William Shaler

[[File:William Shaler (ca. 1773–1833) Nyhs 1874 3.jpeg|thumb|{{center|William Shaler}}]] '''William Shaler''' (1773 – March 29, 1833) was an American writer, ethnographer, diplomat and confidential agent, assigned to [[Algiers]], [[Mexico]] and [[Cuba]].

==Life and career== William Shaler was born in [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]], in 1773.<ref>Colonial Society of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q-0QAAAAIAAJ&q=%22william+shaler%22+born+bridgeport+1773 The New England Quarterly], Volume 9, 1936, page 72</ref> His mother, Sibbel Warner Shaler, died when he was eight years old, and his father Timothy, a veteran of the [[American Revolutionary War]], died when William was 12. The trustee of Timothy Shaler's [[Estate (law)|estate]] either embezzled or mismanaged it, leaving William, two brothers and a sister to fend for themselves.<ref name="Heggoy1982">{{cite book|author=Alf Andrew Heggoy|title=Through Foreign Eyes: Western Attitudes Toward North Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkApFVTvaUUC&pg=PA7|date=1 January 1982|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-8191-2182-0|page=7}}</ref> The Shaler Family was of English descent, with origins from [[Warwickshire, England]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Samuel Atkins Eliot |title=Biographical History of Massachusetts: Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State, Volume 5 |publisher=Massachusetts Biographical Society |date=1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3MWAAAAYAAJ&q=William%20Shaler%20}}</ref>

Shaler was apprenticed to Phoenix, Ingraham & Nixen, a [[New York City]] mercantile firm, where he learned [[bookkeeping]] and other business skills. He then became a commercial agent for the firm, sailing to [[France]] and back to oversee the acquisition and shipment of goods for sale in the [[United States]]. Shaler learned to speak [[French language|French]], and commenced a period of dedicated self-study designed to make up for his lack of formal education.<ref>Roy Franklin Nichols, [https://books.google.com/books?id=X5NKAAAAMAAJ&q=shaler+phoenix+ingraham Advance Agents of American Destiny], 1956, page 80</ref>

Shaler subsequently worked as a [[sea captain]], commanding trading vessels that sailed around the world. In 1803 he was Captain of the ''Leila Bird'' when his crew and he were forced to fight their way out of [[San Diego Bay]] during an extended Pacific voyage because of a dispute with the local Spanish governor. This was one of the first visits to [[California]] by an American. Shaler's subsequent written description was widely circulated and led to increased American travel to and trade with California.<ref>Philip Scott Rush, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gkwUAQAAIAAJ&q=shaler+%22leila+bird%22+%22san+diego%22 ''A History of the Californias''], 1964, page 51</ref>

In 1810 Shaler, a friend of [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Robert Smith (Cabinet member)|Robert Smith]], was appointed by United States President [[James Madison]] as a confidential agent. He was supposed to go to Mexico and observe activities in [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] during an effort by Mexicans to overthrow the Spanish government. Attempting to reach Mexico by way of Cuba, Shaler was accused of collaborating with opponents of the [[New Spain|Spanish]] government in [[Havana]] and was detained.<ref name="O'Brien2007">{{cite book|author=Thomas F. O'Brien|title=Making the Americas: The United States and Latin America from the Age of Revolutions to the Era of Globalization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUcrFzXid34C&pg=PA26|year=2007|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-4200-3|page=26}}</ref> In 1811 he made his way to the [[Territory of Orleans]], where he made contact with [[Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara]]. Shaler advised Guttierez while he recruited an army to fight the Spanish in Mexico. Shaler traveled into [[Spanish Texas|Texas]] with Guttierez during the 1812-13 [[Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition]] and was with him when he proclaimed Texas independent.<ref name="Chipman1992">{{cite book|author=Donald E. Chipman|title=Spanish Texas, 1519–1821|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WuUAZTbvLo4C&pg=PA234|year=1992|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77659-3|page=234}}</ref>

During negotiations to end the [[War of 1812]], which culminated in the [[Treaty of Ghent]], Shaler was appointed Secretary to the U.S. peace delegation. His efforts were considered to be ineffective, largely because he formed friendships with [[Jonathan Russell (diplomat)|Jonathan Russell]] and [[Henry Clay]], which made [[John Quincy Adams]] distrustful.<ref name="Heggoy1982" />

