Fighting It Again:

Gettysburg 1988
Architects Race
for the Clouds
Where Baseball
Bats Are Born
Underground
Railroad Bike Trail

Her War
Abigail Adams Recounts the
Revolution’s Tumultuous
Opening Days
nts
Toys, Maps, PaTtSeINSIDE !
Plus NEW DEPARTME
N Spring 2023
HISTORYNET.com
-IKPWVMWN W]Z[KITMUM\ITÅO]ZM[Q[XIQV[\ISQVOTa
TH[[LÄUPZO
ZM[MIZKPMLNWZPQ[\WZQKITIKK]ZIKaIVLLM\IQT<PMWZQOQVIT[
/HUK7HPU[LK
IZMPIVL[K]TX\MLJaW]Z\ITMV\MLIZ\Q[\[JMNWZMJMQVOKI[\QV 7L^[LY-PN\YLZ
UM\ITIVLPIVLXIQV\ML·UISQVOMIKPÅO]ZMIOMUWN PIVL 56/58 mm-1/30 Scale 10093
KZIN\MLPQ[\WZa Mark Twain,
American
8TMI[M^Q[Q\wbritain.com \W[MM ITT\PM[MÅO]ZM[IVLUWZM Author
NZWUUIVaW\PMZPQ[\WZQKITMZI[ 

Call W.Britain and mention

this ad for a

FREE
CATALOG
Also recieve a

9LJYLH[LOPZ[VY`^P[OV\YTHU`ÄN\YLZZJLUPJHJJLZZVYPLZHUKIHJRKYVWZ/LYL^LZLL>HZOPUN[VUHUK MINI BACKDROP

OPZ)VK`N\HYKZVSKPLYZ5*6HUKKY\TTLYHSVUN^P[O4HYX\PZKL3HMH`L[[LHUK(SL_HUKLY/HTPS[VU XJUIZPVSmSTUQVSDIBTFí
See these and more W.Britain 1/30 scale PQ[\WZQKITUM\ITÅO]ZM[I\"

Tel: U.S. 740-702-1803 • wbritain.com • Tel: U.K. (0)800 086 9123 Follow us on Facebook:
Subscribe to us on YouTube:
WBMH SPRING23 ©2023 W.Britain Model Figures. W.Britain, and are registered trademarks of the W.Britain Model Figures, Chillicothe, OH W-Britain-Toy-Soldier-
W.Britain Model Figures
Model-Figure-Company
 36
No need for a
workout at the gym
when your workday
requires you to
climb and hang
high above the
sidewalk.
 Spring 2023

FEATURES
28 Life During Wartime
Abigail Adams endured British occupation, a smallpox

28 epidemic, and her husband’s indifference. By Jon Mael

36 Sky High
Steel skeletons and elevators allowed architects to
build higher and higher. By Dennis Goodwin

46 ‘A Real Powder Burner’

Musketry crackled and cannons thundered at the
1988 Gettysburg reenactment. By John Banks

54 Stalking the Decisive Moment

Bob Willoughby’s lush photography captured

24
Hollywood stars on set. By Michael Dolan

DEPARTMENTS
6 Letters
Talk to us!
8 Mosaic
History in the headlines.
14 American Schemers
Pray for money.
16 Innovations N e w
A close shave.

54 18 Déjà Vu
Illness and the campaign trail.
22 Interview
Biking a path to freedom.
24 American Place From pot-metal shoes,
Where baseball bats are born. to ribbon badges, to
27 Editorial whiskey shot glasses,
Gettysburg souvenirs
Remodeling Project. through the years.
62 Terra Firma
Indian Territory.
Ne w —see page 46

ON THE COVER:
64 Reviews From her home near
The life of Charlton Heston. Boston, Mass.,
Abigail Adams could
72 Toy Box Ne w hear the Battle of
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY; NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART; COURTESY OF THE LOUISVILLE
SLUGGER MUSEUM & FACTORY; © THE BOB WILLOUGHBY PHOTO ARCHIVE; COVER: BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS;
Elephant on wheels! Bunker Hill.
ALBERT KNAPP/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER

SPRING 2023 3
VISIT HISTORYNET.COM MICHAEL A. REINSTEIN CHAIRMAN & PUBLISHER

SPRING 2023 VOL. 58, NO. 1

DANA B. SHOAF EDITOR IN CHIEF

CHRIS K. HOWLAND SENIOR EDITOR

TRENDING NOW BRIAN WALKER GROUP DESIGN DIRECTOR

MELISSA A. WINN DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Ghost Town: JON C. BOCK ART DIRECTOR

Piedmont, Wyo. CLAIRE BARRETT NEWS AND SOCIAL EDITOR

In 1869 Mormon pioneer C O R P O R AT E

Moses Byrne built six large beehive
KELLY FACER SVP REVENUE OPERATIONS
kilns along the western side of the
Union Pacific Railroad. Why? MATT GROSS VP DIGITAL INITIATIVES
By Tom Straka and Bob Wynn ROB WILKINS DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIP MARKETING
JAMIE ELLIOTT SENIOR DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION
historynet.com/piedmont-ghost-town
ADVERTISING
PLUS! MORTON GREENBERG SVP Advertising Sales [email protected]
TERRY JENKINS Regional Sales Manager [email protected]
Today in History DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING
What happened today, yesterday
or any day you care to search. NANCY FORMAN / MEDIA PEOPLE
[email protected]
Daily Quiz
Test your historical acumen every day! SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: SHOP.HISTORYNET.COM or 800-435-0715

What If? American History (ISSN 1076-8866) is published quarterly by

HistoryNet, LLC, 901 North Glebe Road, Fifth Floor, Arlington, VA 22203
Consider the fallout of historical events
had they gone the ‘other’ way. Periodical postage paid at Vienna, VA and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER, send address changes to

Weapons & Gear American History, P.O. Box 900, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0900
List Rental Inquiries: Belkys Reyes, Lake Group Media, Inc.
The gadgetry of war—new and old, 914-925-2406; [email protected]
effective and not so effective. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 41342519,
Canadian GST No. 821371408RT0001

© 2023 HistoryNet, LLC

HISTORYNET The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced
in whole or in part without the written consent of HistoryNet LLC.
PHOTO BY DOUG PAGE

Sign up for our FREE weekly e-newsletter at

historynet.com/newsletters PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA
Upper Class Just Got
Lower Priced
Finally, luxury built for value—
not for false status
U ntil Stauer came along, you needed an inheritance
to buy a timepiece with class and refinement.
Not any more. The Stauer Magnificat II embodies
the impeccable quality and engineering once
found only in the watch collections of the idle
rich. Today, it can be on your wrist.
The Magnificat II has the kind of
thoughtful design that harkens back to
those rare, 150-year-old moon phases that
once could only be found under glass in a
collector’s trophy room.
Powered by 27 jewels, the Magnificat II
is wound by the movement of your body.
An exhibition back reveals the genius of
the engineering and lets you witness the
automatic rotor that enables you to wind
the watch with a simple flick of your wrist.
It took three years of development and
$26 million in advanced Swiss-built watch-
making machinery to create the Magnificat
II. When we took the watch to renowned
watchmaker and watch historian George
Thomas, he disassembled it and studied
the escapement, balance wheel and the
rotor. He remarked on the detailed
guilloche face, gilt winding crown, and
the crocodile-embossed leather band. He
was intrigued by the three interior dials
for day, date, and 24-hour moon phases. He
estimated that this fine timepiece would cost
over $2,500. We all smiled and told him that
the Stauer price was less than $100. A truly
magnificent watch at a truly magnificent price!
Try the Magnificat II for 30 days and if you
are not receiving compliments, please return
the watch for a full refund of the purchase price. The Stauer
The precision-built movement carries a 2 year Magnificat II is
warranty against defect. If you trust your own good
taste, the Magnificat II is built for you.
powered by your
Stauer Magnificat II Timepiece $399*
own movement
Offer Code Price $99 + S&P SAVE $300!
You must use the offer code to get our special price.
1-800-333-2045
Your Offer Code: MAG͚͙͗-08 Rating of A+ • Luxurious gold-finished case with exposition back
14101 Southcross Drive W., • 27-jeweled automatic movement
Stauer ®
Ste 155, Dept. MAG-08
Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.stauer.com
• Croc-embossed band fits wrists 6¾"–8½"
† Special price only for customers using the offer code versus the price on • Water-resistant to 3 ATM
Stauer.com without your offer code.
Stauer… Afford the Extraordinary.®
 furniture unhurt, or if damaged sufficent to make
it good.
Others have committed abominable Ravages.
The Mansion House of your President2 is safe and
the furniture unhurt whilst both the House and
Furniture of the Solisiter General3 have fallen a
prey to their own merciless party. Surely the very
Fiends feel a Reverential awe for Virtue and patri-
otism, whilst they Detest the paricide and traitor.
I feel very differently at the approach of spring
to what I did a month ago. We knew not then
whether we could plant or sow with safety,
whether when we had toild we could reap the
fruits of our own industery, whether we could rest
in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be
driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the
wilderness, but now we feel as if we might sit
under our own vine and eat the good of the land.
I feel a gaieti de Coar [sic] to which before I was
a stranger. I think the Sun looks brighter, the
Birds sing more melodiously, and Nature puts on

Write Us! a more chearfull countanance. We feel a tempo-

rary peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to
their deserted habitations.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! For future issues, we want to fill this Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with
section with our devoted readers’ thoughts and opinions, so please those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston
write us at [email protected]. In the meantime, here is should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar cir-
the famous “Remember the Ladies” letter Abigail Adams wrote to her cumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise
husband on March 31, 1776, and enjoy the story about her on P. 28. should take possession of them. They have time
and warning given them to see the Evil and shun
Braintree March 31 1776 it.—I long to hear that you have declared an inde-
I wish you would ever write me a Letter half as long as I write you; and pendancy—and by the way in the new Code of
tell me if you may where your Fleet are gone? What sort of Defence Vir- Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you
ginia can make against our common Enemy? Whether it is so situated as to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies,
to make an able Defence? Are not the Gentery Lords and and be more generous and favourable to them
Letters the common people vassals, are they not like the uncivilized than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited
Natives Brittain represents us to be? I hope their Riffel Men power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember
who have shewen themselves very savage and even Blood thirsty; are all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticu-
not a specimen of the Generality of the people. liar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies
I am willing to allow the Colony great merrit for having produced a we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will
Washington but they have been shamefully duped by a Dunmore. not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we
I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty have no voice, or Representation.
cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accus- That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a
tomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no
that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy will-
doing to others as we would that others should do unto us. ingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more
Do not you want to see Boston; I am fearfull of the small pox, or I tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then,
should have been in before this time. I got Mr. Crane to go to our House not put it out of the power of the vicious and the
and see what state it was in. I find it has been occupied by one of the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with
COURTESY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Doctors of a Regiment, very dirty, but no other damage has been done to impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those
it. The few things which were left in it are all gone. Cranch1 has the key customs which treat us only as the vassals of your
which he never deliverd up. I have wrote to him for it and am deter- Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by provi-
mined to get it cleand as soon as possible and shut it up. I look upon it a dence under your protection and in immitation of
new acquisition of property, a property which one month ago I did not the Supreem Being make use of that power only
value at a single Shilling, and could with pleasure have seen it in flames. for our happiness. +
The Town in General is left in a better state than we expected, more
oweing to a percipitate flight than any Regard to the inhabitants, tho American History readers wanting to pillory,
some individuals discoverd a sense of honour and justice and have left praise, or query the publication: write to us at
the rent of the Houses in which they were, for the owners and the [email protected]

6 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Did You Know?
Pilgrim Hall Museum is The Oldest Continuously
Operating Public Museum in America
See Plymouth and See For Yourself!

See Plymouth
SeePlymouth.com

Town of Plymouth County

Destination Plymouth visitma.com PLYMOUTH
Convention & Visitors Bureau
 For Old Abe!
In November, the Lincoln Forum hosted its 27th
annual symposium in Gettysburg. The event featured
two cable news stars: John Avlon, who spoke on “How
Lincoln Helped Win the Peace After World War II,”
and Jon Meacham, who delivered an address on Lin-
coln as a moral leader.
Three biographers discussed their recent books: Wal-
ter Stahr on Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase; Eliza-
beth D. Leonard on Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler;
and John Rhodehamel on John Wilkes Booth and the
Lincoln assassination.
Historian and Lincoln Forum Vice Chairman Jona-
than White discussed his recent books about Lincoln
and African Americans; Roger Lowenstein and Frank J.
Williams conferred on how the North financed the Civil
War; and Christopher Oakley received a standing ova-
tion for showing how historic photographs and com-
puter technology could pinpoint the location of the
platform from which Lincoln gave his
Mosaic epochal “Gettysburg Address.”
Attendees at the symposium enjoyed the
all-author book signing, a battlefield tour by Carol Rear-
don, a concert of Civil War music featuring Jari Villan-
ueva and the Federal City Brass Band. Breakout sessions
and panels featured Forum favorites such as Harold Hol-
zer, John Marszalek, Craig Symonds, Edna Green Med-
ford, Christian McWhirter, Edward Steers, J. Matthew
Gallman, Michael Green, and Andrew F. Lang.
The Forum’s 2022 Richard N. Current Award of
Achievement went to Meacham; the Harold Holzer
Book Award went to Lowenstein; and the Wendy Allen
Award went to the Lincoln Group of the District of
Columbia.
For more information on the Forum, or to join, visit
www.thelincolnforum.org.

Lincoln’s Legacy
The Lincoln Group of the
District of Columbia won
NATIONAL ARCHIVES; PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

the prestigious Wendy

Allen Award in November.
From left: Lincoln Group
President David J. Kent,
artist Wendy Allen, Lincoln
Forum Vice Chairman
Jonathan White, and
Chairman Harold Holzer.

8 AMERICAN HISTORY
 West Coast
Preservation
The coastlines and backcountry of San Diego
are under threat, and the city’s Save Our Heri-
tage Organization (SOHO), works to prevent
major heritage losses through advocacy, pre-
emptive negotiations, public awareness, and
education. In November 2022, SOHO released
its annual “Most Endangered List,” that
includes seven endangered sites. Check out
sohosandiego.org for more details.
The California Theatre (1927) at 1122 Fourth
California
Ave., tops the list, as its beautiful Deco orna- Theatre
mentation and Caliente racetrack mural are
crumbling. SOHO’s other “most endangered”
sites are: Barrett Ranch House (1891) in Jamul, Barrett
a two-story Victorian farmhouse with distinc- Ranch
tive architectural features from the era. Big House
Stone Lodge (circa 1930) in Poway, a 1930s-
era resort near the route of a San Diego-
Escondido stagecoach line. Granger Music
Hall (1898) on East Fourth St. in National City,
designed by architect Irving Gill. Presidio
Park in Old Town, with rich cross-cultural
history related to conflicting cultures and val-
ues. The San Diego History Center has
restored the Serra Museum and added inter-
pretive video displays, but much work
remains to preserve artifacts and historical topography amid proposals for new pedestrian pathways and ADA access.
100-year-old pepper trees in Kensington, which the city had planned to remove because their roots could push up through
sidewalks. Several trees have already been cut down. Red Rest and Red Roost Cottages (1894) at La Jolla Cove. A design by
architects Alcorn & Benton calls for a new four-story condominium building and reconstruction of the cottages for commer-
cial use. The design is likely to be in the spirit of the architects’ nearby Coast Boulevard Cottages, where two new stories were
added behind a shingled 1909 bungalow. Plans have been submitted to the city of San Diego and California Coastal Commis-
sion, review is due for completion next year.

Enlist now! Join the volunteer army transcribing the papers

and correspondence of notable figures in the collections of
the Library of Congress. Launched in 2018, the Library’s “By
the People” crowdsourcing campaign has several active
projects in progress. Volunteers are helping transcribe,
review, and tag digitized pages in the collections of Walt

Call for Volunteers!

COURTESY OF SOHO; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Whitman, Clara Barton, James Garfield, Theodore Roos-

evelt, and more. As of December 2022, the Library has
released more than 831,000 pages for transcription, and
about 591,000 have been transcribed. For more information
visit: https://crowd.loc.gov

SPRING 2023 9
 TOP BID

Helping
Hands
$6,875

Rev War Soldiers

Found at Camden
The Revolutionary War in the South was a mean, snarling affair. It
might even be considered our first civil war, pitting Loyalist Ameri-
cans against those who sought independence.
More than 200 engagements occurred in South Carolina alone,
including the August 16, 1780, Battle of Camden. The fight pitted Brit-
ish Lt. Gen. Lord Cornwallis against American Maj. Gen. Horatio
Gates, the hero of Saratoga. At Camden, however, despite having
numeric superiority, Gates suffered a sound defeat.
In fall 2022, Archaeologists made a significant discovery just a few
inches below the battlefield’s surface, the remains of 14 casualties of
the fight. The South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust These Gemini G-2C high pressure spacesuit
announced the excavation and South Carolina Institute for Archaeol- training gloves were part of a second suit
ogy and Anthropology archaeologist James Legg led the onsite field produced by the David Clark company for
team. NASA’s Gemini program. They sold in
Some human remains and artifacts were found less than six inches December 2022 on Heritage Auctions for

COURTESY OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA BATTLEGROUND PRESERVATION TRUST; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS
below the surface in several locations across the battlefield. Twelve of $6,875. When NASA was seeking a suit
the bodies found are Patriot Continental soldiers, one is possibly a manufacturer for their upcoming Gemini
North Carolina Loyalist, and one fought for the British 71st Regiment program, it carried out design level evalua-
of Foot, Fraser’s Highlanders. tions with B.F. Goodrich and Arrowhead.
South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust CEO Doug Bos- The David Clark company came in with its
tick put the dig into perspective. “When these young men marched own company-funded prototype using its
into the darkness on that summer night in 1780, they did so out of Link-net technology that had been devel-
love for their country despite the consequences that may befall them. oped for the X-15 program. NASA consid-
Our intent is to lay them to rest with the respect and honor they ered it the superior suit and the contract
earned more than two centuries ago.” was awarded to David Clark in 1962 to man-
The excavations began September 2022 and lasted eight weeks. ufacture the Gemini spacesuits. The early
Researchers say they hope to compile information about the soldier’s Gemini gloves, such as these ones, used a
health and diet, age, gender, and race to tell the personal stories of the lace-up restraint on the back of the hand
soldiers and compare the data to historical records. Forensic anthro- that inhibited manual mobility while pres-
pologists from the Richland County Coroner’s Office are participating surized. Later versions of the Gemini gloves
in the project to study the remains. To keep abreast of the project, go used adjustable straps and adjustable palm
to scbattlegroundtrust.org. restraint bars to retain the shape of the
pressurized glove on the hand.

