Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is a spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude."

                                   Dennis Waitley

This morning's weather here in paradise is a carbon copy of yesterday. We have sparkling clear skies and air, the early morning temperature is in the mid 50's and we are looking for a high of 75 with an east-northeast wind of about 5 MPH. The Gulf of Mexico is as flat as a mill pond.

I told y'all about Boeing bringing the 787 assembly plant to North Charleston. The ressst of the story is this. A few weeks ago the Boeing management was about to reject the offer made by the state of South Carolina to bring them in. A resident of Greenville, SC is Billy Wilkins. Billy was the Chief Judge of the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals before he retired to Greenville. It is believed that when Boeing began backing out the state asked Billy to go to Boeing management and speak to them about not changing their minds. Evidently Billy made at least one trip and argued in we South Carolinians behalf and Boeing relented. Some of this scenario is conjecture but the state admits that Billy was instrumental in capturing Boeing.

A couple of days ago a man wearing a movie "Scream" mask walked into a bank in Jonesville, SC and robbed a teller of an undetermined amount of money at gunpoint. He wanted the money put into a plastic bag that he brought in with him. It was a Dollar General store bag. Soon after the details of the robbery hit the airwaves a manager of a Dollar General store called the cops saying he had information they might like. The cops go to the store and view a security camera film. They saw David Lee Glenn buy rubber gloves, a rubber mask from the movie "Scream" and a toy pistol. They then went to Glenn's bank and the records show a sustantial deposit an hour or two after the robbery. The cops arrested Glenn soon thereafter. This guy is no John Dillinger, y'all.

Early Sunday morning a couple were visiting Aunt Sue's restaurant on Highway 11 north of Greenville, SC (been there). When they started to leave a man walked up and took their car at gunpoint and drove away. Two hours later the car is spotted by a sheriff's cruiser and an attempt was made to stop the car. The car did stop but the driver jumped out and ran eluding the police. The man along with a woman was spotted later on and both were arrested. After taking a good look at the man the police realize the same man highjacked a car at a park about 15 miles away the day before. This jackass needs to get a motor scooter.

Workers for the Blue Ridge Electrical Cooperative went to investigate a power outage near Seneca, SC. They nailed down the location of the power break as being a power pole behind a textile plant. Upon arrival the find the corpse of 34 year old Frankie Sherriff. On the ground beside Frankie was a cable cutter and a crow bar. Frankie had been up the pole trying to cut the copper wire to steal and sell. He cut into a wire that was carrying 7,600 volts. I am sorry, I have no sympathy for anyone that greedy and stupid.

Good news:

A while back the Flood sister found out that their father had a kidney disease and would need a transplant. The three sister were not compatible with Dad so they decided to put an ad for a kidney with the right compatibility in Craig's List. One year and four months later and after over 100 responses, a woman from Monterrey, California offered to donate one of hers. A successful transplant was made and now Dad is fine. The three sisters were bombarded with request from others with kidney problems to help them find a kidney donor. They organized the Flood Sister Kidney Foundation of America to be used to find compatible kidneys for those in need. Last week the first kidney transplant arranged by the foundation was done and both the donor and donee are doing fine.

