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Providence RI.

The Sentinelle Affair: Keeping The French in Franco American

Elphage Daignault architect of the Sentinelle Affair

In 1919, the Federation of Canadian Catholic Churches in America decided to tackle the need for better schools. Catholic parish schools adequately served younger students. But for high-school age students, the existing institutions were deemed inadequate.

The Federation intended to change that with a series of state-of-the-art high schools, and it would start in Woonsocket, R.I. At times, Franco Americans made up more than three-quarters of the Woonsocket population, many drawn from Canada by the vibrant mill economy.

Elphage Daignault, architect of the Sentinelle Affair, and his wife

The Providence Catholic Diocese unveiled plans for the Mont Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket with fanfare. The Franco-American population embraced this proposal for a fine new school. But as fundraising for the school began, rumors began to circulate. The new school would conduct classes in English only. French would only be taught as a separate language course.

The decision to push Franco-American students through an English-speaking school touched a nerve and ignited the Sentinelle Affair. The Sentinellists decided to preserve the French language in the church, community AND schools..

At the center of the Sentinelle Affair stood Elphege J Daignault. As the controversy raged from 1923 through 1929, Daignault earned a reputation as a savior of French-Canadian culture – or an agent of Satan, depending on your point of view.

Daignault – born in Woonsocket in 1879 — studied at college in Montreal, Boston and New York. From 1922 to 1936 he served as president of the Canado-American Association.

Elphege Daignault and the Roots of the Sentinelle Affair

mont-saint-charles-academy-which sparked the sentinelle-affair.

Mont Saint Charles Academy Postcard

In the 1920s, the French language was under assault in states around the country. Many enacted English-only laws to discourage immigrants from retaining their native tongues in their new home in America.

Italian communities had founded the Knights of Columbus, closely aligned with the Catholic Church, to defend against attacks on Italian culture. The Franco-American community followed up with the Order of the Crusaders to serve the same purpose. A secret society, it worked to counter anti-Canadian bias.

By the time of the Sentinelle Affair, Elphege Daignault had already made himself a thorn in the side of the Providence Diocese of the Catholic Church. In 1914, he led a group that forced Bishop William Hickey to remove the French Marist Fathers from the Sainte-Anne Parish of Woonsocket and replace them with a local, native Franco American.

The plans for the English-only high school outraged Daignault and his supporters. A lawyer, judge and politician, Daignault opened up two lines of attack on the plan. He sued in state courts, accusing the church of improper use of funds by soliciting donations from Franco-American Catholics. The funds were used for projects that not only didn’t specifically serve their community, but actively undermined the community by attempting to snuff out the French language and culture.

Daignault argued the church method of pooling all donations did not comply with the terms under which it solicited them.

He took a second tack, filing appeals with the Vatican asking it to intervene in the matter and to halt the Anglicization of church schools.

La Sentinelle is Published

In addition to trying to win his case in the courts of the Vatican and Rhode Island, Daignault also decided to turn to the court of public opinion. To promote his point, Daignault took an active role in running a Woonsocket newspaper: La Sentinelle.

While many Franco-Americans supported Daignault’s views, they generally were not as hostile and direct while challenging the church.

He accused his enemies of murdering the French culture and of operating deceitfully.

He also turned the fight into an ethnocentric attack on Irish-American Catholics, a prominent force in the American Catholic Church. Irish clergy, he contended, were “national assassins.” And he called their French Catholic supporters traitors to their people. The church had embraced the unstated goal of Irish domination. Daignault also mocked the Irish for embracing the language of their oppressors – the English.

Daignault’s megaphone grew as newspapers in Holyoke, Mass. and Nashua, N.H. echoed his editorials, which he sometimes signed and sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Blaise Juliet.

Opposition to Daignault

Daignault’s voice was not the only opinion found in the Franco-American press. His critics voiced their opposition in newspapers in Manchester, N.H., as well as Holyoke, Woonsocket and Lawrence in Massachusetts.

They accused Daignault of trying to foment a modern crusade and creating controversies where none existed. He vilified his enemies, they charged, by challenging their patriotism simply because they disagreed with him.

Even many who agreed with Daignault could not support his vitriolic attacks on the church.

