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Unveiling the stunning cover image for The Great Abolitionist—and a publication date
Here is the sneak peek at the cover image for my upcoming book: The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union.
I think the designers at St. Martin’s Press have outdone themselves with this stunning cover. I love the battlefield and Congressional chamber images as “context-setters,” and the painting of Sumner later in life (with his penetrating eyes drawing you in) is an image even I hadn’t seen before. The whole feel of the cover is one of action and statesmanship, an appropriate combination. (For more on Sumner’s statesmanship, read my blog here.)
This will be my third book with St. Martin’s (American Treasures and Voyage of Mercy are the others), and in each case, I’ve been thrilled with the dramatic cover images! St. Martin’s Press has also announced a publication date for The Great Abolitionist — April 23, 2024 — and I can’t wait to see how this cover image looks in the bookstores! By the way, if you’re so inclined, you can pre-order the hardcover or e-book now using this link. I hope you love the cover as much as I do — I look forward to your reactions!
Announcing my next book (number 8)!
THE GREAT ABOLITIONIST: Charles Sumner’s Fight for a More Perfect Union
The first full biography of Charles Sumner, abolitionist U.S. senator from Massachusetts, in more than a half-century!
I’m thrilled to finally announce the topic of my next book (my eighth!) – the first full biography of Charles Sumner, abolitionist U.S. senator from Massachusetts, in more than 50 years. I think you’ll truly enjoy THE GREAT ABOLITIONIST: Charles Sumner’s Fight for a More Perfect Union, which will be published by St. Martin’s Press on April 23, 2024. You can pre-order it here.
Many readers will recall that I first dealt with Sumner (briefly) in my book, A City So Grand (2010), and later more extensively in The Caning (2012), the latter of which essentially concludes with the onset of the Civil War. During the research and writing of those books, I realized what a force Sumner was throughout the 1850s and 1860s, and into the 1870s, and knew I needed to research and explore his achievements and contributions further. I also needed to learn more about this complex man.
Now, with the research and writing completed, and with The Great Abolitionist on the way to publication, I feel as if I know Sumner as well as anyone, and I feel confident in saying this: Charles Sumner is among a handful of the most influential non-Presidents in American history (and far more influential than many presidents) – standing alongside Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Susan B. Anthony.
For me, this book is a first – my first biography! And actually, I’m calling it a “biographical history,” since Sumner’s life encompassed the life of the nation during this period. He stood tall and ramrod straight at the center of events that millions of Americans would experience in his era, and then learn about and study for 175 years (and counting).
His contributions were everywhere: his unrelenting efforts to abolish slavery and fulfill the nation’s promise of civil, political, and racial equality; his expertise in foreign affairs that helped the United States avoid a potentially devastating war with England even as the country battled the Confederacy; his close working relationship with President Abraham Lincoln (Sumner was at Lincoln’s bedside the night the President was assassinated); and his influence upon virtually every major debate and issue that the country tackled in the decade prior to the Civil War, the war itself, and during Reconstruction.
The Conscience of the North
For a quarter of a century, including twenty-three consecutive years in the Senate from 1851 until his death (which encompassed a three-year absence as he recovered from his caning injuries), it was Charles Sumner – not Lincoln, not William Lloyd Garrison, not Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Child, or anyone else – who was the nation’s most passionate, vociferous, unrelenting, and inexhaustible anti-slavery and equal rights champion.
Before and during the Civil War, at a great personal sacrifice, he was the conscience of the North and the strongest and most influential voice in favor of abolition. Throughout Reconstruction, no one championed the rights of the emancipated Freedmen more than Charles Sumner. Through the force of his words and his will, he first moved his state, and then the nation, toward the twin goals of abolitionism – which he achieved in his lifetime – and equal rights, which eluded him and the country, but for which he fought literally until the day he died.
