# Representative American Plays/The Triumph at Plattsburg

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THE TRIUMPH AT PLATTSBURG BY Richard Penn Smith
The Triumph at Plattsburg is here printed for the first time from the original manuscript through the courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
THE TRIUMPH AT PLATTSBURG
The Triumph at Plattsburg represents the historical play dealing with the war of 1812. Richard Penn Smith, its author, was born in Philadelphia, March 13, 1799, the grandson of Provost William Smith, the patron of Thomas Godfrey. He was educated at Mount Airy, and was admitted to the Bar. He succeeded Duane as Editor of The Aurora, in 1822, but after five years spent in journalism, he returned to the practice of law. According to his biographers he had a wide knowledge of French and English drama which indeed is shown directly in several of the plays. He died August 12, 1854, at the family seat at the Falls of Schuylkill, near Philadelphia.
He wrote twenty plays, fifteen of which were performed. His first play to be acted, Quite Correct, was produced at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, May 27, 1828. It is a farce altered from the French, as was also Is She a Brigand, played at the Arch Street Theatre, in 1833. The largest group of Smith's plays may be called romantic comedy or melodrama. The most important plays in this group are The Disowned, a melodrama, played first at the Baltimore Theatre, March 26, 1829, and printed in Philadelphia in 1830, A Wife at a Venture, an oriental comedy, played first at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, July 25, 1829, The Sentinels, or the Two Sergeants, a clever play on the theme of fidelity, adapted from the French, performed at the Chestnut Street Theatre, December, 1829, and The Deformed, a verse play, based on Dekker's Honest Whore, played first at the Chestnut Street Theatre, February 4, 1830, and printed the same year. According to Durang and Rees, The Disowned and The Deformed were afterwards acted in London.
Smith also wrote a blank verse tragedy, Caius Marius, for Edwin Forrest, which the latter produced at the Arch Street Theatre, on January 12, 1831, and later in other places. It has not survived, except in fragments.
Smith did his most significant work, however, in the field of historical drama. The Eighth of January, in which General Jackson is the central figure, was played at the Chestnut Street Theatre, January 8, 1829, and was very popular, being repeated in New York, Baltimore and Washington, and, as late as 1848, being put on at the Broadway Theatre, New York. It was printed in Philadelphia in 1829. William Penn, a play in three acts, has as central theme the intervention of Penn to save the life of an Indian chief, Tammany, by name. It was first played at the Walnut Street Theatre, Dec. 25, 1829, and seems to have been revived as late as 1842.
​The Triumph at Plattsburg is the best of the national plays of Smith. He has avoided actual historical characters, and the conflict is kept in the background, while McCrea's danger keeps the element of suspense alive. It was first played at the Chestnut Street Theatre, January 8, 1830, with a strong cast, and was repeated. Apparently the scenery was quite effective and the national appeal met with a response.
For biography of Richard Penn Smith, see a sketch by Morton McMichael in The Miscellaneous Works of the late Richard Penn Smith, edited by H. W. Smith, Philadelphia, 1856, and an anonymous sketch in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. V, p. 119 (September, 1839). For accounts of the performances of the plays, see Charles Durang, History of the Philadelphia Stage, Series 2, Chaps. 51, 55, 56.
The published plays of Penn Smith, The Eighth of January, (1829), The Disowned, (1830), The Deformed, (1830), Quite Correct, (1835), Is She a Brigand, (1835), and The Daughter, (1836), all printed in Philadelphia, are hard to obtain. The following plays are in manuscript form in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia: The Pelican, A Wife at a Venture, The Sentinels, William Penn, The Triumph at Plattsburg, The Bombardment of Algiers, The Solitary or the Man of Mystery, Shakespeare in Love, and The Last Man. Smith's novel The Forsaken was published in Philadelphia in 1831.
The present text is based on the manuscript copy, for whose use the editor is indebted to the courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, especially of the Librarian, Dr. John W. Jordan, and of the Assistant Librarian, Mr. Ernest Spofford. The original program, found with the manuscript, has been reprinted here.
Note to Revised Edition.
An authoritative life of Penn Smith has been published under the title of The Life and Writings of Richard Penn Smith with a Reprint of His Play, The Deformed, 1830, by Bruce Welker McCullough, 1917. (University of Pennsylvania Thesis.)
​[Manuscript]
CHARACTERS
THE TRIUMPH AT PLATTSBURG
ACT FIRST.
Scene 1. The village of Plattsburg, in front of Fort Moreau. The fort practicable. Flag flying, Sentinel on duty; villagers cross stage removing property.
(Enter Corporal Peabody with soldiers.)
(Enter Andre.)
(March. Exeunt.)
(Enter Elinor followed by Mrs. Drench.)
(Enter Mrs. Macklegraith and Lucy from mill.)
(Enter Major McCrea.)
(Exit with Lucy into the mill.)
(Enter Lucy.)
(Enter Captain Stanley and soldiers.)
(Re-enter Mrs. Mack.—with bottle &c.)
(Enter Andre.)
(They push him in and close the door.)
(Exeunt Mrs. Mack. & Lucy into the mill.)
(Enter Elinor.)
(Enter Andre.)
END OF ACT FIRST.
* ↑ Pail.
* ↑ Poor or stale malt liquor, the refuse of the tap.
* ↑ Choke
ACT SECOND.
Scene 1. A tavern on Cumberland Head. Folding window through which is seen a view of the lake. Discovered. Four British soldiers drinking, and Captain Peabody, the landlord. Cannon at intervals.)
(Enter Major McCrea and Elinor.)
(Enter Captain Stanley.)
(Enter Major McCrea.)
(Enter Elinor.)
(Exeunt Major and Landlord. The British fleet is seen through the large window sailing on the lake. Tableau.—scene closes.)
(Enter Corporal Peabody with soldiers.)
(Enter Dr. Drench.)
(Enter Andre.)
​pride, for you must know that the General and myself are cousins.
(Enter Andre.)
THE END