10 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Wide Array
The artifacts in the
World War II Experience
Museum range from
heavy tanks to the
personal effects of
soldiers. Tank rides are
available on certain days.

Naturally, Gettysburg, Pa., is full of places to visit and sites to see related
to the Civil War (see page 46), but a new attraction focuses on Gettys-
burg’s involvement with World War II. The World War II American
Experience Museum, just a 10-minute drive from Gettysburg’s Lincoln
Square, had a soft opening on June 18 and opened to the public in Octo-
ber. The museum is the work of
Gettysburg’s Frank Buck—a retired Peterbilt
truck dealer and long-time col-
Greatest lector of World War II memora-
bilia—and his wife, Loni.
Generation The Bucks invested $7 million
to put up three 12,000-square-
foot buildings on 30 acres of farmland near their home about five miles
northwest of Gettysburg. Frank has spent decades collecting nearly 80
World War II vehicles, uniforms, and other memorabilia.
Overshadowed by its Civil War connections, the town of Gettysburg
has several ties to World War II, as well. D-Day commander and later
President Dwight D. Eisenhower maintained a home in Gettysburg. The
town was also the site of a secret U.S. Navy mapmaking office, an army
psychological warfare training camp, and a POW camp on the Civil War
battlefield where German prisoners were held. The town has applied for
PHOTOS BY TOM HUNTINGTON (4)

American World War II Heritage City status from the National Park
Service.
Tickets to the museum are $14 with discounts for veterans, seniors,
children, and groups.

SPRING 2023 11
 Picture
Perfect
Three American
workmen pose for an
1850s image holding
the tools of their
woodworking trade.
From left, a spoke
shave and a large
chisel, while the man
on the right uses a
sharpening stone to
put an edge on a hand
plane blade. Evident
emotion is uncom-
mon in images taken
in the 19th century,
but the quiet smiles
and shining eyes of
these craftsmen indi-
cate pride in their
vocation.

What is It?
What was the purpose
of this metal marker?

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION; SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY COURTESY OF THE ALAMO
Remember the Alamo
On March 3, 2023, amid anniversary observations for the
1836 Battle of the Alamo, the historic site in San Antonio,
Texas, will open a two-story exhibition hall and collections
building that will be directly behind the iconic mission. Its
10,000 square feet of gallery space will center on the 430-item
collection of Alamo and Texana artifacts donated by British
rock star Phil Collins and the recently purchased collection of
Spanish colonial artifacts from acclaimed Alamo artist Don
Yena and wife Louise.
The latter includes more than 400 items used by South-
western indigenous people and settlers, from swords and can-
nons to kitchen utensils, farming implements and ranching
gear. Yena also donated six of his large paintings.
The ongoing $388 million overhaul of Alamo Plaza—a part-
nership between the city, Texas’ General Land Office, and the
Alamo Trust—will include a new visitor center and museum Be the first to email the correct answer to
in which the collections will ultimately be housed. “When [email protected], subject heading
people leave the Alamo,” said trust executive director Kate “Fireman,” and your name will be posted
Rogers, “We don’t want them to say, ‘Is that it?’” with the description of the item.

12 AMERICAN HISTORY
 I ‘Bearly’ Made It Out Alive
A 12-inch stainless steel knife for only $79

®
Staueler Price
b
Impossi LY
ON

What Stauer Clients Are Saying

About Our Knives
$79
ÌÌÌÌÌ
“The feel of this knife is unbelievable... this is an
incredibly fine instrument.” — H., Arvada, CO
ÌÌÌÌÌ
“This knife is beautiful!” — J., La Crescent, MN

I t was a perfect late autumn day in the northern

Rockies. Not a cloud in the sky, and just enough
But we don’t stop there. While
supplies last, we’ll include a pair of
EXCLUSIVE
cool in the air to stir up nostalgic memories of my
trip into the backwoods. This year, though, was
$99 8x21 power compact binoculars
FREE when you purchase the Grizzly
FREE
Stauer 8x21
different. I was going it solo. My two buddies, Hunting Knife. Compact Binoculars
pleading work responsibilities, backed out at the
last minute. So, armed with my trusty knife, I set
Make sure to act quickly. The Grizzly -a $99 value-
Hunting Knife has been such a hit with your purchase of the
out for adventure. that we’re having trouble keeping Grizzly Hunting Knife
Well, what I found was a whole lot of trouble. As in 8 feet and it in stock. Our first release of more
800-pounds of trouble in the form of a grizzly bear. Seems this than 1,200 SOLD OUT in TWO
grumpy fella was out looking for some adventure too. Mr. Grizzly DAYS! After months of waiting on
saw me, stood up to his entire 8 feet of ferocity and let out a roar that our artisans, we've finally gotten some
made my blood turn to ice and my hair stand up. Unsnapping my knives back in stock. Only 1,337 are
leather sheath, I felt for my hefty, trusty knife and felt emboldened. available at this price, and half of
I then showed the massive grizzly over 6 inches of 420 surgical grade them have already sold!
stainless steel, raised my hands and yelled, “Whoa bear! Whoa bear!” Knife Specifications:
I must have made my point, as he gave me an almost admiring grunt • Stick tang 420 surgical stainless steel blade;
before turning tail and heading back into the woods.
7 ¼" blade; 12" overall
Join more than 322,000 sharp • Hand carved natural brown and yellow bone handle
• Brass hand guard, spacers and end cap
people who collect stauer knives • FREE genuine tooled leather sheath included
I was pretty shaken, but otherwise fine. Once the adrenaline high (a $49 value!)
subsided, I decided I had some work to do back home too. That was The Grizzly Hunting Knife $249 $79* + S&P
more than enough adventure for one day. Save $170
Our Grizzly Hunting Knife pays tribute to the call of the wild. California residents please call 1-800-333-2045
Featuring stick-tang construction, you can feel confident in the regarding Proposition 65 regulations before
strength and durability of this knife. And the hand carved, natural purchasing this product.
bone handle ensures you won’t lose your grip even in the most dire
*Special price only for customers using the offer code.
of circumstances. I also made certain to give it a great price. After
all, you should be able to get your point across without getting stuck
with a high price.
1-800-333-2045
Your Insider Offer Code: GHK216-02

Stauer, 14101 Southcross Drive W., Ste 155, Dept. GHK216-02, Burnsville, MN 55337 www.stauer.com

Stauer® | AFFORD THE EXTRAORDINARY

®
 Prosperity Gospel
Reverend Ike relaxes,
surrounded by riches
that exemplify his
religious creed to “see
green—money up to
your armpits.”

Swing Low, Sweet Brinks Truck

by Peter Carlson

“SAY THIS AFTER ME,” Reverend Ike urged his flock: “I have no fear of The United States was the first nation on earth
money.” to establish freedom of religion, and that freedom
“I have no fear of money,” the congregation repeated. spawned a class of preachers who create their
“Money is not against my religion,” Reverend Ike said.“Money is not own churches and preach their own theologies.
against my religion,” the crowd echoed. Among the most entertaining was Reverend Ike.
American Money certainly didn’t violate the gospel of Rever- He was born Frederick Joseph Eikerenkoetter II
Schemers end Ike. He loved money with a religious zeal, and he in South Carolina in 1935, son of a Baptist minis-
urged his followers to love lucre, too. “If thy religion ter of Dutch and Indonesian heritage and an Afri-
cannot stand money, thy religion is bad, not money,” he said. “I never can American schoolteacher.
understood preachers who get up and talk about how terrible money is, At 14, he became assistant pastor to his father’s
AP PHOTO/BEBETO MATTHEWS

then, before they sit down, they ask for some.” congregation, later earning a theology degree at
The audience laughed, and Reverend Ike proclaimed that he had no Chicago’s American Bible College. After a stint as
theological qualms about enjoying the riches his devotees donated. “Do a U.S. Air Force chaplain, he moved to Boston in
you know how much I love the precious Lord when I sit in my Rolls 1964 and founded the Miracle Temple, where he
Royce limousine?” practiced the art of faith healing.

14 AMERICAN HISTORY
 “I was just about the best in Boston,” he told an interviewer. “Snatching Norman wrote. “Rev. Ike was its Little Richard.”
people out of wheelchairs and off their crutches, pouring some oil over Like Little Richard, the reverend loved to sing,
them while I commanded them to walk or see or hear.” and while preaching he’d spontaneously burst
Healing the sick is noble work, but it doesn’t pay the bills, especially if into song. “Lots and lots of money ready for my
you’re not a physician and can’t charge for the service. After two years, the use,” he crooned during one 1972 sermon. “Oh,
Rev. Eikerenkoetter fled to Manhattan to preach what he dubbed “Prosper- yes, it’s ready for my use.” And he sang about his
ity Now.” He rented a Harlem theater, billed himself on the marquee as favorite possession: “Swing low, sweet Rolls
“Rev. Ike,” and trademarked the nickname. His materialist gospel and the- Royce, coming for to carry me home.” He claimed
atrical exhortations attracted a large, mostly Black, following and soon to own “10 or 12” Rolls cars: “My garage runneth
hundreds of radio stations were broadcasting his sermons. In 1969, he paid over.” Driving a Rolls advertises your wealth,
$500,000 for a 5,000-seat movie the- he said. “Therefore I boldly
ater at Broadway and West 175th that declare: I am rich! I am rich in
he christened the Palace Cathedral. health, happiness, success, pros-
By the mid-1970s, his over-the-top perity and moneeeeeeeeey!”
sermons were airing on TV across Some preachers insist that
America. “Along with Jim Bakker, every word of the Bible is liter-
Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson,” ally true. Reverend Ike dis-
The New York Times noted, “he was agreed. He freely interpreted the
one of the first evangelists to grasp the Good Book. Sure, St. Paul said,
power of television.” “Love of money is the root of all
Preaching before huge enlarge- evil” but, Ike explained, what
ments of $1,000 bills and attired in Paul really meant was that “lack
expensive suits—some funereal black, of money is the root of all evil.”
others flamboyant orange or pink— Sure, Jesus said, “It is easier for a
Ike informed followers that the first camel to go through the eye of
step to getting rich was to visualize a needle than for a rich man to
the cash they craved: “Close your eyes enter the kingdom of God,” but
and see green—money up to your Ike appended a comic adden-
armpits, a roomful of money and dum: “Think how terrible it must
there you are, just tossing around in it be for a poor man to get in—he
like a swimming pool.” doesn’t even have a bribe for the
He encouraged disciples to write gatekeeper.”
him letters detailing their problems— In the 1980s and ’90s, Ike’s
and to be sure to include a generous oratory evolved, sounding less
donation. In return, he’d send a like Christian sermonizing and
prayer cloth capable of working “miracles of healing, bless- Put Your Wig on Straight more like New Age self-help lectures.
ing and deliverance,” plus advice on how to solve problems. A 1977 image shows a “I interpret the Bible psychologically
His replies, he admitted, were all identical. “Most people large flock of Rev. Ike’s rather than theologically,” he said.
think there are separate answers to each problem,” he told followers at his New York He moved to Los Angeles and dis-
City “Palace Cathedral.”
an interviewer in 1972. “There’s not but one problem. If I coursed on “mental reconditioning”
can get a person to believe in himself, that’s my whole ministry, simply to and “The Science of Living” and “The Power of
inspire.” Fascination.” Of course, he still loved money, evi-
Reverend Ike didn’t invent the idea of creating a religion that married denced by lectures with titles such as “The
two American fixations—God and money. That’s an old tradition, known Excitement of Money” and “How to Make Money
to religious scholars as the “prosperity gospel.” In the late 1800s, Russell While You Are Sleeping.”
Conwell, the Baptist minister who founded Temple University, delivered “Money is just like a woman,” he wrote.
his famous “Acres of Diamonds” sermon 6,152 times, each time preaching “Money has emotions. Money has feelings, and if
that “it is your duty to get rich.” In 1925, Bruce Barton, an advertising you hurt the feelings of money she is going to stay
executive and future congressman, published The Man Nobody Knows, away from you, or give you trouble.”
which identified Jesus as “the Founder of Modern Business.” In 1952, Reverend Ike never hurt money’s feelings, and
Methodist minister Norman Vincent Peale published The Power of Posi- she never left him. When he died at 74 in 2009, he
tive Thinking, a mega-bestseller that combined religion with self-help pep left an estate worth several million dollars—cer-
talks. Peale touted a vacuum cleaner salesman who got rich by repeating a tainly more than enough to bribe heaven’s gate-
COURTESY OF WINSTON VARGAS

mantra: “If God be for me, then I know that with God’s help I can sell vac- keeper. Upon his death, Rev. Ike Ministries
uum cleaners.” issued a statement that captured the essence of
The reverend’s brilliant innovation was to combine the “prosperity gos- the founder’s creed: “In lieu of flowers, Rev. Ike
pel” with the exuberant flair of African American entertainers. “Norman would ask that tributes and/or offerings be sent
Vincent Peale would be the movement’s Hank Williams,” journalist Tony to Rev. Ike Ministries.” +

SPRING 2023 15
 Razor’s
Edge

AS A YOUNG INVENTOR, King C. Gillette was inspired by disposable Razor Company, renamed Gillette in 1902. Pro-
bottle caps to create another disposable item that would integrate itself duction began in 1903, and Gillette was granted
into everyday use and, thus, be a profitable busi- his patent on November 15, 1904. In 1903, Gillette
Innovations ness venture. In 1895, Gillette worked out the idea sold 51 razors and 168 blades. By 1915, he had sold
NATIONAL ARCHIVES

for a razor blade that fit into a holder and could be 450,000 razors and more than 70 million blades.
replaced when dull. Engineer William E. Nickerson produced the thin, Today, the disposable razor is an indispensable
sharpened steel blades. In 1901, Gillette formed the American Safety item in nearly every home. —Melissa A. Winn

16 AMERICAN HISTORY
 CHOOSE FROM NINE AWA R D - W INNING T I T L E S
Subscribe Now!
Your print subscription includes access to 25,000+
stories on historynet.com—and more!

HISTORYNET.COM

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

Harvey Logan, aka Kid Curry,

had a reputation as a killer.

Plus!
aos
Vicksburg Ch er
Former teach for
t
tastes comba e
the first tim
orth
Elmer Ellsw k

PATTON’S EDGE
A fresh loo
ing
at his shock
death

The Wild Bunch’s

KID CURRY
Prelude to Gettysburg

Stalled at the THE MEN OF HIS 1ST RA

—U NT IL
NGER BATTALION Y
THEY SAVED THE DA
Susquehanna ENRAGED HIM HOW MANY MEN DID HE KILL?
BUTCHER OF BATAAN
+ JUDGMENT COMES FOR THE
HT A PROXY
Gen. John Brown Gordon’s + THE STAR BOXERS WHO FOUG
AND GERMANY
+ GEORGE HEARST THANKS WYATT EARP
MAY 2022
HISTORYNET.COM grand plans go up in flames WAR BETWEEN AMERICA WINTER 2023
HISTORYNET.COM
+ INVESTIGATING THE GUNNISON MASSACRE
JUNE 2022
+ HERDING REINDEER IN ALASKA

Ending Slavery An Army Wiped Out

for Seafarers Bicycles at War
Pauli Murray’s Testing the A-Bomb
Remarkable Life
Final Photos of Soviet Female Ace
William McKinley Battle in Paradise
An Artist’s Take
THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL on Jim Crow Invasion Stripes
OF MILITARY HISTORY HISTORYNET.com

World War II’s

Can-Do City
Witness to the
No Mercy
Washington’s tough
White War call on convicted
spy John André

ARMS DOUBLE
RACE TROUBLE
FEN-SS
ARMY AND
GERMANY’S CO MPETED
In 1775 the WAF FAVOR
Continental Army “He was more unfortunate than criminal,” FOR HITLER’S
George Washington wrote of Benedict
needed weapons— Arnold’s co-conspirator.

and fast

WINTER 2022
HISTORYNET.com JULY 2020
February 2022
HISTORYNET.com

First Woman to Die Tragic Death of CIA’s Barbara Robbins

JULY 3, 1863: FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF CONFEDERATE ASSAULT ON CULP’S HILL + BEHIND THE SCENES ON BILLY WILDER’S THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS

50 th A N N I V ER SA RY
HOMEFRONT
Zonk! The dawn of
the Super Bowl era
AVIATION H I S T O R Y

LINEBACKER II AMERICA’S LAST SHOT

AT THE ENEMY

TOP PLUS
THE ALLURE

LEE TAKES The Day the SECRET OF THE

LEARJET

COMMAND
War Was Lost
It might not be the
one you think
DOGFIGHT
WHY A NAVY PILOT IN KOREA HAD TO

16 CRUCIAL DECISIONS OF THE Security Breach KEEP SILENT ABOUT HIS VICTORIES
1862 SEVEN DAYS CAMPAIGN Intercepts of U.S.
radio chatter
75TH ANNIVERSARY HOWARD HUGHES
FLIES THE SPRUCE GOOSE (JUST ONCE)
+THE WAR’S LAST WIDOW TELLS HER STORY + threatened lives
April 2021 WINTER 2023 CRASH AFTER CRASH THE HARROWING WINTER 2023
In one week, Robert E. Lee, with James Longstreet and Stonewall
Jackson, drove the Army of the Potomac away from Richmond.
HISTORYNET.com HISTORYNET.com
FIRST FLIGHT ACROSS THE UNITED STATES HISTORYNET.COM
 Bad Medicine
Rising political star
William Crawford’s life
was upended when
medicine he took for
a skin ailment brought
on a debilitating stroke.

