As Islamic Arabs of the day did not regard the ancient Egyptians as ancestors, the practice was widely accepted and so-called mummy powder was in sold in a variety of strengths. Powder procured from the crudely preserved bodies peasant folk buried in sand pits was said to be only good for relieving minor stomach aches, while the meticulously embalmed and bitumen-rich bodies of the Egyptian aristocracy were a highly valued commodity and supposedly capable of healing life-threatening wounds.

Mummy powder proved so profitable that soon after its introduction, Egyptian tombs were ransacked not only for the riches they might contain, but also for bodies that might be processed into the expensive folk medicine. It wasn’t long before the practice of applying mummy powder was incorporated into medieval Europe’s catalog of dubious medical practices. By the 16th century, the product had become so commonplace in both Europe and the Middle East that the once seemingly endless supply of authentic, mummified Egyptian cadavers quite literally dried up.

In order to keep their niche market going, some mummy powder salesmen began to stealthily acquire the bodies of executed criminals and the unburied poor, which they would then hastily dry out and grind into “authentic” doses of the anthropophagic cure-all.

Mummy powder, however, was not the only everyday use of the Egyptian dead that arose before the dawn of modern archaeological preservation. In the 16th and 17th centuries, pulverized mummy was the key ingredient in a popular shade of brown artist’s pigment, and preserved human and animal remains of Egyptian origin were used in the production of this “mummy brown” paint until the early 20th century.

As the first railroads were constructed in North Africa during the 19th century, mummies with a high content of petroleum-based bitumen were also supposedly sometimes substituted for coal in engines of the then-new locomotives. Mark Twain claimed to witnessed the practice firsthand in his 1869 travelogue, The Innocents Abroad, writing, “[The] fuel they use…is composed of mummies three thousand years old, purchased by the ton or by the graveyard for that purpose.”

Whether this statement was merely jest on the part of the American literary icon, well known for his sense of humor, has been the subject of debate ever since it was published. What is known, however, is that the supply of authentic Egyptian corpses by the beginning of the 1800s was so small only that upper crust Europeans could afford to purchase one whole. In the wake of Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, it became vogue amongst the aristocracy to hold “unwrapping parties,” where carefully preserved corpses would be haphazardly stripped of their bandages, so that revelers could gaze upon the millennia-old face concealed beneath them. Small burial ornaments concealed in the linens would then be dispensed to partygoers as souvenirs, while exposure to air caused the delicate bodies to crumble into dust, never to be seen again.

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Locke was born in 1632 into an upper middle class family in England and studied medicine at Oxford. Early on Locke found himself disagreeing with professors who insisted on teaching the ancient Greek philosophers. He was more interested in newer theories and had a penchant for the works of Rene Descartes. Through his friendship with the mechanical philosopher Robert Boyle and the famed scientific rebel Isaac Newton, Locke found logic in the new theories floating around in the late 17^th century.

Soon after graduating from college, Locke came under the employ of the Earl of Shaftsbury and assisted him in a number of non medical matters including the administration of his estate, various business matters and also acted as his political advisor. The earl enjoyed Locke’s unique (for the time) views on the freedom of religion, the unbelief in absolutism and the desire for a democratic governing body for the country.

In 1682, Locke’s anti royal sentiments resulted in his banishment to Holland. It was in exile that Locke penned his influential work “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” In 1688, the Glorious Revolution in which William of Orange overthrew the current English king, James II. This meant Locke could return to his homeland without fear of persecution or prosecution and so he did.

In 1690, Locke published his two treaties on government which were considered influential works in the revolutions of the 18^th century, namely America and France. Locke argued that revolution against tyranny was acceptable to bring legitimate rule to a nation. He also explained his thoughts on education which involved learning from experience not just because we exist.

During the 1690s Locke worked for the new British government in a number of positions including commissioner of plantations and trade. He continued with his theoretical writings, publishing on religion, government, ethics and education.

