Subscribers to Va-Hist may find this book review of interest. Randal Hall,
editor of the text reviewed, is editor of the *Journal of Southern History.*

Brent Tarter
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Greetings Brent Tarter,

New items have been posted in H-Early-America.
Table of Contents

   1. Francavilla on Smyth, 'A Rape in the Early Republic: Gender and Legal
   Culture in an 1806 Virginia Trial' [review]
   <#m_6977054885703370805_6202404>

------------------------------
Francavilla on Smyth, 'A Rape in the Early Republic: Gender and Legal
Culture in an 1806 Virginia Trial'
<https://networks.h-net.org/user/login?destination=node/6202404> [review]
by H-Net Reviews

*Alexander Smyth.* *A Rape in the Early Republic: Gender and Legal Culture
in an 1806 Virginia Trial.* Edited by Randall L. Hall. New Directions In
Southern History Series. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2017. 136
pp. $25.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8131-6952-1.

*Reviewed by* Lisa A. Francavilla (The Papers of Thomas Jefferson:
Retirement Series and Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters) *Published on*
H-Early-America (June, 2020) *Commissioned by* Kelly K. Sharp (Furman
University)

*Printable Version: * http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=55030

In mid-January 1806, Sidney Major Hanson left her home in the mountainous
region of Tazewell County, Virginia, to consult the local justice of the
peace, Hezekiah Whitt, at his home roughly one mile away. Carrying her
absent husband’s copy of *The New Virginia Justice* and accompanied by
their trusted neighbor, John Deskins, Hanson intended to use the law to
hold another man responsible for slandering her. Along the way, lewd talk
and an attempted kiss from Deskins prompted Hanson to jump from the horse
they both rode. When she tried to run, Deskins caught her, threw her to the
ground, threatened to kill her, and, holding her wrists in one hand and
silencing her screams with the other, raped her. But if Deskins thought
that his threats against the “diminutive” Hanson would secure her silence,
he soon learned how wrong he was (p. 87). Within minutes of arriving at the
Whitt home, Hanson first informed Mrs. Whitt and then her husband, the
justice, that Deskins had “sorely abused her” and she was prepared to
“swear the rape” against him (p. 38).

Details of the subsequent trial of Deskins, first published by prosecuting
attorney Alexander Smyth in 1811, are presented now as *A Rape in the Early
Republic: Gender and Legal Culture in an 1806 Virginia Trial*, skillfully
edited by Randal L. Hall. Such a thorough record of a rape trial for this
early period is a rarity, as Hall points out, and historians are generally
forced to rely on the watered-down clerical notations in court order books.
But, as Hall explains, Smyth was an ambitious man who relished
opportunities for self-promotion, and when prominent men requested that he
“favor the public with a report of his [Deskins’s] case,” Smyth was only
too willing to gratify them (p. 29). Smyth’s subsequent account of the
trial was drawn from his transcript of the testimony of witnesses gathered
by Hanson and Deskins, arguments made by the panel of six attorneys set to
defend Deskins, and Smyth’s own closing arguments.

Hall rightly recognized that Smyth’s unique account offers readers several
topics for exploration and discussion. Some of these will be all too
familiar, particularly that once Deskins confessed to having had
intercourse with Hanson, the focus of the trial turned almost entirely to
examining Hanson’s character. Witnesses were called to prove or disprove
her morality, veracity, piety, and chastity as well as to support or refute
suggestions that her behavior and choices led Deskins to rape her, or that
she was lying about having given her consent. In arguments challenging the
reliability of these witnesses, lawyers on both sides argued that old
grudges based in economic class conflict might have motivated some to step
forward. *A Rape in the Early Republic* also invites discussion of race and
law, for example, when Smyth argued that the testimony of some of the
witnesses for the defense should be discredited because “the general
reputation of the country” was that they were “mulattoes.” Smyth
subsequently recorded in his notes that “that was refused to be admitted by
the court” (p. 48). Other details in Smyth’s account of the trial provide
similarly intriguing topics, like social mobility, ambition, and
aspiration; the place of cultural traditions in the evolution of formal
legal processes; arguments about whether women were to receive equal
protection under the law; the role of elite white men in the shaping of
community morality; the articulation of gendered behavior; alcohol and the
recreational activities of men and women; print and the dissemination of
information; and hints of the interactions between free whites and enslaved
blacks. Lastly, this edited work also contributes to larger debates about
the evaluation of primary source material.

Hall offers Smyth’s materials thoughtfully, avoiding imposing much of his
own interpretation of them but rather wrapping them in just enough
information to make the primary source itself useful and accessible to
readers. His brief introduction provides historical context and his
discreet use of intertextual annotations, though somewhat intrusive, are
concise and effective. Taken together with his open-ended discussion
questions and additional selected readings sections, Hall’s slim volume
makes a valuable resource for use in the upper-undergraduate classroom and
graduate seminar and anyone with an interest in the study of early
nineteenth-century gender, society, and the law.

*Citation: * Lisa A. Francavilla. Review of Smyth, Alexander, *A Rape in
the Early Republic: Gender and Legal Culture in an 1806 Virginia Trial*.
H-Early-America, H-Net Reviews. June, 2020. *URL:*
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55030
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No
Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/>.

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