Whenever I am researching one of my books, I love to stumble upon an "ah-ha! moment" -- one of those delicious morsels of completely surprising information they never told us about in school. Here are a few of these moments that I uncovered while researching my new book, AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY.
Did you know that --
•The First Pilgrims were actually French and landed in Florida.
Yes, the true first Pilgrims to settle in America were French. Crossing the ocean in search of religious freedom, these French Huguenots settled in Florida but were wiped out by the Spanish in a little known massacre. The opening chapter of AMERICA'S HIDDEN HISTORY tells the story of the slaughter of these real, first Pilgrims when they challenged the Spanish in Florida, fifty years before the Mayflower set sail. It illustrates how the religious wars raging in Europe at the time spilled over into America. And that quite early on America was a place for religious freedom that tolerated none.
•The first statue honoring a woman in America depicted a farmer's wife holding a hatchet and ten scalps.
You've probably never heard of her, but Hannah Dustin gained considerable fame in 17th-century Massachusetts after being taken captive by Indians and proceeding to kill and scalp her captors. The statue, which stands in Dustin's hometown of Haverhill, Massachusetts, depicted her holding a hatchet in one hand and 10 Indian scalps in the other. This story of Hannah Dustin shows a portrait of post-Thanksgiving New England very much at odds with the idyllic image of Pilgrims sharing a happy meal with Indians. I think the role of women and native Americans in our history needs to be given greater examination and emphasis and I include the untold tales of a number of "fighting women."
•George Washington singed a document that was tantamount to a murder confession.
Yes, long before he was America's Revolutionary general and first President, young George Washington earned fame and caused controversy as an ambitious young soldier in the King's service. Washington's headstrong actions started a world war and created a cloud that dogged his career. At age 22, Lt. Colonel George Washington surrendered to the French on July 4, 1754, after his troops had killed a French diplomat. They didn't tell you that one in school, did they?
I love to explore these and other aspects of our "hidden history" and get people to expand their views of the safe "bedtime story" version of American history that too many of us learned a long time ago. The history I bring to light includes drunken boatmen, toga-wearing orators and fallen heroes as well as the America's traditional champions. All of these surprising tales reveal a side of history that schoolbooks unfortunately leave out. Some are like the photograph of the crazy aunt that gets pulled from the family album because it is too embarrassing. But they are the sorts of tales that constantly evoke this refrain from readers: "I wish they had told me that in high school. I would have paid attention."
What's the most surprising piece of "America's Hidden History" that you've come across? Do you believe, as I do, that we have been given the tidy "winner's version" of history and that's it's time we view our past through some corrective lens?
Take my Fourth of July Quiz!
©2008 Kenneth C. Davis
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Learn more about America's Hidden History at Smithsonian.com.
© 2008 Kenneth C. Davis
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Comments: 29
#2 On my father's side red hair is the norm - his mother and four of her five sisters had red hair as well as her only brother. He also had many red-haired cousins. He told my mother that if any of his children had red hair he would give us away! He had black hair and brown eyes - a total alien in his family but this "alien" showed up every other generation for years and was tied to a family story on his dad's side of a dark-haired sailor who took away one of the family's women, married her and they had several dark-haired, brown-eyed children who returned to her family when he died at sea. The sailor's contribution to the gene pool left one black-haired child every other generation from the 1700s on according to a family fable.
Yes, I taught history and it is time these people were humanized. They might be legends but even legends need a connection to the people who have branded them as such and not as "outsiders" so I thoroughly enjoyed your book. It is defintiely one I will keep (maybe loan, maybe not). I also plan to read some others of your publications.
The first Jews came to what later became the United States in 1654 from Recife, Brazil to New Amsterdam (Manhattan) after being ejected from Recife by the Portuguese. They were in Recife because they were ejected from Spain (along with all other "non-true believers") in June (or July) 1492. Something I have always found to be an interesting coincidence. When I was in elemtary school everyone had to learn that poem "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...". There is also some belief that there was a converso (jewish person converted to christianity, its a long story) who was part of Columbus' crew.
I find it fun to swap books because we read what a friend wrote and we can give each other reviews of what we honestly think of the book.
You can see my book at www.gswansonbooks.com or book stores.
I love stuff like this.
Does your book contain any information about the Alamo? According to family lore, my great-great-great-etc...uncle was the Colonel who ratted out Custer to the Indians... his name was "Fannin".
I grew up listening to Johnny Horton, a country and western singer, sing about Young Abe Lincoln and John Paul Jones. I watched televsion westerns that sometimes had stories about real life people and I read biographies every week of the people I stumbled across in Horton songs and televsion westerns. Wagon Train had an episode about Elizabeth McQueeney; Bonanza had an episode about Julia Bullette. These were real characters and I encounted them again and again on television and in my readings.
Your book brought me back to the America that I love. Thank you.
I am currently reading Cokie Roberts's wonderful book, "Ladies of Liberty," and I have been astonished at the important role women played in Colonial times albeit often behind the scenes.
I love the facts that you have shared above. I never heard any of them, proving to me once again how far I have to go in knowing the history of this country.
A few notes back. Chana. The Pilgrims indeed did land at P'town first. They didn't find enough fresh water to stay... but they did find a cache of Indians' hidden corn, to which they helped themselves, certain that God had provided it... they actually just stole it.
Amy B-- the "confession" was a "parole," which was a promise not to fight for another year; this was common in European wars and continued through the Revolution and even into the Civil War in American history.
Donna F-- This book does not reach as far as the Alamo, although I discuss that in Don't Know Much About History, my earlier book.
Thanks again to all. Watch for me on CBS Early Morning on July 4th!
Interesting fact that the United States invaded Russia in 1918. American troops fought Russian troops on Russian soil in two theaters from 1918 to 1920.
Thanks for the hidden history facts!