In so doing, he laid the cornerstone arguments that civil rights advocates would build upon over the next century as the country strove to achieve equality among the races. To Sumner, the two concepts of abolitionism and equal rights were inseparable and could not be untethered. Freedom and equality embodied the founding principles of the United States as stated in the Declaration of Independence, and in the Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government; only by enshrining these rights forever could the United States survive. This view was first considered radical and unworkable, dismissed as the ranting of rabble-rousers on the fringe – positions at first not held even by Lincoln and other anti-slavery Republicans.
But Sumner’s influence gradually took hold, permeated the party’s dogma, and finally became the prevalent and official view of Lincoln and the nation.
A Biographical History Since Sumner’s Story and America’s Story are Intertwined
I call The Great Abolitionist a “biographical history,” since Sumner stood tall and ramrod straight at the center of events that millions of Americans would experience in his era, and then learn about and study for the next 175 years (and counting).
These include the Fugitive Slave Law; the Kansas-Nebraska Act; the battle for the soul of Kansas that became a symbol of abolitionist and pro-slavery tensions; the founding of the Republican Party; Lincoln’s election in 1860; the secession of Southern states; as head of the Radical Republicans throughout the war; the Trent Affair in which Sumner was the primary force in averting war with England; the Emancipation Proclamation, which he repeatedly beseeched Lincoln to issue and whose language he helped shape; Lincoln’s remarkable and unexpected re-election in 1864; the President’s assassination; the crafting of Reconstruction policy; the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson; the Reconstruction amendments; as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant; and as the architect of a proposed sweeping civil rights bill that called for an end to all government and private sector discrimination.
As the nation literally fought for its life, Charles Sumner influenced, altered, and often defined America’s course – in the moment and for the future. In the face of repeated insults, ridicule, personal setbacks, and a devastating physical attack, Charles Sumner’s voice and his ideas moved a nation, slowly, even grudgingly at first, but eventually with a surety that accompanies righteousness.
Sumner Believed in America
For Charles Sumner, freedom and equality were America’s national birthright, and slavery and racist laws were a perversion of those ideals. He saw the government’s tolerance and support for the growth of slavery as an ignorant misreading of the country’s founding documents, not an inevitable condition flowing from them.
In the end, Charles Sumner truly believed in America. He believed in it as he held up a mirror to its flaws and challenged the country to live up to its ideals. He believed in it as he ferociously battled slavery and inequality. He believed in it as he endured and recovered from a vicious beating for speaking his mind. As one Congressional eulogist declared, Sumner “believed in his country, in her unity, her grandeur, her ideas, and her destiny.”
Dour and disconsolate as he often appeared, he was an idealist at heart. He told all who would listen that his often lonely fight to create a more perfect union was a burden well worth shouldering – that the fulfilled promise of America could literally change the world.
The Great Abolitionist Is Sweeping In Scope and I’m Confident You’ll Enjoy the Story!
You’ll find that The Great Abolitionist is sweeping in its scope, but rather than focusing on Sumner’s every movement and utterance between childhood and death, this “biographical history” traces the arc of his antislavery and equal rights leadership as he stood at the center of the storm that swept across the nation during the 1850s and 1860s.
From the moment Charles Sumner stepped onto the public stage, he made his fight America’s fight. I’ve tried to tell the story — Sumner’s story, the nation’s story — with the same fast-paced narrative style and an exciting story arc that you’ve become accustomed to in my previous books.
If you’ve enjoyed my other work, I believe you will enjoy The Great Abolitionist, too!
I’ll have more to say about The Great Abolitionist in the future, so please stay tuned! Meanwhile, check out my blog for a few more insights about Charles Sumner’s courage and authenticity. And be sure to schedule some reading time for early next year!
Photos show Charles Sumner in 1855 and 1859; a painting of his caning attack by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks; Sumner later in life with his dear friend, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Sumner’s deathbed scene, where he is surrounded by friends, including former slave Frederick Douglass; a magazine cover announcing his death in which former slaves are depicted paying him tribute; and his statues at Harvard and on Boston’s Public Garden.
