Sir Francis Drake Completes His Circumnavigation of the Globe, September 26, 1580

n the late 1500s, Reformation was sweeping across Europe and the grand colonizing nations of the old world were at odds with each other over matters religious and secular. It was during this time that one Englishman accomplished a momentous first for country. On the 26th of September, 1580 Francis Drake piloted his sole surviving ship of an expedition that began with five into the bay of Plymouth, England, having accomplished a complete circumnavigation of the globe. In the annals of maritime history, few journeys are as storied or considered to be as significant as this one. It cemented Protestant England as a formidable oceanic power, opened the waters of the Pacific Ocean to contested trade, and resulted in vast claims of English land in North America almost thirty years before the settlement at Jamestown.

Francis Drake’s journey 1577-1580, by unknown artist, c1590

Francis Drake had set out from his native Plymouth three years prior in 1577, armed with a privateering license from Queen Elizabeth I of England, along with strict instructions to explore the Straights of Magellan and come to no trouble—unless that trouble brought her nemesis, the Catholic Spanish Empire, economic grief. This commission was intended to further the cause of small, isolated, Protestant England in the global struggle for dominance that had gripped Europe and its sprawling dominions across the Atlantic.

Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596)

Francis Drake with Queen Elizabeth I

On behalf of his Queen, Drake had sailed to the eastern coast of South America where he raided Spanish “gold ships”. He then sailed down past the hazardous southern tip of Argentina which now bears the name “Drake’s Passage”. He continued up the west coast of Chile where he attacked yet more Spanish shipping and, finding the way back home impeded, he chose to cross the Pacific Ocean instead. In this manner he skirted around the southern tip of Africa and then set tack and sheets back westward to his native England, his darling wife, and the monarch who had given him permission for such well-intentioned piracy.

Francis Drake surveys the plunder from a Spanish ship

It is of note that on the Pacific leg of his journey, Drake landed in California which he named New Albion. There he held the first English-speaking worship service in the region, one that interrupted a frenzied ceremony that the natives of the Miwok tribe were holding in which—according to his chaplain Fletcher’s account—they tore at their own skin and threw themselves down upon rocks from a great height in hopes to appease their gods. Drake led his men in the singing of hymns on behalf of the poor souls who were calmed and sufficiently intrigued to interact with the Englishmen, and friendly relations were then established. It was a common and beneficial tactic of Drake’s to befriend the natives of the land which he explored. By his generous conduct he hoped his own dealings with them would compare favorably to that of the Catholic Conquistadors, whose reputation preceded him into these parts. Drake and his expedition proved the means of liberating many who had been slaves in Spain’s employ and they afterwards served as guides on his journey.

Cross commemorating the landing of the “Golden Hinde”, captained by Francis Drake, in California in June 1579—Point Reyes National Seashore, near Drakes Bay, California

Panoramic view of Drakes Bay, California, showing the white cliffs which inspired Drake to call the place New Albion after the famed White Cliffs of Dover, England

Drake returned to England on the September 26, 1580, hailing a fishing boat in Plymouth harbor and asking the astounded man if Queen Elizabeth still reigned. If she did not, and a monarch favorable to Spain or the Pope reigned in her stead, his life would be forfeit. The fisherman assured him that his Queen still reigned, England still prospered and yet the plague was wreaking havoc in Plymouth. Drake chose then to drop anchor offshore and sent a letter to the Queen that her “little pirate”, as she called him, had returned, and had returned with the spoils of the Spanish Empire in his ship’s hold. By the end of that day the mayor of Plymouth and the remarkable Mrs. Drake boarded his battered ship, The Golden Hind, and gave the intrepid explorer his due welcome.

A full-sized replica of Drake’s ship, The Golden Hind, moored at Tower Pier, London, which view wouldn’t have changed much since Drake’s time. This replica completed a circumnavigation of the globe in 1974-75, commemorating Drake’s feat four centuries prior.

Drake was then kept waiting in Plymouth harbor for his Queen’s summons for many weeks as she weathered the outraged demands of the Spanish ambassador to hang her privateer for his looting. Then Spain misstepped, diplomatically at least, and incited a rebellion in England’s satellite dominion of Ireland. Here was all the excuse for war and ill relations that Queen Elizabeth had waited for while keeping herself technically blameless, and no sooner had a state of quasi-war been declared than she invited Francis Drake up to London, with the stipulation of bringing to her “a sample of his labors”.

A memorial statue to Drake in Plymouth, England, showing him with navigational tools and a globe

An engraving of Queen Elizabeth knighting Sir Francis Drake aboard his ship the Golden Hind

The spoils of gold and silver that Drake brought back from this voyage were so immense it took over a week to unload. It is said to have been sufficient to clear England’s national debt. It was much needed for a nation soon to be at war with most of the European continent and its many bankers, and one that warranted Francis Drake’s knighting by Queen Elizabeth aboard his ship, seven months after his return.

