Relevant History | Author Suzanne Adair

Reclaiming One of History’s Treasures

Posted on July 4, 2014 by suzanneadairJuly 4, 2014

Welcome to my blog, and Happy Fourth of July! The week of 2 July – 9 July, I’m participating with more than one hundred other bloggers in the “Freedom to Read” giveaway hop, accessed by clicking on the logo at the left. All blogs listed in this hop offer book-related giveaways, and we’re all linked, so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. But here on my blog, I’m posting a week of Relevant History essays, each one focused on some facet of the American War of Independence. To find out how to qualify for the giveaways on my blog, read through each day’s Relevant History post below and follow the directions. Then click on the Freedom Hop logo so you can move along to another blog. Enjoy!

Relevant History welcomes back Dr. Christine Swager, who writes about actions in the south during the Revolutionary War. In the six books she has published, she has covered the militia contributions to the success of the Patriot cause. Although her books are historically accurate, she writes for a general readership, especially teachers and students. She is determined to make history interesting as well as informative. To recognize her work, the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution awarded her their Lifetime Youth Achievement Award. She is also a recipient of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution’s Martha Washington Medal. Look for her on Facebook.

*****

On the hot summer night of 18 August 1780, two hundred armed men left their militia camp on the Broad River in South Carolina, and moved furtively through the area until they reached the road. Then they spurred their horses toward their objective, forty miles south. They were intent on attacking the enemy at Musgrove’s Mill on the Enoree River. An encampment of local Loyalist or Tory militia (settlers loyal to the King) was guarding a hospital site where wounded British soldiers were being housed. The site was at a ford which allowed passage for British troops stationed at Ninety-Six to cross the Enoree River and attack the settlers farther north.

The British wounded at Musgrove’s Mill were casualties of a month of skirmishes in the area north of the Enoree and most of those same Patriot militia who were headed in their direction had inflicted those wounds. Now they would finish the job. They expected to strike at dawn and overwhelm the unsuspecting Loyalist militia.

Who were these determined men? There were three commanders: Col. Elijah Clarke with his Wilkes County Militia from Georgia; Col. Isaac Shelby with his Over Mountain Men from what is now East Tennessee, (although at that time it was Western North Carolina); and Col. James Williams of the Little River Militia in South Carolina with men from other units. Col. Williams and his militia lived south of the Enoree River within a few miles of the British post at Ninety-Six. Their homes and families were threatened. Other locals who lived in the area and shared their concerns joined them.

Pivotal battle, patriot victory
However, they encountered a Tory patrol so the element of surprise was lost. To complicate the situation, they learned upon arrival that the night before, a contingent of soldiers from Ninety-Six had arrived and was camped at Musgrove’s Mill. Now they were seriously outnumbered by a force of trained, experienced and disciplined British Provincials. With the horses too fatigued from the long ride in the heat to affect a retreat, the Patriots were determined to fight. They threw up a rude barricade on the crest of a hill some distance from the British camp. To lure the enemy within range of their weapons, Capt. Shadrick Inman of Georgia led a small group of horsemen toward the British line and attacked repeatedly. The British crossed the river and moved into a cleared field below the militia line. When they came within range the militia fired. The subsequent battle was one of the most hotly contested that Col. Isaac Shelby reported that he had ever seen.

Eventually the British were routed, and as they fled, the militia followed pouring shot into the backs of the retreating enemy. The Patriots stopped at the river’s edge to wait for their horses to be brought up, as they intended to force the British back to Ninety-Six and attack that post. As they waited a courier arrived telling them that the British had defeated the Continental Army at Camden on 16 August and had overrun Thomas Sumter’s Brigade at Fishing Creek. They were advised to head north and west as the British would now move more resources into the Back Country.

The victors mounted up and headed away from the battlefield leaving on the field sixty-three British dead and ninety wounded, and took with them seventy prisoners. The Patriots lost four men. One, sadly, was the hero Capt. Shadrick Inman. The Battle at Musgrove’s Mill had been a decisive victory with Patriot militia mauling and routing a superior force of British Provincials. It was wise to leave and live to fight another day.