“The groundbreaking biography of a forgotten civil rights hero”
As I mentioned, I couldn’t be happier with the description of The Great Abolitionist from MacMillan Publishers, the parent company of my publisher, St. Martin’s Press. (Check out the full notice here.)
At this point in the publication process, I am reviewing final page proofs (and they look great!), and we are awaiting “back-cover” blurbs from other authors and historians who kindly agreed to offer advance comments on the book. In upcoming newsletters, I’ll continue to update you on progress as the exciting publication date approaches!
Also, I already have several speaking events in the works for The Great Abolitionist for next May and June – some are finalized; others are in process. You can always check out my schedule on my website’s “Events” page and I’ll have additional updates on these appearances as time goes on. If you’re an organization that would like to schedule an event, I’d urge you to contact me soon at spuleo@aol.com.
And one other thing related to the upcoming book… I’m asked often about how I begin and organize research. With the Sumner biography, I realized early on that, because the material on him was so voluminous, I definitely needed a large and easy-to-refer-to, year-by-year timeline of events, and potential scenes and chapters. I do a version of this for all of my books, but the Sumner bio required a longer timeline because of the nearly 25 years that he influenced (and was influenced by) the major events occurring in the United States.
So, I’ve included a photo of my “big board” here that enabled me to stay anchored during the research and writing of The Great Abolitionist. Zoom in if you’d like to check out my early research thoughts (and apologies if you have a tough time reading my writing — sometimes I’m scribbling fast!). This is basically how the process starts for me!
I’m happy to be assisting with a graphic novel about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
I’m honored to be assisting a leading children’s book publishing house on a graphic novel about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 (as you know, the topic of my book, Dark Tide). There is not too much more I can say now (legally), but the project looks like it will be a creative and exciting one! I’m pleased that this compelling story will be told in an exciting and different form. I have worked with this publisher before and they always do an excellent job. More on this project as time goes on!
A gem of a World War II museum in New Hampshire!
If you live in or are visiting the New England area, and you’re interested in World War II (as I am), I strongly suggest you visit the fabulous Wright Museum of World War II in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire!
I had long heard about the museum, but had never visited until this summer – and was I impressed! The museum contains an extensive collection of artifacts, videos, military vehicles, memorabilia, and primary source documents from 1939-1945. It focuses on both the war overseas and the American home front and preserves the legacy of the Greatest Generation.
The creation of its visionary founder, the late David Wright, the museum opened in 1994 and has been going strong since. It’s a 30,000-square-foot museum with more than 14,000 items in the collection. And that doesn’t include its archival collection, which I didn’t get a chance to explore on this trip – but certainly plan to in the future! According to archival curator Justin Gamache, the archives contain documents, such as personal letters, enlistment records, diaries, and pamphlets; thousands of photographs; and “3D” artifacts such as uniforms and hardware.
Learn more here and please make a point to visit this gem of a museum in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region!
A taste of my Fall 2023 events!
I’m looking forward to a busy and varied Fall speaking season. Some of my events are private and others are open to the public. All of my upcoming events can be found here but below is a summary of a few:
*October 24: Lowell Institute Lecture Series presented by the Paul Revere Memorial Association in partnership with Suffolk University (public event)
This year’s program is tentatively titled “Religion in the Evolution of Boston’s North End Neighborhood.” It is focused on the religious trajectories of Boston and the North End, in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of the Old North Church, and the 150th anniversary of St. Leonard’s Church. As you might expect, I’ll be speaking on the arrival of the Italians to the neighborhood – the title of my talk is “The New Catholics Come to Town!” My event will be held at Suffolk’s Sargent Hall (Law School), 120 Tremont St., Room 5320 (The Commons), and gets underway at 6:30. It will also be livestreamed via the WGBH Forum Network at http://www.facebook.com/gbhforumnetwork and https://www.youtube.com/gbhforumnetwork Go here for more info and to get a flavor of the series and my event!
