Great Americans on Stage: “Light Horse Harry” – Alexander Hamilton – Abraham Lincoln

By WYN

Playwright WYN's Great Americans on Stage shines a light on key figures in our country's early years-its decades of ascent from revolution, disorder, and division to unbreakable union and rising economic and political power. Two of the plays in WYN's collection center on men known to all, Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln. The third asks theatergoers to remember the once-famous Light Horse Harry, a hero of the American Revolution and the only man in the ranks to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. As enlightening as they are entertaining, the plays collected in Great Americans on Stage will delight theater lovers and inspire directors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Jan 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977209313

WYN

WYN is the pseudonym for Irwin Shishko, an "old scribe" who has penned countless words as a Wall Street economist, medical research commentator, political analyst, and author of poems and plays. A Florida resident, WYN and his wife, Renee have just celebrated their 68th anniversary, still inspired by friends, music, and ballroom dance.

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Great Americans on Stage

Light Horse Harry – Alexander Hamilton – Abraham Lincoln

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2019 WYN

v2.0

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Table of Contents

and Play Notes

The Light Horse Harry Play - An American Patriot

Nowadays, few people remember Light Horse Harry (nickname for Henry Lee III), yet during our great war for independence, hardly anyone was more renowned than this colorful scion of the Lee family. On the heels of his wartime glory came rewarding marriages to wealth and beauty, and an eminent political career, capped by Governorship of Virginia. Unfortunately, Harry’s later life was ill-fated – his wealth frittered away in an excess of land speculation, and his body crushed by a pro-war mob of patriots when, in 1812, Harry came to the aid of an anti-war newspaper in Baltimore.

The Hamilton Play - The Great Alexander

Written more than a decade before the triumphant hip hop version on Broad-way, WYN’s play The Great Alexander boasts no musical pyrotechnics. Instead, it leans towards a more intimate, detailed, and revealing portrait of Hamilton’s life. Animated by sparkling dialogue, this play vividly portrays the great Alexander’s brilliance, his ardent romances, and his critical role in laying the foundation for American greatness. Hamilton’s Achilles Heel was his inordinate pride, prompting him, time and again, to pour out fiery words which hurt his own party, sapped his political career, and ultimately led to his fatal duel with Aaron Burr.

The Lincoln Play - Say No to War! Mr. Lincoln

While the two other plays in this collection have an essentially realist foundation, this Lincoln play is spun almost entirely out of the author’s imagination. It pretends that, en route to his inauguration, Lincoln stopped by in Alexandria to sound out the views of a young Quaker who had won renown as a leader fighting for peace. In a warmly cordial but conflicted discussion, these two men shed light on the crucial issues affecting Lincoln’s impending decisions. A pleasing sub-theme of this play is a budding romance between the devout young Quaker, and a lovely but irreligious woman reporter.

List of Illustrations

1) Light Horse Harry, mounted on his steed

2) Portrait of Handsome Harry

3) Alexander Hamilton, portrait with currency backdrop

4) Hamilton and Burr, facing each other

5) Lincoln Portrait - seated alone

6) Lincoln Seated with Officer standing by him

7) Cannon at Fort Sumter

8) The Attack on Fort Sumter – opening shots in Civil War

Light Horse Harry

An American Patriot

Chapters in the Life

and Loves of Light Horse Harry Lee

A Play in Three Acts

by WYN*

(*Pen-name for Irwin Shishko)

© Irwin Shishko June 30, 2003

Table of Contents

Preface: An American Patriot – Truth or Fiction?

The Characters

Act I

Scene 1 Courtship

Scene 2 After the Wedding

Act II

Scene 1 Reunion at Stratford

Scene 2 Hard Times

Scene 3 Alexandria (June 1812)

Act III

Scene 1 The Barricade

Scene 2 The Rampage

Scene 3 Requiem for a Hero

Preface

An American Patriot –

Truth or Fiction?

It must occur to anyone who sees or reads An American Patriot to wonder: how much of this play is fact and how much fiction? The answer to this question cannot be altogether precise. The play’s bare bones – its dates, names, places and principal events – are largely true in the sense that they correspond to information presented in various works about Light Horse Harry Lee. (See references below) I owe much to these works for such raw material, and also for shaping my initial impression of Harry’s personality. However, I have certainly taken the liberty to reconfigure his character as I wished for dramatic purpose, tilting him further in the direction of a typically flawed tragic hero. Beyond that (as is perhaps self-evident), nearly all of the play’s dialogue is imagined, except for quotations drawn from Baltimore records about the 1812 riots. And nearly all of the play’s characters, though based on real persons, are in their dramatic essence, products of the author’s imagination. In all, it may be fair to say that the skeleton of this play is largely factual, while its flesh and spirit are mainly invented.

