tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post6641561502680454633..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: “The Gun He Carried on that Eventful Day”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-18296174278845571852010-09-28T15:08:26.360-05:002010-09-28T15:08:26.360-05:00As a descendant of Hezekiah, I find this very inte...As a descendant of Hezekiah, I find this very interesting. I can't say that I heard this story while sitting on my grandmother's knee (Cora Wyman, dau. of Daniel Wyman of Arlington). We have a lot of things handed down about their farm on Spy Pond, but I don't recall any earlier Wyman artifacts or documents. I will have to check the boxes my mother has stored away. Interestingly, Cora's husband was Stephen Morse Richardson, named after the Stephen Morse who married Rebekah Howe, descendant of Daniel Howe, who opened "Longfellow's" Wayside Inn in Sudbury. We have an exact duplicate of the coat of arms that hangs in the Wayside Inn. According to extensive research published in a book about the Wayside Inn, however, the coat of arms is made up. It makes you wonder how much of history is more than a little bit off.<br /><br />Stephen Morse HollisterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-49864240574591150832010-06-17T16:26:49.767-05:002010-06-17T16:26:49.767-05:00The “lone rifleman” theory seems to have had curre...The “lone rifleman” theory seems to have had currency even before the Revolution. Boston merchant John Andrews wrote about a country marksman frightening the British soldiers encamped on the Common. So it’s not surprising that it would also show up in historical fiction like “The White Horseman,” given how that genre boils down mass actions into individual ones.<br /><br />The gun that supposedly belonged to Isaac Chauncey Wyman’s father appears to have a barrel a little less than 4' long. But there are lots of questions about it.<br /><br />I’m working up to discussing the evidence from the British side. After all, the whole point of “The White Horseman” is that Wyman struck fear into the redcoats’ hearts—“Death on the pale horse”!J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-12837464025117492522010-06-17T16:06:16.680-05:002010-06-17T16:06:16.680-05:00Thanks, J. L., I look forward to some kind of clar...Thanks, J. L., I look forward to some kind of clarification on this story. Inherent in the tale is the "long-barrelled rifle and stoic rifleman" myth which seems to run like a thread through much of the 19th century reinterpretation of American colonial history. <br /><br />This myth consists in varying forms (starting with The Leatherstocking Tales) of the lone rifleman winning the war for the rebels. There is of course in this myth, as in all myths, a grain of truth, albeit overwhelmingly exaggerated to fit later romantic sensibilities, but there is no credible evidence of anybody using rifles in the Lexington Alarm or even at Bunker Hill. If the gun was real, or "real" in the sense of the tale being true, then it would likely have been a long, smoothbore fowling piece, with a barrel at least four feet long. Cumbersome to carry on horseback, but doable- barely. It would not have been as accurate as a rifle, but, fired at a group of people, the terrorizing effect might have been noticed or recorded by somebody else.<br /><br />The horse, on whose back the gun would have rested for a supposedly stable firing platform, would have been gunfire-trained, a considerable effort not expended much by peacetime people too old for militia service (or so goes one version of the story). <br /><br />The whole tale just sounds more and more like an exaggeration of a basic tale of seeing somebody firing his gun that day, done through wishful thinking and memory creep, if not flat-out self-aggrandizement.<br /><br />One last thing: are there any British mentions of this? Could Vincent J.R. Kehoe have mentioned this in "We Were There", his collection of accounts of April 19, 1775? Maybe, but I could be wrong. I'll look through my copy when I get a chance.R Fullerhttp://www.nps.gov/mima/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-54730876330648698652010-06-16T12:45:37.879-05:002010-06-16T12:45:37.879-05:00A birthdate of, say, 1780 for Isaac Chauncey's...A birthdate of, say, 1780 for Isaac Chauncey's father would agree better with what we know about his family life. But of course that would have made it impossible for him to be involved with the Revolutionary War. So perhaps Isaac Chauncey Wyman adjusted his father's age as well as the other details.Charles Bahnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-64984947773574002152010-06-16T10:57:55.333-05:002010-06-16T10:57:55.333-05:00Adding to the oddity is that a man named Isaac Cha...Adding to the oddity is that a man named Isaac Chauncey was prominent in the American navy around the time Isaac Chauncey Wyman was born, so the baby seems to have been named after someone outside the family. Of course, he could also have received his father’s first name. The Salem newspaper ads from 1836 certainly imply that there was a marriage, but say nothing more.<br /><br />I don’t think the genealogies associated with Isaac Chauncey Wyman are at all reliable. They seem to have assembled from later research and wishful thinking rather than authentic family knowledge. He was still very young when his father died, yet apparently felt more sure about where his father was on 19 Apr 1775 than about the date of that death. <br /><br />My main conclusion about Isaac Chauncey Wyman remains that he desperately wanted to be descended from American heroes. He could have presented himself as grandson of Hezekiah Wyman, the “White Horseman.” But either he had never heard that story, or he decided that people wouldn’t believe it.