By the time most of you will read this it will be March 15, which is too important a day to ignore. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: “Cedar! Beware the adze of March!” He put it that way because the importance of March 15 is, of course, that it is the day in 1820 that Maine, the Pine Tree State, joined the Union.
Well written and powerful as usual! But I do hope you'll spill some ink (or illuminate some pixels?) regarding how tied to slavery and its economy the entire North, and indeed the whole of the United States, so thoroughly was.
My dad's family's story on this continent begins in Boston in 1652, when unwilling Scots on the wrong side of Oliver Cromwell were exiled here. I live just a few kilometers (#GoMetric) from where their ship, the John & Sarah, docked that year after a trecherous winter crossing of the Atlantic. My mother's history in Boston begins with her folks starting in the 1920s (she passed of Covid back in May at the age of 86 by the way - I'm just 44 myself, she had me late). Her dad, my grandfather, had a stint co-running the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham & Women's) back when it was a small outfit just finding its sea legs after he graduated Harvard Med School.
And it was my mother's brother, a well-connected jazz artist who played and produced records until he passed about 8 years ago now, has childhood memories of very old Civil War soldiers marching in the streets of Boston on July 4th (he actually played his way through the Army years later) and he always said the Civil War was America's "long shadow," a rift that we've never truly recovered from.
Let's take Faneuil Hall, for example, dubbed the "Cradle of Liberty" since the American Revolution -- it was absolutely financed with money from Peter Faneuil's slave trading business. More and more are we (re)discovering these truths. I want to be honest with you, Professor - sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes I find some (not all) aspects of your narrative concerning these United States of America a little too tidy. A little too attached to this narrative habit we've had in Boston for quite some time - that we've been the enlightened home of abolitionists, and the South has been source of racist rot in our country.
One of my ancestors was legal witness in the 17th century to one of the, shall we say, "shady real estate deals" that was vehicle for the colonization of this continent, the violent cultural and physical genocide our nation is entirely predicated on.
I'd really appreciate it if you chose to delve a little more unflinchingly into America - the full story. For example, we all should learn the horrible history of Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln, whom you venerate reasonably on some counts, proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in 1863, right? And the federal government declared the last Thursday in November as the legal Thanksgiving holiday in 1898.
However, the meaning of Thanksgiving is whitewashed with the happy feasting Pilgrims & Indians story. And yes, that did happen. Once. In 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. (As you know, they left behind smallpox which almost entirely wiped out those who'd escaped.) By the time the Pilgrims got to Mass Bay, they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who'd survived slavery in England and knew English. He taught them to grow corn and fish and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.
Hurrah.
BUT, as word spread in England about this new world paradise, religious zealots (you guessed it, the Puritans) began arriving by the boatload (no, they were not all fleeing religious persecution - they actually had a great deal of religious freedom - most were pursuing an economic opportunity). In any event, finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be public domain. Joined by other British settlers (whom my highland ancestors would later fight in the Battles of Dunbar and Worcester), they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest.
The Pequot Nation, however, hadn't agreed to this peace treaty that Squanto negotiated and dared to fight back.
The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought. In 1637 near today's Groton CT, over 700 men, women and kids of the Pequot Tribe were having an annual "Green Corn Festival." In the predawn hours the slumbering tribe members were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were then literally burned alive inside (yup, pretty horrid - if any tried to come out, they were of course shot).
The NEXT day, Mass Bay Colony governor John Winthrop declared “A Day Of Thanksgiving” because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. Elated by the “victory” God granted them, the "brave" colonists attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with as many as 500 slaves regularly left New England ports.
Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford CT, the churches announced a 2nd day of Thanksgiving to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked-off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief, Metacom (son of the original welcoming Massasoit, whose statue you can find in Plymouth) was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts where it remained on display for ~25 years after King Phillip's War (which was arguably this continent's first battle for independence, or cultural survival, however you look at it).
Anyway, the killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. Eventually we get to George Washington himself, who finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later still, our beloved Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War (on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota).
