The British Legion Parties Down for Yule 1780

Christmas party blog hop logoWelcome to the Christmas party blog hop, and thank you for stopping by. Have you ever wondered how people from other times and places celebrated the winter holiday? Each of the authors on the list at the end of this post is sharing an idea about it today. Some authors also have giveaway prizes for you. Visit the blogs, and enjoy this festive season with us.

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It certainly wasn’t “all work and no play” for King George III’s army when it attempted to subdue that pesky insurrection in North America. The Brits did their share of “entertaining” while on American soil. Mischianza, anyone?

Banastre Tarleton Some Brits qualified as true party animals, and one of those party animals, Banastre Tarleton, commanded the British Legion, a provincial unit that wreaked havoc among the patriots living in the southern colonies in 1780 and 1781. A drinker, gambler, and womanizer, Tarleton had goofed off at University College, Oxford and blown through his inheritance before hitting his stride as a light cavalry officer during the American Revolution.

Tarleton is a secondary character in my novel Camp Follower: A Mystery of the American Revolution, set in late 1780 and early 1781. (Here’s why I included him.) And because Tarleton was the kind of fellow who’d never have passed up seasonal festivities, there’s a December winter holiday feast and dance in Camp Follower to give readers an idea of how a Crown forces unit might have celebrated in the backcountry of South Carolina. It’s a Yule party, not a Christmas party—and here’s why. Writing that scene gave me the opportunity to show another side to Tarleton and the Legion: soldiers at rest, not fighting their way through the backcountry. A devastating battle would come all too soon for them on 17 January 1781 and is depicted in the book’s climax.

Here’s an excerpt from the Yule party in Camp Follower:

The morning of the twenty-fourth, day of the Yule celebration, [Helen] awoke to the aroma of roasted hog and root vegetables, slow-cooked the night before in pits…A substantial amount of cooked hog and vegetables, baked apples and pears, and cornbread vanished before dark — largesse from Tarleton, distributed among the rank and file.

After nightfall, in a torch-rimmed field north of the manor house, Helen, her garnets at her throat and ears, wandered from a huge bowl of mulled cider to a huge bowl of waes hail to a supply of the best wines from market…During the first course of onion soup, she was seated next to Fairfax, but they ignored each other, and the fellow on her other side stayed sober long enough to hold a lucid conversation about deer hunting…The soup was cleared away, a bell rang, and the men scrambled to switch seats, to the laughter and surprise of the ladies. Broiled bass appeared on the tables, and Helen got to hear about horse racing and advantages of various firearms from a cornet and a captain…

The bass vanished, the bell rang again, and Tarleton, ruddy-cheeked, wine goblet in hand, redirected an officer of the militia so he could plant himself next to Helen and scowl at her. Gold and braid on his uniform winked in the candlelight. “You’ve no idea how I’ve had to fight my way over here…Madam, I need your advice on a delicate matter. With whom should I dance the first tune?”

Camp Follower book coverGiveaway prize: Want a book to read? Use the comment form to tell me something you learned from this blog post and what your 2014 holiday plans are like. I’ll send you an ebook copy of Camp Follower, nominated for two awards. Make sure you provide your name and an accurate email address so I can contact you. Offer expires 31 December 2014.

Happy holidays to all my readers. And don’t forget to check out the authors’ posts on the following list.

Thank you for joining our party
now follow on to the next enjoyable
entertainment…

