#august 12 1775

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Were any French Revolution figures involved in duels and what was the general attitude towards dueling by the revolutionaries? (I know plenty of French historical figures who participated in duels before and after the French Revolution but it seemed less popular during the republic?)

According to the article Duelling in eighteenth-century France: Archaeology, Rationale, Implications(1980) by George Armstrong Kelly,  ”the great majority of ”patriots” abominated this feudal survival, but they found it less than simple to legislate manners.” On February 3 1791, the deputy Chevalier introduced a new law against duels, which carried, despite opposition from the right. One year later, September 17 1792, the Legisaltive Assembly did however pass an act of indulgence agaisnt all cases of duelling that had transpired since July 1789, giving as its reason that ”political and patriotic considerations might have legitimately provoked such combats.” But two years after that, July 17 1794, the National Convention, after determining that no existint legislation had dealt with duelling, instead decreed that a committee ”examine and propose means of preventing duels and the penalties to assign those guilty of duelling of provoking it.” According to Armstrong Kelly, under the ”Jacobin regime,” renewed attemps were also made to eradicate duelling in the armies.

When it comes to individual revolutionaries attitudes towards dueling, Armstrong Kelly notes two known duels between actual deputies of the National Assembly:

In the first case, it was Cazalès, the spokesman for the ultramonarchists, who delivered the injure to Barnave, then the spellbinding young speaker of the Left, having called him a "tramp" and a "brigand." The duel was fought, à l'anglaise, with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne on the morning of 11 August 1790. Despite the courteous disposition of the two men toward each other personally, they fought lethally. Eventually Barnave managed to wound Cazalès on the forehead. Surprisingly, the duel cemented a friendship across political barriers, and the two antagonists were mutually hailed with applause when they greeted each other next in the Assembly. Barnave's victory won him much popularity, especially in his native Grenoble. In the second case, the well-known friend of Barnave and future Feuillant Charles de Lameth, though avoiding the consequences of one injure by a young officer named Chauvigny de Plot, could not ignore the ensuing insults of a deputy of the Right, the due de Castries, son of the marshal. Their combat took place with swords on the Champ de Mars on the afternoon of 12 November 1790; Lameth was painfully wounded on the left hand. Though a literary descendant of the due describes the encounter as "a simple explanation between gentlemen,” more serious political implications were attached to the act, for Lameth, though a noble, was at the time a popular spokesman for the Left. Word was passed that Castries's sword had been poisoned, and on the following afternoon a large, angry mob sacked the Hôtel de Castries on the rue de Varenne. The following evening Castries left Paris for exile. Important political repercussions attended this episode, gravely damaging Mirabeau’s rapprochement with the Court.

He furthermore notes that both Brissot and Louis Sébastien Mercier wrote  about duels in the 1780s, both celebrating the fact that the amount of the them had been waning during the reign of Louis XVI and contributing this to ”philosophy” or ”the spirit of the century.” Nicolas Guénot, future agent of the Committee of General Security, "was in and out of prison throughout his [military] service [1775-1783]; and in one of the brawls in which he was involved and in which sabres were drawn, he was severely wounded in the left arm, the use of which he never fully recovered." Finally, in July 1790, Barère inserted some remarks about dueling in the journal Le Moniteur, complaining that ”the egislators are witnessing how a feudal practice is surviving the destruction of feudalism,” and calling the duelist ”a wild animal who should be handed over to the discretion of the constituted authorities of protection” and ought to even be declared an outlaw. Armstrong Kelly uses Barère’s demand as ”unquestionable evidence” that during the revolution, ”the French were continuing to draw their swords against one another”

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Flamborough Head

The Battle of Flamborough Head (23 September 1779) was one of the most famous naval engagements of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Fought off the coast of Yorkshire, England, it pitted the USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, against a Royal Navy frigate, HMS Serapis. The engagement was an important victory for the burgeoning Continental Navy.

The Expedition Sets Sail

On 14 August 1779, a small fleet of seven vessels set sail from the port of Groix, France, with the intention of wreaking as much havoc as possible in the British Isles. The Kingdom of France had officially entered the American Revolutionary War the year before as an ally of the fledgling United States and had since provided the Americans with military and financial aid. The French had outfitted the ships for the expedition including the flagship, a 42-gun converted merchant vessel called the Duc de Duras, which was gifted to the United States. The makeshift fleet was under the overall command of Captain John Paul Jones, a Scottish-born officer of the Continental Navy, who had recently won international fame for his daring raid on the English port town of Whitehaven in April 1778.

Prior to sailing, Jones renamed the Duc de Duras to the USS Bonhomme Richard; this was in honor of his friend, Benjamin Franklin, whose celebrated Poor Richard's Almanac was translated into French as Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard. The other ships under his command included the 36-gun frigate USS Alliance, the 32-gun frigate USS Pallas, the 12-gun corvette USS Vengeance, and the cutter Le Cerf, as well as two privateering vessels, the Monsieur and the Granville. Since the ships were setting sail from France, they were mainly crewed by French sailors (except for the Bonhomme Richard itself) and were captained by French naval officers. After raising anchor on 14 August, the fleet sailed toward the southern coast of Ireland.

Trouble beset the expedition almost immediately. On 18 August, they recaptured a Dutch vessel that had previously been taken by a British privateer. The captain of the Monsieur raided the cargo hold of the captured vessel, taking what he pleased before selecting a prize crew to sail it back to Belgium for sale. Jones overrode these orders, however, putting his own prize crew in place and sending it back to France to be sold in his own name. This enraged the captain of the Monsieur, who felt entitled to the prize. That night, the Monsieur abandoned the fleet with the other privateer, Granville, leaving not long after. Jones was hardly surprised by the disloyalty of the privateers but would soon be faced with more discontent from within his ranks. The aristocratic French naval officers under his command despised taking orders from a provincial, Scottish-born American and were not afraid to show their displeasure; Pierre Landais, captain of USS Alliance, was the most outspoken of this group, flatly telling Jones that he intended to sail Alliance as he saw fit.

After the departure of the privateers, Jones' remaining five ships sailed up around the southwest of Ireland before heading north. In late August, Jones sent Le Cerf to reconnoiter the Irish coast, but the cutter soon became lost; after failing to find its way back to the fleet, Le Cerf turned around and sailed back to France. Jones, meanwhile, continued northward with his remaining ships, sailing along the coast of Scotland. Despite the expedition's rocky start, it finally began to prove profitable, as the Franco-Americans took several British merchant vessels as prizes along the Scottish coast. On 3 September, Jones' fleet rounded the Orkney Islands and turned south. He put a landing party ashore at Leith, the seaport of Edinburgh, with instructions to threaten to burn the port unless the residents paid a large ransom. But before the threat could even be made, a strong gale blew Jones' ships away from the bay, forcing him to call off the raid. Nevertheless, the sight of Jones' fleet off the coast of Scotland was enough to cause panic and alarm throughout Great Britain.

Continue reading...

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Hemaris thysbe

The hummingbird clearwing moth is a part of the family Sphingidae or the hawkmoth family and was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. The name Hemaris Thysbe is thought to be a reference to Thisbe, one of the doomed lovers in Ovid's Metamorphoses, due to the color of Thisbe’s blood-stained scarf and the maroon color of the moth. Additionally, the name hummingbird clearwing is due to the humming noise created by the rapid flapping of the moth’s transparent wings.

