John Pope (travel writer)
Encyclopedia
John Pope was an American soldier, traveler, and author of the book A Tour through the Southern and Western Territories of the United States of North-America.
In his book, Pope claimed to have lived in Amherst County, Virginia
during the American Revolution
. He has been tentatively identified with a John Pope Jr. who served as an officer in the militia from that county. In June 1781 this John Pope attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. His battalion took part in battles at Lynch's Ferry, Cowpens
, Rockfish Gap, and Jamestown. At the siege of Yorktown
this battalion was merged with the “Main Army” commanded by the Marquis de Lafayette.
Pope probably returned to Amherst County after the war, then sold his property and moved to the Richmond
area in about 1790. On June 1, 1790, John Pope set out on the tour that he would later record in his book.
on the Monongahela River
. He visited former Revolutionary War generals Daniel Morgan
, Horatio Gates
, and Adam Stephen
, as well as Charles Washington
. In October he reached Pittsburgh, where he remained ten days to recover from illness. In November he went down the Ohio River
to Kentucky
, staying a month at Danville
. In Louisville
he visited George Rogers Clark
and remained in the city through February.
By the first of March 1791, Pope set out down the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers with a French boatman, arriving at New Madrid
on March 4 and dining with the Spanish commandant. Continuing down the Mississippi, Pope met Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
, the Spanish governor of Luisiana
. After stopping for a week at Natchez
, Pope continued downriver to New Orleans, where he stayed six weeks.
In mid-May Pope sailed from New Orleans to Pensacola
, capital of the Spanish province of West Florida
. Arturo O'Neill, the Irish-born governor of West Florida, sent Pope northward with an escort of eleven Creek Indians to visit the Creek Indian leader Alexander McGillivray
in what is now Alabama. Late in June, Pope struck out eastward across Georgia to Augusta
and Savannah
.
Pope sailed from Savannah to Charleston, South Carolina
, arriving August 1. On the voyage he met Senator Pierce Butler
. From Charleston he soon sailed south to St. Marys, Georgia
and tried to enter Spanish East Florida
, but was turned back. From St. Marys he took a ship to New York City
on September 2.
On the final leg of his journey, Pope traveled across New Jersey
to Philadelphia, at that time the seat of government for the United States. On October 5 he had a meeting with Henry Knox
, the secretary of war.
, which speculated in lands claimed by the state of Georgia
. The land company was founded by fellow Virginians Patrick Henry
and David Ross
; however, according to historian J. Barton Starr, there is no compelling evidence that Pope was ever involved with the company. Starr concluded that the “most obvious explanation” for Pope's journey was “intellectual curiosity and a desire for excitement.”
McGillivray, the Creek
political leader who met Pope in June 1791, surmised that the Virginian was touring the South in order to spy on Spanish military posts and gain information about the Indians. McGillivray wrote to the Spanish about his suspicion of Pope. In response, the captain-general of Havana dismissed Pope as a “despicable adventurer” and ordered reprimands for the Spanish commanders at Natchez, New Orleans, and Pensacola, who had let the strange American have unrestricted access to their posts.
Pope's book contains several short occasional poems, most of them satirical. The last of these is an homage to Knox, Attorney-General Edmund Randolph
, and Samuel Pleasants, a Philadelphia merchant.
Nevertheless, by the late 1800s, historians looking for scarce first-hand accounts of the colonial American South became interested in Pope's book, which by then had become very rare.
In 1971 the Arno Press printed a facsimile of the 1792 edition that was purchased by many American libraries. In 1979 the University Press of Florida published a facsimile edition of Pope's Tour with an introduction and indexes by historian J. Barton Starr.
In 1985 the book was reproduced on microfiche by Readex
Microprint as part of that company's Early American Imprints series.
Early life and military career
Little is known about Pope, and few records of his life have survived. Evidence from his book suggests that he was well educated, and tax records imply that he was wealthy, with more than 700 acres of land in his name. His wife's name is unknown, but by 1792 he had three children named Alexander, Lucinda, and Anne.In his book, Pope claimed to have lived in Amherst County, Virginia
Amherst County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 31,894 people, 11,941 households, and 8,645 families residing in the county. The population density was 67 people per square mile . There were 12,958 housing units at an average density of 27 per square mile...
during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. He has been tentatively identified with a John Pope Jr. who served as an officer in the militia from that county. In June 1781 this John Pope attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. His battalion took part in battles at Lynch's Ferry, Cowpens
Battle of Cowpens
The Battle of Cowpens was a decisive victory by Patriot Revolutionary forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
, Rockfish Gap, and Jamestown. At the siege of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
this battalion was merged with the “Main Army” commanded by the Marquis de Lafayette.
Pope probably returned to Amherst County after the war, then sold his property and moved to the Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
area in about 1790. On June 1, 1790, John Pope set out on the tour that he would later record in his book.
Pope's travels
Leaving Richmond on June 1, 1790, Pope traveled across Virginia to RedstoneBrownsville, Pennsylvania
Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, officially founded in 1785 located 35 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River...
on the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. He visited former Revolutionary War generals Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...
, Horatio Gates
Horatio Gates
Horatio Lloyd Gates was a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga – Benedict Arnold, who led the attack, was finally forced from the field when he was shot in the leg – and...
, and Adam Stephen
Adam Stephen
Adam Stephen was a Scottish-born doctor and military officer. He came to North America, where he served in the Virginia colonial militia under George Washington during the French and Indian War. He served under Washington again in the American Revolutionary War, rising to lead a division of the...
, as well as Charles Washington
Charles Washington
Charles Washington was the youngest brother of United States President George Washington. He was a son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington....
. In October he reached Pittsburgh, where he remained ten days to recover from illness. In November he went down the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
to Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, staying a month at Danville
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....
. In Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
he visited George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
and remained in the city through February.
By the first of March 1791, Pope set out down the Ohio and Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
rivers with a French boatman, arriving at New Madrid
New Madrid
New Madrid may refer to:*New Madrid County, Missouri, a county in the U.S. state of Missouri*New Madrid, Missouri, a city in New Madrid County*New Madrid Seismic Zone, a major seismic zone in Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas...
on March 4 and dining with the Spanish commandant. Continuing down the Mississippi, Pope met Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos Amorín y Magallanes was the Spanish governor of Louisiana from 1797 until his death in 1799. Born in Oporto, Portugal on May 30, 1747, to Spanish consul Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Sarmiento and Theresa Angélica de Amorín y Magallanes, he received his education in...
, the Spanish governor of Luisiana
Louisiana (New Spain)
Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1764 to 1803 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans...
. After stopping for a week at Natchez
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
, Pope continued downriver to New Orleans, where he stayed six weeks.
In mid-May Pope sailed from New Orleans to Pensacola
Pensacola
Pensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...
, capital of the Spanish province of West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. Arturo O'Neill, the Irish-born governor of West Florida, sent Pope northward with an escort of eleven Creek Indians to visit the Creek Indian leader Alexander McGillivray
Alexander McGillivray
Alexander McGillivray, also known as Hoboi-Hili-Miko , was a principal chief of the Upper Creek towns from 1782. Before that he had created an alliance between the Creek and the British during the American Revolution...
in what is now Alabama. Late in June, Pope struck out eastward across Georgia to Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
and Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
Pope sailed from Savannah to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, arriving August 1. On the voyage he met Senator Pierce Butler
Pierce Butler
Pierce Butler was a soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States' Founding Fathers. He represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress, the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the U.S. Senate...
. From Charleston he soon sailed south to St. Marys, Georgia
St. Marys, Georgia
-See also:*Cumberland Island*St. Marys Historic District*St. Marys Railroad-External links:***...
and tried to enter Spanish East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
, but was turned back. From St. Marys he took a ship to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on September 2.
On the final leg of his journey, Pope traveled across New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
to Philadelphia, at that time the seat of government for the United States. On October 5 he had a meeting with Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
, the secretary of war.
Motives for the journey
Pope's motives for the 16-month journey are uncertain. He told Secretary of War Knox that he had explored the southern country as an agent of the Virginia Yazoo CompanyYazoo land scandal
The Yazoo land scandal, Yazoo fraud, Yazoo land fraud, or Yazoo land controversy was a massive fraud perpetrated from 1794 to 1803 by several Georgia governors and the state legislature. They sold large tracts of land in what is now the state of Mississippi to political insiders at very low prices...
, which speculated in lands claimed by the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. The land company was founded by fellow Virginians Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
and David Ross
David Ross
David Ross may refer to:*David Ross , British actor who played Kryten in the second series of BBC sitcom Red Dwarf*David Joseph Ross , American environmentalist...
; however, according to historian J. Barton Starr, there is no compelling evidence that Pope was ever involved with the company. Starr concluded that the “most obvious explanation” for Pope's journey was “intellectual curiosity and a desire for excitement.”
McGillivray, the Creek
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
political leader who met Pope in June 1791, surmised that the Virginian was touring the South in order to spy on Spanish military posts and gain information about the Indians. McGillivray wrote to the Spanish about his suspicion of Pope. In response, the captain-general of Havana dismissed Pope as a “despicable adventurer” and ordered reprimands for the Spanish commanders at Natchez, New Orleans, and Pensacola, who had let the strange American have unrestricted access to their posts.
Pope's book
John Dixon, editor of the Virginia Gazette and Public Advertiser, printed Pope's book in November or December 1792. The book's full title is A Tour through the Southern and Western Territories of the United States of North-America; the Spanish Dominions on the River Mississippi, and the Floridas; the Countries of the Creek Nations; and Many Uninhabited Parts.Pope's book contains several short occasional poems, most of them satirical. The last of these is an homage to Knox, Attorney-General Edmund Randolph
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.-Biography:...
, and Samuel Pleasants, a Philadelphia merchant.
Reception
The book received little critical attention and was not reprinted during the author's lifetime. A copy preserved in the University of Virginia library has a hand-written note on the last page, presumably left by an early reader: “Pope you are a damned fool.”Nevertheless, by the late 1800s, historians looking for scarce first-hand accounts of the colonial American South became interested in Pope's book, which by then had become very rare.
Reprints
In 1888, New York book dealer Charles L. Woodward printed a small edition of Pope's Tour with a new index. Despite this new edition, the book remained rare and obscure through most of the twentieth century.In 1971 the Arno Press printed a facsimile of the 1792 edition that was purchased by many American libraries. In 1979 the University Press of Florida published a facsimile edition of Pope's Tour with an introduction and indexes by historian J. Barton Starr.
In 1985 the book was reproduced on microfiche by Readex
Readex
Readex has published numerous collections of primary source research materials, first as Readex Microprint Corporation and since 1984 as a division of NewsBank....
Microprint as part of that company's Early American Imprints series.
External links
- Pope's Tour at Archive.org
- Pope's Tour at University of Florida Libraries