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9705_45 | Aftermath
On December 14, 1862, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks arrived to take command of the Department of the Gulf. Butler was not made aware of the change until Banks arrived to tell him. Contrary to common belief, Butler's inflammatory reign had little to do with his replacement. Political considerations in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio tipped the balance. The Democratic victories in Illinois and Ohio on November 4 had alarmed the Lincoln administration, and a dramatic letter from Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton claimed that the states along the Ohio had more in common with the southern states than with New England, and would leave the Union if the Mississippi were not reopened to trade. |
9705_46 | Those new considerations reinforced the idea by Secretary of State William H. Seward, one of Butler's political opponents, that an invasion of Texas would be favorably received by a pro-union group of German American cotton farmers living there. The idea was championed by Banks, a New England political general eager to send cotton to mills in the Northeast. Banks undertook the siege of Port Hudson and, after its successful conclusion, began the Red River Campaign in pursuit of Texan cotton. The Red River expedition proved to be a costly failure and resulted in more wanton destruction and looting than the Butler occupation.
See also
New Orleans in the American Civil War
H. L. Hunley (submarine)
Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps |
9705_47 | Notes
Abbreviations used in these notes
Official atlas: Atlas to accompany the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.
ORA (Official records, armies): War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
ORN (Official records, navies): Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.
References
National Park Service battle description
External links
Newspaper coverage of the capture of New Orleans
Map:
1862 in the American Civil War
Benjamin Butler
New Orleans
New Orleans
New Orleans
St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana
Battles and conflicts without fatalities
1862 in Louisiana
Military operations of the American Civil War in Louisiana
April 1862 events
May 1862 events
19th century in New Orleans |
9706_0 | King's College, Lagos is a secondary school in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria. It was founded on 20 September 1909 with 10 students on its original site at Lagos Island, adjacent to Tafawa Balewa Square. The school admits only male students although historically some female HSC (A-Level equivalent) students were admitted before the establishment of Queen's College Lagos, popularly known as King's College's sister school. King's College conducts exams for the West African School-Leaving Certificate and the National Examinations Council. |
9706_1 | History
In 1908, the Nigerian Acting Director of Education in Lagos, Henry Rawlingson Carr advised Governor Walter Egerton on a detailed scheme of education in Lagos. Carr's suggestions and proposals were the basis for the formation of King's College. Carr convinced the London Board of Education that King's College's education mission would not overlap but supplement the education initiatives of missionary societies. As a result, some authors regard Henry Carr as the "architect of King's College". On 20 September 1909 King's School (as it was then called) came into being. There were 10 pioneer students which included J.C. Vaughan, Isaac Ladipo Oluwole, Frank Macaulay, Herbert Mills (from the Gold Coast), O.A. Omololu and Moses King. Oluwole was the first senior prefect of the school. The school building was erected and furnished at a cost of £10,001. It consists of a hall to accommodate 300 students, 8 lecture rooms, a chemical laboratory and an office. |
9706_2 | The philosophy of King's School was
"to provide for the youth of the colony a higher general education than that supplied by the existing Schools, to prepare them for Matriculation Examination of the University of London and to give a useful course of Study to those who intend to qualify for Professional life or to enter Government or Mercantile service."
The staff of the college consists of three Europeans (a principal who gives instruction in English Language, Literature and Latin, a Mathematical and Science Master) with two African assistant teachers. Occasionally, members of the Education Department were engaged as lectures of the evening classes. |
9706_3 | The government awarded three scholarships and three exhibitions annually based on merit. The beneficiaries of the scholarships are entitled to free tuition and a government grant of 6 pounds per annum. Conversely, holders of exhibitions receive free tuition; only Hussey Charity Exhibitions tenable at the college was established for indigent students out of the investment proceeds of the premises of the defunct Hussey Charity.
The average attendance of students as at the end of 1910 was 16. This rose to 67 as at the end of 1914.
In 1926, The Development of the Education Department, 1882–1925 was published. Chapter 1, "Annual Report on the Education Development, Southern Provinces, Nigeria, for the year 1926" unearthed interesting facts about the school. |
9706_4 | It reads, in part, "...1909 is chiefly noticeable for the opening of King’s College as a Government Secondary School under the headmastership of a Mr. Lomax who was seconded from the Survey Department, and who was assisted by two European Masters. The number of boys on the roll was 11. In 1909, Mr. Hyde-Johnson was appointed headmaster of King’s College, but nine months later, he succeeded Mr. Rowden as Director of Education...."
That the first headmaster of the college was Mr. Lomax is an outstanding revelation, outstanding because the general conception has always been that Mr. Hyde-Johnson who held that position. Until 1954 when the first edition of the brief history of the college was written, the popular myth was that Mr. Hyde-Johnson was the first principal of King's College. Except for the few surviving foundation students, there was hardly any Old Boy who had ever heard of Mr. Lomax; this pioneer's name was curiously sunk in obscurity. |
9706_5 | An insight into life at K.C. in its early years is provided by F.S. Scruby's article dated 24 February 1924 in the Mermaid titled 'Further Glimpse of the Past':
"It revived many memories which are never very dormant to read Ikoli's very flattering recollections of my all too short 'regime' at K.C. Having taught the young Australian out in the 'Bush' in sunny New South Wales and spent holidays in Fiji and the Pacific Islands, it was the pleasurable anticipation that I came to Lagos and was a great disappointment to me to have to resign the post so soon. |
9706_6 | "It is a curious thing that Ikoli should have noticed that some boys run the risk of being spoiled. To this day Old Boys from Schools in which I taught in England before going to Lagos remind me of the lasting impression that was made on them when they showed any symptoms of such deterioration. The feasts so generously described in the December number were really only meeting s of the Matriculation class- Oluwole, Vaughan and Macaulay- who use to come up to my quarters once or twice a week to read Shakespeare. |
9706_7 | "In looking back on the Physical Training, I am afraid Okoli has taken off his rose-coloured spectacles. The Sergeant of the W.A.R.F.F. who used to come and give lessons were really not very old on peppery. He was a very good Instructor and very fond of boys but the fact remains that P.T. was not popular, and one small boy in particular used to come and report to me regularly that he was 'sore-footed', and take his big dose from the bottle and an hour’s work as well. It was my great ambition that a cadet Company should be formed at K.C. as the first company of a Lagos Cadet Battalion School were circularized by the Education Department, but the scheme fell through.
"It is a great joy though it is not a matter of Surprise to know that K.C. has prospered during the last 13 years with the development of the House System and Inter-house Sports."
Organization |
9706_8 | Houses and classes
There are four houses in the school named after former principals. Hyde-Johnson's House (red), Panes' House (blue), Mckee-Wright's House (yellow) and Harman's House (green). It has ten arms per class (as of the 2017–2018 session), They are A, Alpha, C, D, E, F, G, H, J and K. King's College Lagos makes use of the Greek letter Alpha instead of the letter B as the second arm of their classes.