Taking the Fight to New Hampshire

Far from backing down, Daignault took his campaign to Manchester, N.H. In that state the language issue also simmered as Bishop George Albert Guertin worked to modernize New Hampshire’s Catholic schools. Guertin also planned to limit the speaking of French to just language classes.

Daignault attacked popular Franco-American priest P.J. Ernest Devoy, an advocate for education. Devoy, he charged, was bilingual but never used French in his official capacity. Daignault called it a “diabolical” practice.

But there was growing weakness in Daignault’s campaign. He could draw a sizable crowd to rallies, but regular Catholics were wary of his attacks on the church.

Then the Franco-American Catholic Federation in 1924, at its annual meeting at Willimantic, condemned Daignault’s tactics.

He lost his court challenges in the Rhode Island courts. His requests to the Vatican yielded no support. Finally, the machinery of the Catholic Church stopped tolerating his dissent.

In 1928, the Vatican declared it would hear no more from Daignault. The church authorized Bishop Hickey to excommunicate Daignault and 62 of his followers. Daignault then attempted two more Hail Marys. The Rhode Island Supreme Court threw out his final lawsuit. And when he sought legal protection within the Vatican courts against excommunication, he failed.

Finally, in January of 1929, Bishop Hickey delivered a message to Daignault and his supporters. If they did not renounce their position and repent before Easter, he would then bar them from entering any Roman Catholic Church.

Daignault caved. He publicly promised to seek forgiveness from the church authorities. He also apologized so the church would readmit him. Hickey called it the “greatest consolation I have had since the unfortunate movement was launched.”

The End of the Sentinelle Affair

The church defeated Daignault, but it did not completely silence him. He continued writing articles urging Franco-Americans to retain their culture. Then in 1933, a stroke slowed him substantially, and in 1937 he died of a heart attack.

This story updated in 2022.

Thanks to:

The Sentinel Affair (1924-1929) and Activist Survival: The Franco-American Experience in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, by Richard Sorrell. The Sentinelle Affair: A Study in Multilingual Language Practices, by Jason Peters. Elphège J. Daignault et le mouvement sentinelliste à Manchester, New Hampshire, by Robert B. Perrault. And Rhode Island and Connecticut newspapers.

Image: Mme et M. Elphège Daignault : d’après la photographie originale de l’agence photographique Pacific and Atlantic.

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Six Paintings of New England Spring

Artists have probably created far fewer New England spring paintings than of any of the three other seasons. After all, New England has so little spring. The cold gray months morph into mud season and then black fly season. And then, suddenly, it’s the Fourth of July and summer.

And yet New England’s artists have managed to capture what is appealing about the brief New England spring. Maple sugaring. Apple blossoms. Bird’s nests. Brilliant, clear light on sunny days. Romantic moonlit nights.

So here are six paintings of New England spring, one in each state.

New England Spring by Moonlight

May Night by Willard Metcalf. National Gallery of Art.

Willard Metcalf painted May Night, one of his best works, while at the Old Lyme artist colony in Connecticut.

Metcalf was born into a working class family in Lowell, Mass., in 1858. He began painting at 16 and opened a studio in Boston at 18. Early success allowed him to study in Europe for five years.

He then moved around the Northeast, teaching and painting portraits and illustrations. Then he moved to Gloucester, Mass., and devoted himself to landscape painting. His friend Childe Hassam encouraged him to join the Old Lyme artist colony, where he could find high thinking and low living.

May Night depicts the home of Miss Florence Griswold, who founded the Old Lyme colony. In 1907, Metcalf won the Corcoran gold medal for it, along with a $3,000 purchase price. But Old Lyme probably lost its charm for him when his wife ran off with one of his students that year. The painting now belongs to the National Gallery of Art.

Metcalf then spent time at the Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire, where he painted many landscapes of the changing seasons. One critic called him “the poet laureate of the New England hills.”

The Corcoran Gallery held a major exhibition of his work in 1925, the year he died of a heart attack at age 66.

Spring on a Farm

Spring, by Winslow Homer. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Winslow Homer, born in Boston, Mass., in 1837, learned watercolor at his mother’s knee. He apprenticed to a lithographer for a few years, but hated it. For the next 20 years he illustrated life in Boston and rural New England as well as battlefield scenes during the Civil War.

He then moved to New York, but traveled frequently, painting all the way. In the spring of 1878 he produced 50 watercolors, admired for their fluidity and sparkle. Spring, painted on a farm, is one of them.