So, professor Richardson, that version of the story doesn’t have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at a big feast, and I've been kind of hoping you'd write more about the things we need to unflinchingly reckon with as a nation. I think you'd agree we need to look at history square in the face, so I truly hope you continue to work in service of the truth of our mutually conjoined stories.
Sincerely from Somerville (once Charlestown, which was later annexed anyway and is now Boston),
Michael Monroe
P.S. Connected with James Monroe, yes - I actually share his birthday. By the way, he owned enslaved people. None of us are of noble blood, and I really think we, as white people, need to talk about it A LOT more.
Heather, it's getting so every morning I say to my husband, "Heather's Letter for today is really good!" I learned so much from this letter. If Rudyard Kipling really did say this, he was so correct. "If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."
youʻve managed to shrink history (or expand it, depending on your point of view) and people it with neighbors and shopkeepers...this time par excellence...whatʻs the opposite of a chill? a warm flush? I get this sensation when you connect all the dots, Dickinsonʻs father with the abolitionists...the determination of good people across the land and conversely, the entrenched “other” who think itʻs ok to enslave others...I applaud you and appreciate you! As they say here in Hawaiʻi, mahalo nui
I was a good student -- in high school and college -- and loved history. I love it even more each time I read one of your columns. Particularly today's column. I feel that we are at such a turning point, a potential transition point, and we must not lose it. If we do, I fear that we will degenerate into a chaos from which we will not return. Where are the Washburnes and the Mainers and those we need to keep us from reeling? They are the Stacy Abrams and Rev. Warnocks and the Stacey Plasketts. They are the Jamie Raskins. We must keep them safe.
I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to read this story tonight before I head to bed in California. I will share it with some of my family in the Midwest (where I am originally from)...who need to read some actual History, and not the vile, hate-and-lie-riddled crap that passes for "news" and "truth" on Fox and Newsmax and OAN...and my guess is they are also QAnon followers although they don't admit it. I am so heartsick, as is my one sister whom
This is what I love about history: it’s not about facts and dates; it’s people just like us. They fought with their wives, loved on their children, and put their pants on one leg at a time. But something they said or did changed the course of the future. ❤️❤️
What a fascinating, informative and inspiring recounting of this pivotal period in our nation’s history. That it was well-told could go without being said, given the author, but that clarity was an essential part of tonight’s lesson.
Once again we see how central the issue of denying freedom for some, in an ostensibly liberty-loving country, has been the steel wedge driven into America’s soul, separating citizen from citizen, and region from region. This—the issue of race and humanity—is the fulcrum for the pry bar that has relegated the United States to its actual condition as the Untied States (with deep appreciation to the late Mr. William Sears for this concept).
For a while I thought of the slogan, “No Justice, No peace”, as a catchy but lightweight tool—with the veiled threat of disorder—of the movement for equity and morality in this country. But then I read new material and arrived at the realization that justice is indeed a prerequisite for the establishment of peace...on any level.
We have no chance of rebuilding this nation into a true beacon for freedom, justice and—yes—peace, unless and until we rectify that seminal and continuing transgression of the arc of the moral universe. We have no choice. If we truly want a country that embodies the elevated principles found in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, we must create ways to unite around the reality of the wholeness of the human race and create a just and welcoming land.
Dear HCR -- My wife and I were both born and raised in Maine, both of us spending lots of time hiking and canoeing around the state. I knew some of what you wrote about tonight, but love the more complete history you always provide to me and ALL your readers. -- I would tease my dad (born in MA) that my growing teen independence mirrored our interlocking state histories. -- Maine has had an outsized influence on national politics in my lifetime (Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, William Cohen, George Mitchell, and (sorry to say) Susan Collins). There are too many famous writers to name them all, but among the favorite children's books I read to my daughters were the stories of EB White and Robert McClosky. Very proud of my Maine heritage (we can overlook Benedict Arnold... OK?). For those wanting a more complete list, check out https://www.maine.gov/msl/maine/notables.shtml. -- And I can't end without an appreciation for your Shakespearean malapropism. Maine humor is often understated and underappreciated (especially by my now-groan daughters).