Campuses
Due to population constraints, the school was divided into two campuses, with the senior school moving into the premises of the former Federal School for Arts and Sciences (F.S.A.S) on Victoria Island. (The school administration was still under the control of one principal and ultimately under the control of the Federal Ministry of Education.) This meant that the senior classes of the school (classes 1–3) were now in the Victoria Island "Annex," as that campus came to be known. |
9706_9 | Presently, King's College, Lagos has a junior school. The seniors are now split as follows: SS1 to SS3 boys are found in the Main Camp (Tafawa Balewa Square), while JSS1 to JSS2 boys are found in the annex campus (Victoria Island). The former PKC, Otunba 'Dele Olapeju, assumed office in January, 2010 and bowed out of service in November, 2015. He moved the senior students from the annex to the main campus. Today, King's College is wearing a new look. He has erected a number of structures both at the main campus and at the annex campus. The students' results are now online, with parents and guardians being able to follow up on their children/wards' academic and extra-curricular activities using the students' log-in details which have been given to them.
Prefects
As of the 2014–2015 session, King's College Lagos had 45 prefect positions. |
9706_10 | Education and social life of student
King's College Lagos has proved its educational quality for centuries and has passed the test of time. Unproven information reports that King's College Lagos performed at a 90% success rate in May/June 2015 WASSCE. Socially, KC proves to be one of the best, as yearly activities such as the inter-house sports competition, the annual bi-lateral games with Achimota School Ghana, and the King's College/Queen's College Graduation ball for outgoing SS3 students have become prominent social events in King's College.
The annual KIGS cup is an important sporting event. It is an elite quadrangular cricket tournament with four schools participating - King's College, Igbobi College, Government College Ibadan and St. Gregory's College.
The annual Ikoyi Run is also one of King's College's major sporting event. Ikoyi Run is a marathon with the four houses competing.
There is also an annual inter-house athletics competition with the four houses competing. |
9706_11 | Uniform
The school uniform consists of a white shirt (long-sleeved for those in the senior school and short-sleeved for those in the junior school), a school tie and/or a school badge, white trousers, black belt, socks and black laced shoes and a blue blazer. The wearing of the blazer became compulsory with Mr. S.M. Onoja, and this has made the school and the students look more inviting to the general public. |
9706_12 | Principals
The first principal of the school was a Sir Lomax, while the first African principal was Rex Akpofure. The current principal of the school is Ali Andrew Agada. Some other principals were:
Lomax (1909–1910)
G.H. Hyde-Johnson (1910)
McKee Wright (? - 1917)
J.A. de Gaye (1917–1919)
D.L. Kerr (1919)
H.A.A.F. Harman (1919–1925)
W.M. Peacock (1926–1931)
J.N. Panes (1931–1936)
A.H Clift (1936–1947)
A.D. Porter (1947)
G.P. Savage (1948)
J.R. Bunting (1949–1954)
P. H. Davis (1957 to 1964)
Rex Akpofure (1964–1968)(first indigenous principal)
R. S. G. Agiobu-Kemmer (1968–1975)
M.O. Imana (1975–1978)
Augustine A. Ibegbulam (1978–1985)
S. O. Agun (1985–1992)
S. A. Akinruli (1992–1994)
S. I. Balogun
Sylvester Onoja
Yetunde Awofuwa
Akintoye A. Ojemuyiwa
Otunba Oladele Olapeju |
9706_13 | 1. Following the departure of Onoja, Yetunde Awofuwa who happened to be the most senior ranked teacher was appointed as Acting Principal of the school. She was never fully confirmed as a principal of the school. She later left to become principal of the Federal Government Girls College, Oyo. She was the first and only female principal of the school.
Prominent alumni |
9706_14 | Simeon Adebo, Administrator, lawyer, and diplomat
Lateef Adegbite, Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
Wale Adenuga, film producer
Adetokunbo Ademola, former Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Claude Ake, Professor of Political Economy, International scholar and Social crusader
Sam Akpabot, music composer
Ephraim Akpata, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Rotimi Alakija, Nigerian disc jockey, record producer and recording artist.
Sola Akinyede, Federal Senator 2007–2011
Cobhams Asuquo, African music producer
Hakeem Bello-Osagie, CEO Etisalat Nigeria
Russel Dikko, physician and former Federal Commissioner for Mines and Power
Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President of Nigeria
Arnold Ekpe, banker
Chief Anthony Enahoro, journalist and democracy advocate
Ibrahim Gambari, United Nations representative
Akanu Ibiam, Governor of the Eastern Region and Medical doctor
Asue Ighodalo, Lawyer and partner at Banwo and Ighodalo |
9706_15 | Oladipo Jadesimi, businessman
Lateef Jakande, former Governor of Lagos State and former Federal Minister of Works & Housing
Adetokunbo Lucas, physician and international expert on tropical diseases
Vincent I. Maduka, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (1992–1993)
Audu Maikori, Lawyer, entrepreneur, activist, and youth leader, CEO Chocolate City Music
Samuel Manuwa, Surgeon and administrator
Babagana Monguno, Nigerian National Security Adviser
Gogo Chu Nzeribe, Nigerian trade unionist and a leader of the nation's communist movement
Audu Ogbeh, former PDP Chairman and Minister of Agriculture
Adebayo Ogunlesi, current chairman and managing partner of Global Infrastructure Partners
Emeka Ojukwu, Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria & Head of State of the defunct Republic of Biafra
Lateef Olufemi Okunnu, Lawyer and University Administrator
Kole Omotosho, Author and academic
Victor Ovie Whisky, Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) |
9706_16 | Adeyinka Oyekan, Oba of Lagos from 1965 to 2003
Atedo Peterside, banker, entrepreneur and the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc
Christopher Oluwole Rotimi, retired Nigerian Army Brigadier General, diplomat and politician.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Emir of Kano, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
Bukola Saraki, Former President of the Senate of Nigeria, and former Governor of Kwara State
Fela Sowande, Musicologist and composer
Udoma Udo Udoma, Federal Senator (1999–2007) and Chairman of UAC of Nig. Plc
Shamsudeen Usman, former Finance Minister of Nigeria
James Churchill Vaughan, co-founder and first president of the Lagos Youth Movement in 1934 |
9706_17 | Photo gallery
References
External links
official website of King's college Lagos
King's College Old Boys Association
Portal for King's College Lagos Boys and Old Boys
KC Alumni set of 1988 website
Secondary schools in Lagos State
Educational institutions established in 1909
1909 establishments in the Southern Nigeria Protectorate
History of Lagos
Boys' schools in Nigeria
Lagos Island
Victoria Island, Lagos
Schools in Lagos |
9707_0 | Ohmdenosaurus ("Ohmden lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch in what is now Germany. The only specimen – a tibia (shinbone) and ankle – was discovered in rocks of the Posidonia Shale near Holzmaden. The fossil was originally identified as a plesiosaur. Exhibited in a local museum, the Urweltmuseum Hauff, it caught the attention of German paleontologist Rupert Wild, who recognized it as the remains of a sauropod. Wild named Ohmdenosaurus in a 1978 publication, the only species is Ohmdenosaurus liasicus. |
9707_1 | One of the earliest known sauropods, it was quadrupedal (four-legged) and already had the columnar limbs typical for the group. Ohmdenosaurus was small for a sauropod, with an estimated length of . Its relationships to other sauropods remain poorly known due to the incompleteness of its remains, though it might have been close to the Australian genus Rhoetosaurus. The Posidonia Shale was deposited within a shallow inland sea and contained abundant and well-preserved fossils of marine reptiles including ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Ohmdenosaurus was a terrestrial animal, and its carcass must have been transported by predators or water currents by at least from the shoreline to its site of burial. It is the only dinosaur fossil known from the shale. |
9707_2 | History of discovery
