VO L. 1. N O.6 T H E C LEMEN TS LIBRARY ASSOC IATES

SMALL LIGHTS IN DARK CO RN ERS

SEPTEMBER 1996

"The Death ofGeneral Wo?fe," painted by Benjamin West ill 1776, in theClements Libra ry. Most ofthe individual officers depict ed mound thedying general have been identified as historical persons. A good Ruess isthat the American Ranger 0 /1 the left is Capta in Joseph Gorham. whoserve d unde r Wolfe in 1759, and was the younger brother ofJohnGorham. whose papers are in the Library.

Great manuscript repositories. like greatmuseums , arc often defined by theirgreat collections. The Clements Li braryis no exception. Mr. Clements. whosefirst passion had been for rare books .not one-of-a-kind man uscr ipts. used hisfortune to take adva ntage of a uniqueopportunity after the FirstWorld War to acquirefami ly-owned major Britishcollections documenti ng theAm erican Revolu tion. TheShelburne , Gage, andClinton Papers con stitu te apriceless record of thebreakaway of the Amer ica ncolonies from the eigh­teenth-century BritishEmpire. Supplemented bylater acqu isition of otherlarge collections - Germainand Knox Papers on theBritish side, the papers ofNat hanael Greene andAnthony Wayne on theAme rican - the manuscriptholdings of the Cle mentsquickly established theLibrary as a center fo rresearch on the origins ofthe United States . Of courseMr. Cle ments and the Library's leader­ship th rough the next fifty year s mis sedfew chance s to add major manuscr iptcollections in other areas of Americanhistory: notably, the Ja mes G. Birne yand Weld-Gri mke Papers on the ant isla­very moveme nt. and the James S. SchoffCo llection for the Civ il War. But theperiod of the Revolution continues to beidentified with the Clemen ts Library.drawing researchers [rom all over the na­tion and world, and shap ing the priori tiesof those who spen d the limited Libraryfunds availab le for new acquisi tions.

What can he lost in the sheer massand internationa l repu tation of the

largest Clements collections are theexistence and value of the Library 'ssmall manuscript holdings - some­times no more than a letter or two, ora dia ry - histori ca l fragme nts that.especially when placed in conte xt, cancast bright light into comers of the past

that otherwise remain dim or dark. Mos tof these fragmentary collect ions wereproduced by ordi nary men and wo men.Criti cs who have que stioned the recentrise of interest amo ng historians in thelives of ord inary peop le ofte n miss theimportance of knowing more about howand why such people responded to majorhistor ical events ; for example. we kno wles s than we should for the AmericanRevolution abo ut what ord inary Ameri­ca ns thought and did, far below the leve lat which the Found ing Fathers weremaking crucial decisions. We all knowthat those decisions were indeed cruc ialbecause they elic ited a strong response.

but until recently historians have beencontent to let vague general statemen tstake the place of careful study of thispopular response. Examples drawn fromthe sma ller Clemen ts collections for theperiod of the America n Revolutionillustrate their exce ptional potential.

Robert Rogers is one ofthe legendary ligures ofA merican military history.Lioni zed by Kenne th Robertsin the historical novelNorthwest Passage. he wasimmortal ized for olderreaders of The Quarto bySpe ncer Tracy in a fi lm basedon the novel. Younger readersmay reca ll a telev ision serie smore loosely linked to thehistorical record of theexploits of Rogers and hisRangers. Bu t equally famousin the pre-Revolutionaryyears, and more highlyrega rded by senior Bri tishofficers, was Joseph Gorham.Li ke Rogers, Gorham wasfrom New Eng land. andrecruited his soldiers fromYankee fron tiersmen andIndi ans friendl y to the Anglo­

American cause . During the climacticstruggle between Britai n and France. theBritish Army used American Rangersto locate the enemy (no easy task in thevast wi lde rness of Nort h America) andto screen Brit ish forces against infi ltra­tion and surprise attac k, like the one thathad des troyed General Braddock'sarmy in 1755. Generals Aberco mby andAm herst relied on Rogers ' Rangersduri ng the Lake Cha mplain ca mpaignsof 175 8-59, while General James Wolfe,com manding the Briti sh attack onQuebec in 1759, depended heavily onthe Rangers commanded by JosephGorham.

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Not long ago. the Clement sacquired a small cache of Gorhamletters. though not of Joseph . but ofJohn . his older brother. John alsocommanded a Ranger unit. in which hehad enlisted his litt le brother Joseph.who learned the Ranger trade in the1740s as John 's second-in-command.When French resistance before Quebecfoiled General Wolfe in the summer of1759. he sent Joseph Gorh am and hisRangers to make the Canadians pay forhis frustration. In a month-long cam­paign that foreshadowed what GeneralSherman would do to Georgia in 1864 .Captain Joseph Gorham and his menbrought fire and sword to the St. Law­rence valley in August 1759. Burn inghouses. barns. and crops, killing orcarrying off livestock. but sparing livesexcept where they met armed resistance ,Gorham 's Rangers laid waste theparishes of New France.

Quarto readers know that theClements owns and proudly displaysthe finest of fou r versions painted byBenjamin West of "Th e Dea th of Gen­eral Wolfe." Art historians credit thepicture with being a landma rk break­through in historical pai nting to realism.but other historians have struggled to

ident ify key figures in the scene.Leaning toward the dyin g genera l fromthe left side of the picture is a Ranger.who with the seated Indian is one of onlytwo Americans depicted by the Am eri­can-born painte r in this climacticmoment of North American history. Nopositive evide nce exists. but circum­stances strongly suggest that the Ranger

in West' s painting is Captain JosephGorham . Like Rogers, Joseph Gorhamremained loya l to the Crown durin g theAmerican Revo lution. He died in 1790.

