heaven born

Another of Gansevoort Melville's distinctive terms shows up in one of the early sketches by "Borderer" for the St Louis Beacon. I still need to find and transcribe the original newspaper version. Text below is from the "Rocky Mountain Tale" of Sha-wa-Now as revised and reprinted in the Military and Naval Magazine (September 1835):

The sun in mid-heaven is but a tame spectacle; his effect, though dazzling, is simple; there he is something, alike beyond our ken and thoughts, merely useful. But when he approaches, as if it were, our earth in setting,—is surrounded by the horizon's mist,—it is then that he is the glorious father of a thousand beauties; a hemisphere blushes red as roses; a mountain structure of calm and motionless clouds seems a palace of fancy adorned with every heaven-born hue.

Why is the name of the Philanthropist Howard associated with such heaven born remembrances.  (Gansevoort Revises Augusta)

Distinctive I say because "heaven born" is Gansevoort's idea for replacing Augusta's word "sublime":

Why is the name of the Philanthropist Howard associated with such sublime remembrances.

UPDATE! Text of Sha-wa-now from the St Louis Beacon is now transcribed and available at Dragooned.

Gansevoort Melville's language in Mah-za-pa-mee

2nd Update:
In 1831 Gansevoort took first prize in his class at the Albany Academy for his essay on the French Revolution. He excelled also in Roman Antiquities, Ancient History, and English.  Five years earlier, Gansevoort won first prize at the New York High School where he recited Halleck's "Marco Bozzaris" for an encore. That 1826 school competition is where Gansevoort served as prompter for a performance by some bigger kids of a scene from The Lady of the Lake.

Update:  Another of Gansevoort's preferred words that shows up in Mah-za-pa mee is "disaster" in the sense of defeat in battle.  Revising sister Augusta's school essay on human achievements, Gansevoort replaced Augusta's "defeat" with the word "disaster."  From a friendly squaw, Mah-za-pa mee hears "first news of the "disaster," meaning a Punca victory over Pawnee raiders.

The story, then, may interest those, who, studying man in all climes and situations, may learn from it, that upon him the slightest causes produce the greatest effects, and the same, alike in the forest and his state of greatest improvement; that red or white, wild or tame, alike fallible, he plunges into war from inadequate motives.
(Mah-za-pa-mee uncut)

He has been rewarded by the approval of the great and good of every clime, and is now enjoying in another world relaxation from the toils of this. (Gansevoort Revises Augusta)

The idea and words "of every clime" are Gansevoort's, not those of his sister Augusta who originally wrote:

he saved many a person from crime & misery who have & will bless the name of Howard. Does not every heart warm towards this man so surely formed in the likeness of his maker?

The phrase "in all climes" remains in the 1835 version, although changes there show careful revision, with "situations" for example changed to "circumstances" and "state of greatest improvement" condensed to "city":

The story, then, may interest those who, studying man in all climes and circumstances, may learn from it, that alike in forest or city, slight causes produce upon him great effects; that wild or tame, he plunges into extremes from no adequate motives.

But the 1842 magazine version and 1857 book version both drop much of the original introduction, including "in all climes."  Now the tale is ascribed to a fellow soldier named "D." whom the 1842 magazine version (but not the 1857 book) described as being "of the matter-of-fact order."

Shared at Juxta Commons, Revising Scenes Beyond the Western Border

A portion of the December 1851 installment of "Scenes Beyond the Western Border" was extensively revised for the 1857 book, Scenes and Adventures in the Army.

To view the texts side by side and see the changes, go to Revising Scenes Beyond the Western Border at Juxta Commons.

people anew, restore

Then, how easy for the mind to restore the scene so lately passed, though gone forever; and though dwelling upon the unhappy fate of the fallen race, to people it anew with those bold hunters of the plains. Amid the traces of reality—the bleached bones around me—my mind was filled with images of the Indian and his occupation: war and the chase. A short thirty years ago, and from this spot, thousands of buffalo might have been seen, and the wild red man rejoicing in the pursuit, the slaughter and the feast. The uncontrolled, the untrammelled, the Free—free and happy, as God created them ere they were robbed, enslaved, poisoned, withered by the pestilence. Alas! for the gift of civilization. The "long knife" came and brought with him the "fire water," and the small-pox, and completed his work with paper treaties—construed and explained under the gentle auspices of the sword.

Leaves from My Notebook, No. 2 by "Z," Army and Navy Chronicle (February 27, 1840); and Scenes and Adventures in the Army, Southern Literary Messenger (Sept 1842); and
Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1857)

Sunday March 1st 1857.  To Monte Cavallo — colossal equestrian group, found in Baths, basin also, obelisk—most imposing group of antiques in Rome.  People those Caracalla baths anew with these colossal figures— Gigantic Rome. 