And they did fight another day. Many of these men defeated Major Patrick Ferguson and his men at King’s Mountain, rode with Col. Thomas Sumter when he defeated Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton at Blackstock’s and stood, shoulder-to-shoulder, at Cowpens and helped General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force commanded by Lt. Col. Tarleton.

However, it all started with the militia engagements in July and August, and, most notably, the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill. Would you not think that the site would have been preserved and revered through the years following the Revolutionary War? That was not the case. The site was abandoned and overlooked for over two hundred years! Musgrove Ford was used for generations, and a bridge was eventually built over the Enoree River at that site. Cotton fields flourished along the Enoree River until the land was depleted and erosion pockmarked the terrain. As people traveled the road, there was little evidence of the great battle that had been fought there.

Saving the battle site from obscurity
In the late 1990’s, historian Dr. George Fields determined to save the battlefield. “If the participants could march over forty miles behind the British lines to raid a fortified camp, face an enemy twice the size they expected, inflict more casualties on the enemy than in their ranks, and retreat in a forced march for two days to avoid capture behind the lines, we should, could and somehow would do the hard task of saving the battlefield,” said Fields. With the help of local citizens and businesses, he raised money to purchase a large part of the battlefield. Donnie Wilder, State Representative from Laurens County, persuaded the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to commit to establishing the property as an historic site. On 5 May 2003, the Musgrove Mill State Historic Site was dedicated—222 years after the battle fought there contributed to the victory of our Patriot forces and the founding of our United States of America.

This month, when we celebrate the birth of our nation, we might consider the debt owed to these citizen soldiers and honor them. Are there sites in your area that could and should be saved after all these years? If it could happen in rural South Carolina, you might make it happen where you live.

*****

A big thanks to Christine Swager. She’ll give away an autographed copy of her book, Musgrove Mill Historic Site, in trade paperback format to someone who contributes a legitimate comment on this post today or tomorrow. Delivery is available worldwide. Make sure you include your email address. I’ll choose one winner from among those who comment on this post by Saturday 5 July at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of all drawing winners on my blog the week of 14 July. And anyone who comments on this post by the 5 July deadline will also be entered in a drawing to win a copy of one of my five books, the winner’s choice of title and format (trade paperback or ebook).

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

General Nathanael Greene: The Complete Package

Posted on July 3, 2014 by suzanneadairJuly 3, 2014

Welcome to my blog! The week of 2 July – 9 July, I’m participating with more than one hundred other bloggers in the “Freedom to Read” giveaway hop, accessed by clicking on the logo at the left. All blogs listed in this hop offer book-related giveaways, and we’re all linked, so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. But here on my blog, I’m posting a week of Relevant History essays, each one focused on some facet of the American War of Independence. To find out how to qualify for the giveaways on my blog, read through each day’s Relevant History post below and follow the directions. Then click on the Freedom Hop logo so you can move along to another blog. Enjoy!

Relevant History welcomes Helena Finnegan, a native of Boston, the city where her love and appreciation for liberty, the sacrifices of those who fought for it, and the revolution began. The 1976 Bicentennial, complete with tall ships and fervent Patriots and British soldiers on historic grounds and waters solidified her commitment to promoting, preserving, and sharing this era. She’s written nationally and internationally and is an educator, researcher, and writer of 18th-century topics. Her work appeared in Patriots of the American Revolution and Journal of the Early Americas magazines and Allthingsliberty.com. She’s working on a historical fiction novel set in 1781. For more information, check her web site, and look for her on Twitter and Pinterest.

*****

He was what would be called today “the complete package.” Strong-willed, determined, respected, self-educated, loyal, and a gifted leader. He’s known as the unsung hero of the American Revolution who helped save the war, though few today recognize his name or deeds beyond monuments or places on the map.

Yet if it were scripted by Hollywood, New Englander General Nathanael Greene could be an 18th-century action figure. A handsome, flawed, but kind and dependable hero loyal to his Commander-in-Chief and the Glorious Cause. He rose above his disability and learned from his mistakes to become a trusted and sought-after commander capable of seeing the big picture, willing to take risks and do what was necessary to succeed. So it was no surprise when General Washington gave him the two most difficult assignments in the War for Independence: that of Quartermaster General during which he saved the ill-fed and under-equipped army with food, supplies, and forage for animals, and that of commander of the Southern Army where he rebuilt a decimated army and expelled the British from the south. However, his eight-year journey from 1775 to 1783 as Washington’s close friend and most trusted, longest-serving general and eventual hero wasn’t without great obstacles and sacrifices.