Description The hummingbird clearwing moth typically has an olive green and maroon back with a white or yellow and maroon underside. It has pale legs and no stripes, which is how you tell this moth apart from other in its genus, Hemaris. Its wings are transparent with a maroon border. After hatching, the hummingbird clearwing’s wings are a fully opaque dark red to black. Then the wing’s scales fall off when the moth takes flight, resulting in a clear wing with maroon borders and visible veins. However, a moth’s color and wing patterning varies between individual moths. For example, moths born in the south or later in the mating season are darker in color, and different populations have varying wing border shapes.

Average wingspan of 4.75 cm (≈1.9 in)

Up to 70 wingbeats per second

Can fly up to 12 mph (≈19.3 kph)

Diet and Habitat When in their caterpillar stage, these moths eat the leaves of cherry trees, European cranberry bushes, hawthorns, dogbane, honeysuckle, and snowberry bushes. Adult hummingbird moths feed on the nectar from flowers such as the Wild Bergamot and beebalm, red clovers, lilacs, phloxs, snowberry, cranberry, blueberry, vetch and thistle. The hummingbird clearwing prefers purple and pink flowers. They use their long proboscis or feeding tube to collect nectar from the flowers while flying in front of it like a hummingbird.

The average proboscis is 20 mm (≈0.8 in)

These moths are the most common in southern Ontario and the eastern United States. Their habitat ranges from Alaska to Oregon in the west and from Newfoundland to Florida in the east. They migrate northward from April to August and southward in late spring and the fall. They inhabit forests, meadows, and suburban gardens.

Mating The hummingbird clearwing has two broods a year in the south, but only one in the north. Mating takes place in May and June as females attract males with pheromones produce from glands at the tip of the abdomen. Female hummingbird moths will lay 200 eggs that will hatch in only 6 to 8 days.

Predators Hummingbird moths and caterpillars in general are hunted by birds, mantids, spiders, bats. To help protect themselves, these types of moths resemble hummingbirds or bees to fool predators.

Fun Fact Adults hummingbird clearwing moths are most active during the hottest parts of the day and have no hearing abilities due to a lack of “hearing organs.”

(Source: Wikipedia, Life On CSG Pond, United States Department of Agriculture, Georgia Wildlife Federation, Beyond Pest Control)

[schnitzelsemmerl]

THIS IS LONG OVERDUE BUT ANYWAY. ANNA MASTERPOST (using fancy english for this) (TW for some heavy topics, such as SH, drinking, abuse, depression, drinking and lots of tragic death)

Anna Lewis (née Anna Baumgartner) was born to her mother Clara Auer and Martin Baumgartner on February 28th, 1745. Her parents were teens (with Clara being 16, Martin being 18) at the time of her birth.

They lived in Vienna, specifically the part of the city called "Favoriten". Her parents worked a lot during her childhood, once selling things on the market, once sewing, whatever job they could find, so she was usually home alone.

When she was 10, her mother had 2 more kids: Johann and Elisa (August 3rd, 1755, twins). As a kid, Anna was closer with her paternal grandparents, who lived in the apartment below them.

When Anna was 12 (Christmas Eve 1757) the house got on fire. Her grandparents and siblings were away at that time. She survived with minimal injuries. But it made her first realize how shitty her situation was, when her family couldn't afford to fix anything. From that day on until her late teens, she dreamed of "greatness". Which meant "marrying rich to support her family". She helped her parents with work.

When she turned 16, she packed up her bagsand simply left. She sneaked onto various ways of transports: eventually reaching the city of London (May 1761). Eventually (2 weeks later), she met a young man her age: Stephen Lewis. His family was wealthy, owning a fabric business. His mother, Jane, a rich widow, approved of the marriage. Anna's mother Clara, however, did not.

She told Anna: "Annerl, wenn du den Deppen da heiratest, brauchst du nicht mehr heimkommen," ("Annerl (equivalent to Annie), if you marry that idiot, don't bother coming back home.") and Anna officially got kicked out from the home she had left.

Jane did take her in. Anna made a friend, Stephen's 15-year old cousin Caroline and was acquaintanced with Caroline's 23-year old stepsister Abigail "Abby" Waterton. Abigail granted Anna to become an apprentice at her sewing shop in Brighton, which Anna had to decline, due to the distance. Abigail sent the young woman money occasionally.

Anna and Stephen would get married on July 22nd of that same year. And on March 20th of 1762, their first son was born prematurely. Unfortunately, he didn't make it.

Luckily, they had another son. Eduard Lewis was born to Anna and Stephen on November 1st, 1763, being baptized the day after.

The young couple was in truly in love, the other being their soulmate. Anna had another child, a daughter: Katharina "Katja" Lewis (August 10th, 1766).

After the birth of Katja, the marriage spiralled downwards. The child wasn't most at fault (Stephen was disappointed he had gotten a daughter, though), but Stephen's mother, Jane, died of cancer only 4 months after the birth of her granddaughter.

Anna was suffering heavy postpartum depression and self-esteem issues. She began to question her choice of marrying. Stephen was mourning his mother and also questioning if Anna was truly "the one" for him. He began to gamble, spending their money. Anna even attempted self harm a few times. Stephen came home drunk more and more often.

Then, over Christmas and New Years of '68. Stephen, Anna and Katja caught an illness and were bedridden. They never found out what it was, but it left Anna with scars she would be insecure about her whole life.

So, she began to doll herself up more. Maybe Stephen would prefer her that way? And he did. He stopped hitting her. Anna had a strong temper and normally wouldn't take shit from anybody. Except from Stephen, who, in her eyes, could do nothing wrong.

They actually could live comfortably again. On April 19th, 1775, the Revolutionary War started. Stephen was a die-hard patriot. While Anna couldn't even speak English properly. She wasn't integrated into Britain at all, but would rather die than go back to her family in Vienna.

They joined the war immediately. The children were left behind at a cousin of Stephen's home: the cousin's name was Jeremiah Lewis, and the name of his "friend" who lived with him, was Isaac Johannson. (And they were roommates). Jeremiah was a priest, while Isaac was a theology teacher. Eduard and Katja would switch between their home and the home of Isaac's sister, Mercy. Eduard deeply respected Mercy, naming his future first-born daughter after her. Later, Jeremiah and Isaac were convicted to sodomy, imprisoned and hanged.

Mercy was in a deep state of mourning over her brother. And when she later found out about her young love (a woman named Mary) dying, she fell in a deep depression and spent her life alone in her home, eventually moving to the seaside. She began to drink. Eduard and Katja still lived in her house, but Mercy isolated herself so much that they didn't even see her anymore. Mercy died of her alcoholism.

Back to the battlefield. Anna worked as a nurse in the British camp, where she met Adele Antos from @imobsessedwiththeatre. The two immediately became friends. Anna also met Frederick Kenneth from @lil-gae-disaster, who taught her English. (There are more people, too)

Stephen didn't even last a month in the war, dying by a shot wound on February 13th of 1776. Anna deeply mourned her shitty husband. Her and Adele (who developed a crush on her) began secretly dating. Adele was the love of her life.

One night at a tavern (Anna was dragged along so she could make more friends), she met a man. His name was Francis van der Berg, son of an old Dutch families who settled in New York. The two took some time to get to know eachother, Anna left the army in October 1781.

