Proposed Plan Of Action To Colonel Whitley

Source

"...visited Kentucky and laid the proposed plan of action before Colonel Whitley."

Whitley House In Kentucky

Two Kinds Of History

Source

"There are two kinds of history, one of which comprehends events of vast and extended importance while the other treats of the individuals who have in these events acted a conspicuous part. The former addresses itself more particularly to the philosopher and moralist; the latter interests all classes alike."

History And Catherine de'Medici

Source

About Catherine de' Medici  By Honoré de Balzac:

In France, and that, too, during the most serious epoch of modern history, no woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Fredegonde, has suffered from popular error so much as Catherine de' Medici; whereas Marie de' Medici, all of whose actions were prejudicial to France, has escaped the shame which ought to cover her name. Marie de' Medici wasted the wealth amassed by Henri IV.; she never purged herself of the charge of having known of the king's assassination; her intimate was d'Epernon, who did not ward off Ravaillac's blow, and who was proved to have known the murderer personally for a long time. Marie's conduct was such that she forced her son to banish her from France, where she was encouraging her other son, Gaston, to rebel; and the victory Richelieu at last won over her (on the Day of the Dupes) was due solely to the discovery the cardinal made, and imparted to Louis XIII., of secret documents relating to the death of Henri IV.

Marsacs In Old Detroit

From A Little Girl in Old Detroit, by Amanda Minnie Douglas:

A few non-fictional Marsacs from Detroit, including Sophia de Marsac Campeau (see portrait below).

Source

Battle Of Savannah

Historic and picturesque Savannah:

Bombardments continued on the sixth seventh and eighth. By the ninth the allied generals determined to carry the town by assault. Again, an evil fortune dogged their efforts. On the eve of battle, a sergeant deserted to the enemy with a copy of the order of attack, and in ignorance of the country, the attack, which had been planned to come off before daylight, was delayed till the rising sun exposed their position to a forewarned, forearmed enemy.

All that fell within the redoubts were buried by the British, friend and foe alike in one sepulchre. When the ground was cut down in 1837 to fill up a place where the Central Railroad depot stands, many articles of warfare were found mementos of that day when the blood of many nations mingled their streams in the sandy soil of Savannah.

Revolutionary War Engagement Near Newport

From a Visit to Grand-papa: Or, A Week at Newport:

"...fought between Quaker Hill and Butts' Hill....".

29 August 1778 letter written at Butts' Hill transcribed on this site.

The Battle of Rhode Island:

"During the night of August 28th and 29th the Americans effected a most orderly retreat toward the north end of the island, although even then ardent hopes were entertained that upon the reappearance of D'Estaing active siege operations could be resumed."

"The main portion of the army encamped on Butt's hill...".

"Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene commanded the right wing...command of the left wing of the army was given to Gen. Lafayette."

14Th And 15Th Century Best Historical Novels

A guide to the best historical novels and tales:

Filidh

The Dublin Saga, from Edward Rutherfurd's The Princes of Ireland series:

"There were three classes of learned men on the island.  The humblest were the bards, the storytellers who would entertain the company at a feast; of a higher class entirely were the filidh, guardians of the genealogies, makers of poetry, and even sometimes prophesy; but above them both, and more fearsome, were the druids."


Now I know what at least one word means!:

Source

Old King William County

Old King William Homes and Families...: By Peyton Neale Clarke:

The Library of Virginia's Out Of The Box blog has a post, KING WILLIAM CO. CHANCERY NOW ONLINE!:

Chancery Records Index
Locality Index Number Original Case Number
King William Co. 1886-015 14
ADMR OF JOHN LUCKHARD ETC
Surname(s) Coleman, Johnson, Lipscomb, Luckard, Luckhard, Lukhard, Neale, Smith

An excerpt:

Source

Best Historical Novels - Ninth Century

A guide to the best historical novels and tales:

Muse Of History

Source

From The Irishman in Canada (1877):

"No source of education open to a people ought to be so fruitful as the story of their own country. But if it is to teach and correct and inspire it must be true. The muse of history [Clio] is the purest of all the Nine... ."

Source

Woodward Avenue Circa 1891

From Detroit, the City of the Straits: Illustrative of Its Beauty, Its ...

Microsoft Streets & Trips ca 2006

Grand Circus Park is the half-circle; the yellow line dissecting it is Woodward Avenue (Hwy M-1).  In the upper right corner is Comerica Park and Ford Field next to it.  

Other photos of Woodward Avenue Detroit, Michigan, and buildings along the way.

Old Cahaba

Alabama River At Old Cahaba

From Memories of old Cahaba:

At the foot of the picturesque Cahaba Hills, on the banks of the majestic Alabama, just above the mouth of the beautiful little Cahaba, where their waters glide into each other's embrace on their way to the sea. is located the old, historic town of Cahaba — a place replete with romantic interest, and in its mighty ruins a forceful reminder that man, proud man, cannot build against the destructive inroads of time, circumstance, and political influence. 

A Theatre In Historic Savannah

The book, Historic and picturesque Savannah, included the announcement of a new theatre (the Historic Savannah Theatre) that opened on December 4, 1818, featuring Cherry's comedy of the "Soldier's Daughter."