Locke retired to the country to live with friends and passed away in 1704, long before many of his works would influence the birth of a democratic America and the overthrow of royal power in France. But without Locke’s suggesting divine kingship as wrong and the rights of the citizens as the main work of any government, those two revolutions may have taken very different forms. His work on education would underlie the public school system in Britain and his thoughts on theology helped others find their own path to religious freedom. Locke was one of many that created the bedrock for the Enlightenment period.

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Unlike many notable early Americans, Penn came from a wealthy and politically influential family and had a great interest in the puritan religion. He did not adhere to commonly held beliefs of his fellow Englishmen, getting kicked out of Oxford University an institution backed by the Church of England. His marriage to a Quaker woman in 1672 completed his spiritual transition.

In his position as a lawyer, Penn advocated against the injustices faced by followers of the Quaker faith successfully winning a number of cases. It culminated with his part in establishing jury trials and the toleration of religion in New Jersey. Penn is best remembered for his “holy experiment” and the establishment of Pennsylvania as both a capitalist and spiritual adventure.

Most of the land for Penn’s colony was successfully negotiated away from the Native Americans without violence in the 17^th century. Pennsylvania claimed the equality and religious freedom of all the inhabitants both native and landed. The colony was operated as part democracy part dictatorship with Penn expecting his suggestions to be followed by the elected officials.

Penn’s public life was full of conflict from challenges to his authority, laws and loyalties to his insurmountable debts. He spent a few years in prison because of his allegiance to King James II and because of his economic troubles. Penn didn’t move permanently to Pennsylvania until after the English revolution in 1699.

After moving to the colonies, Penn focused on mending ties with both the natives and among the religious communities of settlers. There were a number of spiritual differences that had arisen among the Quakers and Penn took on the role of mediator and peacemaker.

From 1701 to 1776, Penn’s charter that determined Pennsylvania would be the only state that had a legislature of representatives as its governmental body. After a troubled but privileged life consisting of two marriages, a political career hampered by dissent and a changing perspective on faith, Penn fell ill in 1712 with a stroke and finally passed away back in England in 1718.

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The French agreed to ‘lend’ Charlie their army but when he arrived in France they withdrew their offer, too afraid of England’s power. Nevertheless, Charlie went ahead with his plan to over take Scotland and in the 1745 he landed there with less than a dozen supporters. It was his plan to rally together the Scottish clans, his plan worked as many people believe him to have the divine right of Kings, a power that was invested in him by the God. After defeating the King’s army Bonnie Prince Charlie’s supporters numbered over 6000.

Unfortunately at The Battle of Culloden on the 16th April 1746 the Jacobite army was defeated by William Aufustus, the Duke of Cumberland. Thousands of Jacobites were killed but the Prince managed to escape with a bounty of £30,000 or $1 million on his head. After the battle Charlie fled to the Island of Benbecula, where Flora MacDonald lived.

Flora MacDonald was born in the village of Miltion in the Western Isle in 1722 but soon moved to Skye after her father’s death (Ranald MacDonald of Miltonas) when her mother was re-married to Hugh MacDonald. In 1746 O’Neil, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s servant and faithful follower, approached Flora asking her to help smuggle the Prince off the island to France before being discovered by General Campbell. Flora was reluctant at first for she was not a Jacobite follower but her fiancé Allan MacDonald and O’Neil persuaded her to help Bonnie Prince Charlie escape.


Flora gave her own account of what happened: “After Miss MacDonald (with some difficulty) agreed to undertake the dangerous enterprise, she set out for Clanranald’s house, Saturday, June 21st and at one of the fords was taken prisoner by a party of militia, she not having a passport. She demanded to whom they belonged? And finding by the answer that her stepfather was then commander, she refused to give any answer till she should see their captain. So she and her servant, (Neil MacKechan), and another woman, Bettie Burk, a good spinster, and whom he recommended as such in a letter to his wife at Armadale in Sky, as she had much lint to spin. If her stepfather (Hugh MacDonald of Armadale) had not granted Miss a passport she could not have undertook her journey and voyage. Armadale set his stepdaughter at liberty, who immediately made the best of her way to Clanranald’s house and acquainted the Lady Clanranald with the scheme, who supplied the Prince with apparel sufficient for his disguise, viz. a flower’d gown, a white apron, ect., and sent some provisions along with him.”

