What Remains: Searching for the Memory and Lost Grave of John Paul Jones (2017)
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DESCRIPTION John Paul Jones is now considered a Revolutionary War hero and the father of the American Navy, his defiant words “I have not yet begun to fight!” the epitome of courage under fire. It has not always been so. When the Revolutionary War ended, Jones's celebrity vanished. His death in Paris a decade later went unnoticed; he was buried in a foreign grave and forgotten by his fellow Americans. In What Remains, Robert Hornick explores why Jones was forgotten, the subsequent recovery of his memory and remains, and the much delayed commemoration of his achievement. The book chronicles the efforts of the men and women who, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reconstructed Jones's legacy, searched for and finally found his lost grave, and returned both his physical remains and his memory to a place of honor. It also recounts the extraordinary moment when Theodore Roosevelt utilized Jones’s commemoration to proclaim America as a global power. What Remains offers a fascinating story of opportunists and evangelists: of politicians who needed Jones to advance their agendas, but also of fellow warriors committed to recovering one of their own from obscurity and shame. |
PRAISE FOR WHAT REMAINS
"What Remains adds an important new perspective to the life of John Paul Jones. The book gets beyond the implausible facts of Jones’s life to establish his relevance to our own lives and times.”—Rear Admiral Joseph Callo, author of John Paul Jones: America’s First Sea Warrior
"Analytic and meticulously researched. . . . If you have any interest in the American Revolution, you will appreciate this book. Well-organized, you may read it from cover to cover or a chapter or section at a time. Either way, you will gain an appreciation for the life of John Paul Jones, born John Paul in Scotland, and his place in the American Revolution. You will also appreciate the significance of his return and the power of the press and the informational value in the pomp and ceremony accompanying the recognition of citizens who advanced the cause of the American Revolution at great personal sacrifice."—Patrick H. Hannum, Journal of the American Revolution
"There must be 200 biographies of John Paul Jones by now. . . . “What Remains” somehow discovers new territory on a very old map. How in the world, author Robert Hornick asks, did a narcissistic, has-been, Scottish sea captain hiding from a murder trial under an assumed name become the iconic “father of the American Navy”? . . . As the significance of his actions and his ideas became evident, John Paul Jones' reputation evolved from a self-centered scallywag to a military and maritime genius beset by all-too-human weaknesses. [He] came to represent all that was valorous, bold, and patriotic. Half real, half imagined, he was the first American Naval hero, a man unafraid to go in harm’s way, a man capable of snatching victory from the gaping jaws of defeat. Hornick’s retelling reveals, between the lines, how Jones became what America imagined it could become - a nation of superheroes.--J. Dennis Robinson, Portsmouth Herald
“An exquisitely presented detective story but with a unique twist: we know the outcome at the beginning. So what makes this book so appealing? Among other things, it is a recounting of the times—late 18th and early 19th centuries—and the sentiment of a fickle public. . . . Mr. Hornick is a talented story-teller and the result is an easy to read, thoughtful, and logical unfolding of the detective work involved in locating not only the grave of John Paul Jones (Paris), but then in identifying the corpse to the satisfaction of the nay-sayers. . . . Highly recommended to any with an interest in American history or the early days of our navy.”—William H. White, Naval History Book Reviews
"What Remains adds an important new perspective to the life of John Paul Jones. The book gets beyond the implausible facts of Jones’s life to establish his relevance to our own lives and times.”—Rear Admiral Joseph Callo, author of John Paul Jones: America’s First Sea Warrior
"Analytic and meticulously researched. . . . If you have any interest in the American Revolution, you will appreciate this book. Well-organized, you may read it from cover to cover or a chapter or section at a time. Either way, you will gain an appreciation for the life of John Paul Jones, born John Paul in Scotland, and his place in the American Revolution. You will also appreciate the significance of his return and the power of the press and the informational value in the pomp and ceremony accompanying the recognition of citizens who advanced the cause of the American Revolution at great personal sacrifice."—Patrick H. Hannum, Journal of the American Revolution
"There must be 200 biographies of John Paul Jones by now. . . . “What Remains” somehow discovers new territory on a very old map. How in the world, author Robert Hornick asks, did a narcissistic, has-been, Scottish sea captain hiding from a murder trial under an assumed name become the iconic “father of the American Navy”? . . . As the significance of his actions and his ideas became evident, John Paul Jones' reputation evolved from a self-centered scallywag to a military and maritime genius beset by all-too-human weaknesses. [He] came to represent all that was valorous, bold, and patriotic. Half real, half imagined, he was the first American Naval hero, a man unafraid to go in harm’s way, a man capable of snatching victory from the gaping jaws of defeat. Hornick’s retelling reveals, between the lines, how Jones became what America imagined it could become - a nation of superheroes.--J. Dennis Robinson, Portsmouth Herald
“An exquisitely presented detective story but with a unique twist: we know the outcome at the beginning. So what makes this book so appealing? Among other things, it is a recounting of the times—late 18th and early 19th centuries—and the sentiment of a fickle public. . . . Mr. Hornick is a talented story-teller and the result is an easy to read, thoughtful, and logical unfolding of the detective work involved in locating not only the grave of John Paul Jones (Paris), but then in identifying the corpse to the satisfaction of the nay-sayers. . . . Highly recommended to any with an interest in American history or the early days of our navy.”—William H. White, Naval History Book Reviews
THE COMMEMORATION OF JOHN PAUL JONES (1906)
From Chapter 1 of What Remains (University of Massachusetts Press, June 2017)
It was called the greatest military and naval pageant ever witnessed in the United States. Five thousand guests, there by invitation only, crowded the Naval Academy’s recently completed armory at Annapolis. Thousands more lined the streets from the railway station to the armory, to cheer President Roosevelt and the dignitaries accompanying him as they made their way from their special train to the great hall.
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From Chapter 1 of What Remains (University of Massachusetts Press, June 2017)
It was called the greatest military and naval pageant ever witnessed in the United States. Five thousand guests, there by invitation only, crowded the Naval Academy’s recently completed armory at Annapolis. Thousands more lined the streets from the railway station to the armory, to cheer President Roosevelt and the dignitaries accompanying him as they made their way from their special train to the great hall.
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BATTLE OFF FLAMBOROUGH HEAD; CAPTURE OF SERAPIS
From Chapter 2 of What Remains (University of Massachusetts Press, June 2017)
Some lives build slowly to a single moment of glory or shame. Jones's was such a life and Flamborough Head was such a moment. On the afternoon of the twenty-third, Jones saw in the distance, off Flamborough Head, a fleet of forty-one sails. He learned from pilots of pilot boats captured earlier in the day that it was a British convoy from the Baltic, escorted by the fifty-gun frigate Serapis and the twenty-gun sloop of war Countess of Scarborough. Jones knew the importance of Baltic convoys: they were major suppliers to the British navy. He also knew he would have to take or sink the two escorts, if he was to interdict the convoy.
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From Chapter 2 of What Remains (University of Massachusetts Press, June 2017)
Some lives build slowly to a single moment of glory or shame. Jones's was such a life and Flamborough Head was such a moment. On the afternoon of the twenty-third, Jones saw in the distance, off Flamborough Head, a fleet of forty-one sails. He learned from pilots of pilot boats captured earlier in the day that it was a British convoy from the Baltic, escorted by the fifty-gun frigate Serapis and the twenty-gun sloop of war Countess of Scarborough. Jones knew the importance of Baltic convoys: they were major suppliers to the British navy. He also knew he would have to take or sink the two escorts, if he was to interdict the convoy.
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"I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT": DID HE SAY IT?
Did John Paul Jones really say, "I have not yet begun to fight"?
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Did John Paul Jones really say, "I have not yet begun to fight"?
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