american war of independence | Author Suzanne Adair

The Mystique of the American War of Independence

Posted on July 1, 2011 by AdminJuly 1, 2016

Welcome to my blog. The week of 1–7 July 2011, I’m participating with more than two hundred other bloggers in the “Freedom Giveaway Hop,” accessed by clicking on the logo at the left. All blogs 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 with a Revolutionary War theme. 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!

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In 1999, I began researching historical background for the manuscript that eventually became the award winning Paper Woman. From the start, I waded in the mist of myth. Every day, I was astounded by the discovery of more examples of propaganda labeled as fact, and men and women who’d been deified. I decided to have a look at the war for myself instead of parroting what I’d learned in history class or absorbed from popular culture.

When I did that, social, religious, and economic systems got turned on their heads. Funny how that happens.

All that mythmaking was bound to occur. We humans have a lusty appetite for good stories. The last eyewitness to the Revolutionary War died in the 1800s. That meant nobody was around to contradict the tweaks we were making to facts, the tall tales we were spinning for posterity. Like the following twaddle:

The Southern colonies were unimportant in the war, and most of the fighting occurred in the Northern colonies.

Women were delicate damsels, expected to concern themselves with bearing and raising children only, considered “improper” if they owned or operated businesses.

Every colonist was either loyal to King George or a patriot.

What you’ll find on my blog this week is not your father’s Revolutionary War. I’ve never written it that way, and I won’t be writing it that way, and my guest authors don’t write it that way. This week, they’ll help me bring you down to earth about this historical free-for-all, show you the reality.

So let’s prime the pump. What “fact” about a past civilization did you learn in history class or popular culture that you later found out was balderdash?

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I’m giving away an ebook copy of Paper Woman to someone who contributes a legitimate comment on my blog today or tomorrow. Make sure you provide your email address. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment on this post by Saturday 2 June at 6 p.m. ET, then publish the name of the winner on my blog the week of 11 July. No eReader required. Multiple file formats are available.

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Child Soldiers, Then and Now, Part 2

Posted on October 21, 2010 by AdminJanuary 13, 2024

In the 14th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, twelve-year-old Private Joseph Moseley wore a uniform, carried a firearm that was probably taller than he was, and was paid six and two-thirds dollars per month. His two teenage brothers were also in the regiment. At home, the Moseley boys had left behind a mother widowed for eight years, and a brother and sister both younger than ten years old.

Joseph joined the 14th Virginia in early 1777. He was discharged after a year, in February 1778, just after his thirteenth birthday. During his year of service, the regiment participated in major battles: Brandywine and Germantown. Both battles were losses for the Continentals. Joseph may have endured winter camp at Valley Forge. He definitely saw morale in the Continental Army at its lowest point, before the French, the Spanish, the Dutch, and Baron von Steuben offered their aid and changed the course of the war.

Joseph Moseley was my great, great, great-grandfather. Until last week, when specific research details finally came to light, my family thought that Joseph had joined a militia unit as an older teen at the end of the war and spent a year performing low-profile duties for the men, such as gathering firewood, cleaning weapons, and digging latrines. We were stunned by the truth of a twelve-year-old boy in uniform who looked across battlefields at hundreds of disciplined redcoats with fixed bayonets.

Joseph's reasons for enlisting are among those found in the bulleted list from yesterday's post, disturbing echoes of the reasons why children enlist today. To imagine that he was the only child soldier in the Continental Army would be naïveté. He and countless other boys picked up the firearms of dead men and continued the fight for the Continentals. In doing so, they extended an armed conflict for six more years. And since our "Revolutionary War" was but one theater of a world war, the negative impact on the global economy was staggering.

Nations and factions have been using child soldiers for thousands of years. The effect on the children is a no-brainer. Joseph Moseley and the boys who fought at his side had no childhood. At the least, they suffered from some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of their lives, even if they volunteered for duty and were discharged with no physical injuries.

Today's child soldiers in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East are all of humanity's casualties. They show us the costs of war, no matter how hard we try to look elsewhere. The horrific imagery of child soldiers will continue to haunt us until we learn this lesson from history.

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Child Soldiers, Then and Now, Part 1

Posted on October 20, 2010 by AdminJanuary 13, 2024

Among the most horrific, haunting images recorded from war around the globe are those of vacant-eyed children in their early teens or even younger holding semi-automatic weapons, perhaps garbed in a paramilitary unit's uniform. In the United States, these images batter a belief system that children should be in a nurturing home environment, enjoying the company of friends after school, taking clarinet lessons, playing softball. They should be allowed to be kids and dream.