On the face of it, An American Patriot may seem to be an instructive tale suitable for the History Channel, or a lively melodrama fit for Hollywood. However, in aspiration at least, this play attempts to create personalities that are something more than neat historic types. Of course, I must leave it to the actors’ magic and the audience’s judgment to determine whether we have breathed life into our iconic hero, his maturing wife Ann, and other leading characters, such as Ann’s verbally adroit friends Mary and Willie, the empathetic island boy, Phiny and the redoubtable Alexander Hanson. Finally, I might observe that, although this work is not a message play, it revolves around a central irony: the blind patriotism of a mob which destroys an American Patriot, a man who shed blood for their freedom and might have commanded the armed forces they revere.

WYN

Principal References:

Boyd, Thomas - Light Horse Harry Lee (1931)

Gerson, Noel B. - Light Horse Harry (1966)

Nagel, Paul C. – The Lees of Virginia (1990)

Royster, Charles - Light Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution (1981)

Chronicles of Baltimore – WebRoots.org Genealogy Foundation

The Characters

Act I, Scene 1

Courtship

Center stage is the rear entrance to Shirley Mansion. It is springtime, and the setting is beguiling with flowering trees on each side of the mansion... and the river visible behind. A path stretches down from the pillared veranda and divides into garden walks. To the audience’s left near front stage, Ann Carter sits on a bench in a flowered alcove, singing and accompanying herself on the lute. She is a slim, and very attractive 20 year old, with a rosy complexion and dark eyes which echo her dark brown hair.

ANN

(singing):

Now is the month of May-ing, When merry lads are playing

Fa la la la la la la la la, fa la la la la la la

Each with his bonny lass, A dancing on the grass

Fa la la la la la la ………

She interrupts her singing, and puts down her lute, when she sees her friend Mary Farley approaching. Mary is prettily dressed, one and twenty, fair, blond and blue eyed and, in her own way, as lovely as Ann. The two women embrace.

ANN

Ah Mary. I’m so glad you’ve come.

MARY

You have only to say a Hail Mary, and I appear…And you….you look so radiant, or should I say so…o fired up …like a young mare in heat.

ANN

You are always so…o outrageous.

MARY

I am always ready to Harry the blushing bride.

ANN

Not yet a blushing bride I fear… my father’s strangely hesitant to give his consent.

MARY

O he will, he will. When has he been able to resist his most enchanting daughter?

ANN

I pray that you are right; but he is taking uncommonly long to yield to my blandishments. It surprises me, spoiled as I am. But you surprised me even more.

MARY

You mean when I turned down your handsome cavalier?

ANN

How could you? I just don’t think you realize what you’ve lost .

MARY

Happily, it’s your gain, dear Ann, and with no pain to me… not that I didn’t ponder his proposal …or relinquish it without serious thought… I mean, I’m not unaware that Light Horse Harry cuts a dashing figure; that he charms all with his blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, and poet’s tongue.

ANN:

(importunate)

Then why? why? …I know you want to spare my feelings, but tell me…please.

MARY

Well, for one thing, my very proper parents gave me a very prudent reason to pause. They’ve gotten the idea that your Harrry’s a plunger... that he throws caution to the wind in money matters where his sword is useless and his pride is a hindrance…In short, they think he is a risky fellow.

ANN:

So that is why you refused to marry him?

MARY

Not really. For to tell the whole truth, if Harry lit my fire, as he does yours, I would have brushed aside all these niggling objections. I dare say risk is justified where the rewards are great, especially in affairs of the heart.

ANN

I admit it to you my dear Mary… I am carried away by Love. Harry is my end all, be all, and I would take any risk to have him… Am I ridiculous?

MARY

Yes, delightfully so. I envy your ardor, and would not trade it for all the world’s gold. But if I could penetrate your wall of bliss, I would intrude some words of caution .

ANN

Against my marriage?

MARY.

No Heavens No! Marry him, bed him, broil in passion’s flame. Just don’t let Love cloud your vision entirely. For you’d best remember::. No woman has ever come to grief by starting her nuptials with small expectations of her husband to be. For men are but men and… (Mary pauses, distracted by the arrival of a servant girl bearing a tray of tea and snacks which she quickly places on a small folding table and quietly slips away)

ANN

I have been so centered on myself…and my great romance. What about Mary Farley? Any enticing new men in your life?

MARY

O dozens… casting their hungry eyes upon me as if I were Sunday dinner. I feel like a doe pursued by a pack of wolves.

ANN

Be serious...for once. I want you to tell me...really and truly.

MARY

Well, there is one chap, Alfred Armstrong …I call him Alfie. very handsome… very! And he is even harder on my trail than Harry. But he seems to have no vocabulary beyond his few words of amour. My temperature rises a notch the moment I see Alfie, and falls below zero the instant he talks.