*October 27: Great Island Community, Plymouth, MA (private event)
I’m thrilled to be returning to Great Island in Plymouth, MA, where I’ve spoken on all of my books except one – Due to Enemy Action, which will be the subject of this event. I’m excited to talk about this compelling World War II story and the men whose lives were changed by it.
*November 1: Morrill Memorial Library, 33 Walpole St., Norwood, MA (public event)
Very much looking forward to visiting Norwood, MA as part of the Stuart Plumer Author Series to talk about Voyage of Mercy. The event gets underway at 7:00 p.m. and does require registration. You can go here to reserve your seat!
I will be doing three other private Voyage of Mercy events:
*November 4: The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), a non-profit organization that promotes an understanding of Irish genealogy, history, values, and the culture of its members’ Irish and Irish-American ancestors (private event).
*November 14: Mystic Valley Elder Services Independence Legacy Society Luncheon (private event).
*November 28: a private event at the prestigious College Club in Boston.
I also expect to make appearances at a couple of schools this fall. Click here and scroll down If you would like to see where I’m headed. My thanks to all organizations who have asked me to speak – I’m honored by your requests
Thanks to Three Special Members of the “Puleo Team”
I’ve often said that writing is a solitary act, but “authoring” requires a great team and lots of support. I’m grateful to have a wide network of family members and friends who support and encourage me, some of whose contributions I have highlighted in past newsletters.
In this issue, as I share with you the cover image of my eighth book (hard for me to believe, and a good time to count my blessings!), I want to recognize the work of three special people who are always there for me — I am the beneficiary of their talent, skill, and friendship.
My friend, Erin Leone, is a wonderful photographer who has covered several of my events, and whose photos appear in many places throughout my website.
She composed and took the new photo that — I’m thrilled to say — will appear on the jacket of my upcoming book, The Great Abolitionist. (I hope you like this new outdoor photo with the Boston skyline as a backdrop!)
Erin attends George Washington University, and also manages her own photography business. She is a consummate professional — you can see some of her outstanding work here. My deepest thanks to Erin for sharing her talent and friendship, and for all of her ideas and support
Throughout my author career, my sister-in-law and friend, Pat Doyle, has supported me in countless ways. Pat constantly offers her encouragement, has attended scores of my presentations and has been an outstanding “ambassador” for my books.
She is also a talented photographer. She has photographed many of my speaking appearances and North End tours (including the tour I highlight here), and her photos appear often in my newsletters, on social media, and on my website. It is hard for me to fully express my appreciation for all that Pat has done for me! Thanks for all, Patz
I’m biased, I know, but I believe that my website is one of the best author sites I’ve seen. That’s primarily thanks to my friend, Sue Hannan, who manages it from top-to-bottom with creativity and professionalism.
Sue is responsible for the design and overall “look and feel” of the site, as well as content placement. She also assists me with content ideas and development (it’s tough keeping up with her many ideas!); and manages the relationship with our friends at Jackrabbit Design, who do a great job of ensuring that the site is technically sound and robust.
Sue also uses her considerable marketing skills to help with overall “Puleo branding efforts” to make sure readers are hearing about my books and appearances (and she contributes photos when needed – Sue photographed the Marshfield event that is posted in the Highlights section of my website.) Thanks so much for your friendship and all of your valuable work, Sue!
The Quest for 351 — Walking and Hiking Massachusetts Cities and Towns
On a personal note, over the past few years, Kate and I have been visiting communities throughout Massachusetts on a quest to walk or hike in all 351 cities and towns! Happy to say we have reached 120 communities, a little more than a third of the way through. We love the combination of history and nature. (It’s the more local version of our “road trips” that I periodically chronicle on my Highlights page.) Most recently, we visited the towns of Marion and Mattapoisett on the south coast, with an additional walk in adjacent Rochester. Here’s Kate at the Osprey Marsh boardwalk in Marion and at the beautiful Munn Preserve harbor in Mattapoisett.
