Post by Nalkarj on Jun 22, 2018 16:40:45 GMT
politicidal ’s current avatar, Baron von Steuben, reminded me of Sir Benjamin Thompson, about whom I learned for the first time a few days ago.
I was rather surprised I’d never heard of Thompson before; he’s the kind of remarkable historical personage whom you’d expect to fascinate historians—apparently not, though.
OK, a few offhand details…
*Born in Massachusetts in 1753, romanced and married a rich older New Hampshire heiress, ended up appointed a major in the militia because of his wife’s connections. (He ended up divorcing her in the end.)
*Tried to join George Washington’s army, was rejected. Infuriated, he joined the Loyalists and fought for the British, becoming an adviser to Gen. Gage and Lord George Germain. They, in turn, made him a colonel, and he commanded the British occupation of Long Island from 1782 to 1783. His base of operations was Huntington, NY (where yours truly was born).
*The British knew they were losing by this point, but Thompson would have none of it; in his fury against the Revolutionaries, he desecrated and dismantled the Old First Presbyterian Church, whose recently-deceased minister (the Rev. Ebenezer Prime) had supported the Patriots. The ostensible reason? He wanted to build a fort (!) in the kirkyard, which he fittingly named “Fort Golgotha.”
*He ordered his men to force Huntingtonians to level the cemetery and use the gravestones to build fireplaces, ovens, and floors for the fort. The bread baked in those ovens was known as “tombstone bread” because the reverse-inscriptions ended up printed on them.
*Thompson specifically had Prime’s body dug up and reburied in front of the fort so that he could have the pleasure of walking over it every day. A real sweet guy, this Thompson. (Do I even need to mention that he was the most despised man in Huntington?)
*The British evacuated Long Island in Mar. ’83, and Fort Golgotha was torn down just four months after it was put it (and the church rebuilt). Thompson, a sore loser in addition to his other multitudinous faults, had his troops chop down all the trees they could and burn all the wood so that the townspeople wouldn’t have enough to heat their homes that winter.
*After the war, he moved to England, was knighted by George III, and then moved to Bavaria, where he was appointed (listen to this) the minister of police, the minister of war, and a count. He was also a physicist and inventor, discovering the principle of the mechanical equivalent of heat and inventing a kind of fireplace. Wow. (Died in 1814 in Paris.)
I mean, has no one made a movie based on this guy? A real nasty human being, but what a character…
I was rather surprised I’d never heard of Thompson before; he’s the kind of remarkable historical personage whom you’d expect to fascinate historians—apparently not, though.
OK, a few offhand details…
*Born in Massachusetts in 1753, romanced and married a rich older New Hampshire heiress, ended up appointed a major in the militia because of his wife’s connections. (He ended up divorcing her in the end.)
*Tried to join George Washington’s army, was rejected. Infuriated, he joined the Loyalists and fought for the British, becoming an adviser to Gen. Gage and Lord George Germain. They, in turn, made him a colonel, and he commanded the British occupation of Long Island from 1782 to 1783. His base of operations was Huntington, NY (where yours truly was born).
*The British knew they were losing by this point, but Thompson would have none of it; in his fury against the Revolutionaries, he desecrated and dismantled the Old First Presbyterian Church, whose recently-deceased minister (the Rev. Ebenezer Prime) had supported the Patriots. The ostensible reason? He wanted to build a fort (!) in the kirkyard, which he fittingly named “Fort Golgotha.”
*He ordered his men to force Huntingtonians to level the cemetery and use the gravestones to build fireplaces, ovens, and floors for the fort. The bread baked in those ovens was known as “tombstone bread” because the reverse-inscriptions ended up printed on them.
*Thompson specifically had Prime’s body dug up and reburied in front of the fort so that he could have the pleasure of walking over it every day. A real sweet guy, this Thompson. (Do I even need to mention that he was the most despised man in Huntington?)
*The British evacuated Long Island in Mar. ’83, and Fort Golgotha was torn down just four months after it was put it (and the church rebuilt). Thompson, a sore loser in addition to his other multitudinous faults, had his troops chop down all the trees they could and burn all the wood so that the townspeople wouldn’t have enough to heat their homes that winter.
*After the war, he moved to England, was knighted by George III, and then moved to Bavaria, where he was appointed (listen to this) the minister of police, the minister of war, and a count. He was also a physicist and inventor, discovering the principle of the mechanical equivalent of heat and inventing a kind of fireplace. Wow. (Died in 1814 in Paris.)
I mean, has no one made a movie based on this guy? A real nasty human being, but what a character…