Homer eventually grew reclusive around 1880. His family owned an estate on Prout’s Neck in Maine, and Homer moved into the carriage house. He painted the sea in Maine, traveling to the Caribbean during the winter and sometimes to the Adirondacks.

Though he also painted in oil, Winslow Homer knew he’d done something transcendent with his watercolors.

“You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors,” Homer once said. He hung some of his exquisite watercolors on the walls of the rental cottages. Now they’re in museums or private collections. His 1878 watercolor Spring belongs to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

‘As if the year were all springtime’

Still Life with Robin’s Nest by Fidelia Bridges. Private Collection.

Fidelia Bridges, born in 1834, was one of the very few women artists who could support herself with her work. She only painted birds and plants, which she rendered with exquisite detail and a poetic sensibility.

She ‘paints as if the year were all springtime,’ wrote one critic.

Bridges was often lonely and sad, but her exquisite paintings convey a lyrical joy in the birds and flowers she loved.

Fidelia Bridges was the daughter of a Salem sea captain who plied the China trade. Her parents’ death when she was 15 impoverished her family, but wealthy patrons allowed her to study art in Philadelphia and Europe.

She painted some of her best works in Stratford, Conn., along the Housatonic River. She also sold her work to Louis Prang, who invented the American Christmas card in Boston. For a time she worked as governess for Mark Twain’s children.

Girl on Rock

Spring by Maxfield Parrish. Illustration for Life magazine, 1922 Easter edition

The landscape of Vermont and New Hampshire inspired Maxfield Parrish in 1922 to create lush, romantic paintings like Spring.

Parrish belonged to the Cornish Art Colony from 1898, when he and his wife built a house in Plainfield, N.H. He downplayed his own abilities, calling himself “commonplace” and “a mechanic.”

He used an ancient technique to paint, starting with a monochrome underpainting and then layering transparent glazes. It made him rich and famous. His 1922 painting Daybreak was the most popular art print of the 20^th century, appearing in one out of every four households.

His painting Spring appeared as the Easter cover art for Life magazine April 6, 1922. Parrish then got sick of painting lissome nymphs in outdoor settings. No more girls on rocks, he told the Associated Press in 1931. From then until his death in 1960 he abandoned illustration and painted landscapes.

Apple Trees in a Meadow

Apple Trees in a Meadow by Edward Bannister. High Museum

Edward Bannister stunned the judges of the art competition at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. When he came to receive his gold medal, they were astonished to discover they’d awarded it to an African American.

After winning the prize he prospered as an artist, working out of his studio in Providence, R.I.

Bannister credited his wife, Christiana, with everything he accomplished. She ran several hair salons and told him to devote himself to his painting. Once his paintings started to sell, they spent summers in a cottage on Narragansett Bay. He often painted en plein air.

In 1890, Bannister painted Apple Trees in a Meadow, a familiar sight during the New England spring.

Bannister died in 1901, and his work fell into obscurity. He has since been rediscovered. Apple Trees in a Meadow now belongs to the High Museum in Atlanta.

New England Spring, Vermont Style

American Forest Scene–Maple Sugaring by Arthur Tait

You may well recognize this lithograph as a Currier and Ives, originally sold as a cheap and popular print but now quite collectible.

Nathaniel Currier started off in Boston but eventually moved to New York. Once he hit on the formula of dramatic scenes of newsworthy events, he was on his way. He teamed up with James Merritt Ives and they expanded into scenes of city life, portraits, politics, boats and landscapes.

The firm made prints from the work of the most celebrated artists of the day: Eastman Johnson, George Inness and Thomas Nast. It also employed its own artists, like Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, who specialized in sporting scenes.

New England winter scenes proved especially popular. Snow, however, is not unknown during a New England spring.

Arthur Tait, a British-American artist, painted American Forest Scene—Maple Sugaring. Though he lived in New York, we’re choosing to call this a Vermont scene, as it produces more maple syrup than any other state.

Currier and Ives lasted 72 years before going out of business.

This story updated in 2022.

Images: Spring by Parrish, Plum Leaves via Flickr, CC by SA 2.0; Robin’s Nest (1863, private collection) public domain PD-US.