 "Colisseum. great green hollow — restore it repeople it with all statues in Vatican.  Dying and Fighting Gladiators." (Melville's Journals)

Likely Sources for Part 1 of Scenes and Adventures in the Army held by the library of the Albany Young Men's Association

As listed in the 1837 Catalogue of Books in the Library of the Albany Young Men's Association:

1427 American State Papers, 8 vols.
1266 Buchanan's Sketches of Indians, 2 vols.
1112 British Poets, 12 vols.
1390 British Poets, 11 vols.
1001 CYCLOPAEDIA, Rees' 47 vols.
1584 Dragoon Campaigns
1002 ENCYCLOPAEDIA, Brewster's
115 Flint's Geography
1456 Hall's Travels in America
1152 Indian Wars [possibly Flint's Indian Wars of the West]
IRVING'S WORKS, 12 vols.
130 Sketch Book, 2 vols.
145 Long's Expedition, 2 vols.
1408 Military and Naval Magazine, 3 vols.
1141 Pike's Expedition
1394 Pike's Expedition
1448 Prairie, 2 vols.
1424 Robertson's America, 2 vols.
1559 Subaltern in America
1572 Subaltern's Furlough, 2 vols.
1307 Westward Ho! 2 vols. [James Kirke Paulding]
1389 Young Duke, 2 vols. [Benjamin Disraeli]

"Notes and Reminiscences of an Officer of the Army" by "F. R. D." (for First Regiment Dragoons, and supplanting "Leaves From My Notebook" by "Z.") appeared in the Army and Navy Chronicle, beginning in the June 18, 1840 issue, with most (not all!) of the material later published in 1842-3 as "Scenes and Adventures in the Army, Sketches of Indians, and Life Beyond the Border" in the Southern Literary Messenger.

American State Papers is a major source for this early material which I must investigate further.  Likewise the Military and Naval Magazine. In 1833 the Albany Argus touted "Indian Campaign of 1832," Henry Smith's article on the Black Hawk War.  Smith's article is an important source for the account of the Black Hawk War in Part I of Scenes and Adventures in the Army.

But wait a dang minute.  Can Disraeli's Young Duke really be a source for Scenes and Adventures in the Army?  Uh yeah:

But who shall do justice to the venison, roasted in bits on a stick with alternate pieces of salt pork? First, the pleasing toil of the hunt, and the triumph of success; then the labor-inspired appetite, after the long fast which excitement forgot; then the lively fire at night under majestic forest trees; and oh, climax, the pieces of venison, bitten with nature's weapons—not profaned with cold dull knife—and reeking hot, from the wooden spit! "Oh! let me die eating ortolans to the sound of soft music." Bah!

See, the line about ortolans was originally in the 1840 narrative of Notes and Reminiscences. But the quote from Disraeli's Young Duke was dropped in the June 1842 Scenes and Adventures, then added back for the 1857 book version (page 33).

Ortolan: The forbidden fruit

Oh I almost forgot:  Herman Melville joined the Albany Young Men's Association at the end of January 1835

"and for two years he enjoyed the use of its reading room and library of a thousand volumes." [Merton M. Sealts, Jr., Melville's Reading: A Supplementary List; and
Pursing Melville, page 39]

Herman's older brother Gansevoort Melville "was already flourishing as a member" of the Albany Young Men's Association, as Hershel Parker observes in Herman Melville: The Making of the Poet.

John Love's grievance in 1851

Writing from Carlisle Barracks on October 25, 1851, Capt. Love formally complained

"That Col. Cooke arrested me on the 9^th of Sept. 1851, and preferred charges against me, which charges Genl. Wool says, would not promote the interest of the service by being made the subject of investigation; that he relieved me from the duties of Quarter Master and Commissary of Subsistence, appointed another in my place; and that when released from arrest, he did fail to restore me to those duties, notwithstanding Genl. Wool’s positive order (a copy of which is enclosed.). It has been my endeavor throughout the difficulties which Col. Cooke has attempted to bring upon me, to appear before my superiors not as an officer desirous of giving trouble, but as one who asks respectfully for justice, and protection from treatment on the part of his Comdg. Officer, unwarranted by regulations."

"…This being a school of practice, I came here determined  to do my duty strictly and zealously, and to aid the Comdg. Officer to the best of my ability.  I now know that Col. Cooke mistook my zeal for a desire to go against his orders, and a desire to divide with him the honor of command. (I refer you to his endorsement on my letter to Genl. Walbach of  Sept 8^th ’51.) All the officers who served with me here, know that I was misunderstood by Col. Cooke..." 

(Letters Received by the Adjutant General, 1851, L194)

While Cooke and Love tangled at Carlisle Barracks, the writing of Scenes Beyond the Western Border continued to exhibit surprising flights of imagination.  Below, invented dialogue from the December 1851 installment of Scenes Beyond the Western Border shows different and distinctively literary agenda, with echoes of Melville's Moby-Dick and a foretaste of Pierre:

"There has been a change; Destiny has new shuffled the cards of our small fates; they had been stocked by some attendant imp, who was leading us (and tickling us the while with exciting chimeras) to the D—."

I. F.  "Nay, Friend, I belong to earth—from thy flight descend not lower: as your old fashioned friend, I feel interested in your surface wanderings; but let your double-refined poetry and romance go 'to the D—.'" 

