New Hampshire (formerlyVermont) contains many rustic little villages with names like "East Thwackmore" featuring quaint little inns where the harried visitor can escape from the high-pressure modern world, with its pesky flush toilets and central heating. New Hampshire is also the home of the famousNew England town meeting, a dynamic example of "democracy in action" wherein once a year all the residents of each town gather to lick syrup off each other's thighs. One of New Hampshire's most popular attractions is the famous "Old Man of the Mountain," a natural granite formation that, when viewed from a certain angle, looks like rocks. New Hampshire's Official State Onion Dip Enhancer is chives.
Dave Barry,Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need (1991), New York: Fawcett Columbine, p. 88-89
It may not have occurred toHaley that there are noConfederate monuments in New Hampshire. There are nearly 100 in the state to theUnion cause. One-tenth of the population of New Hampshire at the timeserved in the Union army: 32,750 men, of whom nearly 5,000 died, 130 inConfederate prisons. The fifth New Hampshire volunteer infantry had the highest casualty rate of anyUnion regiment. About 900 soldiers from New Hampshire fought atGettysburg,suffering 368 casualties, many of whom are buried at the cemetery there, whereLincoln delivered his address explaining theirsacrifice for a “government of, by and for the people”. The monument to the fifth New Hampshire is one of five monuments to Granite state units at the Gettysburg battlefield.
These people were of all races, colors, and creeds. French were in the north and in the Carolinas. Dutch had built the town onManhattan island, and their patroons' estates in the Hudson valley; now they were building their own cabins in the Mohawk Indian country that is now New York State. Germans had settled in theJerseys and in the far west, beyondPhiladelphia. Germans andScotch-Irish were climbing the Carolina mountains;Swedes were inDelaware,English andFrench andDutch andIrish were settled inMassachusetts, the New Hampshire Grants,Connecticut, andVirginia. Mingled with all these wereItalians,Portuguese,Finns,Arabs,Armenians,Russians,Greeks, andAfricans from a dozen very differentAfrican peoples and cultures. Black, brown, yellow and white, all these peoples were some of them free and some of themslaves. Also they were intermarried with theAmerican Indians.
As our tour of thehistory of forgotten violence comes within sight of the present, the landmarks start to look more familiar. But even the zone of cultural memory fromthe last century has relics that feel like they belong to a foreign country. Take the decline of martial culture. The older cities inEurope and theUnited States are dotted with public works that flaunt the nation’s military might. Pedestrians can behold statues of commanders on horseback, beefcake sculptures of well-hungGreek warriors, victory arches crowned by chariots, and iron fencing wrought into the shape of swords and spears. Subway stops are named for triumphant battles: the Paris Métro has an Austerlitz station; theLondon Underground has a Waterloo station. Photos from a century ago show men in gaudymilitary dress uniforms parading on national holidays and hobnobbing witharistocrats at fancy dinners. The visual branding of long-establishedstates is heavy onaggressive iconography, such as projectiles, edgedweapons,birds of prey, and predatorycats. Even famously pacifisticMassachusetts has a seal that features an amputated arm brandishing a sword and aNative American holding a bow and arrow above the state motto, “With the sword we seekpeace, but underliberty.” Not to be outdone, neighboring New Hampshire adorns its license plates with the motto “Live Free or Die.”
Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of Our Nature (2012)
“Let’s go to New Hampshire.” “What’s wrong with Scotland?” “I’ve never been to New Hampshire.” “I have, andI don’t like it. It looks like your description of the moon.”
Encyclopedic article onNew Hampshire on Wikipedia