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The New England Defenders of the Alamo

Among the defenders of the Alamo, at least eight came from New England to start a new life. Those lives were cut short, like all the others besieged for 13 days in the old Spanish mission.

This is the story of those men who traveled from every New England state for a piece of land to support a home and a family.

Gone To Texas

After the Mexican Revolution of 1824, the Mexican government offered very generous land grants to people to come and settle in the region of Texas. The government offered the grants on condition the recipients become Mexican citizens and adopt Catholicism.

This project succeeded so well that within a few years Americans outnumbered Mexicans in Texas. As many as 135,000 U.S. citizens made the move.

In fact, so many left their homes in the States that when they didn’t pay their taxes the tax rolls commonly noted GTT, “Gone to Texas.”

As you will see, many of these men made their way to Texas via New Orleans. They did it because the river network was the easiest way to travel among the states. If you could connect with the Ohio River you could then connect with the Mississippi and then on down to New Orleans and, finally, across into Texas.

The Americans in Texas began to petition the Mexican government to change the requirements for the land grants. When that failed, they really started to agitate.

The Alamo

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna moved the Mexican Army into Texas to quell the unrest and bring the Americans to heel. It culminated in a 13-day siege at the Alamo, a makeshift fort that had once served as a Spanish mission.

About 100 men had been stationed at the Alamo. Before the siege began, William Travis and James Bowie, who would eventually co-command the fort, arrived with some reinforcements.

The siege began on Feb. 23, 1836, when Santa Anna marched 1,500 Mexican troops into San Antonio. He raised a blood-red flag demanding unconditional surrender. In response, the defenders of the Alamo fired off an 18-pound cannon, which volunteer militiamen – including two from New England — had dragged all the way from New Orleans.

The two sides skirmished for 10 days. Travis knew the garrisoned men couldn’t stand up to the Mexicans, so he wrote letters to Texas and the United States begging for supplies and reinforcements.

He sent his final and most famous appeal for help to the people of Gonzales, Texas, addressed “To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world.”

I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch.

New England Defenders of the Alamo

Travis gave the letter to a Rhode Islander named Albert Martin, who commanded the regiment from the town of Gonzales, 70 miles to the east. Martin carried the letter to Gonzales, and then returned to the Alamo with his regiment. Among the men who would earn the title of the ‘Immortal 32,’ was a fellow New Englander, John Flanders.

The Gonzales Regiment sneaked through enemy lines after dark and made it back into the Alamo.

The Mexican Army finally began to move on the Alamo in the early hours of March 6. The defenders fended off two attacks, but couldn’t withstand the third.

Among the last of the Alamo defenders to die were the Invincibles, artillerymen who manned 12-pound cannons from the chapel.

Santa Anna’s army spared none of the defenders of the Alamo. In the end, between 182 and 257 men died in the battle, while about 600 Mexican troops were killed or wounded. The Mexicans spared a few civilians, who told the story of the Alamo.

The Fall of the Alamo, by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk.

Santa Anna’s cruelty inspired more men to join the Texan Army. Less than two months later, the Texans defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Following are descriptions of the eight defenders of the Alamo.

Albert Martin, Rhode Island

Albert Martin, was born in Providence, R. I. in 1808. He attended the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Connecticut which would later move to Vermont and become Norwich University. He left Rhode Island in 1832 with his family and set up a business in Tennessee. From there he and his family migrated to New Orleans, where they set up yet another family business in 1835.

Albert moved to Texas and set up a branch of their general store in Gonzales, Texas, Martin, Cofflin & Co. While there he joined the Gonzales Rangers and the Old 18. When at the Alamo, he was selected by Col. Travis to carry out his famous letter to Gonzales. In response, Martin and 32 men returned to the Alamo. All perished.

It should be noted that a cenotaph was erected and may still be seen, at the North Burial Ground, in Providence, to Martin and the defenders of the Alamo.

Albert Martin’s grave marker in Rhode Island.

Miles de Forest Andross, Vermont

He was born in 1809, in Vermont. He married Elizabeth Peabody in 1822 and had two children. Later he made his way to Texas and died with the other defenders of the Alamo. His name appears on the Alamo cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas.

Robert Cochran, New Hampshire

He was born in Pembroke, N.H., in 1810. He went to New Orleans and then on to Texas. At the Alamo, he was assigned to Captain William Carey’s artillery company and died among the defenders of the Alamo on March 6. Forty years after his death a tiny county in Texas — Cochran County, pop. 3,127 in 2010 — was named for him.