A Generous Voyage of Mercy Reader shared the Presidential-issued “Passport” for the USS Jamestown
One of my favorite enjoyments of this author life is the opportunity to meet and learn from so many readers. Enter Richard “Jerry” Dodson (shown below), a maritime attorney who co-founded the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Dodson & Hooks law firm, one of the world’s leading maritime law firms. A graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU) Law School, Jerry is an advisor and frequent presenter at LSU’s annual Rubin Maritime Law Seminar.
Luckily for me, for the past forty years, Jerry has also been a passionate collector of maritime art and antiques. Through the years he has collected numerous “ships passports” and donated his collection to LSU Law School (The Richard J Dodson Maritime Art Collection). At one point, J. Revell Carr, former president and director of Mystic Seaport’s museum of The America and The Sea Society, spent a week in Baton Rouge, and discovered that Jerry possessed the passport of the USS Jamestown (the document shown below), the first U.S. ship to transport food to Ireland during the 1847 potato famine, and featured in my book: Voyage of Mercy: The USS Jamestown, the Irish Famine, and the Remarkable Story of America’s First Humanitarian Mission. Jerry, who said he enjoyed Voyage “immensely,” was kind enough to share this news with me — I had no idea the passport even existed!
Officially, the document is called a “Mediterranean Passport,” and was created after the United States concluded a treaty with Algiers in 1795. America was one of several nations paying tribute to the Barbary states in exchange for the ability to sail and conduct business in the Mediterranean area without interference from pirates. This treaty provided American-owned vessels with a “passport” that would be recognized by Algeria and other Barbary states, which allowed the ships safe passage. In general, virtually any American vessel — whether they were venturing into the Mediterranean area or not — was required to carry the passport. Hence, the Jamestown’s passport issued by President James K. Polk.
My thanks to Jerry Dodson for sharing this information and this rich piece of history!
Let me know if you need a “dining room” inscribed book
If you’re unable to attend one of my appearances, a “Puleo dining room signing” might be for you.
Let me know if you’d like an inscribed or autographed book for a friend or loved one (or as a gift to yourself!). Email me at spuleo@aol.com to find out how to get your copy.
I’ve done this many times for readers and it has worked out well. To fulfill your request in time, though, please contact me as soon as possible. Thanks, as always, for your support!
Molasses Flood Artwork on Display at the Boston Public Library
And now for something really cool and unique, and of special interest if you’re a fan of my book, Dark Tide!
The Boston Public Library (BPL) has commissioned a composite tile mosaic from artist Duke Riley entitled Enchafed Flood, which depicts the Great Boston Molasses Flood. To get a sense of scale, the tile mosaic is 41 3/8 x 81 1/2 inches.
Riley, an artist of international fame who has been the subject of front-page articles in the New York Times, draws, sculpts, tattoos, engraves and paints subjects that blend history, fact, fiction, and myth. He currently has a major exhibition on view at the Brooklyn Museum: Death to the Living, Long Live Trash.
The BPL’s description of Enchafed Flood reads in part: “Riley’s work depicts the cataclysm and near-biblical tumult of this incident in vast tilework that recalls the color and lines of his trademark ink-on-paper drawings.”
Duke was kind enough to give me permission to use the image of Enchafed Flood. He said he has read Dark Tide and added: “It’s great, and I reference it all the time.”
Enchafed Flood is the first work acquired by the Arts Department at the BPL for permanent view in the historic McKim Building since 1919! It’s on view in the first-floor elevator lobby at the Central Library in Copley Square.
A great visit with Canadian readers!
Meet Sean Polreis and Andrea Book, residents of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who invited me to lunch at L’Osteria Italian restaurant (one of my faves!) in the North End during their recent trip to Boston.
Sean and Andrea love the city of Boston and are also loyal Puleo readers, for which I’m very grateful (their interest in the city first led them to my book, A City So Grand). So, I was honored when they reached out and asked if we could get together! Boston is basically their second home; they enjoy the city’s theater, food, culture, history, and “walkability.” And they are HUGE Boston sports fans.
