Violence and murder between
masters and slaves in colonial America was not a one way street. Blacks
sometimes found ways of quietly settling the score with cruel masters. The most
common forms of black resistance were arson, poisoning and running away. Poisoning
was especially terrifying to slave owners. The closeness of house servants to
their masters, for whom they cooked and washed in the very house where the
master slept, made the threat of poisoning terrifying. Nor was this fear
groundless.
In 1737, a case of poisoning in Orange County, Virginia, involved the
murder of a master by a slave named Peter. The slave Peter was not only
executed for the crime but subsequently, had his head cut off and displayed on
a pole at the courthouse building, “to deter others from doing the Like.” Nine
years after this, in January 1746, also in Orange County, a female slave named
Eve was convicted of attempting to kill her master Peter Mountague by
poisoning. Mountague suffered severe illness from August through December 1745
before recovering (and living until at least 1771). Although Montague
recovered, Eve was convicted of poisoning him and was sentenced to death. The
sentence was medieval. She was condemned to be burnt alive, a sentence carried
out shortly after her trial. The case of Eve was considered particularly
diabolical because she put the poison in Mountague’s milk. Virtually one
hundred percent of the slaves living in central Virginia at the time were from
eastern Nigeria, and were genetically predisposed to be lactose intolerant. No
slaves would be drinking milk, there could be no unintended victims when milk
was poisoned, only slave masters and their kin were in mortal danger. This was
a calculated and premeditated attempt at murder stemming from deep hatred.
The records of colonial Virginia document the trial of 180 slaves tried for
poisoning.
A quick historical look at murder
most foul in the Virginia of colonial times and the early Republic. Behind the
facade of graceful mansions and quaint cobblestone streets evil lurks.
The history of Virginia told through treasure tales about
pirates, Indians, Revolutionary War heroes and Civil War raiders. The full text
of the famous Beale Treasure cipher is included along with some sixty other
legends.
In
1862, Congress passed a law prohibiting polygamy (plural marriage). This law
was aimed directly at the troublesome religious sect that had settled Utah, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). The Mormons migrated
to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847 to escape religious persecution
brought about, in part, by the practice of polygamy.
Although prohibited in the Book of Mormon, the sect's underlying holy book, the
idea of polygamy was accepted by the group's founder Joseph Smith and was
pronounced by Smith's successor, Brigham Young, as "necessary for
salvation." Brigham Young preached that polygamy was divinely sanctioned
to enhance the church's population and to eliminate prostitution and adultery. Some
women were dubious, coming to regard polygamy simply as a tool to satisfy the
lusts of the older, more powerful male members of the sect. One woman wrote,
"If Salt Lake City were roofed over, it would be the biggest whorehouse in
the world."
Brigham Young practiced what he preached, having some twenty seven wives during
his lifetime. Most of Young's wives lived in a New England style structure
called the Lion House located in a central block of Salt Lake City. When Young
decided upon a bed partner for the night, he made a chalk mark on the selected
wife's bedroom door. He fathered fifty six children.
The House of Brigham Young
Young
had an eye for the younger and prettier members of the flock. He used his
position of leader to pressure these women into marrying him, "You cannot
be saved by anyone else...If you refuse, you will be destroyed, body and
soul." Twenty four year old Ann Eliza, Young's 19th wife, initially
rejected the patriarch's advances. Under heavy pressure from family and friends
she finally gave way. In this case, however, Young got more than he bargained
for. Ann Eliza nagged incessantly. She complained about inattention, of Young's
cheapness and of his cruelty. Finally she fled Salt Lake City and filed for
divorce.
The law passed by Congress in 1862, banning polygamy, was fanatically
prosecuted. Men and women were fined and imprisoned until the Mormon's finally
submitted in 1890 in a manifesto issued by the church's President, "
Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages,
which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I
hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence
with the members of the Church over which I preside, to have them do
likewise."
General George S. Patton once said, “Compared to war, all
other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” Here are four stories
about the history of the world IF wars we know about happened differently or IF
wars that never happened actually took place.
Sun Tzu, the Master of War, once
said, “Those who are skilled in producing surprises will win. In conflict,
surprise will lead to victory. ” Here are four stories about the history of the
world IF wars we know about happened differently or IF wars that never happened
actually took place.
Including:
1.The Hostage, in which Abraham Lincoln is kidnapped by the rebels.
2.The German Invasion of America of 1889, in which Germany unexpectedly
launches its might against the United States.
3.The Invasion of Canada 1933, in which the new American dictator launches a
sneak attack on Canada.
