AS MANY EXPERTS on Patrick Henry have said, Henry did not leave a paper trail, like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, so it is difficult to write about him.
It was difficult, indeed; this is the most difficult book I have ever written. And added to the challenge was the fact that no biographer has really reassessed Patrick Henry with an eye cast to the tolerance and understanding our culture has displayed since the 1970s and 1980s, when "secrets" about the founding fathers were aired and the stilted party line given out about them by historians was put aside. When they were finally regarded as human beings and not icons.
I wrote this novel not to sensationalize or diminish Patrick Henry but to acknowledge that in spite of horrendous troubles on the home front, he carried on his work in the cause of liberty. And to illuminate what his sacrifice of time and commitment to his country cost him. And his family.
After deciding to write it, I determined to write the book more from the standpoint of a family adjusting to the mental illness of a mother than from a view of the history of the period.
The Henry family bore the whole burden of the mental breakdown of its wife and mother, Sarah Shelton Henry, because of the attitude toward "lunatics" at the time. In the eighteenth century there were no facilities for people with depression, no mode of treatment, no medicine, and no understanding.
Today Sarah Henry's problem might be diagnosed as severe postpartum depression, and she would be treated with counseling and the proper prescription drugs. In eighteenth-century Williamsburg, Virginia, the only course for Patrick Henry to follow was to put her in that part of the jail in town reserved for "lunatics," to be chained, bled, blistered, given laudanum—the drug of choice at the time—put in a dunking chair, and confined in a cell that was eleven feet square. And recovery was not an option.
Patrick Henry would not do that. He chose the solution of putting her in the cellar of his own home, where, history tells us, he had a slave woman care for her. And, legend has it, when home, he would go down every day to feed her.
Imagine the anguish of this man! And the confusion and hurtful consequences to his children! I thought the story worth telling, but first I had to imagine it, because all the books written on Patrick Henry focus on his greatness (which I never set out to question) and usually only a paragraph is given to his home problems.
So I imagined it, using all my research. The most I could get about the situation was a report from Dr. Hinde, who was caring for Sarah: "Here at Scotchtown his family resided, whilst Henry had to encounter many mental and personal afflictions known only to his family physician. While this towering master-spirit was arousing a nation to arms, his soul was bowed down and bleeding under the heaviest sorrow and personal distress. His beloved companion had lost her reason and could only be restrained from self-destruction in a strait-dress."
Research tells us that Sarah died in early February of 177$, at the age of thirty-seven, just weeks before Henry gave his immortal cry of "liberty or death."
To flesh out the story, I had to ask myself questions. Why was Sarah in a strait dress? And being thus confined, could she not, before her death, have begged Patrick, "Give me my freedom or let me die"?
Could that heart-wrenching cry have lingered in his soul three weeks after, when he went to St. John's Church in Richmond to the Second Virginia Convention? Could those words have found voice in his passionate liberty-or-death speech?
His own mother, referring to that speech, reminded his family that the words "peace, peace" were in the text of Jeremiah that a young Patrick Henry had heard so often when his mother took him to hear George Whitefield, the famous evangelist preacher. And the Reverend Samuel Davies, whose sermons she would make Patrick repeat over and over.
Evangelists delivered sermons with power and drama. It is told to us that on the way home from these sermons, in the carriage, young Patrick would stand and try to echo the style of these men.
My point, made by Anne in the novel, is that if Patrick Henry borrowed from Jeremiah, could he not also have borrowed from his own wife? And so it is that historical fiction writers build on facts and take the leap of imagination.
But what is really true in this story and what is imagination-driven?
It is true that Martha Henry (Patsy), as Patrick and Sarah's oldest child, took charge of the younger children once her mother had a mental breakdown. And it is true that John Fontaine, her intended, was her cousin and helped with the children and the plantation management before and after they wed. Indeed, Patsy is cited as "the glue that held the family together," the person who made it possible for Patrick Henry to pursue the business of inspiring the country to freedom.
But what would that mean to the younger children? How many younger sisters can stand being bossed around by an older one? How many older ones could avoid the trap of abusing their authority?
So I added the tension between Anne and Patsy. History tells us that "Anne was plain and outspoken and had a streak of stubbornness." This fit in nicely with the character I was planning for Anne.
As for Sarah Henry's "second sight," that is my invention, although Sarah certainly did have ravings in her madness. The instances of her trying to drown baby Edward and running off with Betsy in a storm only reflect the need to put her in a strait dress.
Many people of the time feared slave uprisings, and those mentioned in the book did happen, as did the terrible flood. So it is entirely possible that Sarah would be fearful that Pegg was out to poison her.
John Fontaine's name, "MyJohn," is my own invention. I wanted this dear man to have an affectionate name, and it cleared up confusion since he had the same name as Patsy's brother.
The character of Neely (I gave her that name) is taken from history. In actuality, this unfortunate girl belonged to Virginia's official vintner, Andrew Estave. And her story is true, right up to her disastrous end.