John Flanders, Massachusetts or New Hampshire

He was born in either Salisbury, Mass., or Newton, N.H., in 1810. Flanders was working for his father when they argued over a mortgage. John Flanders wanted to foreclose on a widow, and his father wouldn’t let him.

John Flanders, too, went to New Orleans and then on to Texas. He joined the Gonzales Rangers and was one of the immortal 32 who sneaked into the Alamo to aid the defenders in response to the plea from Col. Travis.

William D. Howell, Massachusetts

He was a medical doctor and had a practice in New York. He too made his way to New Orleans and joined the New Orleans Greys. They became members of Capt. William Brazeby’s infantry company.

Amos Pollard, Massachusetts

He was born in Ashburnham, Mass., in 1803 and grew up in Surrey, N. H. He graduated from the medical school at the Vermont Academy in Castleton, Vt. Married in 1828 to Fanny Parker, they had one daughter. His wife passed away in 1831.

He served as the chief surgeon at the Alamo and set up a hospital within the compound. Historians say he probably died defending the hospital.

He, William Travis, Jim Bowie and David Crockett were the only defenders of the Alamo to have their portraits painted in their lifetimes.

Gordon C. Jennings, Connecticut

He was born in 1780 or 82 (that too is disputed) in Windham, Conn. But whatever the date, he was the oldest of the defenders of the Alamo. He moved from Connecticut to Missouri then on to Texas. He served as a member of Captain William R. Carey’s artillery company. Carey called his unit the ‘Invincibles,’

William Linn, District of Maine

He lived in Boston for a while and then moved to New Orleans. There he joined the New Orleans Greys, two companies of volunteers who supported Texas independence. The Greys later merged with Balzeby’s Infantry.

Leo Caisse, the author of this story, passed away in 2020. He had published the book, The Civilian Conservation Corps: A Guide to Their Works in Rhode Island. He also published a number of historical articles, including Ears On the World in America in World War II Magazine, October, 2017. Leo earned a B.A. and M.A. in American History from Providence College and lived in East Providence, R.I.

Image of William Martin’s grave marker by Swampyank – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22024069. This story last updated in 2022.

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Pasta la Vista – F.P. Ventrone Sparks the Providence Macaroni Riots

The summer of 1914 was a flashpoint for the Italian immigrant families in Providence, R.I. Squeezed on one side by an economic depression, they also began encountering unexpected increases in prices at the markets. Those two forces set the stage for the macaroni riots of 1914.

Pasta made from durum wheat

Providence’s steadily growing Italian population provided tremendous opportunities for merchants with ties to the immigrants’ mother country. English-speaking Irish immigrants had managed to insert themselves into the city’s Yankee-dominated political structure. But Italian and French-Canadian immigrants had less influence on the city’s institutions.

More than 54,000 Italian immigrants arrived in Providence between 1898 and 1932. And that meant a boon to the city’s Federal Hill merchants. The Italian-Americans distrusted American retailers. They did not understand Italian tastes – and many did not want to.

Delivering bread in Providence’s Italian district by Lewis Wicks Hine

Scandalous Pasta

Italian merchants, meanwhile, thrived on the loyal customers they found among their neighbors. Questions about pasta had already been roiling Federal Hill, however. In 1908, F.P. Ventrone had been accused of selling inferior American-made pasta labelled as Italian.

Macaroni Savoia Brand Gragano pasta was produced in Long Island, but labelled to look as if it came from Italy. It was not made with semolina from durum wheat, but dyed yellow to make it appear that it was. The scandal would then play out for years.

Then in 1914, the Italian community experienced a second shock to its kitchens. Pasta prices increased – a lot. The price of this dietary staple skyrocketed by as much as 60 percent. Stores blamed the problem on shortages and price increases caused by World War I in Europe.

The war was an ominous and frequent topic of conversation in the homes of Providence’s Italian families. Some suspected stores played on that fear to raise prices.

Logo of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as Wobblies

Providence’s mayor commissioned a study that found no price gouging. The Labor Advocate newspaper – aligned with the Socialist Industrial Workers of the World labor movement – declared the study a “whitewash.” The newspaper then made a not-so-subtle threat. It predicted the establishment of Frank P. Ventrone would soon “come to an abrupt end so far as Federal Hill is concerned.”

