Spanish Intrigue

In a neat tie-in to the Aaron Burr saga, Brigadier General James Wilkinson, who played a very prominent part in Burr's scheme, made a "cameo" appearance in the Daniel Boone book because of his (Wilkinson's) plot to have Kentucky break away not only from Virginia as a separate state, but from the United States as well, and for the Kentuckians to switch their allegiance to Spanish rule if Spain supplied Wilkinson and company with arms.

From DANIEL BOONE by John Bakeless (1939):

 "He (Wilkinson) had soldiered with Benedict Arnold; but so far--at least no one knows anything to the contrary--he had been loyal. The war over, he had come to Kentucky in 1784 to make a fortune. The fortune proved harder to achieve than the brigadier had anticipated. He looked around for easy money. Arnold had done that, too, years before. The British were gone. The Spaniards? Brigadier General Wilkinson took a boat for New Orleans. He had a long and very private conference with Spanish officials there. When he came back, the brigadier had found his easy money. He rejoined the United States Army later; but still he kept that easy money. Eventually he went before a court-martial. His enemies were entirely correct in suspecting unutterable treason. Wilkinson had actually asked the Spaniards for arms to use against the United States. The trouble was that, though his accusers knew they were correct, they could not prove it. All the evidence was neatly tucked away in the Spanish Government's archives in Havana."

Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

The Open Boat , Stephen Crane, the Commodore and filibustering were all part of a display at the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Museum.  The area used to be known as Mosquito Inlet.

View From the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse

I remembered reading Crane's Red Badge of Courage in high school (a long time ago!), and wondered why Stephen Crane was part of a lighthouse display.

From The Stephen Crane Display

Stephen Crane, author and newspaper reporter, was smack in the middle of a real life drama on the Commodore during his filibustering days prior to the Spanish-American War.

[The Open Boat is] A Tale intended to be after the fact. Being the experience of four men
from the sunk steamer "Commodore."

"What do you think of those life-saving people? Ain't they peaches?'
"Funny they haven't seen us."
"Maybe they think we're out here for sport! Maybe they think we're
fishin'. Maybe they think we're damned fools."
It was a long afternoon. A changed tide tried to force them southward,
but the wind and wave said northward. Far ahead, where coast-line, sea,
and sky formed their mighty angle, there were little dots which seemed
to indicate a city on the shore.
"St. Augustine?"
The captain shook his head. "Too near Mosquito Inlet."

From Spark notes for The Open Boat:
“The Open Boat” confronts both Crane’s time aboard the dinghy and the symbolic implications of fighting for one’s life amidst forces that are uncaring about one’s survival.

UNC's site for the analysis of the story.

Stephen Crane books, including one with The Open Boat as its first short story here.

From The Stephen Crane Display