Gray Matter Musings Archives - Page 2 of 18

On Fried Dough and Kettle Corn

By Chris Carosa on August 13, 2024

Loud and proud in familiar environs, hawking books in the Historical Building at the Erie County Fair on Saturday, August 10, 2024. Source: Author

It’s a ritual that takes place every August. For me, it started when I was too young to remember. It later intensified when I just turned old enough to learn. Then, after a long period of dormancy, it came back not just with gusto, but with the pleasant perfume of honeyed nostalgia.

We create routines that become habits that end up as traditions. They seem quite random at first, a series of oddly connected dots with no obvious meaning. Later, their regularity brings comfort. Finally, they emerge as rites of passage.

Think about your own life. If you’re like most of us, you can map this template onto certain Continue Reading “On Fried Dough and Kettle Corn”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York

By Chris Carosa on July 9, 2024

Previous: Canandaigua Anxiously Waits Before Jubilation And An Elegant Supper

Captain Charles Williamson was responsible for developing much of the Genesee Country between Preemption Line and the Genesee River. Source: Main, William, Charles Williamson, Cowan & Co., Ltd., Perth, 1899, frontpiece

He was a proud Tory and Captain in the British army who volunteered to fight for King George III against the rebellious colonists. She was a proud Patriot whose father graciously saw in this prisoner of war a common human element.

Before we get into this backstory, let’s review why it’s so important.

In December 1786, the states of New York and Massachusetts agreed to resolve a conflict started by the kings of England. Those monarchs made a royal mess of Western New York, at one time or another granting rights to all or portions of it to no less than five colonies.

By the end of the American Revolution, three states had claims to the Greater Western New York region: New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut (a sliver along the southern tier). With Connecticut quickly quitting its claim, New York and Massachusetts stood nose-to-nose. With the Articles of Confederation dissolving, the two states decided to circumvent that ineffective parchment and meet in neutral territory. Ironically, this meeting took place in the state of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abagail Newell, Articles of Confederation, Bath, Boston, Canada, Charles Williamson, Colonel Hugh Maxwell, Connecticut, Edinburgh Regiment, Genesee Trail, Geneva, George Washington, Iroquois Confederacy, John Graves Simcoe, Joseph Ellicott, King George III, Massachusetts, Nathaniel Gorham, New York, Newburyport, Oliver Phelps, Patrick Colquhoun, Preemption Line, Revolutionary War, Robert Morris, Roger Hale Sheaffe, Route 5 & 20, Sir William Pulteney, Sodus, State Road, The Association, The Gore, Treaty of Hartford, William Hornby

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Remembering Silvius Hoard

By Chris Carosa on June 18, 2024

Previous: Fort Niagara And The Man-Made Wonder Of Lockport

Lafayette memorial on 1 Exchange Blvd. in downtown Rochester identifying the site of Hoard’s Tavern. Source: Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center

Think of history as a mosaic containing thousands of tiny stones. When you get up close, they appear unremarkable. Except for a few, often minor, variations in color or a slightly different shape, they look nearly identical. Sure, for any number of reasons, a few stand out and pique your curiosity. But all in all, they’re all the same.

Until you back away. Farther away, you see the small rocks begin to transform into a series of patterns. It’s as though each stone represents a dot connected to its neighbors. From a more distant perspective, you no longer see individual stones. You see a compelling picture. As if it was always there.

That’s history. It’s a picture you see, far removed from the original source, the original data points, the human stones that actually created the picture. It’s too easy to forget those Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Remembering Silvius Hoard”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Antwerp, Charles Alexander Hoard, Charles Brooks Hoard, Daniel Hoard, David Parish, Hoar, Hoard's Tavern, Jefferson County, Lafayette, Lewis DeVillers, Louis Charles Aime LeFebvre, Nancy Mary DeVillers, Nathaniel Rochester, Ogdensburg Turnpike Company, Parishville, Revolutionary War, Rochester, Rochesterville, Silvius Hoard, St. Lawrence County, Welland Canal

Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance

By Chris Carosa on April 9, 2024

James Madison served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817, immediately preceding James Monroe. History textbooks refer to him as the “Father of the Constitution” as he acted as the driving force in drafting both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

A short three years prior to that seminal event, Madison traveled from Baltimore to Fort Stanwix to negotiate with the Iroquois Confederacy. Accompanying him was a young French general and a protégé of George Washington. That would be the Marquis de Lafayette.