If You Have Your Health…

by Richard Brookhiser
On May 13, four days before the 2022 Pennsylvania primaries, John Fet- the hero of New Orleans during the War of 1812.
terman, the lieutenant governor running for the Democratic Party’s The favorite of the field, though, was William
senatorial nomination, suffered a stroke. Fetterman won his primary by Crawford. Handsome, tall, with a receding hair-
a huge margin, and took a lead in the polls against the GOP winner, line that gave him gravitas, Crawford had served
Mehmet Oz. But he did not appear in public to campaign as a senator from Georgia and as a diplomat. In
Déjà Vu until October, and when he did, his speech was choppy 1816, he had challenged Monroe for the Republi-
and halting. Even a friendly review of Fetterman’s perfor- can nomination, standing down at the last minute
mance in his lone debate with Oz conceded that “while his overall points and accepting the job of Treasury Secretary
were intelligible, it was at times genuinely difficult to understand some instead on the grounds that he was young enough
of his sentences.” to wait. He spent the Monroe years scheming to
Fetterman was not the first American with a disability to run for undermine his rivals. Adams, in a sour diary entry,
COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

office. A candidate’s ailment can be the thing that sinks him, or a mark called Crawford “a worm preying upon the vitals
of his gumption, as shown by the sudden onsets of paralysis that of the administration within its own body.”
afflicted two presidential candidates, one in the 19th century, and one Ex-presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Mad-
in the 20th. ison liked the worm, however, welcoming him on
As James Monroe, last of the “Founding Fathers” presidents, neared visits to Monticello and Montpelier as if anoint-
the end of his administration (1817-25), a pack of younger men, all ing the heir apparent.
belonging, like him, to the first Republican Party, panted to succeed Then, in the fall of 1823, disaster struck. Medi-
him: John Quincy Adams, his Secretary of State; John Calhoun, his Sec- cine that Crawford took to cure a skin condition
retary of War; Henry Clay, Speaker of the House; and Andrew Jackson, instead brought on a stroke. At first he could not

18 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Supporting
Hospitalized
Veterans
& Deployed
Troops Since
2006

Alicia, Army Veteran

Gina Elises
’
★
PIN-UPS FOR VETS ★

Pin-Ups For Vets raises funds to better the lives and boost morale for the entire military community!
When you make a purchase at our online store or make a donation, you’ll contribute to Veterans’
healthcare, helping provide VA hospitals across the U.S. with funds for medical equipment and
programs. We support volunteerism at VA hospitals, including personal bedside visits to deliver gifts,
and we provide makeovers and new clothing for military wives and female Veterans.
All that plus we send care packages to our deployed troops.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ visit: pinupsforvets.com ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

 the eve of the House vote a friendly kibitzer wrote
that even Crawford’s supporters were concerned
by the state of his health. He could walk and talk
again, and see well enough to play cards without
spectacles. Yet his liabilities were “but too evi-
dent….I will not express a confidence which I do
not feel.”
The tension wore Crawford to the breaking
point. One winter day, he went to the White House
to discuss with lame-duck Monroe the appoint-
ment of customs collectors. When he and the pres-
ident disagreed, Crawford, cracking, swung up his
cane and called Monroe a “damned infernal old
scoundrel.” Monroe grabbed the fireplace tongs to
defend himself and threatened to ring for the ser-
vants to throw Crawford out. Crawford blurted an
apology, and left, never to see Monroe again.
When the House met to pick Monroe’s succes-
sor in February 1825, Adams won on the first
ballot.
Roosevelt won the New York governor’s race in
Adapt and Overcome speak, see, or move his limbs; Cabinet-level discus- 1928, and was re-elected two years later. In 1932,
After Franklin Roosevelt sions of what would become known as the Monroe in the depth of the Depression, he won the Demo-
lost the use of his legs to Doctrine proceeded without his input. Over time, cratic nomination for president, and carried 42 of
polio, his mother wanted Crawford’s condition improved, but progress was 48 states. He would go on to win the White House
him to give up public life. slow. In the new year, his supporters called for a three more times.
Roosevelt instead worked
caucus in Washington, D.C., of Republican sena- Why did Roosevelt succeed where Crawford
even harder to win office.
tors and representatives to pick their party’s next failed? Crawford had strong rivals able to take
presidential candidate. This was the system that had been used to select advantage of his travails, while Roosevelt faced a
nominees for a generation. But Crawford’s rivals, sensing his vulnerability, GOP blasted by economic catastrophe. But the
stayed away and denounced the custom as “king caucus.” Crawford won the key difference was their differing disabilities.
poll of the rump that showed up, but it was a hollow victory. Crawford’s stroke left him blind and mute as well
A century later, Franklin Roosevelt was considering his own White House as immobile, and while he recovered in great part,
run. His fifth cousin (and wife’s uncle) Theodore had brought the office into he was never again 100 percent. As a sympathetic
the family. Franklin himself, after a term in the New York Senate and eight biographer admitted, his “intellect never regained
years as undersecretary of the Navy, filled the veep slot on a Democratic its full tone and power.”
ticket swamped by the GOP tsunami of 1920. Even this loss earned Roos- Roosevelt’s paralysis was total, but his mouth,
evelt points as a show of party loyalty in hard times. But his rise was halted his mind, and his charm were unaffected. A for-
the following summer when, during a vacation cruise in the Bay of Fundy, he giving press never showed him wheelchair bound;
suddenly lost sensation in his legs. Decades before the Salk vaccine, he had eloquence, savvy and will did the rest.
contracted polio. John Fetterman won his senate race, 51 per-
Roosevelt found that by using upper body strength he could swing him- cent to 46.5 percent. Like Roosevelt, he was lucky
self across short distances on crutches, and stand with the help of leg braces in his opponent—Mehmet Oz was a TV doctor
to give a speech. But despite years of physical therapy and hot spring baths, making his maiden political race. Unlike Craw-
he never recovered control of his limbs. His mother, Sara, wanted him to ford or Roosevelt, Fetterman was running for the
retire to the family estate at New York’s Hyde Park and live the life of a per- Senate, not the White House. There are 100 sena-
manent patient. But his advisers, his wife Eleanor, and Roosevelt himself tors, whose job is to vote and advise. There is only
were determined he stay in public life. At the 1924 Democratic Convention, one president, who must govern and lead. Voters
he nominated New York Governor Al Smith for president, hailing him as are more forgiving of would-be solons than candi-
“the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield.” His game hobble to the mic dates for Mount Rushmore. Fetterman also had
and his gallant smile made the nickname apply to himself. When he ran to 21st century science to his advantage: He used
succeed Smith as governor four years later, Smith dismissed concerns about voice recognition technology to make up for his
his health by saying “a governor does not have to be an acrobat. We do not impaired hearing, and enough voters were
elect him for his ability to do a double back flip.” assured by his conviction that he could, and
PHOTOQUEST/GETTY IMAGES

In the 1824 cycle, Crawford’s support slipped as the election approached. therefore would, recover.
With the Republican Party unable to agree on a candidate, it was every man Medical tech can win offices, but office-holding
for himself. Since none of the contestants won a majority in the Electoral is not for the weak. Young presidents—Carter,
College, the House of Representatives picked the winner from among the top Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama—all step down
three finishers. Crawford made the cut, behind Jackson and Adams. But on with gray hairs. Good luck to Sen. Fetterman. +

20 AMERICAN HISTORY
A HOME AWAY
FROM HOME
For Service members, Veterans, and their families.
On any given night, up to 1,300 service members, veterans, and their
families can call Fisher House home. These comfort homes are free of charge
while a loved one is receiving care at military and VA hospitals.
ALL VETERANS. ALL ERAS.
FREE LODGING | HERO MILES | HOTEL FOR HEROES

VISIT FISHERHOUSE.ORG
 Uphill Climb
From left: Author David
Goodrich and friends Rick
Sullivan and Lynn Salvo,
heading north as they bike
the Underground Railroad.

Hidden in Plain Sight

David Goodrich uncovered stories in familiar places on the road

The traces of the Underground Railroad hide in the open: a great based on a couple of rides over a few years. On the
church in Philadelphia; a humble old house backing up to the New Jer- Eastern ride I followed Harriet Tubman’s route.
sey Turnpike; an industrial outbuilding in Ohio. Over the course of four She was enslaved in Cambridge, Md., and ulti-
years, retired climate scientist and author David Goodrich rode his mately took her family to a little chapel in the
bicycle 3,000 miles to travel the routes of the Under- town of St. Catharines, Ontario. That route took
Interview ground Railroad. On Freedom Road: Bicycle Explorations me through all kinds of familiar places that were
by Melissa A. and Reckonings on the Underground Railroad covers his not really very familiar to me—New York and
Winn odyssey. It’s a comprehensive and engaging look at the Philadelphia. Almost like the undersides of cities,
and where these formerly enslaved people were
history of the places he stopped at along the way, but it’s
also a personal journal, documenting the journey of self-discovery both on the run.
physical and emotional that happens on a bike ride of a lifetime. The second part of the book is about riding
from New Orleans, which was the predominant
What inspired you to write a book about center of the slave trading market, to Lake Erie
the Underground Railroad? and a lot of the western routes of the Under-
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID GOODRICH

I am a climate scientist and have written two books about that. I also ground Railroad.
like to ride my bike. While riding through the small town of Vandalia,
Ill., I stopped at a museum and a woman there handed me a heavy brass How was riding the route on a bike
ring and asked, “Do you know what this is? It’s a slave collar.” She said different than traveling it by car?
Vandalia had been a stop on the Underground Railroad, and that’s what I thought that I could get closer to the experience
got my curiosity going, the idea that I was crossing this invisible river of formerly enslaved people by being on a bike. A
where people on the run were coming up from the South. The book is bike gives you the sense for the terrain. When I

22 AMERICAN HISTORY
 was riding along the Ohio River, I got the sense of especially in upstate New York, Albany, the Myers Residence. We know that
how scary it could be for the formerly enslaved Harriet Tubman stayed there. In Peterboro, N.Y., there’s the National Aboli-
people, because the slave hunters were on both tion Hall of Fame built around Gerrit Smith, a prominent sponsor of the
banks. But once you get up in the hills above the Underground Railroad and of John Brown’s Harpers Ferry raid. It was fas-
Ohio, there was shelter. There were Quaker cinating to talk to the people who are keeping that history alive.
towns, safe houses, and Underground Railroad
houses. Being on a bike can give you some kind of What was it like to tackle such a difficult
a feeling of what these people were going through. subject matter as slavery?
Of course, I was also riding during the daytime, in You have to approach it with a certain amount of humility, especially from
safety, with Gore-Tex and nice gears and spokes. an old white guy looking at this subject. You have to be careful talking about
You also bump into people on the bike and con- the Underground Railroad. Best estimates are about 20,000 people traveled
versations happen. There was once when I was it to freedom, but when you compare it with the number of enslaved who
coming up a real steep hill in Kentucky and I was were moved in the forced transport
watching a squall come across a field. A guy from from the Upper South of Maryland,
a nearby house says to me, “Come on inside Virginia, and North Carolina, the old
quick!” And he gave me a whole story about work- tobacco plantations, to the cotton
ing in coal mines in Kentucky. Those kind of industry in the Deep South, there is a
things happen. huge migration that takes place, on the
order of a million people. There are
What was it like for you to tackle the places right around Washington, D.C.,
history of somebody so mythologized that are the center of this—for example
as Harriet Tubman? in Alexandria, Va., the Franklin and
What’s interesting is that Harriet Tubman is very Armfield firm, which some refer to as
well-known now. She’s going to be on the $20 bill! the Amazon of slave trading. People
But at the time, she was a wraith. Quite intention- would be marched down the Shenan-
ally she made herself as close to invisible as she doah Valley, through Tennessee and
could. She’s a very tiny woman, but prodigiously onto the Natchez Trace and you can
strong. In one of her more famed escapes in Troy, still see the signs of that.
N.Y., she disguises herself as the mother of the One of the visuals we picked for the
man she is trying to free. She gets into the mar- cover of the book is a photograph of
shall’s office and grabs him and yells to this mob the Old Trace from Nashville, Tenn.,
A Second Wind
outside, “Come on! Let’s get him!” And they man- to Natchez, Miss., and it’s like a
Climate scientist David Goodrich
age to free him. At the time, the other conductors U-cut through the forest. There were was inspired by a museum visit to
are amazed by her. She shows up in Philadelphia thousands and thousands of chained bike the Underground Railroad.
with another half dozen people that she’s brought feet that made that trek. I was riding
up through Maryland and Delaware. She has all the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is a beautiful road, and off to the side you
kinds of ingenious escapes along the way, includ- see stretches of the Old Trace and you realize that those were people’s
ing one in Wilmington, Del., where she smuggles chained feet that formed that cut. So, the history bumps right up against
freedom seekers out past slave hunters in a you.
wagon of bricks. It was very easy to find her route
in Maryland and Delaware, but after Philadelphia It’s not just a history book. It’s a travel journal.
it took a lot of research. And she took many Tell us a little about the journey.
routes. We have all these digital footprints today, Well, I’ve done a lot of long-distance bike rides, and you get into a certain
and you can’t go anywhere that somebody can’t rhythm. People say it must be really hard, and because we have all our gear
track you. But even now people in places that are on the bike, it’s a pretty heavy load. I tell people, I have a job where I only
known Underground Railroad safehouses may have to work five hours a day. If I do 12 miles an hour and I ride for five
say, “We think she was here, but we don’t know.” hours, I have my 60 miles for the day. I would try to map out those days and
There’s this element even now that one of the end up someplace interesting.
most famous Americans is a ghost. A day’s ride is almost independent of the weather. Big electrical storms,
yes, you need to get out of those. But otherwise, big winds, and heat, you
Did you have specific stories or sites have to ride through it. Some of the most interesting riding is in urban areas
you wanted to cover?
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID GOODRICH

you know pretty well. Coming out of Philadelphia into New Jersey, there’s a
One of the references I found was a book in the huge suspension bridge. Bridges are windy and that was a lot different to
Library of Congress by Charles Blockson, one of ride on a bike than in a car. Also—the places you hear bad things about, you
the eminent scholars of Black history. His book find out they’re not necessarily true. I had heard all kinds of bad things
had a driving tour of Harriet Tubman sites. So, I about Camden, N.J. It had a high murder rate, but it has changed a bit. It
thought, “Okay. This is where I need to go.” Then may not have fancy bike paths and such, but once again, we met people
there were particular places along the way, along the way, that wanted to help us on our way. +

SPRING 2023 23
 A Splendid Twig
The world’s “largest baseball
bat”—120 feet tall and
68,000 pounds—helps
make the Louisville Slugger
Museum & Factory a
can’t-miss destination in
downtown Louisville.
Opened in July 1996, this
is more than a museum.
IL Legendary Hillerich &
Bradsby Co. baseball bats
LOUISVILLE are still manufactured here.
LOUISVILLE
SLUGGER LEXINGTON
MUSEUM &
FACTORY KY

COURTESY OF THE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER MUSEUM & FACTORY

24 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Old Hickory Slugger
ON A BALMY AFTERNOON in July 1884, John “Bud” Hillerich of Louisville, Ky., did what
many other teenage boys might have done in his place: He skipped work to catch a major
’Round the Horn
+ The museum’s current
league baseball game at the city’s Eclipse Park. That seemingly innocuous act of truancy
location, 800 W.
would prove historic not only for Hillerich but also for Louisville and baseball itself, as you’ll Main Street, is the
have a chance to learn at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory fourth site at which
American Place here in the heart of the Falls City’s “Museum District.” Just 17, Bud the company has
worked at the woodworking shop his father, J.F. Hillerich, had manufactured its
opened in 1855. The younger Hillerich had a passion for America’s budding pastime, and one sports equipment.
of the Louisville Eclipse’s stars he ventured to see play was infielder Pete Browning, the Nearby museums of
note include the Fra-
so-called “Louisville Slugger.” Known for his hitting efficiency and power, Browning had been zier History Museum,
struggling at the plate, however—a slide that would continue that day. After Browning broke the Muhammad Ali
his bat, Hillerich offered to have his dad personally craft a replacement to the player’s specifi- Center, and the Ken-
cations. Browning eagerly accepted, and the next game, his new weapon in hand, immediately tucky Science Center.
broke out of his slump. Partial to more traditional and practical woodworking options, the + Prominent in the mu-
elder Hillerich had no desire for bat making to become a fulltime endeavor, it should be seum’s foyer is a wall
noted. But by the time Bud assumed featuring the signa-
the company’s reins in 1894, that— tures of every player
and the manufacturing of sports
to have signed a Lou-
isville Slugger con-
equipment in general—would be its tract. Factory tours
destiny. Bud patented the “Louisville are available, as are
COURTESY OF THE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER MUSEUM & FACTORY (2)

Slugger” name in 1894, and in 1905 batting cages where

signed the famed Honus Wagner as a you can swing replica
promotional spokesman. In 1916, he bats. To experience
joined forces with Frank Bradsby to what it’s like to face a
90-mph fastball,
form the Hillerich & Bradsby Co.
check out the “Feel
Among stars to wield Louisville Slug- the Heat” exhibit.
gers over the years were Babe Ruth,
+ Since 2006, the com-
Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, and, pictured pany has proudly
at right, Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, manufactured dis-
and Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee tinctive pink bats for
Braves. –Chris K. Howland use on Mother’s Day.

SPRING 2023 25
FEBRUARY 14, 1929
KNOWN AS THE ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
MASSACRE, SEVEN MEN WERE SLAIN
DURING A FAUX POLICE RAID LIKELY
STAGED BY AL CAPONE’S CHICAGO
OUTFIT. THE VICTIMS, MEMBERS
AND ASSOCIATES OF THE RIVAL
“NORTH SIDE GANG,” WERE LINED
UP AGAINST A BRICK WALL INSIDE
A COMMERCIAL TRUCKING GARAGE
AND SHOT. BRICKS FROM THE
INFAMOUS WALL WERE LATER
PURCHASED BY COLLECTORS.
MANY ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE
MOB MUSEUM IN LAS VEGAS.

For more, visit

HISTORYNET.COM/
TODAY-IN-HISTORY
 Eyeing the Competition
One of the iconic eagles on the
Chrysler Building seems to
glare at a skyscraper under
construction..

A Small Remodel
by Dana B. Shoaf
I AM AN ARCHITECTURE BUFF. My favorite buildings are those structure allows them to be remodeled every once
built in the late-18th century through the 1860s, from vernacular log in a while, refreshed and updated, just as those
structures to whimsical Gothic cottages like Washington Irving’s architects tinkered with the tops of their sky-
“Sunnyside on the Hudson.” I even live in a sort-of-fixed-up 1790s scrapers. You’ll notice some changes in this edi-
stone house. But when this country mouse goes to the tion of American History. For the near future, I’ll
Editorial big city, I’m just agog at the Brutalist, Beaux Arts, and be the acting editor of the magazine, and some
Richardson Romanesque buildings around me. As for new departments are being introduced in this
skyscrapers (P. 36), the Chrysler Building in New York City is my issue. A bit of a remodel if you will.
favorite. I turn into full tourist mode when I’m there, and stand and Our hope is that, like me when I see the Chrys-
gawk at its marvelous summit when it comes into view. Ever take a ler Building, you’ll stare at AHI’s pages and enjoy
SHUTTERSTOCK

Chicago River Architecture Cruise? It’s another opportunity to what you see. Please let us know what you think!
admire the towering built environment of a great city. And even though we are well on our way into
In one small way, magazines are like buildings in that their 2023, Happy New Year! +

SPRING 2023 27
 The Roar She Heard
This depiction of the Battle
of Bunker Hill was painted
during the Revolutionary War.
British warships surround the
Charlestown Peninsula.

