For Their Own Cause: The 27th United States Colored Troops by Kelly D. Mezurek (review)

Abstract

about women’s sexuality and the ingredients of good character. The courtroom itself was largely the province of men, so their vision of women held sway,” explains Hall (17). The court’s assault on Hanson’s character will ring familiar to students of women’s history. “She put herself in the way of temptation,” argued the defense. “The law of nature is that the female cannot be forced without being greatly abused.” Her face was not bruised, her cloths were not torn or even dirty, and her “hair lay perfectly smooth.” Had she truly “hallooed” during the alleged attack, she would have been heard (59). The defense surmised that Mrs. Hanson had sexual relations with Deskins out of jealousy and revenge in response to her own husband’s infidelities. She only desired to save her reputation by the false charge of rape. Ultimately, it is Alexander Smyth’s closing argument to the jury that may surprise modern students. Standard histories of this era often emphasize the adjudication of rape cases as a means to address the legal grievances of husbands and the “property damage” suffered as a consequence of a wife’s sexual assault. Smyth, in contrast, sought justice for Sydney Hanson and all the victimized women she represented. “We have deprived them of liberty and property; let us at least maintain them the right of personal security,” he asserted (96). The acquittal of a man clearly guilty of this heinous crime, justified through the character assignation of Mrs. Hanson, risked the safety of all women. Smyth asked the jury if they were prepared to bear such a responsibility: “Rapes will be committed; and justice being denied, they will be concealed by the sufferers. The cruel ravishers will at some distant day boast of their victories” (97). In 1806, just as today, no woman must suffer in silence. The court ruled John Deskins guilty of rape and sentenced him to ten years in the Virginia state penitentiary. Overall, A Rape in the Early Republic edited by Randall Hall offers a multidimensional case study for students and scholars focusing on women’s history or legal history and wanting a closer study of the treatment of rape in the early nineteenth century. Katharine Antolini West Virginia Wesleyan