Friday, January 21, 2000

Re: Washington Cruiser Flag / This Day in History 1779: Henry Laurens named minister to Holland

Dear "General Cornwallis", 

Thank you so much for your reply.
Greenwich did reply with a copy of the letter from Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, but did not have any clue as to where the Washington flag might be.
Other folks suggested something or other "Peerage" as a means of tracking down the current families of Palliser, Lord Sandwich, and the family of the Admiral who received the Washington Cruiser flag as a gift of his son, the ship captain who captured the flag when the Washington went aground while being pursued by the British warship.  What do you know of that Peerage publication and process?
Based on your comment, I have discovered the following, that I shall research further for General Washington...

For America's future (building up on our past),
Aide to GW
James Renwick Manship
Interpreter of George Washington (in Three Dimensions)
Box 75, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121
202-657-6760
Quote from 1770, retired Virginia Militia Colonel 
George Washington said:
"As our country grows, and its population increases, as it will,
care must be taken to have each succeeding generation know
the trials and tribulations of those who preceded them.
History is an essential study to better government."

On AD 2008 January 21 Day:021, at 9:51 AM, Howard Burnham wrote:
Dear General Washington,
 
Good to hear from you. I am sorry that you have not heard back from Greenwich. My old history professor was a governor of the National Maritime Museum and author of the definitive bio of Admiral Lord Rodney. Alas. he has gone to glory. I wonder if you have access to a research library that has The Gentleman's Magazine of London on microfilm. That has a wealth of information on daily life in the capital during the 18th century.
 
Huzza,
 
Cornwallis
 
From: James Renwick Manship [mailto:George@WashingtonLIVES.us] 
Sent: 20 January 2008 21:35
To: Howard Burnham
Subject: Re: This Day in History 1779: Henry Laurens named minister to Holland / RevWar Battle of New Orleans
 
Dear Lord Cornwallis, 
 
I just found this fine communications of many months ago.  My apologies for system failures, likely the primary one above my shoulders...
 
How are you my fine sir?
 
By the way, might you know of the Washington Cruisers flag captured when the Washington went aground and captured by her British pursuer?  THere are reports that it was paraded through the streets of London.  
 
I made simple inquiries at the British Museum and the National Maritime Museum, yet sometimes what is most needed is a "home boy" who knows how to ask the right question to the Home Office...
 
For America's future (building up on our past),
 
James Renwick Manship
Interpreter of George Washington (in Three Dimensions)
Box 75, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121
202-657-6760
 
Quote from 1770, retired Virginia Militia Colonel 
George Washington said:
 
"As our country grows, and its population increases, as it will,
care must be taken to have each succeeding generation know
the trials and tribulations of those who preceded them.
History is an essential study to better government."
 
 
 
On AD 2007 October 22 Day:295, at 4:03 PM, Howard Burnham wrote:


Your Excellency will recall that an officer who has given his parole, unlike a civilian like Mr. Laurens, does not need what you charmingly style "hosted" accommodations. I remained with my military family in York until the R.N. sloop Bonita could take me to New York for a somewhat painful interview with Sir Henry Clinton before proceeding to England. The Comte de Rochambeau you will recall kindly advanced me ten thousand livres with which I was able to facilitate my departure – noblesse oblige as the French so graciously put it. I was able to, you will recall, to entertain Your Excellency and staff to dinner, where I observed that "when History recalls the distinguished part that Your Excellency has played in the recent conflict, it will always record that you won imperishable laurels on the banks of the Delaware, far more so than on the banks of the Chesapeake." A graceful compliment to Trenton and Princeton.
 
Yours to command,
 
Cornwallis
 
From: James Renwick Manship [mailto:George@WashingtonLIVES.us] 
Sent: 22 October 2007 10:49
To: Howard Burnham
Subject: Re: This Day in History 1779: Henry Laurens named minister to Holland / RevWar Battle of New Orleans
 
My dear esteemed General, Lord Cornwallis,
 
I have received your well informed communications, for which I thank you.
 
I regret to say that I had overlooked the concurrence of Trafalgar Day in a.d. 1805 with the appointment of Henry Laurens in a.d. 1779.  
 
I seem to have gaps in my memory after a certain date in December a.d. 1799.
 
And even before that occasion, I can not recall where you were "hosted" or detained from 19 October to your exchange for Laurens on 31 December a.d. 1781.  Might you refresh my memory with your capable memory?
Do you recalled where you stayed in the States from 19 October to 31 December a.d. 1781?
 
How was your treatment and place of detention for a bit over 6 weeks as compared to Henry Laurens place in the Tower of London for 15 months. 
Having not seen the Tower of London myself, yet read many tales of torture in the tower, my imagination was such that Laurens may not have been so well treated.  
 
I trust you were well treated during your confinement. I am certain you were not retained in the cave by the shores of the York River!  Who in America had the honor of hosting your time of detention?
 
