My boy is doing a school report on Patrick Henry. Something I didn’t know about Patrick Henry is that his wife went insane in 1771 and was subsequently kept in a straitjacket in the basement of the family home.
This throws a whole new light on the “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. There’s even a novel that suggests the phrase was first spoken by Henry’s wife!
My first thought was: As the husband of an insane person myself, I can tell you that it stirs up a whirlwind of things in your mind, including the sense that there are in fact fates worse than death.
And my second thought was: I wish these darn California houses had a basement . . .
you are all losers she was put in the basement because the mental hospital was terrible , they beat the patients and kept them in horrible cells. Haven’t any of you read Or give me death??????
ironically this slightly reminds me of Jane Eyre ya know how the wife was crazy and locked in the attic it does slightly remind me of it.
I have been to Patrick and Sarah Henry’s home and for anyone who wants to understand his and her plight it is a recommended tour. He did the VERY best he could for the time and for the understanding they had back then. There were NO treatments. Williamsburg had the first American psychiatric hospital but Patrick chose not to send her there because it was a cruel place. I toured there first, and that is probably one of the reasons I appreciated so much what he did for his wife at “Scotchtown”.
Patrick made a safe place for her in what we might now call a walk-out-basement; cooler in summer, warmer in winter, with fresh air. I was there in the summer heat and remember thinking how much better it must have been under the house! There were small, paneless windows all around with bars just as you might have now in half basements. He had a slave woman stay with her all the time; aside from the obvious, I remember thinking that might or might not have been such a pleasant task for the woman. Sarah was a danger to herself and to her family….and probably to the people who cared for her. In some of the references on line, a straight-jacket is mentioned. This was the most humane form of restraint, allowing patients greater freedom of movement without allowing them to harm others or themselves. And straight-jackets could sometimes be a comfort just like the swaddling of a baby can be.
I came away from “Scotchtown” with a soft spot in my heart for Patrick Henry. He seemed to me to be an honorable and merciful man who did the very best he could for his wife.
My family is related to Sarah Shelton.
I also am related to Sara Shelton. My mothers mother is a Shelton . My great grand father was John orall Shelton.