Quote:
Originally Posted by pendragginp
Actually, as I understand it the report of Hale's words at the gallows came from John Montresor, the British officer who was present.
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I wasn't aware (that I remember) that there was that information out there; I've never looked into that event. Thanks.
Wikipedia adds that Montresor gave the information to an
American, William Cull, while under flag of truce.
But Hale's words surely were not something that Montresor, nor Cull, wrote down--they must have been recalling it from memory. How accurate were their memories? Even if what Cull said was accurate, how long would the stories that disseminated about Hale's remark stay accurate? The problem would only get worse, not better, especially in a society where so many people were illiterate and stories that were passed down so easily got changed (for various reasons). The problem is that oral tradition
generally is so unreliable.
Remember the game where a smallish group of people, in a whisper, pass down from person to person a short message? By the time that the message gets to the end it is usually nowhere close to the original message. That's the kind of thing that we're up against.
Perhaps one of the leaders in the Revolution picked one of the variants among all of them floating around and consciously made it a great rallying statement, morale booster, inspiration, etc. among the rebel troops; who knows? And once that, or another version appeared in, say, stories in the widely-distributed children's schoolbooks, and other printed material, the statement more-or-less would have become "fixed," so was not going to change over the years.
In my opinion, while Hale may have said something similar to what he is alleged today to have said then, chances are that he didn't. He may have said nothing. Same thing as with the ship's captain (I've forgotten his name), in what I think was the War of 1812, who is alleged to have said, "D*mn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." Great rallying cry, morale booster, etc., but probably not true.
And on and on we could go with stories that we have heard, and even been taught in the early grades of school.
Sorry to be Mr. Wetblanket.
(I'm not pretending to be a know-it-all about the subject, by any means--I just happen to be in the early stages of writing a book that requires a large section on orality, especially on oral transmission of stories (mainly) and other information
in oral societies, too (it's absolutely amazing how accurately that people are capable of passing done information accurately
when they want to or have to). I've got to start to exercise the self-control of staying away from MobileRead, however, if I ever intend to get the book finished!)