King Louis Was Dead by the Birth of Sonoma

Editor:

George Webber’s, The Birth of a Nation and The Birth of Sonoma, essay in the July 2nd Sun was an extremely enlightening and informative exhibit of scholarship and history. There is one, most likely typographical, error. King Louis the 14th, on January 21st, 1793, was already dead. It was Louis the 16th whose head hit the basket on that day. The confusion is easily explained. Traditionally, during the Middle Ages, the custom developed that Roman numerals became a standard form of numbering rulers, popes and other significant figures. It persisted even after Arabic numbers became common in everyday use. From a printer’s standpoint it’s easily to confuse XIV with XVI.

It is interesting to remember that Louis XVI was influenced by Ben Franklin’s charm and American corn whiskey, and he encouraged France to sign treaties of alliance and commerce in February 1778. Moreover, it was the French fleet under Comte de Rochambeau that insured Washington’s victory over Cornwallis in the battle of Yorktown which ended the War of Independence in October 1781.

Respectfully,
Michael Heiman, Sonoma