Our mammals are the biggest
(and other doodles)
Yesterday, I attended the 2025 Hudson Valley History Reading Festival at Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Four different speakers discussed their books:
40 Hudson Valley Historical & Whimsical Observations by Christopher Cring
George Washington vs. the Continental Army by Michael S. McGurty
Levon Helm: Rock, Roll, & Ramble by John W. Barry
A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family by Debra Bruno
WATCH FULL SESSION
(I heard Deb Bruno speak before her book came out. This time, I was excited to buy her book to add to my pile!)
Throughout the sessions, I kept jotting down references to things I’ve doodled about. Here are a few:
Jefferson’s obsession with proving George de Buffon wrong
Diminutive French scientist George de Buffon believed European animals were bigger than North American animals. “Nuh-uh!” Thomas Jefferson argued. He was pretty obsessed and spent a lot of money collecting carcasses and fossils to prove what a buffoon Buffon was.
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis
John Trumbull was accused of treason
When painter and military officer John Trumbull showed up in my sketchbooks, he was gushing about all the distinguished and dignified men that surrounded him.
Fulton + Livingston
Robert Livingston (The Chancellor) and inventor Robert Fulton first met around 1802 or so and formed a partnership.
Fulton was famous for the steamboat, but he actually spent more time working on a submarine — a fancy combo of Everything Boats Do and Stuff Fish Do.
The steamboat transformed transportation and sped up travel.
The Livingston/Fulton monopoly on the Hudson eventually ended with a court case … but it was basically replaced with a new monopoly. Vanderbilt priced trips so low there really wasn’t any competition.
Robert Fulton married into the Livingston family:
The Livingston family confuses me. When I pulled this family tree together, I wasn’t sure if Robert Livingston (The Chancellor) was Walter Livingston’s uncle or nephew. (I’m still not sure.)
In any case, Robert Fulton married Harriet Livingston.
About their union, The Chancellor said: “her father may object because you are a humble and poor inventor… but if Harriet [doesn’t] object, and she seems to have a world of good sense, go ahead, and my best wishes and blessings go with you.”
Bob’s Folly: Fulton,Livingston and the Steamboat, by Travis M. Bowman
Henry Knox was young and heroic
With his even younger brother (just 19!) and their crew, Knox trekked 300+ miles with roughly 120,000 pounds of artillery… for 8 weeks in the winter.
The Morrises
Gouverneur Morris and Robert Morris were mentioned back-to-back yesterday. I wanted to ask if the Morrises were related (they weren’t) but I didn’t trust myself not to accidentally blurt out my fun facts about Gouverneur.
Gouverneur Morris
I get very distracted by what he jammed up his urethra and also the fact that he may have lost his leg fleeing from an angry husband. Apparently, Morris called common people “the reptiles” and believed that we should be governed by the elite. I guess by giggling about self-induced whale-bone-inflected death and post-coital escapades I’m showing that I’m of the common people and unfit to govern. I’d like to point out for the record that doing those things may say more about one’s character than giggling about them, but who can say for sure.
The two doodles above were inspired by The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
Robert Morris
I only found one doodle of Robert Morris. In addition to being the financier of the Revolution, I’d forgotten he was also future-president William Henry Harrison’s guardian after Benjamin Harrison V died. Ben V’s friend (Robert E. Lee’s dad) Harry “Light Horse” Lee encouraged little Billy Harris to give up medicine and snag an officer’s commission. I wonder what would have happened if Harrison stuck with medicine, because yikes.
TANGENT
While I’m sharing doodles from William Henry Harrison, here’s another. I had a really interesting side conversation yesterday about King Leopold II of Belgium. I first learned about this guy when Gallop Toward the Sun mentioned King Leopold II. I got him mixed up with King Leopold I of Belgium… but the book actually referenced King Leopold II of Austria, who is someone else entirely from somewhere else entirely. Definitely not at all confusing. Quite unfortunate for the other Kings Leopold to share a name/title with the genocidal monster responsible for unimaginable atrocities including— but not limited to! — leading to the deaths of more than ten million people in Congo. (King Leopold's Ghost has been on my must-read list ever since.)
France gave us money to fight the British
They wanted repayment so they could fight the British.
The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, by Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky
BONUS!
I learned about two new centenarians for my list of 100 Centenarians.
John “Rifle Jack” Peterson, a sharpshooter during the Revolutionary War who died at 103 years old.
Mary Vanderzee — her grandson was there to see Lee surrender to Grant!