4.Cherry Blossoms at Night: Japan Attacks the American Homeland (1942), in
which Japan attacks the American homeland in a very surprising way.
After
the American Revolution, the new federal government faced the problem of paying
off the national debt incurred in fighting the war, and of generally paying its
ongoing bills. Among other things, a new federal tax was imposed on liquors and
spirits. People were not pleased. Several hundred were so angry about the new
tax that they openly rebelled, threatening an attack on Pittsburgh. President
George Washington personally led an army of thirteen thousand which crushed the
so called Whiskey Rebellion.
Resistance to the tax went underground. Farmers, especially in Kentucky,
Virginia and the Carolinas could survive a bad year by turning their corn into
profitable whiskey. Small stills sprang up and were operated at night by the
light of the moon (hence the name “moonshining”). The ongoing battle between
moonshiners and federal revenue agents became legendary throughout the South.
On January 29, 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution was ratified and one year later on January 17, 1920, in accordance
with the provisions of the implementing law, America went dry. Moonshiners were
delighted to find that prohibition furnished a large market for their product.
It was colorless, it looked like water, and it was often one hundred proof. High
school boys, flaunting the law, went out into the woods, met moonshiners, and
then brought a pint of moonshine to the school dance. More staid citizens were
able to get a prescription from the family doctor for a bottle of liquor. Local
drug stores stocked pints of scotch and bourbon for medicinal use.
By 1932 most in the country were ready to repeal Prohibition. The promised
benefits, such as the elimination of crime, never emerged. In fact things got
worse as the growth of organized criminal gangs produced just the opposite
result. In the 1932 presidential election, Franklin Roosevelt promised to end
Prohibition. Prohibition was overturned at the national level by the 21st
amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As America became more urbanized moonshining
largely died out, but is still even now practiced in remoter rural areas.
General George S. Patton once said, “Compared to war, all
other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” Here are four stories
about the history of the world IF wars we know about happened differently or IF
wars that never happened actually took place.
Sun Tzu, the Master of War, once
said, “Those who are skilled in producing surprises will win. In conflict,
surprise will lead to victory. ” Here are four stories about the history of the
world IF wars we know about happened differently or IF wars that never happened
actually took place.
Including:
1.The Hostage, in which Abraham Lincoln is kidnapped by the rebels.
2.The German Invasion of America of 1889, in which Germany unexpectedly
launches its might against the United States.
3.The Invasion of Canada 1933, in which the new American dictator launches a
sneak attack on Canada.
4.Cherry Blossoms at Night: Japan Attacks the American Homeland (1942), in
which Japan attacks the American homeland in a very surprising way.
The disappearance of
Theodosia Burr Alston, the daughter of disgraced U.S. Vice President Aaron
Burr, is one of history’s continuing mysteries.
Theodosia was considered an intellectual prodigy in a time when women rarely
received anything but a marginal education. At the age of eighteen she married
James Alston who would become the 44th Governor of South Carolina. In 1807 her
father, Aaron Burr was tried for treason, and although found innocent, went
into self-imposed exile. Theodosia acted as Burr’s agent in America, raising
money and raising support among the political elite for his return to America.
In December 1812 Theodosia boarded the schooner Patriot bound from South
Carolina to New York. Neither Theodosia nor anyone onboard the Patriot was
ever heard from again. Legend has surrounded her disappearance ever since,
including tales that: (1) she was captured by pirates and became the mistress
of a pirate captain; (2) she was made to “walk the plank” by the pirate
Dominique Youx; (3) she was discovered by a Karankawa Indian chief on the Texas
Gulf Coast in the hulk of a wrecked ship but died before she could be returned
to civilization;and (4) Theodosia Burr Alston may have been the Mysterious
Female Stranger who died in Alexandria at Gadsby's Tavern on October 14, 1816.
The Female Stranger was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery with a gravestone
inscription:
Americans rightfully celebrate Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation, but often do not realize that this was not the first
Emancipation Proclamation in American history.The first one fizzled out.
On November 7, 1775 the Royal Governor
of Virginia, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore issued a proclamation offering
freedom to all slaves and indentured servants belonging to rebels and willing
to bear arms in the service of the Crown. The Earl of Dunmore’s proclamation
anticipated Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation by some four score and
seven years and was done for much the same reason, to cripple the ability of
rebels to resist. Lord Dunmore armed hundreds of runaway slaves in Virginia and formed an
all black unit called the “Ethiopian Regiment” which performed distinguished
service. The regiment marched under the banner, “Liberty to Slaves”.