So in January of 1782, her and Francis, who were good friends, moved in together in a house just outside New York. Anna was in regular contact via letters with Eduard and Katja. Katja had grown slightly bitter against her mother. Especially when she left them and failed to protect them.

Anna wasn't made to be a mother. She didn’t see her children as her children, but moreso as adults. She wrote a few angry letters at Katja, a literal teenager, which Francis kept her from sending. Thank God.

Francis and Anna got married in secret. Anna's name was now "Lady Anna van der Berg" and she visited the Netherlands with her husband a few times. He called her "his dear tulip". Adele and some other friends tried to contact Anna, but she never responded to any letters.

On December 6th, 1783, Anna gave birth to her daughter: Franziska "Franzie" van der Berg. Franzie's last name was later changed to be "Lewis" by Eduard and Caroline, the cousin mentioned earlier. The Lewis family pretty much despised Francis.

On December 7th, Anna died due to childbirth complications. Her last words to her husband were "Sag Adele, dass ich sie liebe. Ich liebe dich." ("Tell Adele that I love her. I love you.")

Francis died of a broken heart on December 24th, 1783. Anna's children were raised by Frederick Kenneth and his beloved Jonathan.

Anna herself wished to never return to Vienna. But her brother, Johann, let her body be buried at the Friedhof (cemetary) Oberlaa in Favoriten against her will. She got an unmarked grave.

[schuylersdreams]

- { .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅

watching it.. burn.

hello ! my names : elizabeth schuyler,

age : 23 .

relatives : angelica church schuyler , margarita "peggy" schuyler , catherine schuyler malcom cochran , Philip Jeremiah Schuyler , Rensselaer Schuyler , Cornelia schuyler , Cortlandt Schuyler .

status : joyful .

OOC INTRO ! :

hey! its me sappy EXCEPT something is wrong !! theres no main tagging . thats because im making a new main ! :3

LORE :

February 20, 1756 : Angelica "Church" Schuyler Was Born.

August 9, 1757 : Elizabeth Schuyler Was Born.

September 19, 1758 : Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler Was Born.

1776 : Burr Met Alexander And Marquis De Lafayette, John Laurens, and Hercules Mulligan.

1776-01-10 : Common sense By Thomas Paine was Published.

1775-02-23 : Farmer Refuted Was Published.

1773-12-16: The Boston Tea Party - King George mentions the Boston Tea Party during this song.

1776-08-22: The Battle of Brooklyn - Based off the lyrics in this song, it appears King George was planning on using force to retaliate against the colonies. If applying the musical's chronology, this song should fall around 1776, and in 1776 the British captured New York City during the Battle of Brooklyn.

1775-06-15: George Washington Becomes Commander in Chief of the Continental Army - In 1775, Washington was unanimously selected as Commander in Chief of the Contintental Army.

1775-08-25: Hamilton Captures British Canons - Hamilton and volunteers from a musket drill unit at King’s College captured twenty-one cannons at a British stockade on the tip of Manhattan Island in New York.

1775-09-13: Burr in Quebec - At this point of time, Aaron Burr was in Quebec with Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery.

1776-09-15: The Battle of Kip's Bay - The British won over the unexperienced American troops during this battle when the heavy fire from British ships caused the American troops to flee. This battle gave the British control of New York City on the lower half of the island. Washington estbalished strong positions in Harlem, though.

1777-01-25: Washington Invites Hamilton to his Military Staff - Hamilton becomes a lieutetant colonel under Washington.

1780-12-01: A Winter's Ball - The lyrics date the Winter's Ball occurring during 1780. This event is where Eliza and Hamilton meet according to the musical, so the date falls before they were married.

1780-12-14: Eliza and Hamilton Get Married - Eliza Schuyler gets married to Alexander Hamilton on December, 14 1780.

1780-12-14: Eliza and Hamilton's Wedding - Two songs in the musical focus on Eliza and Hamilton's marriage. In this song, Angelica, Eliza's sister, describes her perspective of the wedding and her feelings for Hamilton.

1778-06-28: The Battle of Monmouth - Charles Lee and George Washington came into a confrontation during this battle which led to Lee's permanent dismissal from the army.

1778-12-23: John Laurens and Charles Lee Duel - On December 23, 1778 John Laurens and Charles Lee have a duel.

1781-03-15: Hamilton Goes Home - After a dispute with Washington, Hamilton leaves his staff for a few months.

1779-08-01: Lafayette Returns to France - Lafayette expressed desire to return to his homeland for awhile during this time period.

1780-03-19: Lafayette Returns to America with Supplies and Aid from France - Lafayette sailed into Boston on March 19, 1780 after his period in France.

1781-09-28: The Battle of Yorktown - This battle occured in Yorktown, Virginia from September 28th to October 19th in 1781. This battle essentially ended the fighting in the revolution and assured success to the American cause.

1783-09-03: The End of the Revolution - The Treaty of Paris was finally signed which negotiated between American and Great Britain, ended the revolution, and recognized America as independent.

1782-01-22: Birth of Philip - Alexander Hamilton's son, Philip, was born.

1783-06-21: Birth of Theodosia - Aaron Burr's daughter, Theodosia, was born.

1782-09-01: Hamilton Returns to New York - Sometime during 1782, Hamilton returns to New York and becomes a lawyer alongside Burr.

1783-01-01: The Churches Go to England - Angelica and her family go to England in 1783.

1787-01-01: The Federalist Papers - John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of 85 essays titled The Federalist Papers in the span of a year which encouraged ratification to the constitution.

1787-05-25: Hamilton at the Constitutional Convention - Hamilton arrives at the Constitutional Convention on May 25, 1787.

1789-02-04: Washington Becomes the Preisdent - On February 4, 1789, George Washington becomes the first president of the United States of America.

1789-09-02: US Treasury is Founded - The Treasury was founded on September 9, 1789.

1789-09-11: Hamilton becomes Secretary of the Treasury - Hamilton takes office on September 11, 1789.

1800-03-31: First Murder Trial in the United States - The trial involving Levi Weekes took place from March 31st to April 1st in 1800 and was the first murder trial in the United States. Weekes had Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Brockholst Livingston representing him at the trial.

1789-07-14: French Revolution Begins - The French Revolution started in July of 1789.

1789-10-01: Jefferson Returns from France - Thomas Jefferson returns to America from Paris in October of 1789.

1790-03-22: Jefferson Becomes Secretary of State - Thomas Jefferson starts his term as Secretary of State in 1790.

1793-02-25: First Cabinet Meeting - Washington held the first cabinet meeting on February 25, 1793.

1787-12-06: Angelica and Hamilton's Letters - Hamilton and Angelica wrote letters near the end of 1787 featuring the punctuation of the comma described in the lyrics.

1787-12-06: Angelica and Hamilton's Letters - Hamilton and Angelica wrote letters near the end of 1787 featuring the punctuation of the comma described in the lyrics.

1791: Philip is Nine - Philip Hamilton turned nine in this song, making the song take place in 1791.

Now: Angelica and Hamilton's Letters - Hamilton and Angelica wrote letters near the end of 1787 featuring the punctuation of the comma described in the lyrics.

[josefavomjaaga]

Napoleonic birthday calendar

A quick first attempt at a combined calender; I hope I have not accidentally dropped somebody on the way [searches floor]. Whom or what else should we add? I’ve already taken the liberty to add Junot and Duroc.

