Difference between revisions of "Chapter 28: 275-288"

Revision as of 09:06, 5 October 2009

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Mount Vernon
located here.

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Gershom
In the novel, this is the Washington's house slave. According to the Bible, Gershom was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name appears to mean a sojourner there, which the text argues was a reference to Moses' flight from Egypt; biblical scholars regard the name as being essentially the same as Gershon, and it is Gershom rather than Gershon who is sometimes listed by the Book of Chronicles, as a founder of one of the principal Levite factions... The passage in Exodus concerning Moses and Zipporah reaching an inn, contain four of the most ambiguous and awkward sentences in Biblical text; the text appears to suggest that something, possibly God or an angel, attacks either Gershom or Moses, until a circumcision is carried out by Zipporah on whichever of the two men it was that was being attacked. From WIKI

Pontiac
Pontiac or Obwandiyag (c. 1720 – April 20, 1769), was the Ottawa tribe leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766), an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British and Iroquois victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's importance in the war that bears his name. Nineteenth century accounts portrayed him as the mastermind and leader of the revolt, while some subsequent interpretations have depicted him as a local leader with limited overall influence. From WIKI

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General Bouquet's Proclamation
Henry Bouquet (1719 – September 2, 1765) was a prominent British Army officer in the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War: Bouquet then moved his army from the Tuscarawas River to the Muskingum River at modern-day Coshocton, Ohio. This placed him in the heart of tribal lands and would allow him to quickly strike the natives' villages if they refused to cooperate. As part of the peace treaty, Bouquet demanded the return of all white captives in exchange for a promise not to destroy the Indian villages or seize any of their land. The return of the captives caused much bitterness among the tribesmen, because many of them had been forcibly adopted into Indian families as small children, and living among the Native Americans had been the only life they remembered. Some 'white Indians' managed to escape back into the native villages; many others were never exchanged. Bouquet was responsible for the return more than 200 white captives to the settlements back east. From WIKI

Mr. Cresap
Sometime in late October, 1730, Cresap was attacked on his ferry boat by two Pennsylvanians. According to Cresap's Maryland deposition, Cresap and one of his workmen were hailed by the Pennsylvanians and began rowing the two men from the east to the west. Sixty yards into the trip, the Pennsylvanians turned their guns on the Marylanders and a fight ensued with Cresap attempting to use the oars to defend himself. After a short struggle, both Marylanders ended up in the water, holding on to the boat to keep from drowning. The Pennsylvanians tried to force Cresap to let go of the boat, and when Cresap asked if they intended to murder him, one swore that he did. Cresap eventually escaped when the boat drifted to shallow water near a large rock where Cresap was stranded for several hours until rescued by a friendly Indian. From WIKI

Ulster Scots
Ulster Scots (or Ullans) generally refers to the dialects of Scots spoken in parts of Ulster. Some definitions of Ulster Scots may also include Standard English spoken with an Ulster Scots accent – where lexical items have been re-allocated to the phoneme classes that are nearest to the equivalent standard classes – a situation equivalent to that of Lowland Scots and Scottish Standard English. Ulster Scots has also been influenced by, and has itself influenced, Mid Ulster English. As a result of the competing influences of English and Scots source dialects, varieties can be characterised as 'more English' or 'more Scots'. From WIKI

Mr. Grenville
George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770), was a British Whig statesman who served in government for the relatively short period of seven years, reaching the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was one of the few prime ministers (others include William Pitt the Younger, Sir Winston Churchill, George Canning, Spencer Percival, and William Gladstone) who never acceded to the peerage. From WIKI

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Lancaster County Rifles
The Longrifle (or alternately Pennsylvania or "Kentucky" Rifle) is a type of rifle used in early America by both the military and civilians. It is characterized by an unusually long barrel, sometimes more than four feet in length, which is felt to be in large part a unique development of American rifles... Although experts argue the fine points of origin and lineage, it is accepted that the long rifle was the product of German gunsmiths who immigrated to new settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia as early as the 1740s. From WIKI

Fimble
The male plant of hemp

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Kasha Varnishkies
Kasha varnishkas or kasha varnishkes is a traditional Jewish dish that combines kasha (buckwheat groats) with noodles, typically with bow-tie pasta. From WIKI

Joe Miller
Joe Miller (Joseph or Josias) (1684 - August 16, 1738), English actor, first appears in the cast of Sir Robert Howard's Committee at Drury Lane in 1709 as Teague. Trinculo in The Tempest, the First Grave-digger in Hamlet and Marplot in The Busybody, were among his many favourite parts. He is said to have been a friend of Hogarth. From WIKI

Dismal Swamp Land Company
The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy area on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina in the United States... George Washington visited the swamp and then formed the Dismal Swamp Land Company in 1763, which proceeded to drain and harvest timber from part of the area. A five-mile (8 km) ditch on the west side of the current refuge there still bears his name. In 1805, the Dismal Swamp Canal began serving as a commercial highway for timber coming out of the swamp. From WIKI

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Annotation Index