PHOTO CREDIT

28 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Life During
Wartime
Abigail Adams survived siege and smallpox, and kept
her husband’s spirits up during dark times
By Jon Mael
PHOTO CREDIT
 The Whites of Their Eyes
Colonel William Prescott,
in red waistcoat, readies
his patriot militia for
approaching British
troops during the Battle
of Bunker Hill.

n June 17, 1775, a vicious battle rocked Bunker Hill for the independent-minded heroine of The Mer-
in Charlestown, Mass. That first major engage- chant of Venice, and that was how she signed
ment of the Revolution saw British Commander some letters. The couple married on October 25,

PREVIOUS SPREAD: BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS; THIS PAGE: © DON TROIANI (B.1949), ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2022/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
in Chief William Howe lead around 2,000 Regu- 1764, when John was 29 and Abigail 19. They wel-
lars in what Howe expected to be a quick victory comed their first child, Abigail—nicknamed
over 1,200 colonists commanded by Colonel Wil- “Nabby”—the following year. By the time John
liam Prescott. Howe guessed wrong. The fierce, bloody fighting raged left for Philadelphia in April 1775, John Quincy,
through the night. From a hillside miles away, Abigail Adams, 30, and son Thomas, and Charles had arrived.
John Quincy, 7, watched with excitement and anxiety. Like her husband, Abigail firmly believed in
The Adams family lived in Braintree, a small coastal town 12 miles south the American experiment and staunchly opposed
of Boston. Abigail’s husband, John, a lawyer and key figure in the insurrec- slavery. She relished the Boston Tea Party. After
tion, had been gone since April, when he left on a meandering journey, Lexington and Concord in April 1775, she wrote
eventually arriving in Philadelphia to attend the Second Continental Con- to John and many friends and acquaintances,
gress that convened May 10. John’s departure began a long separation that expressing joy and anxiety. In a letter to rebel-
left Abigail Adams and their four children in one of the most dangerous lious Plymouth playwright Mercy Otis Warren,
places on earth—a city under siege—for nearly two years. She would have to Abigail described her emotions following the
run the family farm, keep her children safe, and husband the family’s fighting. “What a scene has opened upon us since
finances. Abigail’s letters to John during this time, some of the most reliable I had the favor of your last!” she wrote May 2.
accounts of significant early events in the Revolution, influenced decisions “Such a scene as we never before experienced,
being made in Philadelphia that shaped the nation. and could scarcely form an idea of. If we look back
John Adams and Abigail Smith met in 1759. He was 25, living with his we are amazed at what is past, if we look forward
parents in Braintree; she was 15, also at living at home in Weymouth, just to we must shudder at the view.”
the south. Writing was the easiest way to communicate, and when they Rebel Bostonians, having stepped collectively
began courting in 1764, the two established themselves as exuberant letter into the unknown, feared for their future. Abigail
writers. Honest, poetic, tragic, joyful, and deeply thoughtful letters flew found a tonic for unease in her excitement at see-
back and forth between the young romantics. He nicknamed her “Portia,” ing the patriotism she had long advocated taking

30 AMERICAN HISTORY
 root and spreading. “Our only comfort lies in the justice of our cause,” she Where She Wrote Her Letters
wrote. She urged Mercy not to leave Plymouth for relative safety inland, An 1849 painting shows, on the left, the home of
adding, with the characteristic vehemence that often outdid her husband’s: John and Abigail Adams. John Quincy Adams was
“Britain Britain how is thy glory vanished—how are thy annals stained with born in the house on the right. Both properties are
now maintained by the National Park Service.
the Blood of thy children.”
great human cost and a boost to patriot morale
AS ABIGAIL WAS WRITING to Mercy, John, now in Hartford, Conn., was because neophyte freedom fighters had stood
writing to Abigail. He knew that in wartime even agrarian Braintree was their ground and were not overrun. The battle
bound to suffer. “Our hearts are bleeding for the poor People of Boston,” he personally touched Abigail and John. Their good
wrote May 2. “What will, or can be done for them I can't conceive. God pre- friend and physician Joseph Warren (no relation
serve them.” to Mercy) had died in action. “God is a refuge for
In that letter, John told Abigail he had purchased books on military strat- us.—Charlestown is laid in ashes,” Abigail wrote
egy and said that if his brothers were interested, he’d be able to train them to John on June 18. “The Battle began upon our
to be officers. “Pray [sic] write to me, and get all my friends to write and let intrenchments upon Bunkers [sic] Hill, a Satur-
me be informed of every thing that occurs,” he wrote. day morning about 3 o'clock and has not ceased
Abigail took his request seriously. In a lengthy May 24 letter, she yet and tis now 3 o'clock Sabbeth [sic] afternoon.”
recounted an incident in Weymouth the previous Sunday morning. She In a passage of the same letter written June 20,
awoke at 6:00 and learned the Weymouth Abigail lamented her inability to gather quality
bell had been ringing, that cannoneers there intelligence for John about the battle. “I have
had fired three shots to sound an alarm, and
Abigail been so much agitated that I have not been able
that drums had been beating. Abigail hurried lamented her to write since Sabbeth day,” she wrote. “When I
the three miles to her hometown and found
everyone, even physician Cotton Tufts, “in
inability to say that ten thousand reports are passing vague
and uncertain as the wind I believe I speak the
confusion.” She described a wild scene, the gather Truth. I am not able to give you any authentic
result of four British boats anchoring within intelligence account of last Saturday, but you will not be desti-
sight of Weymouth Harbor.
According to Abigail, a rumor had spread
about the tute of intelligence.”
In reality, Abigail had a knack for threshing
that 300 Redcoats had landed and were Battle of fact from fiction—over the years she heard many
about to march through town. Residents
began scrambling to fight or run. Abigail’s
Bunker Hill rumors of John’s death by all manners, including
poisoning, but never believed any. Regarding
family fled. “My father’s family flying, the Dr. for John. Bunker Hill, she was able to assemble and
in great distress, as you may well imagine,” recount a reasonably detailed narrative of events
she wrote, “for my aunt had her bed thrown into a cart, into which she got there, and she assured John that news of War-
herself, and ordered the boy to drive her off to Bridgewater which he did.” ren’s death was true.
Abigail was describing the “Grape Island Incident.” According to her let- On the same day as the battle, George Wash-
EVERETT COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

ter, 2,000 local men gathered to fight, but the British never sent troops ington was named commander in chief of the
ashore. Instead, on Grape Island, a minor land mass in Boston Harbor, they Continental Army. He rushed to Boston, intent
stocked a barn with hay. The Weymouth men procured a small boat, intend- on forcing the British to evacuate. Abigail first
ing to torch barn and contents. “We expect soon to be in continual alarms, met him July 15, 1775, less than a month after
till something decisive takes place,” Abigail wrote. Bunker Hill, with the city still under massive
financial and military stress. The next day, she
THOUGH NOT DECISIVE, Bunker Hill was a British victory, earned at wrote that the appointments of Washington and

SPRING 2023 31
 Portraits of American Destiny sharper. “Tis only in my night visions that I know anything about you,” she
This British map shows the Americans’ approach
wrote October 21, needling John for his laggard epistolary ways but also
to the Battle of Bunker Hill, their earthworks,
and British troops in red. At right, John Adams reporting a wide range of goings-on around Boston. A wood shortage meant
as he appeared during the Revolutionary War. bakers would only be able to work for a fortnight. Biscuits had shrunk in
size by half. The British were constructing a fort near the docks, and the
General Charles Lee to positions of command Continental Army was short on provisions.
had given locals “universal satisfaction,” but she In that letter, Abigail also commented on Dr. Benjamin Church, a sup-
also pointed out that the people would support posed patriot who had been caught passing coded information about the
leaders only as long as they were delivering forces surrounding Boston to the British. Locked up by Washington’s men,
“favorable events.” Washington displayed “dig- Church had been dumped as the Continental Army’s “Director General” of
nity with ease, and complacency, the gentleman medicine and was awaiting arraignment. “It is a matter of great speculation
and soldier look agreeably blended in him,” Abi- what will be [Church’s] punishment,” Abigail wrote. “The people are much
gail wrote. “Modesty marks every line and fea- enraged against him. If he is set at liberty, even after he has received a severe
ture of his face.” By the time that note would have punishment I do not think he will be safe.”
reached John, he was going through a grave Abigail was in mourning. Her mother,
embarrassment—one threatening both his bud-
ding political career and worldwide geopolitics.
Abigail Elizabeth Quincy Smith, had died in Wey-
mouth October 1. In his grief, Abigail’s
lamented father, Parson William Smith, had lost “as
IN THE SUMMER OF 1775, many members of John's chronic much flesh as if he had been sick,” she wrote,
Congress believed war with Britain was still adding that her sister Betsy looked “broke
avoidable. On July 8, Congress signed the “Olive absences, and worn with grief.” She lamented John’s
Branch Petition.” Written by John Dickinson, a estimating chronic absences, estimating that in 12 years
Pennsylvania delegate, the document was a final
reach for peace. That outcome was a long shot,
they had only of marriage, they had only actually been
together six. EVERETT COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

but the British intercepted an inflammatory July been together

24 letter from John Adams to Colonel James six years out WASHINGTON’S TROOPS quietly ringed
Warren, Mercy’s husband. In that communique, Boston in a martial noose, placing cannons
Adams suggested to Warren that by now the colo-
of a 12-year on high ground that forced the British to
nists should have “completely modeled a consti- marriage. depart by sea at the end of March 1776. The
tution,” “raised a naval power and opened all our warships and transports that carried the
ports wide,” and “have arrested every friend to enemy away, Abigail wrote on March 17, amounted to the “largest fleet ever
government on the continent and held them as seen in America;” she likened the bristle of masts and billows of sails to a
hostages for the poor victims in Boston.” forest. Washington allowed Howe’s men to leave unmolested on the proviso
Circulation by the enemy of these statements that the Redcoats not burn the city. The foe was as good as his word, though
sank all hopes of diplomacy. After that episode, some Britons looted like pirates on holiday. Dirty tactics notwithstanding,
Abigail resumed signing letters “Portia.” though, their exit thrilled locals, Loyalists excepted.
Through eight months of siege, Abigail’s Abigail told John she felt the burden of the British presence merely to be
updates became steadier and her commentary changing location but admitted to being happy that Boston had not been

32 AMERICAN HISTORY
 A “Founding Mother” Ahead of Her Time
Abigail Adams, left, loved her husband, but found
irritating his dismissive attitude toward the roles
of women, and was not shy about telling him so.
The above fan belonged to her.

in which we have no voice, or representation.”

The letter also conveyed notes of optimism, origi-
nating as it did in one finally assured she could
plant seeds on her farm or go for a walk without
hearing cannonades.
But that optimism evaporated. John dismissed
his wife’s adjuration to “Remember the Ladies.”
In an April 14 note, he pooh-poohed Abigail’s
thoughts as “saucy”—implying that she was
straying from her designated societal role and
venturing into arenas she should eschew. John’s
shrugging response irked his wife. She wrote to
Mercy Otis Warren asking if they should com-
pose another appeal to Congress. Frustrated with
John’s lackadaisical mien, she and the family
faced a stout new challenge just as the absent
man of the house was taking on unprecedented
totally destroyed. The city’s escape exhilarated John, a fiend for indepen- responsibilities in Philadelphia.
dence. On March 29, he wrote to Abigail about his joy at learning Boston was
free, even as he moped that he knew few details and so awaited her accounts SMALLPOX HAD BEEN BLISTERING indi-
with “great impatience.” He wanted Boston Harbor made impregnable. Abi- genes and colonizers in disfiguring, deadly waves
gail had neither the ability nor the desire to command troops, but John often around North America since the Europeans first
discussed strategic ideas with her and greatly valued her opinion of them. arrived. In 1775-76, British occupiers and Conti-
Most of the time. nental Army soldiers besieging them loosed a
The most famous look into Abigail’s politics arose from Patriot celebra- particularly severe outbreak. Abigail first men-
tions of the British retreat. Abigail only reminded John that he “Remember tioned the pox in her March 17, 1776, letter to
the Ladies'' after she had unleashed a condemnation of Virginia. “I have John celebrating the city’s survival. As the British
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART; © SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

sometimes been ready to think that the passion for liberty cannot be equally were withdrawing, the port was still battling the
strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their latest epidemic. Only the previously infected
fellow creatures of theirs,” she wrote March 31, 1776. “Of this I am certain were even being allowed into town, a category
that it is not founded upon that generous and Christian principle of doing to that would have included John Adams, who in
others as we would that others should do unto us.” 1764 had undergone a controversial procedure—
The letter gained fame because in it Abigail forcefully characterizes inoculation.
women’s second-class status in the colonies. Law and custom barred women To inoculate against the pox, a doctor opened a
from owning property and assigned any wages they earned legally to their small wound and into that cut or scrape inserted
husbands. “All men would be tyrants if they could,” and if a Declaration of matter intentionally tainted with exudate from a
Independence was coming, it would be shrewd not to put all of the power in person with smallpox. The idea was to trigger a
the hands of one sex, Abigail argued. mild case of pox from which the recipient
She dusted her broadside with drollery. “The ladies,” she said, were pre- emerged in a few weeks enjoying lifelong immu-
pared “to mount a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws nity, as occurred with survivors of full-on cases

SPRING 2023 33
 inoculated. Letters reporting the coup from Isaac
Unexpected Victory Smith Sr. and young Boston attorney Jonathan
Longboats haul General Mason reached Philadelphia first, stunning John.
William Howe's men out to In a letter to Abigail dated July 16, beset by worry
a fleet of warships during that colleagues would think him a cad for ignor-
the March 1776 British ing his loved ones in their hour of need, he poured
withdrawal from Boston. out his heart. His feelings were “not possible for
me to describe, nor for you to conceive my feel-
ings upon this occasion.” He remained steadfast
in his commitment to press on with the Congress.
“I can do no more than wish and pray for your
health, and that of the children,” he wrote.
“Never—never in my whole Life, had I so many
cares upon my Mind at once [...] I am very anx-
ious about supplying you with money. Spare for
nothing, if you can get friends to lend it to you. I
will repay with gratitude as well as interest, any
sum that you may borrow.”
Abigail’s letter of July 13-14 arrived July 23. By
then, the effects of inoculation had begun to take
hold. Abigail experienced only one “eruption”—a
pustule signaling infection. Nabby and John
Quincy had gotten sick, but without eruptions.
Thomas and Charles showed no symptoms, so she
had them re-inoculated. Around this time, she got
her first intimate look at the real disease. On July
like George Washington. By summer 1776, inoculation had become en 29, she wrote, fellow inoculant and temporary
vogue. The “Spirit of Inoculation,” as Abigail labeled it, finally achieved such housemate Becky Peck had symptoms of smallpox
critical mass that city authorities legalized the procedure. “to such a degree as to be blind with one eye,
Writing on Sunday, July 7, Abigail invited John Thaxter, who was her swelled prodigiously, I believe she has ten thou-
cousin and John’s law clerk, to “come have the small pox with my family” sand [pustules]. She is really an object to look at.”
that Thursday, July 12. As a clinical setting Abigail’s cousin Isaac Smith Sr. Lags between letters consigned John to antici-
provided his sprawling Boston home. Abigail, Thaxter, the Adams children, pating past events. He wrote that Abigail’s
and nearly 20 others, including Abigail’s accounts had convinced him that Charles had not
sister Betsy Smith Cranch and her family, yet taken the smallpox virus. By the time that
as well as strangers like Becky Peck,
In a July 14 news reached Abigail, she had had Charles inocu-
crammed the mansion to await inocula- letter, Abigail lated a third time, and Nabby a second. Hundreds
tion by Dr. Thomas Bulfinch. The doctor
was charging 18 shillings per week for
reacted sourly of pea-sized pustules covered almost all of Nab-
by’s body. In one letter, John referred to her as his
what he estimated would be three weeks to a rendering “speckled beauty.” Abigail’s ordeal ground on
of sequestration while inoculation did its of the finished until September 4, 1776, when she and Charles
work. During that time those inoculated
could expect to experience smallpox
Declaration of returned to Braintree. A treatment advertised as
lasting three weeks had stretched into seven.
symptoms to a greater or lesser degree. Independence.
The next day, Abigail wrote her first let- DURING HER SIEGE BY INOCULATION, Abi-
ter to John since June 17. The children had undergone inoculation “man- gail occasionally slipped away briefly. She left the
fully,” she reported. She wished John could have joined them, she wrote, but family lodgings on July 18 to attend the first pub-
the opportunity had arisen on short notice, and most residences around lic reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Boston were at and beyond capacity. The group had been lucky to book a She stood in a large crowd below the balcony of
house. the Massachusetts State House on Boston’s King
That year’s hot summer would have had the city resonating around the Street to listen to the words her husband and his
clock with coughing and the house redolent of rotting flesh—two noxious committee had helped draft. Writing to John she
INTERIM ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

and prominent smallpox symptoms. Abigail wrote that the children “puke described a scene of great joy punctuated by
every morning,” complaining to John that a maid she had hired was useless, church bells and celebratory gunfire. She, how-
the girl’s lone qualification being immunity conveyed by a case of the pox. ever, attended the fete in a state of disappoint-
ment.
OWING TO A LEISURELY POSTAL SYSTEM Abigail’s graphic letter about In her July 14 letter, Abigail had reacted sourly
those events was not the means by which John learned his family had been to a rendering of the finished declaration that

34 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Another Deadly Foe
Abigail fought to protect
her family from smallpox
with primitive tools.
Here, Dr. Edward Jenner
inoculates a boy in 1796.

John, copying it himself, had sent. “I cannot but with fellow Tories. Tea, which soothed her
feel sorry that some of the most manly senti- headaches, was at least as scarce as farm-
ments in the Declaration are expunged from the hands; John did send a tin that the courier
printed copy,” she wrote. “Perhaps wise reasons delivered to Elizabeth Adams, his second
induced it.” She likely meant an earlier draft cousin Samuel’s wife.
Thomas Jefferson had written and shown to In November 1776 John escaped the
John. That version denounced slavery, a senti- revolution’s gravitational pull and joined
ment expunged from the version made public. It his family for their first significant reunion
is reasonable to hypothesize that, reading the since April 1775. The children had survived.
version in her husband’s handwriting, Abigail He and Abigail had gained the indepen-
thought that John had composed the entire docu- dence they had sought together for years.
ment and that he himself had eliminated the Abigail had been the keystone, communi-
statement on slavery. cating crucial information to the Congress,
During the inoculation interlude, Abigail was guiding the household through smallpox, and Medical Success
on tenterhooks anticipating John’s return; he had uplifting John through good times and bad. The overwhelming
asked her to direct a man with two horses to fetch Always appreciative of his spouse’s integral part success of smallpox
him in Philadelphia. However, on June 12, John in his public life, he wrote of his feelings for her to inoculation was
documented and
was named president of a new Committee on War a friend the day after he had signed the Declara- studied in medical
and Ordinance, recasting him as a one-man tion. “In times as turbulent as these, commend journals.
defense department in charge of organizing a me to the ladies for historiographers,” John
military, allocating that force’s finances, supply- Adams wrote July 5, 1776. “The gentlemen are
ing Washington’s men, and more. Just as Abigail too much engaged in action. The ladies are cooler
was preparing to return home to Braintree from spectators....There is a lady at the foot of Penn’s
BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; MPI/GETTY IMAGES

the Smith house, John intuited that New York Hill, who obliges me, from time to time with
City was to be the war’s next battleground. He clearer and fuller intelligence, than I can get from
would have to stay in Philadelphia to nurse the a whole committee of gentlemen.” +
infant country he had just helped found. Often in
correspondence he fretted about his health. Jon Mael is a high school teacher and author from
In Braintree Abigail struggled. Farm workers Sharon, Mass. He has been fascinated by Abigail
were scarce. Most men had enlisted in the Army, Adams for decades. Follow him on Twitter @
taken up privateering, or, as Loyalists, had fled jmael2010.