This chance meeting formed what would become a lifelong bond between the two men. Very early on, Madison recognized Lafayette’s affinity with the American Indians, as well as Continue Reading “Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged André-Nicolas Lavassuer, commonality, Fort Stanwix, George Washington, Iroquois, Iroquois Confederacy, James Madison, James Monroe, Lafayette, liberty, Thomas Jefferson, tolerance

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: America In 1824

By Chris Carosa on February 6, 2024

Previous: A Message From An Old Friend

The year is 2024. Do you remember 2018? If you’re a political junkie, you may recall it was the year Brett Kavanaugh won confirmation to the Supreme Court. If you enjoy reading People Magazine, then you’ll note it was the year Meghan Markle married into the British royal family. If you prefer business, it was the year both Sears and Toys ‘R’ Us declared bankruptcy.

If you’re an adult, each of those stories endure vividly in your memory. They don’t seem that far distant. And if any of those subject areas carry emotional weight with you, those scars remain to this day.

Now imagine the year 1824. What major event happened in the year 1818 that sticks in Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: America In 1824”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1812 Overture, 1819 Panic, American Dictionary, Canada, Daniel Webster, Era of Good Feelings, Federalist party, General Washington Resigning His Commission, George Washington, James Fenimore Cooper, James Monroe, John Trumbull, Lafayette, Leatherstocking Takes, Maine, Missouri Compromise, Monroe County, Napoleonic Wars, Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, Revolutionary War, Rip Van Winkle, Sixty Years' War, Surrender of General Burgoyne, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Tariff Act of 1816, Tchaikovsky, The Declaration of Independence, The Last of the Mohicans, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Pioneers, The Star-Spangled Banner, Thomas Birch, Treaty of 1818, United States, United States Capitol rotunda, War of 1812, Washington Irving

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Duty That Held Him Back

By Chris Carosa on January 23, 2024

Previous: What Took Congress So Long?

Take a look at his name: Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette. It exudes aristocracy. With Lafayette, that was a mixed blessing.

On one hand, it meant he benefited from an elite schooling in proper behavior. On the other hand, it meant proper behavior shackled him. It would make him a hero to some. It would also earn him real shackles.

Born in south central France on September 6, 1757, he followed in the military tradition footsteps of both sides of his family. On his father’s side, one of his ancestors served as a Marshal of France and accompanied Joan of Arc’s army during the Siege of Orléans in 1429. His maternal great-grandfather commanded the Second Company of Musketeers (a.k.a., the “Black Musketeers”) until his retirement in 1770.¹

For the curious, the “Black Musketeers” had black horses while the First Company “Grey Musketeers” mounted gray horses. The Musketeers were a special forces unit that Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Duty That Held Him Back”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Brandywine, Chamber of Deputies, Cornwallis, France, George Washington, James Monroe, Lafayette, Musketeers, Napoleon, Olmutz, Revolutionary War, Valley Forge, Yorktown

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: What Took Congress So Long?

By Chris Carosa on January 16, 2024

Previous: It Was Twenty Decades Ago…

Senator Robert Y. Hayne, South Carolina, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

James Monroe entered the final year of his second term feeling good. It was, after all, the “Era of Good Feelings.” In eight years, the nation’s fifth President had accomplished much. His country had many things to feel good about.

And there was more coming.

Monroe’s decision to not seek reelection confirmed the tradition of the self-imposed limit of two terms as president. Before this, however, people had a legitimate thought that Monroe would run for an unprecedented third term. He had other thoughts. In a way, they were bigger thoughts.

But he had to wait for a slow-moving Congress to give the thumbs-up.

