Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“I think that everybody should be rich and famous and have everything they ever wanted then they would realize that that is not the answer.”

                                         Jim Carrey

I ran across a book that should interest all of us. It is a book about the settling and exploration of the western United States by the early explorers and fur trappers led by people like Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith among many others. Bridger was more a hunter and a trapper and Smith was an explorer. The book is titled “FUR, FORTUNE AND EMPIRE: THE EPIC HISTORY OF FUR TRADING IN AMERICA”. The author is Eric Dolin and it will be out for our enjoyment in July. All of you subscribers from the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and all of the northern plains states especially, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana should be very interested in this book. I know that I am and will snatch up the first copy I can find. As all of you know I am a historian rather than a reader of mysteries. This book is right up my alley.

Hopefully I will be going to lunch Tuesday with a good friend along with a beautuful woman that is a leader in the South Carolina Republican Committee. I have two decisions to make and that is who to vote for Governor (Republican, of course) and who to vote for US representative from the 4th district of South Carolina presently held by Bob Inglis. He needs to go home because he has lost touch with his constituency. The Republican committee woman, in addition to her beauty, has a lot of savvy about South Carolina politics and hopefully will be able to answer many of my questions, but eventually the choice will be mine in that voting booth.

I have included a short biography of one of the first trappers/explorers this country has ever seen, John Colter.

                                   John Colter

                               American Adventurer

John Colter was born near Staunton, Virginia in 1774. Little is known of Colter until his family moved to what would later become Maysville, Kentucky when little John was about five years old. Surviving in that area of the country was no easy trick. Even though the land later known as Kentucky was ceded to Virginia, the Indian tribes in the Ohio River valley who had not been party to this and considered that area to be their private hunting grounds. Believe it or not, the area was swarming with buffalo at the time. Anyway, these Indians raided the homes and villages of these honky settlers on a regular basis. Because of this, John Colter became an astute woodsman and an expert hunter and fighter. He was described as about 5’-10”, which was tall for that time, blond blue eyed and somewhat shy. He gained a reputation that caught the eye of a man named Meriwether Lewis. Lewis and his partner William Clark had been tasked by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the upper reaches of the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase and find out what was there and was assembling a crew. The obvious choice of travel was the Missouri River basin. No one at the time knew where the rivers origin was but they knew it went out of sight northwest of Saint Louis, Missouri at its branch with the Mississippi. America was very interested to find out if there was a water passage to the Pacific Ocean also. In October of 1803, Lewis offered Colter a place on the expedition at the pay of $5.00 a month. The offer was accepted and the expedition began gathering boats and supplies in Saint Louis. When Lewis and Clark were in Washington celebrating the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, against the orders of the sergeant left in charge, Colter and three others left the camp named Fort Dubois and went to the closest “grog” shop (bar) and got hammered. After Lewis and Clark returned to the camp they told Colter and the others that in their absence, the sergeant left in charge had the authority of a Captain and any further disobedience would result in expulsion form the expedition and ordered them to not leave camp for ten days. Colter was given a court martial because he threatened to shoot the Sergeant that had turned them in. But after Colter apologized to Lewis and the sergeant, he was reinstated. Soldiers will be soldiers, ya’ll. In May of 1804 Colter and the others departed Saint Louis, crossed the Mississippi and began rowing upstream up the Missouri River amid much ceremony. Before the day was out they were out of sight of civilization. Right from the start it became obvious that Colter was a superior hunter and was assigned as the provider of game for the expedition. It also became obvious that Colter was a superior woodsman and frequently led small scouting groups. The expedition wintered on the opposite bank of the River from a large Mandan Indian village in North Dakota. When the river froze over, the curious but friendly Indians came over to visit and trade. As the expedition passed through Blackfoot Indian country, they were frequently harassed. The Blackfeet had a virtual monopoly of the fur trade in their area and would not hesitate to keep it that way. They just did not realize that the expedition was not interested in furs but they lusted after what they saw in the boats like swords, guns and knives and would steal them at any opportunity. Lewis and Clark did not want to kill any of them because they did not want to start a war. In August of 1805, Colter accompanied William Clark on a scouting trip to see if there was a water passage on the North Fork of the Salmon River. There wasn’t and Clark sent Colter back to tell Lewis the bad news. Finally, taking the advice of their Shoshone guide, they crossed the Rocky Mountains via Lost Trail Pass. It proved to be a very strenuous undertaking. The expedition finally reached the upper reaches of the Columbia River and Colter was selected to be one of a small group to see where the river ended. Colter had located some Nez Perce Indians and the Shoshone guide was able to communicate with them and they said the Columbia River emptied into the Pacific. And indeed the River did empty into the Pacific and the expedition beached their boats near present day Astoria, Oregon. Colter was selected part of a small group to explore the coast north of their location. The group made it up to the coast of present day Washington State but not before having several run-ins with the Klamath Indians. This group established a camp that they named Fort Clapsop and spent a miserable winter amid weeks long rains and snow as is the norm in that area. In the spring of 1806 Colter and the others began retracing their steps to re-join the rest of the expedition. It went much faster now because they knew what lay ahead. After reaching the rest of the expedition, Colter, Forest Hancock and Joe Dickson requested to be discharged so they could go out on their own and trap furs. All three were honorable discharged and set out down the Rocky Mountain on their great adventure. The only problem was that three weeks later the three had a falling out and Colter set out alone. In 1807 in the vicinity of the Big Horn River, he ran across a fur trapping expedition led by Manuel Lisa. Lisa later became a legend in the lore of Mountain Men. Colter joined with this group for a while, and as you might suspect the irascible Blackfeet was on their ass constantly because there was no doubt that these honkies were trapping furs. He helped the Lisa expedition build Fort Raymond at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Big Horn Rivers. He stayed with the Lisa expedition until 1809 and then he and a man name Joe Potts split off from the Lisa group. It was after this that Colter enhanced his reputation. He and Joe Potts were captured by those damned Blackfeet and given an option. Be killed immediately or be stripped naked and after given a small lead, try to outrun a group of pursuing warriors. Potts and Colter chose the later. Potts was not as fast on his feet as Colter and was caught and killed but the fleet-footed Colter ran until there was only one Indian left so he stopped and killed that one. It is believed that Colter was the first white man to lay eyes on the wonders of Yellowstone. He reported many “gushers of steam” (geysers) and “bilins” (hot water mud holes). He was not readily believed but further exploration proved him right. Further descriptions that he made ensured that he had explored the Grand Teton Valley around what is now the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area. During the entire time he had to be on the alert for the Blackfeet. Colter headed back toward Fort Raymond to meet up with two friends that were going into a fur trapping expedition with him. When he got there he found out that both of his friends had been tortured and killed by the Blackfeet. Colter said that he had had enough of the Blackfeet and headed toward Saint Louis where he arrived in the fall of 1810. He met with William Clark, his old commander and told him what he had seen. Using this information, Clark created a map that was used for the next 75 years. Colter fell ill and died in 1812 of “jaundice” which was probably Malaria. He is buried near New Haven, Missouri on private land.

