Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-12-12
FICTION IN HISTORY
AMERICAN RECORDS IN PARTICULAR
ABOUND m ERRORS.

Yer Instance. There Were No cottsE
naieu ne the Battle OF new ,0rEezns.
and CornwnIifs Dfd Not H,,nd Hs.
sword 90 Washington at Yorktown.
The fact that a large proportion OF
Ill the history OF all the world Is false
perhaps known to few peop.e- That
American history particularly a5ounds
IN errors. blunders and stereotyped
snasities 10 known TO even a smaller
ndmber- Walpole. wishing to amuse
bis father after an unusually weari-
some day, proposed reading to him
from book OF history. Anything but
history" said the old man, 'for history
must be false"
When 1t 10 considered that historians
In every period OF the world have been
narrowed and biased by personal opln-
lon and surrounding circumstances the
wisdom OF this remark is perceived.
The worst part OF IL all is that when
once mistake has been made Il has
rarely been rectiaed, each succeeding
historian being content to accept as
facts the work OF those who went be-
fore him. The ultimate result OF this
was that the mistakes werd believed
by those who read them. and events fu
history that never happened or were
false were accepted by the world and
cvsr after known as the markers Of
important epochs.
For Instance. the battle OF Licking
ton, which occurred April 10. I7I5. Is
known as the first battle between the
colonists and the British. But this
was not so. for the records of Orange
county. n. C.. show that on the road
from Hillsboro TO Salisbury on May
l6. iii. an engagement between a
squad OF British troops and body OF
colo1ists took place. In which thirty
six men We're Killed ald.severaI wound.
cd. The trouble was caused by the re
sentiment OF the coloa.sts over the lille.
gal taxes imposed by ,h- British clerk
or the county court.
Historians persist I'm saying and peo-
pie persist In believing that the breast.
works thrown up by General Jackson
at New Orleans were made Of cotton
bales covered with earth. As n matter
OF fact. there was not pound OF cot
ton on the ground. and this fact has
been verified by Major Chotard. Gener.
al Jackson's assistant adjutant gener-
al. who was himself a participant In
the battle.
a well known engraving that nearly
always appears in modern school histo-
ries Is that OF General CORVALLIS hand
ing his sword TO General Washington
at the surrender OF Yorktown. and this
in spite or the fact that, TO spare Corn.
wallis the humiliation. General O'Hara
gave his sword to General Lincoln in
token OF surrender.
Possibly I'm the course OF time the
battle OF Bunker Hill will be rightly
called the LATHE Of Breeds Hill. and.
to return 10 ancient history. the mar
velous chronicles OF Herodotus will be
discredited. II is told In history that
Hannibal cut his way across the Alps
with iron. fire and vinegar. but the
question still remains as 70 how he ap-
piled the vinegar. The conflicting &C
counts of the life OF Napoleon go 20 H.
lustrate the discrepancies OF many his
torical writers
All have heard the words. "All is lost
but honor" attributed 10 King Francis
I. In letter TO woman. yet when this
letter was referred TO for the phrase Il
was not 20 be found there.
And. again. when Louis XVI. laid his
head beneath the guillotine his confess
or, Able Edgeworth. dismissed him
from the world, so history tells. with
the beautiful viaticum. "Son OF st.
Louis. ascend TO heaven" Yet in reall-
" he said nothing OF the sort
The brave defiance. The guard dies.
but never surrenders." attributed to
Cambronne when at Waterloo the i'm
perial guard were ordered to throw
down their arms, has been shown 20
have been the fanciful creation OF
some historians mind. and the saying.
Providence favors the stronger side"
or. as II has been corrupted. God is on
the side with the heaviest artillery"
which has been attributed TO Napoleon.
really originated with writer's OF an
tiquity. Cicero alludes TO IT as an "old
proverb.'
II would take volumes 10 contain all
the blunders. small. large and indif-
ferent that historians have made. and
the lamentable part OF II Is that the
old plumbers are constantly being
made over again. so that. with the
errors that are bound TO occur in the
history Of the present and the mis-
takes TIT our forefathers made and
which we are still making. history in
time will become little more than a
long though extremely interesting
work OF fiction.-Sunday Magazine