At the time of the Gunpowder Plot, in 177$, slaves did flee to the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg to take advantage of the freedom promised to them by royal Governor John Murray Dunmore.
From all these facts, I put together my story, allowing my characters to lead me. Patsy, by being afraid to wed because of her mother's sickness, and Anne, by finding out from her mother that John would inherit the madness, and then lying to protect John. And so the web of family secrets, lies, and mistrust grows, as it does in all families where secrets become a way of life.
And so, in her part of the book, Anne's dilemma: "When do you tell the truth and when do you lie? Do you lie to protect someone? Is it wrong to keep a secret, when, if you tell, someone gets hurt?"
This is a common problem for teens. And adults.
Indeed, John did inherit his mother's proclivity for depression. Just as I have portrayed. He went mad right after the Battle of Saratoga, in 1777, when he snapped his sword and wept on the battlefield as he walked amongst the dead. And this was no temporary grief. Within three months, he resigned from the army. And his father had to send a servant to fetch him home.
Some historians assert that John was devastated because his father married Dorothea Dandridge. Is that why he never opened his father's letter? And General Washington returned it to Patrick Henry when he told him of his son's condition? History tells us John was smitten with Dorothea, that she was the age of Patsy, and that Patrick Henry married her not knowing of the connection she had had with his son John. Although all his other children knew of the romance.
So, then all I had to do was connect the dots.
As for Clementina Rind, her role in my book follows fact. She was a powerful force in the community and an independent woman of the times. All the letters from the Gazette are real, with the exception of the one written by Anne.
According to all accounts, Patrick Henry was a wonderful father. He allowed his children freedom of movement and thought. In a forty-three-year period, he had seventeen children. As a history buff and lover of our country's past, I chose to bring his first family to life, to make them human, to give them dimension.
Also, I have always wanted to create a book in which something terrible is going on within a household that makes what is going on in the outside world seem mild by comparison. In this novel, I have come as close to that theme as I could.
News from the Henry Tree, the Patrick Henry Descendants' Branch Newsletter. Brookneal, Va.
Newsletter of the Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation, Brookneal, Va.
BOOKS
Campbell, Norine Dickson. Patrick Henry: Patriot and Statesman. Old Greenwich, Conn.: Devin-Adair Company, 1969.
Child, Maria. The Girl's Own Book. Old Sturbridge Village: Applewood Books, 1834.
Coffman, Suzanne E. Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1998.
——Williamsburg—Three Hundred Years Freedom's Journey. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1999.
Holton, Woody. Forced Founders, Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and The Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Va. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery, 1619–1877. New York: Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993.
Mayer, Henry. A Son of Thunder. Patrick Henry and the American Republic. New York: Franklin Watts, 1986.
Meade, Robert Douthat. Patrick Henry, Patriot in the Making. Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1957.
Osborne, J. A. Williamsburg in Colonial Times. Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press Publishers, 1935.
Williams, George F. Patrick Henry and His World. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1969.
ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. Among her books for Harcourt are A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, also a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
A self-made writer, Ms. Rinaldi never attended college but learned her craft through reading and writing. As a columnist for twenty-one years at The Trentonian in New Jersey, she learned the art of finding a good story, capturing it in words, and meeting a deadline.
Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast, where she cooked the food, made the clothing, and learned about the dances, songs, and lifestyles that prevailed in eighteenth-century America.
Ann Rinaldi has two grown children and lives with her husband in central New Jersey.
1. Should Pa have warned Patsy that he suspected her mother's depression? What reasons might justify his not doing so? Is Patsy selfish to worry for her own sanity? What other ways might the family deal with Mama's madness besides imprisoning her in their cellar?
2. Pegg and Patsy negotiate for authority over the children. What are the benefits of Patsy retaining control of the younger kids? Do you think she made the right decision? Why or why not?
3. When Pa postpones Patsy's marriage for a year, is he being hypocritical, or is he a caring father who has learned from his own mistakes? Isn't her role of managing the Henry household during her engagement the very kind of responsibility he fears will send her into depression?
4. Why is Patsy so bossy with Anne? What does MyJohn mean when he says that at Anne's age, hate comes easily? What are some ways that Patsy and Anne could resolve their differences?
5. Pegg says that if a person ends up doing something great, the greatness doesn't come from the moment. What does she mean? Do you agree with her?
6. Anne wonders how Pegg and the other slaves can stay the same in the face of their troubles when her mother, a privileged white owner, couldn't deal with her own troubles. How might you explain why Mama falls into depression while the Henry slaves do not?
7. Is there an answer to Anne's most nagging question: When do you keep a secret and when do you tell? Should Anne reveal the identity of the child who will inherit her mama's madness? Would telling the truth change anything?
8. Pa tells Anne that even though their family is broken, she must enjoy the pieces. He also advises her to look outside the family for her happiness. How can she do both?
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