This post brought me great joy - I grew up in Livermore where the home of the Washburns, the Norlands, is today a living history museum. I teach social studies in our local school district, and in past years have taught an elective called "Hands on History" in which we have partnered with the Norlands to help introduce students to the real work of historians. Our work included helping to digitally transcribe the family's collection of letters - no small feat as they are all (of course) written in cursive, which was always difficult for students to get used to (here is a link to one of our online exhibits - https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2556/page/4110/display?use_mmn=1). We also helped to create an app-based self-guided tour with a script written by students and narrated by Maine's own Senator Angus King. We are very proud of our hometown heroes and feel lucky to have their homestead as a living history resource.
And so you have passed your personal appreciation to me, dear Heather, for in your gift you allow the importance of each individual's efforts in changing the trajectory of our country to be seen and felt...instilling a pride that we too count. This is the mark of a great teacher, and I am, at 73 years old, both humbled and grateful to be inspired by you. Thank you!❤
I’m enlightened by every letter that you post, what a find you have been to me. I’ll say it again, Thank You, and Thank You to my friend Bill who turned me on to you and this community.
Wonderful story. Being until recently a resident of Minnesota (by way of Colorado and Caribou ME), the Washburn name caught my eye. Indeed, it was Cadwallader Washburn who went on to become governor of Wisconsin and then, apparently moved to Minnesota where he started a mill. Minneapolis was primarily a milling town in the 1800’s, located as it was on the Mississippi River. Mr. Washburn was very successful and his mill eventually grew into a company called General Mills. We Minnesotans are quite familiar with the Washburn name but until today I had no idea of the connection to Maine. Dr. Richardson has a very wonderful way of bringing history alive in so many varied ways!
Cadwallader went on to become Governor of Wisconsin and gave the money for an astronomical (?) observatory to be built above Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin campus in 1881. The Observatory still stands proudly above the lake overlooking some of the university dormitories and making for one of the more iconic photo stops on campus. There are still (well, WILL be still) educational events and star gazing that happen at that observatory. I work on campus and it is one of my very favorite spots!
We are all thankful that the Pine Tree State has given us you and your extraordinary scholarship and story telling abilities to enrich our knowledge of American history. Great stuff!
What a great story...I love how you tell them and how applicable they are to current events. Now may we figure out how to reclaim democracy again.
Well written and powerful as usual! But I do hope you'll spill some ink (or illuminate some pixels?) regarding how tied to slavery and its economy the entire North, and indeed the whole of the United States, so thoroughly was.
My dad's family's story on this continent begins in Boston in 1652, when unwilling Scots on the wrong side of Oliver Cromwell were exiled here. I live just a few kilometers (#GoMetric) from where their ship, the John & Sarah, docked that year after a trecherous winter crossing of the Atlantic. My mother's history in Boston begins with her folks starting in the 1920s (she passed of Covid back in May at the age of 86 by the way - I'm just 44 myself, she had me late). Her dad, my grandfather, had a stint co-running the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham & Women's) back when it was a small outfit just finding its sea legs after he graduated Harvard Med School.
And it was my mother's brother, a well-connected jazz artist who played and produced records until he passed about 8 years ago now, has childhood memories of very old Civil War soldiers marching in the streets of Boston on July 4th (he actually played his way through the Army years later) and he always said the Civil War was America's "long shadow," a rift that we've never truly recovered from.
Let's take Faneuil Hall, for example, dubbed the "Cradle of Liberty" since the American Revolution -- it was absolutely financed with money from Peter Faneuil's slave trading business. More and more are we (re)discovering these truths. I want to be honest with you, Professor - sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes I find some (not all) aspects of your narrative concerning these United States of America a little too tidy. A little too attached to this narrative habit we've had in Boston for quite some time - that we've been the enlightened home of abolitionists, and the South has been source of racist rot in our country.
One of my ancestors was legal witness in the 17th century to one of the, shall we say, "shady real estate deals" that was vehicle for the colonization of this continent, the violent cultural and physical genocide our nation is entirely predicated on.
I'd really appreciate it if you chose to delve a little more unflinchingly into America - the full story. For example, we all should learn the horrible history of Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln, whom you venerate reasonably on some counts, proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in 1863, right? And the federal government declared the last Thursday in November as the legal Thanksgiving holiday in 1898.