“We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.”

In the winter of 1780, after assuming command of West Point, General Greene was exhausted, ill, and broke having used his health and money to train, equip, supply, and lead soldiers since 1775. Only his courage, faith, determination and unwavering belief kept him going. It was these qualities that General Washington had come to rely upon and turn to, giving him the second most important command of the war, that of commander of the Southern Army.

Six long years after the conflict had begun, Americans’ spirits plunged lower than the value of the Continental dollar. Military defeats, perennial supply struggles, and lack of currency and military pay added to a seemingly endless war.

Months after the crushing defeat of American forces at Camden, South Carolina, when General Horatio Gates fled north and left the remains of militia and army to reconstitute themselves, the army awaited its new, southern commander. It was against this backdrop that Greene took on what must have felt like an impossible task. After six years of various commands, success as Quartermaster General, lobbying Congress, losing battles, and taking backseats to other leaders, this appointment was monumental. Unwritten and unspoken were the words of his Excellency: save the southern theater and thus, the War for Independence. Washington knew that if there was anyone capable of such a feat, it was General Nathanael Greene.

No stranger to hardship and challenges, General Greene was well-prepared for what lay ahead of him in the southern colonies, where Britain was on the verge of winning the war. His famous quote, “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again,” displayed his ambition and unflagging commitment.

Self-taught, officer material

A self-taught military man, Washington’s “fighting Quaker” was a gifted strategist, advisor, and natural leader. He possessed brilliant organizational skills that he used to save lives as Quartermaster General during the iconic winter encampments at Valley Forge and Morristown.

Greene faced many hurdles to prove that a partially disabled Quaker and an inexperienced soldier could not only fight, but lead men in the coming conflict. Despite prejudice from his fellow Rhode Island Kentish Guards, who felt a lame soldier was not “officer material,” he was promoted to Brigadier General in the Rhode Island state army. General Washington then appointed Greene to the same rank in the Continental Army. In him, Washington must have seen something of himself: a well-read, self-educated, passionate man whose loyalty and ability to comprehend the long-term nature of the conflict made him dependable. Later, despite the terrible losses of Forts Washington and Lee, General Washington didn’t give up on Greene. While Greene sought to restore his reputation, Washington knew Greene would learn from the terrible decision to defend unsalvageable forts and lose men, just as he learned from his errors during the French and Indian War.

Following his two years as Quartermaster General, Greene resigned the post but kept his field command, returning to campaigns. Though some battles were lost or a draw, he inflicted damage to British forces, gained experience, and learned how to prepare his troops. His greatest challenge came in the southern theater, where all his experiences, military studies, training, and skills were brought together. Entering into the melee after the Americans’ success at the Battle of King’s Mountain, Greene developed a bold strategy. He united his forces with General Daniel Morgan and made the incredible decision to divide his small army in half to delay British engagement, employ guerilla tactics, and gather more soldiers. Working with Morgan, who led Cornwallis away from his supply lines and on a chase through North Carolina, allowed Greene time to re-build and re-equip his men. Understanding the critical need for supplies and preparation, he ordered all boats secured to transport his troops across the Dan River ahead of the British. In what became famous as “the Race to the Dan,” the Americans escaped capture by a few hours and lived to fight on, re-grouping in Virginia, while Cornwallis’s obsession with destroying Greene had exhausted his men and depleted his supplies. Greene later used the boats to slip his troops back across the Dan, chase the British, and engage them in future battles. The southern tide literally turned for the Americans, thanks to General Nathanael Greene, who successfully routed the British from the south, north to Yorktown, Virginia, where they were hemmed in and forced to surrender in October 1781.

In less than a year, Washington’s “fighting Quaker” had successfully pulled off a miracle. General Greene’s story is made all the more poignant because it is true. He was an underdog whose determination, confidence, vision, skills and abilities were recognized by someone who gave him the chance to succeed—and ultimately created the opportunity for America to begin.