Sir Henry Clinton
The British lacked sufficient manpower to put down a
revolt by a “people numerous and well armed”.This manpower shortage made the use of slaves all the more appealing to
the British since slaves constituted some twenty percent of the total
population of the colonies.On June 30,
1779, Sir Henry Clinton the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North
America, promised in the so called Philipsburg Declaration that “every NEGRO
who shall desert the Rebel Standard, [is granted] full security to follow
within these Lines, any Occupation which he shall think proper.” Now it was not
hundreds of slaves seeking refuge in British lines but tens of thousands.Some one hundred thousand slaves (out of a
population of 500,000 slaves) are estimated to have sought freedom with the
British over the course of the next four years. An
estimated twelve thousand ex-slaves served with British forces during the
American Revolution in such units as the Ethiopian Regiment and the Black
Pioneers.
The British were willing to emancipate slaves if by so
doing they could first cripple and then crush the rebellion.Much as in the later American Civil War,
military necessity rather than morality acted as the catalyst of history.The
struggle of Black Loyalists for freedom under the British Crown is one of the
inconvenient truths of American history, embarrassingly politically
incorrect.Certainly American
abolitionists in the 19th century fighting for slave emancipation
made no mention of the earlier struggle for freedom.The first Emancipation Proclamation made in
1775 by Lord Dunmore and later expanded by Sir Henry Clinton is scarcely ever
mentioned in American history books.It
is only now, after America and Britain have been allies in two World Wars, the
Cold War, and developed the so called “special” Anglo-American relationship
that Black Loyalists and their struggle for freedom can be rehabilitated.
As
communications and national maritime strength grew piracy withered. Still, as
late as 1813 three thousand acts of piracy were reported in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was not until 1850 that piracy finally disappeared from the Western
Hemisphere.
One of the greatest pirates of the
Gulf was Jean Lafitte. Jean Lafitte was born in France in the year 1780. He was
apprenticed as a blacksmith in his youth, a trade which he took up in New
Orleans when he and two of his brothers moved to America. Within a few years the
smithy had become a clearinghouse for pirate goods.
Lafitte decided to outfit his own
ships to bring in more goods. He established a base in Barrataria Bay outside
of New Orleans. Soon Lafitte's ships were cruising the coastline along the Gulf
of Mexico. Holding a privateer's commission from the Republic of Cartagena,
Lafitte preyed on Spanish commerce. The merchandise would then be smuggled into
New Orleans. All attempts to dislodge the pirates failed. The governor of
Louisiana offered the unheard of sum of $5,000 for the capture of Lafitte, dead
or alive. Lafitte responded by offering a $50,000 reward for the head of the
governor.
The War of 1812 placed Lafitte's
pirates in a tenuous position. The Barratarian gulf was an important approach
to New Orleans, and in 1814 the British offered Lafitte a huge cash settlement,
along with a commission in the Royal Navy for his cooperation in seizing the
city. Lafitte alerted American authorities and offered to aid the Americans if
the United States would offer a full pardon. General Andrew Jackson accepted
Lafitte's offer, and the pirates, in charge of the artillery, rendered
distinguished service in the battle of New Orleans. Lafitte and his men
received a full pardon, but Lafitte found that he could not endure the monotony
of a respectable life. In 1817, Lafitte, with a thousand followers, established
a new pirate stronghold on Galveston Island off the coast of Texas. Finally,
after several more years of piratical activities an American naval force
smashed Lafitte's base. Laffite fled to South America, finally returning to
Europe, where he died in 1826.
Most of the treasures hidden by
Lafitte are in Louisiana, although Florida and Texas claim their share as well.
Sun Tzu, the Master of War, once said,
“Those who are skilled in producing surprises will win. In conflict, surprise
will lead to victory. ” Here are four stories about the history of the world IF
wars we know about happened differently or IF wars that never happened actually
took place.
Including:
1.The Hostage, in which Abraham Lincoln is kidnapped by the rebels.
2.The German Invasion of America of 1889, in which Germany unexpectedly
launches its might against the United States.
3.The Invasion of Canada 1933, in which the new American dictator launches a
sneak attack on Canada.
4.Cherry Blossoms at Night: Japan Attacks the American Homeland (1942), in
which Japan attacks the American homeland in a very surprising way.
These are the often overlooked stories of early
America. Stories such as the roots of racism in America, famous murders that
rocked the colonies, the scandalous doings of some of the most famous of the
Founding Fathers, the first Emancipation Proclamation that got revoked, and
stories of several notorious generals who have been swept under history’s rug.