And just for the record: All the work was done by @northernmariette, I’m just posting on her behalf due to technical problems.

January

3 Jan 1777: Elisa Bonaparte-Baciocchi

7 Jan 1768: Joseph Bonaparte

🎖 10 Jan 1769: Marshal Ney

🎖 26 Jan 1763: Marshal Bernadotte

February

🎖 13 Feb 1768: Marshal Mortier

March

🎖 2 Mar 1770: Marshal Suchet

🎖 13 Mar 1763: Marshal Brune

20 Mar 1822: Napoléon II,

25 Mar 1782: Caroline Bonaparte-Murat

🎖 25 Mar 1767: Marshal Murat

27 Mar 1746: Charles (Carlo) Bonaparte

🎖 29 Mar 1769: Marshal Soult

April

10 Apr 1783: Hortense de Beauharnais-Bonaparte

🎖 10 Apr 1769: Marshal Lannes

🎖 13 Apr 1764: Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr

🎖 25 Apr 1767: Marshal Oudinot

🎖 29 Apr 1762: Marshal Jourdan

May

🎖 6 May 1758: Marshal Masséna

🎖 7 May 1763: Marshal Poniatowsky

🎖 10 May 1770: Marshal Davout

21 May 1775: Lucien Bonaparte

🎖 28 May 1735: Marshal Kellerman

🎖 31 May 1754: Marshal Pérignon

June

23 June 1763: Joséphine Bonaparte

July

🎖 20 Jul 1774: Marshal Marmont

🎖 31 Jul 1754: Marshal Moncey

August

🎖 6 Aug 1768: Marshal Bessières

15 Aug 1769: Napoléon Bonaparte

24 Aug 1750: Laetitia Ramolino-Bonaparte

September

2 Sept 1778: Louis Bonaparte

3 Sept 1781: Eugène de Beauharnais

24 Sept 1771: Junot

October

20 Oct 1780: Pauline Bonaparte

🎖 21 Oct 1759: Marshal Augereau

🎖 23 Oct 1766: Marshal Grouchy

🎖 25 Oct 1755: Marshal Lefebvre

25 Oct 1772: Duroc

November

15 Nov 1784: Jérôme Bonaparte

🎖 17 Nov 1765: Marshal Macdonald

🎖 20 Nov 1753: Marshal Berthier

December

🎖 7 Dec 1764: Marshal Victor

🎖 8 Dec 1742: Marshal Serurier

12 Dec 1791: Marie-Louise Bonaparte

[lotus-flower-writes-history]

The Unofficial Black History Book

~~

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)

Imagine being the best-known and also the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry at the age of 13, whilst being a slave.

This is her story.

Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American and second female to publish a book of poems. And she was also the youngest.

Phillis Wheatley was born on May 8th, 1753, in Gambia, West Africa. There's no record of her real birth name. 

When she was no younger than seven, she was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to America in 1761. The slave traders renamed her 'Phillis' based on the slave ship she arrived on, 'The Phillis'

She was transported to the Boston docks with a shipment of "refugee" slaves who, because of their age or physical frailty, were unsuited for rigorous labor in the West Indian and Southern Colonies. They were the first ports of call after the Atlantic Crossing.

In August 1761, Susanna Wheatley, the wife of Boston tailor John Wheatley, was "in want of a domestic."

Susanna purchased "a slender, frail female child...for a trifle."

The captain of the slave ship believed that Phillis was terminally ill, and he wanted to make at least a small profit off of her before she died. 

It's reported that a Wheatley relative surmised her to be "of slender frame and evidently suffering from a change of climate," "nearly naked, with no other covering than a quantity of dirty carpet about her," and "about seven years old...from the circumstances of shedding her front teeth."

When Phillis was sold to the Wheatley family, she adopted their last name and was taken under Susanna's wing as her domestic.

During her time serving the Wheatleys, which was about sixteen months, Susana discovered that Phillis had an extraordinary capacity to learn. The Wheatleys, including their son Nathaniel and their daughter Mary, taught her how to read and write after discovering her precociousness.

But this didn't excuse her from her duties as a house slave.

Phillis was soon immersed in the Bible, astronomy, geography, history, theology, British literature, and the Greek and Latin classics of Virgil, Ovid, Terence, and Homer. Inspired, she began writing poetry between the ages of 12 and 13.

At a time when African Americans were discouraged and intimidated from learning how to read and write, Phillis' life was an anomaly.

When she started to publish her poems, her fame, and talent soon spread across the Atlantic. With Susanna's support, Phillis started posting advertisements for subscribers for her first book of poems.

However, a scholar of Phillis's work, Sondra O'Neale, notes, "When the colonists were apparently unwilling to support literature by an African, she and the Wheatleys turned in frustration to London for a publisher."

In 1773, Phillis was in continuously poor health; she had chronic asthma. But she sets off for London with Nathaniel Wheatley, her master's son.  

When she arrived in London, she was accepted and adored for both her poise and her literary work. And during her time there, she also received medical treatment for the ailments she was battling.

She met Selina Hastings, a friend of Susanna Wheatley and the Countess of Huntingdon. Eventually, Hastings funded the publication of Phillis's book. "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." Was the first book of poetry published by an enslaved African American in the United States. 

Her book includes many elegies as well as poems on Christian themes, even dealing with race, such as the often-anthologized "On being brought from Africa to America."

Phillis was also a strong supporter of America's fight for independence; she penned several of her poems in honor of George Washington, who was Commander of the Continental Army. She sent him one of her works that was written in 1775, and it eventually inspired an invitation to visit him in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In March 1776, she traveled to Washington.

 Phillis eventually had to return to Boston to tend to Susanna Wheatley, who was gravely ill. 

After the elder Wheatleys’ died, Phillis was left with nothing and had to support herself as a seamstress. 

We don’t know exactly when she was freed by the Wheatleys, but some scholars suggest that she was freed between 1774 and 1778. And during that time, most of the Wheatley family had died.

Even with her literary popularity at its all-time high and being manumitted, freedom in 1774 Boston proved to be incredibly difficult.

Phillis was unable to secure funding for another publication or even sell her writing. 

In 1778, she was married to a free African American man from Boston named John Peters. They had three children, but sadly, none of them survived infancy.

Their marriage proved to be a struggle due to the couple's battle with constant poverty. Phillis was then forced to find work as a maid in a boarding house, where she lived in squalid, horrifying conditions.

Even through all her misfortune, Phillis continued to write. But, with the growing tensions between the British and the Revolutionary War, she lost enthusiasm for her poems.

Although she continued to contact various publishers, she was unsuccessful in finding support for a second volume of poetry.

On December 5th, 1784, Phillis Wheatley died alone in a boarding house at 31 years old, without a penny to her name. 

Many of her poems for her second volume disappeared and have never been recovered. 

___

Next Chapter

The 16 Street Baptist Church Bombing

_____

My Resources

[nordleuchten]

24 Days of La Fayette: December 23rd – Presley Neville

Presley Neville (1756-1818) came from a wealthy and prominent Virginian family that had senior members serving with George Washington during the French and Indian War.

Presley was born on September 6, 1756 in Winchester, Virginia. He was the only surviving son and oldest child of General John Neville and Winifred (Oldham) Neville. The two had married on August 24, 1754. The family moved from Frederick County in Virginia to the outskirts of Pittsburgh in about 1775. Despite this, the men fought in the Virginia line of the Continental Army and not in the Pennsylvania line.