SPRING 2023 35
 Architects embraced new technology as they
raced to build America’s tallest skyscraper
By Dennis Goodwin

PHOTO CREDIT

36 AMERICAN HISTORY
 New York, New York
Many of the earliest
skyscrapers have defined
Manhattan’s famous skyline,
pictured here in the 1920s,
for more than a century.
PHOTO CREDIT

SPRING 2023 37
 be subjected to toiling in cramped quarters and
oppressively narrow hallways.
Word of the strike devastated the architect.
Despondent, Jenney closed his roll-top desk and
went home. At their house on Bittersweet Place,
his wife, Lizzie, had been reading a book of consid-
erable size. Instantly sensing her husband’s mood,
she closed that volume and rose to comfort him.
Wanting to stow the book but finding no space on a
table on which stood a birdcage, she placed the
book atop the cage. Watching her do so, Jenney
was intrigued. He strode to the table, picked up the
book and dropped it onto the cage several times.
The spindly enclosure stood firm.
“It works! It works!” Jenney cried. “Don’t you
see? If this little cage can hold this heavy book,
why can’t a metal cage be the framework for a
whole building?”
Jenney’s birdcage revelation sparked a youth-
ful memory of sailing aboard one of his father’s
William whaling ships to the Philippine Islands. In
Le Baron Manila, he saw flexible lightweight bamboo used
Jenney to construct entire buildings. Locals explained
that despite their seeming fragility, these struc-
tures could weather typhoons and even earth-
quakes. Jenney’s memory of bamboo-framed
forms merged with that of the book on the bird-
cage to provide the solution that had been elud-

PREVIOUS SPREAD: NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ARTOKOLORO/
ing him. The Home Insurance Building’s walls
would not need to support all the weight of the
floors above, he realized, if a supporting frame
could share most of that load. He would make

ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; AUTHENTICATED NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
that frame of iron, a material he had been work-
ing with since college.
rchitect William Le Baron Jenney’s spirits Enrolling at the Lawrence Scientific School at
were sagging. Jenney had hoped his latest Harvard in 1851, Jenney came to dislike the qual-
project would be a reputation-making edifice ity of the education he was receiving. In 1853 he
at Adams and LaSalle Streets meant to rise 10 transferred to L’Ėcole Centrale des Arts et Manu-
daring stories above Chicago. In 1884, the factures in Paris to study engineering and the lat-
city’s commercial buildings rarely stood more than four stories tall, giving est in iron construction techniques. “I took, with
him an apparently unsolvable engineering crisis: how to support his struc- special interest,” Jenney would recall, “civil
ture. Although Jenney believed he had figured out that particular riddle, he engineering courses with an engineer of bridges
was now lacking another type of support. and roads, Charles-Francois Mary.” Jenney grad-
On May 1, 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions uated in 1856, a year behind schoolmate Alexan-
was backing a citywide strike for an eight-hour work week. The striking dre-Gustave Eiffel.
tradesmen included members of Bricklayers and Masons International Returning to America, Jenney joined the U.S.
Union Local 21. Now, even if Jenney could figure out how to build his project, Army, and during the Civil War designed fortifi-
he would not have the materials he needed or the personnel to proceed. He cations for Generals William T. Sherman and
would have to admit failure to his clients at the Home Insurance Company. Ulysses S. Grant. Afterward, he moved to Chicago
The Home Insurance high-rise had antecedents. In New York City, the to practice architecture. Hanging out a shingle on
Equitable Life Building had opened in 1870 with seven stories above ground his own, he designed residences, parks, and rail-
and two below street level. In 1875, at Nassau and Spruce streets, the New road bridges. His experience in fashioning
York Tribune building climbed 10 stories. But those property owners had bridges out of iron grounded his later vision for
assembled parcels broad and deep enough to accommodate the fortress-like taking that framework from the drawing board to
bases—walls six feet or more thick—required to support a tall building’s building construction. His inspired solution to
upper floors. With a 96-foot fronting on Adams Street and 38 feet on the Home Insurance Building problem impelled
LaSalle, the Home Insurance parcel forbade use of that time-tested tech- that undertaking to completion in 1885 and fre-
nique, as it would mean the company’s employees on the lower floors would quent mention as the first modern skyscraper.

38 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Alexandre-
Gustave
Eiffel

ALEXANDRE-GUSTAVE EIFFEL had also been early to adopt iron as A Strong Skeleton
structural material, initially for railroad bridges. In 1879, sculptor Freder- From top left: The metal frame of a birdcage inspired
ick-Auguste Bartholdi was at work in France on a huge commission to be architect William Le Baron Jenney to use a similar
placed in New York Harbor and requiring a sturdy internal support system. framework when designing the first modern
skyscraper, Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, top
The architect devising the armature for the enormous statue suddenly right.; Jenney’s classmate, Alexandre-Gustave-Eiffel,
died. As a replacement, Bartholdi hired Eiffel. Contemplating the wooden was also a proponent of a metal frame structure and
frame proposed for “Liberty Enlightening the World,” Eiffel, from his employed the technique when designing the famed
bridge-building days, knew no such frame would suffice and insisted on an Eiffel Tower in the late 1880s, lower left, and New
iron structure. York Harbor’s “Liberty Enlightening the World,” now
The resulting 151-foot figure, now known by its nickname, the Statue of known as the Statue of Liberty, dedicated in 1886.

SPRING 2023 39
 tion, delaying the enemy’s advance.
Observing the success of metal frame struc-
tures, commercial property owners around the
United States began specifying iron and steel
frames for buildings. New York City architect
Bradford Gilbert put metal framing to an extreme
test in 1889 when silk importer John Noble Stea-
rns hired him to design an 11-story building to
occupy a tiny plot at 50 Broadway. Stearns’ plans
to buy lots on either side had fallen through, sad-
dling him with a 21.5-foot frontage stretching
only 108 feet back. The importer came to Gilbert
Andrew “in despair,” the architect recalled, after multiple
Carnegie Henry
Bessemer other designers had sent him packing.
To ease Stearns’ woes, Gilbert—another expe-
SCIENCE & SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES; CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
rienced bridge-builder—envisioned a cast-iron
span stood on end, and that was what he designed
Hot Rods Liberty, was dedicated on October 28, 1886. Three and built. For months, New Yorkers certain that a
In 1856, Henry Bessemer years later, Eiffel completed another landmark, high wind would topple the iron needle, came to
invented a process
enabling molten pig-iron this one overtly displaying iron’s structural vir- Broadway on gusty days looking to watch a disas-
to be turned into steel by tues. Built with 7,500 tons of iron and containing ter. None ever occurred.
blowing air through it in a 2.5 million rivets, the Eiffel Tower was designed
tilting converter, top. The as the centerpiece of the 1889 World’s Fair in SOLVING THE STRUCTURAL DILEMMA
process allowed for the Paris and intended to be torn down after 20 years. exposed other challenges. Other than trudging
production of large But as a hedge against demolition Eiffel had stairways, how were occupants of a tall building
amounts of good quality
installed a radio antenna and wireless transmit- to travel between the ground and higher floors?
steel cheaply. Steel
magnate Andrew Carnegie ter near the top, hoping utility would make the Steam-driven and hydraulic “hoisting platforms”
sold some of his first tower too useful to demolish. It did. During the debuted in hotels and factories in the 1830s in
I-beams to Jenney for the 1914 Battle of the Marne, one of the tower’s England and then in America, almost exclusively
Home Insurance Building. transmitters jammed German radio communica- to haul cargo since they dangled on a single rope

40 AMERICAN HISTORY
 or cable whose failure would cause the platform
to plunge.
The transformation to moving people
occurred in 1852. Elisha Otis, 40, undertook to
revive an abandoned multi-story sawmill in Yon-
kers, N.Y., as a bedstead factory. The mill’s bottom
floor was littered with wood shavings and other
debris. Otis decided to stow the rubble on the top
floor, which he didn’t intend to use. His idea of
making an elevator safe for passengers didn’t
come in a flash of inspiration, but from a diligent
detailed effort to get himself or one of his sons,
plus the junk, to the top floor. After several stum-
bles the Otises, relentless tinkerers, settled on a
design in which the platform moved by cable but,
should the cable break or go slack, a wagon spring
automatically forced metal prongs known as
“safety dogs” into channels in the frame.
Even after finding that invention successful,
Otis thought so little about the creation that he
didn’t immediately patent it. Several bedstead
customers noticed the safety gadget and asked to
buy one, so he and his sons set to work producing
them. Orders for their bedsteads declined, so
they patented the vertical transporter invention
as the “Allsafe” braking system and sold them
locally. That success prompted them to set their
sights on reaching a national market.
In 1851, London had hosted an exposition of
new inventions. Another was to take place in 1853
in New York, and at it the Otises meant to dazzle
the competition, which included sewing
machines, printing presses, cameras, and medical Elisha Otis
diagnostic devices. At the Otis booth, crews built
a 50-foot structure within which operated a making “Otis” and “elevator” synonymous. Hold the Elevator
hoisting platform hung from a cable. When the Other technologies arose that contributed to Elisha Otis’ ingenious
exhibition opened late that September, Elisha the tall building phenomenon. Once cities had braking system, which he
Otis, before a small audience, rode the platform been firetraps, with wooden structures cheek by demonstrated at an 1853
New York expo of new
to the 50-foot mark. At his signal, an assistant jowl until municipalities mandated use of stone inventions, bottom left,
swung an ax to sever the lifeline. Otis plunged…a and brick—and electricity replaced gas as the made the use of elevators
few inches. The Allsafe brake held firm. Otis source of illumination. Electric lights powered by safe for passengers
THE HISTORY COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES

smiled and doffed his hat to gawkers below. basement generators were lighting tall buildings traveling between floors of
“All safe, gentlemen,” he repeated. “All safe.” by 1878. The same decade saw the spread of taller buildings. The first
Otis continued the stunt throughout the expo- forced-draft ventilation in taller buildings to commercial Otis elevator
sition. With the triumph of their braking system, clear them of smoke from coal-burning furnaces. was installed in 1857 at the
five-story Haughwout
he and his sons began building freight elevators Improvements in iron piping gave upper-story Emporium building, top.
the same year, 1853, founding the Otis Elevator occupants hot and cold water and toilet facilities.
Company in Yonkers. The first commercial Otis
passenger elevator was installed on March 23, IN CHICAGO, Jenney once again could buy bricks
1857, to carry customers up and down the five- and stone. Masons and bricklayers had gone back
story Haughwout Emporium at 488 Broadway. to work, having won a contract that would move
Eder V. Haughwout, a purveyor of fine china, cut them to an eight-hour day in two years. On the
glass and chandeliers paid the Otises a whopping Home Insurance Building, their work would be
$300 for the elevator. more skin than structure. An internal cage would
The novel addition was so popular that people not only support the walls but hold large windows
often visited the site merely to take the elevator that would flood every floor with sunlight. Jenney
and, to the owner’s delight, often ended up buying proposed his design for approval.
his products. Other buildings soon followed suit, “Where is there such a building?” one member

SPRING 2023 41
 Get to the Point
Assorted Chrysler
Building designs, top
left, were considered,
but it ultimately was
given a 185-foot spire,
making it the world’s
tallest structure until
the Empire State
Building, shown
bottom left under
construction, was
erected in 1931.

of the committee asked. building, a scrapyard operator buying the junked

The Chrysler “Your building at Chicago will be the first,” metalwork said, “So far as the metal work is con-
Building’s Jenney said. Despite several wrinkled brows, the cerned, the Home Insurance Building could have
185-foot spire
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; MAURIZIO DE MATTEI SHUTTERSTOCK; NATIONAL ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
committee assented. remained standing until doomsday.”
On May 1, 1884, construction began. Due to the Metallurgical innovation also helped usher in
was covertly substitution of an iron and steel framework for the tall building. Steel—a mixture of iron and car-
constructed the traditional massive lower story walls, the bon, later augmented with manganese, nickel,
building only weighed a third of what a masonry chromium and other elements to increase hard-
inside the building did. As the workers pieced the project ness and resist corrosion—had been around in
building from together, they followed up on Jenney’s promise crude form since the 13th century BCE, when
pieces. to the Home Insurance committee that “the
building will be strictly fire-proof and first-class
European blacksmiths found, likely by accident,
that iron seemed stronger when mixed with car-
in every respect.” Lightweight masonry walls cov- bon in coal furnaces.
ered the metal skeleton, acting primarily as a skin But steel remained difficult to produce in use-
to keep out the weather. Although the city build- ful form or volume until 1856. That year English
ing authorities were so concerned about the sta- engineer Henry Bessemer introduced an effec-
bility of the new design they halted construction tive means of blowing oxygen into molten iron
midway to inspect it, the resulting 138-foot struc- and carbon to achieve steel with a carbon con-
ture was so solid that in 1930, when it was razed tent of about 2 percent. Bessemer’s pear-shaped
to make way for a 42-story Marshall Field converter offered a fast, cheap way to make

42 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Mohawk
consistently serviceable steel. His innovation
coincided with the rise of the railroads, which “Skywalkers”
needed massive amounts of steel to forge rails
and build locomotives. Steel plants soon dotted
Britain and America, and investors like Andrew
Carnegie jumped full tilt into the steel industry,
the seemingly endless miles of new track and
ranks of rolling stock making them extraordi-
narily wealthy.
But growth has limits, and Carnegie and other
steel magnates, seeing a day when there were
enough rails in place, recognized the need to
diversify. They did so by apprehending steel’s util-
ity as a structural material. Stretching and thin-
ning the shape of a rail transformed it into a beam
that in profile looked like the ninth letter of the
alphabet. Some of the first I-beams that Carnegie
made went to Jenney, who had been using cast
iron as a framing material for the Home Insur-
ance Building. Jenney switched to steel
beams for the remaining floors. Other design-
ers soon followed his lead.
As architects, engineers, and builders inte-
Bird on a Wire
grated metal structural skeletons with elec- The danger of building
tric lighting, safe elevators, adequate high bridges like this
ventilation, and functional water supplies, one over the St.
tall buildings rose across the nation. By the Lawrence River, which
end of the 1890s, Chicago’s Masonic Temple collapsed in 1907
building stood 21 stories; New York City’s during construction,
left, was alluring to
Park Row Building loomed 31 stories above
Mohawk laborers hired
street level. by the Canadian
Pacific Railroad.
DIVERSION OF STEEL into armament pro-
duction during World War I slowed the sky-
high building boom, but the 1920s saw a
revival propelled by ambition and capital. Build- IN 1886, THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD, as part of an expan-
ings soared to unprecedented heights. Two sion, was planning to bridge the St. Lawrence River. The 150-foot-high
Manhattan projects seemed bound to set cantilevered span's western end would touch down near Montreal on the
records—the Bank of Manhattan Building at 40 Kahnawake Reservation, home to the Mohawk tribe. In exchange for the
Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, at 42nd use of Indian land, the railroad agreed to hire Mohawk men as laborers
CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP NORTH AMERICA LLC/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Street and Lexington Avenue. assigned to unload materials. Visiting the site, young Indian men dared
Construction of the Chrysler Building had each other to climb to the top of the structure and walk the beams.
begun in autumn 1928, with 40 Wall Street start- Workers employed by Dominion Bridge Company tried and failed to
ing the following May. Walter P. Chrysler, chase the nimble interlopers to the ground. Mohawk youths walked nar-
founder of the corporation that bore his name, row beams as coolly as the most seasoned riveters.
portrayed his project as “a monument to me.” Supervisors seeing the interaction and knowing that high-steel rivet-
Chrysler chose architect William Van Alen, a for- ing was a hard hire decided to recruit Mohawks, reasoning that it was
mer partner-turned-fierce-rival of 40 Wall easier to teach them riveting techniques than find workers comfortable
Street’s equally strong-willed chief architect, H. walking in the sky. Dominion Bridge trained 12 reservation residents. All
Craig Severance. The Chrysler Building was to completed the training and went to work on the Canadian Pacific Rail-
stand 77 stories tall; 40 Wall Street, 71. The sky- road Bridge. Since then, Mohawk men have worked on high structures,
scrapers’ final heights would depend on spires despite catastrophes such as a 1907 Quebec Bridge collapse near Quebec
that functioned as radio aerials, lightning arres- City, that cost 33 Mohawks their lives. Orvis Diabo, an elderly Mohawk
tors, and statements of power through style. worker interviewed for a 1949 article, told The New Yorker that danger
Tweaking their designs as the buildings grew, gave the high steel allure. “It made them take pride in themselves that
Van Alen and Severance jockeyed for height. As they could do such dangerous work,” Diabo said. “We have as much fear
the Bank of Manhattan Building was nearing as the next guy,” sixth-generation Mohawk ironworker Kyle Beauvais
completion, Severance secretly ordered its spire said. “The difference is, we do it better.” —Dennis Goodwin

SPRING 2023 43
 King for a Day
The 927-foot-tall Bank
of Manhattan building
at 40 Wall Street was
completed on May 26,
1930. Pictured here in
1930 and in a modern
photo, left, it was the
world’s tallest building
for a mere few hours
until a taller spire was
covertly installed the
next morning atop the
Chrysler Building.

extended so to surpass the Chrysler Building’s primary designer for the Empire State Building’s
The Bank of nearly finished summit. On May 26, 1930, 40 Wall chosen architectural firm, Shreve, Lamb & Har-
Manhattan’s Street’s designers and crew celebrated finishing mon. The other was the 574-foot, 49-story Carew
architect the tallest building in the world.
That status lasted a day. In the morning, a 185’
Tower overlooking the Ohio River waterfront in
the heart of Cincinnati. As the Empire State
secretly spire emerged atop the Chrysler Building. The Building raced toward the clouds, its builders
ordered component, covertly constructed from pieces incorporated innovations that remained in vogue
inside the building, was riveted into place in 90 for decades. The construction process radiated
its spire minutes. teamwork. “When we were in full swing going up
extended to The Chrysler Building’s record reign also was the main tower, things clicked with such preci-
surpass the to be only slightly less brief. Ten weeks before,
excavators had broken ground on a structure to
sion that once we erected fourteen and a half
floors in ten working days,” said firm administra-
Chrysler’s bear New York’s nickname, at 20 West 34th street tor Richmond Harold Shreve.
summit. in the heart of Manhattan. Initially drawn at 50 That pace required near perfect coordination
SANDRA BAKER/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; FLHC 2021A/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

stories, this project, too, underwent a metamor- of practitioners of 60 construction trades. As

phosis as key investor and former General Motors masons and stoneworkers were completing a
CEO John J. Raskob reimagined the Empire State floor’s exterior, electricians and plumbers were
Building at 60 stories, then 80, and eventually hard at work on that floor’s interior. The first 30
102—plus an airship docking station at the 103rd stories were completed before designers finalized
floor level—as the country was sinking into a deep several details of the ground floor. To minimize
depression that began with the October 1929 time lost to lunch breaks, uncompleted floors
stock market crash. housed cafes and concession stands. A miniature
The building was modeled after two earlier Art transport system moved materials by cart from
Deco structures: One was the 21-story, 314-foot- storage in the basement to elevators. “Sometimes
tall Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, N.C., we thought of it as a great assembly line, only the
which had been designed by William F. Lamb, assembly line did all the moving,” Shreve said.