From 1815 to 1828 Shaler served as U.S. Consul in Algiers.<ref>American Foreign Service Association, [https://books.google.com/books?id=w3NWAAAAYAAJ&q=%22william+shaler%22+algiers+1815+1828 Foreign Service Journal], Volume 42, 1965, page 70</ref> Early in his assignment he took part with [[William Bainbridge]] and [[Stephen Decatur]] in a peace mission to end the [[Second Barbary War]].<ref name="Long1988">{{cite book|author=David Foster Long|title=Gold Braid and Foreign Relations: Diplomatic Activities of U.S. Naval Officers, 1798-1883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yv2sdjw4SIYC&pg=PA34|date=January 1988|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-0-87021-228-4|page=34}}</ref>

In 1825 Shaler was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]]. In 1828 he received an honorary [[master's degree]] from the [[Princeton University|College of New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Samuel L. Knapp|title=Memoir of William Shaler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IH9NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA345|date=May 4, 1832|publisher=G.P. Morris|work=New-York Mirror|page=345}}</ref>

Shaler was appointed U.S. Consul in Havana in 1829, where he served until dying in a [[cholera]] epidemic on March 29, 1833. According to published accounts, this epidemic resulted in more than 14,000 deaths. According to Shaler's friend and Vice-Consul, Richard J. Cleveland, so many people were dying so quickly that Cuban authorities abandoned the usual procedures for funerals and interments, opting for mass burials. Cleveland was able to intercede, claiming Shaler's remains and having them interred with an appropriate gravestone in the English Cemetery (also called Foreigners Cemetery or Protestant Cemetery) at La Chorrera, which was then a few miles east of Havana, but is now a neighborhood of the city.<ref name="Burton1838">{{cite book|author=William Evans Burton|title=Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EjsTAAAAYAAJ|year=1838|publisher=Chas. Alexander|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EjsTAAAAYAAJ/page/n216 205]}}</ref><ref name="Leiner2006">{{cite book|author=Frederick C. Leiner|title=The End of Barbary Terror : America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa|url=https://archive.org/details/endofbarbaryterr00lein|url-access=registration|date=1 May 2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-804095-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/endofbarbaryterr00lein/page/181 181]}}</ref><ref>American Foreign Service Association, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhpKAQAAIAAJ&q=%22william+shaler%22+consul+havana+died+1833+cholera Foreign Service Journal], Volume 6, 1929, page 168</ref><ref name="Jeffry)1886">{{cite book|author=Cleveland, Richard J. (Richard Jeffry)|title=Voyages of a Merchant Navigator of the Days that are Past [1792-1836]|url=https://archive.org/details/voyagesamerchan00clevgoog|year=1886|publisher=Harper & brothers|page=[https://archive.org/details/voyagesamerchan00clevgoog/page/n253 236]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Niles' Weekly Register|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Bb08AAAAIAAJ|date=April 20, 1833|publisher=Hezekiah Niles|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Bb08AAAAIAAJ/page/n89 113]}}</ref><ref name="Triana2009">{{cite book|author=Mauro García Triana|title=The Chinese in Cuba, 1847-now|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIBzYQ5r1zYC&pg=PA121|year=2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-3343-9|page=121}}</ref> William Shaler was never married and had no children.<ref name="Lowell2003">{{cite book|author=Mary Gardner Lowell|title=New Year in Cuba: Mary Gardner Lowell's Travel Diary, 1831-1832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NmESepXN0vYC&pg=PA182|year=2003|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-1-55553-558-2|page=182}}</ref>

==Published works== * [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdYBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22william+shaler%22+Lelia+Byrd+journal ''Journal of a Voyage Between China and the North-Western Coast of America, Made in 1804''], 1808 * [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RKEOAAAAQAAJ  ''Communication on the Language, Manners, and Customs of the Berbers''], 1824 * [https://archive.org/details/sketchesalgiers00shalgoog  ''Sketches of Algiers''], 1826

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box|title=United States Agent in [[Mexico]]|before=New position|after=John H. Robinson|years=1810–1812}} {{succession box|title=[[Consul (representative)#United States consuls in the early years|United States Consul]] in [[Algiers]]|before=New position|after=[[William P. Hodgson]]|years=1815–1828}} {{succession box|title=[[Consul (representative)#United States consuls in the early years|United States Consul]] in [[Havana]]|before=[[Thomas M. Rodney]]|after=[[Nicholas Trist]]|years=1830–1833}} {{s-end}} {{US Ambassadors to Mexico}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaler, William}} [[Category:1773 births]] [[Category:1833 deaths]] [[Category:Writers from Bridgeport, Connecticut]] [[Category:Writers from New York City]] [[Category:19th-century American diplomats]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Algeria]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Cuba]] [[Category:American male writers]]