Those of you who have followed me here and elsewhere know how much I enjoy connecting with readers. My thanks to Sean and Andrea for giving me another opportunity to do so!
Excerpts from Voyage of Mercy
I’ve included two excerpts from Voyage of Mercy here that I think you’ll enjoy. The first, a longer excerpt, was published in “The History Reader,” the St. Martins Press website devoted to history topics. It focuses on Father Theobald Mathew, who worked hard in Ireland on behalf of victims. The second short excerpt describes the beginning of the USS Jamestown voyage to Ireland under the command of Captain Robert Bennet Forbes.
If you prefer hearing an excerpt, you can listen to a five-minute sample of award-wining Sean Patrick Hopkins narrating the story here, and also order your own audio version of Voyage of Mercy from Audible.
Voyage of Mercy: “The Distress is Universal”
Ireland, 1846. Father Theobald Mathew implores assistant secretary at the British Treasury, Charles Trevelyan, to provide aid to Ireland as the potato blight ruins crops across the country. Read on for an excerpt from Voyage of Mercy. December 16, 1846, city of Cork, County Cork
When night finally came, a bone-weary Father Theobald Mathew dipped the nib of his pen into the ink and scratched the full measure of his despondency onto the page.
He aimed for precision with his writing, but he also needed to modulate his description of a truly appalling situation. Bold, direct words were necessary, but overly inflammatory language would raise skeptical eyebrows in London, damage his credibility, and, most importantly, put thousands of additional lives at risk. This was his fifth letter since August to Charles Trevelyan, assistant secretary at the British Treasury responsible for famine relief efforts, each more desperate than the last. Now, just days before Christmas, Mathew wrote with renewed urgency, hoping that his reputation for directness and honesty, and as a champion for the poor, would convince Trevelyan of his veracity.
“I am grieved to be obliged to tell you that the distress is universal,” he lamented at the outset of his letter. “Men, women, and children are gradually wasting away.” It was not the first time Father Mathew had underlined passages to emphasize the urgency of his message, and it would not be the last. Reviewing his opening words, he debated whether he had succumbed to the very temptation he sought to avoid—the use of sensational rhetoric. In the end he decided to let the letter stand: he knew of no more accurate way to describe the heartbreak he witnessed each day. These imperiled citizens were not anonymous “famine victims” but people he knew and loved—neighbors, parishioners, followers, friends.
He would speak for them.
In some ways, these were the most frustrating and dispiriting hours for the fifty-six-year-old priest, sitting quietly at his desk, fighting exhaustion, his eyes straining by his lantern’s pallid light in the otherwise dark parlor, his desktop covered with ink-stained pages and the floor beneath him strewn with correspondence. Daytime hours were a blur, physically draining and mentally dispiriting—Mathew had just returned from several weeks’ work in different parts of Ireland, assessing the potato blight, organizing relief efforts, comforting the sick, ladling soup to the hungry, kneeling at their deathbeds and praying for their souls, presiding over their burials. Upon his return to Cork he discovered that his city and county were among the hardest hit by the famine; again his daytime hours were consumed with tending to those burning with fever or filling their stomachs with “cabbage leaves and turnip tops . . . to appease the cravings of hunger.” The night offered time to reflect, to be sure, but these were unwelcome and damnable hours, for it was while he sat alone in the darkness that the full tragedy of the widespread hunger, coupled with the futile sorrow that he could do little or nothing to stop it, pressed upon him like a great stone.
* * * * *
The destruction of the potato crop had occurred—or, rather, revealed itself—almost overnight. Mathew himself was one of the first to observe and report on the disaster. In late July, he was traveling from Cork to Dublin and saw fields of potato plants blooming “in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest,” a sight that heartened him after widespread potato-crop failure a year earlier had resulted in severe food shortages, but not full-scale famine. But six days later, August 3, during his return trip to Cork, Mathew’s spirit was shattered when he “beheld, with sorrow, one wide waste of putrefying vegetation.” The blight, caused by a fungus that thrived and multiplied in Ireland’s damp climate, had reproduced with lightning speed. In many places along the road, “the wretched people were seated on the fences of their decaying gardens, wringing their hands and wailing bitterly against the destruction that had left them foodless.”