As a reward for his contribution to England, Queen Elizabeth commissioned a coat of arms for Drake: at the top can be seen a ship atop a globe, pulled by a Divine hand, and a banner that reads Auxilio Divino, which means “by Divine aid”; at the bottom is another banner reading Sic Parvis Magna, which means “great achievements from small beginnings”, a nod to Drake’s rise from the common people to a man of stature, nobility, and legend

In conclusion, Sir Francis Drake’s historic circumnavigation of the globe stands as a testament to human courage, the tenacity of man’s God-given urge for dominion, and the still relevant labors of exploration. Despite facing formidable obstacles and unknown dangers, Sir Francis Drake’s unwavering resolve and navigational expertise enabled him to achieve what was then considered an almost impossible feat—one that provided chronicles of peoples and civilizations now lost to us and maps by which North America was settled. His voyage not only expanded the horizons of the known world but also set the stage for England’s rise as a formidable maritime power, ensuring that America’s future would be one where the principles of the Reformation would have their say in its foundation.

Buckland Abbey, Devon, England was the home of Drake from the time he purchased it in 1580 until his death; it remained in the family until 1946

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,
when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life,
having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity,
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas,
where storms will show Your mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back the horizon of our hopes,
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.”
—Sir Francis Drake (attributed)

Drake’s burial at sea, dressed in his full armor, in a sealed lead-lined coffin, near Portobelo Bay, Panama

Image Credits: 1 Map of Drake’s circumnavigation (wikipedia.org) 2 Sir Francis Drake (wikipedia.org) 3 Drake with Queen Elizabeth I (wikipedia.org) 4 Spanish Treasure (wikipedia.org) 5 Cross marker (wikipedia.org) 6 Drake Bay, California (wikipedia.org) 7 Golden Hind replica (wikipedia.org) 8 Drake statue (wikipedia.org) 9 Knighting of Sir Francis Drake (wikipedia.org) 10 Drake Coat of Arms (wikipedia.org) 11 Buckland Abbey (wikipedia.org) 12 Drake’s burial at sea (wikipedia.org)

The Confederacy’s Costly Victory at Chickamauga,
September 20, 1863

he clash of Union and Confederate armies at the small Appalachian town of Chickamauga was one of the costliest engagements of the American Civil War with 125,000 troops engaged. Occurring on the heels of the war’s bloodiest summer yet—which included the disastrous Confederate losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg—Chickamauga was a battle of missed opportunities, stupendous tactical blunders, and savage fighting by the men in ranks. The Confederate army secured a decisive victory during this battle but lost twenty percent of its force in the process. After two days of fierce fighting, the Confederates broke through the Union lines and routed the Federals whom they then besieged at Chattanooga, a small yet vital town that served as the crossroads for four major railroads and was the true focal point of the military campaign.

Cannon overlooking the river and city at the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, Chickamauga, Georgia

The commanders of the forces engaged in this battle had been contesting each other’s movements since June of 1863, as Union General William Rosecrans had been commissioned to seize Chattanooga and destroy the southeastern supply line, while Confederate General Bragg opposed his advance in so cautious a manner that he ended up retreating clean out of middle Tennessee and into Georgia, much to the dissatisfaction of his own command—the famed Army of the Tennessee. Discontent with his bloodless victory in seizing Chattanooga, General Rosecrans then chose to push his luck and augment his martial glory by chasing the retreating Confederates over the border into Georgia. There, having greatly underestimated Confederate numbers and morale, he would make his final blunder that led him to engage with his enemy at Chickamauga Creek and its surrounding countryside and bridges, over which a heartbreaking 34,000 casualties would be sacrificed in just two days.

Gen. Braxton Bragg, CSA (1817-1876)

Alexander’s Bridge over Chickamauga Creek

While a few maneuvers and skirmishes occurred the day before, the fighting began in earnest on the morning of September 19 when General Bragg’s Confederate Army threw themselves against the Union line without success. The next day, being September 20, General Bragg resumed his assault in the late morning, and in a stroke of providence, General Rosecrans was at the same time misinformed of there being a large gap in his line. In moving units to shore up the supposed gap, General Rosecrans accidentally created a very real one directly in the path of an eight-brigade assault on a narrow front, led by intrepid Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, whose corps had been detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and sent southward as reinforcements. Longstreet’s Virginia men poured through the fatal gap like furies, and by noon disaster had engulfed the center and right wings of the Union army, from whence Confederate forces drove one-third of the U.S. army, including General Rosecrans himself, from the field.

Gen. William Starke Rosecrans, USA (1819-1898)

Gen. James Longstreet, CSA (1821-1904)

Union Major General and native Virginian George H. Thomas drew acclaim that day for assuming command amidst the route, and valiantly rallying a new defensive line with his remaining troops. They held onto their positions until twilight while rebuffing repeated Confederate assaults which allowed the main Union force to retire to Chattanooga while the Confederates had to content themselves with occupying the surrounding heights, besieging the city. This defense of Horseshoe Ridge earned him the sobriquet “The Rock of Chickamauga”.

Gen. George Henry Thomas, USA (1816-1870)

Brotherton Cabin on the Chickamauga Battlefield where Longstreet charged the Union line

Another instance of uncommon valor that day belonged to the men who were sent to attack General Thomas’ stronghold. A New York native, Major General Archibald Gracie’s Confederate brigade consisted of chiefly Tennessee and Alabama men, three regiments of whom he had raised himself after moving to Mobile and adopting Alabama as the state to whom he owed his allegiance. During this battle, with the majority of General Longstreet’s army fully engaged in routing the fleeing Federals, the last two uncommitted brigades—which included Gracie’s—were ordered to assault General Thomas’ position on Horseshoe Ridge. Under withering fire, Gracie’s Confederates charged up the rise again and again until an Alabamian regiment got within forty yards of the Union line and there they delivered their first volley, then remained fixed while exchanging fire with the enemy for two hours until all their ammunition was gone, Horseshoe Ridge secured, and three Union regiments comprising the Union Army’s rearguard, were captured.

