Here are my Top Three Historical Figures for this week.
Francis Marion
Francis Marion, aka "The Swamp Fox," participated in the American Revolutionary War in 1775, under the tutelage of Captain William Moultrie, and the two soldiers fought to reclaim Fort Moultrie (previously called Sullivan), based in South Carolina, in 1776, foreshadowing America itself being fully released from the British. In consequence of restoring Fort Moultrie to the United States, Marion became Lieutenant Colonel.
Marion had also used small guerrilla armies, usually less than 70 men, to defend American soil from the British (even in military interactions that were separate from the Moultrie altercation) and led the Redcoats to swamps where they would end up trapped. British general Banastre Tarleton bestowed "The Swamp Fox" on Marion as the latter's nickname.
In light of America's 250th anniversary, Marion is an appropriate historical figure representative of innovation and grit.
Catherine the Great
Russian empress Catherine the Great was highly influential in the art and literary worlds since she had written her own memoirs, comedies, and operas. She may have related to those disciplines because she was inspired by the classical writers Voltaire and Locke.
She was an example of innovation since it was not common for women in her day to write or have access to true literature, let alone autobiographies. To write an autobiography was also considered "inappropriate" even for male and female royalty in this time period.
She became a young lady of grit by studying Russian into the wee hours of the night to know it by heart, as per the memoirs, in order to be a successful princess in Russia. She would have never become the empress without this grit.
She also created a space for girls to become well educated and positioned herself as a role model by pioneering the girls' only Smolny Institute in 1764.
Her highly perceptive and reflective memoirs have become public domain and are readable on Project Gutenberg.
Charles Dickens
British writer Charles Dickens boasted a vivid imagination and purposely wielded it to expose then-contemporary social problems.
Dickens was an example of grit and innovation. His family became poor when he was very young. He was therefore compelled to work in a blacking factory soon after he turned 12 years of age. He went beyond this and wrote 15 creative novels throughout his adulthood.
The novels each prominently featured a good vs. evil plot and rich satire exposing societal ignorance of the poor. Dickens' readers have improved their empathy for the people who need assistance. They enjoy the intricate worlds, fascinating characters, and the stories' foundation of right vs. wrong in a hero vs. villain context.
The reference book Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens also explains that his works were some examples representing progress in family literature, as they had much more theatrical and adventurous themes than the children's books available to the public when he was a child. Dickens captivated the audience with a thematic adventure instead of going through tired morality primers that children would have had on standby in his early learning years. With Dickens' literary innovation, children often read his works cover to cover.
He died in 1870 after a stroke during the production of his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Project Gutenberg has shared the extant chapters in Drood for the curious. There is another web page that has divulged more remnants of the plot. Dickens had been on an extensive enough quest to die before finishing yet another novel.
The honorable mentions of this week were Queen Victoria and Thomas Cromwell.
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