Enlisting children as soldiers permits the extension of armed conflict long after a desperate nation or faction's supply of adult combatants has been exhausted. The global costs are astronomical. Although some children are forced to join armed groups, according to The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, the majority of these children volunteer for the following reasons:

Survival
Desire to avenge the death of relatives
Poverty and lack of access to education or work (thus the need for income)
Desire for power, status, and social recognition
Pressure from family or peers
Desire to honor a family tradition
Desire to escape domestic violence (and for girls an arranged marriage)

What does the topic of child soldiers have to do with the American War of Independence? In the United States, we tell ourselves that we don't put our young children in uniform, that such extreme measures happen elsewhere, in distant lands. But Americans have inherited the bloody legacy of young children in the military.

We have the "quaint" pictures of boys climbing ratlines on navy ships in the Civil War and the American War of Independence, and drummer boys in both wars. Or the not-so-quaint pictures of ragged civilian children traveling with an army unit as camp followers. Did children camp followers, musicians, and sailors escape the bullets and bayonets? No.

Children don't escape war.

In the autumn of 1776, two years into the American War of Independence, the fight was going poorly for the Continentals. A desperate Congress went to recruitment extremes, determined to raise an army of eighty-eight infantry regiments, intending that the regiments serve for the duration of the war. A boy named Joseph Moseley answered the recruitment call in March 1777 and enlisted as a Continental private in the newly made 14th Virginia Regiment. Joseph had just turned twelve years old.

I invite you to return to my blog tomorrow and learn his story.

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Revolutionary War Days 2006 at Camden

Posted on November 7, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

Traditionally, the November reenactment in Camden, SC is one of the more well-attended for reenactors and spectators in the South. It always draws a variety of sutlers — merchants who sell period items such as wool fabric, clay pipes, wooden bowls, horn spoons, pewter buttons, and jewelry — plus artisans who demonstrate period crafts, such as candle making and blacksmithing, and entertainers, such as this acrobat. I enjoy strolling Sutler Row at Camden, and it’s dashed hard to keep from spending money there because everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Saturday morning, 3 November, the panel discussion on non-traditional roles of women and girls during the Revolution (Leslie Sackrison, Dr. Christine Swager, and me) went smoothly, as if the three of us had done the panel together several times before. It was also well attended. The State, one of Columbia’s newspapers, gave us publicity in the 2 November edition. Joanna Craig of Historic Camden wants us on the schedule for Camden 2007 and will try to generate more interest among the general public. Redefining the role of women in history is a timely idea. It’s a theme touched on by many historical fiction authors, such as Mary Sharratt. At the conference for the Historical Novel Society 9 June 2007, I will be on a panel discussion about this topic. How exciting to be in the forefront of this “wave.”

I missed seeing the battle on both Saturday and Sunday. I was selling and signing books. But I heard the battles both days went well, and from the sounds of the cannon and musket fire, the reenactors on the field were putting on their usual entertaining show for spectators.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

For my family and me, one of the high points of Camden each year is the Bonfire Night celebration on Saturday night. Bonfire Night is a fine, old British fete celebrated by colonists even during the Revolution to commemorate Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. (Guy Fawkes was one of a group of conspirators who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament with kegs of gunpowder 5 November 1605.) If you think our Guy looks a bit worn out, it’s because he’s been tortured a bit.

This year, my sons received the honor of carrying the Guy to the bonfire as we processed through the camps. Imagine torches in the night, drums beating, and a mob chanting, “Treason! Burn the Guy! Kill the Guy!” Perhaps that’s why British expatriates elsewhere in America are apt to have the cops called on them by American neighbors who mistake their jollification for a bit of backyard human sacrifice. The Camden cops don’t even bat an eyelash at us — some of them are even reenactors — and didn’t stop the Guy from being tossed onto the bonfire, where he ignited, along with all the fireworks planted within him, to provide us with a thrilling show. For an interesting twist on Bonfire Night, check out Carola Dunn’s mystery, Gunpowder Plot.

After the fireworks, Historic Camden treats reenactors to a feast of heavy hors d’oeuvres in the candlelit dining room of the Kershaw-Cornwallis house. (The house is named for Joseph Kershaw, owner in 1780, and Charles Lord Cornwallis, who briefly occupied the house in 1780.) Because there’s 18th-century dancing afterwards, some reenactors trot out their finest period clothing for the night, and this is where you see elegantly-attired men and women in velvet and lace. One fellow pulled out all the stops: white wig, black satin suit, loads of lace at his throat and wrists, black shoes with red high heels, and a painted-on mole beside his eyebrow. He looked like Mozart.

