With how little cooperation of the societies after all is the past
remembered
– At first history had no muse – but a kind fate watched over
her
– some garrulous old man with tenacious memory told it to his child.Henry David Thoreau,Journals (1842)In 1823, something of the bittersweet occurred in Cranston, Rhode
Island: an aged revolutionary war veteran returned to his hometown after
a prolonged exile in England. Hopeful about reuniting with his family and
community after an absence of nearly fifty years, the old soldier was
surprised and disappointed to learn that his property had been sold, his
family had moved west, and few among the remaining villagers even
remembered who he was. Such is the story of one Israel Potter. An
adventurous fellow, he had fought at the battle near Bunker Hill, had met
Benjamin Franklin, and, after being captured by the British, had roamed
England after the war, continually poverty-stricken, while searching for
a passage back to America. Once returned to Cranston, he applied for a
federal pension for his wartime services. In all probability, Potter never
received any financial compensation, but he left a narrative of his life,
reminding his readers that at one point in the republic's history,
he did matter.
Broken Hearths: Melville's Israel Potter and the Bunker Hill Monument