*****

A big thanks to Helena Finnegan. She’ll give away a $5 Amazon gift certificate to someone who contributes a legitimate comment on this post today or tomorrow. Make sure you include your email address. I’ll choose one winner from among those who comment on this post by Friday 4 July at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of all drawing winners on my blog the week of 14 July. And anyone who comments on this post by the 4 July deadline will also be entered in a drawing to win a copy of one of my five books, the winner’s choice of title and format (trade paperback or ebook).

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

The Southern Theater of the American Revolution

Posted on July 2, 2014 by suzanneadairJuly 2, 2014

Relevant History welcomes Lars D. H. Hedbor, a novelist of the American Revolution, focusing on the everyday experiences of ordinary people during that extraordinary era of chaotic change. The novels of his Tales From a Revolution series—The Prize, The Light, The Smoke, and now, The Declaration—examine little-known aspects of the Revolution, and are each set in a different Colony or future state. Hedbor resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and five daughters and enjoys practicing fiddle, homebrewing and amateur astronomy when he’s not otherwise occupied. For more information, check his web site, and look for him on Facebook and Twitter.

*****

Most popular histories of the American Revolution focus on the events of the northern Colonies, where, indeed, many of the pivotal moments of the war and the philosophy of governance that animated the movement for independence were centered. However, the southern Colonies were also crucial to the eventual success of the war, both because it provided crucial logistical routes to move goods for both military and civilian needs despite the forced closure of ports at Boston and New York, but also because many of the leading figures of the Revolution originated in the South.

To be sure, there was greater support for the Crown in the South than in the North, in part because of the same deeply-held cultural resistance to change that characterizes the Deep South of the modern era, and in part because of the wildly different social structure of the plantations as compared to the North’s more typical smallholders. However, there was no shortage of Patriot hotheads south of the future Mason-Dixon line in the heady days leading to the outright break with England: men such as Button Gwinnett, William Polk, and Samuel Wear.

While no copy of it has been found (yet), the 20 May 1775 declaration by a gathering of delegates from militia companies around Mecklenburg County, North Carolina that they were a “free and independent people” would have anticipated the Continental Congress’ Declaration of Independence by over a full year. The existence of this earlier declaration has aroused no lack of controversy over the years, including at least one fraudulent re-creation of its supposed original publication in the Cape Fear Mercury in June of 1775.

As it is, the well-documented Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31, 1775 were fully as radical as anything adopted in the northern Colonies, and the historical record is unambiguous about the vigor of various Committees of Correspondence, and later, well-armed Committees of Safety across the southern Colonies. Of course, as imagined in the pages of The Declaration, the discovery in an old family chest stashed away in the corner of some dusty attic of an authentic copy of the alleged Mecklenburg Declaration would reinvigorate the claim by proud North Carolinians of their special role in the drive toward eventual American independence.

It may be that part of the reason that our popular memory of the Revolution omits most of the events in the southern Colonies is simply that it was there that the American cause suffered its greatest defeats. With the active assistance of Loyalist forces, the British conquered and occupied most of the southern Colonies until the waning days of the war in the north.

The occupation was ungentle, even brutal at times, and the suffering of those who had stood against the Crown has received some attention in a film of recent years, but is still largely forgotten. Forced to sign loyalty oaths, dispossessed of their property (both real estate and other), and even subjected to violence at the hands of Loyalists, those who had supported the rebellion against Britain paid a high price for their convictions.

In the end, however, the rebellious Americans prevailed, and between the efforts of the well-known “Swamp Fox” General Marion and the pivotal battle at Cowpens, they ejected the British from the south, driving them northward to their ultimate defeat at Yorktown. The heroic efforts of the Patriots of the southern Colonies have long been overdue for greater recognition, and I am glad to do some small part toward that in telling the story of some of the people who made huge sacrifices and achieved stunning victories in our movement from subjects of the Crown to citizens of the Republic.