Four days later Mathew expressed the worst in a letter to Trevelyan: “The food of a whole nation has perished.” The Times of London concurred: “From the Giants Causeway to Cape Clear, from Limerick to Dublin, not a green field is to be seen.” Indeed, on September 2, the Times declared that “total annihilation” had befallen the Irish potato crop. At this point, more than one-third of the entire Irish population depended exclusively on the potato for food and as a cash crop, but among poor tenant farmers, the proportion was even higher; a strong potato crop was their only hope for sustenance, for nourishment, for life itself.
Even pre-famine, survival had been precarious in Ireland, as tenant farmers and peasants scratched out a living raising and selling potatoes, or perhaps traded a pig or a cow for other goods. Food shortages were a near-constant peril, and temporary migration was a lifeline for many Irish families engaged in agricultural work, particularly those from western counties; seasonal trips to the grain-growing areas of the eastern counties, and to England, were commonplace. In the first half of the nineteenth century, seasonal migrants, often accompanied by their livestock, walked along Ireland’s dusty roadways in search of work and food.
Now such searches proved more and more futile.
Since Mathew’s August letter, the downward spiral had progressed with alarming speed. Now, he wrote to Trevelyan, more than 5,000 “half-starved wretched beings from the country” were begging on the streets of Cork city; “when utterly exhausted, they crawl to the work- houses to die.” He estimated that more than a hundred people a week were dying in his parish. And because of the frightful calamity that had swept the countryside, where food was all but nonexistent, thousands of peasants straggled into the city in search of something to eat, further straining scarce resources. Ten to twelve people a day died from starvation in the village of Crookhaven, where the community organized a collection to purchase a public bier upon which to place the bodies of those whose families could not afford coffins. Mathew was filled with dread, not only for the current state of affairs, but for the unknown depth of the abyss that lurked ahead.
“This country is in an awful position,” he stressed to Trevelyan, “and no one can tell what the result will be.”
The USS Jamestown en route to Ireland – March 1847
Sheets of cold rain lashed the decks of the USS Jamestown and gale-force winds battered the three-masted American sloop of war through the swells of the North Atlantic. Captain Robert Bennet Forbes barked orders as his energetic but inexperienced crew scrambled to haul up the mainsail, a daunting task on this moonless night of raging seas, on April 2, 1847. Weak light leaked from deck lanterns, but beyond the ship’s raised prow and forward riggings, the darkness was total — “black as Erebus,” as Forbes described it in the captain’s log, referring to the mythological netherworld that serves as the passageway to Hades.
For the sixth straight day since leaving the Charlestown Navy Yard, the ship and its crew were pounded by miserable weather as they fought their way toward Ireland. Snow, sleet, hail, and cold rendered all ropes “stiff as crowbars . . . and the men also,” and wind and waves left the Jamestown, despite her solid oak frame, “bounding like an antelope” and unable to carry as much sail as Forbes wished. Dense wet fog rendered visibility to near zero. Snow slickened the ship’s decks, crew members lurched with seasickness, ice floes hampered passage, and worst of all, the Jamestown leaked badly, at times taking on as much as ten inches of water an hour. Most of the water poured through the rudder case in the wardroom when the sea rose aft or the ship settled. Crew members were forced to pump often and, finally, bore holes in the wardroom deck to allow water to run off into the hold.
As midnight approached, the wind howled and every rope froze “as hard and stiff as January,” but Forbes, a Bostonian who in his forty-two years had savored much joy and endured deep sorrow, remained unflappable in the captain’s chair, determined to reach his destination ahead of schedule, and resolute in the righteousness of his mission.