The Posidonia Shale at Holzmaden in southwestern Germany is one of the world's major fossil Lagerstätten (fossil deposit of exceptional importance). Deposited within an inland sea, it contains abundant marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and crocodyliforms, sometimes with soft tissue preservation. This organic-rich shale has been quarried for more than 400 years, first for roofing and paving, and later also to extract oil. Its exceptionally preserved fossils were made famous by Bernhard Hauff, who started to collect and prepare specimens found in a quarry owned by his father. In 1862, Hauff presented an ichthyosaur specimen that still preserves the original body outline, revealing that ichthyosaurs possessed dorsal fins. Together with his son, he opened a local museum in Holzmaden in 1936/37, the Urweltmuseum Hauff, to display the finds. |
9707_3 | In the 1970s, German paleontologist Rupert Wild, while visiting the Urweltmuseum Hauff, noticed a fossil in a display labelled as an upper arm bone of a plesiosaur. Wild recognized the specimen as a misidentified dinosaur fossil, borrowed the specimen for study and conducted additional preparation. The fossil, which lacks a specimen number, consists of a right tibia (shinbone) together with the astragalus and the calcaneus (the upper bones of the ankle). It had long been part of the museum's collection, and was collected from one of the early quarries near the village of Ohmden that were later refilled; the exact discovery site is unknown. In a 1978 publication, Wild determined the dinosaur fossil belonged to a new genus and species, which he named Ohmdenosaurus liasicus. The generic name Ohmdenosaurus is derived from that of the village of Ohmden and from the Ancient Greek σαῦρος (sauros), meaning lizard or reptile. The specific name liasicus refers to the Lias, an old name for the |
9707_4 | Lower Jurassic of Europe. |
9707_5 | A chunk of rock – a gray-black, finely laminated slate containing small remains of fish – is still attached to the lower end of the fossil. This rock indicates that the fossil stems from the Unterer Schiefer ("lower slate"), the oldest part of the Posidonia Shale. It is therefore middle Toarcian in age (182.0 to 175.6 million years ago). This makes it one of the earliest sauropods known at the time. It also was, besides an undescribed femur (upper thigh bone) from Whitby, the only fossil of a terrestrial saurian known from the Toarcian. Between tibia and astragalus, the specimen also preserves a limestone geode that is rich in the mineral pyrite and contains fossils of the snail Coelodiscus.
Description
As all sauropods, Ohmdenosaurus was quadrupedal (four-legged) herbivore with a long neck and tail. Wild estimated the total body length at , which is relatively small for a sauropod. |
9707_6 | The tibia is long. The bone preserves projections that served as attachment sites for muscles, including the , which projects by about from the upper front of the bone, and the crista lateralis, which runs for about down the upper half of the shaft but is mostly broken off. The upper end of the tibia is oval in shape when viewed from above, with a width-to-length ratio of 1.4. The lower end of the tibia is rotated by 90° relative to the upper end. The lower end of the tibia was formed by two rounded, well-separated prominences, the medial (inner) and lateral (outer) condyles. The medial condyle was much larger than the (broken) lateral condyle and located ca. lower than the latter. |
9707_7 | The astragalus is in diameter, sandal-shaped, and rotated by 90° out of its original position, exposing its upper surface. This surface has two concavities, a larger medial and a smaller lateral one; the latter was located about higher than the former. These concavities received the medial and lateral condyles of the tibia, respectively. A furrow between these concavities is thought to be an attachment site for ligaments of the ankle. The much smaller calcaneus is in diameter and in maximal height. A circular element, its probable lower surface is convex, and its probable upper surface roughly textured, indicating the presence of a cartilage covering. Below the lateral condyle of the tibia, Wild noted several additional, small elements in size, which he identified as cartilage given their grainy and irregular surfaces. In contrast to bone, cartilage is seldom preserved in fossils, and in this case might have been preserved thanks to the impregnation of calcium salts. As these |
9707_8 | elements are located close to the attachment site of the Achilles tendon, the area of the ankle that experienced the highest stresses in the living animal, Wild argued that they may represent sesamoids (small structures embedded within tendons). Alternatively, they could be calcified pieces of the cartilage of the astragalus. |
9707_9 | Classification |
9707_10 | Saurischian ("reptile hipped") dinosaurs are subdivided into two major groups – the herbivorous sauropodomorphs and the mostly carnivorous theropods. Sauropodomorpha consists of the quadrupedal sauropods, which were characterized by straight, columnar limbs, as well as of a number of early and basal (early-diverging) forms that were mostly bipedal and had the limb bones angled against each other. Wild, in his 1978 description, argued that the Early Jurassic Ohmdenosaurus must have been a sauropod because its limb was clearly columnar: The tibia is more massive than seen in basal sauropodomorphs, and its upper joint surface is perpendicular to the long axis of the bone, demonstrating that the limb was straight when held in neutral posture. Furthermore, the astragalus lacks the ascending process (upwards directed bony projection) that is typical for the bipedal forms, but strongly reduced or absent in sauropods due to differences in weight distribution as a consequence of their columnar |
9707_11 | limbs. On the other hand, Wild noted a number of primitive features that are typical for basal sauropodomorphs but absent from other sauropods, including the sandal-shape of the astragalus and the stepped configuration of the lower articular surface of the tibia. The oval shape of the upper end of the tibia was intermediary between the circular shape seen in the basal sauropodomorph Plateosaurus and the strongly elliptical shape seen in later sauropods such as Cetiosaurus. Wild concluded that Ohmdenosaurus shows a mosaic of primitive and derived features and probably needs to be placed within a new family of sauropods. |
9707_12 | A number of other basal sauropods have been described since, but relationships to these forms remain vague given the incompleteness of the Ohmdenosaurus specimen. In 1990, John Stanton McIntosh tentatively included Ohmdenosaurus in the Vulcanodontidae, noting that the tibia is very similar to that of the name-giving genus of the family, Vulcanodon. Later, however, the Vulcanodontidae has been demonstrated to be polyphyletic (does not form a natural group) and therefore fell out of use. Jay Nair and colleagues, in 2012, compared Ohmdenosaurus to the Australian genus Rhoetosaurus, noting that the tibiae of both genera are relatively slender as seen in later sauropods, unlike the more robust tibiae of other early genera. As Rhoetosaurus is geologically younger than Ohmdenosaurus, the latter would have been the earliest known sauropod with a slender tibia. The astragalus of Rhoetosaurus was found to be more similar to Ohmdenosaurus than to other sauropods. Sebastian Stumpf and colleagues, |
9707_13 | in 2015, reported fragmentary sauropod remains from the Toarcian of Grimmen in northeastern Germany, including four elements of the pelvic girdle and part of a vertebra. Although roughly contemporaneous with Ohmdenosaurus, they cannot be directly compared to the latter because they do not include elements of the hind limb. The Grimmen remains do, however, resemble those of the early sauropod Tazoudasaurus from Morocco, while Ohmdenosaurus appears to be closer to Rhoetosaurus. Stumpf and colleagues therefore suggested that Ohmdenosaurus and the Grimmen sauropod were not closely related to each other. |
9707_14 | Taphonomy
Wild, in his 1978 description, attempted to reconstruct the taphonomy of the specimen – the events between the death and final deposition of the individual. Such reconstructions are important for the understanding of the formation of the Posidonia Shale as a unique fossil deposit. The tibia of Ohmdenosaurus shows two excavations caused by weathering that are deep. These excavations are located on the sidewards projecting upper and lower ends, but only on the medial (inner) side of the bone. This indicates that the bone must have laid on its lateral (outer) side and partly covered by sediment, only exposing the most protruding parts of the other side to the elements. Because similar weathering traces are unseen in other fossils from the Posidonia shale due to the absence of currents near the sea floor, the weathering likely took place while the specimen was still on land or near the shore, perhaps in a river delta. |
