THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 23
63 BCE
– AUGUSTUS CAESAR, Roman emperor, born
(d: 14 CE) Born Octavius, of the Julii, Augustus is arguably the single most
important figure in Roman history and the two most famous of the Caesars (the
other being his uncle Julie). In the course of his long and spectacular career,
he put an end to the advancing decay of the Republic and established a new
basis for Roman government that was to stand for three centuries. This system,
termed the "Principate," was far from flawless, but it provided the
Roman Empire with a series of rulers who presided over the longest period of
unity, peace, and prosperity that Western Europe, the Middle East and the North
African seaboard have known in their entire recorded history.
Even if the rulers themselves occasionally
left much to be desired, the scale of Augustus's achievement in establishing
the system cannot be overstated. Aside from the immense importance of
Augustus's reign from the broad historical perspective, he himself is an intriguing
figure: at once tolerant and implacable, ruthless and forgiving, brazen and
tactful. Clearly a man of many facets, he underwent three major political
reinventions in his lifetime and negotiated the stormy and dangerous seas of
the last phase of the Roman Revolution with skill and foresight. With Augustus
established in power and with the Principate firmly rooted, the internal
machinations of the imperial household provide a fascinating glimpse into the
one issue that painted this otherwise gifted organizer and politician into a
corner from which he could find no easy exit: the problem of the succession.
It’s a wise child who knows his uncle, and
young Octavius regularly put out for his Uncle Julius Caesar, an investment
that paid handsomely in the end. He also lured the powerful Roman statesman
Hirtius to his bed and received 3000 pieces of gold for his trouble, a favor he
returned when he became emperor, by having Hirtius murdered to prevent him from
ever telling the tale. His efforts were, of course, futile. In Noel Garde’s
book, Jonathan to Gide, he tells how secret the Emperor’s secret really was.
Reportedly, when Augustus was attending a play, “an actor spoke a line about an
effeminate eunuch priest with a tambourine, ‘Videsne ut Cinaedus orbem digito
temperet?’ translatable as ‘Do you see that queer’s finger beating the orb?’
and ‘do you see how this queer’s finger governs the world?” The audience,
reportedly, immediately took this as a reference to Augustus and broke into
wild applause while staring at the imperial box.
1806 – On this date Meriweather
Lewis and William Clark returned to Missouri after their two year journey to
explore the Louisiana Purchase under commission from President Thomas
Jefferson.
The LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION, also
known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the first American expedition
to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in
May, 1804 from St. Louis on the Mississippi River, making their way westward
through the continental divide to the Pacific coast.
The
expedition was commissioned by President Jefferson shortly after the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803, consisting of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers under
the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieeutenant
William Clark. The duration of their perilous journey lasted from May 1804 to
September 1806. The primary objective was to explore and map the newly acquired
territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and
establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other
European powers tried to claim it.
The
campaign's secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the
area's plants, animal life, and geography, and establish trade with local
Indian tribes. With maps, sketches and journals in hand, the expedition
returned to St. Louis to report their findings to Jefferson.
Sacagawea,
sometimes called Sakajawea or Sakagawea (c. 1788–December 20, 1812), was a
Shoshone Indian woman who arrived with her husband Toussant Charbonneau on
the expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Though a
crucial addition to the expedition and though she has been discussed in
literature frequently, much of the information is exaggeration or fiction.
Scholars say she did notice some geographical features, but
"Sacagawea...was not the guide for the Expedition, she was important to
them as an interpreter and in other ways." The sight of a woman and
her infant son would have been reassuring to some indigenous nations, and she
played an important role in diplomatic relations by talking to chiefs, easing
tensions, and giving the impression of a peaceful mission.
On Feb.
11, 1805, a few weeks after her first contact with the expedition, Sacagawea
went into labor and gave birth to a baby boy. Her labor was slow and painful
and so the Frenchman Charbonneau, with whom she had arrived on the scene, suggested
that she be given a potion of rattlesnake's rattle to aid in her delivery.
Lewis happened to have some snakes rattle with him. A short time after
administering the potion she delivered a healthy baby boy who was given the
name JEAN BAPTISTE CHARBONNEAU.
He was
later informally adopted by Clark. In his fascinating and highly recommended history
of the same-sex activities among the early Western trappers , Men In Eden: William
Drummond Stewart and Same-Sex Desire in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade, William
Benemann reveals that Charbonneau may well have gone on to become a very well-kept
young man:
“In 1823, when the 25 year old Duke Paul
Wilhelm of Wurtemberg first visited St. Louis, he was drawn to the young man. ‘Here
I found a youth of sixteen,’ the Duke later wrote, ‘whose mother was of the
tribe of Sho-sho-ne, or Snake Indians, and who had accompanied Mssrs. Lewis and
Clark to thePacific Ocean in the years 1804 to 1806 [as] interpretress. This
Indian woman was married to the French interpreter of the expedition, Toussaint
Charbonneau by name. Charbonneau rendered me service also, some time later in
the same capacity, and Baptiste, his son (the youth of sixteen) of whom I made
mention above, joined me on my return and followed me to Europe and has
remained with me ever since.”
Baptiste was 18, not 16 at the time but
appeared younger. Sacagawea had died
from a fever, and both Charbonneau and Clark realized that this was a
tremendous opportunity for the young man. The Duke was offering to thake the
youth under his wing, and with their blessing Baptiste sailed for Europe with
his new patron, eventually settling in the Duke’s 11th century
castle on the outskirts of Stuttgart. They traveled extensively and over the
years the Duke brought back several foreign boys from his various travels. And
though Jean Baptiste went on to marry and father a child, he never acknowledged
the woman or her child and he remained a lifelong bachelor.
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