But what 'Connection, if any. is therebetween Joseph Gor ham 's career and thesmall Clements collec tion of the papersof his older brother John. who died in1751'? We know that John had turnedcommand of his Rangers over to youngJoseph hy 1751. John's letters documentwhat the Gor ham brothers and theirRangers had been doing since 1743.They were policing Nova Sco tia'sFrench-speaking settlers. suspected bythe Gorhams and British authorities ofco llabo rating in Indian attacks on Briti shgarrisons and settlements. Not only didthe Rangers dea l roughly with theseFrench Ca tholic civilians, who hadbecome Briti sh subjects when Franceceded Nova Scotia in 1713. hut theGorhams were also active ly lobbying todisplace them in favor of loyal Protestantsubjects. Captain John Gorham was aland speculator and merchant as well asa soldier; the French. in his view. wereboth traitors and an obstacle to his owneco nomic ambit ions. In 1755. fouryears after his death. British autho ritiesactually removed thou sands of theseFrench co lonists - men and wome n,child ren and the aged - dispersing themfar from their Nova Scoti an homes inunhealthy. overcrowded ships: the"Cajuns" (Acadians) of modem Louisi­ana are amon g the descendants of thosewho survived. The cruel campaignwaged by John 's brot her Joseph duringlate summer of 1759 among the French

settlers of the S1.Lawrence thus appearsas a logical continuation of the Gorhamfamily' s crusade against French settlersmore than a decade ea rlier in NovaScotia. Like Ireland or Bosnia today, warin pre-Revolutionary America involveddeep eth nic and religious hatred, longmemori es. and avarice.

The conquest of New France byBritish arms led di rectly to postwarBritish pol icies that were a major causeof the America n Revolut ion . When theRevolution came in 1775, Josep hGor ham and Robert Rogers were notunusual in adhering to the British side.An estimated one American in five.includ ing most Indians and manyAfrican-Am erican slaves. did likewise.Today we may lind it difficult tounderstand how so many Ameri can scould reject the ideals of the Declarationof Independence, and risk their livesand property in opposition to what wasoften called, on the other side, Thi sGlor ious Cause.

John Andre is best known for hisco llaboration with the most notoriousAmerican Loyalist of them all. thequintessentia l villain of United Staleshistory. Major General Bened ict Arnoldof the Continental Army. It was theyoung British Army office r. Andre. notArnold . who paid with his life whencaught in civilian clot hes behind enemylines while Arnold slipped away tosafely. Most of the written record for thisunha ppy affair is in the ClementsLibra ry, part of the massive ClintonPapers. Sixty years ago Carl Van Dorenused those papers to write what remains

This naive but charming sketch by 101m Amid depicts a raucous snme in or near the British garrison-town ofQuebec,probably ill early / 775.

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the definitive account of Arnold'streason in The Secret War ofAmericanIndependence. Washington and manyother Americans wished that it had beenArnold dangling at the end of the ropewhen the unlucky Major Andre washanged in October 1780.

Less known is Andre's career beforehe became the chief victim of Arnold'streason . In 1978, the Clements acquireda small co llection of Andre letterswritten during his regimental service inthe British garrison of Canada . Amongthese letters is a sketch by Andre of awild party, probahly outside the city ofQue bec. The sketch is reproduced onpage 2. Andre was hardly an acco m­plished artist, hut he gave us a rareglimpse of the reali ty of the NorthAmerican colonial fron tier. At the party,fur trappers, traders, Indians, Britishsoldiers, and a bare-breasted woman arehaving fun, smoking, drinki ng, anddanci ng: only the landlady, candle inhand, appears to be unhappy. Thoughnone of Andre's letters mention thespecific inciden t, making it imposs iblefor us to know whether the eveningended peacefu lly or in a brawl, Andrewrote his sister in England that he waspreparing an illustrated journal of his lifein Canada for her amusement. And inone letter, he described sleig hing out ofQuebec with a lady companion: "Wedine, dance rondes. toss pancakes, makea noise and return, sometimes overturnand sometimes are frost bit." It soundslike the party in the sketch.

The heavy financ ial cost of support­ing the garrison in which Andre served,which the British government claimedwas established in 1763 to defend theolder American colonies as well as tosecure the newly expanded Empire,would be a proximate cause of theParl iamentary attempt to tax thecolon ies, and thus of the AmericanRevolution. Ma ny Americans were atfirst prepared to share the logic thatequated the interest of the Briti shEmpire with the best interests of theAmerican colonies. How so many orthese loyal colonists in time becamerebels is one of the enduring questionsabout the revoluti on that gave birth tothe United States.

On first look, a few letters written1775-77 by an elderly Boston merchan t,Edm und Quincy, may not seem apromising place to seek an answe r to thequestion, especially beca use his crampedhandwriti ng is virtually illegible . But

Quincy, a conse rvative old gentlemanand a staunch admirer of the BritishEmpire, was the father-in-law of both theradica l leader John Hancock and one ofNew England's most prominent Loya l­ists. Attorney General Jonathan Sewall.Qu incy's letters to his son Henry, whendeciph ered and studied alongside hisother letter s held by the Massachu settsHistorical Society, tell us somethingimportant about the causes of theAmerican Revolution. Quincy regardedthe whole confli ct as a terribl e mistake,from which only the detested Frenchwere likely to reap any advantage . Butonce Quincy became convince d from hispersonal experience as a local magistratethat Briti sh authorities had no respect forthe American claim of certain rights, hebecame as radical as his son-in-lawHancock. Just after readi ng ThomasPaine 's Common Sense, he wrote Henrythat the Briti sh can "have no hope orconquest" in America and "arc sure ofthe loss of these Colonies." while heprai sed "Ge nera l Washington's skill andprudence." British leaders, in oldEdmund Quincy's view, were eithercorrupt or had lost thei r senses, althoughhe never gave up hope that out of thefratricidal war would come a Britishdecision to fonn "a Commercial Allianceat leas t (if not more) with these Ame ri­can Independent States." For thosewithout time or patience to deciph erQui ncy's letters, the Clements has editedand published a selec tion of them.

Edm und Quin cy saw the outb reakof war in the Boston area, but by 1776the war had moved to the more strategicsite of New York and the Hud son Valley.Washington 's attempt to defend NewYork led to catas trophic defea t in Augustat the battle of Long Island, fro m whichthe Ame rican cause barel y recove red.Not long ago, the Clements acquir ed anorderly book kept briel1y by a companyof New York militia in 1776 . Orderlybooks record the orders issued by senio rcom manders. usua lly at a daily meeting,and they often include anything elsedeemed important. like unit rostersand supply receipts. Because the battleof Long Island was so chaotic onthe American side, with good record­keep ing a low priority, that evenWashington confessed he did not knowhow many troops had taken part, it is notsurprising that historians arc still puzzledby exactly what happened at the battle,and why. The chance to learn whether,and if so how. our New York mili tia

co mpany took part in the batt le madeits acquisition exciting.