9707_15 | Based on this evidence, Wild concluded that the specimen must have been transported and deposited twice: Once from its place of death to the first site of deposition near the coast, where the weathering took place, and then to its final site of deposition far off the coast. The final transport could have happened through strong currents near the surface. Wild, however, considered it more likely that scavengers such as crocodiles or plesiosaurs brought the specimen to its final site because of the massiveness of the tibia and the considerable distance to the coast. It was probably only during this second transport that the carcass got separated: the tibia and ankle were found in articulation, indicating that soft tissue was still in place that held these bones together when the specimen arrived at its final site. The snail Coelodiscus that was found with the specimen could have been a scavenger feeding on the decaying soft tissue. |
9707_16 | Paleoenvironment
The Posidonia shale at Holzmaden was deposited in a subtropical inland sea at ca. 30°N with a water depth of . The nearest landmass, the Vindelician High, was about to the south, and evidence for terrestrial life in the shale is scarce. Ohmdenosaurus is the only known dinosaur fossil from this formation. Several flying animals are known, including the pterosaurs Dorygnathus and Campylognathoides; one layer contains abundant remains of dragonflies and net-winged insects. While driftwood is frequently found, other plant remains are rare and include horsetails, conifers, and the now extinct bennettitales. Since these remains are fragmented and sorted by water action, they provide limited information on the floral composition of their place of origin.
References
Sauropods
Early Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe
Jurassic Germany
Fossils of Germany
Posidonia Shale
Fossil taxa described in 1978 |
9708_0 | Rachel Parker Plummer (March 22, 1819 – March 19, 1839) was the daughter of James W. Parker and the cousin of Quanah Parker, last free-roaming chief of the Comanches. An Anglo-Texan woman, she was kidnapped at the age of seventeen, along with her son, James Pratt Plummer, age two, and her cousins, by a Native American raiding party. |
9708_1 | Rachel Plummer's 21 months among the Comanche as a prisoner became a sensation when she wrote a book about her captivity, Rachael Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months' Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee Indians, which was issued in Houston in 1838. This was the first narrative about a captive of Texas Indians published in the Republic of Texas, and it was a sensation not just there, but in the United States and even abroad. In 1844, after Rachel's death, her father published a revised edition of her book as an appendix to his Narrative of the Perilous Adventures, Miraculous Escapes and Sufferings of Rev. James W. Parker. Her book is considered an invaluable look at Comanche culture before environmental destruction, disease, starvation, and war forced them onto reservations.
Birth and early years |
9708_2 | Rachel Plummer was born in 1819 in Crawford County, Illinois1, the second youngest living child of James William Parker (1797–1864) and Martha Duty. She had two living siblings, and three siblings who had died at an early age. In 1834 her family and allied families, led by her father James and uncle Silas, moved from Illinois to Texas along with other sons of Elder John Parker (1758–1836) and Sarah White, as part of the large Parker family. From that moment on, her life became anything but ordinary. |
9708_3 | Rachel Parker spent most of her youth in Illinois. At age 14, considered a grown woman in that era, described by her father in his later book as a "red haired beauty of rare courage and intelligence," Rachel married Luther M. Plummer, and moved with the Parker family in 1830 to Conway County, Arkansas, which her father used as a staging ground for exploratory trips to Texas. In 1832 her father proposed to Stephen F. Austin that the Parkers be permitted to settle 50 families north of the Little Brazos River, in what was considered part of the Comancheria. One of the 50 families was that of Luther Plummer and his wife Rachel. Austin did not reply to this proposal. James Parker was the first of the Parkers to come to Texas, and his persistence led to his being given a league of land north of the site of present Groesbeck on April 1, 1835. Luther Plummer was also awarded a league of land by his father-in-law's stubborn entreaties to the Mexican Government. |
9708_4 | Establishment in Texas
The Plummers joined other Parker family members, including father James, his brothers Silas and Benjamin and their families, in moving to Texas. The older brother Daniel Parker was already in Texas, though not with the other Parkers. The Parker clan led by James, including the Plummer family, moved to their land grant, and built Fort Parker at the headwaters of the Navasota River. It was completed in March 1834, before they had even been legally awarded the land on which it was built. Rachel's grandfather, Elder John Parker, then joined them, with his second wife, Sarah Pinson Duty. Fort Parker's high pointed log walls enclosed . Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts and to make defense of the fort possible. Six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had one large gate facing south, and a small rear gate for easy access to the spring waters. |
9708_5 | Though the families in the Parker group were beginning to build cabins outside the Fort, the vast majority still slept inside for protection. Elder John Parker had negotiated treaties with local Indian chiefs, and believed they would protect the little colony. Luther Plummer believed his family was safe, but his father-in-law, James Parker, was not so sure, since he understood what his relatives did not, that the Comanche were not a unified "tribe" as the Europeans understood such, but a group of bands and divisions united by common cultural ties. His brother Silas had raised, and become Captain, of a local Ranger company, which James felt could attract the anger of Indians who felt abused by the Rangers.
Fort Parker Massacre |
9708_6 | On May 19, 1836, at sunrise, everything appeared normal as the men went to the work in the fields. Plummer, three months pregnant with her second child, was in the fort caring for her firstborn, James Pratt, two years old, the first child born to the Parker family in Texas. It would be the last normal morning of Rachel Plummer's life, and the last time she would ever see her child. Her husband and father were working in the fields. |
9708_7 | In her memoir, Plummer wrote that "one minute the fields (in front of the fort) were clear, and the next moment, more Indians than I dreamed possible were in front of the fort." As the Parkers debated what to do, one of the Indians approached the fort with a white flag. No one believed the flag was genuine, but Benjamin Parker believed it gave the family a chance for most of them to escape. He got his father's support to try a bold gamble, and went out to try to buy time for the family to escape - which most of them did. Only five women and children were captured. |
9708_8 | As the other women and children were leaving, Plummer chose to stay in the fort out of fear that she and her son would not be able to keep up. After Benjamin Parker returned from his first talks with the Indians and warned them that they would likely all die, Plummer wanted to flee, but Silas told her to watch the front gate while he ran for his musket and powder pouch. "They will kill Benjamin," she reported her Uncle Silas saying, "and then me, but I will do for at least one of them, by God." At that moment, she said she heard whooping outside the fort, and then Indians were inside. She then ran, holding her little boy's hand, while behind her she said she saw Indians stabbing Benjamin with their lances. |
9708_9 | Plummer was then seized by mounted warriors who threw her up behind them, and watched helplessly while another seized her son. She witnessed her grandfather's torture and murder and her grandmother's rape. Her cousins Cynthia Ann Parker and John Richard Parker were also captured. All five of the men present in the fort that morning were killed. That night the war party stopped and did a ritual scalp dance, and then raped the two women. Plummer never directly addressed the subject of rape in her book except to say dryly that anyone who said that a good woman died before being violated had not been forced to run naked tied by a rope to a horse for a day or two in the sun, and further:
Rachel did, however, write candidly about the culture and psyche of the Comanche.
