Month: January 2018

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Old Ironsides

Thomas Chambers, The Constitution and The Guerrière, ca. 1845. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1962, 62.256.5. See also: https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/engagement-between-the-constitution-and-the-guerri%C3%A8re-34269

The USS Constitution, perhaps better known by its famous nickname “Old Ironsides,” is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy named by President George Washington after the Constitution, the very document enumerating the values which the newly-formed Navy was commissioned to defend. 1 Authorized by the Naval Act of 1794, and therefore one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the United States of America, Old Ironsides was the third constructed and was subsequently launched in 1797. Constitution and her five counterparts are distinct from the standard frigates constructed during this time period, however, due to their standing as the infant United States Navy’s capital ships. Such ships, as evidenced by the design of Constitution and her five original counterparts, are generally a navy’s most essential ships due to their larger size relative to the rest of the fleet which they are commissioned to lead. Designer John Humphreys, recognizing the need to develop ships that evidenced the power, courage, and destructive capability of a young Navy under global scrutiny and potentially vulnerable to attack, created frigates that were larger and more heavily armed than the common model of the time. Constitution herself was constructed in the North End of Boston at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard before originally being commissioned to provide protection to American merchant ships during the period of tension with France that arose following the achievement of American independence. She was also responsible for combatting the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.2

Old Ironsides’ greatest military fame, however, comes from her actions during the War of 1812, which pitted the young democracy against its former monarchical master, the United Kingdom. Constitution was successful during this period in capturing a multitude of merchant ships as well as defeating five British warships: the HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane, and Levant.4 The battle with Guerriere is especially significant in that her victory earned Constitution the nickname “Old Ironsides” as well as the public reverence and adulation that has saved her from a death sentence in the scrapyard on a number of occasions.5 During the battle with the famed Guerriere, which took place on August 19, 1812 at a distance of 750 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, Constitution unloaded her entire twenty-two cannon arsenal directly into her adversary at point blank range. While the British Guerriere simultaneously fired her own twenty-two cannon blast from no more than 50 yards away, such an onslaught failed to harm Constitution as Guerriere’s cannon balls glanced lamely off the former’s weathered oak sides. This demonstration of such remarkable strength prompted one of the Constitution’s crewmen to shout, “Huzza, her sides are made of iron!” thereby endowing the famed ship with her iconic nickname.6 Following her enormous successes during the War of 1812, Constitution remained a stalwart in the US Navy, serving as a flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons before going on to circle the entire world in the 1840s. In her last true act as a military instrument, Old Ironsides operated as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy during the Civil War. Her role as a beloved servant to her country did not cease there as the ship went on to carry American artwork and industrial displays to the famed Paris Exposition of 1878.

 

 

Photograph of Old Ironsides in Boston Harbor following a renovation in 1930, Boston Public Library7 

 

 

 

Retired from active service in 1881 and designated a “museum ship” in 1907, Constitution today rests as the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. In honor of her 200th birthday in 1997 and in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere in 2012, Constitution has twice since sailed under her own power.8

Though far from fit for active service as either a military or merchant vessel today, Old Ironsides remains a fully commissioned Navy ship with a crew of 60 officers and sailors responsible for promoting understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historical demonstration, and active participation in public events as part of the Naval History & Heritage Command.9

 

– Trevor Schmitt ’18

Footnotes

[1] “History.” USS Constitution Museum. Accessed January 23, 2018. https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/.

[2] Reider, Bruce. “Old Ironsides.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine 37, no. 3 (March 1, 2009): 461-62. doi:10.1177/0363546509332621.

[3] “Home.” USS Constitution Museum. Accessed January 23, 2018. https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/.

[4] “Short History of the War of 1812.” Accessed February 02, 2018. https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/history/essays/.

[5] Daniel P. Murphy, “America’s First Crisis: The War of 1812.” The Journal of American Culture 39, no. 2 (2016): 237.

[6] “‘Old Ironsides’ Earns its Name, 1812.” Accessed January 23, 2018. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/oldironsides.htm.

[7] Leslie Jones, USS Constitution, 1930. Boston Public Library, Boston. Accessed February 1, 2018. https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/5q47rq845

[8] “USS Constitution Museum; New Acquisitions at the USS Constitution Museum.” Science Letter, May 27, 2008.

[9]Ibid.