Gen. Archibald Gracie III, CSA (1832-1864)

A period photograph of Lee and Gordon’s Mills on the Chickamauga Battlefield

The South’s tactical victory at Chickamauga would be reversed into a strategic defeat two months later when a reinforced Union Army drove out the besieging Confederates, occupied Chattanooga for good, and advanced deeper into Georgia the following year. This caused Atlanta to fall in 1864 and opened the path for Sherman’s terrorizing March to the Sea. The battle at Chickamauga also resulted in a grand reshuffling of command on both sides of the war, the most significant being President Lincoln’s choice to give Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland to the gruff, undiplomatic but wildly successful General Ulysses S. Grant.

Cannon on the Chickamauga Battlefield, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park

Amongst those regular men comprising the bulk of the armies, the events of these two days of fighting were recorded as some of the most savage they had ever encountered—veterans and green recruits alike considered it ferocious beyond comprehension. Private Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee regiment, famed author of one of the most beloved auto-biographies of the Civil War, Co. Aytch, wrote what he witnessed that day:

“Reader, a battlefield, after the battle, is a sad and sorrowful sight to look at. The glory of war is but the glory of battle, the shouts, and cheers, and victory. We remained upon the battlefield of Chickamauga all night. Everything had fallen into our hands. We had captured a great many prisoners and small arms, and many pieces of artillery and wagons and provisions. The Confederate and Federal dead, wounded, and dying were everywhere scattered over the battlefield. Men were lying where they fell, shot in every conceivable part of the body… In fact, you might walk over the battlefield and find men shot from the crown of the head to the tip end of the toe. And then to see all those dead, wounded and dying horses… We rested on our arms where the battle ceased. All around us everywhere were the dead and wounded, lying scattered over the ground, and in many places piled in heaps. Many a sad and heart-rending scene did I witness upon this battlefield of Chickamauga. Our men died the death of heroes. I sometimes think that surely our brave men have not died in vain. It is true, our cause is lost, but a people who loved those brave and noble heroes should ever cherish their memory as men who died for them. I shed a tear over their memory. They gave their all to their country. Abler pens than mine must write their epitaphs, and tell of their glories and heroism. I am but a poor writer, at best, and only try to tell of the events that I saw.

Sam Watkins, CSA (1839-1901)

One scene I now remember, that I can imperfectly relate. While a detail of us were passing over the field of death and blood, with a dim lantern, looking for our wounded soldiers to carry to the hospital, we came across a group of ladies, looking among the killed and wounded for their relatives, when I heard one of the ladies say, ‘There they come with their lanterns.’ We approached the ladies and asked them for whom they were looking.

They told me the name, but I have forgotten it. We passed on, and coming to a pile of our slain, we had turned over several of our dead, when one of the ladies screamed out, ‘O, there he is! Poor fellow! Dead, dead, dead!’ She ran to the pile of slain and raised the dead man’s head and placed it on her lap and began kissing him and saying, ‘O, O, they have killed my darling, my darling, my darling! O, mother, mother, what must I do? My poor, poor darling! O they have killed him, they have killed him!’

I could witness the scene no longer. I turned and walked away, and William A. Hughes with me was crying, and remarked, ‘O, law’ me (Lord have mercy on me); this war is a terrible thing.’”

Florida Monument on the Chickamauga Battlefield

Image Credits: 1 Cannon overlooking the river (wikipedia.org) 2 Braxton Bragg (wikipedia.org) 3 Chickamauga Creek (wikipedia.org) 4 William Rosecrans (wikipedia.org) 5 James Longstreet (wikipedia.org) 6 George Henry Thomas (wikipedia.org) 7 Brotherton Cabin (wikipedia.org) 8 Archibald Gracie III (wikipedia.org) 9 Lee and Gordon’s Mills (wikipedia.org) 10 Cannon on Battlefield (wikipedia.org) 11 Sam Watkins (wikipedia.org) 12 Florida Monument (wikipedia.org)

Henryk Sienkiewicz Is Awarded the Nobel Prize,
September 9, 1905

 little over a century ago, Polish novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz (pronounced sane-KAY-vitch) stood apart as an international literary phenomenon when he accepted his Nobel Prize for Literature on September 9, 1905. He was trained in both law and medicine, was a respected historian, a sought-after critic and editor, a compelling lecturer and a wildly popular novelist who bent the fictional genre to potently plead his own deeply held convictions. Combining pathos, accuracy and Christian doctrine, he stood almost alone in his field by sentencing tyrants, past and present, to the yoke of Christ in his writings. He often demonstrated that not a single government on earth has been able to create a godless society that does not, in due time, worship the state rather than the Creator. Such expressions were not greatly popular even a century ago, and the award of the Nobel Prize was an unlikely destiny for a passionately ethnic writer hailing from isolated, backward and agrarian Poland.