44 AMERICAN HISTORY
BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/GETTY IMAGES; CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

“The finished product stayed in place.” dirigibles were attempting to dock. Despite this, The Big Apple
Despite the national malaise, work on the and the fact that it has long since been eclipsed Thousands of workers on
Empire State Building never faltered. As many as by much taller buildings, it still has the world’s the Empire State Building
maintained a breakneck
200 trucks a day supplied 3,000-plus workers affection. When President Herbert Hoover sym-
pace to finish the 1,454-
swarming the site in continuous 12-hour shifts. bolically turned on the building’s lights by push- foot skyscraper in just 13½
Often adding 4½ stories a week, the massive ven- ing a button from the White House on May 1, months. One of New York’s
ture fascinated a nation desperate for good news. 1931, thousands of onlookers cheered, unknow- most beloved features, the
Newspaper and magazine readers marveled at ingly saluting William Le Baron Jenney and his building’s design changed
photographs of tradesmen, many of them Native resilient little birdcage. + 15 times until it was
Americans (see sidebar), hundreds of feet in the ensured to be the world’s
tallest, a title it held until
air, often framed by photographer Lewis Hine Dennis Goodwin has been a history buff and short- the 1970s when the World
while he was dangling in a crane bucket. story writer for decades. He strives to pull the Trade Center opened.
The Empire State Building topped out at reader into the ever-moving present the subject of
1,454 feet. The ill-conceived dirigible station his story happens to occupy. He lives in Snellville,
flopped when winds gusted at 40 mph as Ga., with his wife.

SPRING 2023 45
 The inside story of the epic 1988
Gettysburg reenactment
By John Banks

PHOTO CREDIT

46 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Gunsmoke Haze
A Confederate charge
approaches a thinning
Union battle line during the
massive 125th anniversary
reenactment of the Civil
War’s biggest battle.
PHOTO CREDIT
 Battling Friendly Enemies and the Heat
The warm temperatures of the event tested man
and beast alike. Here, Union troopers race to
protect the flank of an artillery battery.

mmediately following the with hundreds of middle-aged and older reenactors putting away their
repulse of Pickett’s Charge at the muskets, kepis, and woolen garments for good, reenactments today rarely
Gettysburg reenactment in 1988, draw more than 1,000 participants. Reenactors from younger generations,
an eerie quiet fell over the field. meanwhile, have failed to swell the ranks.
Thousands of participants, as Two Gettysburg reenactments—one in 1988 for the 125th anniversary,
well as tens of thousands of spec- another 10 years later for the 135th—marked the hobby’s zenith. The 1998
tators, stood silently on the sun-drenched former event was the largest Civil War reenactment of all, with more than 28,000
cattle farm about six miles south of the Pennsyl- participants.
vania town. But former and current reenactors speak more reverentially about the
Then, at the representation of the Angle—the smaller event of 1988—among the first of the multi-thousand participant
vortex of the battle on July 3, 1863—a lone, reenactments. About 10,000 reenactors, mostly male, endured oppressive

PREVIOUS SPREAD: CLASSICSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: CLASSICSTOCK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

mounted bugler rode out from the Union lines heat, lengthy marches, omnipresent dust, thick battle smoke, and the ran-
and played Taps answered by another bugler cid odor of sweat-stained uniforms. Some traveled from as far as West Ger-
somewhere on the Confederate side. When they many, England, Poland, and Australia. An estimated 60,000–78,000
finished, a roar reverberated from the Union spectators watched the climactic battle, high-
reenactors, co-mingled with a Rebel Yell. Reenac-
tors and spectators alike wept.
A mounted lighted by Pickett’s Charge. The movie Glory, in
which Hollywood spotlighted the courage of
“A mystical thing,” recalls Tom Downes, a 1988 bugler rode Black Civil War soldiers, would debut the next
reenactor.
“We knew that we were a part of something
out from the year. Few, if any, Black reenactors participated
at Gettysburg.
that was very, very big,” another participant says. Union lines “Civil War Disneyland,” Richard Smith calls
In the 1980s and 1990s, Civil War reenacting and played the 1988 Gettysburg event. The Ohio native
reached a high-water mark with thousands of liv-
ing historians fighting pretend battles and camp-
Taps. Faux served in the 5th Texas at Gettysburg.
“A real powder burner,” remembers another
ing near Manassas, Antietam, Gettysburg, and soldiers and participant.
other national military parks. (The federal gov- spectators A Gettysburg newspaper called the event “a
ernment bans reenactments at all national mili- beach party with cannons.” Spectators may
tary parks, except Cedar Creek in Virginia.) But both wept. have used more colorful words to describe the

48 AMERICAN HISTORY
 scene, especially the traffic jams. On U.S. Route 15 heading into Gettysburg, A Sense of Scale
traffic backed up seven miles. A reporter likened reenactment weekend at Approximately 10,000 reenactors attended the
Gettysburg to “cramming seven families into a two-bedroom house at the historic event. Such numbers meant that some
shore.” regiments and companies were re-created at full
1863 scale. Bottom right, Richard Smith's 5th
Over three searing days in late June, the event transported reenactors to Texas lines up.
July 1863 and produced enduring memories. Some of them were all-too
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF DAVE NELSON; COURTESY OF RICHARD SMITH; JIM RUSSELL/GETTY IMAGES

real. Following a battle, one reenactor—a Vietnam veteran—approached his someone in the company needed eyeglasses, he
fellow reenactor, Downes. wore a pair appropriate for the era. In May or
“This is just a little too realistic,” he said. “I need to sit out the weekend.” June 1863, the 5th Texas got new shell jackets, so
Doug Lape, then 24, was fresh out of college and had only been reenact- Smith and his comrades made sure they did, too.
ing for four years. “Green as all get-out,” he says. “I wasn’t even familiar with “And we would not wash any of our stuff,” he
camping.” Lape had traveled from Ohio for the event with his unit, the 8th recalls. “When we got into the car, we’d go, ‘What
Ohio. He soon discovered it was serious business. is that smell? Is that us?’ I think we achieved the
“When we came off the road and rolled into camp, we were immediately proper odor.” For the reenactment, Smith’s Com-
given orders for guard duty,” Lape says. “‘Hey, I have road rash here from pany A had 33 soldiers, just as it did in July 1863.
traveling and you want us to do guard duty?,’ I said.” “We were really proud of that,” he says.
Hardcore living historian Robert Lee Hodge—a lead character in author During battle scenarios, Lape got theatrical.
Tony Horwitz’s rollicking 1998 best-seller Confederates in the Attic—became Sometimes he threw caution—and even his mus-
semi-famous in Civil War circles for urinating on his uniform buttons for ket—into the wind. If opposing sides were firing
the optimal patina. Neither Smith—who portrayed 5th Texas Private James from 50 yards, he expected soldiers to fall.
Downey of Company A—nor Lape achieved that level of hardcore reenact- “I didn’t mean to be over the top,” says Lape,
ing. But they and their comrades strived for realism. who has two Union ancestors who fought under
Lape transferred his peach schnapps, his camp refreshment, from a mod- William Tecumseh Sherman in the Western The-
ern glass to a hand-blown bottle. Smith and his comrades stripped their ater. “But guys around me knew Lape might go
Enfield muskets of modern markings, replacing them with 1860 stamps. If flopping around like a flounder.”

SPRING 2023 49
 Just Before the Battle midnight to 4 a.m. with a handful of others. In the distance before him stood
Union 3rd Corps reenactors do as real soldiers have hundreds of dog tents. Flickering lanterns cast a spectral glow. The noise of
done for millennia—why stand when you can sit? snoring and coughing soldiers drifted into the hazy night air.
Behind them is a wee portion of the spectator swarm. “I was standing there thinking, ‘I made the leap, man. It’s 1863.’” Smith
recalls.
Levity aside, Lape and his comrades were com- One day a reenactor portraying Army of Northern Virginia commander
mitted to portraying soldiers accurately and hon- Robert E. Lee rode into camp astride “Traveller.” The tourists, who often
oring their sacrifices. At Gettysburg in 1988, shot pictures and peppered reenactors with questions, were nowhere to be
reenactors saw flickers of the summer of 1863. found. As Lee and his aides left the encampment, dozens of Confederate
Sometimes it could be something mundane, like a reenactors gathered around him.
dusty march, or sweat running from a soldier’s “God bless you, General Lee,” they said.
dust-covered face, or a meal of hardtack cooked “We love you, Marse Robert.”
with bacon and topped with dried apples. (“So Lee took off his hat and waved. Smith became teary-eyed. He swears
freakin’ good,” Union reenactor Mick Bedard, other Rebels did, too.
then 40, says of that feast.) “I thought to myself, ‘This is why we do this stupid hobby.’”
Other times it was something jaw-dropping— In the local newspaper, a National Park Ser-
the sight of the tips of Confederate battle flags
rising on a ridge, or horse artillery racing across a
The pretend vice historian likened a real Civil War battle to
“an unsupervised kindergarten class at recess,
field, or a marching column of Black Hats of the Gettysburg with the children going in all directions, fall-
Iron Brigade. The immense scale of the event—a battles ing, running, shouting.” The pretend Gettys-
rarity for most reenactors—energized them.
Pennsylvanian Chuck Young, then a 29-year-
produced a burg battles produced a level of realism—and
sometimes chaos—that often shook the
old teacher, portrayed a private in the 27th Vir- level of participants.
ginia of the famous Stonewall Jackson Brigade. realism–and At the 1988 reenactment, no one suffered a
From a ridgeline one evening, he looked in awe bullet wound, as a 22-year-old reenactor would
sometimes
COURTESY OF JOHN CUMMINGS

over the encampment of thousands of soldiers 10 years later at Gettysburg. A French reenac-
below. chaos–that tor had unknowingly fired a .44-caliber ball
“Can you imagine what it looked like if it was
an army?” he told a friend.
often shook into the neck of the man, who survived but
soon left the hobby. Officers and others at the
Smith remembers patrolling as a sentry from participants. 1988 event enforced safety standards.

50 AMERICAN HISTORY
 Gettysburg Souvenirs
The spectators and living historians who attended the 1988 reen-
actment were part of a long and unending fascination with the
three-day Battle of Gettysburg, the largest engagement of the Civil
War. Over the decades following the battle, myriad souvenirs have
been produced so the hordes of visitors to the hallowed ground,
often more than one million a year, could take home a memory-
triggering knick knack. The objects below, some handmade but
most mass produced, are just a small sample of what has been
available over the years in Gettysburg-area stores.

Friends for Life

Eighth Ohio officer Tom Downes, top at right, with
his friend Terry Daley, now deceased. Above,
troops turn spectators to watch the cavalry fight. C
But damn, this was no recess.
“It was almost a continuous roar,” Young says
of the battles. “You could make out individual
rifle shots, a volley even. But the background
behind that was a roar, a constant noise. D
COURTESY OF TOM DOWNES; COURTESY OF JOHN CUMMINGS; MELISSA A. WINN COLLECTION;

“It was as close to an experience of war as pos-

sible without having Minié balls whistle past my
ear.”
During the Day 1 reenactment fighting, battle A Jenny Wade was a sad statistic:
THE HORSE SOLDIER; UNION DRUMMER BOY; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

smoke obscured the enemy. Then, as if via a time the only civilian killed during the
fight. Her home can still be toured.
machine, a Union regiment, its colonel, and a flag
B This pin cushion shoe remembers
whipping in the breeze appeared in the sunlight. Jenny Wade with a depiction of her
“It was chilling,” says Young, the Rebel house on its toe. C A homemade
reenactor. relic tower made from bullet-struck
Few fighters knew what was happening beyond wood from the battlefield. The slug
a 15-foot radius around them. Reenactors, tele- remains in the column, which is
ported to another century, ignored spectators. decorated with carved Army of
Potomac corps badges. D Put on
Smith, portraying a file closer, rolled over a your makeup and think of
“wounded” Yankee, a friend of his from Akron, Gettysburg while you do with this
Ohio. compact memorializing New York.
“Hey, Richard,” the prone reenactor said.

Continued on page 53 SPRING 2023 51

 Downtime “Hey, Tom,” Smith replied. Real blood is coming from my head.”
Confederate troops relax When Smith swiped his friend’s shoes, spec- “Can I just go home with this?” Lape asked.
in their camp and enjoy tators booed. “No, you have to go to the hospital,” Surgeon
a card game. Many “That’s the only time I really noticed them,” Steve replied.
enjoyed the camp life as
much, or more, than the he says. Shortly after the battle wrapped up, Lape
battle reenactments. The booming of cannons preceding Pickett’s found himself in an ambulance heading to a Get-
Charge on the final day rocked the battlefield. tysburg hospital with other wounded reenactors.
“One of the loudest I ever heard,” Smith says of A Yankee reenactor’s hand was bleeding from an
the barrage. accidental wound. As he was cutting a sliver from
Through the battle smoke, many spectators who jammed the battlefield a modern wooden fence as a souvenir, the knife
caught only glimpses of the fighting. Some drank a beer or two. On came the had slipped, gashing his hand.
Rebels, thousands of them. “Why would you even want that?” Lape says,
A frazzled Union lieutenant turned to Downes. chuckling.
“Hey, Tom, now you know why I wore my dark trousers today.” At a local hospital, modern physicians dressed
The man had peed in his pants. the wounds of Civil War reenactors. A Confeder-
“We had never seen so many soldiers before,” Downes says. ate reenactor received treatment for powder
The main Union line looked like a volcano of musketry and cannonad- burns after a Union reenactor reportedly fired a
ing—albeit no real gunfire of course. weapon into his face.
“I remember going up to a lieutenant and putting my mouth up to his “It was almost like a movie set,” Lape says of
ear,” Downes says. “He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. He the surreal hospital scene. “Twenty reenactors.
could not hear me.” Most were sitting up. No one was prostrate. I got
Lape and his 8th Ohio comrades received orders to advance to an area seven stitches in the left side of my head. It was a
where ground charges had been set up to simulate artillery. “It was a hot glancing blow on the rock. My scalp had enough
place,” he recalls. Literally. The grass and hay briefly caught fire. give. A full-on shot to my skull and I could have
COURTESY OF JOHN CUMMINGS

To simulate receiving a head wound, Lape threw himself backward, had a concussion.”
unfortunately striking a rock on the ground. After a 1988 reenactment at Appomattox, Lape
“Our flag-bearer saw me go down,” he says. “I was out for a second or two, retired from the hobby. Young’s last reenactment
no intense pain. The flag-bearer calls over Surgeon Steve, who actually had came in 1994. Bedard fought his last battle in the
a medical background. They get me to my feet, and I end up on a tree trunk. 1990s. Smith, now 62, parlayed his interest in

52 AMERICAN HISTORY
 E
F

Forage Caps, Flags, and Females

Sutlers, top, also ventured to Gettysburg to sell
wares to the public and reenactors. Many women,
above, attended as nurses, sanitary commission
workers, or camp followers.

reenacting into a career as a public historian, spe-

cializing in Henry David Thoreau, the American
poet, philosopher, and abolitionist. Downes, now
72, is still going strong.
“Most of the rest of my friends who were doing
this are now dead,” he says. “Maybe I should join
a Grand Army of the Republic unit.”
The memories of the reenactment—“the enor-
mity of it all,” says Downes—remains seared into
the reenactors’ brains. He says the event, man-
aged by a history consulting firm, took two years
COURTESY OF JOHN CUMMINGS; COURTESY OF DOUG LAPE; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS;

to plan.
“Wish I had a drone to record it all,” he says.
UNION DRUMMER BOY; HORSE SOLDIER; UNION DRUMMER BOY; HORSE SOLDIER

Sweaty and satisfied, Smith surveyed the bat- H

tlefield at Gettysburg 1988. Battle smoke and dust
lingered. The air smelled of sulfur and musty
wool. The playing of martial music by brass bands
and the singing of soldiers around campfires—all
that was long over. E Seventy-five years before the 1988 reenactment, surviving Gettysburg
“Why,” Smith wondered, “can’t all the reenact- veterans traveled to the battlefield. They were given this ribbon to wear.
ments be like this one?” + F Blue and gray are commemorated on this silver spoon. General Robert
E. Lee sits astride Traveller on the handle, while Maj. Gen. Gouverneur
Warren forever gazes out from Little Round Top on the bowl. G Bang!
John Banks writes from Nashville, Tenn., and is a Bang! This 1920s wooden pistol stamped with battle dates doubled as
frequent contributor for HistoryNet’s magazines. both a souvenir and a toy for a lucky young visitor. H Adults could take
He has never reenacted. Nor will he if he wants to another type of shot with this ornate whiskey tumbler that features the
remain married to his beloved Mrs. B. Pennsylvania Monument, the largest on the battlefield.

