As Told by Karen Butcher
Max Butcher sits excitedly on the floor with his first-grade classmates. His friends Vincent, Will, and Jack sit cross-legged nearby under their teacher’s watchful eyes. At the head of the class Max’s mother, Karen, sits in a chair too small for an adult, a yellow poster board in her lap. In big letters Max and his classmates read the title of Karen’s poster: Max’s Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was Benjamin Lincoln. Six Greats! Next to the title is a black and white image of an older Benjamin Lincoln sitting regally in his Continental Army uniform. It is a photocopy of a formal portrait and Benjamin looks as most generals do in these formal portraits: stuffy and unapproachable.
Max is the “Star of the Day” and Karen is here to tell the class why Max is special. Lots of parents have come in to talk about their sons or daughters but no one has been related to someone who was in the Revolutionary War.
“Today I’d like to tell you how Max, Lincoln Maxwell Butcher, is related to the Revolutionary War General Benjamin Lincoln.”
A girl in the front raises her hand urgently, arms and fingers stiff, reaching as high as she can while keeping her knees on the floor.
“Mrs. Butcher, why did you name him Lincoln when he can’t even spell his own name?”
Karen smiles at the girl and then at Max.
The teacher saves the day.
“Let’s let Mrs. Butcher tell us about General Lincoln, shall we?”
Benjamin Lincoln, son of Benjamin Lincoln and grandson of another Benjamin Lincoln, was born in 1733 in Hingham, Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the first to settle in Hingham. He worked on a farm and married Mary Cushing of Pembroke, Massachusetts, of another prominent family in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though he was commissioned in the militia for the French and Indian War of 1763, he was not an active participant. More a politician than a military leader, Lincoln rose in both military rank and influence as animosity toward the British increased during the late 1760s and 1770s.
Benjamin’s troops, part of the Continental Army, did most of their fighting in western Massachusetts and eastern New York along the Hudson River. He fought alongside Generals Gates and Schuyler in upstate New York. He even fought in battles alongside the man who would eventually become a traitor, Benedict Arnold. Later, while leading 1,500 men against a British company, he was hit by a musket ball, shattering his ankle and taking him out of the action for a while.
With limited time and aware of her audience, Karen skips over the details of Lincoln’s role as the Secretary of War, appointed by the Confederation Congress. She doesn’t mention that many places in the American South, including Lincoln counties and towns in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee were named after Benjamin Lincoln--not Abraham Lincoln, for Abraham Lincoln was not well liked in the South. She doesn’t even attempt to explain the genealogical lineage connecting the colonist to the curly, blond boy who couldn’t spell his own name. Instead, she tells the class of General Lincoln’s role at the end of the war. In 1781, the British General Cornwallis decided to surrender to General George Washington in Yorktown. But because Cornwallis was sick, he sent his second-in-command to deliver his sword in surrender. Washington, not wanting to accept the sword from Cornwallis’ second-in-command, sent his second-in-command, General Benjamin Lincoln, to accept the sword, which he did on October 19.
“But,” Karen says, leaning toward the students and lowering her voice to a conspirator’s whisper, “somehow the sword was lost and has never been found.”
Mouths agape, the kids look at Karen, then at each other, and back at Karen.
“Whoa, that is so cool.”
After a few questions, the teacher asks the kids to thank Max’s mom for coming in and the class claps as Karen stands, preparing to leave. As she heads toward the door Max’s friend Vincent, whom Karen has met at T-ball and soccer, tugs at her sleeve.
“Mrs. Butcher.”
“Hi Vincent.”
“I just wanted to let you know that you should talk to my mom.”
“Really, Vincent? Why’s that?”
“ I lose stuff all the time and she is really good finding stuff for me. I know she could find the sword.”
(Benjamin Lincoln was Ted/Karen/Steve's 5th great grandfather)
Comments