This date in history November 3

1816   Jubal Anderson Early was born in Franklin County, Virginia. Little is known of little Jubal’s early life but it is known that he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1833. He graduated four years later ranked 11th in a class of 50. He participated in the Seminole War and resigned in 1838 and began a law practice. He was prosecutor for Franklin and Floyd counties in Virginia but his law practice was interrupted by the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848. Early was a Whig and opposed to secession but changed his mind when Lincoln called for 75,000 soldiers to begin suppressing the rebellion and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was given the rank of Colonel in the Virginia Militia and sent to Lynchburg, Virginia to begin recruiting. He was able to raise three regiments and commanded one of them, the 24th Infantry. He commanded a regiment at the Battle of 1st Manassas and was impressive to his commander, CSA General P.T.G. Beauregard who saw fit to promote him to Brigadier General. He was present at nearly all of the important battles in the eastern theatre. He was at the battles of The Seven Days, 2nd Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg plus several major skirmishes in the Shenandoah Valley. Jubal was known to CSA General Robert E. Lee as “my bad old man” because of Jubal’s irascible attitude and quick temper especially form anyone of less rank. But he was a superb combat organizer, planner and tactician. During the Battle of Gettysburg he was assigned the task of capturing York, Pennsylvania and eventually attacking the US forces at Gettysburg from the northeast. He indeed did capture York but was unable to launch a successful attack and ended up covering the rear of CSA General Lee’s retreat. Early was wounded in 1862 at the Battle of Williamsburg while personally leading an infantry charge against preposterous odds. He convalesced in Rocky Mount, Virginia and returned to action two months later only this time he would be commanded by CSA General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson just in time for the Battle of Malvern Hill. This time Early did not shine as usual. His navigation was faulty and he and his division got lost in thick woods and was late arriving at the battle. In spite of this he excelled at the Battles of Spotsylvania Court house and The Wilderness and was promoted to Major General. It was his actions in the Shenandoah Valley that he made his mark. During the siege of Petersburg, Lee sent Early and an army of 14,000 to patrol the Valley and to prevent the Yankees from capturing it. The Shenandoah was where the majority of the food for the CSA Army of Northern Virginia came from. Early was also tasked with threatening Washington so as to draw some troops away from Petersburg. On his way to Washington he defeated several Union armies. His tactics worked and US General U.S. Grant sent troops to counter Early but it was not enough to weaken the US position around Petersburg. Grant sent US General Philip Sheridan and 40,000 troops to neutralize Early. Early lost two major battles against Sheridan but launched a ferocious surprise attack at Cedar Creek and drove those Yankees back several miles. It was only by Sheridan’s personal direction that the Yankees were able to counterattack and win the battle. When the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered in 1865, Jubal rode to Texas on horseback trying to find any units still fighting. From there he went to Mexico then to Cuba and finally sailed to Canada and settled in Toronto. He wrote his memoirs while there. He named it “The Memoirs of the Last Year of a War for Independence, the Confederate States of America.” After US President Andrew Johnson declared a general amnesty in 1869, Early returned to Virginia and resumed his law practice. After falling down a flight of stairs, Early died at the age of 77. He remained unreconstructed (loyal to the Confederate cause) to the day he died. He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia. Here is a quote about Jubal A. Early:

"Honest and outspoken, honorable and uncompromising, Jubal A. Early epitomized much that was the Southern Confederacy. His self-reliance, courage, sagacity, and devotion to the cause brought confidence then just as it inspires reverence now."


—James I. Robertson, Jr., Alumni Distinguished Professor of History, Virginia Tech

I have a read several books by Mr. Robertson. He is considered an expert on the Civil War.

1984    Serial killer rapist Bobby Joe Long is arrested in Tampa, Florida. His capture was engineered by the bravery and courage of his last victim, Lisa McVey. Lisa was riding home from school on her bicycle when she was attacked and captured by Long. After Long forced her into his car, Lisa began taking mental notes about what she could see in the car. She also mentally timed the length of the ride when Long stopped at an ATM. He took her to a motel room and ravaged her for most of the day but agreed not to kill her. After releasing her, Lisa went to the police and told them about what she had observed in the car the police had a good idea what model and year the car was. And when she told them about the length of time it took to get to the ATM, the police had a radius to search. In that time ATM’s were not that plentiful and the police narrowed the possible ATM’s to a very few. And when Lisa told them the approximate time it took to get to the motel, the rest was easy. Bobby Joe went to meet his maker with puncture marks in his arms.

1979    The Communist Workers Party held a demonstration against a Ku Klux Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. The demonstration turns violent and both sides produce hand guns and an old fashioned gunfight ensued. It ended up with five Communists killed and a few injured. The strange part was that the Greensboro PD had long known that this encounter was coming, but on this day there was not a cop in sight. Hmmmmmm.

1941    The Japanese War Ministry led by General Tojo meets and sets the final day for the attack on the United States Naval installations in Hawaii. There was little doubt that war was coming because the Japanese had already made preparations for the attack on the Philippines and The United States knew it. The Philippines was an American protectorate at the time. They decided it would be December 5 but the Japanese fleet was delayed by weather and the attack materialized on the 7th. A date that will live in infamy.

Born today:

1794    US writer William C. Bryant. He said “The press is a mill that grinds all that is put in its hopper. Fill the hopper with poison grain and it will grind it into meal, but there is death in the bread.” Be careful what you read and believe.

1918    US baseball pitcher Bob Feller. He said about his autobiography “There is not one curse word in there; I don’t go for that bullshit.” Bob, just keep your mind on baseball please.

1949    US boxing champion Larry Holmes. He said “It is hard being black. Have you ever been black? I was black once when I was poor.” Larry, you absorbed one to many uppercuts, just shut up.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow