Check us out on social media
hatfield historical society
  • Home
  • Events
    • Visitors and Workers
  • Collections
    • Foxfire Reports
    • Audio Stories
  • Genealogy
  • Resources
  • Profiles
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Directions
    • Museum Shop
  • DONATE / JOIN
    • Membership
    • Donations

"Winter soldier" mysteries

4/25/2011

 
  I stopped in Saturday at the museum to drop off a few things. Jan Phaneuf was hosting. Two family groups came up to visit while I was there, but she’d had a long visit from a man whose relative had been billeted (provided nonmilitary housing) in Hatfield during the early 1700s, and he was wondering where. His descendant had been described as a “winter soldier,” and we wondered what that meant. Did it have anything to do with being a farmer, perhaps, and volunteering to soldier when not in the growing season – some type of Armed Forces Reserve?

After a brief online search, it seemed more likely to reference a term that grew out of a Thomas Paine essay titled The Crisis first published as a pamphlet in December 1776. This is the essay that begins with the well-known line, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” In the second winter of the war, the essay chastises soldiers and others who are faint of heart in pursuing their cause, and states:

PictureImage from Lambertville Library
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

A “winter soldier,” in contrast, is one who will continue to fight for his or her cause when the going gets tough. Paine continues, “lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.”

If this visitor’s descendant was a “winter soldier” of this type lodging in Hatfield, I, also, am curious to know where. You just never know down what road a trip to the museum will lead you.

    If you like this blog, subscribe!
    If you'd like to be sent a link each time a new entry is posted (which is periodically), please send an email with the subject line SUBSCRIBE to
    hatfieldhistoricalsociety
    @gmail.com

    Curator's musings...

    As the curator of a small town Historical Society museum, I wonder a great many things. Am I alone in these thoughts that come to me while driving, or exercising, or falling asleep at night? Is it unusual to be constructing displays and writing copy in one's head for an enlarged museum space that does not, as yet, exist?

    If you're wondering about the blog title, "bird by bird," see my First Post for an explanation! Click HERE to read it.

    When I'm not thinking about our museum or rehousing artifacts with my fellow museum committee members, I'm working with our exhibit committee to plan physical or virtual exhibits, and working with our board to help fundraise.

    I invite your comments and reactions.

    --Kathie Gow


    Categories

    All
    18th Century
    19th Century
    Churches & Religion
    Collections Mgt.
    Conservation/preservation
    Death & Dying
    First Post
    Genealogy
    Graveyards
    Inventory Project
    Local Historical Society Issues
    Mass Militia
    Medical Care In Hatfield
    Moving The Museum
    Old Photos
    Oral History
    Other Museums
    Polish Immigration
    Provenance
    Slavery
    Smith Academy
    Storytelling
    Technology
    Tercentenary
    Textiles
    Wars & Rebellions

    Archives

    March 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    April 2017
    February 2017
    August 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Cea.