There was a mandate for change in the
Gilded Age, but no agreement on what that change should be among the many
groups that made up American society.
The upper industrial class engineered a
wrenching economic transformation, accumulated staggering fortunes, and pursued
notorious private lives, upholding a set of values at odds with the middle
class, farmers, and workers. Even among themselves the upper industrial class
disagreed how best to live their lives and secure their future. Andrew Carnegie
and John D. Rockefeller, among the most successful, were, with their austere
lifestyles and doctrines of philanthropy, revolutionaries to other members of
the upper industrial class.
The middle class was split between old
style Radicals such as Albion Tourgee with notions of color blind meritocracy
and more cautious middle class reformers such as the Progressives who sought to
avoid societal turmoil and remake workers, immigrants and the industrial upper
class in their own image.
Farmers simultaneously pursued the
agrarian myth of the yeoman farmer, while living the life of the rural small
businessman.
Labor divided between those seeking a
re-structuring of society and those primarily concerned with wages and working
conditions.
Sectional and racial issues unresolved
from the time of the Civil War continued to divide.
Women increasingly questioned prescribed
gender roles.
No group could unilaterally impose its will. Instead,
each group usually had to make alliances, some of them strange and
uncomfortable, and win over at least some of the enemy in order to achieve its
goals. For example, by the end of the century, many women suffragists argued
that Anglo-Saxon women’s votes, would serve as bulwark against the influence of
foreign and black votes.
Then, as now, the very fragmentation of
America precluded revolution or the emergence of a successful radical
opposition.
General George S. Patton once said, “Compared to war,
all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” Here are four
stories about the history of the world IF wars we know about happened
differently or IF wars that never happened actually took place.
In the hazy light of a hot summer morning
you can see the rippling shoreline of Maryland from the abandoned Confederate
gun emplacements.This is history in the
raw, a place called Possum Nose, a long abandoned and forgotten Civil War site
on the Potomac River.Earthworks, once
built to protect cannons, watch the river blankly, while overgrown trenches
await a Union attack that will never come.The remains of a powder magazine and scattered hut sites can be found in
the deep woods, but these are the only reminders that Washington was once held
hostage.
Even
before Virginia became part of the Confederacy, Northern Virginians realized
the opportunity they had to “strangle” Washington by erecting land batteries on
prominent points along the Potomac.The
decision to do so was finally reached in August 1861, while the Union Army lay
paralyzed after its defeat on July 21, 1861 at Manassas in the first major land
engagement of the war.A strong battery
was built at Evansport, at the mouth of Quantico Creek, some thirty five miles
south of Washington, on what is today the Quantico Marine Corps Base.Smaller batteries were erected at Possum Nose
and Freestone Point, also in Prince William County.In all, there were thirty seven heavy guns
placed along the river supported by five infantry regiments.The Confederates also used a captured
steamer, the C.S.S. City of Richmond, berthed
in Quantico Creek, to terrorize smaller craft on the river.
If
a strong force of Union ships had been patrolling the Potomac at the beginning
of August, it would have been impossible for the rebels to construct or
maintain gun batteries on the banks of the river.Once the three rebel batteries supported by
troops were dug in, however, it was considered to be almost impossible to
capture the positions by assault.
Washington
was shaken.The Capital was proud of its
busy wharves, where twenty new warehouses had been constructed.With the completion of the first Confederate
battery, trade began to suffer.The once
busy wharves fell idle.Trade came to an
abrupt halt.Shortages developed and
prices soared.Occasionally a ship would
run the Southern blockade, but only the little oyster pungies docked with any
regularity.
The Confederate defenses effectively closed
the Potomac River.All ships carrying
U.S. government shipments were directed to go to Baltimore to unload.Those ships not carrying government stores
which attempted to run the batteries were subjected to a hail of fire for a
distance of about six miles.Even the
fastest ships could be kept under constant fire for almost an hour.Unfortunately for ships trying to run the
Confederate gauntlet, the river’s deepest channel swerved close to the Virginia
shore just at the point where rebel batteries were mounted.
The
Confederate blockade was so successful during the fall and winter of 1861-1862
that a foreign correspondent reported that Washington was the only city in the
United States which really was blockaded.The blockade became so frustrating to the North, both in terms of morale
and diplomatic embarrassment, that President Lincoln issued a direct order for
action, “Ordered, That the Army and the Navy cooperate in an immediate effort
to capture the enemy’s batteries upon the Potomac.”