However, the meaning of Thanksgiving is whitewashed with the happy feasting Pilgrims & Indians story. And yes, that did happen. Once. In 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. (As you know, they left behind smallpox which almost entirely wiped out those who'd escaped.) By the time the Pilgrims got to Mass Bay, they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who'd survived slavery in England and knew English. He taught them to grow corn and fish and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.
Hurrah.
BUT, as word spread in England about this new world paradise, religious zealots (you guessed it, the Puritans) began arriving by the boatload (no, they were not all fleeing religious persecution - they actually had a great deal of religious freedom - most were pursuing an economic opportunity). In any event, finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be public domain. Joined by other British settlers (whom my highland ancestors would later fight in the Battles of Dunbar and Worcester), they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest.
The Pequot Nation, however, hadn't agreed to this peace treaty that Squanto negotiated and dared to fight back.
The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought. In 1637 near today's Groton CT, over 700 men, women and kids of the Pequot Tribe were having an annual "Green Corn Festival." In the predawn hours the slumbering tribe members were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were then literally burned alive inside (yup, pretty horrid - if any tried to come out, they were of course shot).
The NEXT day, Mass Bay Colony governor John Winthrop declared “A Day Of Thanksgiving” because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. Elated by the “victory” God granted them, the "brave" colonists attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with as many as 500 slaves regularly left New England ports.
Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford CT, the churches announced a 2nd day of Thanksgiving to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked-off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief, Metacom (son of the original welcoming Massasoit, whose statue you can find in Plymouth) was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts where it remained on display for ~25 years after King Phillip's War (which was arguably this continent's first battle for independence, or cultural survival, however you look at it).
Anyway, the killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. Eventually we get to George Washington himself, who finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later still, our beloved Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War (on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota).
So, professor Richardson, that version of the story doesn’t have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at a big feast, and I've been kind of hoping you'd write more about the things we need to unflinchingly reckon with as a nation. I think you'd agree we need to look at history square in the face, so I truly hope you continue to work in service of the truth of our mutually conjoined stories.
Sincerely from Somerville (once Charlestown, which was later annexed anyway and is now Boston),
Michael Monroe
P.S. Connected with James Monroe, yes - I actually share his birthday. By the way, he owned enslaved people. None of us are of noble blood, and I really think we, as white people, need to talk about it A LOT more.
Heather, it's getting so every morning I say to my husband, "Heather's Letter for today is really good!" I learned so much from this letter. If Rudyard Kipling really did say this, he was so correct. "If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."
youʻve managed to shrink history (or expand it, depending on your point of view) and people it with neighbors and shopkeepers...this time par excellence...whatʻs the opposite of a chill? a warm flush? I get this sensation when you connect all the dots, Dickinsonʻs father with the abolitionists...the determination of good people across the land and conversely, the entrenched “other” who think itʻs ok to enslave others...I applaud you and appreciate you! As they say here in Hawaiʻi, mahalo nui
I was a good student -- in high school and college -- and loved history. I love it even more each time I read one of your columns. Particularly today's column. I feel that we are at such a turning point, a potential transition point, and we must not lose it. If we do, I fear that we will degenerate into a chaos from which we will not return. Where are the Washburnes and the Mainers and those we need to keep us from reeling? They are the Stacy Abrams and Rev. Warnocks and the Stacey Plasketts. They are the Jamie Raskins. We must keep them safe.
I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to read this story tonight before I head to bed in California. I will share it with some of my family in the Midwest (where I am originally from)...who need to read some actual History, and not the vile, hate-and-lie-riddled crap that passes for "news" and "truth" on Fox and Newsmax and OAN...and my guess is they are also QAnon followers although they don't admit it. I am so heartsick, as is my one sister whom
I am closest to. What to do? 💔
This is what I love about history: it’s not about facts and dates; it’s people just like us. They fought with their wives, loved on their children, and put their pants on one leg at a time. But something they said or did changed the course of the future. ❤️❤️
What a fascinating, informative and inspiring recounting of this pivotal period in our nation’s history. That it was well-told could go without being said, given the author, but that clarity was an essential part of tonight’s lesson.