"I submit. But the Reality I think is too darkly, coldly real, the earth very earthy; but, to please you, mark—I now attempt a lower level."

("Scenes Beyond the Western Border," Southern Literary Messenger December 1851)

I. F. you remember stands for "Imaginary Friend."

"But imagination utterly failed him here; the reality was too real for him...."  (Pierre)

"Hark ye yet again,— the little lower layer."
(Moby-Dick)

Scenes Beyond the Western Border
Southern Literary Messenger (December 1851)

At Carlisle Barracks in early 1852, Lt Col Cooke feuds with Capt John Love

A formation of cavalry troops at Carlisle Barracks, April 1861

Photographer:  Charles Lochman.

The original of this image is held in the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Update:  For Love's side, see part of his 1851 complaint here.

In a previous post we showed how the popularity of "Human Destiny" pontificators really annoyed the narrator of Scenes Beyond the Western Border, and Herman Melville--at about the same time, and just when Orville Dewey was wowing New York crowds in January and February 1852 with his popular lecture series on "The Problem of Human Destiny."

To get at this another way, we might ask, what was Philip St George Cooke doing during the writing of this:

 C.  "But even science is at fault—philosophy at a discount. The public mind is occupied with the theorism of demagogues and infidels, who, abandoning themselves to licentious speculations on human destiny, attract multitudes of fanatical followers, whose minds they bewilder, and whose morals they debase." (June 1852; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army)

In early 1852 Cooke was still commander of the post at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, in charge of recruiting for cavalry service and training new recruits. Biographer Otis E. Young could only guess at Cooke's daily activities:

"In the absence of his diaries, only conjecture can supply the details of Major Cooke's life during his stay at Carlisle Barracks."  (The West of Philip St George Cooke p243)

However, with records from the National Archives now conveniently accessible through Fold3, a good deal more can now be said.  In 1852 alone Cooke wrote at least 47 letters to the Adjutant General.  Letters from Cooke to the AGO show one thing Cooke was definitely doing at Carlisle Barracks in January and February 1852, and that is feuding with John Love (1820-1881).  The Indiana Historical Society holds a collection of John Love Papers which I have not yet seen, as does the University of Michigan, but documents in the National Archives tell Cooke's side of the story.

On February 8, 1852 Cooke confided:

his [John Love's] coming here on the 17^th January—without authority—and failing in his duty to report to me, was it appears, the second time he has done the same thing.  His conduct now—whether to have cause of complaint or not—is a defiance of legal orders and authority.

I strive to maintain discipline; but do so with all kindness & courtesy until it is repelled, & misunderstood; but I cannot maintain discipline, and respect—my own respect—for my station, if this officer is sustained in his course.  Consequently, under par. 757 of the regulations, I report that the good of the service demands that Capt. Love be sent to his company.

On Valentine's Day 1852, Cooke forwarded to the AGO with his January accounts, a letter he had written Love at the recruiting station in Harrisburg on February 12, 1852:

Sir,

I have just received back your monthly return for January uncorrected; you say you “can find no error” in it.

I have your December return before me which you sent to me wrong; not making “transferred to principal Depot,” the seven men which came here “December 18th & 31^st.  I returned it for correction and it came back with that error corrected, and reads, “1, total of parties and recruits present & absent.”  …I had to write to you January 7^th to correct still another error, viz: “Insert in your retained copy of your monthly return 1 “joined from General Depot, and it will then be complete.”  This showed plainly that I not only took pains to instruct you to make the return right, but to inform you of your duty to keep a correct office copy.  Now, in the uncorrected January return, you report that “Total of parties & recruits last return,” 8:  that return says, “1”;--  The  January Return gives your num comm'd per party “2,” & disposable recurits "1"; these form, of course, your “total of parties & recruits”; well, 2 & 1 make 3, but you report “6.”  Now could you not find out these errors?

All this confusion arose in the enlisting and sending off but eleven men, & in about six weeks, an account which it seems to me, you could have kept without the assistance of pen and paper.

But, I sent back your January return with the usual sum (in addition and substraction) of proof, plainly marked in pencil:  thus,

8
4
1
13
  3
10

This I thought would indicate to you at least one error; viz. that according to your return you had 10 total of parties & recruits to account for, instead of 6, as you have it.  But it appears the Adjutant General thought the error of your report “apparent on its face,” without the assistance of these significant pencil marks, for it shows, they have been rubbed off.

I trust that now, you will be able to send me a correct return for January.  The errors were so palpable to me, that I did not think it necessary to point them out at first more particularly than I did; if you had asked me, I would with pleasure have given you all this information; & with our close vicinity, a correct return could, long ago, have been received; but, even now you do not ask to have the errors pointed out, but report that you cannot find them.

I cannot possibly grant the leave of absence you have asked, until this duty be satisfactorily performed. 

I am sir,
Respectfully,
Yr. ob't serv't
P St Geo Cooke
Maj. 2nd Drag[oon]s B[revet] Lt Col.
Superintendent

Below, a link to the page from the February 12, 1852 letter at fold3.com  Check it out and see the pains Cooke takes to correct Love's arithmetic:

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