Unfortunately for this question.the orderly book of Captain AbrahamSchenck's company covers only a fewmonths after the battle, when New Yorktroops were trying to guard the Hudsonwhile the rest of the Continental Armyseemed to be disintegra ting west of theriver, in New Jersey. But at the back ofthe orderly book are company rosters,and we can use these lists of names toconsult one of the Clements largestcollections, almos t a thousand rolls ofmicrofilm, acquired wi th funds grantedfor the American Revolution Bicenten­nial hy the Eli Lilly Foundation. On themicrofilm, arrange d alphabetically. arethousands of fil es of American Revolu­tionary veterans and thei r widows wholived long enough after the war to applyfor a Federa l military service pension.Each applicant was asked to submit anaff idavit with the details of his wartimeservice. Checking Captain Schenck'sroste rs against the pension microfilm. wenaturally find no file for some names,but we also find others whose affidavi tstell the same incred ible story about whathappened in August 1776. As Schenck'scompany marched toward Long Island,its men were asked to volunteer tojoin the battle; some accepted the call.others declin ed. In effect, this New Yorkmilitia company was allowed to vote onpersonally going into combat. Oncethe Schenck orde rly book is exam ined inthe con text of other evidence, the spiritof '76. along with the confusion anduncertai nties of that tumultuous year,become almost palpable.

Two full boxes of documents in theClement s, one of the larger "s mall"collections, the papers of EdwardFreeman. offer an extraordinary pictureof the American Revolution as seenfrom Cape Cod, especia lly the towns ofBarnstable and Sandwich. School-bookversions of the Revolution indicate thatonce the British evacuated Boston inMarch 1776, taking with them severalhundred royal office-holders, ambitiouslawyers, and venal merchants, NewEngland was not much troubled byAmericans who stayed loyal to Britain.And indeed, in many parts of NewEngland support for the Revoluti onwas very solid. But not on Cape Cod.Edward Freeman. who headed theBarnstable committee of safety, spentmuch of the war trying to detect,interrogate, intimidat e, and if necessary

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All especially legible page f rom the orderly book kept by the New York milit ia company of Captain Abraham Schenck when it was part of theHudson valley garrison ill October 1776. weeks afte r the battle ofLong Island. Rosters for the company are in the hack pages of the hook.

arres t and pun ish neighbors who wouldnot give up their allegiance to KingGeorge III . Freeman kept a carefulrecord of the committee's work. and itclea rly shows that Cape Cod wasswarming with act ive Tories and pro­British sy mpathizers. Not only were mensuspec ted of Loyali st activity broughtbefore the committee for clo se question­ing, but wom en petit ioned it askingperm ission to join their husbands whohad fled to Bri tish-h eld Newport, Rhod eIsland. Some of these Loyalist petitionslist members of the famil y as well as a"squaw"- probably a woman fro m thenea rby Mashpee tribe who looked afterthe children. Among these Loyalists aresome of the Cape's most pro minentfam ilies. like the Bournes.

Cape Coo's vulnerability to Britishseapower part ly explains the strength ofLoyalism on the peninsula. RhodeIsland . a Brit ish base for much of thewar. was not far away. while Freeman'scommittee uncovered recurre nt rumorsof an immi nent British landing, whichwas to be the signal for an armed Toryupris ing. Bu t the British landin g nevercarne, and the litt le civ il war betwee nFreeman's co mmitteemen and their Toryneighbors was marked by anxiety. harshwords, and assorted hardship s rath erthan hy bloodshed. Cape Cod 's civil war

even had its lighter mo ments, as when anage nt sent Tory-hunting to Marshfi eld. atown up the coast notorious as a centerof Loyalisrn, was given a secret letterexp lainin g his mission addresse d to thesheriff of Essex County. Those directingthe mission had overlooked the smallgeographical fact that Marshfield is inPlymouth Cou nty. not Essex. so theiragen t came home empty-handed anddo ubt less red-faced and indigna nt.

How did the deep and bitter divi­sions on Cape Cod play out once the warwas over and American independenceachieved ? Fro m other record s we knowthat few of the Barnstable Loyalistsemigrated. Most stayed where they hadalways lived ; some, Bournes amongthem , held public office in postwarMassachusetts. The American Revolu­tion. whe n seen from Cape Cod. was amore complex process than that depictedby tradi tion.

The roots of Loyalism in theAmerican revolut ion can be glimpsedin other manuscript item s scatteredamong the Clements collections. JohnRando lph, the last royal attorney genera lof Yirginia and a kinsman of ThomasJefferson, left the colony for Eng landwell before independence was declared.Today, Randolph is suspec ted byhistorians of bein g the author of several

spurious letters. wide ly publ ished in1778 as being from General GeorgeWashin gton. letters in which Washin gtonopposed the Declaration of Indepen­dence . In the Cle ments is-a sing le, longletter of April 177 8 from Randolp h inLondon to an una med Americancorres pondent in which he explains hisown opposition to the Revolution. Notunlike Edmund Quin cy, Rand olphdep lored the hann being done by the waras destruc tive of the true interests of bothsides. While hoping for a " Reunion ofthe two countries," he thought that onlyFran ce could profit by a continuationof the conflict. Britain. he warned hisAmerican friend. would con cede everypoint at issue except Amer ican indepen­dence. and he urged the American s tonegotiate a ne w constitution for thecolonies within the Empire while thechance was still open to them . Readin ghis long, coolly argued letter, we canbe sure that Randolph saw him self asthe voice of reasoned analysis andcommon sense .

