Revolution, has done buffs and librarians a favor by bringing out a new edition of one of his masterworks, A GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE, The Diary of Baylor Hill, First Continental Light Dragoons, 1777-1781. The previous edition has been sold out for several years. The cover features a beautiful color illustration of Baylor in his green dragoon's coat, with a handsome southern manor house in the background. Mr. Hayes is selling the three volume set for $55.00. Would-be buyers can contact the author/editor at: The Saddlebag Press, 6848 N W. 25 Way, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33309.
Bill Stanley of Norwich continues his long struggle to give Benedict Arnold some respect as an America hero, before he became a traitor. Bill has sent us a copy of the Treaty of Paris, with a large red arrow pointing at Article 6, which states: "There shall be no future confiscations made nor any prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason of, the part which he or they may have taken in the present war." Bill argues that in theory that meant Arnold could have returned to America with impunity. Since Article 6 was frequently honored in the breach by local citizens, it was probably a good thing that the former major general and British brigadier decided to stay away. But it probably explains why the Americans never made any attempt to seize Arnold during the postwar years he spent in Canada, or when he was privateering in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars.
Stanley reports on a small act of kindness he and his wife Peg performed on behalf of Hannah Arnold, Benedict's mother, who died in 1759. When British troops under Arnold attacked and burned New London and perpetrated what Americans claimed was a massacre at nearby Fort Griswold in 1781, Norwich citizens stormed into the town's graveyard and destroyed the tombstones of Arnold's father, Benedict, and the general's infant brother, also named Benedict. Only Hannah Arnold's grave was spared. Recently, thanks to the Stanleys' generosity, a plaque has been placed at the grave, with the original inscription on it.
Both Marcia Walton and Betty Zinn correctly answered the December quiz, naming Button Gwinnett as the scarcest signature of a Declaration signer. Gwinnett, from Georgia, was born in 1735 and did not live a very public life prior to July 4, 1776, he thus rarely signed his name to a document. Afterwards he lived only ten months. He was killed in a duel with General Lachlan McIntosh on May 19, 1777.
We all know Betsy Ross's claim to fame, but who was Mary Pickersgill? What is her contribution to American history? Where did she live and what is her home called today? A free drink to the first three winners.
Every member of the Round Table would enjoy "The General From America," a wonderfully acted and masterfully crafted play about Benedict Arnold. Unfortunately, it has closed. One can only hope for an early return.
Written and directed by Richard Nelson, author of the musical, "James Joyce's The Dead," the drama opens with Major John Andre, played with innocence by Paul Anthony McGuane, reciting before the British high command a poem acted out by a tavern girl portraying a nude America covered only by her national colors and a flag of surrender. Benedict Arnold, played by Corin Redgrave (son of Sir Michael, brother of Lynn and Vanessa) is presented as a bitter overwrought man, mad at the world because of his wounded leg from Saratoga, his battles with Philadelphia radicals, and the fact that so many less talented than he are getting rich from the war. His wife Peggy, looking like a John Singleton Copley painting of a Tory, only pushes him further into despair.
Ion DeVries portrays Washington unlike anything painted by Gilbert Stuart. He is tall and thin but also unshaven and wearing sideburns! He is also a despairing figure, prone to heavy drinking and cursing. Gone is the image of the thoughtful leader who reluctantly ordered Andre's hanging. In the confrontation between Washington, Andre and Hamilton, the script reads:
GW: "Hang him!"
JA: "You can't hang me. I'm a British officer!"
GW: "Hang him!"
AH: "We should hold an inquiry."
GW. "Hold your inquiry, and then hang him!"
After Arnold's escape to the English lines, the play moves immediately to his death, leaving out his raids of the New England coast and Petersburg, Va. as a British general. But these are small issues. What makes for intriguing viewing are the speculations. Did Sir Henry Clinton and Andre have an affair? Can a case be made for Arnold switching sides? A great night at the theater!
Overheard after the production
"Didn't they hang an American spy too?
"Yeah. Patrick Henry."
"That's right! He said 'Give me liberty or give me death!' So they hanged him."