The War of 1812 Revisited

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - episode 261 - The War of 1812 Revisited.   This is a look back at the highest rated - at least audience wise - podcast episode of Celebrate Poe so far - with almost 500 downloads.

Now, historian Alan Taylor, the author of The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies, writes that America and Britain were incompletely separated by the American Revolution.  The War of 1812 completed that separation. 

And Mr. Bartley and Mr. Poe argue about the meaning of "Poecentric."

Transcript

George - plain text
Ghost of Mr. Poe - italics text

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - episode 261 - The War of 1812 Revisited.   This is a look back at the highest rated - at least audience wise - podcast episode of Celebrate Poe so far - with almost 500 downloads.

Now, historian Alan Taylor, the author of The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies, writes that America and Britain were incompletely separated by the American Revolution.  The War of 1812 completed that separation. 


I feel some cold air - that must be Mr. Poe.


Greetings, Mr. Bartley.


Hello, Mr. Poe.


I must admit that I heard the last few sentences you uttered, and I agree that an excellent way of understanding the effect of an occasionally complicated War of 1812 is to remember the observation that the conflict completed the separation between America and Britain. One might say that - to use your current vernacular -  from the standpoint of the United States, as well as Britain, The War of 1812 - as you say it - tied up some loose ends.


Well, Mr. Poe that pretty well covers it.  I know that the American Revolution influenced you even though you were not alive yet.  The conflict  meant that you could be born in a free country where almost anything was possible. And you WOULD have been physically affected by the War Between the States - such as the destruction of much of Richmond - except that your earthly life ended more than 10 years before the War Between the States began.

Perhaps I would have fought on the Confederate Side.
Knowing what I know now, that would have been a difficult decision to make.


Oh, I don’t know, Mr. Poe - you were too much of a Southerner during your earthly life.


This is becoming a bit uncomfortable. Mr. Bartley - not to change the subject, but

Why do people always say that when they WANT to change the subject?


Mr. Bartley, I think it would be most appropriate for us to return to our subject of the War of 1812.


Yes, and to remember the purpose of this podcast - to keep it more Poecentric.


Poecentric?, I am not sure if that is a word.


Well, it is NOW!  What I mean, is I feel this podcast - while exploring areas that might really surprise and (if we’re doing well) entertain! you, Celebrate Poe needs to be PoeCentric - centered around the life, times, works, and influences of Edgar Allan Poe
Getting back to the War of 1812.  I think I am going to weave the story of the War of 1812 against the background of the stories of two individuals - one strongly against the war, and a man who is known as the writer of a song that was a result of the War of 1812.


Now, the British government was forcing American ships into their ports, so that they could tax all their goods, even if the American ships were not doing business with the British.  The Americans were trading goods with the French, and Britain did not like this at all.  In addition to any economic sanctions, the United States understandably became furious at the British practice of impressment.


Mr. Bartley, it might be advantageous for your narrative to explain what the term impressment means.


Impressment means forcing men to serve a navy by force - in this case forcing an American soldier to work without wages for the British navy.


Mr. Bartley, such a practice would seem to resemble slavery.


Yes, Mr. Poe, impressment does have elements of forced work without pay, but slavery is a much deeper evil.


Britain also set various trade restrictions and gave some support to Native American peoples who opposed United States expansion into their lands to the west.  So many Americans reached the opinion that the United States should declare war on England.


Were all Americans in agreement regarding this issue?
Far from it. 


Congressman John Randolph from Virginia told a group of Congressmen who were eager to begin a war - in his high-pitched voice, "Gentlemen, you have made war -- you have finished the ruin of our country -- and before you conquer Canada, your idol [Napoleon] will cease to distract the world, and the capitol will be in ruins.”


Mr. Bartley, those words definitely sound like the words of one of the Virginia Randolphs - one of the most influential families in Virginia - perhaps the most influential in the entire United States.
Yes, and John Randolph from Roanoke was extremely firm in his belief that the war was needless and argued that war would lead to high taxes and a larger national debt.


Mr. Poe, let’s take a little detour here and talk a little bit about John Randolph since he was such an interesting figure.

Yes, he was a direct descendant of William Randolph of Turkey  Island where I celebrate my first Christmas with the Allans.  I will always have fond impressions of that occasion.  Now John Randolph was also born on Turkey Island, and later moved to Roanoke, Virginia.  From that point on, he preferred to called John Randolph of Roanoke.


It is believed that Mr. Randolph suffered from a condition that hindered his maturation,perhaps Klinefelter's Syndrome.


Mr. Bartley, what is Klinefelter’ Syndrome? 


Klinefelter’s Syndrome results from an extra X chromosome in males.  The primary features are small, poorly functioning testicles and infertility (that would have been rough for an influential member of the Southern aristocracy.)  Intelligence is usually normal, but the person might have weaker muscles, greater height, breast growth, and less interest in sex.  Randolph never had a beard and his famous orator's voice was high pitched, some said womanly.


Yes, he WAS rather well-known for - how should I say it - the deficiencies of his unusual appearance.  in my story “The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar,” I wanted to communicate the unusual appearance of the main character’s physique - so I wrote “his lower limbs much resembling those of John Randolph.”