Radically differen t in its expressionof Loyalism is a much short er Cleme ntsdocument by anot her Virgin ian. DinahArchey had been a slave who had gainedher freedo m by heeding the Briti sh ca llearly in the war for African- American sto leave their rebel masters. At the very

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end of the war, as the Brit ish Armyprepared to evacuate New York inAugust 1783, "Dinah Archey Negro"petitioned the British commander-in­chief against an attempt to re-enslaveher, a not uncommon experien cefor Afr ican-Americans who had soughttheir freedom under British protection .A certain William Fanay had taken herpassport and gone before the police toclaim her as his property, "which shefirmly believes he cannot." The outcomeof the case is unknown.

France never ma terialized as quitethe threat to an independent UnitedStates that both the rebel EdmundQuincy and the Tory John Randolph hadfeared it would be, Part of the explana­tion lies in their shared Prancophobia,typical of Americans of their generation,which kept them fro m seeing that Frenchwar aims were limited by a desire to hurtBritain , not to recreate an empire inNorth Amer ica. Moreover, if Britain hadlost the War of American Independence,France did not win it. In 1782, after thedecisive Franco-American victory atYorktown that star ted peace negotiation s.French forces suffered majo r setbacks,notably at the naval battle of The Saints

in the Caribbean.The Papers of the Marecha l de

Castries. French naval mini ster in 1782,are a recently acquired, small Clement scollection. Not only do the CastriesPapers contain detailed documentsarising from the inquiry into the Frenchdefeat at The Saints (a group of smallislands ju st south of the island ofGuadeloupe), but as well a plan that, hadit been kno wn, would have confi rmedthe worst fears of John Randolph andEdmund Quincy about French war aims.Dated November 1782, and signed bythe French admira l, Comte d' Bstaing.this lengthy memorandum proposedto continue the war in 1783. In closealliance with Spain, France wouldembark on a campaign of imperialreconque st. D' Esratng hoped to catchthe British off guard while they wereevacuating their forces from the Ameri­can war. Massing at Brest. a Fra nco­Spanish expedition would seize Jamaica,and then. with the approach of thehurricane season in the West Indies,attack the British naval base at Hal ifax.Nova Scotia, which would be turnedover to Spain, who had no treatyobligations to the United States.

American fears could be assuaged.d 'Estaing thought. by the presumedinfluence of the popul ar Marquis deLafayette. Thi s bold. bizarre plan had nochance; the war had already stretchedFrench finances beyond their breakingpoint, setting the stage for a continuingfiscal crisis that would lead directly tothe French Revolution of 1789.

Yet another variant of what Ameri­can revolutionaries denoun ced duringthe war as Loyalism appears in a singleClements letter of 1799, by the Rev.John HeckcweIder, a missionary tothe Indians of Pennsylvania and Ohio.Writing from the cente r of the Amer­ican Moravian Church in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. Heckewelder, years afterthe war, was seeking compensation fromthe Federal government for his wartimelosses. Pleading his loyal and valuableservices to the United States in itspostwar Indian relations, he recountedhis wartime odysse y. He had tried tokeep his congregation of Christia nizedIndi ans out of harm's way by settlingthem at Gnadenhutten on the lowerMuskingum River in Ohio. But mis­trusted and threatened by both sides, heand his family were seized in 1781 and

A Map of the Most Inhabited Part of New England, containing the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, with the Coloniesof Connecticut and Rhode Island . .. pub lished hy Thomas Jefferys (London /755). Note the towns o( Barnstable and Sandwich, whereEdward Freeman 's committee (?(sa(ety did most (?(its business. and also the tOHN/ ofMarshfield. up the coas t in Plymouth rOU11I y, wherethe committee sent a Tory-hunting agent.

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Woodcuts on this rareAmerican Revolutionbroadside depi ct acommon soldier and theBattle ofLexington,April J8, 1775. A Shortaccount of the troublesand dangers our fore­fathers met with toobtain this land ; shewingthe right their childre nhave to it at this day.Now publis hed as highlynecessary, and isreco mmended to beprese rved in the house ofevery true friend to therights and priviledges ofAmerica. Danvers.Printed by E. Russell, atthe house late the BellTavern, [17761.

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taken first to Uppe r Sandusky, then tothe British post at Detroit. While he wasincarcerated. unable to do anything topro tect his Moravian flock. Americantroop s swooped down on the Indiansettlement at Gnade nhutten. destroyingit and killing almost a hundred Indians.Heckewelder, a warti me Loyalist ofsorts. went on to a respected career,dying in 1830 after pub lishing impo rtantaccounts of American Indian cu lture.His life bears compari son with that ofan ear lier German-A merican Indian"expert," Co nrad Weiser (d. 1760).who is noticed elsewhere in this issueof The Quarto.

Most historical accounts treat thefinal years of the Revolutionary Warcursorily, leaving all but a few incidentsobscure. Arnold' s treason in 1780 andContinen tal Army mut inies in 1781 arewell known . but afterthe U.S. alliancewith France following the Briti sh defeatat Saratoga in 1777, little else gets seri­ous attention until the deci sive Franco­America n victory at Yorktown in 1781.Neither the gradual slide of Revolu­tiona ry finances into bankruptcy, thesqua bbles wracking the Conti nentalCongress, nor the desultory Britishcampaign to conquer the So uth, offer aclear histor ical focus. But a national wareffort co ntinued after Saratoga. and evenafter Yorktown four years later. until theend in 1783. A small letterboo k - anotebook used for keepi ng copies ofoutgoing letters - of a yo ung officerfrom Brookfi eld. Massachu sett s. givesClements researchers a window on theseobscure. later year s of the long war ofthe American Revolution.

Benjamin Gi lhert had joined thewar on its first day, when he was still inhis teens. Like so many others thatday. he responded to repo rts of fightingat Le xington. well to the east of hisBrookfield home. But unlike so manyothers . he never left the army, exce pt onfurlough . until the war's end. Not onlydid he copy his letters hom e into a small,bound blank notebook , now worn andwrink led fro m its weeks and months ofbeing carried on active dut y. but Gilbertalso kept a diary, owned toda y by theNew York Histor ical Association atCooperstown. While the Cleme nts letter­book is full of interesting de tail andopini on s, it cove rs on ly the later years ofthe war, after Gilbert had been promotedto officer rank . The Cooperstown diary is

a dry record of daily life , hut it coversmost of his milit ary service and beyond.into the postwa r years. \Vhen the twodocuments are studied together afascinating picture of a Revolutionarypatriot emerges. A few years ago theClements publi shed the Gilhert leuer­book with exp lanatory notes usingexcerpts from his diary.