Of course you recall the Spanish helped the American forces win a battle in New Orleans during our War for Independence, and my Lt. James Monroe from Trenton and Valley Forge served as Minister to Spain.
As to New Orleans, I was referring to our Spanish ally Admiral or Governor Galvez.  
 
At the time the very young Mr. Jackson of the Waxhaw corner of South Carolina was a Prisoner of War of the British on August 6, 1780 .
 
 

Observing it all was 13-year-old Andrew Jackson, who later said that he modeled his own fighting style after the brave men of Hanging Rock, and that he would have followed William Richardson Davie to his death.

There were a number of other boys still in their teens involved in the battle. Andy Jackson's brother Robert, aged 16, was in the battle. Three Gaston teen-agers, Robert, Ebenezer and David, were killed. Joseph Gaston of Chester, 16, was seriously wounded and was one of those taken to Waxhaw church. His aunt and sisters came to take care of him.

Maj. Robert Crawford of the Waxhaws had 2 young sons and 3 nephews with him, all of them mere lads. James Crawford, Jr. was killed.

As a boy of 13, during the Revolutionary War, Jackson took part in the Battle of Hanging Rock. He was taken prisoner by the British, and when one of the British officer demanded that the clean his boots, Jackson refused. The officer hit him with the dull side of his saber, leaving a scar Jackson bore for the rest of his life. 
 
After the war Jackson studied law and became a prosecutor. For one year he was Tennessee's representative in Congress and for five months he was a member of the Senate. From 1798-1804, Jackson served as Judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 1812, Jackson was appointed Major General in the Volunteer Corps. 

In October 1813, after the Creek Indian uprising, Jackson led a 2,500 strong Tennessee force against the Creeks, defeating a force of 1,000 Indians. In May 1814, Jackson was promoted to Major General in the regular army. In October of that year he invaded Florida and captured Pensacola. He then marched north and west to New Orleans, where he undertook the defense of that city. 

On January 8, 1815 (after the treaty of Ghent had been signed), Jackson led his troops to a stunning victory over the British regulars who were attacking New Orleans. There were 2,000 British casualties and 21 American casualties. The stunning victory made Jackson a national hero. 
 
Yet back to the War for Independence and the Battle of New Orleans...
 

In 1763 Spain had to have Havana, Cuba. So they traded the wilderness Floridas (East and West) to Britain for Cuba. Recall the importance of Havana; it was the staging point for all those treasure galleons from Meso-America on their way to Spain!

Ah, so finally the English are here. And although most did not see any need to actually spend money to keep the place, funds were made available around 1779 to erect Fort George in Pensacola. But this was only after they had learned of two of the three abortive invasion fleets Spain had mounted against Pensacola from Havana. 

(1779, recall this is one of those years where England is having a little problem with us guys in the Colonies! Not to mention the French and by then, the Spanish.)

At a time when Spain was outfitting one of their best for an invasion of Pensacola, the British counterpart was busy fussing over lack of funds and no quality workers for his Forts. He was also asking for a "transfer" out of the place. The Spaniard, Gov. Gen. Bernardo Galvez y Gallardo, conde de Galvez, had just completed a very successful campaign against the English in New Orleans, Natchez, and Baton Rouge. Indeed, this leader showed his brilliance from the outset of this campaign. As Galvez had his 14 ships ready to attack at Baton Rouge (1779), a great storm struck sinking most of his ships and destroying their provisions. Undaunted, he recovered cannon from the sunken ships, built a shore battery, and attacked the fort. He succeeded where lesser leaders would have confessed failure.

>>> 
Another reference to New Orleans is in regard to its strategic position for resupplying Colonel Clark in his campaigns in the Ohio Territories.
 
 

By the time of the Revolution, they had turned the Indians against the colonists who were encroaching on the Indian hunting grounds. Lt. Governor of Canada, Lt. Colonel Henry Hamilton had made arrangements with the Indians to reward them for all scalps they brought to him and was given the nickname of "the Hair Buyer". The French at the villages of Cahokia, Bellefontaine, Kaskaskia and Vincennes had aligned themselves with the British while the village of St. Louis belonging to the Spanish remained neutral.

A young militia Lt. Colonel George Rogers Clark conceived a bold plan to capture the French settlements, thus opening the Mississippi for safe passage and ensuring that the Patriots could continue to receive war supplies from the Spanish at New Orleans. Clark sent two scouts, Ben Lyon and Samuel Moore to reconnoiter. They reported back on the forts' weakness and he became assured that his plans were feasible. He then convinced Patrick Henry, the Governor of Virginia, on the plan. Secretly he also had the backing of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and Richard Henry Lee.

...
 
Colonel George Rogers Clark was a very capable field commander.  My esteemed Frenchman and American General Marquis de La Fayette spoke quite highly of Colonel Clark, as did Mr. Jefferson --
 

Lafayette said that Clark was in every way equal to George Washington as a field commander. Thomas Jefferson wrote of Clark, "no man alive rated him higher than I did". It was at the urging of the future President James Madison that Clark wrote a long letter which was his only memoir. George Rogers Clark, while few know of him today, was a true military genius and patriot.