On August 29, protesters began putting action to the words. Italian-Americans had been protesting in prior years over their treatment by the Providence establishment. Encouraged then by the IWW (which figured in the famous 1912 Bread and Roses Strike in Massachusetts), Italians had marched through the streets of Little Italy supporting labor politicians and Italian pride.

An IWW demonstration in New York City in 1914.

The Macaroni Riots

Skirmishes with police were not unheard of at these events, but they were minor compared to the macaroni riots of 1914. On August 29, a rally at the corner of Atwells and Dean Streets turned raucous. The crowd began marching down Atwells Street toward Frank Ventrone’s store.

Ventrone had come to America from Italy in the 1880s and had prospered as the Italian population of the city surged. Dubbed the “Macaroni King,” he imported pasta, produced it and wholesaled it to other groceries. He was the most obvious target for the mob.

La Pigna under the Atwells Avenue arch in Providence’s Little Italy

Rioters smashed Ventrone’s storefront windows. Looters stole pasta and scattered it in the street. As the macaroni riot grew, neighboring stores received similar damage, Pearlman’s Dry Goods, People’s Pharmacy and Cardegna’s barbershop all suffered broken windows.

Police skirmished with the rioters through the next day. Both sides dodged bottles, bricks and bullets.

Frank Ventrone had been vacationing at his summer home in Warwick when the violence broke out. Returning to the city, he tried to explain his side of the story. Retail sellers of pasta were raising prices dramatically, not his company, he said.

Ventrone then met with the leaders of the macaroni riots and agreed to lower his prices. He dropped the cost of a box of pasta to $1.40 from $1.60. And, he promised to make all his pasta available at wholesale prices to any customers who came to his store — not just retailers.

An Italian grocery store on Atwells Avenue today

More Macaroni Riots

The macaroni riots then bubbled over again on September 7. They responded to a Labor Day rally that decried low wages and general inflation. Police, though, had prepared and moved quickly to defuse it.

Fourteen civilians received injuries in the macaroni riots. Ten police officers and firefighters also got hurt. The riots also caused more than $20,000 in damage.

Eventually an economic recovery grew out of the need for American goods in war-torn Europe. Prosperity quelled labor disturbances in New England. And F.P. Ventrone prospered through 1951.

“Italian Christmas Cookies: And the stories of the Italians who brought them to America” is your ticket to a sweet journey through the history, culture and cuisine of Italy and the Italian community in America. Available now in paperback from Amazon. Click here to order.

Thanks to: Every Shout a Cannonball, The I.W.W. and Urban Disorders in Providence, Joseph W. Sullivan. This story about the macaroni riots was updated in 2023.

Images: By I, Infrogmation, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2287338. Pasta made from durum wheat By CSIRO, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35498497.

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Massachusetts Pardons Roger Williams, But He Doesn’t Return

In 1936 Rhode Islanders planned to celebrate their Tercentenary by honoring the state’s founder, Roger Williams. But they faced a few problems. First, Massachusetts still considered him a criminal. And second, no one knew what he looked like.

Williams was notorious in Massachusetts for challenging government authority. He thought the government should separate itself from religious affairs. He believed that oaths were a form of prayer. Therefore, he believed, government couldn’t enforce oaths.

Williams also challenged the right of the King of England to grant ownership of North American lands. He said the indigenous people had to sell the land before falling under British control.

Massachusetts’ Puritan leaders had actually welcomed Williams with joyful relief when he arrived on the Lyon from Bristol, England, on Feb. 5, 1631. They were pleased to have another Puritan minister who could help preach.

But after a five-year stay, the Puritan leaders chased Williams out of his Salem church. They did it by refusing to approve official business for Salem until the town got rid of him. Off he went to Providence to establish the colony that became a haven for nonconformists.

Finally, a Pardon

Williams made peace with two Narragansett sachems, Canonicus and Miantonomi. He bought land from them, and Rhode Island then prospered. The goodwill Williams created with the Narragansett people helped bring about their alliance with the colonists during the Pequot War. That alone should have won him forgiveness from the Massachusetts Legislature.