The Nobel Prize

Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916)

Born in 1846, Sienkiewicz lived during one of the most tumultuous periods of Central European history, witnessing the numerous ideological revolutions that followed in the wake of Napoleon’s crumbling regime, the infection of Marxism across the working class, and the rise of Stalin and Hitler amongst their respective downtrodden populace. His own nation of Poland—ancient bastion of Christianity against the Turks and the barbarian Hordes—had been cruelly and bitterly divided between the martial ambitions of the Prussian Kaiser and the Russian Tzar in the late 18th century; its kingdom ceased to exist for 123 years after they partitioned it. The once sprawling borders of its commonwealth were curtailed, its proud cultural and national inheritance was practically snuffed out altogether, all the distinctive aspects of Polish culture were outlawed and even its language was fiercely suppressed.

Sienkiewicz Birthplace and Museum in his native village of Wola Okrzejska, Poland

With such dire oppression as his daily environment, Sienkiewicz became a leader of an underground movement to recover the Polish arts—their music, poetry, journalism, history, and literature. To quote Dr. George Grant:

“He used the backdrop of the social, cultural, and political chaos to reflect both the tragedy of his people and the ultimate hope that lay in their glorious tenacity. He was thus, a true traditionalist at a time when traditionalism had been thoroughly and systematically discredited the world over—the only notable exceptions being in the American South and the Dutch Netherlands. As a result, his distinctive voice rang out in stark contrast to the din of vogue conformity. Thus, his novels not only introduced the world to Poland, they offered a stern anti-revolutionary rebuke in the face of Modernity’s smothering political correctness.”

The village of Valea Adîncă (in what is now Moldova) was one landscape which inspired Sienkiewicz in his writings, particularly for scenes set in With Fire and Sword

In both his journalism and his art he defied every fashionable ideology springing up around him in the West as the dawning of the 20th century came into view. As Professor Maciej Gloger of Kazimierz Wielki University put it:

“Sienkiewicz countered all the pretense of the modern mind with his oeuvre and his ideological stance. He refuted the looming Communism by writing Whirlpools (Wiry) and national socialism by creating The Teutonic Knights (Krzyżacy), while his journalism accurately diagnosed the Prussian (later German) political system as one that could give rise to Nazism. Sienkiewicz incurred the anger of Polish positivists by writing the Trilogy, which negated Polish positivist utilitarianism and pointed to another identity source: Christian heroism.”

Despite tutoring, lecturing and traveling extensively on his own dime, it was not until the publishing of his renowned historical fiction epic Trilogy—published in separate parts between 1884 and 1887—that he gained the worldwide notoriety and prestige that gave him a bully pulpit from which to maintain and promote his beliefs. Trilogy was a monumental achievement of prose mastery, conveying the essence of culture on the canvas of a delightfully readable adventure story. When they were first released in the United States, the books became instant best-sellers. They made Sienkiewicz a household name, so much so that Mark Twain could assert that Sienkiewicz was the first serious, international writer to become an American literary celebrity. In his native Poland, readers loved and believed his works to so great a degree that when Sienkiewicz killed off a fan favorite character in his newest novel, With Fire and Sword, there was nationwide mourning and requests for requiem masses to be held.

Sienkiewicz in safari outfit, 1890s

Even so, the Trilogy did not achieve for him even a fraction of the acclaim that came his way with his next work, a heart-wrenching epic centered around the Christian church in the time of Nero. He named it Quo Vadis? meaning, “Wither do you go?”.

Its sweeping plot includes the mercurial machinations of Nero’s court, the rising tide of persecutions against the fledgling Christian community, the movements of the Germanic tribes along the Roman frontier, and in keeping with the nature of its author, features the Polish Ligians. It portrays in tender detail the ministries of the Apostles Peter and Paul and their last years spent nourishing the church in the moral cesspool of Rome. Sienkiewicz drew the name of his book from an old Christian legend, one that tells of Peter fleeing the Emperor’s persecutions when he had a vision of Christ along the Appian Way. Awestruck, the Apostle addressed the Lord, asking, “Quo vadis?” or “Wither do you go?”. Jesus answered him, “To Rome, to be crucified anew, inasmuch as you have abandoned my sheep”. Fully comprehending the rebuke, Peter is said to have returned to the city to face his inevitable martyrdom. Sienkiewicz’s ability in this book to stir a heartfelt loyalty in his readers is notable, and his faithfulness to the straightforward Gospel message of the early church is inspiring. But his ability to mirror the struggle of the first generation Christians against the juggernaut of absolute Caesarism with that of the struggle of modern believers against Messianic Statism was considered nothing less than brilliant.