Neville was one of La Fayette’s earliest aide-de-camps when he joined the Marquis’ staff in December of 1777. The early months of his service were unremarkably but we have a number of letters that he copied for La Fayette. But things soon became rather more exciting.

In October of 1778, La Fayette desired promotions for his aide-de-camps, but out of the four men he recommended, only his two American aide-de-camps, Edmund Brice (day 1) and Neville received promotions. George Washington wrote in a letter to Henry Laurens on October 30, 1778:

“To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 30 October 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 17, 15 September–31 October 1778, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 647–649.] (06/07/2023)

When La Fayette planned to return to France for the first time since joining the army, he requested that Neville would be permitted to accompany him. He wrote to Washington on January 1, 1779:

This letter will be delivered to your excellency by Mr. Nevill may aid de Camp whom I beg you to favor with a leave of absence for joining me in France. Besides the affection I have for that gentleman, I also think this voyage may forward the public good as he will be intrusted with those dispatches Congress is going to send. (…) I also intreat your friendship not to forget writing to me, and if you grant the leave I solicit for Mr. Nevill his arrival with letters from you will make me extremely happy.

Gottschalk, Bill, editors, The Letters of Lafayette to Washington,1777-1779, The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 73.

Washington granted La Fayette’s request and he then told friends like Hamilton that Neville was joining him in France. He even wrote the Comte de Vergennes on May 23, that he was expecting three American and one French officer. The only problem; Neville never did leave America, and La Fayette was not aware of this fact.

Washington wrote to La Fayette on March 8-10, 1779:

(…) I have not had the Letters returned to me by Majr Neville, who I am told (but this is no excuse) is indisposed at Fish-kill (…)

“From George Washington to Major General Lafayette, 8–10 March 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 19, 15 January–7 April 1779, ed. Philander D. Chase and William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, pp. 401–405.] (06/07/2023)

The postscript of the same letter reads:

I have this moment receivd the letters which were in the hands of Majr Neville; accompanied by yr favors of the 7th & 11th of Jany. the Majr himself is not yet arrived at head Qrs; being, as I am told, very sick (…)

This is quite the peculiar statement since La Fayette himself was severely indisposed in Fishkill prior to leaving America – and Neville’s luck was far from improving over the coming months.

La Fayette wrote on June 12, 1779 to Washington:

I don’t know what is Become of Cle. Nevill and the Cher. de La Colombe. I beg you would make some inquiries for them, and do any thing in your power for theyr speedy exchange in case they have been taken.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, p. 278.

Washington replied on September 30, 1779:

Colo. Neville called upon me about a month since and was to have dined with us the next day but did not come, since which I have not seen him nor do I know at this time where he is. He had then but just returned from his own home & it was the first time I had seen him since he parted with you at Boston. It is probable he may be with the Virginia Troops which lye at the mouth of Smith’s Cloves abt. 30 mile from hence.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, p. 315.

Neville served for a time as lieutenant-colonel in the 8th Virginia Regiment. He became a prisoner of War on May 12, 1780 after the Fall of Charlestown together with John Laurens. He was quickly paroled and finally exchanged in May of 1781. La Fayette instructed the Chevalier de La Luzerne on June 20, 1780:

May I presume to ask you to convey a million compliments to Monsieur de Marbois and to find out if the son of Colonel Neville, called Lieutenant Colonel Presley Neville, my former aide-de-camp, is among the prisoners?

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 3, April 27, 1780–March 29, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 57.

La Fayette also wrote to Nathanael Greene on November 10, 1780:

I have a Request to Make, My dear Sir, Which is extremely interesting to me. Young Nevile, My aid de camp, a Captain By Commission, and a Lieutenant Colonel By Brevet was taken as a Volonteer at Charlestown. The General has told me that you was invested with full Powers to treat for the Southern Prisoners. Nothing, May Give me a Greater pleasure than to have My poor Nevile out of the Scrape which his zeal and Bravery have thrown him into. I was thinking of writing to him, But upon Recollection Believe it More advantageous to his exchange that No Notice Be taken of him till he has obtain’d his freedom.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 3, April 27, 1780–March 29, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 224.

Neville was not permitted to leave the city of Philadelphia as part of his parole. But when La Fayette was himself in Philadelphia, the two men met and the Marquis was more determined than ever to get his “favourite” back. He consulted Washington on this matter on December 9, 1780:

I have found here Lt. Clel. Nevill my old aid de camp. He came with Gal. Woodfort to Newyork. It is said that Gal. Lincoln’s aids have been exchang’d and that it is generally the case with aids de camp to Gal. officers actually in our service. I warmly desire to have him. I am told Cornwallis has no powers to treat those matters. Can you, my dear general, think of some method to get him out which it is proper for me to take? I am more than ever puzzled, my dear general, to know what to do.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 3, April 27, 1780–March 29, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 254-255.

Washington replied to La Fayette on December 14, 1780:

It would add to my pleasure if I could encourage your hope of Colo. Nevilles exchange. I refused to interest myself in the exchange of my own aid. Genl. Lincoln’s were exchanged with himself, and upon that occasion (for I know of no other) Congress passed a resolve prohibiting exchanges out of the order of captivity.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 3, April 27, 1780–March 29, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 259.

After his exchange in May of 1781, Nevill returned to serve as La Fayette’s aide-de-camp during July of 1781 – until he was captured again. La Fayette wrote on August 12, 1781 to Nathanael Greene:

I May add that Clel. Nevill and Mr. Langhorne Being prisoners, I Have No aid de Camp But McHenry and Washington, But I am willing to give up My interest to your wishes, and McHenry's Remaining Some time with me is owing to an other Circumstance.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 4, April 1, 1781–December 23, 1781, Cornell University Press, 1981, p. 319.

The details of Neville’s second capture are unknown. He was released sometimes in 1782 and as far as I can tell never returned to serve under La Fayette. Instead, he married Nancy Morgan, the daughter of General Daniel Morgan in 1782 and they moved with their family to a house known as Woodville about six miles west of Pittsburgh. Their home was situated on the banks of the Chartiers Creek and Neville’s father lived on the opposite site of the creek. Around 1794 he served as inspector for the Allegheny County militia. His county also saw a great opposition to the Act repealing, after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon Distilled Spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead; and also upon Spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same, better known as the act that raised taxes on alcohol distilled within the United States. Both Presley Neville as well as his father General John Neville found themselves the victims of attacks and threats during the Whisky Rebellion. It did not help much that Neville was the agent for procuring whiskey for the army.

On December 10, 1819, shortly after his father’s death, Neville’s son Morgan Neville addressed himself to Thomas Jefferson with a particular interest:

The Motive for my present communication, must plead my Excuse for intruding upon you, & the history of your Life, is a pledge to every American, that the humblest request will be attended to.

I am the Representative of the late General D. Morgan of Virginia, to whom Congress presented a gold Medal for the battle of the Cowpens. This descended to me as the eldest male Grandchild of this officer. Unfortunately, a Bank, in which the Medal was deposited, was last year robbed, & this with many other valuable articles belonging to me, was taken. I have lost all hopes of recovering it, as I have reason to believe that one of the Robbers threw it into the St Lawrence: I leave it to you, sir, to judge of my mortification since this event.