1. Helen Hollick : “You are Cordially
Invited to a
Ball” (plus a giveaway prize) – 
 http://tinyurl.com/nsodv78  
2. Alison Morton : “Saturnalia surprise – a winter party tale”  (plus
a giveaway prize) – 
http://tinyurl.com/op8fz57
3. Andrea Zuvich : No Christmas For You! The Holiday Under Cromwell – http://tinyurl.com/pb9fh3m
4. Ann Swinfen : Christmas 1586 – Burbage’s
Company of Players Celebrates – 
http://tinyurl.com/mwaukkx
5. Anna Belfrage :  All I want for Christmas (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/okycz3o
6. Carol Cooper : How To Be A Party Animal – http://wp.me/p3uiuG-Mn
7. Clare Flynn :  A German American Christmas – http://tinyurl.com/mmbxh3r
8. Debbie Young :  Good Christmas Housekeeping (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/mbnlmy2
9. Derek Birks :  The Lord of Misrule – A Medieval Christmas Recipe for Trouble – http://wp.me/p3hedh-3f
10. Edward James : An Accidental Virgin and An Uninvited Guest –  http://tinyurl.com/o3vowum and – http://tinyurl.com/lwvrxnx 
11. Fenella J. Miller : Christmas on the Home front (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/leqddlq
12. J. L. Oakley :  Christmas Time in the Mountains 1907 (plus a
giveaway prize) – 
http://tinyurl.com/qf6mlnl
13. Jude Knight : Christmas at Avery Hall in the Year of Our Lord 1804 – http://wp.me/p58yDd-az
14. Julian Stockwin: Join the Party – http://tinyurl.com/n8xk946  
15. Juliet Greenwood : Christmas 1914 on the Home Front (plus a giveaway) – http://tinyurl.com/q6e9vnp
16. Lauren Johnson :  Farewell Advent, Christmas is come” – Early Tudor Festive Feasts – http://tinyurl.com/mmclaey
17. Lucienne Boyce :  A Victory Celebration – http://tinyurl.com/ovl4sus
18. Nancy Bilyeau :  Christmas After the Priory (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/p52q7gl
19. Nicola Moxey : The Feast of the Epiphany, 1182 – http://tinyurl.com/qbkj6b9
20. Lindsay Downs:  O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree (plus a giveaway prize) – http://lindsaydowns-romanceauthor.weebly.com/
21. Regina Jeffers : Celebrating a Regency Christmas  (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/pt2yvzs
22. Richard Abbott : The Hunt – Feasting at Ugarit – http://tinyurl.com/o9vhn8m
23. Saralee Etter : Christmas Pudding — Part of the Christmas Feast – http://tinyurl.com/lyd4d7b
24. Stephen Oram : Living
in your dystopia: you need a festival of enhancement…
 (plus a giveaway prize) – http://wp.me/p4lRC7-aG
25. Suzanne Adair: The British Legion Parties Down for Yule 1780 (plus a giveaway prize) – http://tinyurl.com/oc5496a


 

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The Blacksmith’s Daughter: On Sale for the First Time

The Blacksmith's Daughter book cover“A ripping good read!” — Ann Parker, author of The Silver Rush Mystery Series

The Blacksmith’s Daughter, stand-alone second book of my “Mysteries of the American Revolution” trilogy, is on sale for the first time through 26 October in the Kindle Store for 99 cents. Regular price $5.99. Please spread the word.

The patriots wanted her husband dead. So did the redcoats. She took issue with both.

In the blistering Georgia summer of 1780, Betsy Sheridan uncovers evidence that her shoemaker husband, known for his loyalty to King George, is smuggling messages to a patriot-sympathizing, multinational spy ring based in the Carolinas. When he vanishes into the heart of military activity, in Camden, South Carolina, Betsy follows him, as much in search of him as she is in search of who she is and where she belongs. But battle looms between Continental and Crown forces. The spy ring is plotting multiple assassinations. And Betsy and her unborn child become entangled in murder and chaos.

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Winners from the 2014 Week-Long Fourth of July

Essayist: Lars D.H. Hedbor
Contribution: signed paperback set of the first three books in the author’s series
Winner: Lynn Demsky

Essayist: Helena Finnegan
Contribution: a $5 Amazon gift certificate
Winner: Sheila Ingle

Essayist: Dr. Christine Swager
Contribution: paperback copy of Musgrove Mill Historic Site
Winner: Tracy Smith

Essayist: David Neilan
Contribution: DVD of the South Carolina ETV program “Chasing the Swamp Fox”
Winner: Tate Jones

Essayist: Sheila Ingle
Contribution: paperback copy of Brave Elizabeth
Winner: Denise Duvall

Essayist: Jack Parker
Contribution: $10 discount certificate toward the purchase of a copy of Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina
Winner: Lars D.H. Hedbor

Essayist: Suzanne Adair
Contribution: winner’s choice of one title from author’s publications
Winner: Jenni Gate

Congratulations to all the winners!