It seems several citizens took it upon themselves to invite Lafayette to return to the nation where he first made his mark in history. While they weren’t necessarily serving in Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: What Took Congress So Long?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Charles Rich, Dr. James Thatcher, Farewell Tour, George E. Mitchell, James Brown, James Monroe, Joseph Wheaton, Lafayette, Lewis Condict, Lewis Williams, Revolutionary War, William Leigh Brent

Lafayette’s Tour: It Was Twenty Decades Ago…

By Chris Carosa on January 2, 2024

Two hundred years ago, in January 1824, a struggling Congress asked President James Monroe to dispatch an invitation across the ocean to the only surviving general of the American Revolutionary War. The fifth President of the United States and the last Founding Father to fill that role, Monroe wanted to send a message—on both sides of the Pond.

It was a time of transition. It was a time of hope. It was a time to remember.

Domestically, America had just won its second war of independence from Great Britain. This one-time adversary had now fast become a firm ally. Concurrently, the old monarchies of Europe reappeared, threatening to undo the republican movement in the western hemisphere.

On the verge of his sixty-seventh birthday, Monroe accomplished much by the end of his second term despite a series of controversies and setbacks that marred his first four years as President. Initially elected to the nation’s highest office in 1816, Monroe set his focus on Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Tour: It Was Twenty Decades Ago…”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Adams-Ortis Treaty, Aquirre Mission, Benjamin Russell, Civil War, Democratic-Republican, Era of Good Feelings, Federalist, George Washington, Great Britain, James Monroe, Lafayette, Missouri Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, Our Nation's Guest, Revolutionary War, Rush-Bagot Treaty, Seminole Wars, slavery, Treaty of 1818, War of 1812

The Role Of The Historian

By Chris Carosa on December 5, 2023

It’s early Saturday morning and I’m driving through history on my way to history. Like the hills I’m traveling through, the rain ebbs and flows in calm undulating waves.

“Calm” and “undulating” might not go together at first glance but think of sinusoidal waves. They move up and down with precise regularity. That regularity equates to calmness. The “up and down” represents “undulation” defined.

Such is the role of the historian, who commands the log of the human ship through waves of foible fads, ever trying to keep it calm and undamaged, despite its erratic and often misguided crew.

“Memory, thy name be frailty.” The metaphor of this butchered Shakespearian quote suggests the theme of this essay. It also represents the burden of the historian.Continue Reading “The Role Of The Historian”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Cicero, Delaware River, Dragnet, Gaius Julius Caesar, George Washington, Greco-Persian Wars, Herodotus, History, Jack Webb, New York State Public Historian Law, Peloponniesian War, Rubicon, Scientific History, Thucydides

How Much Are You Willing to Pay to Have Free Speech?

By Chris Carosa on November 28, 2023

James McHenry was born in Ireland in 1753. His Scots-Irish family send him to America in 1771 after he became sick from studying too hard. He may also have been sent to check out the colonies in anticipation of the entire family’s eventual immigration. In fact, a year later, the McHenry clan settled in what were then (for only a few years more) the British Colonies.

McHenry finished his studies in Philadelphia before serving as an apprentice under Benjamin Rush. You may remember Rush as the doctor/patriot who signed the Declaration of Independence, the founder of Dickinson College and the mentor/teacher of both Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis & Clark fame) and future president William Henry Harrison.

Perhaps influenced by Rush, or maybe the whole Philadelphia experience, McHenry joined the cause of the patriots. After the British captured and then released him, McHenry served on the staffs of both George Washington and General Lafayette.

Two things about McHenry stand out in his long and illustrious career as a Founding Father. It’s likely you don’t know his connection to either.Continue Reading “How Much Are You Willing to Pay to Have Free Speech?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Alien and Sedition Acts, American Revolution, balancing test, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Bill of Rights, Brandenburg v Ohio, Catherine O'Donnell, Charles Schenck, clear and present danger, Declaration of Independence, Dickinson College, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Willing Powel, First Amendment, Fort McHenry, Fred M. Vinson, George Washinton, hate speech, Hugo Black, James McHenry, John Marshall Harlan II, Kathy Hochul, Lafayette, Lewis & Clark, Meriwether Lewis, Nikki Haley, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard Amesbury, Robert H. Jackson, Ron DeSantis, Star Spangled Banner, Supreme Court, U.S. Constitution, Vietnam War, William Henry Harrison, William O. Douglas