Savannah's riverfront, a few blocks north of the Savannah Theatre

Hat Tip to the 19th Century Historical Tidbits blog.

The Raw Materials Of History

THE NEW NATION GROWS, VolumeTwo, ...by Paul M. Angle, 1960:

"But in no form...have I found history as fascinating as the raw materials of which it is fashioned."

Objectives of the French-Indian War

From The Plains of Abraham by Brian Connell, in reference to the French-Indian War:

Like most wars, it achieved few of its initial objectives. The French, who had thought to humble Britain as a colonial power, lost almost their entire overseas empire. The British, not without intent, found themselves masters of vast new territories and most of the world's trade, but so mismanaged the fruits of victory in North America that they evoked among the colonists the unity--and the issues--which formed the basis of their struggle for independence.

The first sentence is something to keep in mind when evaluating present day events.

The Cumberland Past & Present

FLOWERING of the CUMBERLAND by Harriette Simpson Arnow, was published in 1963, by the MacMillan Co., NY.

Seldom did the transplant grow exactly as had the parent plant, or one might better say ancestors, for by the time the Cumberland was settled, language, education, along with many other aspects of life, had been conditioned by plantings and transplantings on older borders to the east. Still, the shoots set on the Cumberland bloomed, and often well where, when one considers the hazards and hardships of the environment, the wonder is sometimes that they grew at all. P. vii

With the flooding of Nashville by the Cumberland River, I thought about the Arnow book. The first paragraph in my notes contained "the hazards and hardships of the environment." Even in 2010. The flood is being characterized as a 1,000 year event on the Corps of Engineers' website. John Rich, the singer/songwriter, said the flood was an "inland tsunami" in his eyes. His website offers a free download of his song about the flood and a link to donate to Nashville's disaster relief.

There was behind them all a wealth of ballad, tale, proverb, song and rhyme [John Rich's heritage?], a store that during pioneer years was being constantly enriched. The pioneer boy, his father making history, heard not only of the dim times in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but of the immediate past—men under Clark wading breast-high water, the wild times on the trip to and from King’s Mountain, and the still wilder days in the Lost State of Franklin. All these were but the beginnings of the many tales. P. 131

Mural depicting "men under Clark wading breast-high water..." in the George Rogers Clark Memorial at the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes, Indiana

Historic Florida & The Europeans

The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas was profiled in an earlier blog.

Included in the book was a dose of European politics; "It was this Spain, not Columbus, that was to be the conqueror, administrator, spiritual lord and temporal master of the new world only slowly coming into view." Here's a map of early Spanish exploration.

A young shipwrecked Spaniard, Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda wrote a memoir after being rescued from his 17 year captivity and is credited for preserving what little is known of the Calusa language in Florida.

"In 1562 the Spanish ambassador to France frantically warned the Spanish crown of a fleet...under the command of Jean Ribaut, with the encouragement of the Huguenot admiral Coligny, and of the queen mother and her court." "...a little north of the present St. Augustine, Ribaut founded his colony, which lacked every means of survival." The French were slaughtered during an incident known as Mantanzas, led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Fort Mantanzas

Tapestry of the Boar by Nigel Tranter

A glimpse of medieval Scotland (ca 1160) can be seen through the fictional work by Nigel Tranter, Tapestry of the Boar. As one of the characters, Margaret Olifard, stated, "All Scots ought to know a great deal more about their ancestors....” . As someone with several Scots ancestors, I concur.

A review of Tapestry of the Boar at Amazon.com supplies a nice overview of the novel. A partial list of characters listed in the book include:

Hugh de Swinton: Second son of the Sheriff of the Merse, or Berwickshire
Duncan: Illegitimate son of the sheriff
Sir Ernulf de Swinton: Chief of the Name, uncle of above
Cospatrick de Swinton: Sheriff
Cospatrick, Earl of March: Distant kinsman and powerful noble
Sir Osbert Olifard: Thane of Arbuthnott and the Mearns
Margaret Olifard: Daughter and heiress of above

A genealogy of the principal character, Hugh de Swinton, later Arbuthnott (upon his marriage to Margaret Olifard, who was an only child, Hugh took not the Olifard name, but the name of the area or estate of Sir Olifard) can be seen here.

Hugh de Swinton was knighted by King Malcolm primarily due to his invaluable scouting services to the King while containing rebellious Scottish earls. The novel explains Hugh's later role in escorting the King's sister, Ada, to Holland for her marriage to Count Floris III.

The novel mention the saga of Lady Finella who allegedly murdered Kenneth II. It was a story completely unknown to me when I started reading the Tapestry of the Boar.

Another interesting historical reference was made in the book by Margaret Olifard regarded the Picts. “The young woman appeared to be something of an authority on the mysterious Picts, or Cruithne, as she declared that they should really be called, pict or pictori being merely a name the Roman invaders had given them because they had a pictorial rather than a written language, using symbols instead of letters. Cruithne meant wheat-growers, which was significant, she asserted, in that it revealed that they were a settled , land-cultivating people, not barbaric nomads as many assumed—and their cultivation in more than the soil."

Since there's a vast amount of Scotland's history unknown to me, a timeline of Scotland's history is linked here.