*****

A big thanks to Lars Hedbor. He’ll give away a signed paperback set of the first three books in the series to someone who contributes a legitimate comment on this post today or tomorrow. Delivery is available within the U.S. and Canada. Make sure you include your email address. I’ll choose one winner from among those who comment on this post by Thursday 3 July at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of all drawing winners on my blog the week of 14 July. And anyone who comments on this post by the 3 July deadline will also be entered in a drawing to win a copy of one of my five books, the winner’s choice of title and format (trade paperback or ebook).

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

Sizzle Into the 2014 Week-Long Fourth of July Relevant History Book and Prize Giveaway!

Posted on June 25, 2014 by suzanneadairJuly 3, 2016

In honor of Independence Day, 2 – 9 July 2014, I’m posting an entire week of Relevant History essays with a focus on the Revolutionary War. My guests include Lars D.H. Hedbor (whose essay will kick off the week on 2 July), Dr. Christine Swager, and Jack Parker.

You know the drill. Read the essay, leave a comment, get the chance to win. Readers and history buffs, this is the place to hang out 2 – 9 July.

My blog is one of about 150 blogs lined up for the “Freedom to Read” hop that runs from 2 – 9 July. When you click on this image here during that week, you can hop to any number of other blogs on the tour. Follow the directions on each blog, and earn the opportunity to win what they’re giving away. Lots of genres, lots of prizes. You could score big by the time the blog tour hops to its completion.

Here’s the lineup:

2 July, Lars D.H. Hedbor — “The Southern Theater of the American Revolution”

3 July, Helena Finnegan — “General Nathanael Greene: the Complete Package”

4 July, Dr. Christine Swager — “Reclaiming One of History’s Treasures”

5 July, David Neilan — “Francis Marion and Nathanel Greene: Conflicts in Command”

6 July, Tim Osner — “Tears of the Foot Guards”

7 July, Sheila Ingle — “Brave Elizabeth”

8 July, Jack Parker — “The Winning of the Revolution in South Carolina”

9 July, Suzanne Adair — “Religious Diversity in America During the Revolution”

Mark your calendars for 2 – 9 July, and make sure you hop back to my blog then for a chance to win books and prizes on this tour.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

The Winner of Weather Vane Note Cards

Posted on June 22, 2014 by suzanneadairJune 22, 2014

Claire Murray and Gigi Pandian have won a set of weather vane note cards from Denise Price. Congrats to Claire Murray and Gigi Pandian!

Thanks to Denise for telling us the history behind The Freedom Trail in Boston. Thanks, also, to everyone who visited and commented on Relevant History this week. Watch for another Relevant History post, coming soon.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

Boston History Lives On The Freedom Trail

Posted on June 17, 2014 by suzanneadairJune 17, 2014

Relevant History welcomes Denise D. Price, creator of The Freedom Trail Pop-Up Book. Having seen twenty countries on five continents, Denise has a certified case of wanderlust. Inspiring a love of history, architecture, and world culture, her travels have been a major influence on how she views the world, reacts, interacts, designs and breathes. Denise was introduced to the paper arts over twenty years ago at a summer arts intensive. Her passion for the paper was stoked and has burned ever since. Holding an MBA in International Business, she combines her astuteness for business and her eye for detail to create marketable and interesting art. For more information, check her web site, and look for her on Facebook and Twitter.

*****

Established in 1951, The Freedom Trail® is a 2.5-mile footpath running through Boston, Massachusetts. The trail highlights sixteen nationally significant historic sites that tell the story of Boston’s role in the American Revolution. It includes sites like Old North Church (ever famous for hosting the two lanterns that spurred Paul Revere on his midnight ride), Bunker Hill Monument, Granary Burying Ground (where you’ll find such illustrious figures as Samuel Adams and the five victims the Boston Massacre), and Faneuil Hall. The trail, demarcated by a red trail line (sometimes painted and sometimes inlaid in brick on walkways), now attracts more than four million visitors annually.

It originated in 1951, a tumultuous time in the United States. The Korean War was ongoing, McCarthyism was emerging, and racial tensions were riding high. In Boston, the idea for The Freedom Trail was born as a way to preserve and promote the part of our history that is most unifying, our fight for liberty and justice. Through a series of charged newspaper columns, illustrious journalist Bill Scofield proposed organizing the numerous landmarks as a way to keep Boston tied to its patriotic past.