I have determined to petition Congress, through my friend, the honorable Henry Baldwin, to pass a Resolution authorizing me to have one struck at my Expense; as my situation however, at present would not permit me to take advantage of such a resolution, without having the original Die, I have written on the subject to Mr Gallatin, & to the Marquis de la Fayette, whose Aid de Camp, my father the late General Presley Neville was, in “77. Since writing to these gentlemen it has occurred to me that, as the Medals voted by Congress were executed under your direction, you might be able to assist me with your advice; if I be not mistaken you employed on that occasion three artists; Duvivier, Dupré, & Cateau. My Grandfather’s was executed by Dupré. Any information which you may have the goodness to give me as to where these dies were deposited; whose property you consider them; the possibility of my procuring the one I want, & what course I ought to pursue, will be most gratefully acknowledged by me. By gratifying me with a reply to this communication, you will lay me under a most serious obligation.

“Morgan Neville to Thomas Jefferson, 10 December 1819,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 15, 1 September 1819 to 31 May 1820, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018, pp. 276–278.] (06/07/2023)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.29 (before 1920)

587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week. 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany). 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6. 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen. 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes. 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade. 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, in a Catholic ceremony. 1567 – The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France. 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands. 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army. 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light. 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. 1848 – Great Famine of Ireland: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police. 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia. 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty. 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed. 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. His son, Victor Emmanuel III, 31 years old, succeeds to the throne. 1901 – Land lottery begins in Oklahoma. 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9 and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement. 1910 – The two-day Slocum massacre commences. 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.

[wanderlustwayadventures1]

Boston 2 Day historical Trip

2 Days 2022

Day 1 August 28

We arrived at 11am at the Hilton Boston Downtown/Faneuil Hall. Hilton was amazing they vail parked $57 and was able to check in early. We freshened up and dropped off our suitcase in the room.

We walked about 15 mins to the Boston Common Visitor Center to take our Boston Freedom Trail Walking Tour with Costumed Guide: Tour Of the Freedom Trail which started at 11:30am.

See top Boston sites such as the State House, Granary Burial Ground, and Old South Meeting House.

The Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. Along with Massachusetts governors, mayors and clergymen, visitors will find the graves of three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine; Peter Faneuil, benefactor of the famed downtown Boston landmark; patriot and craftsman Paul Revere; James Otis, Revolutionary.

Paul Revere passed away 203 years ago today, buried at the Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street. A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. If you leave a penny, it means you visited.

James Otis, Jr. (February 5, 1725 – May 23, 1783), a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to him.

Samuel Adam’s stone at the front right of the graveyard marks the tomb of Samuel Adams (September 16, 1722–October 2, 1803), an American leader, politician, writer, and political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Boston Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635, is the oldest public school in America. It offered free education to boys - rich or poor - while girls attended private schools at home. Until the completion of the schoolhouse in 1645, classes were held in the home of the first headmaster, Philemon Pormont. A mosaic and a statue of former student Benjamin Franklin currently marks the location of the original schoolhouse.

We Tour Old state house, this was The Boston Massacre. A cobblestone circle beneath the Old State House balcony marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre. The incident began with local boys taunting a British sentry on a cold March night. When the sentry struck one of the boys, the situation quickly escalated.

Old south meeting house: we experience history where the Boston Tea Party began! This hall rang with words from Puritan sermons, public meetings, and the tea tax debates - visit Old South Meeting House and add your voice to history.

The Paul Revere House, built c.1680, was the colonial home of American patriot and Founding Father Paul Revere during the time of the American Revolution. The oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston.

After the tour ended we walked over to little Italy and enjoyed a late lunch while a parade was going on.

After lunch we proceed to go to make our way to bunker hill, where we climbed so many stairs!

The Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War and predicted the character and outcome of the rest of the war.

We then headed towards the Navy yard to see the USS Constitution.

Launched in Boston in 1797, USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat and earned her nickname "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 when she fought the British frigate HMS Guerriere.

We then proceed to go towards the Ferry that would take us back to downtown area. As we walked there we had a chance to view amazing sculptures, great for some photo ops.

Day 2 August 29

We checked out of our hotel at 10am and took a 12 minute walk to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Experience.

Guided tours of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum last approximately one hour to an hour and 15 minutes. We had a chance to Participate in a re enactment of the assembly that vote for the Boston tea party to happen. We then took viewed a virtual exhibit and authentically restored tea ship were we re enacted throwing the tea into the sea!

After the experience we headed back to the hotel to pickup our car and made a quick stop at Harvard university and had dinner before we return back to NY.

[revolutionarywarhistory]

"I never forgot that I was an American": the story of the Maryland Loyalist Regiment [Part 2]

Continued from Part 1

© 2017-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog.

Notes

[1] Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 422; Stuart Salmon, "The Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783," Ph.D Dissertation, 2009, University of Stirling,p.94.

[2] Salmon, "The Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783," pp iii-vii, 55.

[3] David W. Guth, Bridging the Chesapeake: A ‘Fool Idea’ That Unified Maryland (Blomington, IN: Archway Publishing, 2017), 64.

[4] Sina Dubovoy, The Lost World of Francis Scott Key (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 53; <Sabine, The American Loyalists, 410.

[5] Sabine, The American Loyalists, 633-634, 650; Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 336, 423, 428.

[6] The latter link cites James Moody, Lieut. James Moody’s Narrative of his Exertions and Sufferings in the Cause of Government, since the Year 1776, Richardson and Urquhart (London, 1783), 8-9.

[7] Siebert, Wilbur H. “The Loyalists in West Florida and the Natchez District.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 2, no. 4, 1916, pp. 473;Guth, Bridging the Chesapeake, 64-65.

[8] René Chartrand, American Loyalist Troops 1775–84 (US: Osprey Publishing, 2008), 8, 14, 16; Siebert, "The Loyalists in West Florida and the Natchez District," 474. Seibert talks about PA Loyalists at entrance to harbor

[9] Siebert, "The Loyalists in West Florida and the Natchez District," 476.

[10] Sabine, The American Loyalists, 204; William Odber Raymond, The United Empire Loyalists, 36; Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Vol. III (Hereford: Anthony Brothers Limited, 1907), 87, 107, 280; Siebert, "The Loyalists in West Florida and the Natchez District," 481.

[11] "Subsistence Due the Commissioned and Non Commissioned Officers and Private Men from 25th June 1782 to the 24th of August, all days included being 61 days," August 1782, British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - DOCUMENTS, p. 8. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada; "Abstract of 61 Days Pay for the Commissioned Staff and Noncommissioned Officers and Private Men from the 25th of June to the 24th of August 1782, inclusive," August 1782, British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - DOCUMENTS, p. 9. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada. This calculation comes from 2016 US dollars according to Measuring Worth.

[12] Lorenzo Sabine, The American Loyalists: Or, Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the British Crown in the War of the Revolution; Alphabetically Arranged; with a Preliminary Historical Essay (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1847), 60-61; Robert S. Allen, Loyalist Literature: An Annotated Bibliographic Guide to the Writings on the Loyalists of the American Revolution (Toronto: Dundurn Press Limited, 1982), 44. Other units created at the same time included the Roman Catholic Volunteers unit and the First Pennsylvania Loyalist Battalion/Regiment.

[13] For more see Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. Orderly Book of the “Maryland Loyalists Regiment” . . . 1778. Brooklyn: Historical Printing Club, 1891. The book is also mentioned here, here (full book), and here.