An illustration from Quo Vadis?, 1913

“I have repeatedly sought to explain why it is that transgression—no matter how powerful or secure the transgressor, as for instance Caesar—invariably tries to justify itself by law, justice and virtue. Why take this trouble? In my opinion to slay a brother, a mother or a wife, is an act worthy only of a petty man—not of a Roman Caesar. But had I done any of these crimes I should not write letters of justification to the Senate. And yet Nero writes such letters. He strives daily to justify his crimes because he is a coward. On the other hand Tiberius too, who was no coward, always strove to justify himself. Why is this? How strange and spontaneous is this homage of Vice to Virtue! And do you know what I think? I think it is because it is written on our hearts that transgression is ugly, and virtue beautiful.”—Quo Vadis

Not surprising then that, Quo Vadis? became a model for aspiring writers and gained laud from a vast variety of contemporaries—even modernist literary staples such as Hemingway and Faulkner both argued that it was the finest historical novel ever written. And it won this unashamedly Christian author the Nobel Prize for his “astounding achievement” as an epic writer. Unable to be present to accept the award in person, his speech was read by Mrs. Danuta Wałęsa, and in it he said of his native country, which did not so much as appear on a world map at the time:

“She was pronounced dead—yet here is a proof that She lives on; She was declared incapable to think and to work—and here is proof to the contrary; She was pronounced defeated—and here is proof that She is victorious.”

Sienkiewicz in 1905, the year he received his Nobel Prize

Vevey, Switzerland, on Lake Geneva

Upon the outbreak of World War I, Poland would suffer once again in her role as the war-ravaged battleground upon which her two imperial neighbors, Germany and Russia, fought for total domination. It was a terrible state of the world, and one that Sienkiewicz had miserably anticipated. He moved his family to neutral Switzerland and remained there during the conflict, passing away in Vevey in the year 1916, with the First World War only halfway over. When Poland gained its independence in 1924, the writer’s ashes were placed in St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw in a tomb befitting his position as a knight of the Legion of Honor.

Sienkiewicz’s Tomb, St. John’s Cathedral, Warsaw, Poland

Back in the year 1900, a national subscription of his avid readers raised enough funds to buy for him the castle in which his ancestors had once lived. It operates today as a literary museum, commemorating both the man’s own contributions and the rich cultural heritage of his native land. His works still hold their captivating appeal and more importantly, cast light on truths that are as immortal as they are hated by the modern world. And within their pages is the church’s ancient refrain, a prayer for strength and for mercy:

“I call not to they whose mortal temples are burning, but to Thee! Thou hast known suffering! Thou alone are merciful! Thou alone among gods can understand human suffering! Thou that come into the world to teach mercy to man—show mercy now!”

Henryk Sienkiewicz Chateau in Oblęgorek, Poland

Image Credits: 1 Nobel Prize (wikipedia.org) 2 Sienkiewicz portrait (wikipedia.org) 3 Birthplace and Museum (wikipedia.org) 4 Valea Adîncă (wikipedia.org) 5 Safari (wikipedia.org) 6 Quo Vadis? Illustration (wikipedia.org) 7 Sienkiewicz in 1905 (wikipedia.org) 8 Vevey, Switzerland (wikipedia.org) 9 Sienkiewicz’s Tomb (wikipedia.org) 10 Henryk Sienkiewicz Chateau (wikipedia.org)

Beatrix Potter Creates Peter Rabbit,
September 4, 1893

n this day, while on holiday in Scotland with her family, aspiring naturalist Beatrix Potter penned a note to cheer the son of a friend, a little lad who had been confined to his bed by illness. One more note of well wishes for a speedy recovery would not have stood out at all, and being a woman of imagination and compassion intertwined, Beatrix wrote the ailing child a story instead. An eight page letter to be exact, with scribbled illustrations accompanying the tale and describing the doings of a very special family of bunnies and their adventurous blue-coated brother whom she christened Peter Rabbit.

“My dear Noel,
I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sand bank under the root of a big fir tree.
“Now my dears,” said old Mrs. Bunny, “you may go into the field or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden.”
Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail, who were good little rabbits, went down the lane to gather blackberries, but Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden and squeezed underneath the gate…”

Mrs. Bunny readies Peter and his sisters for their outing

Page 1

…and Page 2 of the letter that gave birth to Peter Rabbit

From this simple letter sprang the beginnings of a children’s book that would be cemented as a nursery staple for generations of wholesome folk who found her gentle and moral tales to be whimsical yet strangely poignant as much of childhood itself is, full of fleeting magic, and impressionable wonder. She captured it anew in her stories and enhanced them by her evocative watercolored scenes whose blurred edges faded into the parchment as fuzzy as our imaginations’ own borders. In her future works—tales of Jeremy Fisher, Jemima Puddle Duck, A Tale of Two Bad Mice and others—Beatrix Potter forever retained her simple and joyful tone, as if each bestselling book was indeed just another letter to a little friend in need of enrichment, and a cracked door into the rich world of make-believe.

Jemima Puddle Duck and Mr. Fox

Beatrix Potter in 1894 with her father Rupert and brother Bertram

Beatrix Potter herself was born in 1866 in London to second-generation wealth, derived from tough, northern mill-owning stock. Potter grew up with a fascination for animals and a prodigious talent for portraying them visually with her pen, thanks in great part to her father who shared her inclinations. Frequent holiday-goers, the Potters were fond of visiting Scotland and Cumbria’s Lake District, and Beatrix would accompany her parents each year, as she remained single into her early thirties. It was on one of these trips she wrote the letter of Peter Rabbit, having no idea at the time that this small account of bunny adventures would prove the inception of her authorship and financial independence.

A young Beatrix Potter around age 8, c. 1897

The stunning vistas of England’s famous Lake District never ceased to inspire Beatrix Potter

Nine years, many failed suitors, and seven publishing firms later, Beatrix Potter would find herself the published author of what her own publishers derisively called “the bunny book”. To everyone’s immense surprise, The Tale of Peter Rabbit proved an immediate success and brought Beatrix Potter great acclaim, selling an initial 20,000 copies the first year and requiring six reprints.