Additional Links

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/history/

http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/constitution/

A comprehensive look inside recent renovations to the ship as well as information on its current state, purpose, and crew (includes videos).

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/constitution.html

Suggested sources from Naval History and Heritage Command: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/constitution/constitution-bibliography.html

Online links from Naval History and Heritage Command: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/constitution/constitution-links.html

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William Alden House

For the first spindle of his relic chair, Henry Sheldon chose to use wood from the William Alden House in Boston, Massachusetts. Sheldon records the house as being built in 1660 on the corner of Sudbury and Alden Street, before being torn down two centuries later in 1860. The house’s presumed establishment in 1660 makes it the oldest sample in Sheldon’s chair. This longevity is likely responsible for its placement as the first of the 24 spindles, which are generally arranged in chronological order from oldest to newest. In his journal, Sheldon notes that the wood for the spindle was taken from one of the house’s oak mantle beams; however, he makes no further comments on the donor of the wood or how or why he acquired it.(1) To determine the significance of the William Alden house as a component of Sheldon’s relic chair, one must closely examine the genealogical history of the Alden family.

William Alden, born on September 10, 1669, was the tenth of eleven children born to parents John Alden and Elizabeth Phillips, and one of 8 boys. However, William was only one of five of these children to live past the age of five.(2) Upon John Alden’s death in 1702, he willed his estate in five parts to his surviving children and their families, one piece of this estate going to William, who was at this point John’s second eldest remaining son.(3) While Henry Sheldon’s records cite William Alden’s house as being built in 1660, various family records report the house as built in 1653, while dendrochronology testing of the houses beams date its construction as closer to the year 1700.(4)

William Alden was married to Mary Drury on May 10, 1691, at the age of 21. The two remained married until William’s death, and together bore seven children over the span of eighteen years. William made his living as an accomplished sailor based out of the Boston area. He was involved in a number of voyages throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Notably, William was a master on the ships Katharine and Content, which both sailed out of his home port of Boston in May 1698, and November 1704,respectively. Alden also piloted the ship Chester on an expedition to Jamaica’s Port Royal in 1710.(5) While it is unclear the purpose of these expeditions, it seems likely that William’s ships followed various trade routes to and from Boston. There is little information available surrounding the remainder of William Alden’s adult and professional life. He passed away in February 1729 at the age of 60.(6)

John Rogers, “Why Don’t You Speak for Yourself, John?”, patented 1885, painted plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Genevieve Wisel in memory of Dan Wisel, 1975.73.

Due to the lack of documentation regarding William Alden’s personal life, it is possible that much of the significance of the William Alden house, and its usage in Sheldon’s relic chair, relates to the story of William’s famous grandparents, John and Priscilla Alden. The love story between John Alden and Priscilla Mullins gained widespread fame following their voyage as Pilgrims on the Mayflower. The famous story is recounted in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1858 poem, “The Courtship of Miles Standish.” The poem is based on historical events, and dramatizes the story of John’s unlikely proposal to Priscilla. Longfellow tells that after the first winter following the Pilgrims’ arrival at Plymouth, Captain Miles Standish called John Alden to inform him that Standish’s wife had died, and he wished to remarry. Standish had chosen Priscilla Mullins as the woman he would like to marry, and he asked Alden to propose to her on Standish’s behalf. Alden was troubled by this request, but obeyed nonetheless. When Alden proposed to Mullins in Standish’s name, Mullins sensed Alden’s true feelings, and replied, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”(7) The two were married soon after in 1622.(8) Besides Longfellow’s poem, this story was further popularized by John Rogers’s mass-produced statuette entitled Why Don’t You Speak for Yourself, John?, which depicts Alden proposing to Mullins while she works at her spinning wheel.(9)    

While it is difficult to conclusively link John and William Alden to Middlebury, their impact on New England is well documented in the works of both Longfellow and Rogers. The historical coverage of the William Alden House is likely overshadowed by the prominence of the neighboring John Alden House, which was once home to John and Priscilla Alden. The house still stands today as a museum shortly outside of Boston and is thought to have possibly used materials from the William Alden house in its construction (McCarthy).(10) Considering this potential link to John Alden’s historic site, the William Alden house secures greater historical weight on a broad scale, and gains additional validity in its selection as part of Sheldon’s relic chair.

