Tampa Chapter

Sons of the American Revolution

September 2019

Contents

          Meeting announcement

          Revolution History note

Program Schedule

SAR and events update       

Facebook Page   

          Misc. reminders and information

The next meeting of the Tampa Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 14th at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club at 11 Central Avenue. This is a special joint meeting with the St. Petersburg Chapter to commemorate Constitution Week. The featured speaker is Joseph Hardesty, Director of the SAR Genealogical Research Library in Louisville. Following are the event details:

EVENT SCHEDULE  

10:45 AM Arrival and seating

11:00 Introductions, Welcome and SAR Opening

11:30-12:30 Guest Speaker: Mr. Joseph Hardesty, Head Librarian NSSAR

Topic: The NSSAR Library: A Treasure Trove for Researchers

12:30 1:30 Lunch Service

1:30 – 2:15 Seminar Session 1: Secrets of Using Family Search.org Research Wiki, and Using Family Search.org Catalog

2:15-2:30 Break

2:30- 3:30 Seminar Session 2: History of the US Federal Census: What it can tell us about our ancestors in historical context

FEES:

St. Petersburg Yacht Club SAR/DAR Luncheon: $24, parking included inside the Yacht Club building; (meal: Herb roasted Chicken Coq au Vin & Yacht Club’s Topsail Carmel Flan)  

Tampa Chapter SAR can pay at the door, but to reserve a meal and

assure seating, a reservation is required.

RSVP by September 9 to Charles Butler at c.butler@stpetesar.org

Afternoon Seminar Sessions: No additional charge

American Revolution Notes:

(Editor’s note) I have had computer issues for most of the month and was unable to get something written in time for this early edition of the newsletter. My Revolution Note will return in October with a look at the 1765 Stamp Act Congress and in November, the siege of Ft. Mifflin. So…the Assistant Editor, did some research and discovered the capture of Major John Andre occurred during the month of September 1780. Following is an edited version of a Wikipedia article (I know).

In 1779, John André became Adjutant General of the British Army in America with the rank of Major. In April of that year, he took charge of British Secret Service in America. Around this time, André had been negotiating with disillusioned American General Benedict Arnold. Arnold's Loyalist wife Peggy Shippen was one of the go-betweens in the correspondence. Arnold commanded West Point and had agreed to surrender it to the British for £20,000, a move that would have enabled the British to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.

André went up the Hudson River on the British sloop-of-war Vulture on Wednesday, 20 September 1780 to visit Arnold. The two men conferred in the woods below Stony Point on the river's west bank until nearly dawn. Soon thereafter on the morning of 22 September, began firing on the Vulture, which sustained many hits and was forced to retire down river without André. To aid André's escape through American lines, Arnold provided him with civilian clothes and a passport which allowed him to travel under the name John Anderson. He bore six papers hidden in his stocking, written in Arnold's hand, that showed the British how to take the fort. This was unnecessary, since Clinton already knew the fort's layout.

André rode on in safety until 9 a.m. on 23 September, when he came near Tarrytown, NY where armed militiamen stopped him. André thought that they were Tories because one was wearing a Hessian soldier's overcoat. André then told them that he was a British officer who must not be detained, when, to his surprise, they said that they were Americans, and that he was their prisoner. They searched him and found Arnold's papers in his stocking. The prisoner was at first detained at Wright's Mill in North Castle, before being taken back across the Hudson to the headquarters of the American Army at Tappan. There he admitted who he really was. The six sheets of paper carried by André were sent to General George Washington. Arnold received a note while at breakfast with his officers, made an excuse to leave the room, and was not seen again. The note gave Arnold time to escape to the British. An hour or so later, Washington arrived at West Point and was disturbed to see the stronghold's fortifications in such neglect, part of the plan to weaken West Point's defenses. Some hours later, Washington received the explanatory information from Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge and immediately sent men to arrest Arnold, but it was too late.

General Washington convened a board of senior officers to investigate the matter. The trial contrasted with Sir William Howe's treatment of Nathan Hale four years earlier. André's defense was that he was suborning an enemy officer, "an advantage taken in war" (his words). However, he did not attempt to pass the blame onto Arnold. On 29 September 1780, the board found André guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit" and ordered that "Major André, Adjutant-General to the British Army, ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy, and that he ought to suffer death. André appealed to George Washington to be executed as a gentleman by being shot rather than hanged as a "common criminal", but by the rules of war he was hanged as a spy at Tappan on 2 October 1780. While a prisoner, he endeared himself to American officers who lamented his death as much as the British. Alexander Hamilton wrote of him: "Never perhaps did any man suffer death with more justice or deserve it less."

Program schedule

After this special joint meeting with the St Petersburg Chapter, Tampa SAR will return to its normal meeting date of the third Saturday of each month at the Golden Corral in Temple Terrace. More details will be provided in the October Newsletter.

Other important dates

September 10 Honor Flight

September 26 Missing In America Project (Sarasota)

October 4-5 Fall BOM (Kissimmee)

October 22 Honor Flight

November 11 Veteran’s Day

December 14 Wreaths Across America

Facebook Page

The Facebook page for the Tampa Chapter Sons of the American Revolution is

Tampa Sar. The password to add anything is American1776. Please feel free to upload pictures or comments. Invite all your friends to take a look.

Miscellaneous Reminders

Chapter Website—remember you can find information about the chapter and programs on the chapter website.   http://www.tampasar.org/

 One of the duties of the Chapter Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. Another is to send a sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away. If you know of anyone that should be the recipient of these cards, please mention it to Chaplain Sessums or one of the other officers.

 Chapter officers and committee chairman are encouraged to send any pertinent information they wish included in the newsletter to the editor.