William H. Prescott

     William Hickling Prescott, was a renowned American historian that chronicled the rise and fall of the Spanish empire, and was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on May 4, 1796. His grandfather had commanded colonial forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill* during the American Revolution; his father was a highly respected judge and philanthropist. Prescott was tutored in Latin and Greek by the rector of Trinity Church in Boston and entered Harvard in 1811. In a bizarre accident, Prescott was blinded in the left eye by a crust of bread thrown in a dining-hall fracas. He abandoned plans to study law but went on to graduate in 1814 having earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa. While traveling abroad the following year Prescott temporarily lost the sight in his right eye. With his vision permanently impaired, he aspired to the life of a gentleman-scholar. Prescott launched a career as a man of letters in 1821 with an essay on Byron that appeared in the North American Review. Over the next two decades he contributed regularly to the prestigious Boston literary journal. His most important articles and reviews, including seminal pieces on the theory and practice of historical composition, were later collected in Biographical and Critical Miscellanies (1845) and Critical and Historical Essays (1850). 
     Under the influence of George Ticknor, a friend and mentor who taught European literature at Harvard, Prescott began learning Spanish in 1824. Engrossed by the history of Spain, he committed himself to tracing its development into a world power. Employing secretaries to read him manuscripts sent from Spanish archives, Prescott set about writing a work of sound scholarship that would also interest a general audience. A phenomenal memory allowed him to compose whole chapters in his mind during morning horseback rides. Later he recorded them on paper using a noctograph, a special stylus for the blind. More than a decade later he finished The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic (1837), which enjoyed tremendous critical and popular success on both sides of the Atlantic.
     Prescott's fame gained him entrée into Spanish intellectual circles, greatly facilitating research on his next book, History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843), a sweeping account of Cortés's subjugation of the Aztec people. Prescott devoted his final years to chronicling the decline of the Spanish empire. He published The Life of Charles the Fifth after His Abdication (1856), a continuation of William Robertson's The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles the Fifth (1769), but only managed to finish the first three volumes of The History of the Reign of Philip the Second (1855-58). 
     William H. Prescott died of a stroke at his home in Boston on January 29, 1859. Some years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a week in Prescott, AZ. I visited the Library to see how it got it's name. It was named after William H. Prescott although he never visited it. The pioneer fathers were intrigued by all the cliff dwellings and other settlements found in the area and thought they had been the product of the Aztecs. And since Prescott's History of the Aztecs was already popular, they elected to honor him by naming the town after him.
_____________________________________________________
 
*William Prescott (1726-1795), was the grandfather of William Hickling Prescott and was an American Colonel in the Revolutionary War. He commanded the rebel forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill, a battle that actually took place at nearby Breed’s Hill. He was born at Groton, Massachusetts on February 20, 1726 to Benjamin Prescott (1696-1738) and Abigail Oliver Prescott (1697-1765). He married Abigail Hale (1733-1821) on April 13, 1758, and they had one son, also named William in 1762. Besides Bunker Hill, Prescott had served in the French and Indian War and was active in the battles for New York City in 1776 and the Saratoga Campaign of 1777.

*******************************************************

“Listen my children and you shall hear,
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”

Longfellow wrote this well-known poem about Paul Revere’s “famous” ride to warn the “Sons of Liberty” militia at Concord, Mass. We often wonder why he never mentioned the other two men that made the ride also. One was William Dawes and the other was Dr. Samuel Prescott. And history showed that Dr. Prescott was the only one of the three to complete the ride.

When the signal appeared in the church tower, Dr. Warren sent Revere and Dawes to Concord by way of Lexington. There, they were to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming to arrest them. The two men set out on two different routes, Dawes route slightly longer. Avoiding British scouts along the way, Revere arrived at Lexington around midnight. About half an hour later Dawes arrived. 

Later they set out to warn the colonists in Concord where arms and ammunition were stored. As they left they were met by Dr. Samuel Prescott. There are two different stories as to how the good doctor chanced upon them. One is that he had been visiting his fiancée, Lydia Mulliken. The other is that he left a tavern where he had visited his lady friend who also happened to be the wife of the tavern owner. Regardless of how he came to meet them, being a “Son of Liberty” he joined them and set out for Concord. Soon afterwards they met a British patrol. Revere was captured; Dawes and Prescott jumped a low fence and fled through the woods. Dawes’ horse stumbled and he lost it. Prescott, being more familiar with that area, escaped and made his way to Concord where he was able to warn the colonists in time for them to hide everything. Revere was released by the patrol about three hours later but they kept his horse. By the time he got to Concord, the British were already there.

Months later Dr. Prescott was captured in another engagement and later died in prison in Nova Scotia. I suppose that Longfellow had too hard a time trying to rhyme Dawes or Prescott to anything, but he could at least have mentioned their part in that ride. The above is in no way meant to denigrate Revere's role, because anything that all those men and women did in the early years of the birth of our nation was dangerous and many gave their all to earn our freedom. I just wanted my readers to know that more than one individual was involved in that ride. Welcome to my history lesson.

**************************************************************

PHILANDER PRESCOTT

On the east bank of the St. Croix river is the town of Prescott, Wisconsin across the river from Minnesota. The town is named after Philander Prescott. He arrived there in 1839 with a thousand dollars and a land grant to build a store. Then he was given permission to build and operate a ferry across the St. Croix.

Philander was born in Ontario County, New York in 1801, the son of Dr. Joel Prescott and Phildelia Reed. Philander and his brother Zachariah left New York in the spring of 1819 for Detroit. That fall Philander left to set up a temporary supply station near the present day site of Hastings, Minnesota to supply the new fort that was under construction. Over the next decade, he worked there and at several other posts in the area; returning to Ft. Snelling in 1828 to find the daughter of Dakota chief Red Eagle. He had all ready fathered a son with her named William. They married and had six more children.

Being fluent in Dakota, he worked as an interpreter for them and the Government. He ran several posts and farmed until 1839, when he established the post that became Prescott, Wisconsin. In 1862 he heard of raids by the Dakota and headed for safety to nearby Fort Ridgely. Traveling on foot he met one of the raiding parties and was killed.

No further information is available at this time. However, in 1860 he did write of his experiences and it is available as: THE RECOLLECTIONS OF PHILANDER PRESCOTT, FRONTIERSMAN OF THE OLD NORTHWEST 1819-1862. Edited by Donald Dean Parker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,