Captivity among the Comanche |
9708_10 | Plummer's book is considered an invaluable glimpse into the culture and mindset of the Comanche as a people before disease and war forced them onto reservations. She not only recounted her feelings about her captivity, but detailed the life, lifestyle, and much as she could, the mindset of the Comanche. She detailed the roles men, women, children, and temporary captives or "slaves," played in that society, and why. In her account of her life among the Comanche, Rachel wrote that six weeks after giving birth to a healthy son, the warriors decided she was slowed too much by childcare, and threw her son down on the ground. When he stopped moving, they left her to bury him. When she revived him, they returned and tied the infant to a rope, and dragged him through cactuses until the frail, tiny body was literally torn to pieces. |
9708_11 | In the meantime, her father, James Parker, was searching frantically for her. Rachel wrote that she had never seen open space the size of the Great Plains, and her travels with the Comanche took her to what her father later thought was Colorado in the northernmost part of the Comancheria. She attended a giant meeting of all divisions and bands of the Comanche, their allies the Kiowa and the Kiowa Apache, while the tribes considered whether to drive the Texans completely from the Comancheria, and conquer Mexico. There were thousands of Indians present, and Rachel Plummer wrote she had never seen so many people, nor imagined there to be so many Indians. Her accounts of her travels, and the untamed land she saw, remains one of the best descriptions of the early west in existence. |
9708_12 | Ironically, Rachel's lot among the Comanche improved dramatically in the month before her ransom. The women charged with her supervision routinely beat and tormented her. One day, Rachel simply snapped, and began fiercely beating the younger of the two women who she was a slave to. She expected to be killed at any moment, writing "at any second I expected a spear in the back, but instead, the warriors seemed amused, and gathered and watched us fight." Rachel's long captivity might have sapped her physical strength, but it had left her with a surfeit of rage and hate which enabled her to easily defeat the younger woman, and nearly beat her to death. After the fight was over, Rachel was astonished that no one helped the young Comanche woman, and she herself finally helped her to the lodge, and dressed her wounds. This did not however assuage the anger of the older woman, who tried to burn Rachel alive. Rachel ended up beating her nearly to death as well, after burning her. At that |
9708_13 | point, the tribal council intervened, and heard out all three women, and first, ordered Rachel to repair the lodge, which had been broken in the second fight as settlement for the fights. Realizing with astonishment she was being treated as an equal and full Comanche, Rachel spoke to the Council and told them she refused the judgment unless the other two women assisted her in the repair, since she had started neither fight, and since she was being judged as a Comanche, not a slave, should be more fairly treated. The Council agreed, and ordered the three to repair the lodge. |
9708_14 | Rachel was stunned that she was treated as an equal by the council, which later, she understood came with her demonstration of the one quality which elevated anyone in the eyes of the Comanche - courage. Later, one of the Chiefs of the band she was with told her:
You are brave to fight. Good to fallen enemy. You are directed by the Great Spirit. Indians do not have pity on a fallen enemy. By our law, it is clear. It is contrary to our law to show foul play. She began with you, and you had a right to kill her. Your noble spirit forbad you. When Indians fight, the conqueror gives or takes the life of his or her antagonist, and they seldom spare them. |
9708_15 | Plummer found her lot much improved by these encounters, as she was correct that nothing she could have done could have earned her more respect than standing her ground and fighting. She noted in her book "they respected bravery more than anything, I learned. I wish I had known it sooner." She wrote how that affected her quite simply: "After that, I took up for myself, and fared much the better for it." |
9708_16 | Of course, the knowledge that her courage changed her status dramatically led to her possible conviction that had she shown such elan from the onset, her child would be alive. That haunted her. What she did not know at this point, was that her captivity was coming to an end. Her father's desperate efforts to find her had finally begun to pay off. He had located Comancheros who were willing to go and trade for her, and his instructions were to ransom her at any cost. The Comanches were camped north of Santa Fe when they were approached by Comancheros who wanted to ransom Rachel in accordance with the instructions of her father. She wrote in her book of the agony of believing that the traders had not offered enough to buy her freedom - and her not knowing that in fact, they were simply trying to get the best bargain, because her father had told them to pay any price, no matter how high, to rescue her. She was sold to them on June 19, 1837. Her rescue had been arranged by Colonel and |
9708_17 | Mrs. William Donaho, acting for the Parker family, and to whom she was delivered in Santa Fe after a journey of 17 days. Two weeks after her arrival, the Donahos, fearing trouble as the native population of Santa Fe was in virtual rebellion, fled some to Independence, Missouri, with Rachel with them. Three months later, Rachel's brother-in-law, Lorenzo D. Nixon, escorted her back to Texas, since her father was still out in the Comancherio searching for her. She was reunited with her husband on February 19, 1838, nearly two years after the Fort Parker Massacre. She was gaunt to the point of near starvation, covered with scars and sores, and in very poor health. |
9708_18 | Death |
9708_19 | Plummer became pregnant again almost as soon as she was returned home, and on January 4, 1839, bore a third child, a son, Luther Plummer II. She died in Houston shortly thereafter, on March 19, 1839; the child died two days later. Though medically she was listed as dying from complications after childbirth, James Parker did not believe that, and insisted she died from the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of the Comanche, the murder of one child, and not knowing what happened to her other child. However, the most likely cause of her death is the trek that she, her husband, her father and several others were forced to make during a night of freezing rain. During James Parker's search for her, he made more than a few enemies: in an unexplained incident, he was accused of murdering a woman and her child. The victims' family had finally found Parker and were going to avenge their murdered family members, so Parker snuck his family out of the house during the night, sleeping outdoors |
9708_20 | and staying off roads. Rachel and her baby died during that trek. The night before she died, Plummer reportedly told her father "if only I knew what had become of my dear little James Pratt Plummer I could die in peace." At the time of her death, she was 20 years old and her fiery red hair had turned grey. Her oldest, and only living, son was recovered two years later. Late in 1842 James Pratt Plummer was ransomed, and in 1843 he was reunited with his grandfather. |
9708_21 | James Parker felt that his son in law had not supported his efforts to reclaim his wife and grandson, nor done much to support the family while his father in law did the duty which should have been his. James Parker felt so strongly about Luther Plummer's failings that he refused to return his son to him, and despite the President of Texas ruling in Luther Plummer's favor, refused to honor the ruling, and the child never saw his father again. He grew up and lived with his mother's family. Luther Plummer knew enough of James Parker to not attempt to force the issue. |
9708_22 | According to Frank X. Tolbert, Sam Houston believed that James Parker, not Luther Plummer, was the villain in their dispute. Sam Houston communicated in a letter to Luther Thomas Martin (L.T.M.) Plummer that "Reverend Parker had quite a bad reputation with most all he ever had business dealings." Sam Houston did not trust the judgement of Rev. Parker and could not believe that he would not return young James Pratt Plummer to his natural father.