The plan was to snuggle the Prince off the island disguised as Betty, Flora’s maid lest the servants should be making their observations. They were to cross approximately 45 miles of ocean in a rowing boat until reaching Rudha Phrionnsa, or Prince Charlie’s Point.

They left on the 27 June and for several days sailed in stormy conditions until they reached their destination were they hid for the night in a cottage on far form the water. In the morning they travelled over land to Portree were there was ship was waiting to take the Prince back to France.

It is said that the during the journey the Prince sung Flora many songs including ‘The King shall enjoy his own again’

“…for who better may
Our high sceptre sway.
Than he whose tight it is to reign:
Then look for no peace,
The wars will never cease”
Till the king shall enjoy his own again.

They parted at Portree and Flora returned home. As they were leaving the Prince gave Flora a locket with his portrait in it saying I hope, madam, that we may meet in St James’s yet. Despite this, she never saw Charlie again.

On her way home she was held prisoner in Dunstaffnage Castle, and then for a short time in the Tower of London as a traitor but was released shortly after under the Act of Indemnity of 1747.

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In 1750 Flora married Allan MacDonald when she returned to Skye and 24 years later they emigrated to North Carolina. Allan or Flora’s husband fought in the American War of Independence with the Hanoverians but they were forced to leave when Allan was captured. Flora returned home to her family and was soon followed by Allan. She died on the 4 March 1790 at the age of 68 and it is said that she died in the same bed that Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept in when staying at their house and was buried in the sheets used by the Prince.

About the Author
Charlotte Gardner, a guest blog writer, is currently studying archaeology at the Australian National University. In her spare time she likes to read and write about eccentric historical moments. Her love of old buildings and older stories was sparked when she visited Italy. One of Charlotte’s greatest wishes is that in a few thousand years her skeleton will be dug up by an archaeological investigation team and put on display in a national museum. You may contact Charlotte via email at: charlotteg86@gmail.com.

Tecumseh’s goal was a unified front against the continued westward expansion of white settlers into Indian territories. Despite his political intrepidness, he was only able to lay the foundations of this Indian confederacy with the aid of his brother, Tenskawatwa — more popularly known as “the Prophet”. A self-styled shaman and religious zealot, the Prophet preached a return to Native American nature worship and a complete rejection of western civilization. It was message that allowed once competing tribes to set aside their differences and focus on a common enemy: the United States.

Having raised an army of volunteers out of his numerous allegiances, Tecumseh stationed the braves at junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers – a key pass in the Indiana Territory. In response, then Governor (and future president) William Henry Harrison settled nearby with a regiment of 1000 men, but did not engage their opposition. Both sides merely observed movements of the other and policed Tecumseh’s “border,” as a stand-off slowly settled in.

That would change in November 1811, when Tecumseh departed the camp on a recruitment drive and his brother, the Prophet – believing that he had rendered himself and his forces invincible through the use of magic – ordered an surprise attack on Harrison and his men The few causalities suffered by Harrison’s troops were soon repaid in force as his men regrouped, and then summarily set about destroying the totality of the Indian settlement, including its food stores.

Though his brother’s poorly planned maneuver cost Tecumseh his dream of an Indian alliance to oppose the fledging US, it did help ensure his legend. Indian sympathizers in the States seized upon the story of the benevolent and sage-like chief, whose life exemplified the nobleness of the American Indian and their tragic role in the formation of the country. Tecumseh’s mythic stature was so pervasive that after he allied himself with the British during the War of 1812, an American general refused to capture him in one of the conflict’s opening salvos – thereby costing US forces an early opportunity to invade Canada and expel the British once and for all.

Tecumseh eventually did fall in battle some two years later at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario and his Indian forces surrendered shortly thereafter to William Henry Harrison himself at Detroit. Sympathy for Tecumseh’s cause continued to persist after his death, however; Civil War General William Sherman bore Tecumseh as his middle name and, to date, their have been no less than four USS Tecumsehs commissioned by the military for service at sea.

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