– Peter Martin ’19

 

References:

1. HL Sheldon Papers, Vol 19, Collection of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Middlebury, Vermont.
2. “User Home Page Book: The Ancestors of Robert Cutler Elwell: Ahnentafel Report of Robert Cutler Elwell.” Genealogy.com, www.genealogy.com/ftm/e/l/w/Robert-C-Elwell-MA/BOOK-0001/0002-0054.html.
3. Ebenezer Alden, Memorial of the Descendants of the Hon. John Alden (Randolph, MA: Samuel P. Brown, 1867), pp. 3.
4. Tom McCarthy, Erika K. Martin Seibert; Patty Henry, Edward L. Bell, Betsy Friedberg; Phil Bergen,  “National Historic Landmark Nomination: John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites / Alden House (DUX.38) and Original Alden Homestead Site (aka Alden I Site, DUX-HA-3)” March 2007. National Park Service.
5. Lucy Mary Kellogg, et al, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Part 1: Family of John Alden (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975), 93.
6. Alden, 7.
7. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish,” in The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1858). https://archive.org/details/courtshipofmiles00long10

8. Genealogy.com
9. Rogers, John. “Why Don’t You Speak for Yourself, John?” Smithsonian.com, americanart.si.edu/artwork/why-dont-you-speak-yourself-john-21162.
10. National Park Service 2014

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Middlebury Episcopal Church

According to Henry Sheldon’s log book, this specimen was taken from the “original chancel railing” of the “Episcopal Church built in Middlebury, VT in 1827 under the direction of Bishop B.B. Smith.”[1] Sheldon’s decision to include this relic in his chair makes sense because of his personal connection to the church. He was a member of the church for 63 years, and for 33 of those years he served as the organist.[2] Thus, although there is no record of how Sheldon acquired the spindle, we can hypothesize that Sheldon simply utilized his connection to the church and most likely took it himself when the chancel railing was removed in 1875. The church and the Sheldon museum were also closely connected. Sheldon often used the church to store materials from his museum, and positions on the board of the museum were primarily held by vestrymen from the church. Sheldon even went so far as to keep records of the church from 1879 to 1906, documenting its inner workings and business records.[3]

Exterior of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Middlebury, VT. Photograph by the author.

The Episcopal Church, also known as St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, was originally founded on St. Stephen’s Day on December 26, 1811. However, it took years before the church found its footing in the community. The building was constructed primarily out of limestone and built on public land in the town’s center. To this day, the Revere Bell (purchased in 1835) and the Johnson tracker organ (purchased in 1875) remain in the church. Although they have undergone repairs and upgrades, the originals remain functional.[4] According to the church’s own account, the wealth and outreach of the church fluctuated, especially in the early years: “St. Stephen’s alternated between periods of prosperity and poverty, at one time supporting missions in two outlying towns, and at other times unable to afford the services of a rector.”[5] However, the church has survived throughout the years. Despite fires, renovations, and restorations, the church continues to function in its original location.

Auguste Edouart, Portrait of Benjamin Bosworth Smith, 1844. The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr., S/NPG.91.126.23.B.

The church was consecrated in 1827 under the leadership of Benjamin Bosworth Smith, who then became the Presiding Bishop.[6] Born in Bristol, Rhode Island, Smith (1794-1884) attended Brown University and graduated in 1816. After serving as a rector at various churches along the east coast and moving around quite a bit, Smith became the rector of St. Stephen’s Church in Middlebury in 1823. He assumed several other roles throughout the rest of his life, including being consecrated as the first Bishop of Kentucky in 1832. He also served as superintendent of public construction for Kentucky from 1839 to 1842, and Presiding Bishop from 1868 to 1884.[7]

Currently, the church is led by Rector Dr. Susan E. McGarry, the 41st rector of St. Stephen’s. She began her tenure in 2012 after moving to Middlebury from Ann Arbor, Michigan.[8] Despite its ups and downs, the church continues to thrive and serve an active role in the Middlebury Community.

-David McDaniel ’19

Footnotes

[1] Henry Sheldon, “Log Book” (HL Sheldon papers vol. 19), Collection of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Middlebury, VT.

[2] “St. Stephen’s Church Records,” 1879-1906, Collection of the Henry Sheldon Museum, Middlebury VT.

[3] Ibid.

[4] “History,” St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church: http://www.ststephensmidd.org/about/history/. Accessed 20 January 2018.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] The Episcopal Church, “Smith, Benjamin Bosworth,” An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/smith-benjamin-bosworth. Accessed 20 January 2018.

[8] “Rector,” St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church: http://www.ststephensmidd.org/about/rector/. Accessed 18 January 2018.

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Middlebury Block House

In his acquisitions ledger, Sheldon recorded receiving several artifacts from J.R. New of Middlebury on September 13, 1884, most of which came from the “block house,” built 1782.

Sheldon Museum Acquisitions ledger, September 1884

In addition to these objects, the ledger also indicates that Sheldon also acquired a fragment of wood from Holland Weeks’s homestead on the same day. Sheldon’s diary entry for September 13, 1884 indicates that he traveled to Salisbury, Vermont (about ten miles south of Middlebury), where he collected “some old books and relics.”

In the log book of woods used in the relic chair, Sheldon provides only slightly more information: “11. Block House: A gamble roof log house on the farm of Benjamin Smalley near the north bank of the river 40 rods west of the house of John Seeley.”

According to H.P. Smith’s History of Addison County, Smalley was “the first immigrant who brought his family” to settle with him in Middlebury, arriving, like many of the other settlers, from Salisbury, Connecticut (Smith, 244).

In traditional usage, a “Block House” indicates a fortification, a structure intended for military use. It’s possible Sheldon was using the term with its vernacular meaning of simple, square construction; he also likely meant to note a not a “gamble roof” but rather a “gambrel roof,” a symmetrical roofline with two different slopes, often seen on barns. More research is needed to determine the significance of this structure, the identity of “J.R. New,” and other mysteries of Sheldon’s selection.

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Andy Johnson’s Tailor Shop

The central relic in the lower row of spindles is not finely turned with gently swelling curves, like its neighbors—instead, it is a rough-hewn, rectangular length of wood. Its inscription suggests familiarity rather than formality: “Andy Johnson’s Tailor Shop.” Yet far from being another local Middlebury connection, this relic hails from East Tennessee, and the homestead of a former President: Andrew Johnson.

Andrew Johnson Montage, with portrait, tailoring tools, and tailor shop, n.d. Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Andrew Johnson was the seventeenth President of the United States, ascending to the office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His tenure has been widely denounced. Serving in the aftermath of the Civil War, Johnson looked to quickly reunify the country through Reconstruction policies that were largely at the expense of Black Americans, dismantling institutions such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, which had been intended to offer material aid and secure civil rights for formerly-enslaved people. In 1868, articles of impeachment were brought against Johnson; he was the first (though not the last) U.S. President to face an impeachment trial. After leaving office, he returned to Tennessee, staging a comeback when he ran for and won a seat in the Senate in 1875. He died only a few months later.

Fewer than ten years after these tumultuous events, Henry Sheldon contacted Johnson’s daughter, Martha Johnson Patterson, asking her for a contribution to his museum. Patterson had served as the primary hostess during her father’s years in the White House, acting as a de facto First Lady. In Tennessee herself, Patterson delegated the sending of the relic to W.H. Piper, the County Court Clerk of Greene County (see below).

“Dear Sir: In compliance with your request of the 15th inst. asking for a piece of Ex Pres. Andrew Joshson’s [sic] “tailor shop,” I send the same by mail, the same was furnished by his daughter Mrs. M.J. Patterson/ Your Very Respectfully/ WH Piper/ County Court Clerk.” Letter from W.H. Piper, Greene County Court Clerk, to Henry Sheldon, 24 Oct. 1883. Henry Sheldon Archives, letter 883574.

Sheldon’s excitement about receiving the relic can be seen in the enthusiastic underlining in both his diary and his acquisitions ledger, noting his receipt of the piece of wood from “Andy Johnson’s Tailor Shop.”

Henry Sheldon, Diary entry of 27 Oct. 1883.
Sheldon Museum acquisitions ledger, entry of Oct. 26, 1883.

 

Like Lincoln, Johnson built much of his reputation and public persona on his humble background, highlighting his former employment as a tailor. Popular lore frequently emphasized how Johnson received his primary education not in school, but by asking people to read newspapers and books to him as he sewed.[1]

Joseph E. Baker, “The ‘rail splitter’ at work repairing the union,” 1865. The Library of Congress.

Political cartoons featured the team of Lincoln and Johnson collaborating in their roles as “rail-splitter” and “tailor” to heal the rift of the Civil War with their trades. Here, Lincoln uses a rail to hold a globe featuring the U.S. aloft as Johnson crouches atop it with shears, needle, and thread in hand, attempting to mend the rip across the country. “Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever!!” Johnson exclaims, while Lincoln encourages him: “A few more stitches Andy and the good old UNION will be mended!”

“A Prophetic Picture: A.J. Returns to His First Love,” Harper’s Weekly, 6 March 1869, 160.

Yet other depictions spoofed Johnson’s status as a tailor, especially in the aftermath of his impeachment. In “A.J. Returns to his First Love,” Johnson stands defiantly at a storefront under the sign “A. Johnson Clothier.” The windows are filled with signs offering bargains—most of which are actually puns on the former President’s failings and reduced status: “Coats Turned,” “Party Ties Sold Cheap,” “Heavy Fall,” “Greatly Reduced,” and, most alarmingly, “Colored Kids for Sale.”

“Andrew Johnson’s Tailor-Shop in Greenville [sic], Tennessee- Photographed by J.B. Reef,” Harper’s Weekly, 14 Oct. 1865. The Library of Congress.
With this role in the public imagination, the tailor shop was preserved as a historic site and tourist destination. One early illustration, published in Harper’s Weekly while Johnson was still serving as President, depicts two figures—perhaps a father and son—visiting the site; the top-hatted father gesticulates at the building, as though imparting a lesson. It is a small frame structure (approximately twenty-one feet by fourteen feet) that still exists today, covered in weather-beaten wooden boards. A brick chimney rises up one side of the building, and small windows flank a central door. In the illustration, the building sits on carefully-stacked stones, rather than a secure foundation. It is a rustic structure that evokes Johnson’s humble background.

At the time Sheldon acquired the relic, Johnson’s descendants still owned the building, but it was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1921. A few years

The Andrew Johnson National Historic Site Welcome Center/Memorial Building, erected 1923 on the site of the Tailor Shop. Photograph by the author, December 2017.

later (1923), the State erected a brick “Memorial Building” around the structure, in the hopes of protecting the fragile building from the elements. It was designated a national monument in 1941 and is open to the public as part of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service.

Thompson Brothers, A. Johnson tailor shop parade float, 1930s. Thompson Photograph Collection, C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library.

The Tailor Shop was still seen as an icon of Tennessee history in the 1930s, when the structure inspired a parade float; descendants of Johnson donned period costumes and rode through town as though perched on the lawn of the building, painstakingly reproduced. Even though the structure had been sheltered from open viewing, protected by the “Memorial Building,” it was still very present in the public imagination.

-Ellery Foutch, Assistant Professor

[1] See, for example, “President Andrew Johnson,” Harper’s Weekly IX, no. 437 (13 May 1865), 289.

Andrew Johnson Tailor shop, within the Memorial Building structure, December 2017. Photograph by the author.
Interior of the Andrew Johnson Tailor shop, December 2017. Photograph by the author.
The sign of “A. Johnson, Tailor,” seen at the Andrew Johnson Historic Site, December 2017. Photograph by the author.

 

 

Further reading:

Online exhibition with artifacts from Andrew Johnson Historic Site: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/tgKy36vEeIZxLg

“An Historical Tailor Shop,” The Tailor XII, no. 2 (Sept. 1901), 4-5:

Cameron Binkley, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site: Administrative History (National Park Service, 2008): http://npshistory.com/publications/anjo/adhi.pdf

Paul H. Bergeron, Andrew Johnson’s Civil War and Reconstruction (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011).

Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution (New York: HarperCollins, 1988).

Annette Gordon-Reed, Andrew Johnson (New York: Times Books, 2011).

Hugh A. Lawing, “Andrew Johnson National Monument,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 20, no. 2 (June 1961): 103-119.

Evan Phifer, “Martha Johnson Patterson: Hostess of the Andrew Johnson White House,” White House Historical Association, 13 Mar. 2017: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/martha-johnson-patterson-hostess-of-the-andrew-johnson-white-house

Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein and Richard Zuczek, Andrew Johnson: A Biographical Companion (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2001).

James Stewart, Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy (new York: Simon and Schuster, 2009).

Hans L. Trefousse, Andrew Johnson: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton, 1989).

Andrew Johnson’s Tailor Shop (foreground) and early home, undated (National Park Service).