One of Gilbert' s friend s andwartime commanders was CaptainDaniel Shays. who in J786 gave hisname and leadership to the rebe ll ion ofwestern Massachusett s farmers that inpan pro mpted the Phil adelphia co nven­tion which drafted the Constitution ofthe United States. Gilhert endured all thewartime hardshi ps. and more, that madeDaniel Shays a rche i - little or no pay,runaway inflation. bla tant neglect of theContinental Army hy both State govern­ments and the Co ngress whilc a fewspec ulators and army contractors seemedto be gelling rich from the war. Like hisfellow officers, Gilb ert complainedbitterl y and frequently, in lette rs to hisfather and to friends at home .

Yet we also sense from his lettersand dia ry that his commitment to thecause and to Washington, his God-likecommander, never wavered. and thatthere was much he actually enjoyedabout wartime military service. For thetroops guarding the key pass in theHudson valley at West Point during theselater years there was co nsidera ble timefor recre ation - swimming in the river.playing ball games, and Sunday excur­sions to the brot hel not far from the New\Vindsor encampment. On one recre ­ational journey down into WestchesterCount y. an ineb riated Gilbert. homewardbound. cracked his shin so hard on arock that he was lame for a time .Reviewing this very per sonal recordreminds us that Gilhert had literall ygrown up in the war. and we see a manmore than a little apprehensive that hisarmy rank and status will evapora tebe fore he has found a niche in thepostwar world.

Gi lbert . while hom e on furlou gh ,had impregnated a girl from the neigh­borin g town of Spencer. Her father, amagistrate. actua lly got a warrant forGilbert's arrest, so he did not ret urn tothe fami ly farm in Brookfield after thewar. Instead, he mad e his peace with thegirl and her family by monetary pay­ment. married instead a girl from

Con nectic ut who hc had met during thewar. and set out fo r the New Yorkfront ier in Cherry Valley, near LakeOtsego. Unlike Daniel Shays. Gi lherteschewed rebe llion and instead joinedthe Masons and the con servativeFederalist Party, In time a mature Gilbertserved as county sheriff and Stateassemblyman - a minor local politi ­cian flouri shing under the patronageof Will iam Cooper, founder ofCooperstow n and the fathe r of JamesFenimore Cooper. For all the Loyalistswho sur face in this sampler of thesmall Cleme nts collec tions. we suspectBenjamin Gilhert may have been themore typica l veteran. and beneficiary. ofthe American struggle for indepe ndence.

Th e 10 exa mples just discussed areno more than a fraction of the Library's"minor" holdings on the AmericanRevoluti on . In preparin g this article , theDirector compiled a list of abou t 40 suchcollections acquired in the last 2S years.Majo r collections. like the Papers ofCharles Townshend (the British ministerbehind the provoca tive Town shend Actsof 17(7). acquired not many years ago ,arc still sought, hut since the heyda y ofMr. Clements' great purchases suchcollect ions seldo m appea r on the marke tand then on ly at very high prices. Butthc Cle ments does not simply wait forthese rare opport unities while passivelyca ring for its ex isting treasures; theLibrary co ntin ues to seek new acquisi­tions which will en hance the researchvalue of the larger co llections. fillinggaps . or occ asionally acquiring a uniqueitem of great intrinsic interest, like thepetition of the ex-slave Dinah Archey.And since 1970. to take another ex­amp le. aggressive acquisition has added85 individual manu script letters to thelarge collection of Na thanael GreenePapers. whi le abo ut two dozen itemswe re added to the Freem an Papers.further docu ment ing the AmericanRevolution on Cap e Cod. So me itemscome by gift. others by purchase asfund s arc available. But the proce ss offinding way s to cast more light into darkcorners of Ame rican histor y never ends.

- John Shy, Professor EmeritusDepartment of History

University of Michigan

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CLA NEWSCONRAD W EI SER LETI ERS SHED IMPORTANT LIGHT

ON EIGHTEENTH -CENTU RY INDIAN DIPLOMACY

delegates from his home province. whoprofessed religiou s scruples againstengagi ng Indians in war. As Weiserreported, Canasatego , seeing the disunityamo ng his prospective allies, "said as to

the Hatchit Brethren we receive it intoour Bosom and will there hid]e] it from

your Enemies for a Co uple ofMonths. We ca n not imediatly mak[ e]use of it." Weiser added thatCanasatego had to urge the Englishcolonies to set aside their differences."a t which your brethren the 6 nationswill be glad. and will think them ­selves save to be in league with you."

Th e Iroqu ois rema ined alooffro m the English war effort fo r theremainder of King George 's War inAmerica (1744 ·48). Anticipat ingpeace between England and Fra nce ,Thomas Lee, then President ofVirginia's Executive Council,organ ized the Ohio Co mpany ofVirginia in late 1747 and petiti onedthe crown for a grant of a half millionacres ofland on Virginia's westernfronti er. Aga in, Lee turned to hisfriend Weiser to help make the OhioCompany's plans "agreeable to theIndians."

Writi ng to Lee in letters da tedJu ne 12 and August 13, 1750. Wei serco mmented on Lee 's plan for anintercoloni al conference with theIroquois 10 be held at Frede ricksburg.Virginia in September 1750 . Leeneeded Weiser 's expertise to help

him make paym ent [or Ohio land s toa reco gni zed Iroq uois authority beforeany settlement of the Ohio countryco uld proceed with security. To that end.he called on Weiser for assistan ce incollectin g proper Iroqu ois delegates toreceive a large present of woollens,gunpowder. and cash valued at £500.

Weiser 's respo nse to Lee's request,writte n on 12 June 1750, demonstrateshow much Lee had to learn in dealingwith Indians. Weiser agre ed to j ourneyfrom his home in Heidelburg, Pennsylva­nia to Onondaga on Lee 's behalf, butcould not promise to bring the Indians to

Canasatego to give Lee a public repri­mand in a pre liminary council. Weiserearned Lee 's immediate respe ct. The twomen would remain friendly correspon­dent s until Lee 's death in 1750.

