How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [39]
But he kept bouncing back. In 1817 DeWitt Clinton’s election as governor resulted in Hawley being appointed collector of revenue for the port of Genesee, New York. Three years later, he was elected to the New York State Assembly on the coattails of Governor Clinton. Two years after that, when Clinton was not renominated, neither was Hawley.
Though Hawley’s prominence had been confined primarily to New York—and, within New York, to those involved in the legislation enabling the creation of the canal—he did have one brief moment in the national spotlight. It occurred on October 26, 1825: “The columns of the New York papers are filled to overflowing with the particulars of the grand celebration of the event of finishing the Erie Canal,” the New Hampshire Statesman reported. “Jesse Hawley, of Rochester, in behalf of the visitors, made a congratulatory address, which was replied to by Judge [Joshua] Forman, in behalf of the citizens of Buffalo. On a discharge of cannon, the boat started in fine style, drawn by four horses.”
Jesse Hawley died in January 1842. In his one-time hometown of Rochester, New York, his obituary consisted of three sentences. In Albany, the terminus of the Erie Canal, four sentences were devoted to his passing. But in Milwaukee, of all places, two full-page columns were devoted to his memory.9 The length and location of these obits reflect Hawley’s impact on the nation. Rochester, a port on Lake Ontario, and Albany, a port on the Hudson River, were prosperous before the canal was created. But Milwaukee, a port on Lake Michigan, would likely not have existed without the Erie Canal. Not until several months after ground was broken for the canal did the American Fur Company form a settlement in what is now Milwaukee.
The Erie Canal remains in use to this day despite the subsequent development of railroads and interstate highways. While it transports far less cargo than during its heyday, it has remained a shipping channel even after the United States and Canada created the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. Jointly operated by both nations, the seaway annually transports more than 200 million tons of cargo between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic.
NORTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA
JAMES BRITTAIN
The Man History Tried to Erase
Raise as many Militia of your Battalion as you shall think necessary and pursue [the Georgians] from place to place … until you have taken their Leaders, if possible, and show them that we have law sufficient to suppress unruly Citizens.
—LT. COL. WILLIAM WHITSON, NORTH CAROLINA STATE MILITIA,
TO MAJ. JAMES BRITTAIN, DECEMBER 17, 18101
Had it not been for the actions of James Brittain, the boundary between North Carolina and Georgia might well be twelve miles north of where it is today. Until recently, however, one would be hard-pressed to find any history book that mentioned Brittain. The reason his name has now resurfaced is the flip side of the reason it was suppressed: convenience/inconvenience.2 Brittain’s story is an important part of North Carolina and Georgia history, but it has become more important for what it reveals about history itself.
James Brittain was born in the mid-1700s, served in the American Revolution, and afterward settled in Mills River, North Carolina, with his wife and children. The various surviving documents in which his name appears suggest he was a leading citizen in the region, though never its preeminent leader. He represented Buncombe County in the North Carolina Senate for six (nonconsecutive) terms.
He was not always an illustrious