This day in history June 1

1779    On this day the trial of Benedict Arnold began in New York City. This trial was the precursor to the most infamous betrayal in American History. Arnold was a superb military field commander and proved his worth on many occasions especially at the Battle of Montreal and the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga but their were other encounters where his brilliance came to the fore. He was on trial for misuse of government wagons and the buying and selling of illegal goods. I think I know why. His wife Peggy came from a privileged family and was clearly high maintenance and Benedict was not a person of wealth. Peggy was a member of the Shippen Family of Philadelphia, a well known and well heeled group. Peggy was courted heavily by a British officer named John Andre’ that played a role in the life of Benedict Arnold. During the courtship of Peggy Shippen and Major John Andre, Andre’ was captured by Colonial General Montgomery and thrown in prison for 14 months. It was during this time that Arnold made his successful move on Peggy. Anyway Arnold was cleared of most of the charges but Washington gave Arnold a letter of reprimand. All of this weighed heavily on the vain Arnold and he felt that he should have been promoted for his actions in combat rather than get a letter of reprimand. With his little scam of dealing in the black market scuttled and Arnold, still smarting from the Court Martial, sought other ways to get money to support Peggy in the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed. He began secretly bargaining with the British government suggesting he wanted to defect...for a price. Arnold had been assigned the command of West Point, New York by the Patriot army and the British countered his offer with making him a General in the British army, paying him 20,000 pounds sterling if he would deliver West Point and the 3,000 troops there to the British. With the British in control of West Point and the Hudson River, it would essentially split New England down the middle. The messenger delivering these offers and counter-offers was John Andre’, who had been recently paroled from prison. Two things happened that sent the deal down the toilet. Andre’ was captured by some Patriot Army deserters and they found the plans for the betrayal in Andre’s boot and delivered it to George Washington. And number two, the British navy was sailing up the Hudson to take control of West Point and in spite of Arnold telling his troops not to fire on the British ships, the Patriot artillerists opened up and shattered the British formation and they hauled ass back to New York. When he found that he had been discovered and the plan had gone to hell, Arnold grabs Peggy and they get aboard a British warship HMS Vulture to avoid capture. Arnold joins the British army and fights with distinction against his own countrymen. After the war, Arnold has no home so he went to England where he died in 1801 and was buried without military honors. John Andre’ was hanged as a spy. I have not chosen to pursue what became of Peggy. She was aware of Arnold’s intentions and did not prevent it from happening. As far as I am concerned, she is just as culpable as Arnold and is deserving of no respect.