Roger Williams buys land in Rhode Island

He didn’t get it until 1936, when Rhode Island officially requested the pardon in the run up to the Tercentenary. The Legislature granted it in time for Rhode Island’s celebration. But Massachusetts admitted no wrongdoing. It did retract the ban on him as well, but a little late.

Civil libertarians seized on the pardon for political purposes. Massachusetts had instituted a loyalty oath for teachers in 1936. Critics suggested if Williams still lived he would have fared no better in Massachusetts in 1936 than he had in 1636.

A Fitting Memorial

Rhode Islanders faced other hurdles in honoring their founding father. For decades they had debated a fitting memorial, but the state wrestled with how to erect a statue to Williams. The most practical obstacle: No one really knew what he looked like.

Commemorative stamp

One artifact of Williams’ day had survived. In unearthing his grave in 1860 in an early attempt at creating a memorial, an apple tree root had been found instead of a skeleton. It was preserved by enthusiastic Williams fans who suggested it had been divinely inspired to grow to conform to the shape of Williams’ body.

Meanwhile, various institutions had discovered paintings over the years that people had claimed looked like Williams. But all had been debunked. Williams was often drawn in Pilgrim costume, though he was not a Pilgrim. And he is often shown with long hair and clean shaven, though some accounts suggested he actually had close-cropped hair and wore a beard.

Roger Williams statue

Finally, the committee planning the tercentennial settled on the likeness that appears on a statue of Williams. They also placed it on the three-cent stamp that commemorated the founding of Rhode Island.

This story last updated in 2023.

Images: The Landing of Roger Williams in 1636 by Alonzo Chappel (1857). Roger Williams statue By Rhododendrites – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65213559.

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Ambrose Burnside, The Sideburned Civil War Commander Who Didn’t Want The Job

When Ambrose Burnside received his orders to take command of the Army of the Potomac in November of 1862, it was said he wept like a child.

Ambrose Burnside, by Matthew Brady.

He had twice refused the command, believing he wasn’t up to the task.

Burnside was dashing, charming and humble, popular with his soldiers. He invented a weapon that helped the Union win the Civil War. As a politician, he won election to some of the highest offices in America.

He was also completely unsuited to command an army.

His facial hair inspired the noun ‘sideburns.’ Another Civil War general whose name also became a noun usurped him as commander of the Army.

Ambrose Burnside, Unhappy Tailor

Ambrose Burnside was born May 23, 1824 in Liberty, Ind., the fourth of the nine children of Edghill and Pamela (or Pamilia) Brown Burnside. Edghill, a slaveholder from South Carolina, freed his slaves when he moved to Indiana.

As a boy, Ambrose Burnside was apprenticed to a tailor, and he returned home to open his own shop after his mother died. He realized he didn’t want to be a tailor, and his father, who had some political influence, got him an appointment at West Point.

Burnside missed most of the Mexican War, but fought Apaches in the west. He came back from one battle with an arrow in the neck. While recovering from his wound, he had a brainstorm: Cavalrymen could only use sabers against their enemy because muzzle-loading rifles were too hard to load while mounted. What if, thought Burnside, he could invent a light, breech-loading carbine efficient enough for the cavalry to use?

Left At The Altar

Burnside spent the winter of 1850-51 looking for love on a long furlough in Liberty. He proposed to Charlotte Moon, who accepted. On the day of their wedding, according to local legend, the minister asked Charlotte Moon if she would marry Ambrose Burnside. She replied, “No siree, Bob, I won’t,” and walked out.

Charlotte, the story goes, later got engaged to an Ohio lawyer. On the day of that wedding, the lawyer brandished his gun and said there would either be ‘a wedding tonight or a funeral tomorrow.’

The army promoted Burnside to lieutenant in 1851 and assigned him to Fort Adams in Newport, R.I., the next year. There he was luckier in love. He met, courted and then married Mary Richmond Bishop of Providence.

Burnside Carbine

Burnside with his staff from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment

He resigned from the Army in 1853 to develop the Burnside carbine at his Bristol Rifle Works in Rhode Island. When it looked as if he would get a large government contract, he borrowed money and boosted production. The contract fell through when a competitor bribed the Secretary of War to break Burnside’s contract. Burnside declared bankruptcy and sold his possessions and patents.

The gun became a popular weapon during the Civil War. Mary moved in with relatives and Burnside moved in with his old friend George B. McClellan and his family in Chicago. McClellan, a vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, got Burnside a job with the company. Burnside rose to company treasurer, paid off his debts and in 1860 moved back with his wife.