After reading the columns and finding subsequent public support for the project, then-mayor John Hynes took on the task of creating the footpath. Though many of the sixteen official historical sites located on The Freedom Trail had been operating as independent museums for decades, Mayor Hynes put together a committee of concerned citizens, business people, and other city leaders to create the network that became the official trail.

By 1954, The Freedom Trail (rejected names included Puritan Path and Liberty Loop) had more than 40,000 annual visitors. The telltale red path line appeared in 1958.

The Freedom Trail as Inspiration
In 2010 I was one of the millions of Freedom Trail visitors. It was clear to me that there is no other place in the United States where you can take in the rich history of America’s Revolution than in Boston. I was captivated. I wanted something special to take home and share with family in Denver. I needed to share with them the beauty of the trail.

I began searching for a pop-up book. For years pop up books have been my souvenir of choice. More than a t-shirt or a mug that simply says, “I’ve been to this place,” a pop-up book is a way to share and relive the experience after the fact. They capture architecture, art, history, and culture in a way that no other printed material can, 3-D! They are educational as well as sentimental and fun to share with family and friends.

But I never did find such a book on my trip, and I left Boston disappointed. However, I didn’t give up my quest. Through extensive online research I found there were no pop-up books about Boston’s historic sites except Fenway Park. When I moved to neighboring Cambridge, MA later that year, I decided to create one. And what better way to share the city than to share the story of The Freedom Trail?

Making History Pop Off the Page
The research phase of the book was extensive. I spent hours at each site examining architectural detail, talking to staff, volunteer guides, and other trail scholars about minute details of the buildings, restoration efforts, and hidden spaces within each site. Some of my favorite discoveries were the views of The Common atop Park Street Church, the mechanical workings of the historic clock on the Old South Meeting House, the one-ton Paul Revere Bell of King’s Chapel, and the crypt at Old North Church.

After the research was done, the paper-engineering and illustrating began. With notes, photos, and a love of the trail to guide me, I began the painstaking work of cutting, folding, pasting, drawing, and writing. The finished book includes sixteen architecturally and historically accurate pop-ups as well as hand-drawn illustrations and a succinct written history of the trail and its landmarks. In 2013, after three years of work, editing, fixing, and paper-cuts, the book was finished. I’m working now, to self-publish and produce a limited run of 5,000 books. I hope they’ll be used in homes, libraries, classrooms, and book collections from coast to coast. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Freedom Trail Scholars Program, a non-profit dedicated to bringing interactive history education into greater-Boston area classrooms.

The book is now available for pre-order ($45) on Kickstarter.com, where you’ll find more information on the book and fantastic Freedom Trail rewards, including private and behind the scenes tours. If I am funded, I will be able to obtain the final color dummy book from the assembly house. After any edits are completed, the book will go to press. Once printed, the book will be hand-assembled, piece-by-piece, and glued together. When the inside is complete, it will be mounted into the hard cover binding, boxed and shipped to Boston, where, with the help of The Freedom Trail® Foundation, The Freedom Trail® Pop Up book will be available to the public.

*****

A big thanks to Denise Price. She has created a limited-edition set of note cards featuring original illustrations of the five historic Freedom Trail weather vanes (shown with watermark), and she’ll give away a set of these note cards to three people who contribute a comment on my blog this week. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment by Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Delivery for the cards is available within the United States only.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

The Winner of Murder by Misrule

Posted on June 10, 2014 by suzanneadairJune 10, 2014

Lida Bushloper has won a copy of Murder by Misrule by Anna Castle. Congrats to Lida Bushloper!

Thanks to Anna Castle for that great story about the woman printer in Elizabethan London. Thanks, also, to everyone who visited and commented on Relevant History this week. Watch for another Relevant History post, coming soon.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

Elizabeth Pickering Redman, an English Printer

Posted on June 3, 2014 by suzanneadairJune 2, 2014

Relevant History welcomes Anna Castle, who lives in Austin, Texas and writes the Francis Bacon Mysteries. The first book in the series, Murder by Misrule, has been chosen as a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month for July. The book will be released everywhere June 8, 2014. For more information, check her web site, and look for her on Facebook.