Once again we see how central the issue of denying freedom for some, in an ostensibly liberty-loving country, has been the steel wedge driven into America’s soul, separating citizen from citizen, and region from region. This—the issue of race and humanity—is the fulcrum for the pry bar that has relegated the United States to its actual condition as the Untied States (with deep appreciation to the late Mr. William Sears for this concept).
For a while I thought of the slogan, “No Justice, No peace”, as a catchy but lightweight tool—with the veiled threat of disorder—of the movement for equity and morality in this country. But then I read new material and arrived at the realization that justice is indeed a prerequisite for the establishment of peace...on any level.
We have no chance of rebuilding this nation into a true beacon for freedom, justice and—yes—peace, unless and until we rectify that seminal and continuing transgression of the arc of the moral universe. We have no choice. If we truly want a country that embodies the elevated principles found in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, we must create ways to unite around the reality of the wholeness of the human race and create a just and welcoming land.
Dear HCR -- My wife and I were both born and raised in Maine, both of us spending lots of time hiking and canoeing around the state. I knew some of what you wrote about tonight, but love the more complete history you always provide to me and ALL your readers. -- I would tease my dad (born in MA) that my growing teen independence mirrored our interlocking state histories. -- Maine has had an outsized influence on national politics in my lifetime (Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, William Cohen, George Mitchell, and (sorry to say) Susan Collins). There are too many famous writers to name them all, but among the favorite children's books I read to my daughters were the stories of EB White and Robert McClosky. Very proud of my Maine heritage (we can overlook Benedict Arnold... OK?). For those wanting a more complete list, check out https://www.maine.gov/msl/maine/notables.shtml. -- And I can't end without an appreciation for your Shakespearean malapropism. Maine humor is often understated and underappreciated (especially by my now-groan daughters).
This post brought me great joy - I grew up in Livermore where the home of the Washburns, the Norlands, is today a living history museum. I teach social studies in our local school district, and in past years have taught an elective called "Hands on History" in which we have partnered with the Norlands to help introduce students to the real work of historians. Our work included helping to digitally transcribe the family's collection of letters - no small feat as they are all (of course) written in cursive, which was always difficult for students to get used to (here is a link to one of our online exhibits - https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2556/page/4110/display?use_mmn=1). We also helped to create an app-based self-guided tour with a script written by students and narrated by Maine's own Senator Angus King. We are very proud of our hometown heroes and feel lucky to have their homestead as a living history resource.
Let’s hear it for ordinary people from country towns!! That would be you too, Heather!
And so you have passed your personal appreciation to me, dear Heather, for in your gift you allow the importance of each individual's efforts in changing the trajectory of our country to be seen and felt...instilling a pride that we too count. This is the mark of a great teacher, and I am, at 73 years old, both humbled and grateful to be inspired by you. Thank you!❤
I’m enlightened by every letter that you post, what a find you have been to me. I’ll say it again, Thank You, and Thank You to my friend Bill who turned me on to you and this community.
Wonderful story. Being until recently a resident of Minnesota (by way of Colorado and Caribou ME), the Washburn name caught my eye. Indeed, it was Cadwallader Washburn who went on to become governor of Wisconsin and then, apparently moved to Minnesota where he started a mill. Minneapolis was primarily a milling town in the 1800’s, located as it was on the Mississippi River. Mr. Washburn was very successful and his mill eventually grew into a company called General Mills. We Minnesotans are quite familiar with the Washburn name but until today I had no idea of the connection to Maine. Dr. Richardson has a very wonderful way of bringing history alive in so many varied ways!
Cadwallader went on to become Governor of Wisconsin and gave the money for an astronomical (?) observatory to be built above Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin campus in 1881. The Observatory still stands proudly above the lake overlooking some of the university dormitories and making for one of the more iconic photo stops on campus. There are still (well, WILL be still) educational events and star gazing that happen at that observatory. I work on campus and it is one of my very favorite spots!
We are all thankful that the Pine Tree State has given us you and your extraordinary scholarship and story telling abilities to enrich our knowledge of American history. Great stuff!