The cover of the first edition of Peter Rabbit, 1902

It also brought Potter love and companionship as Norman Warne—the youngest brother of her publishers, Frederick Warne & Co.—became her chief advocate in all business and artistic decisions. After three years of intense companionship, he also became her fiancé. Sadly, her parents highly disapproved of the match, citing the class divide between a gentleman’s daughter like Beatrix and a man in trade like Norman. Hoping a separation might cool the engaged parties’ enthusiasm, the Potters left London for a four-month holiday in Wales and took Beatrix with them. Tragedy struck while she was away, and, with hardly any warning of serious illness beforehand, Norman Warne died leaving Beatrix utterly bereft.

Norman Warne (1868-1905) and his nephew c. 1900

Beatrix Potter on the doorstep of her beloved Hill Top Farm

Hill Top as it appears to visitors today—exactly as she left it, per her will

Grieving, and presuming a future of spinsterly solitude, Beatrix threw herself into her work then, writing and producing more and more bestsellers while plotting an escape from London, its dreaded social scene, urban frenzy and painful associations. Having remained an avid naturalist, Potter chose the idyllic and nostalgic locale of Cumbria, and capitalizing on her new wealth, purchased one of the largest estates then going into disrepair: Hilltop House. This would begin a lifetime pursuit in preservation of her new surroundings and a deep-seated interest in aiding the fast-dwindling communities of old Cumbria. She wrote books still—a total of twenty-eight, as the Lake District never failed her for inspiration—but in later life she took more and more pride in these community pursuits, and enjoyed an election to the presidency of the Sheep Breeder’s Association.

Herdwicks, the local sheep of Cumbria

In 1913 Potter married her neighbor—a lawyer by the name of William Heelis—and together they are credited with the substantial preservation of the indescribably picturesque Lake District as a mostly undisturbed place for us to enjoy. She passed away in 1943 in the midst of a world war, and her obituary was characteristically unassuming, declaring her to be a “beloved children’s author and sheep breeder”. Unmentioned was her legacy of over 200 million copies sold and as many little lives enriched by her shared appreciation of all creatures great and small.

Beatrix with her husband, William Heelis

The Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead, Cumbria, England

Image Credits: 1 The Rabbit Family (wikipedia.org) 2 Letter, page 1 (wikipedia.org) 3 Letter, page 2 (wikipedia.org) 4 Jemima (wikipedia.org) 5 Family (wikipedia.org) 6 Young Beatrix (wikipedia.org) 7 Lake District (wikipedia.org) 8 First Edition (wikipedia.org) 9 Norman Warne (wikipedia.org) 10 Beatrix at Hilltop (wikipedia.org) 11 Hilltop (wikipedia.org) 12 Herdwick Sheep (wikipedia.org) 13 Beatrix and William Heelis (wikipedia.org) 14 Beatrix Potter Gallery (wikipedia.org)

The Death of Colonel John Laurens,
August 27, 1782

s the American War for Independence drew to a close, with the battle of Yorktown being a decisive victory the previous year, a young luminary of the conflict rose from his deathbed where he was suffering from malaria, saddled his horse, called out his men and gave chase to a straggling British force sighted on the outskirts of his encampment.

John Laurens (1754-1782)

Some historians have speculated with uncanny surety that Lt. Colonel John Laurens sought out a martial death that day, others that his judgement was impaired by fever, while his friends and contemporaries at the time remarked that such ferocious drive was well in keeping with his character. Whichever the case, the death of this now relatively unknown patriot shook the country, and the lamentations that passed back and forth between America’s most distinguished leaders over his fall shed light on the loss of a remarkable young man with a promising future.

Born into one of Charleston, South Carolina’s most affluent Huguenot families, John Laurens grew up with all the advantages of Britain’s colonial peacetime rule: plantation life and prosperous trading funded his comforts and ensured he was given the most thorough of educations. In all things he was equipped by his father—the estimable Henry Laurens—for a life spent as a man of considerable influence.

Mepkin Plantation in Charleston, SC, home of the Laurens family

The remarked-upon partiality his father showed to John Laurens in his youth, if it indeed existed, was understandable considering that John was his first child out of thirteen to survive to maturity, and whose appearance was said to greatly reflect that of his mother, who also died birthing their last child.

Henry Laurens (1724-1792)

Eleanor Ball Laurens (1731-1770)

When the winds of rebellion began to blow in the American colonies, John Laurens was away on the European continent finishing his studies, some of which included the law and military school in Geneva. He was in London overseeing his younger brother’s education when the American Declaration of Independence was read out to an infuriated British crowd. Immediately he wrote to his father for leave to join him in America and lend his aid to the new cause. He was forbidden to do so. The conflict was too fresh and unpredictable and in the estimation of many it would be short lived.

By the spring of 1777 the war was only growing in its fury and, ignoring his father’s letter of forbiddance, John Laurens secured his brother’s safety with English family members, bid farewell to a secret wife of five months and their unborn child, and hitched a ride across the Atlantic on one of his family’s trading vessels—a narrow escape as trade would soon grind to a halt and blockades would become commonplace between the warring countries.

Marriage certificate of John Laurens and Martha Manning, October 26, 1776

Henry Laurens during his tenure as President of the Continental Congress

He arrived in Philadelphia in time to find Washington’s retreating army stationed there, and soon his own father, Henry Laurens, the newly appointed President of the Continental Congress. His father, irate at John’s impulsive presumption in returning home, refused his son a commission, but Providence had it so that John Laurens was sent a letter of invitation by George Washington to serve as his aide-de-camp.

General George Washington (1732-1799)

Laurens was without an officer’s commission, but being almost over qualified in his education, he was almost immediately recognized as one of Washington’s “indispensable men” on the general’s staff. There he met and befriended notables such as a young Alexander Hamilton, whose estimation of Laurens vacillated between envy and admiration, and the Marquis de Lafayette who required Laurens’ patient translation of colonial English into his aristocratic French. These three would often be referred to as “the gay trio” as they were so inseparable, irrepressible and served as the nexus for much of Washington’s martial “family”, as he referred to his own staff officers.

Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette (1757-1834)

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

John Laurens would later learn that his father had actually been behind his good positioning on Washington’s staff, a secretive and loving attempt to try to secure for his son a place of honor and safety in the conflict. Young Laurens, however, had other wishes—a burning desire to be viewed as more than a rich and aristocratic secretary to the General, and pursued with astounding ferocity each opportunity of gaining battlefield merit that presented itself. He fought at Brandywine, where his tenacious bravery earned him this comment by Lafayette in a letter home to his wife:

“It was not his fault that he was not killed or wounded that day, he did everything that was necessary to procure one or t’other.”

The Brandywine Battlefield today

At the battle of Germantown a little over a week later, Laurens was shot through the shoulder at point blank range while trying to set fire to a large stone mansion occupied by British troops. Washington had lost considerable amounts of men trying to breach the place with no success before Laurens decided to put his torch to it. According to the report of a French Chevalier witnessing the scene:

“He rushed up to the door of Chew’s House, which he forced partly open, and fighting with his sword with one hand, with the other he applied to the wood work a flaming brand, and what is very remarkable, retired from under the tremendous fire of the house.”

The attack on Chew’s House during the Battle of Germantown

Two days after this battle, on October 6, 1777, with his arm still in a sling made from his officer’s sash, Washington awarded him an officer’s commission with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and expectations he would continue his administrative duties.

Laurens endured the deprivations of Valley Forge with the rest of the army and was essential in keeping his father Henry, then President of Congress, directly informed of both the dire straights of the army but also the multitude of inter-army coups enacted against Washington at the time.

Washington’s Headquarters at Valley Forge

During this period he also pursued a childhood interest that had grown into a firm conviction while in the company of English abolitionists—the incorporation of “black battalions” of slaves into the Continental Army in return for their freedom. He repeatedly sent detailed proposals of this to Congress and to his father:

“I have hinted to you, my dearest Father, my desire to augment the Continental Forces from an untried Source….[The raising of black battalions would]…advance those who are unjustly deprived of the Rights of Mankind [and]…reinforce the Defenders of Liberty with a number of gallant soldiers.”

It was a bold crusade to undertake for a South Carolinian officer who stood to inherent one of the largest plantations in the nation. It was primarily considered impossible and ignored, save by Washington who added his weight in admiration for the scheme.

Washington at the Battle of Monmouth

Laurens would go on to fight in the disastrous battle of Monmouth where the infamous General Charles Lee, having already been bought and bribed into treason by the British, left the Continental Army out to dry. Lee was later court-martialed for his conduct that day, a proceeding during which he repeatedly insulted General Washington personally and the cause as a whole. But his greatest abuses were hurled at John Laurens who was the most damning witness against his conduct that day.

General Charles Lee (1732-1782)

In December of the same year Laurens—still smarting under the massacre of the army and Lee’s persecution of Washington—challenged General Lee to a duel, and against all common sense or etiquette in regards to rank, Lee accepted. The duel did not proceed as usual, instead it reflected the personal animosity of the challengers: they never faced away from each other as was customary but instead strode near to each other and fired when within six paces of the other. Laurens came away unhurt and Lee with a side wound. Both being unsatisfied with the outcome, they determined to reload and try again and were in the process of doing so when cooler heads intervened and insisted honor had been satisfied. Lee would later say of the event that he came away with “an odd sort of respect for Laurens.”

A Colonial-era pistol duel of honor

In 1779 South Carolina came under attack and Laurens left the northern campaigns to join in the defense of his native state. On his way to South Carolina, Laurens stopped by Philadelphia to once again petition Congress for support of his plan to enlist slaves into Continental service. With dire circumstances in the south, Congress resolved, “That it be recommended to the states of South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think the same expedient, to take measures immediately for raising three thousand able-bodied negroes.” This would unfortunately never come to full fruition. Charleston would fall after a lengthy siege and Laurens, with almost 5,500 other American troops, were forced to surrender to the British in May of 1780.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) during his time in France

Upon being exchanged after months of captivity, John Laurens was then appointed by Congress to be envoy to the French court. His credentials were simple—he spoke fluent French and was in possession of Washington’s complete confidence. It was hoped his charming ferocity would be a beneficial supplement to Benjamin Franklin’s perceived lackadaisical pursuit of French loans.

Franklin enjoying the society life of Paris

When six weeks in France had elapsed with no results, the restless Laurens called on the French minister of foreign affairs, the Comte de Vergennes. He made plain-spoken demands for money, weapons, uniforms, and ammunition for the American cause. Vergennes replied:

“Colonel Laurens, you are so recently from the Head Quarters of the American Army, that you forget that you are no longer delivering the order of the Commander-in-Chief, but that you are addressing the minister of a monarch.”

Undeterred, Laurens proceeded to pick a fight with and duel a French officer of the court who was in turn so impressed, he obtained Laurens a direct audience with King Louis XVI. At a reception where it was procedure for individuals to be presented to the king to merely bow and pay their brief respects, the bold and gregarious Laurens approached King Louis and haggled a ten million livre loan from him, derived from the Dutch and underwritten by the French.

King Louis XVI of France (1754-1793)

His job well done, he sailed back to America in August 1781 to rejoin Washington’s staff, aboard two ships loaded with money and military supplies. He arrived just in time to participate in the providential victory at Yorktown. There he helped lead the final assault against Redoubt #10 along with Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. He personally took British commander Lord Cornwallis prisoner, and helped negotiate his exchange for his father, President Henry Laurens, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London after an unfortunate capture at sea.

Detail of a painting of Cornwallis’ surrender to Washington—L-R: Colonels Alexander Hamilton, Walter Stewart, and John Laurens

Yorktown did not signal the end of the war for John Laurens as it did for many. Instead he went south again, served in his state legislature and joined General Nathanael Greene’s army in driving out the last of the British from the Carolinas.

Major General Nathanael Greene (1742-1786)

As the war came to a close, it seemed Laurens was certain to be one of the predominant leaders of the new nation. His good friend, Alexander Hamilton, who had resigned from the army after Yorktown and was appointed to the Continental Congress in 1782, wrote to Laurens:

“Peace made, My Dear friend, a new scene opens. The object then will be to make our independence a blessing… Quit your sword my friend, put on the toga, come to Congress. We know each others’ sentiments, our views are the same; we have fought side by side to make America free, let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy.”

Alexander Hamilton

Instead, stricken with a sudden and debilitating illness, Laurens still rose on the morning of August 27, 1782, ignored his orders to maintain a defensive position and instead ordered a pursuit of a spotted detachment of British infantry. It proved to be a trap, laid by Carolinian loyalists. Laurens was struck by several musket balls and fell from his horse, mortally wounded, dying shortly after at the age of twenty-seven. His men fled the field but later returned under the orders of General Kosciusko and retrieved Laurens’ body. He was buried the next day at a nearby plantation owned by childhood friends.

Word of his death spread like wildfire, devastating his wartime friends, grieving Generals Washington and Greene who held him in affectionate regard, and even the Royal Gazette published this glowing eulogy:

John Laurens in 1780

“When we contemplate the character of this young gentleman, we have only to lament his great error on his outset in life, in espousing a public cause which was to be sustained by taking up arms against his Sovereign. Setting aside this single deviation from the path of rectitude, we know no one trait of his history which can tarnish his reputation as a man of honor, or affect his character as a gentleman.”

Entrance to Mepkin Plantation, boyhood home and final resting place of John Laurens

Meanwhile, his father remained in London, tragically unaware of this newest loss. He was set to join John Adams and other American representatives in Paris to finish the peace treaty between the two countries. John Adams learned of John Laurens’ death first, and rushed to write the poor father before he learned of it from British newspapers. The resulting correspondence is one of the most tender but resilient examples of condolence imaginable. It reflects beautifully both the character of the fallen and of the men who produced sons of such character that they unflinchingly served their God and their fellow man no matter the personal cost:

“I feel for you, more than I can or ought to express. Our Country has lost its most promising Character, in a manner however, that was worthy of her Cause. I can say nothing more to you, but that you have much greater Reason to Say in this Case, as a Duke of Ormond said of an Earl of Ossory, ‘I would not exchange my son for any living Son in the World.’”

Grave of John Laurens

Image Credits: 1 John Laurens (wikipedia.org) 2 Mepkin Plantation (wikipedia.org) 3 Henry Laurens (wikipedia.org) 4 Eleanor Ball Laurens (wikipedia.org) 5 Marriage Certificate (wikipedia.org) 6 Henry Laurens (wikipedia.org) 7 George Washington (wikipedia.org) 8 Lafayette (wikipedia.org) 9 Alexander Hamilton (wikipedia.org) 10 Brandywine Battlefield (wikipedia.org) 11 Chew’s House, Germantown (wikipedia.org) 12 Valley Forge HQ (wikipedia.org) 13 Battle of Monmouth (wikipedia.org) 14 Charles Lee (wikipedia.org) 15 Duel (wikipedia.org) 16 Benjamin Franklin (wikipedia.org) 17 Franklin in Paris (wikipedia.org) 18 Louis XVI of France (wikipedia.org) 19 Three Colonels (wikipedia.org) 20 Nathanael Greene (wikipedia.org) 21 Hamilton (wikipedia.org) 22 John Laurens (wikipedia.org) 23 Mepkin Entrance (wikipedia.org) 24 John Laurens’ Grave (tripadvisor.org)