Weiser, in a letter dated 25 October1745. reponed to Lee on the Iroquois

co nference held at Albany earlier thatmonth where he had served as Pennsyl­vania's interpreter. Hastil y organi zedby New York Governor GeorgeClinton to combat increasing Frenchinflu ence among the Six Nat ions, and toimpress the Iroquois with the combinedpower of the northern Engli sh colonies,the conference had been a disaster.Weiser had quickly found him self inthe midd le of bitter infighting betweendelegates from New York and Mass­achu sett s, who wanted to extract apromi se from the Iroquois to "take upthe hatchet" agai nst the French, and

Portrait ofMohawk chiefSoi-en-ga-rah-ta(b. 1680·90 - d.1755), an Iroquois ambassado r, andBritish (11)' agains t the French on the New Yorkfro ntie r in the 1750s. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Noteson The Iroquois (Albany 1847),fmntispiece.

The Clements Library Associates Boardat thei r May mee ting purchased threeletters written by Indian Agent Co nradWeiser ( 1696· 1760). a man well trustedby settlers. Indians, and colonial offici alsliving along the Ohio Valle y in the late1740s. Wei ser 's letters offer importantnew insight s into eightee nth-centurydiplomacy in this volatile "middleground," where white settlers andNati ve Americans needed to accommo­date each other if they were to survivein peace.

In these letters Weiser, Penn­sylvania's offici al Indian Age ntto the Iroquois Six Nat ions, waswriti ng to Thomas Lee, memberand later president of the Exec utiveCouncil of Virginia. Dated fromOctober 1745 to August 1750. theydiscuss political deali ngs betweenthese two colonies and the Iroquoisregardi ng Virgini a's attempts toes tablish se ttle ments in the OhioValley. The letters provide strikingevidence of the powerful influ enceof Native American peopl es on thefunct ion and objec tives of cross­cult ura l dip lomacy in early Am erica.

At first glance , Co nrad \Vei ser andTh omas Lee see m unlikely correspon­den ts. Weiser, a German Palatine whoemigrated to Americain 1710, made his living on Pennsyl­vania 's western front ier as a part­time farmer and Iroq uois interpreter,having lived with the Mohawks forsixtee n years and becoming an adoptedmember of their tribe. Thomas Lee. fifthson in the powerful Virginia famil y ofRic hard Lee II, mana ged the vast es tateof Lord Fairfax. He became a member ofVirgini a's Executi ve Council in 1732,where he pursued his am bitious plans ofextending that colony's western bound­aries. Indeed, when Weiser and Leefirst met at the Treaty of Lancaster in1744. their contras ting backgrounds andassumptions regarding Indian affair sclas hed . Weiser. upset by Lee 's haughty.asserti ve tone with the Indians, arrangedfor Onondaga Iroquois speaker

PAG E 8 T H E Q\Ji\RTO

The ambience ofan Indian conf erence at a council f ire with British colonial officials. likeConrad Weiser, was captured by this engraving l?fa Benjamin West painting depicting ameeting in 1764 between Colonel Henry Bouquet and chieftainsfrom Ohio Valley tribes ,

Virginia that summer. He explained thatthe great distances involved would delaythe required meeting of the GrandCouncil until Augu st at best, "and thenafter they break up they must go home totheir several towns and every nationmust agree by themsel ves who shall goand as they allways on such occasionsgo in great Number and travel very Slowit would certainly be October beforethey would reach John Harri s' Ferry inPensilvania." Weiser also advised Leethat it was very difficult to arrang ea conference of the Iroquois GrandCouncil outside their normal meetingmonths of February and March unlessa matter of war or peace required it;he suggested spring would likely bethe earlie st time that he could securea proper delegation of Iroquoi s forLee's purposes.

Lee, however, would not be put off.Fired with a grandiose dream to uniteall the British colonies from Nova Scotiato Georgia with the Iroqu ois in hisplanned conference, he wrote back toWeiser on 21 June 1750, imploring himto induce the Iroquoi s to come down toFrederi cksburg that summer. Writing on13 Augu st 1750, Weiser agreed - hewould go to Onondaga on Lee's behalf.Alarmed by the French expedition to theOhio count ry under Captain Pierre­Joseph Celoron de Blainville in 1749,Weiser also recommended that Lee makearrangem ents with the governors ofMaryland and Penn sylvania to "keep theFrench off from Ohio , which mightperhap s now be done with only the tenthpart of the Troubl e and Charge s, thenwhat will be 15 or 20 years hence , for ifthe French once establish themselves onthat River, we will have an unweariedEnem y upon our Back , and our posteritywill perhaps condemn our presentneglect." Two days after writin g thisletter , Lee left for Onond aga.

Weiser's mission failed . En route toOnondaga, Weiser received the unfortu­nate news of Canasatego' s death undersuspicious circumstances, and hisreplacement by Tohashwuchdioony, anOnondaga convert to Catholicism knownto be pro-French in his polici es. WhenWeiser finally met with the OnondagaCoun cil in a session abbreviated by therequ ired mourning for Can asatego , theyrefused to go to Virginia, insteadreque sting that Lee come to Albany, thetraditional locat ion for Iroquois confer-

ences with representati ves from theBritish colonies. Writing to Lee on4 October 1750, Weiser described hisaborted mission . Lee, who had alreadysent Chri stopher Gist to begin survey ingthe Ohio country, then wrote to theBoard of Trade, claiming (inaccurately)that the Six Nations at Onondaga haddeserted the Briti sh alliance , and thathe would try to secure a treaty withthe assorted Iroquoi s, Delaware, andShawnee Indians living in the OhioValley, Eight days later Lee died.

The Iroquois ' negotiations withThomas Lee demonstrate the Indians 'ability to preserve their own interestswith carefully conducted diplomacy. The

three letters of Conrad Weiser, analyzedin conjuncti on with other contemporarysources, depict a world in which NativeAmerican conceptions of diplomaticprotocol con tinued to hold sway overcompeting political interest s in differentBritish North American colonies. Aspreviously missing pieces to an earlyAmerican diplomatic puzzle, the Weiser­Lee letters arc an important addition tothe Library's Native American HistoryManu script Collection.