*****

The monarchs and courtiers of the Tudor period are so well-known and so colorful, we tend to see the whole sixteenth century in terms of their tumultuous lives. But the nobility and gentry were only 2% of the population. There were three other classes: the citizens (merchants and professionals, like lawyers), yeomen (farmers with 100 acres or more), and the common folk. The middling sort—merchants and yeomen—interest me the most, perhaps because that’s where I imagine I would have been in those days.

We also tend to imagine that everyone except the ruling class was oppressed. Maybe that was true in some places, but it was most emphatically not the case in England. Women ran businesses, trained apprentices, and waged lawsuits on their own recognizance throughout the period. The laws concerning married women were very restrictive, but as with so many Tudor laws, there were ways around them (and ways to exploit them). Short life expectancies meant that many women became widows who could own, sell, sue, hire, and fire almost as freely as men. Then they could marry again and climb another rung up the social ladder.

One woman leaps into history
One woman who stepped in to manage a prosperous business between husbands was Elizabeth Pickering Redman. In 1540, she published the first book known to have been printed by a woman in England from her shop on Fleet Street. She took over the press after her husband, Robert Redman, died. We don’t know when she was born or married; she leaps into history at Robert’s death, when she is named as the executrix of his will. She inherited the customary widow’s third of his estate. The first portion went to bequests and funeral expenses, the second to the children, two daughters. Redman was worth about £300, so Elizabeth would have gotten something less than £100, after expenses and debts were deducted, and the contents of the “widow’s chamber”: clothing, jewelry, and furniture.

[Photo by author: A bed in Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon.] Translating sums is always ticklish. All I know is that a gentleman could live decently at the fashionable Inns of Court on £60 later in the century, so that hundred pounds was a goodly sum. And beds were important status symbols as well as places to lay one’s head at night.

Redman left no specific instructions for his press. Elizabeth seems to have taken charge of the business on her own initiative. He had built a successful specialty in law books, his shop not far from the Inns of Court where dwelled his principal customers. She married a lawyer of Lincoln’s Inn, William Chomeley, sometime in 1541. Did she meet him over the counter in her shop?

[Photo by author: an Elizabethan town house. Stratford-upon-Avon.] Chomeley owned property on both sides of Fleet Street, including the house he and Elizabeth lived in. Chomeley became a member of the Stationers’ Guild in 1541, perhaps in anticipation of marrying a woman with a printers’ shop.

Elizabeth published at least ten books as mistress of her press. Printers usually identified themselves in the colophon at the bottom of the title page. Elizabeth identified herself variously as “Elisabeth late wyfe to Robert Redman”, “Elysabeth wydow of Robert Redman, or sometimes “Elisabethe Pykerynge, viduam R. Redmani.” She wasn’t the only woman publishing books at that time or using her maiden name to do so: three French women, also widows, used their maiden names to identify their printed works. (Apparently, the “better sort” of women in France and the Netherlands used their maiden names. I’m astonished to learn this curious fact and wondering how I can use it as a confounder in a future plot.) Elizabeth printed law books, an Herbal—and a book called Seynge of Urynes, about analyzing the colors of urine to diagnose disease, a centerpiece of medical practice at that time.

She can’t have just walked home from the funeral and started ordering the journeymen about. She must have been involved in the business for some time, long enough to know how to choose a marketable project, oversee the design of both interior pages and the all-important title page, arrange to have the pages assembled and bound, and then sell the finished product at a profit. Redman’s apprentices most likely lived with the family, under Elizabeth’s daily supervision. I think we can safely assume that she was involved in every aspect of the family business on a daily basis. We can also assume without risk of anachronism that she was a self-motivating woman of strong mind and character who wasn’t afraid to tell men what to do.

Elizabeth’s descendants
Robert Redman was her second husband. They had two daughters, Mildred and Alice. She and her first husband, a man named Jackson, also had two daughters, Lucy and Elizabeth. She and Chomeley had no children; he left his wealth to her daughters. Elizabeth died in 1562.