Steve Vogel, a professor of biomechanics, describes Randolph this way: Randolph's small head, raised shoulders, tiny waist, and long, thin legs gave him the look of a crane - an appearance made all the more pronounced by his clothing, usually a swallowtail coat adorned with a white cravat in which he would bury his neck. Randolph was a bitter misanthrope, known in Congress as rude, merciless, and venomous.


Mr. Poe, He does sound like a person who is interesting, but not someone I would like to know.


Mr. Bartley, knowing you, I had a feeling you might want to talk about John Randolph. 
Would you like to hear me relate another story regarding his colorful character.


Certainly.  No, Mr. Bartley - YOU continue.


I encountered this story during a visitation to the local library.
”When I was in Richmond a few days since," said Mr. Ridgely Howard of Baltimore to a representative of the Washington Star at the New Willard, "I made one of those bad breaks which prove so embarrassing. I was a guest of a member of the crack Westmoreland club, and after a slight repast I was escorted through the building for the purpose of viewing the pictures, relics of the civil war, -etc. During the tour mentioned my attention was particularly attracted to the portrait of what I took to be a very handsome brunette. I incidentally remarked to my host that the young lady was quite pretty, when, with a low chuckle, he replied, 'Yes, quite pretty, but as a matter of fact the picture represents John Randolph of Roanoke at 18.’

Let me explain how I was caught. The hair was parted in the middle and neatly combed back of the ears; the features were of a purely feminine mold, and the expression of the eyes and face was so shy and bashful that you will readily understand how I was deceived. One can hardly conceive, looking at the portrait of Randolph at the age represented, that he could ever grow into the cynical and disagreeable creature he is reported to have been in his later years. If he ever had love affairs which went wrong I have never heard of them. As near as I can learn he never had any real ardent affection for any woman except his mother, who, it is said, was beautiful, and whom it is also said he closely resembled in beauty as a child.


"Later in the day I paid a visit to Richmond’s Hollywood cemetery a beautiful spot, and sought the grave of Randolph. I found it on a gentle slope overlooking the James. It appears that some twenty years ago, or more, the remains of Randolph were moved from the lonely spot in the forest at Roanoke to their present resting place by the state authorities. A marble slab now covers his last resting. place, on which is the following inscription: 'Here lies John Randolph of Roanoke.' The only other words on the slab are those giving the date of birth and death." 

The claim that Randolph of Roanoke never had "real ardent affection for any woman except his mother" is not fully contradicted by  Robert Meade's description of Randolph's engagement to Mary Ward who later married John's brother Edmund. John Randolph suddenly and inexplicably called off the engagement in 1799. Meade believes the engagement was broken off because of Randolph's physical impairment.

It seems Randolph was not gay, he was more or less asexual due to his lack of physical development. A post-mortem examination of Randolph was conducted after his death and it was recorded that the quote  ‘scrotum was scarcely at all developed,’ with only a right testicle ‘the size of a small bean.’” We might say that John Randolph of Roanoke was neither a heterosexual nor a homosexual but falls somewhere else in the LGBT spectrum.
Mr. Bartley I know that John Randolph of Roanoke was supposed to be a bitter and angry man, but part of me feels sorry for him - a distinguished and extremely intelligent member of a highly influential family who often seemed to reject everyone and everything - pushing people away before they became close enough to hurt him - akin to individuals who automatically dismiss others as disagreeable before they are rejected as disagreeable themselves.


Mr. Poe - I had no idea you could be so compassionate and understanding.


I  think we have - as you say - picked on poor John Randolph of Roanoke long enough.


When Mr. Henry Clay became Speaker of the House in 1811, he forbade Mr. Randolph to bring his hunting dogs to the floor of the house - something Mr. Randolph  had always done in the past. These were not small quiet dogs, but large, stinking, sometimes howling hunting animals.

Now the hatred the two men they had for each other was quite intense. Randolph considered Clay corrupt. He famously called Clay, "a man of splendid abilities, but utterly corrupt. He shines and stinks like a rotten mackerel by moonlight.”

Mr. Bartley, if I relate a story about their duel, do you propose to move on to another subject?Sure, go ahead, Mr. Poe.
John Randolph especially disagreed politically with Henry Clay.  He even called Clay one of the worst things you could say about a person in the early 19th century - he called him a “blackleg" on the floor of the house.


Mr. Poe, what is a blackleg?


A blackleg is a cheater at cards.  I cannot imagine a gentleman being called ANYTHING worse. They then agreed to meet in Virginia because Mr. Randolph claimed only the soil of Virginia was worthy of his blood - THAT tcertainly sounds reasonable. Mr. Randolph confided to Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri that he had no intention of hurting Mr. Clay, who was married and had a child. The duel took place on 8 April 1826 a half mile north at Pimmit Run - so this occurred a bit later than our narrative - but gives you a window into the character of John Randolph of Roanoke.