- Jon W Parmenter,Ph.D. Candidate

Department of HistoryUniversity of Michigan

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CLA NEWS

A PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH PRIE STLEY IN AME RICABY EL LE N SHARPLES. PHIlADELPH IA CIRCA 1796-1801

When Joseph Priestley came to Ameri cain 1794. he was almost as famou s asBenjamin Franklin . Best known todayfor his discove ry of oxy gen and solvingthe riddle of combustion, Dr. Priestley inhis own time was a co ntroversial figure,comparab le perhaps to Dr. Linu s Pauli ngin modem America. For both menscience was mixed with provocative andwell-publicized ideas about politi cs andsociety; and. in Priestley's case, aboutreli gion as well. For Dr. Joseph Priestleywas first of all a Doctor of Divinity.

He won recog nition in England forhis scientific work on opt ics andelectrici ty in the 17605ju st as he waspubli shing his first works in politi calphilosophy. A Radical Dissenter fromthe estab lished Church of Eng land, heenvision ed a society in which oldrel igious prejudi ces were swept away,and all men , whatever their beliefs,would enjoy full civil right s. a societyruled by reason. The Earl of Shelburne.a young, wea lthy, politically ambitio us,liberal-minded peer who recruitedprogressive thinkers, became Priest ley'spatron. From 1773 to 17HODr. Priestleyserved as Shelburne's librarian andtutored his son. while enjoying a house.a generous annuity, a laboratory, scien­tific apparatus, and ample leisure -all provided by Shelburne - tu pursu ehis own work. Priestley's best scientificwork , includ ing the discovery ofoxygen, was done durin g these yearswith Shelbume.

With the outbreak of the America nRevolu tion . Shelburne and Priestleywere at the center of politica l oppositionto the American War. But the war alsodivided them ; Priestley favored Ameri ­can Independence, but She lburne, lessradic al, clun g to his hope for a restoredAng lo-American emp ire until, as primeminister in 1783, he would be forced toaccept the new political rea lities. In 1780the two men parted co mpany, amicab ly.But with the outbreak of the FrenchRevolu tion in 1789 they and their liberalopin ions were once again at the center ofa politica l storm.

After leaving Shelburne, Priestley

had settled in Birmin gham . a rapidl ygrowing indu strial city whe re religio usDissent was influential among both therestless work ing elass and the risingcaptains of British industry. Priestleyhimself married the daughter of the wel l­known ironma ster, John Wilkinson. ButDr. Priestley's strenuous advocacy ofideas espou sed by the early French

English artist Ellen Sharples made thispastel po rtrait ofJoseph Priestley ( I 733­1804). shortlv after he emigrated toAmerica in 1794. captu ring the famousscientist. radical pltilosophet ; theologian.and def ender ofA merican libertv ill latemiddle age, with the hint or a smile.

Revolut ion made him a highly visibletarget for conservative oppo sition to allthat was happenin g in France. In mid­179 1. when the anti-Christian directionof the Revolution had manifested itself.Birmingham erupted in one of the mostserious urban riot s in British history,with Priestley and his Dissenting andUnitarian supporters as its chief victims.A mob , driven perhaps as much by classhatred and xenophobia as by traditiona lrel igious views, ransacked and burnedhis house, destroyed a priceless collec­tion of manu scripts and appa ratus. andnarrowly missed lynching Priestley

him self. The clim ate in England turnedstill more hostile with the outbreakof war between Britain and France in1793. Priestley. lacking the protect ionof Shelburne 's personal wealt h and con­nections. decided to leave.

So Priestley and his family came toPhilade lphia. and trekked up theSchuy lkill valley to rustic secu rity inNorthumberland. where a stream ofvisitors. foreign as well as American.soon followed to pay hom age to thegreat man. But his welcome was mixed.Officiall y greeted by President Washing­ton, invited to settle in New England byVice-President John Adams. offeredUnitar ian pulpits in New York andPhiladelphia as well as the presidency ofthe Ame rican Philosophical Society, Dr.Priestley was soon under attack by theFederalist Party press and by co nserva­tive cle rgym en for his liberal views . TheFrench Revolution proved as divisive inthe United States as in England . Butliving an ascetic life in the Pennsylvaniawilderness. well supported financially.his every need catered to by a devotedwife, he cont inued to research. write.and support Thomas Jefferson until hisdeath in I H04.

Arriving in Philade lphia fromEngland a year before the famous Dr.Priestley were two artists. husband andwife James and Ellen Sharp les. whowould make a notable if more mode stcontribution to the new nation 's history.James was an established painter andhad exhibited his oils at the RoyalAcademy. but in Amer ica of the 1790s,facing stiff co mpetition from port rait­ists like Charles \Vilson Peale, JohnTrumbull. and Gilbert Stuart . James andhis talented, much younger wife turnedto sma ller, less expensive port rait s inpastel that could be done quickl y andreadily reproduced. Their surviving workincludes more than two hundred finelydetailed, beautifully executed pastelportraits . many of the Fou nding Fathersand of less pro minent Ame rican s as well.Unlike Priestley. James and EllenSharples did nut settle in the UnitedStates: instead, they made two extended

PAGE 10 THE Q!)ARTO

and profitable visits, 1793-1801 and1809-1811. James died in 1811 andEllen , her self by then an accomplishedand full y es tablished portraitist, returnedto England, where she rai sed three chil­dren who also became accomplishedartis ts, leaving £2,000 from her cons ide r­able estate to found the Bri stol FineArts Academy after her death, age 80,in 1849.