Women used the positioning of their fans at dances in the 18th century to communicate messages to potential suitors. Here’s a list of some of the signals and interpretations. The comedic theater got a lot of mileage out of misinterpreted fan signals. After a few drinks, it’s easy to forget (or pretend to forget) what signal means yes and what means no.

I admit to being a “Ramada Ranger” for this event and not camping out. By the time we left the dance, the ground was already covered in frost, and I just couldn’t envision sleeping in sub-freezing temperatures in a British Army tent as benefiting my booksignings every weekend through Christmas. Gotta vacuum the straw and grass from the inside of my car and air it out to dissipate the smells of wood smoke and burned black powder. Business as usual after a weekend of reenacting fun.

Here’s a Huzzah! for my family for helping with the mechanics of the booksigning. And another Huzzah! for Joanna Craig for providing me with the opportunity to participate on the panel and sell more copies of Paper Woman.

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The Cape Fear Crime Festival (CFCF) 2006 and the Sophie Barton Room

Posted on October 31, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

CFCF, held in Wilmington, NC, the weekend closest to Halloween, is a regional conference now in its sixth year. Proceeds from the keynote dinner Saturday night benefit the Guardian ad Litem program, which acts as an advocate for children in … Continue reading →

The Crystal Coast Book Festival 2006 and Three Magical Surprises

Posted on October 25, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

Not long ago, the Webb Memorial Library in Morehead City, NC was in danger of closing. Thanks to the Crystal Coast Book Festival, now in its second year, that won’t be happening. This gem-of-a-library, located in the historic area of Morehead City, is in a 1930s-era building that used to be a house. (Or was it two houses?) Individual rooms within the library, each furnished differently, hold specific collections of books, such as fine arts, fiction, and classics. There’s a piano in a room upstairs and a ghost who wanders throughout, and although I didn’t make the acquaintance of the latter, I never before met a library imbued with such charm and quaint personality.

Friday 20 October was the big fundraiser day. Proceeds from luncheon workshops and themed literary dinners benefited various local libraries, including the Webb Memorial Library. I participated with five other mystery/suspense authors in a dinner called “The Mysterious Affair at the Waterfront” at Captain Bill’s waterfront restaurant. Each author sat at a table, and during a course, conversed with guests at the table. Authors switched tables every fifteen minutes or so. Later, we talked before the group about our work and signed books the guests had published. And the view of the sunset was stunning.

Magical Surprise Number 1: One of the dinner guests, librarian Pam Janosky (Hi, Pam!), was about 7/8ths finished reading the library’s copy of Paper Woman, and she liked it so much that she’d been stumping for it. She’d drummed up interest in several other librarians, and they were queuing up to read it. Wow! Grasshopper is humbled and amazed. My first fans!

Saturday 21 October delivered cool, autumn weather and clear skies. At 9:30 a.m. in the Reading Room of the Webb Memorial Library, I read from Paper Woman and made a presentation on the extraordinary courage of ordinary people in the Revolutionary War. Thanks to all the folks who turned out to hear me so early in the morning — and who purchased books from me afterwards.

Magical Surprise Number 2: Toward noon on Saturday, the stack of books my publisher sent sold out, necessitating my supplying the bookseller with additional copies from the stash in the trunk of my car. Tough break, eh?

Magical Surprise Number 3: When I arrived home Saturday evening and checked email, Lesa Holstine, a librarian from Glendale, AZ, had posted a very favorable review of Paper Woman (and my first review) to her blog as well as to the Dorothy-L discussion list. Sunday morning, she posted a version of her review on Amazon.com. And she gave me five stars. Thank you, Lesa!

Last weekend, I found myself answering some of the same types of queries I’ve received all along. Wasn’t it unusual for women in the Revolutionary War to run a business like a printing press? Would women in 1780 really have done the sorts of things my protagonist Sophie Barton did? Look for me to address these questions in a future blog entry.

Thanks to the Crystal Coast committee and the staff at the Webb Memorial Library for the opportunity to participate in the book festival.

