David Lowe, a frequent contributor to these pages, has come across an ebullient celebration of America’s littleknown part in bulwarking the British Empire.
Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
SEARCH 75 YEARS OF ESSAYS!
January 2011
Anybody who is even marginally interested in American history has probably had the experience of setting out optimistically to visit a historic site and, after a forty-minute drive, being confronted by a forlorn and obscure huddle of earthworks. There may or may not be a rusted iron plaque explaining the works; if there is, it most likely reads something like “Fort Walworth, built in 1810, was the scene of severe fighting during Pierce’s expedition of 1813. This marker erected and dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Newcomb Chapter, 1912.” Armed with this meager information, the visitor can do little but prowl bleakly through a scattering of masonry and return, highly unsatisfied, to his hotel.
On the other hand, in a city such as Philadelphia the tourist can find himself facing such a baffling variety of historic monuments that he spends a confusing and unrewarding day battling for parking spaces and running through crowded restorations.
Because he had access to manuscripts that later were widely scattered, Henry Stephens Randall’s Life of Thomas Jefferson remained for nearly a century the most detailed account of America’s third President. Randall, an educator and agriculturist with a predilection for politics and political history, was an ardent Jeffersonian Democrat. Soon after completing his estimable study he sent a copy to Thomas Babington Macaulay, the distinguished English author and former member of Parliament. Here is a portion ofLordMacaulay’s response.
Holly Lodge, Kensington, London, May 23d, 1857.
Dear Sir,
We are pleased to announce that A MERICAN H ERITAGE has been selected by the Library of Congress to be reproduced on “Talking Books” and distributed by regional libraries throughout the United States to those whose handicaps would otherwise prevent them from reading the magazine. A statement to this effect appears on the title page of this issue and will continue to appear in future issues.
When, in 1917, America threw in her lot with the allied nations fighting against Germany, there was a national draft for the second time in our history. On the whole, Americans were enthusiastic about the crusade, but few can have been so forthright about their reasons as the mountain woman who wrote the letter that appears below. This unusual document was recently discovered among the Woodrow Wilson papers in the Library of Congress by Donald Smythe, an associate professor of history at John Carroll University.
Dear U.S.
He can’t rote.
My husband ast for me to rote for him a recoment that he supports his family—he ant done nothing but drink lemon essence and play the fiddle since I maried him 8 years ago—and I gotta feed seven kids of hisn. Take him away and welcome, for I need the grub and his bed for the kids. May bee you can get him to cary a gun for hes good on squirrels and eating. Dont tell him, but take him. Name Withheld
Mr. Charles E. Hulse, an automotive historian who specializes in early Oldsmobiles, has written to call our attention to an error in a picture caption for the article about William C. Durant that appeared in our August, 1973, issue. Mr. Hulse writes: I would disagree with the identification of the photo in the upper right-hand corner on page thirteen. This auto is not an Oldsmobile but a R.E.O. , of 1905 or 1906 period. The man seated behind the wheel is not R. E. Olds. In fact, I fail to find Mr. Olds in the photo. I would identify the man behind the wheel as Mr. H. T. Thomas, a R.E.o. official.