[14] Siebert, "The Loyalists in West Florida and the Natchez District," 482; Guth, Bridging the Chesapeake, 65; William Odber Raymond, The United Empire Loyalists (St. Stephen, N.B.: Saint Croix Printing and Publishing Co., 1893), 38. The Provencal Archives of New Brunswick, Canada adds that "one unfortunate ship, the Martha, having on board detachments of the Maryland loyalists and of de Lancey's third battalion, was wrecked on a ledge of rocks near Yarmouth, and out of 174 souls about 100 were lost. The other vessels arrived safely after a voyage of from ten to twelve days."

[15] Sabine, The American Loyalists, 62, 634; Theodore Corbett, Revolutionary Chestertown: Loyalists and Rebels on Maryland's Eastern Shore (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014), 120; William Odber Raymond, The United Empire Loyalists, 43.

[16] Guth, Bridging the Chesapeake, 65; Sabine, The American Loyalists, 118.

[17] Maryland in Prose and Poetry: Recitations and Readings Pertaining to the State, pp 222-223.

[18] Other sources include: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution (New York: Random House, 2016, paperback), 113-114, 155, 165, 182, 204, 215; issue 68 in 1973, article in Maryland Historical Magazine by Mayer and Bachmann titled "The First Battalion of Maryland Loyalists"); Murtie Jane Clark, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1981), 16-17; Mary K. Meyer and Virginia B. Bachman, "Genealogica Marylandia: The First Battalion of Maryland Loyalists," Maryland Historical Magazine Vol. 68, No. 2, summer 1973, 199, 209; M. Christopher New, Maryland Loyalists in the American Revolution (Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1996), xi, xii, 20, 45-46, 49-51, 57-58, 63, 65, 82-83, 89-95, 100, 151, 148; Albert W. Haarmann, "The Siege of Pensacola: An Order of Battle," The Florida Historical Quarterly 44, no. 3 (1966): 193-199; Timothy James Wilson, ""Old Offenders:" Loyalists in the Lower Delmarva Peninsula, 1775-1800" (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1998), 116, 179-180, 182-183; Richard Arthur Overfield, "Loyalists of Maryland During the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1968), 207, 214-215, 234, 237-238, 243; Robert Mann, Wartime Dissent in America: A History and Anthology (New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2010), 15-17; David H. White, "The Spaniards and William Augustus Bowles in Florida, 1799-1803," The Florida Historical Quarterly 54, no. 2 (1975): 145-155; Major Walter Dulany, Maryland Loyalists to General Carleton, New York 13 April 1783, PRO 30/55/10078; nd Major Walter Dulany, Maryland Loyalists to General Carleton, New York 13 April 1783, PRO 30/55/10078. Sadly I can't access this, this or this.

[76historylover]

From the east to the west, blow the trumpet to arms,   Tho' the land let the sound of it flee,  Let the far and the near—all unite with a cheer,   In the defence of our Liberty Tree!

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Camden

The Battle of Camden (16 August 1780) was a major battle of the southern theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It saw a British army under Lord Charles Cornwallis decisively defeat an American force under General Horatio Gates, thereby securing British control of South Carolina and allowing Cornwallis to invade North Carolina.

Background: Fall of Charleston

On 29 March 1780, over 12,000 British and German soldiers under the command of Sir Henry Clinton dug in outside the landward walls of Charleston, South Carolina, and began to lay siege. Over the course of the next six weeks, the British siegeworks crept closer to the city walls, as the ubiquitous roar of artillery echoed in the sky. Charleston was, at the time, the largest and most important city in the American South. Its capture would provide the British with a base from which to launch an invasion of the South, one of the most economically significant regions of the United States. The exports of southern cash crops such as indigo, rice, and tobacco were used to fund the American war effort; should the South fall back under British control, the US would lose access to this major source of revenue and would be less capable of military upkeep. The amputation of the South from the body of the United States would, it was believed, be the fatal blow to the young republic.

This was a fact that Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commander of the Southern Department of the Continental Army, knew all too well. As the British completed their entrapment of his army in Charleston, Lincoln knew that time was running out for both his army and the South, and he could only hope that help was on its way. General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American forces, was unable to come to Lincoln's aid himself, as he was currently in New Jersey with the main army keeping an eye on the sizable British force in New York City. However, Washington was able to spare two regiments of Continentals (or regular soldiers), sending them south under the capable command of Major General Johann de Kalb. Simultaneously, the 380 troops of the 3rd Virginia Regiment under Colonel Abraham Buford crossed into South Carolina, intent on coming to Charleston's defense.

But before either of these detachments could arrive to reinforce the city, Lincoln's hand was forced. By early May, Clinton's siegeworks had approached the city walls, allowing the British to unleash an artillery barrage that engulfed the wooden buildings of Charleston in flames. Unwilling to subject his army and the city's residents to further carnage, Lincoln surrendered on 12 May; at least 2,500 Continentals were taken prisoner (the British reported over 5,000 prisoners), and Charleston was occupied by the British. Clinton then set about pacifying the state of South Carolina, offering pardons to any Patriot militiamen willing to change sides and fight for the British; as a result, the British were able to recruit nearly 4,000 men for their Loyalist militias over the summer.

Clinton also dispatched Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, and his infamous unit of elite Loyalists known as the British Legion, in pursuit of Colonel Buford's Virginians. On 29 May, Tarleton attacked Buford at the Battle of Waxhaws on the border between North and South Carolina. The battle quickly devolved into a bloodbath, as Tarleton's troops allegedly massacred the Continental soldiers while they were trying to surrender; this led the Patriots to coin the phrase ‘Tarleton's Quarter' to refer to the brutality of British officers. With the elimination of Buford's regiment, the last remnants of the American southern army had been destroyed, leaving the South open to British subjugation.

Satisfied with this outcome, Clinton returned to New York City in early June, leaving his second-in-command, Lord Charles Cornwallis, in charge of finishing the pacification of South Carolina. This was easier said than done, as the brutality of Waxhaws inspired hundreds of men to join Patriot militias that were sprouting up across the South Carolina backcountry. Men like Thomas Sumter, Francis Marion, and Andrew Pickens led small bands of partisan fighters on attacks against British and Loyalist troops, frustrating Cornwallis' attempts to solidify his authority in the region. As the weeks wore on and Cornwallis' grip on South Carolina began to slip, the Patriots spotted a chance to regain control of the state. But to do so, they would have to rebuild their southern army fast.

Continue reading...

[my-deer-history]

Can you tell me about Louis de Vegobre and his possible relationship with Laurens and Kinloch?

Sure! Others will certainly know more, but here’s a little of what I’ve pulled together about these three.

Louis Manoel de Vegobre was a Swiss lawyer and intellectual who befriended Laurens during his time as a student in Geneva. He tutored Laurens in mathematics, and in return Laurens taught de Vegobre English. Kinloch arrived Geneva in May 1774, and although they only spent a few months together there (Laurens left in July 1774), they quickly formed a close-knit circle, studying and socialising together, and mingling with other English students and eminent Genevan scholars and scientists. 

There is little written correspondence from that time, as there was no need to write letters to those who lived so close. But it is evident from Laurens’ letters after his departure that he loved his time in Geneva, in large part because of the relationships he had built there - he writes to Kinloch on 23 August 1774 that “I dont know when I shall get into such a valuable Set of Acquaintance as I have left”. 

