RETURN TO THE “PROMISED LAND” MAIN PAGE
Deleted scenes:
Note: all deleted scenes contain SPOILERS.
Nathan is briefed by [REDACTED].
Nathan is assigned to help Rachel’s unit with fatigue duty. With appearances by Rachel’s messmates
Pinterest boards:
Research:
**Revolutionary War and A. Ham: Resources and suggested further reading by topic**
(excluding books already listed in the bibliography so read that first!)
Continental Army and Revolutionary War
Washington’s Secret War, by Thomas Fleming. A great book about the winter at Valley Forge, Charles Lee and Thomas Conway’s attempt to bring down Washington, and the byzantine political landscape of the American Revolution.
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Women soldiers and sailors
A comprehensive article from the Colonial Williamsburg website about camp followers, Molly Pitchers, and women soldiers: Women’s Service with the Revolutionary Army
Throughout history, many many people assigned female at birth have successfully presented as men and worked in trades and professions that were only open to men, including the military.
(While very little of the stuff I’ve read addresses this directly, it seems clear that some of them were ciswomen who wanted the practical benefits that came with male clothing, and some of them were trans. Of course, drawing any conclusions about the identities of individuals is usually a headcanon kind of thing, since understandings of gender have changed over time and LGBTQA+ people in the past were generally closeted by necessity.)
A few of my favorite AFAB soldiers and sailors (all of whom wrote or authorized memoirs if you want to know more!):
Deborah Sampson, who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War [authorized biography on Google Books]
Hannah Snell, who served in the British Marines in the mid-18th century and later had a successful career writing her memoirs and lecturing about her experiences [authorized biography on Google Books]
Mary Lacy, an 18th-century British sailor and shipwright
Nadezhda Durova, an officer in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars.
And a couple of my favorite books on the subject:
Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail by Suzanne Stark
The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern Europe by Rudolf Dekker and Lotte van de Pol
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Jews in Colonial America
Blog post by me: Was Alexander Hamilton Jewish?
Article: “Solomon Hays and the Yom Kippur Balcony Window Battle” by Michael Feldberg
A bill of exchange signed by Haym Salomon not long before Yorktown
First Women’s Gallery in America: a great article on women’s attendance at Shearith Israel synagogue at My Jewish Learning
The Shearith Israel Cemetery during British occupation
“JEWISH VOICES IN THE NEW WORLD. The Song of Prayer in Colonial and 19th-Century America: Origins and development of North America’s first Jewish music.” A virtual exhibit curated by Jeff Janeczko.
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Alexander Hamilton
Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America’s First Sensational Murder Mystery by Paul Collins. I loved this book on the Levi Weeks murder case. The twists and turns are unbelievable! I also keep meaning to read the full trial transcript, which is available online.
Interview in Weehawken: The Burr-Hamilton Duel, as Told in the Original Documents by Harold Coffin Syrett.
Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America by Thomas J. Fleming. Fleming looks in detail at the year leading up to the duel in both men’s lives and creates a very plausible picture of Burr’s motives. Thomas Fleming is my favorite scholar of early US history and as far as I’m concerned this is THE account of the duel. (DO NOT READ War of Two by John Sedgwick, which egregiously misquotes Aaron Burr’s mother in order to slut-shame her on about page 4, and goes from there.)
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Aaron Burr (books not included above)
A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign by Edward J. Larson. A wonderful in-depth look at the election where Burr tied with Jefferson.
American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America by David O. Stewart. A wonderful account of Aaron Burr’s grandiose but weirdly vague plot to become King of Mexico and also maybe the Western United States, and the subsequent treason trial.
Milton Lomask’s two-volume biography is a delightfully detailed portrait which grows increasingly jaded and despairing as Burr goes from strength to strength in fuck-up-ery both innocent and malicious; he does occasionally give Burr the benefit of the doubt on some treasonous things we now know he definitely did because of the opening of foreign archives after this book was written, but you can’t have everything.
The Private Journal of Aaron Burr, covering his time in Europe (1808-12): Volume 1 on Google Books, Volume 2 on archive.org. Make sure if you read the Journal that you are reading the 1903 edition NOT the Matthew L. Davis version, which is heavily expurgated.
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Founding Fathers miscellany
I know in my heart Thomas Jefferson had this journalist killed
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Anecdotes and thoughts curated by me on tumblr
(some of these are written by me, and some I just reblogged from other people)
A. Ham and Laurens’s letters: my perspective based on researching Regency queer history
In which young A. Ham is cutting on the subject of duels despite LOVING THEM THE MOST
In which young A. Ham offered to escort Eliza to a party and then remembered he’s a terrible driver
In which A. Ham wishes to write a dating advice pamphlet with Peggy
In which A. Ham asks Eliza what she wants him to wear at their wedding
In which Theodosia is Burr’s business partner
John Adams on A. Ham (When he drank he got giddy and rambled about the Treasury Department) and Washington (People only liked him because he was hot and rich)
Burr’s legal philosophy (“Never do today what you can do as well tomorrow”)
In which A. Ham offers Burr a job IF he can be civil to Washington, but he can’t
In which A. Ham avoids trashing Burr to George Washington
In which Burr claims Washington sent a hot young officer to sit for a portrait for him
In which Burr rants that Washington couldn’t write a dinner invitation without A. Ham’s help
Oldest surviving American checkbook from A. Ham’s bank, including a check made out to A. Ham himself for legal services
In which A. Ham tries to work with Aaron Burr politically way past the point he should, and even loans him a lot of money he doesn’t have because he’s worried about him
In which Burr continues to be scum: more on the Manhattan Water Company
In which Burr tries to steal an election and then loses his nerve
In which Jefferson couldn’t undo it if he tried…and he tried
In which Burr explains that being an orphan makes him a better political candidate
In which Burr and A. Ham both love to exaggerate the drama at the Levi Weeks trial
In which Burr buys an A. Ham memorial pamphlet
In which Burr loses an umbrella and longs for it ever after
In which Burr sets himself on fire while trying to light a candle with a gun
In which Burr takes a translating job and realizes it’s a book about what a jerk he is
In which Burr strokes a bust of Hamilton’s face
In which Burr discusses the duel in his old age
Eliza Hamilton, decades later, still holding a (very justified IMO) grudge against Monroe
Eliza’s mourning ring
(Bookshelf)
(“Promised Land” main page)