References
External links
http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmurray/stories/cynthia_ann_parker.htm
http://www.tshaonline.org/daybyday/02-19-004.html
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpl09 |
9708_23 | Sources
Bial, Raymond. Lifeways: The Comanche. New York: Benchmark Books, 2000.
Fehrenbach, Theodore Reed The Comanches: The Destruction of a People. New York: Knopf, 1974, . Later (2003) republished under the title The Comanches: The History of a People
Foster, Morris. Being Comanche.
Frazier, Ian. Great Plains. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
Lodge, Sally. Native American People: The Comanche. Vero Beach, Florida 32964: Rourke Publications, Inc., 1992.
Lund, Bill. Native Peoples: The Comanche Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 1997.
Mooney, Martin. The Junior Library of American Indians: The Comanche Indians. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993.
Native Americans: Comanche (August 13, 2005).
Plummer, Rachel; Parker, James W. The Rachel Plummer Narrative. 1926.
Powell, Jo Ella Exley Frontier Blood: The Saga of the Parker Family,
Cynthia Ann Parker
Tolbert, Frank X., "An Informal History of Texas" published,1961, Harper,New York |
9708_24 | 1819 births
1839 deaths
People from Limestone County, Texas
People from Crawford County, Illinois
Texas Ranger Division
Comanche tribe
Texas–Indian Wars
Battles involving the Comanche
Captives of Native Americans
Writers of captivity narratives
Deaths in childbirth
19th-century American writers
19th-century American women writers |
9709_0 | Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (also known as Circle of Blood in the United States) is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game, and the first in the Broken Sword series, developed by Revolution Software. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a conspiracy. The game takes place in both real and fictional locations in Europe and the Middle East.
In 1992, Charles Cecil began researching the Knights Templar for the game after he, Noirin Carmody and Sean Brennan conceived Broken Sword. It was built with Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine. This was also used for the company's previous two games. Cecil co-wrote and directed the game, while Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen drew the backgrounds in pencil and digitally colored them in Photoshop. The game has a serious tone, but features humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films. |
9709_1 | Critics lauded Broken Swords story, puzzles, voice acting, writing, gameplay, and music. The game received numerous award nominations and wins. It achieved commercial success as well, with one million copies sold by 2001. Topping several lists, it is known as one of the greatest examples of adventure gaming. Many developers of later games have cited Broken Sword as an influence.
After its initial release on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and PlayStation, it was ported to the Game Boy Advance, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile. The game spawned a number of sequels collectively known as the Broken Sword series. From 2009 to 2012, a director's cut version was released on Wii, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Android and Linux. |
9709_2 | Gameplay
Broken Sword is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The player uses a point-and-click interface to interact with the environment and to guide protagonist George Stobbart through the game's world. To solve puzzles and progress in the game, the player collects items that may be combined with one another, used on the environment, or given to non-player characters (NPCs). The protagonist converses with NPCs via dialogue trees presented through "conversation icons" to learn about the game's puzzles and plot. Clues and other information are obtained by clicking on items in the inventory and on objects in the environment. The player navigates with a map, to which new locations are added as the story unfolds. Unlike in most adventure games at the time, the protagonist's death is possible, after which the player starts from the last save point.
Plot |
9709_3 | While on holiday in Paris, American tourist George Stobbart witnesses an assassin dressed as a clown steal an old man's briefcase from inside a café and kill him with a bomb. George then meets and teams up with photo-journalist Nicole Collard; she was supposed to meet the old man, Plantard, and is investigating a string of assassination involving the same person in different costumes. George tracks the assassin to a hotel within the city, thanks to clues they left behind near the café, and recovers an ancient manuscript from the hotel safe that the assassin, known as Khan, had taken from the old man. George smuggles the document around a pair of thugs that are after it as well. George and Nicole discover it to be related to the Knights Templar and housing clues relating to places across Europe and the Middle East. |
9709_4 | Discovering a tripod mentioned in the manuscript being housed in a local museum, George visits the site from where it came from at Lochmarne, Ireland. He learns that the archaeologist who found it, Peagram, had disappeared, leaving a package in the care of his assistant. The assistant is abducted by Khan outside a local pub, dropping the package. George tracks it down; it contains a gem mentioned in the manuscript. At the excavation site, he locates a mural pointing him to the Montfauçon in Paris. In Paris, George investigates a hospitalised man named Marquet who wanted the gem, and learns the tripod is to be stolen, moments before Marquet is murdered. George and Nicole thwart the theft, and hold on to the tripod. |
9709_5 | George finds a hidden chamber beneath Montfauçon, within the city's sewers. He spies on a group there claiming to be successors of the Templars and plotting their rise, Marquet's killer among them; Marquet (who they say "was a liability"), Peagram and Plantard are revealed as Neo-Templars as well. After they leave, George investigates the chamber, discovers through the gem and tripod another clue pointing to the village of Marib in Syria, and travels there. George discovers a nearby rock formation called the Bull's Head detailed in the manuscript. He uncovers in a hidden cave a glass lens that the Neo-Templars sought, an idol of the being called Baphomet, and a stone map of Britain. Khan, who had been seeking George, arrives and corners him, but George outwits the assassin and escapes. |
9709_6 | Back at Nicole's, George learns from her that a friend, André Lobineau, uncovered his next destination: a villa in Spain owned by the De Vasconcellos family. With permission from its sole surviving member, George examines the grounds and the family mausoleum and uncovers the family's chalice, hidden centuries ago. Returning to Paris, George tracks down the tomb of a De Vasconcellos ancestor at the Montfauçon – where also the lens reveals in a stained glass window a burning Templar and the date 1314 – and investigates an excavation site that had uncovered another idol of Baphomet, using the chalice to find another clue depicting a church with a square tower. George investigates the grounds in Spain further and finds a hidden well based on biblical references taken from the tomb. Within, he discovers a mural depicting a river running across a chessboard. |
9709_7 | George and Nicole compile their clues with the help of André, and learn that the Neo-Templars are travelling to a site under the ruins of a church in Bannockburn, Scotland. The pair takes the night train to get there, only for the Neo-Templars to abduct Nicole. An old lady from their carriage is revealed as a disguised Khan, who helps George to overcome the kidnappers and rescue Nicole. Before dying from his wounds, Khan, implicated to belong to the Hashshashin sect opposing the Templars, explains that he and George were on the same side. The pair arrives to the church, where they discover the Neo-Templars seek to acquire the power of Baphomet and reforge his sword, the titular Broken Sword. To stop them, George and Nicole destroy the site with explosives acquired from Khan, burying the Neo-Templars and destroying the ruins above. When the explosion is finished, they kiss. |
9709_8 | Development |
9709_9 | In 1992, Cecil and Noirin Carmody met with Sean Brennan, then-head of publishing at Virgin Interactive, and spoke about how the Knights Templar would make an ideal subject to base a game on. Later, Virgin agreed to issue the game. In a September interview for French magazine Génération 4 at the time, Charles Cecil stated that he had begun working on a scenario for Revolution's third game, after 1992's Lure of the Temptress and 1994's then-upcoming Beneath a Steel Sky. The game would be set in Paris with a Templar story line. The following month, Cecil visited Paris to research the Templars; after reading The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, he was certain there was enough known about the Templars to make them a good subject for a game. Cecil, Dave Cummins, and Jonathan Howard began work on the story and design. Cecil and Cummins attended a film-writing course and their script was read by Alan Drury, a senior BBC scriptwriter and dramatist. Revolution artist Steve Ince created initial |