I would welcome your reply to fill in the gaps of my awareness of the events of times past...
 
As to the Jackson inauguration, recall the behavior of some of your own soldiers after a victory and translate that battlefield behavior to an electoral victory, and Voila', you have what may be seen as excesses of enthusiasm.
 
Also remember that four years before Jackson lost a very close "battle" not on the military battlefield, but in the battlefield of the Halls of Congress, where the son of my Vice President prevailed over him.
 
And while I was quite blessed to have instruction from Thomas, Lord Fairfax of the aristocracy through my brother Lawrence marrying Anne Fairfax, my own father was not of that strata of society, though a man of the highest caliber.
 
Your most humble and obedient servant,
 
Go. Washington
 
 
 
On AD 2007 October 22 Day:295, at 7:39 AM, Howard Burnham wrote:



Your Excellency,
 
I am in receipt of your esteemed communication of 'Trafalgar Day', though that glorious action took place just after my demise.
 
I don't think Mr. Laurens had any grounds for complaint about his accommodations in the Tower. It is a royal residence (though somewhat neglected by royals since the Middle Ages) and only the very best and select prisoners of state are confined there. I myself was sometime Constable of the Tower, and I can assure you Mr. Laurens would have been given a suite of rooms and every attention (for which of course, as a gentleman, he would pay). This was no 'durance vile'.
 
I thank you for your gentlemanly and considerate remarks about Charlie O'Hara and General Lincoln. I wish all American historians exercised your civility and restraint.
 
Whilst as an aristocrat, I have my doubts about the lower orders rising, I wish the new governor of Louisiana every success. The Battle of New Orleans is a subject I have no great wish to discuss, except to say that Pakenham's battle plan was sound; and, if Colonel Thornton's successful diversion on the other side of the river not been delayed, the outcome would have been very different. Moreover, you as a Federalist, must agree that General Jackson, as a 'politician', has opened a Pandora's Box of democratic egalitarian horrors. Look at his inauguration! Quel horreur!
 
Yours for gentlemen in charge and civility in life,
 
Cornwallis
 
 
October 21, 1779

Henry Laurens named minister to Holland

The Continental Congress of the United States elects former congressman Henry Laurens minister to Holland on this day in 1779. Laurens' first and most crucial duty as the new minister was to negotiate an alliance with Holland, which he did in 1780.

 

During Laurens' return voyage from Holland in the fall of 1780, his ship was intercepted and captured by the British Navy off the coast of Newfoundland, and he was taken prisoner. During their search of the vessel, British sailors discovered Laurens' copy of the unofficial Patriot treaty with the Dutch, drafted by Congressional agent William Lee. The British went on to use the document as grounds for war against the Dutch and sent Laurens to London to stand trial before the privy council, a group of the king's closest advisors, on suspicion of high treason. He was subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London for 15 months.

 

On December 31, 1781, the British finally released Laurens from prison in exchange for American-held prisoner General Charles Lord Cornwallis. Following his release, Congress appointed Laurens, along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, to negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain.

 

In one of his final acts of public service, Laurens signed the preliminary Treaty of Paris on November 30, 1782, before returning to the United States, where he retired to his home near Charleston, South Carolina. Laurens was later elected to the Continental Congress, the state legislature and the federal Constitutional Convention, but declined each office, preferring to remain in retirement until his death on December 8, 1792.




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From: James Renwick Manship [mailto:George@WashingtonLIVES.us] 
Sent: 21 October 2007 22:45
To: Howard Burnham ((HowardBurnham.com))
Cc: Leo Redmond; Steven Isom; Julie D Sharpe
Subject: This Day in History 1779: Henry Laurens named minister to Holland
 
Dear General Cornwallis,
 
Thought that you might tip your hat to that South Carolina patriot, Henry Laurens, who was traded for you in an exchange.
 
Do you recalled where you stayed in the States from 19 October to 31 December a.d. 1781?
 
How was your treatment and place of detention for a bit over 6 weeks as compared to Henry Laurens place in the Tower of London for 15 months?
 
Don't you think it fitting that Congress designated Henry Laurens as part of the delegation to negotiate the peace treaty with your mother country along with Adams, Franklin and Jefferson?
 
In the same spirit as I designated Lincoln to accept the surrender of your forces at Yorktown, so rightly according to military protocol you sent your number two, General O'Hara.
 
I do wish that my fellow Americans would get that story straight and stop the denigration of your reputation as being "too proud" to personally surrender your forces after the siege made that a necessity.
 
And what do you think about that son of immigrants from your next outing in the Empire, the sub-continent of India, being elected yesterday as Governor of our state of Louisiana from Jefferson's Republican Party?
 
Of course you recall the Spanish helped the American forces win a battle in New Orleans during our War for Independence, and my Lt. James Monroe from Trenton and Valley Forge served as Minister to Spain.
 
Your most humble and (less than) obedient servant,
 
George Washington
 



 
 

Posted by J R "States" Manship at Friday, January 21, 2000 0 comments

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