Thirteen Chapters Of American History
Theodore Sutro
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THIRTEEN CHAPTERS OF AMERICAN HISTORY REPRESENTED BY THE EDWARD MORAN SERIES OF THIRTEEN HISTORICAL MARINE PAINTINGS
THIRTEEN CHAPTERS OF AMERICAN HISTORY REPRESENTED BY THE EDWARD MORAN SERIES OF THIRTEEN HISTORICAL MARINE PAINTINGS
By THEODORE SUTRO 1905 NEW YORK: THEODORE SUTRO, 280 BROADWAY AND THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. PUBLISHER'S AGENTS, 33-37 East 17th Street. $1.50 net. Copyright, 1905, by Theodore Sutro $1.50 net. Copyright, 1905, by Theodore Sutro Inscription : To Mr. Don C. Seitz (April 1918) with compliments of the author Theodore Sutro To My Dear Wife FLORENCE THROUGH WHOSE STEADFAST FRIENDSHIP FOR MR. AND MRS. EDWARD MORAN AND LOYAL DEVOTION TO ME, I WAS LED TO CHAMPION, AND ENCOURAGED TO PERSEVERE IN ESTA
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INTRODUCTORY.
INTRODUCTORY.
The Thirteen Paintings, to a history and description of which (and incidentally to a brief memoir of their creator, Edward Moran) these pages are devoted, are monumental in their character and importance. Mr. Moran designated them as representing the "Marine History of the United States." I have somewhat changed this title; for even the untraversed "Ocean" and the landing of Columbus in the new world represent periods which necessarily affect the whole American Continent. The conception of these
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Edward Moran was almost seventy-two years of age when he died in the City of New York on June 9, 1901, having been born at Bolton, Lancashire, England, on August 19, 1829. He was the oldest son of a large family of children, and when a mere child was put to work at the loom, the humble vocation of his father who, the same as his ancestors had been for several generations, was a hand-loom weaver. Already while so employed the child was frequently caught sketching with charcoal on the white fabric
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I. THE OCEAN—THE HIGHWAY OF ALL NATIONS.[C]
I. THE OCEAN—THE HIGHWAY OF ALL NATIONS.[C]
This picture has already been briefly referred to, and is considered by some critics the greatest of the thirteen. Probably no such sublime ocean has ever been painted. How thoroughly it appeals to those who best know the sea is illustrated by the blunt but expressive compliment bestowed upon it by Admiral Hopkins of the English navy when, in 1892, he saw it in the Union League Club of New York, where it was being privately shown. After silently studying it for some minutes he turned to Mr. Jose
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II. LANDING OF LIEF ERICKSON IN THE NEW WORLD, IN 1001.[D]
II. LANDING OF LIEF ERICKSON IN THE NEW WORLD, IN 1001.[D]
While the most notable occurrence in its influence on America was undoubtedly the landing of Columbus, as it resulted in the gradual colonization and development of the whole continent, the actual discovery of the new world was made ages prior to 1492. The landing of Lief Erickson was made in 1001, but there is good reason to believe that even long prior to that time either the shores or the islands of America were reached by Phœnicians, Irish and Basques, and its western shores by the Chinese.
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III. THE SANTA MARIA, NIÑA AND PINTA (EVENING OF OCTOBER 11, 1492)[E] AND IV. THE DEBARKATION OF COLUMBUS (MORNING OF OCTOBER 12, 1492).[F]
III. THE SANTA MARIA, NIÑA AND PINTA (EVENING OF OCTOBER 11, 1492)[E] AND IV. THE DEBARKATION OF COLUMBUS (MORNING OF OCTOBER 12, 1492).[F]
The landing of Columbus was an historical event of such importance in its consequences that the artist wisely celebrates it in both of these pictures. We little realize what it meant to brave the perils of the unexplored ocean in the year 1492. We marvel when some adventurous navigator, even now, when every current and wind of the ocean have been observed for five hundred years, and are accurately known and precisely charted, undertakes to cross it in a somewhat diminutive vessel. What, then, mu
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V. MIDNIGHT MASS ON THE MISSISSIPPI OVER THE BODY OF FERDINAND DE SOTO, 1542.[H]
V. MIDNIGHT MASS ON THE MISSISSIPPI OVER THE BODY OF FERDINAND DE SOTO, 1542.[H]
As simple, gloomy and severe as were the circumstances surrounding the departure of the expeditions of Lief Erickson and Columbus, and subsequently of Henry Hudson and the Pilgrim Fathers, so brilliant, hopeful and coveted was the journey of Fernando De Soto, when he set sail from Spain in April, 1538, to conquer Florida and in search of a new Eldorado. Having previously returned from the conquest of Peru, as the chief lieutenant of Francisco Pizarro, possessed of great wealth, and through his m
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VI. HENRY HUDSON ENTERING NEW YORK BAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1609.[I]
VI. HENRY HUDSON ENTERING NEW YORK BAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1609.[I]
Previous to his discovery of the Hudson River, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, sometimes erroneously called Hendrick Hudson because the ship in which he sailed was fitted out under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company and the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, had made three voyages to find a northwest passage to China and India. To reach those shores via the Atlantic seems to have been the goal of all the early discoverers, including Columbus and also De Soto, who, before his Florida expeditio
