SignOnSanDiego.com - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Revolution had founding members, too

October 24, 2004

by Curran-Downey

Politically speaking, Marc Stockwell-Moniz is a throwback – 354 years back.

Stockwell-Moniz, who grew up in Boston and lives in Poway, had always been a history buff. But when a genealogical study helped him trace his ancestors to their arrival in this country in 1650, and he subsequently discovered that his great-great-great-great-grandfather served with George Washington, it seemed a natural progression that he would write about it.

What separates his book, "George Washington's Unsung Heroes," from the rest of the literary pack is that the real focus is on the people who aren't, as he says, "the usual suspects."

"Some of these folks can be found in other books, but they're largely forgotten," Stockwell-Moniz said.

"These are the folks who did the grunt work. We consider the people who signed the famous documents as the founding fathers, but I like to think of these people also as the founding members of the country."

Some of the big names – John Hancock, Paul Revere and Alexander Hamilton – have their own chapters. But so does Salem Poor, an African-American soldier who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill and was with Washington at Valley Forge; Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American slave to publish a book – of poetry – in the United States; and John Peter Muhlenberg, an ordained minister who became a brigadier general in the Continental Army and later served three terms in the House of Representatives.

Then there was Tench Tilghman. Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman served as Washington's aide-de-camp, a secretary who worked for two years without a salary until Washington wrote Congress, insisting that he be given a commission and a paycheck.

"He's one of my favorites for what he did and how he personally gave up everything, including his business, to serve Washington," Stockwell-Moniz said. "His family were loyalists (to the British government), so he was the only one in his family who believed as he did."

Stockwell-Moniz, who geared the book to middle and high school students, makes his rounds of local schools as a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, a national organization of the descendants of militia men and others who fought for American independence. The group also sponsors essay contests and awards scholarships.
" I show up in my Continental Army uniform, I bring portraits and documents and try to make it as hands-on as possible for the kids," he said.

"I try to give them the unusual stories. I mean, who ever heard of Tench Tilghman? But you know, no matter what war is fought, it will always be done by the little guys."

Although Washington was mostly revered, Stockwell-Moniz says politics took a hard-edged turn in subsequent elections.

"It may have been a little less 'in your face' than today, but only because they didn't have television," he said. "But the newspapers were brutal."

And if you think politicians take verbal shots at one another now, let's not forget that Vice President Aaron Burr and former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton decided to settle their personal and political differences in 1804 with a duel – resulting in a gunshot wound to Hamilton that killed him the following day.

That fight is the stuff of most history books, but Stockwell-Moniz said his research into the little-known players in the Revolutionary War turned up so many who served without recognition that he has enough information for a second book.