Civil War

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Burnside was appointed colonel of the 1^st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry and quickly promoted to brigade command. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and again won a promotion, to brigadier general. He had an early success closing most of the North Carolina coast to Confederate shipping and won still another promotion.

Wilmer L. Jones, in Generals in Blue and Gray: Lincoln’s generals, observed,

Burnside was liked by his men because of his concern for them. He was a trusting man with an optimistic outlook on life and found it difficult to believe another person could wish him harm until it was so obvious he could not ignore it. When his plans fell short, he tended to take the blame himself. At difficult moments in his life, he accepted responsibility and tried to solve his problems on his own. Ambrose was six feet tall with a deep chest… Despite his intimidating size, his smile and good humor drew people to him.

Hooker

Jeffrey D. Wert, in The Sword of Lincoln, called Ambrose Burnside ‘unfortunate.’

Joseph Hooker

His tenure had been marked by bitter animosity among his subordinates and a fearful, if not needless, sacrifice of life. A firm patriot, he lacked the power of personality and will to direct recalcitrant generals.

Joseph Hooker was certainly recalcitrant. He was the other Civil War general said to have inspired a word: “Hooker,” slang for a prostitute. The word did appear in print 15 years before Hooker was a well-known figure, though his reputation as a ladies’ man – and the prostitutes in “Hooker’s Army” who followed his division – probably popularized the term.

Ambrose Burnside hated Hooker and remained loyal to his old friend McClellan.

After the failure of McClellan during the Peninsular Campaign, President Lincoln twice offered Burnside command of the Army of the Potomac. He refused. Then came Antietam, after which Burnside was criticized for slowness in attacking the enemy and crossing what is now known as Burnside’s Bridge.

McClellan also performed poorly at Antietam. Worse, he didn’t pursue Robert E. Lee after the battle. For that, Lincoln relieved McClellan.

Command

On Nov. 7, 1862, a courier traveled through a blinding snowstorm to Burnside’s headquarters and handed him his order to command the Army of the Potomac. Burnside argued he didn’t want the command and he hadn’t sought it. Then he learned Joseph Hooker would get the job if he didn’t. Burnside accepted the command.

He received orders to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. In December 1862, Burnside suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, with nearly 13,000 casualties, more than twice that of the Confederates. He offered to quit; Lincoln refused.

In January 1863, Burnside’s forces failed in a winter offensive against Robert E. Lee in what became known as the Mud March. He again offered to quit; Lincoln accepted and replaced him with Joseph Hooker. That spring Hooker lost the Battle of Chancellorsville. Just before the Battle of Gettysburg he, too, lost his command.

Final Humiliations

Burnside in 1862.

Burnside was sent west to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois, where he shut down an antiwar newspaper in Chicago. He also arrested an Ohio congressman who spoke out against the war. Both actions provoked a backlash and Lincoln reversed the actions, announcing that Burnside had exceeded his authority.

He redeemed himself in August by outmaneuvering Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet and holding Knoxville.

The Siege of Petersburg in July 1864 brought Burnside’s ultimate undoing. He agreed to a plan brought to him by a regiment of Pennsylvania coal miners. They wanted to tunnel under an entrenched Confederate fort and set off explosives, creating a breakthrough for Union soldiers. Generals Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade reluctantly approved the plan.

Burnside specially trained his African-American troops in the fourth division to lead an attack after the giant hole was blown. Hours before the attack, Meade ordered Burnside not to use the black troops. Untrained soldiers led the assault instead and were slaughtered. Burnside took the blame for the fiasco and the Army relieved him of command.

Vindication

Ambrose Burnside sent his letter of resignation to Abraham Lincoln on the afternoon of his assassination. Later, a congressional inquiry exonerated him from blame for the failed Battle of the Crater.

Life improved for him after the Civil War. He got appointed director of several railroads, won election as governor of Rhode Island and then U.S. senator.

He also served as the first president of the National Rifle Association.

Sen. Ambrose Burnside died of a heart attack on Sept. 13, 1881, in Bristol, R.I. His most famous quote: “It is not death therefore that is burdensome, but the fear of death.”

With thanks to Generals in Blue and Gray. This story was updated in 2022.

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