Thanks to my wonderful essayists who contributed so much to this year’s program. Thanks, also, to everyone who visited and commented on the posts during the “Week-long Fourth of July.” Watch for another Relevant History post, coming soon.

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The Winning of the Revolution in South Carolina

Freedom to Read hop imageWelcome to my blog! The week of 2 July – 9 July, I’m participating with more than one hundred other bloggers in the “Freedom to Read” giveaway hop, accessed by clicking on the logo at the left. All blogs listed in this hop offer book-related giveaways, and we’re all linked, so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. But here on my blog, I’m posting a week of Relevant History essays, each one focused on some facet of the American War of Independence. To find out how to qualify for the giveaways on my blog, read through each day’s Relevant History post below and follow the directions. Then click on the Freedom Hop logo so you can move along to another blog. Enjoy!

Jack Parker author photoRelevant History welcomes Jack Parker, who was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Delaware, and has lived in Virginia, California, Colorado, and South Carolina. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Education and served four years in the U.S. Navy as an Asst. Navigator aboard the USS Spiegel Grove, then as Navigator and Executive Officer aboard the USS Pitkin County. After leaving the Navy, he moved to Colorado, rode and packed horses into the Gunnison Wilderness Area. He then spent five years living aboard a 43-foot yawl home ported in Charleston, SC, and taught several people to sail and live on the water. For more information, and to purchase Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, check his web site.

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South Carolina was a leader in the Revolutionary War with many battles, skirmishes and murders. Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina was written to put the location with the “what happened there” for the actions in South Carolina, to educate those that believe the war was fought and won in the north. South Carolina was in the forefront of the war and the founding of our nation from the beginning.

The second edition of Parker’s Guide is the most complete publication on the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. The little-known events of the war in South Carolina are related here to inform everyone about the contribution of South Carolina in winning the Revolution.

One issue dividing the colonies from their motherland was that the British government required tax stamps for imported goods. On 18 October 1765, the ship Planters Adventure delivered the stamps to Fort Johnson, on James Island, where they were stored. The HMS Speedwell was stationed close to the fort on 23 October to deter an angry mob of citizens from Charleston. Two days later, the mob boarded the Carolina Packet that was thought to be carrying more stamps and the stamp officer, Mr. George Saxby, but he was not due until the next day. On 26 October, the Heart of Oak (built in Mt. Pleasant, SC) sailed into the harbor with Mr. Saxby aboard. That night, 150 volunteers from Charleston, commanded by Col. Daniel Stevens, captured twelve guards and a sergeant and took over the fort with the stamps. Upon the Speedwell sighting the “Liberty” flag of Patriot Christopher Gadsden instead of that of the British, a party was sent to the fort, where they were told the stamps must be removed from the fort and the province or they would be burned. Believing the Americans would not be deterred, the Speedwell removed the stamps and sailed out of the harbor. This action is often overlooked because it is prior to the Revolution’s accepted starting date, but is significant since it relates to the stamp problems in New England.

A Patriot, Dr. John Haley, killed Peter DeLancey, a prominent New York Tory, in a duel at a Charleston tavern. Before and during the Revolution, many notable Charlestonians met to drink and discuss politics at McCrady’s Tavern. DeLancey came to Charleston in 1771 and may have been killed over politics or a woman. The reason for his killing is unknown.

Peter DeLancey was the son of New York Royal Lt. Gov. James DeLancey. The killing of Peter DeLancey in Charleston resulted in Loyalist Brig. Gen. Oliver DeLancey raising and commanding a provincial regiment (three battalions), known as DeLancey’s Brigade of light horse troops to fight the South Carolina Patriots in 1776.

