LGBT+

Episode 1: LGBT+ Figures in the American Revolution

Episode Audio

The Unfinished History Podcast, Episode 1

Episode Notes

Depiction of Baron von Steuben in military uniform on a beige background with "LGBT+" dominating the image

In this episode, co-hosts Claire and Catarina explore the lives and legacy of two historical figures from the LGBTQ+ community: Lieutenant Gotthold Frederick and Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben (also known as the Baron). Through an examination of letters, papers, and Revolutionary War rolls, Claire and Catarina dive into the complexity of understanding sexuality in the 18th century.

Episode Transcript

Episode-1-TranscriptDownload

Episode DH Component

Word Clouds and Voyant Analysis of Letters Exchanged Between Baron and Peers (Non-Romantic)

1. Voyant Analysis Baron to Peers
2. Voyant Analysis Peers Excluding Baron
3. Voyant Analysis Peers to Baron, Baron to Peers
4. Voyant Analysis Peers to Baron
1A. Word Cloud Baron to Peers
2A. Word Cloud Peers Excluding Baron
3A. Word Cloud Peers to Baron, Baron to Peers
4A. Word Cloud Peers to Baron
Non-Romantic Letters Analyses

Word Clouds and Voyant Analysis of Letters Exchanged Between Baron and Lovers

1. Voyant Analysis Baron to Lovers (Walker & North)
2. Voyant Analysis Baron, Walker, North
3. Voyant Analysis Benneman Excerpts: Baron, Walker, North
4. Voyant Analysis North to Walker
5. Voyant Analysis All Letters and Excerpts: Walker, North, Baron
1B. Word Cloud Baron to Lovers (Walker & North)
2B. Word Cloud Baron, Walker, North
4B. Word Cloud North to Walker
5B. Word Cloud All Letters and Excerpts: Walker, North, Baron
3B. Word Cloud Benneman Excerpts: Baron, Walker, North
Romantic Letters Analyses

Episode Footnotes:

  1. PGN Staff, “Frederick Gotthold Enslin: An obscure military life,” Philadelphia Gay News, PGN, November 2, 2011.
  2. “LGBTQ Rights Timeline in American History,” Instructional Resources for California Educators, Students, & Families, Our Family Coalition and ONE Archives Foundation, accessed April 4, 2022, https://www.lgbtqhistory.org/lgbt-rights-timeline-in-american-history/.
  3.  I. Daniel Rupp, A collection of upwards of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dtuch, French, and other immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776, (Philadelphia: Stuart Leary, 1927), 416, A collection of upwards of thirty thousand names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776 … = Chronologisch geordnete Sammlung von mehr als 30,000 Namen von Einwanderern in Pennsylvanien aus Deutschland, der Schweiz, Holland, Frankreich u. a. St. von 1727 bis 1776 … : Rupp, I. Daniel (Israel Daniel), 1803-1878 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. 
  4. “United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89WB-CX42?cc=2068326&wc=M61K-2TL%3A355090701 : 31 October 2017), 125-Continental Troops (jacket 126-138) > image 654 of 746; citing NARA microfilm publication M246 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1980). 
  5. General Orders, 3 March 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-14-02-0029. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778 – 30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004, pp. 45–46.
  6. “General Orders, 14 March 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-14-02-0138. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778 – 30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004, pp. 171–173.]
  7. Diary of Lieutenant James McMichael (James McMichael, Pennsylvania Archives (Second Series), William Henry Egle, ed. v. 15, p. 217 (Harrisburg, PA: E.K. Meyers, State Printer, 1890). Pennsylvania archives .. : Pennsylvania. Secretary of the Commonwealth. [from old catalog] : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.
  8. Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge, (Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2008).
  9. Sgt. 1st Class Brian M. Shay, “After 230 years, the ‘Blue Book’ still guides NCOs,” U.S. Army, November 2, 2009, https://www.army.mil/article/29717/after_230_years_the_blue_book_still_guides_ncos#:~:text=During%20the%20early%20American%20Revolutionary,responsibilities%20of%20the%20noncommissioned%20officer.
  10. Lockhart, The Drillmaster, 6.
  11. Ibid., 5.
  12. Harry Schenawolf, “Baron von Steuben: A Gay Warrior Who Taught Washington’s Army How to Fight,” Revolutionary War Journal, July 25, 2015, https://www.revolutionarywarjournal.com/baron-von-steuben-a-gay-warrior-taught-washingtons-army-how-to-fight-2/.
  13. National Park Service, “General von Steuben,” NPS, August 20th, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/vafo/learn/historyculture/vonsteuben.htm
  14. William Benneman, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America, (New York: Harrington Park Press, 2006), 99.
  15. Ibid., 103-04.
  16. Ibid., 110.
  17. Eleanor, “The Little Lion of Valley Forge,” Tumblr, accessed September 26, 2022, https://thelittlelionofvalleyforge.tumblr.com/
  18. “Homosexuality: From Sin to Sickness to Life-Style” in Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness by Peter Conrad and Joseph W. Schneider (Temple University Press, 1992), 173.
  19. Ibid., 174.
  20. Ibid., 195.
  21. Ibid., 175.
  22. Colin L. Talley, “Gender and Male Same-Sex Erotic Behavior in British North America in the Seventeenth Century,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 6, no. 3 (January 1996): 390.
  23. Ibid., 400-01.
  24. Ibid.

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