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Walnut Grove Plantation 2006 Living History and Battle Reenactment — and My First Booksigning

Posted on October 11, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

Tremendous improvements have been made to Walnut Grove Plantation since my last visit, in 2001. In addition to a new visitors’ center, the site features a pavilion with a fireplace, focus of activities during rainy or chilly weather. At the pavilion last Friday night, 6 October, the Spartanburg County Historical Association held its annual fundraiser for the plantation: live bluegrass music, South Carolina upcountry BBQ with scrumptious hushpuppies and ribs, and an open bar. And if you came dressed in your 18th-century finery, you didn’t pay the $60 admission fee!

During dinner, the Historical Association held a silent auction, the donated items ranging from bags of dog food to ceramics to woodworking. Dressed in my polonaise gown, I quickly homed in on board members to learn how I could donate a copy of Paper Woman to the auction. In no time at all, they had the book set up on one of the auction tables. My pleasure to contribute to such a worthy cause.

Saturday 7 October delivered the type of weather that wool-clad reenactors relish: cloudy but not rainy, and highs in the lower 60s. The tree leaves on site were just beginning to turn color and helped make the grounds lovely. As usual, the crown and patriot encampments were separated, and most of the sutlers and tradesfolk set up for business in the patriot camp. Plenty of things to see there. I was so busy chasing details for my booksigning that I didn’t get to spend much time in that section of camp, but I did spot blacksmithing, soap making, food preservation, surveying, and dressmaking.

One lady brought her goats and demonstrated how to milk them. She had for sale goats’ milk cheese and shampoo and soap made from goats’ milk.

The historical incident that puts Walnut Grove on the map for the Revolution involves loyalists under “Bloody” Bill Cunningham who barged into the house and killed three patriots. Kate Barry, wife of the owner, slipped away to warn her husband, and he returned in time to spare the house from being torched. But spectators at reenactments want to see battles, so Walnut Grove follows its staging of the three patriots’ killings with a fictitious battle reminiscent of backcountry skirmishes that occurred all the time in the Carolinas. Plenty of musket fire and black powder smoke, colorful uniforms, noise, and “death” on the battlefield. The spectator crowd numbered several hundred, and a good time was had by all.

After the battle, the staff at Walnut Grove turned the mike over to me. For the debut of Paper Woman, I read a passage from the book and tied the action found therein with what had happened at Walnut Grove. And then I sold books to total strangers — an amazing feeling! Was I nervous? Not really. I felt very much alive and enjoyed everything about the afternoon. I’m grateful to everyone who purchased books from me and was delighted to connect with each reader at an individual level.

Here’s a Huzzah! for my family for helping with the mechanics of the booksigning. And another Huzzah! for the folks at Walnut Grove — Becky Slayton, Jim Crocker, and Jennifer Furrow — for allowing me the opportunity to debut my novel in such a lovely location.

Next up: the Crystal Coast Book Festival, 20-21 October 2006.

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First Interview

Posted on October 2, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

My first media interview, printed in the Sunday 1 October edition of The
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, can be read online at the following link:

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061001/NEWS/610010327/1028

Ann Patterson, book columnist with the paper, interviewed me. We talk about history, camp followers, battle reenactments, women in the American Revolution, and writing. Thanks to Ann for the interview.

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Reenacting

Posted on September 27, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

Thanks to everyone who sent congratulations via email and blog comments.

I’ve been a reenactor for almost seven years. At living history events such as those listed on the calendar, I portray the wife of a soldier (otherwise known as a "camp follower") in His Majesty’s 33rd Light Company of Foot. Although the term "camp follower" conjures images of a shabbily dressed, poxed prostitute who skulks around the fringe of a military camp, prostitutes made up only a small percentage of camp followers during the Revolutionary War. A camp follower was any non-combatant attending a military group: a soldier’s wife, sibling, child, parent, servant, or slave, for example, or an artisan (blacksmith, wheelwright, etc.), merchant (stationer, green grocer, etc.), trader, or peddler. One reason I reenact is to help educate the public about real history.

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T-Minus Two Weeks to Launch

Posted on September 23, 2006 by AdminNovember 29, 2013

The first novel of my historical suspense series, Paper Woman: A Mystery of the American Revolution, debuts at Walnut Grove Plantation’s “Festifall” event two weeks from today, on Saturday 7 October 2006, in Roebuck, SC. I’ll be on site all day in 18th-century clothing. The battle reenactment starts at 1:00 p.m., and my reading begins approximately 1:30 p.m., just after the battle concludes, in front of the main house. For the booksigning, we’ll move around the side of the house to the grape arbor.

Paper Woman (ISBN 0-9785265-1-1) is published by Whittler’s Bench Press, a new fiction imprint of Dram Tree Books, and is also available through chains such as Books-a-Million and Amazon.

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