In 1775, the arms stored in the attic of the State House by the British were seized by the Americans. This was the scene of the first significant incident of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. This incident happened just two days after Patriots fired on the British at Lexington, Massachusetts.

The war was used as an excuse for robbery and violently settling disputes. The Harrison Brothers plundered the Patriots to enrich themselves with the blessing of the British forces. The Tories on Lynches Creek, in the vicinity of M’Callum’s Ferry, began their murders and depredations early in the war. Matthew Bradley, Thomas Bradley, and John Roberts, all respectable and upstanding citizens who had joined neither party, were murdered in their homes, possibly with some other members of the Salem Black River Presbyterian Church congregation. The three Harrison brothers joined the local Tories; John Harrison later became a major and Samuel became a captain of the “South Carolina Rangers” in the British provincial service. British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton called them “men of fortune.” They were three of the worst bandits of the area. Before the fall of Charleston to the British, they lived in a wretched log hut by the road near M’Callum’s Ferry over the Lynches Creek (River), just east of modern Bishopville, SC. As an example of the recriminations and civil war, the Americans killed Robert Harrison in his home. After the war was over, the major retired to Jamaica as a rich man with the wealth accumulated from looting Patriots’ homes and robbing his neighbors.

Six pounder cannon being loadedWithin four months after Gen. Nathanael Greene’s return to South Carolina, his Southern Continental Army, with South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia state troops and militia, broke the British hold on the interior by eliminating the Crown’s posts one by one. American mounted detachments carried the war almost to the gates of Charleston. A decisive blow was dealt to the British on the battlefield at Eutaw Springs in September of 1781.

Old White Meeting House church siteEutaw Springs was essentially a draw, but the battle was both a material and moral victory for the Americans. The British suffered such heavy losses that they could no longer exert control beyond Charleston and its immediate environs. The British troops at Eutaw Springs were to reinforce Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, but because of their heavy losses in this battle, they retreated to Moncks Corner and to White’s Meeting House (Dorchester County) to recover. Since the British in the Battle of Eutaw Springs were unable to reinforce Cornwallis, he was defeated.

The war in South Carolina did not end with the surrender of Cornwallis, but continued until September 1783. It is generally thought that the War in SC ended when the British withdrew from Charlestown in December 1782, but there were some murders and retributions thereafter. The final act of revenge for the war was carried out in 1807 with the shooting of “Ned Turner,” one of William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham’s right hand men, by John and William, sons of Stokely Towles who was killed by Ned Turner on 18 November 1781.

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Parker's Guide book coverA big thanks to Jack Parker. He’ll provide a $10.00 discount certificate toward the purchase of a copy of Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina for someone who contributes a legitimate comment on this post today or tomorrow. Delivery is available worldwide. Make sure you include your email address. I’ll choose one winner from among those who comment on this post by Wednesday 9 July at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of all drawing winners on my blog the week of 14 July. And anyone who comments on this post by the 9 July deadline will also be entered in the drawing to win a copy of one of my five books, the winner’s choice of title and format (trade paperback or ebook).

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Understating the Costs of War

Mass grave with WWI soldiersThroughout history, reports about the costs of war in terms of human lives have focused on dead and injured combatants. Commanding officers reported on the numbers of their men killed in battle, those who died afterwards as a result of their injuries, and those who were permanently injured. Pictures like this one depicting a mass grave from World War I show up in high school history books. They reinforce an erroneous assumption that the costs of war have revolved around people enlisted in regular units and militias.

War doesn’t affect only combatants. Casualty reports omit or trivialize the devastation war brings to civilians. Because the physiological and psychological damage to these people hasn’t been reported, it hasn’t been quantified. Thus the cost of human warfare throughout history has been greatly understated.

Examples of military actions with costs that haven’t been quantified
The business of soldiers is combat. Historically, civilian contractors have traveled with military units to provide goods and services not covered by soldiers: goods such as tobacco, and services such as blacksmithing. Because “camp followers” often traveled with the baggage train, which was loaded with supplies, numerous accounts of battles report the accidental involvement of these civilians in actual combat. Although many of them were armed, they often proved to be a trivial challenge to trained combatants. My book Camp Follower fictionalizes this scenario at the Revolutionary War Battle of the Cowpens, 17 January 1781, in South Carolina.

Wives of soldiers have often followed the drum alongside their husbands, bringing their children with them. These civilians have landed in horrific danger. During the American Revolution, the 1 September 1777 issue of The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury reported such an incident. During Sullivan’s attack on Staten Island, 22 August, loyalist commander Lt. Col. Edward Vaughan Dongan was retreating with some of his men, along with his wife and children. Discipline among Sullivan’s Continental soldiers collapsed to plundering. They chased down Dongan’s wife, and her three-year-old son witnessed her rape by Continental soldiers. Meanwhile, Dongan himself was killed. Traumatized by his mother’s rape and father’s death, the young boy died.

As his death shows, a casualty of war doesn’t always have to be a person who is physically injured or killed in a military action. Furthermore, even civilians in their homes or places of business can be traumatized by warfare. Revolutionary Reminiscences from the “Cape Fear Sketches” documents an eyewitness account from the North Carolina backcountry during the first week of April 1781. Here’s what a patriot man saw when he entered Alexander Rouse’s tavern right after the departure of redcoats who’d gunned down several of his comrades within:

Upon entering the house what a scene presented itself! The floor covered with dead bodies & almost swimming in blood, & battered brains smoking on the walls; In the fire place sat shivering over a few coals, an aged woman surrounded by several small children, who were clinging to her body, petrified with terror. We spoke to her, but she knew us not, tho familiar acquaintences; staring wildly around, and uttering a few incoherent sentences, she pointed at the dead bodies; reason had left its throne.

Unlike the Dongans’ story, we don’t know the names of the woman and children who witnessed “the Rouse House Massacre.” Most of the time, civilian casualties of war go unnamed. So when I fictionalized this aggression in my book A Hostage to Heritage, I personalized these people by giving them names.

Martha Bratton threatened by soldiersCivilians who are exposed to combat demonstrate the kinds of immediate psychological traumas detailed in this account. Lasting psychological damage is another cost of war, even more difficult to quantify than the loss of life or visible physiological injury.

In the 18th century, with no psychologists and few sedatives, do you suppose the civilians who survived the attack on the baggage train at Cowpens, or Mrs. Dongan on Staten Island, or the woman and children at Rouse’s Tavern ever ceased having post-traumatic stress disorder? What do you think were the costs to their society? And what are the costs to society today from similar activity in war-torn countries all over the world?

#PTSD in civilians during the #AmRev http://bit.ly/1fVzAoH #history via @Suzanne_Adair

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Happy Spring Equinox! Camp Follower is Free!

Camp Follower is free in Kindle format 20 – 21 March from Amazon. Free on Tuesday and Wednesday. This stand-alone historical mystery/thriller was nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award. Download a copy for … Continue reading

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Terry Ambrose has published a nice article about me in The Examiner, capturing the essence of why Revolutionary War reenacting has been so important to me in the development of my fictional world. Big thanks to Terry! Camp Follower has … Continue reading

A Guest Post, Camp Follower is Still Free, and I’m Riding a Meteor!

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Camp Follower is Free!

Camp Follower is free in Kindle format 14 – 15 February from Amazon. Free on Tuesday (Valentine’s Day) and Wednesday. This stand-alone historical mystery/thriller was nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award (Romance Writers of America) and the Sir Walter … Continue reading

Battle of Camden Reenactment, November 2011

This year, we were eager to attend the annual reenactment of the Battle of Camden in South Carolina at Historic Camden. My older son’s musket had arrived a few weeks earlier, and he was itching to fire blackpowder. We’d missed … Continue reading