1864    US General Ulysses Grant and his gigantic Army of the Potomac had been chasing CSA General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia from one battle site to another but always finding the Confederates there ahead of him. The same thing happened on this day when Grant arrived at the small crossroads town of Cold Harbor, Virginia. When Grant arrived the Confederate army was there and dug in. Grant sent US General Phil Sheridan to take control of the actual crossroad and he succeeded but could go no further. Lee wanted control of the crossroad back and sent the young and inexperienced South Carolinian Colonel Lawrence Keitt and the 20th South Carolina Division to take it back. A sharp fight ensued and Colonel Keitt was killed almost with the first shots fired and the rest of the 20th began melting away and the Yankees held. Grant decided to wait another day to allow his full forces to arrive and be deployed. This was a serious error in judgment because it allowed Lee and the Confederates to continue to reinforce the breastworks bring up more artillery and when Grant finally launched his all out attack....well, y'all need to read about what happened next.

1871    Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin arrives in Abilene, Kansas where Bill Hickok is sheriff. By this time Hardin had been responsible for at least 22 killings that began when he was 14. When 14 he killed his best friend in a dispute over a girl by stabbing him twice with a knife. He killed a black man at the age of 16 when he lost a wrestling match to him. Hardin had joined up with a trail herd coming up the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene. He needed to get away because a few days before he had killed a Texas State policeman who was taking him to Waco for trial. During the trail drive, a herd of beef driven by a group of Mexicans began crowding Hardin’s herd from behind. Hardin rode back and told the Mexican trail boss to back off. The Mexican gave him shit, so Hardin shot him through the heart killing him. When the herd finally arrived outside Abilene, Hardin went to town and met with the renowned Wild Bill Hickok and they became friends. Hickok was not interested in murders committed outside his jurisdiction and I think he saw a little of himself in Hardin. Hardin was staying in a boarding house and one night a man in the next room began snoring loudly to the point that Hardin got so aggravated that he shot twice through the wall. The first shot was high and just woke the man up, but when he rose up the second shot killed him. Hardin knew that even Hickok would not sit still for this and he escaped out the window of the boarding house, hid in a haystack, stole a horse and hot-footed it back to Texas. Hardin was eventually captured and spent 15 years in the Huntsville, Texas prison. After getting paroled he moved to El Paso where the local sheriff was looking to build his reputation and walked up behind Hardin while he was standing at a bar and shot him in the head point blank. This ended the days of John Wesley Hardin. It is documented that he was responsible for the deaths of 44 men.

1942    For the first time the general public became aware of the murder of the Jews by the Germans. The polish underground newspaper “Liberty Brigade” published accounts of people that had witnessed the killing of Polish Jews by using “gas vans”. A “gas van” held about 30 people and the exhaust was routed into the back of the van killing them all. There were many such vans throughout Poland that was responsible for the killing of over 360,000 Jews. The Germans did not worry about who was “fit” of “unfit” to go to a work camp, their instruction was “ethnic cleansing” of the Jews from Eastern Europe. What monsters the Germans were.

Born today:

1801    Mormon leader Brigham Young. He said “A chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood further up.” The best I remember, Brigham had five wives until the US Government told him that there would be no state in the Union that fostered polygamy. The Mormon’s really needed to be a member of the United States to get the protection of the US Cavalry from the rampaging Indians in and around Salt Lake City and Utah in general. So the Mormon’s gave up multiple wives. What a damned shame.

1926    US actress Marilyn Monroe. She said “Is there any other part of Matzo that you can eat?.” She said this after being served “Matzo balls” three days in a row.

1974    Canadian singer Alanis Morrisette. She said “What I have to say is more important that the length of my eyelashes.” I knew it all along, size doesn’t matter...I have to believe that.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow