I have always been interested in history of the common man. That is, I like reading about how life was in different eras for the average person and not just kings and generals. A while back I read and posted about a diary I read written by an Englishman who visited the antebellum South prior to the Civil War. After thoroughly enjoying that book, I decided I would try to find other sources going back further in American history. I found a good one with Hamilton's Itinerarium.

Dr. Alexander Hamilton (not to be confused with the founding father) was born in Scotland in 1712, went to medical school in London, and moved to the American colonies in the 1730's. He ended up in Annapolis, Maryland where he setup medical practice. (Hamilton's age would make him about 6 years younger than Ben Franklin. George Washington was 12 years old at this time).

In 1744 he became sick (probably from a virus) and decided that the Maryland heat was the culprit. So he packed up his bags and headed off on horseback for a trip through New England (from Maryland to Maine). Along the way he would stop at all the major towns like Boston, Philly and NYC. Oh, and Hamilton packed two pistols that he carried on his person at all times.

Hamilton would keep a detailed diary about his journey and only gave a few copies to friends. Somehow the diary ended up being printed in Italy and then ended up in a London bookstore. It wasn't until about 1900 that the diary was obtained by American historians.

Hamilton recounts his journey day by day and even recalls the conversations he had with people. In those days, when you traveled, you often encountered people on the roads going the same direction, so strangers often asked one another if they wanted to ride along in a group so that they could shoot the shite. He met some interesting characters, to say the least, when he did this. Some he liked, some he didn't. In one case, he got into a pretty heated argument with one guy over religion.

Along the road, he stopped at many "taverns" and discussed those places in some detail. People drank "bumpers" which were large alcoholic drinks and Hamilton mentions that 2 or 3 of them would make him "pretty well flushed." He notes that lots of men would leave so drunk they could barely ride their horses (early form of DUI).

He stayed at many inns which were basically houses owned by common people looking to make some side income. He recounted some of those places and the conversations he had with the landlords. He attended local churches and discussed religion quite a bit. For example, he was a standard Episcopalian and lamented the fact that so many American colonists had come under the spell of the radical George Whitefield. He ranted and raved against Whitefield and really hated the guy. (If you don't know Whitefield, Wiki has a good article on him. He was basically a major figure in what would later become evangelicalism).

Hamilton never intended the diary to be read by anyone but friends, so he used profanity quite a bit. He introduced us to an early instance of "Son of a bitch." A lot of people in Britain have always said that SOB is an American invention, but this is clearly not the case. Not only did Hamilton use it in 1744, but there are literary sources back in England using it in the early 1600's. (Shakespeare himself used a variation of SOB in 1605).

Hamilton also gave us the first known usage of "gun" to refer to a pistol. "Gun" was already in use for some time at that point, but it generally only referred to large canons. Hamilton is the first to show us that "gun" was indeed being used to refer to hand-held firearms in 1744. Prior to the discovery of his diary in 1900, people had assumed "gun" was invented in the American wild west.

Hamilton mentioned that many Americans greeted each other with "how'dyee." This is basically "howdy" which means Texas did not invent it. It was being used in New England before the revolution. (Actually, there are references to "howdy" in England going back to the 1600's, so it definitely came from England to America).

Hamilton told some interesting anecdotes about the American Indians, who were around and plentiful up in New England. He talks about the differences in the tribes and how some were more primitive than others. For example, in Long Island he saw a group of Indians completely naked living as they had for thousands of years. But other Indians dressed just like Englishmen and fully adopted the European lifestyle.

Britain and France were at odds at this time and Hamilton mentions how two British representatives came up from Virginia and gave a speech in Philly about how Britain was about to go to war with France. (One of these men had the surname of "Lee" and I have to wonder if he is an ancestor of Robert E. Lee). Anyway, The townspeople were not happy about it and began booing and jeering the dudes because they were basically being drafted into the war. Although "revolution" was not openly discussed by the people he encountered, you could definitely tell that many colonists were very unhappy living under English rule. (Saying it out loud would probably get you hanged at that time).

Hamilton was single and in his early 30's so he spent some time talking about women. In every city he went, he would give an OT score on how hot (or not) the women were. He didn't like conversing with women that much because "they talk too much" but would oblige them if they were hot.

There are many more interesting things about this diary that I don't have room to go into here. Unfortunately the online copy I found is edited and they removed some profanity (it is a copy from 1905). I would like to see a totally unedited version to see what naughty words they removed. They left SOB, shite, and damns in the diary, so I wonder if there were some fricks in there or something.