ANN

Poor Alfie. I don’t give him much of a chance.

MARY:

However … there IS another man who has piqued my interest a bit.

ANN

Do I know him?

MARY

You may have met him some place or other. His name is William Champe Carter, another member of your fertile clan.

ANN

I can’t recall him, though the name sound’s familiar. Is he handsome too?

MARY

William’s no Adonis in appearance. Indeed, I wouldn’t mind at all if I could merge him with Alfie. But it must be said that William has a sprightly style and nimble tongue. Whenever I say something diabolic to William, he always seems to match me, or incredible as it may seem …go me one better. Besides I think he’s rather cute …like Ben Franklin in his coon hat.

ANN

Do you think this cuddly fellow has nuptials in mind?

MARY

That’s hardly a matter to be left to his decision. If I choose to tie the knot, then Will shall marry me will-he, nil-he! (slight pause) Men are not to be indulged on important subjects!

ANN

How supremely self-confident! And while you weigh Will in the balance, I take it you are still free to consider all comers. I vividly recall the many fellows who swarmed around you at the Randolph’s a few weeks ago.

MARY

You were hardly neglected at that inbred gathering of circling geese and gander.

ANN

None of any interest to me. However, I did observe with pleasure the stylish and colorful attire that those proud geese displayed.

MARY

Did you notice that several of the ladies were costumed to resemble Marie Antoinette. That struck me as awfully gauche at a time when that poor woman stands in the shadow of the guillotine.

ANN

Jefferson seems to think it’s fine for the great revolution to slay thousands as long as it overthrows kings. It strikes me as a horror!

MARY

Has it occurred to you that poor Louie might have saved his head if he had used his money and power to repress Jacobins, instead of to support our American revolution?

ANN

Hmm. I never did think of that; it’s a strange, ironic twist. And now …many of us who admired the French have begun to hate them.

MARY

Everything changes! We are only sure of our own rectitude … and our passion in… (interrupts herself) Oh ,,here comes your hero. Best I vanish now!

ANN

Wait. Please don’t go. You know my father still deems it improper for me to be alone with Harry, and...

(Mary hesitates, then stays… Harry enters from stage right, a bit disconcerted by Mary’s presence. Still, his manner is frolicsome.)

HARRY

What have we here - two fair nymphs in the garden of delight! What man could pass unmoved? Were I a Moslem, I would carry you both off.

MARY

I see you have a Moslem mentality.

HARRY

But a Christian soul…which I express today in my exclusive homage (turning to Ann) to you, my sweet and winsome wife to be.

ANN

You speak with such bold assurance, yet my father still…

HARRY

Trust me, my beautiful Ann, your father must have his ritual debate, but I believe…I’m certain…he’ll yield soon, today I think. Every fortress can be stormed with the right strategy.

ANN

I know you shall win, for you are a winner, always a winner!

HARRY

And you, my love, are a winner of souls and hearts. Never have I met a woman who more readily evokes affection. Where you are, there is Love!

ANN

(turning to Mary): He is a great flatterer, is he not?

HARRY

It is flattery only if it is insincere or exaggerated. Do I flatter the magnolia blossom when I praise its honeyed scent, or the delphinium when I declaim its dazzling beauty?

MARY

Why Harry. You seem to rhapsodize almost as well about flowers as you do about nymphs.

HARRY

I sing praise of all that is beautiful, and all the wondrous things God fashioned and men despoil…

MARY

I thought you first and foremost a soldier, who loves war best of all.

HARRY

War? War is a horror which I suppose good men must sometimes wage - and yet, I sometimes wonder if old Franklin was not right. You know, in his later years, he concluded that the worst peace is better than the best war.

MARY

You never cease to surprise me, Harry. You really are no mere dragoon!

HARRY

Yet I am also that! a born soldier, a killer of his fellow men, yet one who seeks in peace and love all that his profession disdains.

ANN

O Harry. I love to hear you spin words. You are even more of a marvel than I thought!

HARRY

And you, my wonderful Ann, shall make me a still better, nobler man …if I can beguile your good father, as I… He’s coming.! Would you two be so kind as to take a stroll… any place but here.

(The ladies leave arm in arm, and their diminishing voices are heard as they leave)

ANN AND MARY

(singing): " In springtime, the only pretty ring time

when birds do sing, hey ding-a-ding-a-ding

Sweet lovers love the spring."

(Charles Carter is a man in his fifties, of middling stature, rather casual in dress and style, with a pleasing but authoritative demeanor. Emerging from the Shirley’s main door, he walks firmly down the center path, and turns to meet Harry)

HARRY

(gaily): Ah Mr. Carter. I come to you again on wings of hope, sustained by the confidence that