Both first shots missed their intended targets. Mr. Clay’s second shot also missed, and Mr. Randolph raised his pistol and fired it in the air. The duel then ended, and the unhurt adversaries met each other halfway and shook hands. The duel proceeded almost comically. Mr. Randolph accidentally fired his pistol before the duel began when he inadvertently touched the hair-trigger. Although Randolph had expressed an intent not to fire at Mr. Clay, he was unnerved by the mis-fire and on the first round did fire at Mr. Clay. Both gentlemen missed on the first round and, proclaiming themselves unsatisfied, went on with the second. On the second firing, Mr. Clay put a bullet through the skirt of Mr. Randolph’s expensive coat, and Mr. Randolph made the grand gesture he had originally planned on, firing into the air and saying, "I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay." When met half-way to shake hands, Mr. Randolph remarked, "You owe me a coat, Mr.Clay." Mr. Clay replied, "I am glad the debt is no greater.”


Conservative writer and historian Russell Kirk in his book John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics says that modern conservatives recognize John Randolph of Roanoke  as a forebearer. After all, Mr. Randolph opened his public career in 1799 with a debate at Charlotte Courthouse against Patrick Henry in which he defended the position that the Federal Government had no right to impose laws on the states. It was Mr. Henry’s last debate and Mr. Randoph’s first.

In any case, political opinion reached a boiling point, and America declared war on Britain.  Britain had the most powerful navy in the world, while the United States navy was much smaller in comparison.
In 1814, the British invaded Washington D.C.  While it was the capital city of the country, at the time, Washington D.C. city was considered just a muddy village on the Potomac. When Dolley Madison, wife of the President, realized that the British were coming, she became determined to leave nothing of value for the enemy.  Among the treasures were a copy of the Declaration of Independence and boxes of presidential papers.  She told her servants,


If you can’t save them, destroy them


She refused to leave without Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington.  She had it pulled down, taken out of its frame, rolled it up, rolled it up like a scroll, and personally carried out of the White House.


Later she wrote:
It is done … the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe keeping, And now, dear Sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it, by filling up the road I directed to take. When I shall again write you, or where I shall be tomorrow, I cannot tell!!
Now Gilbert Hunt also served in the War of 1812, And while we could not find in which battles he served - and I know both Mr. Bartley  and myself searched for the information - Mr. Hunt  worked in the US Army day and night during the War of 1812.  He helped build, prepare, and mount cannons for his country's defense.
After the destruction of Washington, it probably seemed the next logical step (from the British point of view) to attack the nearby city of Baltimore - which at the time was the third largest city in the United States and a center of ship building. 
Francis Scott Key, a highly successful and respected Baltimore lawyer, was on a British ship as one of the men negotiating the release of a prisoner held by the British.  The British then forced them to stay on the ship because they were afraid the American men on board had somehow become familiar with British strength and their ship’s position. 
This really amazed me.  I grew up thinking - I don’t know exactly what I thought - but I assumed that Francis Scott Key was some guy who watched a battle from the shore and wrote The National Anthem.  I had NO IDEA that he was basically held prisoner when he wrote it - that this was not just some idle patriotic statement - but this rather aristocratic lawyer had such a personal INVESTMENT in what was going on, and did not know if he was going to live or die.
It was dawn before Mr. Key could see an American flag waving in victory, and he wrote a poem about his experience called “Defense of Fort McHenry” which later became the United States National Anthem.


Possibly one of the oldest men to fight at Fort Henry was 71 years old, and was none other than my grandfather David Poe Sr. from Baltimore.  Now David Poe, Sr. had served his country in the Revolutionary war as Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General of Baltimore.  Amazingly, he served in BOTH the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. 
And when General Lafayette came to the United States in 1824, General Lafayette came to Baltimore to visit my grandfather. but unfortunately by then my grandfather was no longer alive.


After two years of fighting, both countries decided to declare a peace treaty.    To be honest, not a great deal was changed.  From what I understand, the issue of impressment was not really dealt with.  But the war did give the United States a stronger sense of nationhood, and allowed Canada to remain part of the British Empire.


Mr. Bartley,  I am exceedingly curious about Mr. Randolph and Mr. Key.  They were quite different and ran in different political circles. It would be intriguing if they met.  I can only imagine such a confrontation. Mr. Key was considered a very kind and giving individual, while Mr. Randolph was of a - how should we say - of an arrogant, and even BITTER disposition with a tongue that could be both cruel and sharp.


In one of the curiosities of history, Mr. Key and Mr. Randolph were actually close friends. Mr. Randolph of Roanoke made Mr. Key one of the executors of his will which freed all of  Mr. Randolph’s 400 slaves.  And Mr. Key fought to see that the will was honored, and that the now freed slaves owned sufficient land to support themselves.


Thank you, Mr. Poe.


Farewell, Mr. Bartley - I must take my leave.

Sources include , The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies by Alan Taylor, John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics by Russell Kirk, Fort McHenry: Home of the Brave by Norman G. Rukert, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson, Edgar Allan Poe: The Man by Mary E. Phillips


Join me for the next episode of Celebrate Poe. 

And thank you for listening to this podcast episode.