Re: A Thought For The Gathering 2000

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: : Some thought there, Gaylee!!!

: : In fairness to the Marquis de Montcalm, there are many who would come to his aid on this, taking the opposite view from that of Cooper & others. I tend to think he had SOME culpability especially in light of Oswego. Elaine exonerates him. At one point, we had planned to do a point/counter-point on that topic - an interesting one, to be sure - but alas, it fell through the cracks! Maybe down the road ...

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: I think the part that really caught my attention was the very last thought Cooper expressed in the quote:

: ". . .it is probable that Louis de Saint Veran will be viewed by posterity only as the gallant defender of his country, while his cruel apathy on the shores of the Oswego and of the Horican will be forgotten."

: Despite Cooper's fears, in the year 2000, we are still hashing back and forth the probable degree of Montcalm's culpability - whether he was simply unable to control the Indians or whether he gave his tacit approval for the Massacre.  And now there is an annual Gathering built around the story of the Fort William Henry Massacre, inspired by Michael Mann's movie, which was inspired by Cooper's book.  The book is still studied in thousands of classrooms and still read all over the world, and we have a whole website on which we bring up and debate, from time to time, the very issue Cooper so regretted would be forgotten. Thousands of people are educated about or even actively involved with an event of history that they would never have bothered with had it not been for Mann, Cooper and Rich and Elaine Federici. I think Cooper be amazed (and greatly pleased) at how it all turned out.

: Gayle


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