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VII. EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS FROM SOUTHAMPTON, AUGUST 5, 1620.[J]
VII. EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS FROM SOUTHAMPTON, AUGUST 5, 1620.[J]
A sadder journey than that of the Pilgrims, both in its inception in leaving home and kindred and fleeing from persecution, and in its ending in the inconceivable hardships which they had to endure in the new world, was probably never undertaken than when, on August 5, 1620, the "Mayflower" sailed out of the harbor of Southampton. It must have been with heavy hearts and the gloomiest forebodings, and yet buoyed up with the hope of finding a permanent refuge beyond the ocean, for the exercise of
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VIII. FIRST RECOGNITION OF THE AMERICAN FLAG BY A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT. In the Harbor of Quiberon, France, February 13, 1778.[K]
VIII. FIRST RECOGNITION OF THE AMERICAN FLAG BY A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT. In the Harbor of Quiberon, France, February 13, 1778.[K]
Between the time of the landing of the Pilgrims and the event represented in this picture one hundred and fifty-eight years had elapsed. The hardy pioneers who had ventured across the ocean in considerable numbers had increased to thirteen colonies, the Declaration of Independence had been signed, the War of the Revolution was being fought, a preliminary confederation had been formed among the thirteen States, the first American Congress had met, and this, on June 14, 1777, "Resolved that the fl
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IX. BURNING OF THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA. In the Harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804.[L]
IX. BURNING OF THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA. In the Harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804.[L]
This canvas represents one of the most daring feats ever performed in naval warfare, equalled only, perhaps, by the exploit of Lieutenant Hobson in sinking the collier "Merrimac" in the harbor of Santiago during the Spanish-American war of 1898. Lord Nelson characterized the burning of the "Philadelphia" as the most daring act of the age. The "Philadelphia" was the sister ship of the famous "Constitution," and under the command of Captain Bainbridge had been despatched to Tripoli to demand satis
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X. THE BRIG ARMSTRONG ENGAGING THE BRITISH FLEET. In the Harbor of Fayal, September 26, 1814.[M]
X. THE BRIG ARMSTRONG ENGAGING THE BRITISH FLEET. In the Harbor of Fayal, September 26, 1814.[M]
It is difficult to discriminate, in awarding the meed of praise for bravery, amid the many heroic deeds of the American navy. For fighting qualities and success in repulsing overwhelming numbers the exploit of Captain Samuel Chester Reid, in his battle with the British seamen which this picture illustrates, has never been surpassed. It was on the 26th of September, 1814, that the privateer, the brig "Armstrong," which had been fitted out in New York, cast anchor in the harbor of Fayal, one of th
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XI. IRON VERSUS WOOD—SINKING OF THE CUMBERLAND BY THE MERRIMAC. In Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862.[N]
XI. IRON VERSUS WOOD—SINKING OF THE CUMBERLAND BY THE MERRIMAC. In Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862.[N]
The title of this picture suggests not only the unequal character of the fight which the wooden ship "Cumberland" fought against the iron-clad "Merrimac," the first iron-clad that ever sailed in American waters, but also recalls to mind the contrast between the steel-armored battleships of the navies of the world of to-day and the wooden hulks which prevailed up to that time. It is a long span of time from the battle of brave Captain Reid in the harbor of Fayal in 1814 to the year 1861, but duri
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XII. THE WHITE SQUADRON'S FAREWELL SALUTE TO THE BODY OF CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON. New York Bay, August 25, 1890.[O]
XII. THE WHITE SQUADRON'S FAREWELL SALUTE TO THE BODY OF CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON. New York Bay, August 25, 1890.[O]
No more fitting funeral cortege could have been devised than the one which, on August 25, 1890, conveyed to Sweden, to their last resting-place, the remains of the great engineer, John Ericsson, whose inventive genius had clad the wooden navies of the world in armor of impenetrable iron and steel. Little had he dreamt when, in 1839, at the age of thirty-six (he was born at Vermland, Sweden, on July 31, 1803) he came to the United States in one of the old wooden ships of that day after a weary jo
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XIII. RETURN OF THE CONQUERORS. TYPIFYING OUR VICTORY IN THE LATE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, SEPTEMBER 29, 1899.[Q]
XIII. RETURN OF THE CONQUERORS. TYPIFYING OUR VICTORY IN THE LATE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, SEPTEMBER 29, 1899.[Q]
As a fitting close to the grand pictorial illustration of our marine history, this canvas represents one of the most magnificent pageants ever seen on our waters, in commemoration of the victorious close of the last great war, in which our navy added fresh leaves to its laurel wreath of heroic achievement. It, at the same time, depicts the culminating stage in the evolution of naval construction from the time when the Norsemen in their drakkars, and Columbus in his caravels, braved the perils of
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