Lincoln’s order was never carried out, for on
March 9, 1862, General Joseph E. Johnston ordered a general retreat of
Confederate forces to defensive positions further south, along the Rappahannock
River, to forestall a Union drive on Richmond.Within two days the batteries were evacuated and the C.S.S. City of Richmond burned in Quantico
Creek.
Some evidence of the blockade still
exists.A restored site can be seen at
Freestone Point in Leesylvania State Park.Evidence also remains at Possum Nose.These un-restored earthworks remain in excellent condition.The largest, overlooking the river from a
seventy five foot hill with cliff-like banks, housed three guns.Smaller emplacements flank the main
battery.Behind the batteries, running
the entire width of Possum Nose, are winding rifle pits.The Fifth Alabama Infantry Battalion and one
company of the First Tennessee were stationed at Possum Nose and hut sites are
still visible.
Despite the growth of Northern Virginia in
the last century, many little known Civil War sites dot the countryside, haunting
reminders of that tragic war.
A brief look at love, sex, and marriage in the Civil War. The book
covers courtship, marriage, birth control and pregnancy, divorce, slavery and
the impact of the war on social customs.
Briefcase easily transforms into a backpack
with convertible hideaway straps. Perfect for any situation, this sleek design
keeps you moving in style during your commute, work, school, college, travel,
etc.
The culminating event of the 1850s was John Brown’s
raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. To white Virginians, Brown’s raid
was emblematic of an evil outside influence trying to disrupt the harmony
enjoyed by Virginia’s white and African American communities.
“ Not a Slave Insurrection!”, proclaimed an editorial in the Alexandria Gazette,
“ The recent outbreak at Harper’s Ferry was, in no sense, an insurrection.
The slaves had no part nor lot in the matter, except in so far as some of them
were forced to take part ….There were five free negroes engaged in the affair,
but not a single slave! And even the free negroes thus engaged were not
Virginia free negroes”
Two days later, the editor of the Alexandria Gazette elaborated
on his claim that the Brown raid was not an insurrection. The editor asked,
“What single feature or circumstance characterized it as an ‘insurrection’?”
After pointing out that “abolition invaders” found not “one single abettor or
sympathizer in the State”, the editor pointed out that to call John Brown’s
raid an insurrection disguised the enormous truth, “that Virginia has been
invaded…actually, deliberately, and systematically invaded…by an organized band
of miscreants, white and black, from Free States, under the lead of a Kansas
desperado, at the instigation and appointment of influential and wealthy
Northern Abolitionists!”
The sense of being surrounded by enemies, without and within, had become
so intense that even white Virginians could be held under suspicion.In
October 1859 T.H. Stillwell of Alexandria while in some in conversation with
some gentlemen on the subject of the Harper’s Ferry incident , “…expressed
sentiments denunciatory of Southern institutions and people, and of a seditious
nature, for which a peace warrant was issued for his arrest at the instance of
the Commonwealth’s Attorney”.Stillwell
was required to post a bond of $500 to keep the peace.
In 1959, Stanley M.
Elkins’ Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life
compared slavery in the United States to the brutality of the Nazi
concentration camps.Elkins delved into
the psychology of slavery and soon found himself challenged by most other
historians who found his conclusions too simplistic. Elkins did however raise an important issue,
the importance of taking individual and group psychology into account when
analyzing historical events.Actions are informed by values.These values are manifestations of personal psychology.It is, therefore, important to appreciate the
forces at work on both individual and group psychology to understand what motivates
action in a society.A need for a sense
of economic well-being and moral legitimacy, coupled with fears of internal
violence and external incursions had tremendous psychological impacts on antebellum
Virginia which manifested themselves in concrete responses by Virginians
towards both slaves and Northerners.
Abolitionist
by aiding slave escapes were carrying on what amounted to psychological warfare
against slaveholders.Abolitionists
believed that by assisting escapes they would render “property in slaves…so
insecure that it would hasten emancipation.” Writings of the time indicate that
slaveholders were very vulnerable to this type of psychological warfare,
especially regarding the issue of runaway slaves.Ultimately the psychological tensions produced
by the internal contradictions of slavery as it faced both economic modernization
and hostile outside forces found catharsis in secession and war, a war which
cost 600,000 lives (six million lives today if the number of dead is calculated
as a percentage of population).
A brief look at love, sex, and marriage in the Civil War. The book
covers courtship, marriage, birth control and pregnancy, divorce, slavery and
the impact of the war on social customs.
In 1860, disgruntled secessionists in the deep North
rebel against the central government and plunge America into Civil War. Will
the Kingdom survive? The land will run red with blood before peace comes again.
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