The pastel portrait of JosephPriestley recentl y purchased by theClements Library Associates was doneby Ellen Sharples. It captures theeminent doctor well into middle agc­delicate features, aging skin, and faintsmile. Probably it dates from 1796 or

1797, when Priestley made several of hisinfreq uent visits to Philadelphia. After afew years of itinerancy, doing profilesfor $ 15, full face for $20, on "thickgray paper, softly gra ined and of woolytexture" as one observer recalled, JamesSharples had sett led his famil y inPhil adelphia with its abundance ofprominent and affluent subjects. AsJames became inc reas ingly divert ed bymechani cal inventions, non e of whichsucceeded, Ellen took over. She wrote atthe time in her dia ry:

I had frequen tly thought that everywell educated f emale, parti cularly thosewho had only small f ortunes , should atleast have the power (even if they did not

ANNOUNCEMENTS

exercise it) by the cultiva tion ofsomeavailable talen t, ofobtaining the con­veniences and some of the eleganciesof life and be enabled always to preservethat respectable posit ion in society towhic h they had been accus tomed.

And the talent ed and determinedEllen Sharples, her elderly spousedrifting ever furth er int o unprofitabl eeccentricity, proceeded to fulfill herown manife sto, artfully and faithfullyrecording the likenesses of a stream of"distinguished visitants," among themDr. Joseph Priestley.

- Arlene ShyClem ent s Library

Henrietta B. Judah was the own er (~f this Jewish Prayer Book, thefirst published in North America. printed by John Holt ofNew Yorkin /766.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBIT,"AMERICAN FIRSTS"

Who "discovered" America or invented the steamboat orwrote the first Ameri can novel , play, or poetr y? When was thefirst map printed in this country or the first bo ok producedwith photographic illu strations? We are all fasci nated by"w ho was first " - fir st to win the race, to do what no otherhad done before .

Th e Clem ent s Library 's mid-winter exhibit will celebra teAm eri can "firsts," offering a melange of printed works dati ngfrom the fifteenth through the ninct~cnth centuries . Includedwill be ear ly treasures - the first wor ld atla s, pre-datingColumbus ' 149 2 voyage, the book where America firs tappeared as a plac e nam e, the first published account ofMagellan's circumnavigation of the wor ld. There will befir st-hand accounts of historical events - the founding ofRoanoke, the first English colony in North America , andthe sett leme nts at Jamestown, Plymouth , and St. Ma ry 'sCity (Maryland). On exhibit will be the first accoun t of anAmerican military success on foreign soil - a long-forgott enexpedition in 1690 in which Sir Willi am Phipps, with NewEn gland troops, ca ptured New Brunswick and Nova Scotiaonly to have them returned to the French in the peace treatyending the conflict. There will be magnificent books - thefirst American color-plate book, architecture boo k, furn iture­maker' s guide - and mundane books - the first ci tydirectory, sex manual , and set of road map s. Some will besacred - the firs t Jewi sh prayer bo ok published in America,and the Book of Mormon . Oth ers are profane - Fanny Hill,our first "d irty book ," the Nat ional Police Gazette , our first"superm arke t tabloid" (the n found only in barber shops andbarrooms), and the confession of the country 's earli est massmurderer - the sad talc of an indentured servant in Virginiawho murdered a family in their sleep with an axe in 1678.Plan to see thi s intri guing exhibit, Nove mber 4 to Janu ary 3 1,weekdays 12 to 4:45 pm, or by appointment (313) 764-2347.Holiday closing, December 21 through January 1.

T H E Qj)ARTO PAG E 11

CALEN DAR OF EVENTS

September 19. Lecture. "AmericanCookery: The Bicentennial, 1796- /996,"Jan Langone, culinary historian, 4 pm,with a recep tion foll owing. The exhi bitof 200 American cookbooks continuesthrough Octoher 3 1. wee kdays 12 -4:45 pm.

September 26, Lecture. "Medieval BookIllumination," Professor JonathanAlexander, Institute of Fine Arts. NewYork University. 5 pm.• with a receptionfollowing. Th e Medieval Lecture inhonor of Emma (Johnny) Alexand er isco-sponsored by the History of ArtDepartment, the Hatcher GraduateLibrary, and the Clements Library.

October 1. Clements Library AssociatesBoard Meetin g, lO am. and Lunch,12:30 pm, at the Library.

November 4 - Jan uary 31, Exhibit,"American Firsts," featu ring a melangeof ra re printed works da ting fro m thefifteenth through the nineteenth centu­ries, each one being the fi rst publishedrecord of a critica l mome nt in ea rlyAmer ican history. Open weekdays.12 - 4:45 pm. Holiday c losing, Decem­her 21 through January L

February 3 • April 25, Exhibit. WilliamCobbett. 1763-/835: The Lives andAd ventures of Peter Porcupine. Openweekdays, 12 - 4:45 pm.

CURATOR OF MAPS ANDN EWSPA PERS

We are pleased to announce the appoint­ment of Brian Leigh Dunnigan asCu rator of Maps and News papers, suc­ceeding David Bosse who has beco meLibrarian of Historic Deerfield. BrianDun nigan atte nded the Universi ty ofMichigan, receiving the B.A. and M.A.in history and holds a M.A. in museu mprac tices from the Cooperstown Pro­gram. State University of New York. Hehas enjoyed a distingu ished career asDirect or of Historic Fort Wayne ( 1973­77) and Fort Niagara ( 1977- 1996). Hisnumerous publ ication s are in the field ofeighteen th-century British and Ameri ­can mi litar y history. Clements LibraryAssociates will remember his illustratedlecture on the history of Michilirnackinacpresented several years ago . A native ofMichigan, Brian has strong family ties to

Mackinac Island , where he and his wifeCan dice have been life long summerresidents. He will assum e the curatorshipin November 1996.

PRICE VISIT INGRESEARC H FEL LOWSHI PS

Applicati ons for 1997 Price VisitingResearch Fellowships. which providesupport for travel. should be mad ebelween October I and December 20.1996. Awards will be announced inJanuary 1997. For further informationcontact Head of Reader Servic es . phone(313) 764-2347. FAX (3 13) 747-07 16.

EX H IBIT BULL ETI N

Copi es of Americall Cookery: TheBicentennia l, / 796-1996: All Exhibitionof200 Years ofAmerican Cookbooksat the Clements Library August 15­November 1, 1996. by Jan Lan goneare available: Clements Associates.$4.00 by' mail, $2.50 at the Library;non-members, $8.00 hy mail, $5.00 atthe Library.

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