Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Prologue: Epistlers of the Revolution
- 1 Commencement of a Civil War
- 2 Melted Majesty
- 3 Barren as a Pitch-Pine Plain
- 4 Life of a Cabbage
- 5 Hurried through Life on Horseback
- 6 Touch and Go is a Good Pilot
- 7 War and Greet Brittain
- 8 Keeping the Belly and Back from Grumbling, and the Kitchen-Fire from Going Out
- 9 The Mysteries of Lucina
- 10 Patience and Flannel
- Epilogue: Let Passion be Restrain'd within thy Soul
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
5 - Hurried through Life on Horseback
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Prologue: Epistlers of the Revolution
- 1 Commencement of a Civil War
- 2 Melted Majesty
- 3 Barren as a Pitch-Pine Plain
- 4 Life of a Cabbage
- 5 Hurried through Life on Horseback
- 6 Touch and Go is a Good Pilot
- 7 War and Greet Brittain
- 8 Keeping the Belly and Back from Grumbling, and the Kitchen-Fire from Going Out
- 9 The Mysteries of Lucina
- 10 Patience and Flannel
- Epilogue: Let Passion be Restrain'd within thy Soul
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
By time honoured tradition, not to mention force of necessity, military affairs come to rest during winter, the truth of which in January 1780 allowed Surveyor of Post Roads Hazard the opportunity to rest comfortably and compose largely when he sat to write an epistle in response to Belknap's of the ‘28th ult.’, 28 December 1779.
Whereas Belknap had merely a vague, fleeting acquaintance with Ethan Allen of Vermont, Hazard knew him, and outlined his character in detail:
Allen is really an original; at least, I never met with a genius like him. Had his natural talents been cultivated by a liberal education, he would have made no bad figure among the sons of science; but perhaps his want of such an education is not to be lamented, as, unless he had more grace, it would make him a dangerous member of society.
A more succinct and accurate picture of Allen could not be drawn. To be sure, Allen's attempt at Deist philosophy and activities as a Vermont patriot indicated the potential yet inconsistency of his character. A ‘son of science’ as Hazard meant it required diligence, patience, caution, erudition and curiosity. Hazard found the progeny of science to rest firmly in Belknap's character and behaviour. Hazard had asked his friend for an opinion about a New York Law about which he himself was quite decided. It was a law enforced by Patriot militias to intimidate those who harboured Tories (and others) who plundered innocent farmers.
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- Ebenezer Hazard, Jeremy Belknap and the American Revolution , pp. 79 - 100Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014