9709_10 | location sketches for the game before working on Beneath a Steel Sky. He was promoted to producer halfway through the project. |
9709_11 | Despite releasing the PC version, Virgin was not interested in publishing the game on the PlayStation, feeling that only 3D games would sell for the console. As a result, Cecil contacted Sony Computer Entertainment, who agreed to release the game for the console. In North America, Broken Sword was renamed to Circle of Blood. Cecil was uneasy about the name change, feeling that it gave a wrong impression of what type of game it was. In 1998 however, THQ published the game on the PlayStation platform under its original Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars title. |
9709_12 | One of Cecil's goals was to depart from the humorous adventure games more popular at the time, such as LucasArts' Monkey Island series, by creating a game with good pacing and a complex storyline, a reason he thought the Knights Templar would be an ideal subject. Unlike LucasArts games, which used a question-and-answer conversation system, Broken Sword offered "conversation icons" that would not reveal to the player what the protagonist was about to say; Cecil's intention was to make the game more cinematic, but not resemble interactive movies of that time; he felt that they were "mimicking movies." He wanted to create two protagonists who would exchange ideas, helping drive the game along. He made George American and Nico French to appeal to US and European markets. |
9709_13 | The team at Revolution had high expectations for Broken Sword, but there was significant competition. Revolution had a team that had created successful adventure games, but believed they needed to utilise the best of other creative industries. Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen of Dublin's Don Bluth studios drew the backgrounds in pencil and digitally colored them in Photoshop. The introductory sequence and the main characters were done by animator Mike Burgess, who worked for the Red Rover animation studio. The game's graphics were animated in a style resembling classic animated films. |
9709_14 | Cecil contacted composer Barrington Pheloung, who agreed to create the game's score. Around the time of the game's release, Pheloung stated: "Virgin would probably have been happy with a main theme and a few cues, but I thought that rather than creating an orchestral score like for a movie, I could make one which interacted with the game. So I've written over three hours of music, which is unique in the genre, and over 400 cues." He scored the music for orchestra and added the structural elements by breaking it up into sampled pieces. |
9709_15 | Revolution had already cast Hazel Ellerby as Nicole Collard, but had trouble finding a voice actor for George Stobbart. Hazel, who went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, suggested her former schoolmate from Guildhall, Rolf Saxon, as George. Charles offered him the job, and Saxon accepted. The remaining credited voice actors in the original are Rachel Atkins, David Bannerman, Rosy Clayton, Jack Elliott, Steve Hodson, David Holt, Peter Kenny, Richard Mapletoft, Matthew Marsh, Colin McFarlane, Don McCorkindale, Gavin Muir, Paul Panting, and Andrew Wincott.
Cecil was the game's director and writer, Tony Warriner and David Sykes the designer-programmers, and Noirin Carmody the executive producer. The game uses the Virtual Theatre engine, as do Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky. The game's final cost was one million pounds. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002, and to the Palm OS and Windows Mobile in 2006. |
9709_16 | In March 2009, Ubisoft released a director's cut of The Shadow of the Templars entitled Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut for the Wii and Nintendo DS. Dave Gibbons, with whom Revolution worked on Beneath a Steel Sky, created additional artwork for the game. Due to the platform's size limits, the DS version contains no spoken dialogue, only subtitles. A version of the Director's Cut for iPhone and iPod Touch was released on January 20, 2010. In May, a version in high definition was released for the iPad. Versions for Windows and Mac OS X were released on September 2 on digital-distribution services. An Android version was released on Google Play in June 2012. The original version of the game is available from Sold-Out Software and GOG.com with Director's Cut purchases, and from Steam as free DLC for Director's Cut owners.
Reception |
9709_17 | Sales
Broken Sword was a commercial success, and marked the first time that Revolution Software received royalty payments on a game. By August 2000, it had achieved sales of 825,000 copies, of which 480,000 were sold at full price. It was particularly a hit on the PlayStation, despite low sales expectations. Tony Warriner noted in 2004 that the publisher anticipated "60,000 copies and it went on to do nearly 300,000". As of April 2001, combined sales of Broken Swords computer and PlayStation releases had surpassed one million units, according to Revolution Software. In 2015, Charles Cecil stated that the PlayStation release alone accounted for 500,000 sales. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut also sold well—particularly the iOS version, which, along with The Smoking Mirrors remastered edition, was downloaded by over four million people in 2011. According to Cecil, the remake's sales were higher than those of The Sleeping Dragon and The Angel of Death. |
9709_18 | Critical reviews
Broken Sword was acclaimed by critics, who praised the game's story, art direction, musical score, voice acting, and writing. Edge stated that Broken Sword was superior to LucasArts' adventure games, such as Monkey Island and The Dig, and believed it to be an "adventure gaming milestone" and the "best graphic adventure to date." |
9709_19 | Adventure Gamers' Angella Mooney commented that the game's "deep and mysterious plot is designed to be thought-provoking and highly entertaining at the same time." GameSpot's Rebecca B. Anderson found that the game's combination of real history and "highly-creative" storytelling "add[s] spice to an already-entertaining adventure." Joe Antol of Adventure Classic Gaming wrote that the involvement of the Knights Templar generated a "unique experience of creative storytelling." A writer for Next Generation magazine stated that the story is "rich in mystery and intrigue, with plenty of puzzles and locations to explore". Edges reviewer praised the game's use of "legend and modern-day intrigue", and believed that "Revolution Software finally escaped the shadow of Monkey Island et al. and [have] taken the graphic adventure to new levels in terms of both story and spectacle." The writer commented that, by weaving its "trans-European plot around the legends of the Knights Templar", the game |
9709_20 | "succeeds in appearing weighty and complex without ever losing its sense of place". |
9709_21 | Mark Wolf of PC Gamer US called the game "visually stunning", praising the animated graphics as "crisp and clear" and the artwork as "simply beautiful". He also wrote, "At the highest setting, the background and foreground scroll separately, delivering a sense of depth you don't see in many graphic adventures. Even the atmosphere of each of the areas you explore fit the locale." Mooney called the animation "extremely colorful and well-executed" and noted that the art team "have taken this style of animation and really made an elegant, mature game with it." The writer also noted that the environments are "detailed and inviting". Anderson called the game a "visual treat" and a "work of art," noting that "every scene is filled with rich, lush, illustrative detail that rivals any animated feature film." Next Generation called the character movements "fantastic" and the cutscenes "a joy to watch." The writer for Edge praised its art direction, in which "every visual element is polished |
9709_22 | to the 'nth' degree". The reviewer believed that "the SVGA artwork by far exceeds the competition in this genre." |
9709_23 | Edge complimented its musical score for "play[ing] a large part in mood enhancement", noting that "it's beautifully orchestrated and adds immeasurable atmosphere." Mooney also praised the score, calling it "ambitious and beautiful" and saying it adds a very "cinematic feel" to the experience. Mooney said that the game's voice acting is "of supreme quality" with "delightful dialogue", but noted that long conversations might "turn some players off". Wolf was more critical of the voice acting, calling it "not too professional" and "the worst thing in the game".
Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game, and stated that "despite the ambitious storyline and animation [...] we might have felt grateful for a month's delay, given the poor quality of the port." They cited the difficult installation which causes conflicts with standard extensions and the slow speed even on high-end computers. |
9709_24 | Mooney stated that the game's puzzles are well integrated into the plot and are moderately challenging. Wolf called the puzzles inventive and challenging, but believed that some require "too much pixel-hunting". Next Generation said that almost all of the puzzles are simplistic, requiring no more than to find an object and use it on something else. Despite acclaiming the Windows version, GameSpot deemed the PlayStation version mediocre, criticizing technical deficiencies, such as lengthy load times and muddy graphics. Electronic Gaming Monthlys four reviewers acknowledged that the frequent load times are annoying but were highly positive about the PlayStation conversion, gushing over the beautifully animated cutscenes that blend seamlessly with the game, its support for the PlayStation Mouse, and most especially the story, with its "complex and twisting plot", quirky humor, and compelling characters. Cecil later cited the PlayStation version as his "one big regret" regarding the game. |
9709_25 | He believed that the team should have introduced direct control over the player character in this version, instead of mouse-driven point-and-click interaction. |
9709_26 | Awards and nominations
Génération 4 awarded it "Best Adventure 1997", and it received the award for "Best Quest" from the magazine Quest. The BBC magazine program Live & Kicking awarded it "Best PC Game of 1996". In 2005, the Game Boy Advance port was awarded the "Pocket Gamer Silver Award" by Pocket Gamer. The game was nominated for Computer Gaming Worlds 1996 "Adventure Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to The Pandora Directive. It was also a finalist for the Computer Game Developers Conference's 1996 "Best Adventure Game/RPG" Spotlight Award, but lost the prize to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. |
9709_27 | The Director's Cut was nominated for the "Best Story" award at the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards, and Pocket Gamer awarded the DS version the "Pocket Gamer Silver" award in 2009 and the iPhone version the "Pocket Gamer Gold Award" in 2010. The Wii and DS versions were nominated for the "Best Port/Updated Re-release" award at Adventure Gamers' 2010 Aggie Awards. The iPhone version was nominated for the "Best Adventure/RPG Game" award at the 2011 Pocket Gamer Awards. The Wii version won the award for "Best European Adventure" at the 2011 European Games Awards.
Legacy |
9709_28 | Listings |
9709_29 | Adventure Gamers ranked Broken Sword fourth on its lists of "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time" in 2004 and "Top 100 All-Time Adventures" in 2011. In 2006, Adventure Classic Gaming put the game in third place on its list of the "Top 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles". It was listed on Bright Hub's "Best Windows Mobile Games Software" in 2008. In 2010, Retro Gamer placed it in second on its list of the "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time ... not by LucasArts", and was included in Universe Publishing's 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, a book by video game designer and programmer Peter Molyneux and longtime Edge editor Tony Mott published in 2010. NowGamer listed it on its 2011 feature, "Greatest Point-And-Click Games (Not By LucasArts)". In 2012, it ranked eighth on GamesRadar's "Best point-and-click adventure games". Broken Sword and its remake are listed on Adventure Gamers' "Top Adventure Games" recommendations list. It is currently the |
9709_30 | third best-reviewed adventure game on GameSpot. |
9709_31 | The game's Goat Puzzle appeared on Computer and Video Games 2011 feature, "Gaming's hardest puzzles". In 2012, it was listed on GameFront's "5 Crazy Difficult and Intricate Video Game Puzzles". Computer and Video Games also ranked Barrington's original intro theme 21st on its 2012 "Video game soundtracks: The 100 best themes of all time" list. The Telegraph listed Khan as one of "The 10 best video game assassins", while in 2013, Kotaku listed him as one of "The Scariest Clowns And Jesters In Video Games". The Director's Cut has been placed on top lists as well, particularly the iOS versions.
Influence |
9709_32 | In his book Game Plan: Great Designs that Changed the Face of Computer Gaming, British video game journalist Ste Curran wrote that Broken Sword influenced the adventure games Toonstruck, in which Cecil has a "Special Thanks" credit, and Escape from Monkey Island, which features a puzzle that involves a broken sword. Kevin Bruner, co-founder of Telltale Games, has said that he is a Broken Sword fan. Ashton Raze, a writer for The Telegraph and the co-creator of the 2013 adventure game Richard & Alice, said that Broken Sword is his biggest influence. In his review of the 2010 adventure game Deponia, Declan Skews of Video Games Interactive said that the game drew inspiration from Broken Sword. |
9709_33 | The Da Vinci Code
Cecil has said that the game's fanbase believes Dan Brown to have been influenced by Broken Sword when writing his novel, The Da Vinci Code, because of the parallels between the two works. Cecil claimed that he is flattered by this sentiment, but that he would never claim so himself due to the threat of Brown's "very serious" lawyers. Joao Diniz Sanches of Pocket Gamer said Broken Sword story is a "tale, some would argue, that effortlessly outclasses Dan Brown's similarly themed and tricksy novel." In an article about Broken Sword, Computer and Video Games described the Knights Templar legend as a "great mythology to base a game on", and noted that Broken Sword "came out years before the Da Vinci Code made that sort of thing popular." |
9709_34 | Sequels and re-releases
Broken Sword spawned four sequels. The first, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror, was released in 1997. It uses the same engine as the first Broken Sword game. Six years later, Revolution released Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, which features 3D graphics and a direct-control mechanism. It uses the RenderWare engine. In 2006 the company released Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game in North America), which returns to the point-and-click system used in the first two games. It is the only game in the series not released for a console, and it uses Sumo Digital's engine. The fifth installment, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse, was announced through a Kickstarter project in August 2012. The game features 2D graphics, and it was released in September 2013. |
9709_35 | After releasing the Director's Cut version of Broken Sword, Revolution released a remastered edition of the second game, entitled Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered, in 2010.
Retrospectives
In June 2020, comedian Jason Manford conducted a lengthy retrospective interview with Charles Cecil and Rolf Saxon about the game's development and legacy. This followed Manford's live playthrough of the entire game over the course of several weeks on YouTube, during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown. |
9709_36 | Film
In May 2007, ComingSoon.net reported that Cecil, encouraged by the success of The Angel of Death, had begun work on a Broken Sword theatrical film adaptation. According to the website, producers Jay Douglas and Nav Guptatheir and their CastleBright Studios production company were involved. Justin Kaplan introduced Cecil to the company and was set to be one of the producers. Conversations had begun with directors and screenwriters from films such as Harry Potter, Casino Royale and X-Men. |
Subsets and Splits
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