Whether all of this remained purely platonic, in the style of romantic friendship, or extended into homoerotic or even homosexual realms, is impossible to prove definitively - but there is a good deal of evidence that the three of them were more than “just friends”.

For one, they mingled with figures who were known to have homosexual inclinations. Among these was Swiss historian Johannes von Müller (himself at the centre of a web of queer figures, including Swiss writer Karl Viktor von Bonstetten), who was known for his homoerotic love letters and, per Rictor Norton, “always travelled with young male companions, and even set up house together in the Alps with the American Francis Kinlock [sic]”.  They stayed together in Chambésy in 1775, which presumably is what Laurens is referring to, with evident longing, in his letter to Kinloch on 10 March 1775:

Mr. Boon has communicated your plan of spending the summer with Vegobre in some convenient retreat in Switzerland, a plan which I should of all things like myself, and which I dare to say you will find great benefit from. 

What three young men of a certain persuasion might get up to in the privacy and safety of an alpine retreat I will leave to your imagination.

Side note on Müller and Kinloch - in 1802/3, Müller was involved in a homosexual scandal, after a former pupil faked love letters to him from a made-up admirer, to which Müller responded with equal (and damning) fervour. The ensuing scandal cost Müller his fortune. He writes a letter to Kinloch on 12 May 1803, explaining his dire situation, to which Kinloch responds:

L'idée de ce qui aurait pu arriver à cette extreme nocturne me fait frémir - Vous souvient il, cher ami, du commencement do notre liaison à Geneve? My transcription: The idea of ​​what could have happened at this nocturnal extreme makes me shudder - Does it remind you, dear friend, of the beginning of our affair in Geneva?

Clearly, the mention of the scandal was a reminder to Kinloch of whatever they may have gotten up to twenty years prior.

In Laurens’ absence from Geneva, Kinloch and de Vegobre remained close, and all three of them wrote to and about each other using expressions of deep love and affection, expressing a desire for contact and closeness - which, to me, often veers into the romantic.

Here are some examples, in chronological order:

My beloved, my dearest friend is Kinloch […] Let me say again: Kinloch is my beloved, my dearest friend. […] You have began to make me feeling how hard it is to see the departure of a man to whom one’s heart is addicted

Louis de Vegobre to John Laurens, 24 December 1774

I would be wrong to hide from you that I was upset at you [but now I want to] occupy myself only with the pleasure I had upon seeing that your heart is without fault, and that you have maintained the same sentiments towards me that you expressed to me when you left Geneva. […] Permit me to remark to you that [a time of adversity] is where we know our friends, and that it is here (I dare say) that you will see that the attachments of my heart are not a light bond formed by pleasure which does not last beyond it. […] You congratulate me on my friendship with Kinloch, oh how right you are to congratulate me! What an excellent man! What a friend I have in him! […] I repeat that I am entirely at your service & that I responded very sincerely and very deeply to the feelings that you have expressed for me. 

Louis de Vegobre to John Laurens, 18 October 1775

You and I may differ my Dear Kinloch in our political Sentiments but I shall always love you from the Knowledge I have of your Heart.

John Laurens to Francis Kinloch, 12 April 1776

we hold too fast by one anothers hearts, my dear Laurens, to be afraid of exposing our several opinions to each other […] Be certain that I never shall forget you

Francis Kinloch to John Laurens, 28 April 1776

that Letter & the pretty gift that you attached are very agreeable marks of your friendship […] I learnt that I was loved & esteemed by you as much as I could have desired […] I am much persuaded, my Dear, that if we could live together our mutual happiness would be augmented; especially when I think of the calamities that surround you, I would desire to be close to you, to witness your fortitude and to offer you the relief of my friendship […] I saw this morning our friend Kinloch: what shall I tell you of him which you don’t already know? […] I regard it is as one of the joys of my life to have become his friend.

Louis de Vegobre to John Laurens, 7 June 1776

And after Laurens’ blistering letter to Kinloch about their differing political views, Kinloch seemingly responds with hurt and offence, which Laurens tries to smooth over with a reaffirmation of his feelings:

I have no Copies of what I write, and therefore can’t be exactly sure of all the Expressions which I used in my Letter, this I am persuaded of that there was nothing in it that could be construed to throw any Imputation upon the Qualities of your Heart on account of the side you took in our political Dispute […] It was from the great Opinion I had of your Heart that I first wish’d to form a Friendship with you, it is from the great Opinion that I still have of it, that I am exceedingly desirous of cultivating and improving that Friendship […] I still think your political principles wrong, the Sentiments which you have adopted with respect to your own Country strike me with horrour, and I hope you’ll change them_ but I am persuaded you think they are right and your Heart with me is unimpeached_

John Laurens to Francis Kinloch, 30 September 1776

(Extracts above from de Vegobre’s letters of 18 October 1775 and 7 June 1776 are taken from my translations of the original French.)

[greater-than-the-sword]

I posted 4,310 times in 2022

That's 185 more posts than 2021!

880 posts created (20%)

3,430 posts reblogged (80%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@greater-than-the-sword

@corvidae-quills

@rabbits-of-negative-euphoria

@shenzi-hemlock

@celestial-citrus

I tagged 1,542 of my posts in 2022

#quayway - 157 posts

#christianity - 45 posts

#sg1 - 43 posts

#quotes - 18 posts

#robophobia - 17 posts

#art - 17 posts

#koh - 16 posts

#spotify - 14 posts

#politics - 13 posts

#shitpost - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#and don’t say “god wouldn’t let this happen” because who’s to say god couldn’t use this as the method for the second destruction by fire?

I sent 1 gift in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

As for all the pro-choicers out there wishing for pro-life women to get raped, I applaud their monumental respect for women and deep empathy for rape victims

1,016 notes - Posted June 24, 2022

#4

They should really stop telling people everything good is white supremacy and facism, it's starting to look like pro-fascist propaganda

1,146 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

#3

"Christians ignore all the contradictions in the Bible" babygirl there are armies of theologians right now in universities writing their doctoral thesis debunking biblical "contradictions" you've never even heard of

1,153 notes - Posted August 25, 2022

#2

Imagine having to unironically say "The King of England" like it's 1775 djfgsksmdhdj

1,400 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So apparently Canada is having a bit of a constitutional crisis right now. Their Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted in 1982, which means as a matter of fact that one of the men who helped draft it, essentially a Canadian founding father, who was famously the Premiere (governor) of Newfoundland, is still living, and is now suing the Canadian federal government for violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This creates an amazing paradox because (similar to in the US) the courts are required to interpret the Charter as much as they can by what they know about the intentions of its drafters. A comparable scenario in the US would be if James Madison came back from the dead and sued the federal government

2,896 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

au contraire, tumblr, these are the top 5 posts that I didn't delete the original of because I was completely overwhelmed by 20,000+ notes. it also seems that I love reblogging myself

[vivelareine]

The comtesse d'Artois gave birth on the sixth at three forty-five as easily as possible … I spent the entire time in her room: I need not tell my dear Mama how I suffered in seeing an heir who isn’t mine; but I still managed not to forget any attention due to the mother and child.

–Marie Antoinette to Maria Theresa, 12 August 1775

[translation: Olivier Bernier, Secrets of Marie Antoinette]