It’s a narrow glimpse into life for women in Tudor times, but I hope a revealing one. Elizabeth Pickering Jackson Redman Chomeley had charge of her own life in important ways. When her husband died, instead of flinging herself on the metaphorical funeral pyre, she stepped into his shoes and thus walked into the history books.

(Source: Kreps, Barbara. 2003. “Elizabeth Pickering: The first woman to print law-books in England and the community of Tudor London’s printers and lawyers,” Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 1053-1088.)

*****

A big thanks to Anna Castle. She’ll give away an electronic copy, any format, of Murder by Misrule to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment by Friday at 6 p.m. ET.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

The Winner of Crying Blood

Posted on May 28, 2014 by suzanneadairMay 28, 2014

Gigi Pandian has won a copy of Crying Blood by Donis Casey. Congrats to Gigi Pandian!

Thanks to Donis Casey for a harrowing story of a deputy’s ordeal in 1924. Thanks, also, to everyone who visited and commented on Relevant History this week. Watch for another Relevant History post, coming soon.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.

Speed Traps Can Be Murder

Posted on May 20, 2014 by suzanneadairMay 19, 2014

Relevant History welcomes Donis Casey, author of the Alafair Tucker historical mysteries. This award-winning series features a sleuthing mother of ten children and is set in Oklahoma and Arizona during the booming 1910s. Book seven, Hell With the Lid Blown Off, will be released June 2014. Enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site, look for her on Facebook, and check her biweekly blog posts about writing.

*****

The Tucker family of my Alafair Tucker series is partially based on a branch of my own family by the name of Morgan, of whom there are gazillions in Muskogee County, Oklahoma. My great-grandmother was named Alafair Morgan. For the past 25 years, I have lived in Tempe, Arizona, twelve hundred miles from the place where my books are set.

For my fifth novel, Crying Blood (2011), I was unable to find the name of the sheriff of Muskogee County in 1916. So I called the library in the city of Muskogee and asked the local history librarian to look it up and e-mail the answer to me. Later that afternoon, she sent me a wonderful campaign photograph of Sheriff J.S. Barger. Once I knew his name, I was able to find his obituary online. From this I discovered that it is indeed a small world, and time does not dim our connections to one another.

Sheriff John Barger lost his reelection bid in 1918. He became a county “Speed Officer,” whose job was to curb the then-growing automobile menace, and was given a county patrol car to cruise country roads and highways. In 1924, the county’s “speed patrol” car was stolen from the garage by the Lawrence brothers, “Babe” and Bill, young Muskogee desperadoes who were wanted for auto theft in several towns around Oklahoma.

After unsuccessful attempts to catch them in Oklahoma, the sheriff of Muskogee County was notified that the pair had been apprehended in El Paso, Texas. He sent Deputy Barger and his partner, Joe Morgan—a cousin of my grandmother’s—to pick them up and bring them back to Muskogee. After taking charge of the prisoners, Barger and Cousin Joe started back with them in the county car. Barger was driving and Morgan was in the rear seat with the Lawrence boys.

Barger heard a shot, looked around and found himself peering down the barrel of a gun in Babe Lawrence’s hand. Cousin Joe Morgan was on the floor, shot through the head with his own pistol. The car, going at a rate of at least 20 miles an hour, crashed into a fence, righted itself and mowed down fence posts for 40 yards before stopping.

The boys forced Barger to walk off the road into the woods and handcuffed him to a tree, before escaping again in the county car. Barger shouted until he attracted the attention of a ranch hand, who refused the help him. He was handcuffed to the tree for three hours, until officers arrived and rescued him. He then went back to Ft. Worth, where he organized a posse and went after the Lawrence boys.

They were apprehended in Tempe, Arizona. Bill was later hanged in Arizona, and Babe served a life term in Texas. Barger died in 1938 at the age of 77.

How could I make up anything better than that?

*****

A big thanks to Donis Casey. She’ll give away a trade paperback or hardback copy of her fifth book, Crying Blood, to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment by Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Delivery is available worldwide.

**********

Did you like what you read? Learn about downloads, discounts, and special offers from Relevant History authors and Suzanne Adair. Subscribe to Suzanne’s free newsletter.