SPRING 2023 53
The Golden Era
Before he became famous for
chronicling Hollywood stars,
Willoughby photographed jazz
PHOTO CREDIT

greats like Miles Davis, pictured

here resting between sets.
 Stalking
the Decisive
Moment
Bob Willoughby's striking images
on set of Hollywood's top feature
films defined the movie still.
PHOTO CREDIT
 A

hotographer Robert Hanley “Bob” Willoughby

parlayed his beloved boyhood hobby into a kalei-
doscopic career as a maker of indelible images. He
was born in 1927 in Los Angeles, Calif., shortly
after his parents, Cyril and Antoinette, divorced.
Nettie Willoughby raised her son in West Holly-
wood. Cyril, a doctor, was not much present, but for the boy’s 12th birthday
he gave his son a 35mm Argus C-3 rangefinder camera that quickly became
a prominent fixture in Bob’s life. A neighbor taught the youth darkroom
basics in exchange for babysitting. The sole class at school to hold his
interest was art. When he was in junior high, a stroke disabled his mother,
who never relented in her support for her son’s photographic ambitions.
He converted the home garage on Marvin Avenue into a darkroom func-
tional only at night owing to light leaks. He processed film and made
prints to the tune of jazz broadcast by a San Francisco radio station whose
AM signal reached southern California after sunset. Upon graduating
from Louis Pasteur High in 1946 he apprenticed with a series of Holly-
wood photographers, earning $5 a week sharpening and expanding his
skills. In night classes at USC, he studied under film designers and artists Saul Bass, A Still Life
Slavko Vorkapich, and William Cameron Menzies. He dove into LA’s vibrant music Willoughby was 27 when he
scene, photographing jazz and R&B performers. Dance magazine ran his pictures. landed his first LIFE cover in 1954.
He was 22 when his portrait of model Ann Baker graced the cover of the January 1950 His photos were in print literally
US Camera; later that year eclectic label Fantasy Records recruited him to provide every week for the next 20 years.

56 AMERICAN HISTORY
 B

A Audrey Hepburn smiles for Willoughby during a press call on the

Warner Bros. set of “My Fair Lady” in 1963. B Director Blake Edwards
takes great satisfaction in pelting actress Natalie Wood with the first pie
in the pie fight scene of “The Great Race.” C This 1971 photo of John
Wayne, photographed at the Warner Bros. studio during the filming of
C “The Cowboys,” ran on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1972 with the
headline “John Wayne: Memories of a G-rated Cowboy.”

LP cover art. In 1951 he signed with Globe Photo, which wrangled

assignments from feature and fashion periodicals. To analyze and
absorb clients’ unique styles, he haunted used periodicals stores,
assembling an archive in which to steep himself in technical and aes-
thetic nuance. Mixing faith and commerce, he shot for Catholic mag-
azine Jubilee; it would be easier to list the mainstream publications
he did not work for than those he did. Under the spell of master maga-
ALL ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS © THE BOB WILLOUGHBY PHOTO ARCHIVE

zine photojournalists Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, and

Irving Penn, he took on ever more fashion and feature work, at the
same time establishing a toehold in and eventually a remarkably
strong and creative grip on the arcane and demanding specialty of
photographing Hollywood productions as they were being made,
recording candid moments and scenes as shot. He first worked on
contract with magazines seeking to illustrate stories about actors and
coming attractions and eventually came to be relied on by studios for
his unobtrusive expertise. To facilitate these efforts, he developed
innovative camera brackets and electronically controlled flash sys-
tems. His facility at documenting decisive moment upon decisive
moment led a commentator to label him “the man who virtually

SPRING 2023 57
 D

invented the photojournalistic motion-picture still.” In

1957 he visited Ireland for the first time, forging a con-
nection that lasted all his life. Through work he and
Audrey Hepburn became long-time friends. At Eliza-
beth Taylor’s request, he photographed her and Eddie E
Fisher’s wedding in 1959. Soon after, he met Scottish
flight attendant Dorothy Quigley aboard a transconti-
nental flight she was working. They fell for one another,
wed, and raised three sons and a daughter, sometimes
traveling and living abroad en famille thanks to Bob’s
movie work. Over the decades, he photographed 100-
some feature films on sets and at locations around the
world. In 1973, he retired. Seeking a pastoral routine
away from the high life, the Willoughbys relocated to
County Cork, Ireland, where they bought a castle and
began a 17-year stay during which Willoughby pro-
duced books of verse and photos, including a 2001
memoir. Bob Willoughby was 82 when he died in
2009 in Vence, France. His work is in the collections of
the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the
D Bob Willoughby’s first LIFE magazine cover photo in 1954 featured
National Portrait Gallery, London, the Museum of
Judy Garland on the set of “A Star is Born.” Here, Willoughby captures
Modern Art in New York, and the Bibliothèque Natio-
Garland in 1962 at the London Palladium during the filming of “I Could
nale in Paris, among many others. Now, with an intro- Go On Singing.” E Chet Baker after a recording session with Gerry
duction by son Christopher, Chronicle Books has Mulligan in Los Angeles in 1953. F Billie Holiday performing at the
published a rich and varied survey of his oeuvre titled Tiffany Club in Los Angeles in 1952.
Bob Willoughby: A Cinematic Life. —Michael Dolan

58 AMERICAN HISTORY
F
 G

H I

G Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman on a specially constructed set at This portfolio is
Paramount during the filming of “The Graduate” in 1967. H Michael Caine excerpted from the
on a Universal Studios set for “Gambit” in 1965. I Frank Sinatra at the new, comprehensive
craps tables at Las Vegas’ Sands Hotel in 1960. On an earlier Sinatra film monograph of Bob
set, “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955), director Otto Preminger tried Willoughby’s work,
to tell Willoughby how to take his photographs. Sinatra was reportedly Bob Willoughby:
stunned when the young photographer dared to tell Preminger: “You look A Cinematic Life
after your job and I’ll look after mine.” J Willoughby said he made himself published by Chronicle
seem invisible by blending in with the movie crew, once he realized they Books in November
were invisible to the actors. His favorite muse was Audrey Hepburn, but
2022, $60.
Willoughby shot several iconic photos of Hollywood’s other elite, such as
this one of Marilyn Monroe in 1960 on the set of “Let’s Make Love.”

60 AMERICAN HISTORY
J
 Divided
Land
by Dana B. Shoaf

THIS 1892 MAP depicts the Okla-

homa and Indian Territories not
long after the famous Oklahoma
Land Rush that started April 22,
1889, and eventually brought 50,000
White settlers into the area—a signif-
icant development in the establish-
ment of the state
Terra Firma of Oklahoma. Set-
tlers who had
slipped over the border before the
rush’s official start date to claim land
were called “Sooners.”
The eventual dissolution of
Indian Territory has a sad and com-
plex history. The term originated in
1835 when Southeastern Indian
tribes were forcibly displaced from
their native lands and moved west of
the Mississippi River, an event the
Cherokee called the “Trail of Tears.”
Over the ensuing decades, through
a number of federal acts and treaties,
Indian Territory continued to shrink
until it consisted of the area repre-
sented on this map. Through a num-
ber of congressional decrees—33
alone in 1870–79—White settlers
were allowed to move in and take up
residence in Indian Territory.
After the Land Rush, the Organic
Act of 1890 created the new Okla-
homa Territory boundary. Plains
Tribes were placed on reservations
in Oklahoma, while Indian Territory
remained the home of southeastern
tribes. The map includes the years
the treaties were drafted giving the
land to the respective tribes.
Eventually, both territories were
merged into one, the Oklahoma Ter-
ritory, and the term Indian Territory
disappeared from federal lands.
After four separate plans, the state of
Oklahoma was created in 1907.
Despite the colorful, engrossing
appearance of this map, it actually
documents one of many steps in the
marginalization of Native Ameri-
cans in the United States. +

62 AMERICAN HISTORY
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
 Moses, Michelangelo, and the NRA
Though he rarely left the public eye
for more than half a century,
Charlton Heston craved privacy.

Sixty Years in the Limelight

Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter) Heston was a shy person, yet he kept his public
played a vast number of historical figures persona in the spotlight for the rest of his life.
on-screen, among them: Moses, William “Buf- When assessing his own image, Heston noted,
falo Bill” Cody, Andrew Jackson (as a general “You just can’t overestimate the importance of an
in one movie and president in another), audience’s perception of a performer.” Heston
Michelangelo, Cardinal Richelieu, Brigham even exposed his one-time bad habit when he was
Young, and Marc Antony. He is also fondly enlisted to join several public service announce-
remembered for his roles in fictional movies ments on behalf of the American Cancer Society
such as Planet of the Apes, Ben-Hur, and even and Action on Smoking on Health (ASH) con-
Wayne’s World 2. demning his former vice of smoking tobacco.
Heston’s 60 years of public life set the bar Having previously sold Camel cigarettes for a liv-
for longevity. His career spanned acting (both ing, Heston’s about face was noteworthy. He elab-
on stage and screen), president of the Screen orated that he had his children’s welfare to be
BLACKMAN/DAILY EXPRESS/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Running the Race: Actors Guild, and also leader of the National concerned with and admitted, “[G]rowing evi-
The “Public Face” of Rifle Association. Some acting roles were dence that smoker’s endanger not only their own
Charlton Heston more enriching than others. health, but the health of others, which puts
By Brian Steel Wills Reviews This was made evident when another adjustment on it.”
Savas Beatie Press, receiving a role in a film based Author Wills weaves an enthralling narrative.
2022, $35 on one of William Shakespeare’s plays, Hes- Besides being a fun read, this book is like a walk
ton exclaimed, “Shakespeare is the real Super through memory lane for Americans. Pick up a
Bowl of acting. Thousands of years from now, copy and enjoy the ride through Charlton Hes-
if they are still acting, they will be acting ton’s public life.
Shakespeare.” —Richard H. Holloway

64 AMERICAN HISTORY
 for instance) and at times shifts into subjunc-
Passing and Then Some tively speculative “would have could have should
Ilyan Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife is as its have” language to keep the narrative engine rev-
subtitle advertises. Against all the slavocracy’s ving in the absence of confirmed fact, save for
oppressive illogic and violent constraints but these lumpy moments Woo maintains sure com-
inspired by fellow enslaved persons who had mand of her characters and their extraordinary
emancipated themselves through clever ruses, pilgrims’ progress. Master Slave Husband Wife is
Ellen and William Craft, improving on those a page-turning triumph that recounts a
schemes with a gambit seemingly destined to fail, life-changing triumph.
instead succeeded in late 1848. In the manner of —Michael Dolan
illusionists persuading a crowd that an elephant
has vanished, the couple up and walked away Still Standing
from bondage in the midst of their enslavers. A neophyte seeking an entrée to nonfiction writ- Master Slave
Self-emancipating predecessors like William ing about American intelligence-gathering, anal- Husband Wife: An
“Box” Brown (“Thinking Outside the Box,” ysis, and resulting activities overt and covert now Epic Journey from
December 2021) had had themselves packed up has a practical primer to consult prior to diving Slavery to Freedom
and shipped north, or, like Frederick Douglass, into that vast and varied catalog. Returning to a By Ilyon Woo
had posed as a freedman employed as a sailor, for realm he has visited in multiple earlier volumes,
Simon & Schuster
example. The Crafts’ far more daring concept was University of Edinburgh emeritus professor Rho-
2023; $29.99
to have light-skinned Ellen cross-dress and pre- dri Jeffreys-Jones renders a sharply focused and
tend to be a sickly, silent White male planter who crisply argued account of CIA achievements, face-
was bound north to seek badly needed medical plants, and oversteppings. In titling A Question of
care, with the darker William playing that indi- Standing, which leads with a tear through the 150-
vidual’s extremely devoted and highly protective odd years of spycraft and fieldwork that preceded
chattel body man. the CIA’s 1947 charter, followed by a brisk account
Thus disguised in plain sight, “master” and of the Central Intelligence Agency’s 75 years in
“slave” made their surreptitious and inexpress- business, Jeffreys-Jones employs “standing” in
ibly fraught way day upon day, mile upon mile, the sense of “regard,” as in being well-thought-of
and minute upon minute by train, ship, and stage- or not, specifically by a given presidential admin-
coach from Macon, Ga., to Philadelphia to Massa- istration—the sine qua non of a happy spy shop.
chusetts and eventually to true freedom in Standing has not always developed automati-
Britain. cally. Presidents from George Washington to
With its dizzying central premise, Master Slave Grover Cleveland pretty much could do as they
A Question of
Husband Wife could have succeeded as nothing liked when it came to intelligence as a function
Standing: The
more than a perfectly satisfactory thriller, but the of the executive branch. But in the modern age
ambitious Woo reaches much further and digs far unease, formal and informal, has intermittently
History of the CIA
deeper. Besides providing detailed portraits and dogged the nation’s meandering efforts in the By Rhodri
backstories for her protagonists, she deftly inter- shadow world. That certainly was so during the Jeffreys-Jones
rogates and illuminates the energetically frac- Great War, when civilian espionage entity “U-1,” Oxford, 2022; $27.95
tious community in the North that was bent on dominated by Ivy Leaguers, operated under the
abolition, mapping the figures and personalities State Department aegis.
comprising it, a census that temporarily wel- Greater latitude greeted the freebooting World
comed, enveloped, and celebrated the Crafts. Woo War II heyday of the Office of Strategic Services—
also incorporates a running history of the Fugi- in spy-speak, “OSS,” sometimes said to be short
tive Slave Act and its propagation of the for “Oh So Social,” a waggish nod to the outfit’s
slave-hunting trade. cliquish tilt, inherited from U-1. From the CIA’s
Working from the couple’s underappreciated inception at the dawn of the Cold War until reve-
1860 memoir, Running a Thousand Miles to Free- lations of domestic espionage, assassinations, and
dom, whose rich material she augments with other abuses brought wrenching ’70s-era reforms,
impressively broad and deep reporting, Woo, a the Agency waxed, sometimes wackily, as when
historian and journalist, delivers a crackling, CIA chemists schemed to make Fidel Castro’s
intimate melodrama grounded in the historical beard fall out, and sometimes went riotously off
record. the rails, as in a bungled 1961 agency-engineered
The author renders her effort all the more invasion of Cuba.
engaging by couching her subjects’ story in a Though its reason for being seemed to evapo-
voice evocative of the era: stately, formal, slightly rate when the Cold War ended, the War on Terror
distanced and yet emotive. Though her prose and Russia’s renascence as an imperialist evildoer
does stumble over the occasional glaring anach- have proved reliable goads to funding and
ronism (the 21st-century phrase “comfort zone,” employing the agency, often in full military mode,

SPRING 2023 65
 as in the Ayman al-Zawahri takedown. Regarding Brushing aside that advice, Reagan negotiated
standing, the current day sees the CIA not always agreements that in 1986 vastly reduced the risk of
primus inter pares among a passel of 19 officially nuclear war. The USSR collapsed in 1991. Histori-
designated intelligence enterprises. Jeffreys- ans mainly credit that implosion to Gorbachev, a
Jones, admitting to prizing brevity over com- devout Marxist with no idea how to fix his nation’s
pleteness, selectively illuminates key surges and hopelessly dysfunctional economy or how to
ebbs in the agency’s career and reputation with introduce democracy into a nation that had never
thought-provoking verve. known a democratic system.
—Michael Dolan Inboden’s expert account of American foreign
policy on Reagan’s watch is more favorable than
Reagan Reconsidered most. While denying that Reagan won the Cold
Republicans have no doubt that President Ronald War, The Peacemaker persuasively argues that he
The Peacemaker: Reagan won the Cold War; Democrats are certain was a more positive force than those around him.
Ronald Reagan, the that he did not. Scholars still debate the mechan- —Mike Oppenheim
ics, but all agree that in the 1980s the USSR was
Cold War, and the
moribund. Having been led by three ancients who By the Numbers…and Not
World on the Brink
quickly died, the Soviet state was saddled with a The raw data that go into the decennial census—
By William Inboden
faltering economy and no more successful fight- the names and individual particulars of every
Dutton, 2022, $35
ing in Afghanistan than the Brits before or the American—are by law released to the public 72
Americans after. years after that information was gathered. So,
Everyone agrees that Reagan entered office in when in 2017 historian Dan Bouk set his students
1981 as a pugnacious cold warrior. Convinced the at Colgate University to poring through original
Soviet Union, a superpower with a stronger mili- census documents hunting anomalies, the 1940
tary and a huge nuclear arsenal, was bent on replies were the most recent available. Bouk
world domination, Reagan held that communists, wanted examples that would show that data—
devilishly more clever than wimpy democrats, even data meticulously and objectively gath-
were subverting free nations right and left. He ered—are inherently faulty and need to be read
was correct only about the nukes, but his beliefs with at least a few grains of salt.
got him elected. Inboden, associate professor of The shortcomings begin with the questions
history at the University of Texas, delves deeply asked, given that practicality limits the number of
into Reagan’s Cold War policy. queries. In 1940, officials rejected a request to ask
Smiting the Soviets was the goal of everyone in each respondent’s “usual occupation.” The lesson,
Democracy’s Data: the new administration. The defense budget bal- according to Bouk, is that in analyzing data it’s
The Hidden Stories in looned. Given carte blanche, the CIA vastly important to weigh why those gathering informa-
the U.S. Census and expanded covert operations against governments tion thought certain responses more important
How to Read Them with leftist sympathies as well as less covert arm- than others. “We must look for a deeper set of val-
By Dan Bouk ing of the Taliban freedom fighters wreaking ues and concerns,” he writes.
Farrar, Straus and havoc on Afghanistan’s Soviet occupiers. Every- The most contentious question in the 1940 cen-
one knew this was a brilliant idea. sus asked, for the first time, how much a respon-
Giroux, 2022, $30
Unlike earlier administrations’ reflexive poli- dent earned. Users of census data were united on
tesse toward the USSR, Reagan denounced the the importance of getting this information, but
“evil empire” for lacking free elections and the question generated a torrent of opposition to
democracy and for trampling human rights. Even what some denounced as unacceptable govern-
at the time, observers complained that certain mental prying. Resistance led directly to another
nasty dictatorships, by vociferously opposing of the inherent data defects Bouk spotlights:
communism, gained standing to join Reagan’s respondents lie. His students found obviously
“free world.” comfortable neighborhoods in which respondent
Few, even in his own party, claimed that Rea- after respondent reported no wage income.
gan possessed deep insights, but Inboden sees Besides outright lying, there are the unintentional
one. He points out that all hands, even the GOP, mistakes: the person being interviewed by a cen-
deplored nuclear war, agreed that it might end sus taker merely guessing at a live-in maid’s age, or
civilization. But many—certainly almost all Rea- the census taker mishearing or incorrectly tran-
gan Republicans—considered nuclear desolation scribing an answer. And political considerations
the lesser evil. Better dead than red. can override facts. Bowing to State Department
Not Reagan. He genuinely believed nuclear war attempts to mollify the Mexican government, any
to be unthinkable. He horrified advisers by voic- participant whose race a 1940 census taker listed
ing intent to discuss arms reduction with Russia’s as “Mex” was recast as “white” when the data were
latest premier, Mikhail Gorbachev. Don’t be naïve entered onto punch cards.
enough to trust commies, Reaganauts warned. And there’s the basic structural defect that for

