Daily history

Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“Working with Cher was like being in a blender with an alligator.”

Sam Elliott



A few months ago a tow truck operator was hired by the city of Bluffton, S.C. (Hilton Head) to tow any vehicles that were illegally parked on this one particular street. The tow truck operator had hooked up a mini-van and was in the process of moving it when a man named Juan Olivera ran out and flagged the driver down. The driver got out and explained to Juan that the “No Parking” signs meant what they said and to get his van back, he would have to pay a $300 fine. Juan chose this moment to pull his jacket aside and showed the driver a pistol in his waist band. The driver chose this moment to produce a pistol of his own and sent Juan to meet his maker air conditioned with two shots from his trusty .40 caliber Glock. The driver told the cops that he was in fear for his life. No charges have been filed as of yet…I hope that none will.



I was thinking about the Christmas Day that I remembered the most as far back in years as I could. I think it was when I got my first bicycle. Within a couple of months my Dad had got me a paper route to help pay for the bike. We were really poor, y’all. The bike was also my transportation to school at a distance of about 3 miles. It doesn’t sound like much but in a driving rain storm it was no fun, and neither was the paper route. I delivered the evening paper. I had to ride about four miles to pick up my papers and backtracked on my delivery route. It was no fun but that experience plus making me work all summer bagging groceries or work with an air conditioner and heating repair man, went a long way convincing me that I needed to learn how to make a decent living rather than a “slave labor” job. My brother (an architect) wrapped insulation around air conditioning ductwork all summer, usually in the attic or worked on large construction sites as a “gofer” which usually meant pushing a wheelbarrows full of debris all summer. My brother and I got the message.

This date in history


1781    British troops under the command of Major James Henry Craig occupied John’s Island, South Carolina. Craig and his troops had been kicked out of Wilmington, North Carolina a month before. Patriot General Daniel Morgan ordered the inimitable Lt. Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee and his famous cavalry unit from the Star Fort in the back country of South Carolina near the settlement of Ninety-Six to go kick those redcoats out of there. Just before arriving Lee learned that the Patriot infantry unit led by Major James Hamilton had arrived late and could not ford the Wapoo River so Lee aborted the attack. Because of the flow of the river and variable tidal conditions, the Wapoo River could only be forded once or twice a month and this was not one of those times. It was the relative isolation of some of the coastal island off South Carolina that preserved the Gullah language and traditions. Gullah is a Creole culture that dates back to Elizabethan times and was brought over to America in the slave trade. It was well into the 1950’s that some of these islands could only be reached by water. The Gullah language is exciting to hear because of the accents, rhythm and tempo. However, to the non-Gullah you can understand but very little. There are islands in the Chesapeake Bay, Tangier Island for instance, that was settled by the English and their isolation helped preserve the Old English language to this day.



1822    Future Confederate General William B. Taliaferro is born in Gloucester County, Virginia. He attended William and Mary College and Harvard Law School. He practiced law for just a few years before volunteering in the United States Army during the Mexican War where he achieved the rank of Major. Before the outbreak of the Civil War he served in the Virginia legislature and militia. After the war began he offered his services to the Confederacy and was assigned to General Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson’s Brigade. He and Stonewall got off to a rocky start. He got involved in a dispute between Jackson and CSA General William Loring. Loring had circulated a petition protesting Jackson stationing troops at Romney, Virginia and Taliaferro had signed it. I did not look into the particulars of this situation because Jackson ignored both of them and did what he wanted to anyway. Taliaferro served with Jackson for the first part of the War and was with Jackson during the immortal Shenandoah Valley campaign. After that he went to Charleston, South Carolina and assisted CSA General P.T.G Beauregard in the design of the city’s coastal defenses. Beauregard had nothing but enthusiastic accolades for Taliaferro’s skills. He was present at the evacuation of Savannah, Georgia and ended the war fighting with CSA General Joseph Johnston near Bentonville, North Carolina. After the war he practiced law and served as a Virginia legislature and as a county judge before dying in his home in 1898. I visited Stonewall Jackson’s home in Lexington, Virginia once and the guide kept talking about Colonel “Tolliver” being part of Jackson’s staff. I kept looking at the booklet trying to find Colonel “Tolliver” with no success. I finally asked the guide who she was talking about in the pamphlet and she pointed to Colonel Taliaferro.