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-73881120255547083842010-06-16T09:49:29.109-05:002010-06-16T09:49:29.109-05:00Sorry for the late posting on this, but it took me...Sorry for the late posting on this, but it took me a while to figure out all the Isaacs and then do the math. Something doesn't add up here, and I mean that literally.<br /><br />Isaac Chauncy Wyman's father, also Isaac Wyman, was born either in 1756 or 1762. The uncertainty is because his story may have gotten conflated with his cousin, also Isaac Wyman.<br /><br />If Isaac Chauncy's father was born in 1756, then he would have been 19 at the time of Lexington and Concord, and may well have accompanied his father that day. He would have been 64 at the time of his (first?) marriage in 1820, and 71 at the birth of his (first? only?) son Isaac Chauncy in 1827. And he was 80 when he died in 1836.<br /><br />If Isaac Chauncy's father was born in 1762, he would have been 13 on the day of Lexington and Concord, almost certainly too young to have played any military role, unless he was a drummer, which is not what's been claimed. And he still would have been 58 at the time of marriage, 65 when his son was born, and 74 at his death.<br /><br />While technically feasible, his advanced age at the time of his marriage and his son's birth definitely stretches the bounds of credulity.<br /><br />Putting both ends of his life together, his accomplishments in youth and in old age are an unrealistic combination. (What did he do in the middle of his life, between 1775 and 1820?) His story isn't quite as far-fetched as David Kinnison, but it's headed in that direction.<br /><br />Isaac Chauncy's mother, by the way, was about 31 at the time of her marriage, 38 at the birth of her son, and 47 when she was widowed -- all perfectly plausible.<br /><br />All of this leads me to wonder whether Isaac Chauncy Wyman had any relationship at all with the famed Hezekiah Wyman. Yes, his father was named Isaac Wyman, but there seem to be a lot of Isaac Wymans around -- 4 of them in this story alone! Could Isaac Chauncy's father have been descended from some other Wyman family?<br /><br />And Isaac Chauncy doesn't start telling this story until 59 years after his father's death.<br /><br />Are there any independent sources, such as census records, that could confirm the birthdate of Isaac Chauncy's father?<br /><br />As for that "Chauncy" part, wasn't that one of the aliases used by that Gerhartsreiter fellow here in Boston a couple of years ago?<br /><br />Sad to say, Isaac Chauncy Wyman's story rings about as true as Clark Rockefeller's.Charles Bahnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-45939489466586053772010-06-15T20:44:58.150-05:002010-06-15T20:44:58.150-05:00Thanks, George, I’ve made the correction. I must b...Thanks, George, I’ve made the correction. I must be so used to writing 17— dates that when an entry has a lot of 18— dates I can’t keep ’em straight!J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-39307172709330789582010-06-15T19:43:23.853-05:002010-06-15T19:43:23.853-05:00That’s a good question about mounted riders, Charl...That’s a good question about mounted riders, Charlie, and I’m definitely going to address it.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-34589527517443843222010-06-15T18:54:50.199-05:002010-06-15T18:54:50.199-05:00The question naturally arises: Do any of the conte...The question naturally arises: Do any of the contemporary descriptions of April 19 -- on either side -- make any mention of anyone on horseback on the American side who participated in the military action (as opposed to just being a message carrier)?<br /><br />For all of the fuss made about "Death on the Pale Horse" in the 19th century, if the story were true, you would think there would have been some contemporary notice, even if they didn't know his name.Charles Bahnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-7710907553661362592010-06-15T17:58:38.977-05:002010-06-15T17:58:38.977-05:00The paragraph about Seth Wyman states he died 1825...The paragraph about Seth Wyman states he died 1825. That should be 1725.George Lovelynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-36004383779588221772010-06-15T15:47:02.053-05:002010-06-15T15:47:02.053-05:00Funny you should ask about that gun, Roger. This p...Funny you should ask about that gun, Roger. This posting prompted a couple of emails with unexpected information on just that question. More to come later this month?J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-9844995265367723382010-06-15T11:47:44.901-05:002010-06-15T11:47:44.901-05:00My concluding thoughts are that this whole Hezekia...My concluding thoughts are that this whole Hezekiah Wyman story is a colossal hoax.A boring one at that.Militiamannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-26499195989775840912010-06-15T09:28:41.370-05:002010-06-15T09:28:41.370-05:00"When he died he bequeathed outside his famil..."When he died he bequeathed outside his family the gun he carried on that eventful dav, but it is now in the possession of his grandson, Isaac Chauncy Wyman, of Salem."<br /><br />So...I wonder whatever happened to this fabled- and I do mean fabled- gun?R Fullerhttp://www.nps.gov/mima/noreply@blogger.com