66 AMERICAN HISTORY
data to be useful answers have to be fit into cate- their ideas through unconventional forms of
gories that can provide comparable totals. Real media. “Birchers,” as Dallek refers to them, got
life, however, is messier than that. The 1940 cen- elected to school boards, harassed real or per-
sus presumed that every household had a head ceived political adversaries, and broadcast their
and some number of other members having spe- ideas on out-of-the-way spots on the radio dial or
cific familial connections. Households that dif- through widely distributed pamphlets. Most sig-
fered significantly from the supposed norm nificantly, they found a way to hang around as
stymied census takers, who often resorted to the part of the Republican Party’s electoral coali-
unapproved term “partner” to describe, say, a tion—never large enough to control the party but
roommate. But punch cards had no hole for “part- vital to any GOP hopes to win national elections.
ner,” so when entered into the final 1940 tally Dallek emphasizes the professional class
those answers were changed to “boarder.” origins of many of the far right’s original progeni-
Bouk makes a convincing case that we need to tors in America. Nevertheless, the conspiratorial Birchers: How the
read census numbers with an awareness of their politics of JBS and its more recent successors
John Birch Society
imperfections. But he falls short of his promise to such as QAnon found a large audience among dis-
Radicalized the
teach readers how to uncover “the stories in the affected white, working-class voters. Dallek attri-
American Right
data.” Given the results’ welter of misinterpreta- butes this to a search for succinct explanations to
By Matthew Dallek
tions, errors, and outright prevarications, he is the social, economic, and cultural challenges they
unable to discern from the 1940 data the true have faced in recent decades. The willingness of Basic Books, 2023, $32
stories of the enumerated, and so we can’t learn the Republican Party to accommodate this hard,
how, in our own reading of ancestors’ census conspiratorial right as part of its big tent for
replies, to sort fact from fancy. (Note: The 1940 decades made possible the rise of Trump—a
census was the first on which this particular dynamic, well-financed candidate who tapped
reviewer would have appeared.) into a ready-made political movement that
—Daniel B. Moskowitz already had these old tools of confrontation at its
disposal. Dallek’s book lacks some of the intellec-
Grassroots Movement tual heft of its predecessors that wrestled seri-
One of the most significant contributions by the ously with ideas that many of their authors found
current generation of American historians is a abhorrent, but Birchers makes a serious contribu-
bookshelf’s worth of serious scholarly examina- tion to our understanding of the logistics of how
tions of American conservatism and right-wing Far Right politics reshaped the Republican Party.
politics. Lisa McGirr’s Suburban Warriors (2001) —Clayton Trutor
focused on the movement-making efforts of The Atlanta Daily
middle-class conservative women in Orange Extra! A Little Extra! Intelligencer Covers
County, Calif. This bottom-up rendering of the Given the title of this new offering from Stephen the Civil War
conservative movement begat numerous other Davis and Bill Hendrick, readers might reason- By Stephen Davis
fantastic regional and national studies, including ably expect to find a compilation of news stories and Bill Hendrick
Kevin Kruse’s White Flight (2006) and Matthew from Atlanta’s largest newspaper between 1861 University of
Lassiter’s The Silent Majority (2007). In recent and 1865. But that’s not what you get at all. Don’t
Tennessee Press,
years, a new crop of books focused on the far be disappointed. You get something else instead,
2022, $40
right have added to the bounty, most notably and something much better.
Edward H. Miller’s A Conspiratorial Life (2022), To illustrate how Atlantans learned about the
a biography of John Birch Society [JBS] founder war, the authors do quote liberally from the
Robert Welch that beats a path directly from JBS’ paper’s news, editorial, and advertising copy. But
rabid anti-communism to the gates of QAnon. their aim is also to “show how the Intelligencer
Treading the same grounds, Matthew Dallek fur- reported the war’s important events, based on
ther firms up the foundation of this now robust the news it received; whether the paper got the
area of scholarly inquiry in Birchers. facts accurately according to our study of the his-
Many of the aforementioned works are intel- torical literature; and how the paper’s editorial
lectual histories in the clothing of political his- columns reflected on those events from a dis-
tory—they focus on why people came to think the tinctly pro-Confederate point of view.” Because
things that they thought. Dallek’s excellent book it succeeded in all these roles, the authors con-
is more social history in the cloak of political his- tend the newspaper “had few peers in the Con-
tory. He explains how the grassroots tools federate press.”
employed by the JBS during the 1950s and 1960s The authors are candid about why they chose
became part of the toolbox of the contemporary the Intelligencer as the basis for their case study
Far Right. He shows how the JBS made use of of Southern newspaper reporting during war-
confrontational, direct political action, lobbied time. The Atlanta History Center holds a virtually
local and national political leaders, and spread complete run of both microfilm and original

SPRING 2023 67
 since the opening of the war than they are at pres-
ent.” It repeatedly vilified Union political and
military leaders and accused them of perpetrating
a variety of atrocities, all with the aim of stoking
the morale of people on the home front. Although
daily circulation never exceeded 3,000, copies of
Intelligencer stories and editorials were reprinted
by newspapers throughout the South.
Even as reports of General Robert E. Lee was
surrendering to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in
faraway Virginia began to circulate, Intelligencer
editor John Steele continued to boldly support
the Confederacy. On April 18, 1865, he wrote
“we place no confidence in these statements,
viewing them as base fabrications of an unscru-
pulous foe.” Commenting on dispatches report-
ing the assassination of President Lincoln,
Steele wistfully mused that “truly the mysteri-
ous workings of Providence are past all human
comprehension.”
Ink-Stained Wretches paper copies, something that cannot be said for On May 4, 1865, the Intelligencer in an editorial
Newspaper publishers most Confederate newspapers. Indeed, when titled “Adversity—How to Bear It” counseled its
watch typesetters crank Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached readers to accept subjugation and face the future
out another issue of a
and later occupied Atlanta, the Intelligencer with bravery. The newspaper had survived the
19th-century newspaper.
decamped to Macon and continued to publish, war, no small feat as more than 60 Southern
thereby preserving both copies of the newspaper newspapers had failed, but it did not survive the
and its business records. After Sherman departed peace that followed. It folded in 1871 and its
in November 1864, the newspaper returned and equipment was sold at public auction for $4,000.
resumed publication. —Gordon Berg
Davis and Hendrick report in detail the diffi-
culties of maintaining a newspaper during a time Still on the Case
of manpower and material shortages, especially William Still is best known for his 1872 book
in the South. Paper, ink, and skilled pressmen recounting 995 bold escapes he oversaw during
were in chronically short supply and competition the 14 years he worked before the Civil War for
for them was fierce and unrelenting. Getting the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania
timely war news was especially problematic since Anti-Slavery Society (PASS). Still’s own astonish-
much of the reportage came by telegraph that was ing experiences awaited William Kashatus’ 2021
both costly and otherwise needed for critical war exploration not only of Still’s life but analysis and
messaging. Accuracy was always questionable, follow-up details on fugitives he assisted. Now
leading editor Archibald Gaulding to lament, biographer Andrew Diemer shares details of—
“Rumor confirms rumor and yet, we, of the press and controversies during—Still’s career, which
still remain indebted to nothing but rumor for all extended far beyond his role in the Underground
these reports.” Many newspapers, the Intelli- Railroad.
gencer among them, reprinted stories from news- The youngest of 18 children, Still at 23 moved
papers closer to the action and, as the war to Philadelphia in 1844. He worked a few jobs,
lengthened, ran letters written by soldiers to the including as a servant to a rich and helpful White
home folks or specifically to the newspaper to widow, before applying to clerk at PASS in 1847.
recount their experiences. Over time, he assumed more responsibility, lining
Besides the ongoing difficulties of reporting up arriving fugitives, often hidden on boats, with
timely and accurate accounts of war news to handlers to move them North, at first to New
Atlantans, the authors document the Intelligenc- York, then often to Canada.
er’s role as a propaganda organ for the Confeder- Still’s mother had escaped from slavery in
Vigilance: The Life
acy. Specifically, throughout the war, the Maryland twice, the second time leaving two
of William Still, Father newspaper fixed blame for the war on the enemy young sons behind. She would see only one of
of the Underground
GRAFISSIMO/GETTY IMAGES

and confidently predicted victory for the Confed- those sons again, decades later, after he visited
Railroad eracy. An editorial on July 31, 1862, the paper the Anti-Slavery Society office in Philadelphia in
By Andrew K. Diemer declared “a distinguished military chief said in 1850, where William Still recognized him as a
Alfred A. Knopf, our hearing on a recent occasion that the pros- long-lost sibling.
2022, $30 pects of the Confederacy were never brighter Among the hundreds Still aided were Harriet

68 AMERICAN HISTORY
 i t O u t !
Ch e c k
THIS WEEK IN
HISTORY
AN ORIGINAL VIDEO SERIES
Join hosts Claire and Alex as
they explore—week by week—
the people and events that have
shaped the world we live in.
JOIN
T O D AY !

T H E

LINCOLN
FORUM
What began as a modest proposal to bring Lincoln
enthusiasts together for a small East Coast-based yearly
history conference at Gettysburg has blossomed into one
of the leading history organizations in the country.
Our yearly November symposium is attended by scholars
and enthusiasts from all over the nation and abroad.
It attracts speakers and panelists who are some of the most
HISTORYNET.COM revered historians in the Lincoln and Civil War fields.

Visit our website:

thelincolnforum.org
for more information
 Tubman and her bands of fugitives, all of whom Britain’s throat, these men favored peace only if
escaped without complication. Others were less Hitler compromised and abandoned certain con-
fortunate, and Diemer dives into court cases quests. Otherwise, Britons meant to fight on; the
related to fugitive slaves or kidnapped free Blacks, jitter to befriend Vichy came from the Western
showing how after the passage of the Fugitive Hemisphere.
Slave law in 1850 Still and his committee maneu- Fears for American security were not as unrea-
vered in a tangled legal landscape. Still and his sonable as the Atlantic’s span suggests. Long-
family routinely sheltered escapees and main- distance amphibious operations were possible. If
tained close ties to prominent abolitionists such Britain fell quickly, America—its military capac-
as Robert Purvis, Frederick Douglass, and James ity as yet sharply limited—could become a target.
and Lucretia Mott. Fighting a two-front war solo against both Ger-
After the Harpers Ferry raid, two of John many and an increasingly hostile Japan would be
Brown’s men made it to Still’s home; John disastrous.
When France Fell:
Brown’s wife, Mary, stayed with the Stills before But some feared German accomplishments
The Vichy Crisis and
her husband’s execution. At this time, for his beyond even Hitler’s wildest dreams. One U.S.
the Fate of the
own safety, Still began stashing his notes on Army memorandum suggested that Senegal—then
Anglo-American
escapes he facilitated in a nearby cemetery. a French colony—could serve as a German base for
Alliance During the Civil War, the U.S. Army recruited taking sides in Brazilian coups and countercoups,
By Michael S. Neiberg Still to serve as sutler at Camp William Penn, gaining an ally in the French holding and perhaps
Harvard University which trained U.S. Colored Troops. Following the the South American country as well and closing
Press, 2021, $29.95 war, he pushed for Black education and set up a the southern Atlantic to the U.S. Navy. The memo’s
body to document the conditions of Blacks in authors imagined a domino effect tilting the rest
Philadelphia. of Latin America into German hands.
He campaigned vigorously for equal rights, not To avert doom, however implausible, the
only seeking to obtain Black suffrage but also to American government selected three policies:
desegregate the city’s streetcars. All the while, he Eminently sensible support for Britain, reassign-
kept businesses going, and by the late 1860s had ing forces needed in the Pacific to counter the
become a prominent coal broker and possibly “Latin American threat,” and accepting the Vichy
Philadelphia’s richest Black. Along the way, his regime as legitimate. Buying time was not the
proud high-mindedness and material success only goal. Neither was keeping U.S. options open,
drew criticism and envy; a generational rift in case Petain decided to switch sides. Rather, the
opened between him and younger activists. These Allies wooed Petain while spurning the Free
included Octavius Catto, in 1871 shot dead by an French.
associate of the local Democratic ward leader This nattering appalled the Free French and
while going to vote in Philadelphia. their British backers. American willingness to
Drawing on newspapers and archives, Diemer’s ally with a French government that oppressed
Vigilance brings the Black experience in both its own people and collaborated in genocide
antebellum and postbellum Philadelphia to life, contrasted with American policies aiming to
showing the extent to which, Diemer writes, weaken the reasonably benign British and
“Abolition was the beginning, not the end, of the French empires in favor of “self-determination,”
struggle for Black freedom.” further fueling the fire.
—Sarah Richardson Vichy’s Admiral Darlan made matters even
more complex. Darlan had urged war against Brit-
Winds From Vichy ain instead of remaining a “neutral satellite” of
May 1940: German armies overran France, whose Germany. As the Allies closed in on France’s colo-
government turned over power to Marshal Phil- nies of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, he decided
lipe Petain. Petain’s pessimism had saved lives in to turn his coat. The result was a four-sided chess
the trenches of World War I. Now he raised the match in which complex maneuvers alternately
white flag, creating the collaborationist Vichy imperiled vital military operations and brought
regime. those operations to a successful conclusion.
Outside France, panic gripped politicians and When France Fell is both a page-turner and an
generals who had assumed French forces could exhaustively researched account of the only
contain Germany until British and American mil- World War II political drama to match Churchill’s
itary expansion turned the tide. Now conquest takeover of the British government at the
loomed. One panicky proposed solution? Collab- moment of crisis. And it is a fascinating “warts
orate with the collaborationists. and all” picture of how an American government
Who were the figures behind this thinking? could gravely blunder while still saving much of
The British politicians who pushed Winston the world.
Churchill to negotiate? No. Despite the knife at —James Baresel

70 AMERICAN HISTORY
 OU T
CHECK CHIEF
IN
EDITORSHOA F’S
DANAES ON GEN. A conversational
EPISODTUS T YLER
ER AS AN 1861
A ND
approach to
R IN
MURDLEAND !
M A RY
interpreting
history!
Listen as
hosts Patrick
and Matt connect
you with your
favorite stories
from the past—
as well as ones
you may have
never heard!
@TheHistoryThingsPodcast
Download or
listen for FREE
 Getting His Exercise
When pulled along, this
tusker pedals his tricycle.

Pachyderm Pull Toy

THIS CHARMING PULL TOY dates from 1919–27, and it’s easy to had brought about the “Greatest Show on
DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION/PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

imagine the pachyderm cycling its way around a living room, tugged Earth” in the United States. Ringling Bros. and
along by a happy child reliving a circus visit. The small dot on the Barnum & Bailey’s circuses had been operating
animal’s ear is a brass tack imprinted “Steiff,” the famous German toy independently, but a shortage of train cars due
company whose items were popular in America. to wartime demands brought about the merger
Toy Box Many Steiff elephants were of the stuffed variety, but of the two different acts in 1919, creating the cir-
this “Velo” model was made of hand-painted pieces of cus powerhouse.
wood, and the front legs are articulated to pedal the tricycle’s drive Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey went out
wheel. Just like elephants under the Big Top! of business a few years ago, but the company
Even though the beast came from Europe, circuses there had plans to start up again in the fall of 2023. That
declined due to the ravages of World War I. That conflict, however, news is sure to keep the smile on Dumbo’s face. +

72 AMERICAN HISTORY
 First in War, First in Peace,
First on a Modern Commemorative Coin!
PROOF BRILLIANT
-Exquisite Proof Finish UNCIRCULATED
-Struck at the San Francisco Mint -Crisp, Uncirculated Finish
-Sold Out Limited Edition -Struck at the Denver Mint
-Sold Out Limited Edition

Obverse: Reverse:
George Washington Mount Vernon &
on horseback Heraldic Eagle

Actual size is 30.6 mm

FIRST and ONLY Modern Commemorative Struck in 90% Silver!

W
hen 1982 rolled around, the U.S. Mint hadn’t pro- melted down. Don’t miss out on adding this pair of coveted
duced a commemorative half dollar for nearly three firsts, each struck in 90% fine silver, to your collection! Call
decades. So, to celebrate George Washington’s to secure yours now. Don’t miss out. Call right now!
250th birthday, the tradition was revived. The Mint struck
90% silver half dollars in both Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) 1982 George Washington Silver Half Dollars
and Proof condition. These milestone Washington coins GOOD — Uncirculated Minted in Denver
represented the first-ever modern U.S. commemoratives, 2,210,458 struck Just $29.95 ea. +s/h
and today are still the only modern commemorative half Sold Elsewhere for $43—SAVE $13.05
dollars struck in 90% silver! BETTER — Proof Minted in San Francisco
Iconic Designs of the Father of Our Country 4,894,044 struck Just $29.95 ea. +s/h
Sold Elsewhere for $44.50—SAVE $14.55
These spectacular coins feature our first President and the
Father of Our Country regally astride a horse on the front, BEST — Buy Both and Save!
while the back design shows Washington’s home at Mount 2-Pc. Set (Proof and BU) Just $49.95/set
Vernon. Here’s your chance to get both versions of the coin SAVE $9.95 off the individual prices
in one remarkable, 40-year-old, 2-Pc. Set—a gleaming Set sold elsewhere for $87.50—SAVE $37.55
Proof version with frosted details rising over mirrored fields
FREE SHIPPING on $49 or More! Limited time
struck at the San Francisco Mint, and a dazzling Brilliant .
To learn more, call now
only. Product total over $49 before taxes
Uncirculated coin with crisp details struck at the Denver (if any). Standard domestic shipping only. !
Mint. Or you can get either coin individually. Not valid on previous purchases. First call, first served

Very Limited. Sold Out at the Mint!

No collection of modern U.S. coins is complete without
1-800-517-6468
these first-ever, one-year-only Silver Half Dollars—which Offer Code GWH133-01
Please mention this code when you call.
effectively sold out at the mint since all unsold coins were
SPECIAL CALL-IN ONLY OFFER
GovMint.com • 1300 Corporate Center Curve, Dept. GWH133-01, Eagan, MN 55121
GovMint.com® is a retail distributor of coin and currency issues and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. The collectible coin market is unregulated, highly speculative and
involves risk. GovMint.com reserves the right to decline to consummate any sale, within its discretion, including due to pricing errors. Prices, facts, figures and populations deemed ®

accurate as of the date of publication but may change significantly over time. All purchases are expressly conditioned upon your acceptance of GovMint.com’s Terms and Conditions
(www.govmint.com/terms-conditions or call 1-800-721-0320); to decline, return your purchase pursuant to GovMint.com’s Return Policy. © 2022 GovMint.com. All rights reserved. A+