1793    0n this date American Thomas Paine is arrested in France and charged with treason. That’s right; it is the same Thomas Paine that wrote Common Sense and America in Crisis that inspired out forefathers to not give up in their quest for freedom from the British. At the outset of the French Revolution, Paine had gone to France to see if he could help. Evidently Paine loved revolutions. Paine was a hard core opponent to the death penalty and the French revolutionaries were keeping the guillotine hot chopping off heads of the elitist and backers King Louis. Paine raised so much hell that the revolutionaries arrested him to shut him up. It wasn’t a bad incarceration however. He was locked up in the Luxemburg Prison which used to be a castle. He had a room with two windows, was locked up only at night and had catered meals. None the less, when President James Monroe found out about it, he raised so much hell that the French released Paine after a short while. Paine had been writing a book called Age of Reason which stated that God did not influence the actions of people that it was science and rationality that prevailed over religion and superstition. After the book was published an outcry around the world was heard. Paine was declared as Godless and anti-Christ. Needless to say, his follows and admirers in America vanished. He died penniless in New York City in 1809. That just goes to show you that in those days you just did not suggest an alternative to religion.



1900    On this day, 6 foot tall, 175 pound Miss Carrie Nations walked into a bar in Wichita, Kansas and started giving everyone there a large ration of shit about drinking alcohol. While she is at it, she whips out a hatchet and begins breaking up the place. This was not the last one she started hacking up meaning she spent several nights in the slammer. What brought her to this point was early in life she married an Ohio doctor that had a serious drinking problem. She admitted that she knew of his problem before she married him but thought she could “change him”. It didn’t work, he died in an asylum. After this Carrie married a Methodist minister but never forgot the husband that died an alcoholic in spite of her nagging. As we all know, Carrie’s biggest mistake was thinking she could change a man into what she wanted him to be. Anyway, with Carrie stalking the bars in and around Kansas, the consumption of alcohol fell slightly. After Carrie died in 1911 it was business as usual in the land of the Jayhawks. This reminds me of an experience I had. I was sitting at one of my favorite watering holes and a young lady came in and sat down beside me with sadness around her so thick I could cut it with a knife. I asked her why she was so sad. She said her husband had just been sent to jail for two years for dealing drugs. I asked her how long she had been married and she said nine months. Then I asked her if she knew her husband was a dealer when she married him. She said “Yes I did, but thought I could change him.” HELLO! You accept people as they are or not at all!



1832    On this date, Vice President John C. Calhoun resigns to take a vacant United States Senate seat in his home state of South Carolina. This Yale graduate was the first sitting Vice President to resign but it would not be the last. I will let ya’ll figure out what other Vice-President(s) have resigned. Anyway, Calhoun did not get along at all with President Andrew Jackson who kept Calhoun under wraps to decrease his political clout. John C. Calhoun was born near Abbeville, South Carolina in 1782. He served in the state legislature before being elected as Senator. Calhoun was a protector of the agrarian based South against the industrial based North. He also was a hard-core believer in the slave/plantation institution. He called it a “positive good” rather than a ‘necessary evil”. Calhoun spent the majority of his life in high public office including Secretary of War, Vice-President under two different Presidents, US Senator, US Representative. During his time in office the most powerful politicians were Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Calhoun died in 1850 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the graveyard of St. Peters church in Charleston, South Carolina.



Born today:



1856    US President Woodrow Wilson, He said “Do not murder someone that is in the process of committing suicide.” Sound wisdom, Woody.



1905    US comedian “Charlie Weaver” who’s real name was Cliff Arquette. When he was on the TV show “Hollywood Squares” the emcee Peter Marshal asked him “If you are going on a parachute jump, how high should you be?” Charlie answered “Three days of straight drinking ought to do it.” I think so too.



1946    When Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee gave his response to the question about the team losing 6 straight games to the Yankees the last week of the season. He said “Our pain ain’t as bad as you might think. Dead people don’t feel pain.” No Comment.



1969    US Computer expert Linus Thorvalds In 1968 this jackass said “Microsoft is not evil, it is just not a very good operation system” Hey Linus, have you ever heard of Bill Gates and John Allen? I didn’t think so. Come to think of it I have never heard of you either.



Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.