Thursday

Good morning,

Quote of the day;

“You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner.”

Aristophanes

A Brief History of Thanksgiving

In spite of popular belief, the first Europeans to put ashore in what is now Plimouth (the way the early Europeans spelled it), Massachusetts was not the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620, it was the infamous adventurer/explorer John Smith in 1614. That’s right; it is the same John Smith that had helped establish Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Smith had came to Plimouth to do some mapping because he had intentions of starting a plantation there. After completing his mapping, Smith departed and left a man named Thomas Hart to establish trading with the Indians. Hart proved to be an unscrupulous bastard and coaxed 24 Nanset Indians aboard his ship and locked them in the hold and set sail. Hart had intentions of sailing to Malaga, Spain and selling the Indians into slavery. To say the least, the Nanset/Patuxet Indians were extremely pissed and any progress made toward trade with the Europeans went down the toilet. One of the Indians aboard Hart’s boat was named Tisquantum but he became known as Squanto and he played a major role in the successful settlement by the Pilgrims as you will see. Hart did indeed land at Malaga, Spain and attempted to sell the 24 Indians. The problem was that there was an abbey close by and some Franciscan Friars came down and put a stop to it. The Friars took most of the Indians under their wing and began teaching them Christianity. Squanto was not one of them. He made his way to England and became an employee of a man named Thomas Slayer who was the Treasurer of the Newfoundland Company. The Newfoundland Company needed someone that knew the terrain and could speak the different dialects of the Indians in the New World and they took Squanto to be that person. They wanted to establish a fur trading link with the Indians. After Squanto had learned enough English they sent him to Newfoundland to translate and establish liaison with the Indians. After Squanto had been in Newfoundland for a few years, he met a sailing captain name John Devers that was with John Smith on his visit to Plimouth. Squanto talked himself into accompanying Devers on his next trip to Plimouth so he could get to see his relatives that he had not seen for several years. Squanto finally did get back to Plimouth in 1619. The downside was that his village had been wiped out by an epidemic in 1618-1619, probably contracted from John Smith’s group and all of his relatives had died of either tuberculosis or smallpox. He arrived just in time because the Mayflower arrived the next year. The Nauset Indians had not forgotten what Thomas Hart had done with the kidnapping of some their own and any suggestion that they should trade with the Europeans that Squanto knew was coming was met with scorn, especially by the most powerful chief in the area. That would be Massasoit, the Chief of the Wampanoag Confederation. But fortunately for the Pilgrims, Squanto was there to mediate. The Pilgrims finally arrived and anchored in Cape Cod Bay. It was not near any rock name Plimouth. Plimouth is a name given to the area by John Smith. From the git-go the Pilgrims had a hell of a time with the Indians but the Indians were fearful of their firearms and thought the Europeans could unleash an epidemic at will so they were very careful with them. The Mayflower had landed in November of 1620 and went through a hell of a winter with many of the pilgrims dying of exposure and starvation and all would have been wiped out if they had not received some help from the Indians at the behest of Squanto. The next spring the Indians helped the Pilgrims with gardening, especially maize or corn, and the local edible game and seafood. Squanto was responsible for this education also. The harvest of 1621 saw the Pilgrims led by Governor William Bradford and the Indians led by Squanto and Massasoit exchange gifts of food and game. This was essentially the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were not out of the woods yet because farther expansion westward led them into other tribes' territories and fights ensued but after the first harvest, they knew they were here to stay. As I have said many times before, I have to believe that the United States was ordained to be here by a higher power because when our ancestors needed guidance someone always showed up. This time it was a strong administrator like William Bradford and a take-no-prisoners type military man like the diminutive Mile Standish and first and foremost it was Squanto. Miles Standish was so short that he had to cut six inches off his sword to keep it from dragging the ground but his lack of altitude was more than compensated by his fiery attitude. Squanto got too big for his britches and began extorting his own people by threatening to have them shot or come down with a disease if they did not pay him off. Massasoit told Bradford the he wanted Squanto’s head because of the mistreatment of his people. Bradford had Squanto headed to the gallows when a ship showed up on the horizon and Bradford demurred. Bradford knew if it was more Pilgrims Squanto would be essential to their survival. There was indeed more Pilgrims aboard the ship Fortune and Squanto’s life was spared but Bradford’s warning to stop the sh-t with the extortion had an effect.

This Date in History November 27

1746 Robert R. (R.R.) Livingston is born on this date at his father’s estate, Clermont, on the banks of the Hudson River in upstate New York. R.R. was born into a family of the wealthy and privileged. In 1766 R.R.’s uncle Lord Livingston had been treating his tenant farmers severely and they revolted. They attacked the Livingston Manor in force and would have prevailed had not the English Army had not intervened and the attack was stopped. However, in 1777 the British army burned the Livingston estates of Clermont and Belvedere in retaliation for the Livingston’s siding with the Patriots in their search for independence and freedom. R.R. graduated from King’s College or present day Columbia. He was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the time of the Articles of Federation. He was a contributor in the phrasing of the Declaration of Independence but was not there for the signing. As he was the Chief Judge of New York, it was he that issued the oath if Office to George Washington at his first inauguration. He was selected as Chancellor of the state of New York and from that time on he was known as “The Chancellor” for the rest of his days. It was Livingston that was present in France trying to negotiate the sale of the port of New Orleans to the fledgling United States during the Jefferson administration. At the time, France was governed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had dreamed of coming ashore in New Orleans and conquering all of North America but he knew that war with England was on the near horizon and he could not fight a war of two fronts that far apart. After an offer to buy New Orleans was issued to Talleyrand, Napoleon’s chief of staff, Talleyrand responded with “How much will you give me for it all? He was talking about all of the French lands in North America except for Canada. Well, R.R. and John Jay about peed their pants and asked for some time to come up with an amount. This was the beginnings of the Louisiana Purchase which all but doubled the lands of the United States. R.R.’s soul departed this earth on February 26, 1813.

1863 On this date Confederate Raider John Hunt Morgan and most of his staff, having previously been captured, tunneled out of the US Prison Camp in Columbus, Ohio and escaped back to Tennessee. Morgan was a native Kentuckian but when Kentucky did not secede, he moved to Alabama and offered his services to the Confederate Army. He was assigned the task of making raids on US installations in Kentucky since he was familiar with the area. Later he felt his Wheaties and went into Ohio and raided several US facilities. The down side was that when he came back to his place of crossing the Ohio River back into Kentucky, there was an overwhelming US cavalry unit waiting for him. After an extended chase, Morgan and most of his staff were captured. After returning to Tennessee, Morgan assembled another cavalry unit and began his raids again. Ironically, a year later Morgan’s cavalry unit was the victim of a surprise US cavalry attack near Greeneville, Tennessee. Morgan was killed trying to organize a defense. His attacks in Kentucky and Ohio did little logistic damage but did enormous good for the morale of the Confederacy.

1978 On this date former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White walked into city hall and kills Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. He shot them both several times with a 9mm automatic pistol. It seems that earlier Dan White has not happy with the way things were going in city hall and had resigned. Soon thereafter, Mayor Moscone hires Harvey Milk to replace White. Milk was the very first acknowledged homosexual to hold public office. White was arrested in short order and charged with premeditated murder. White was upset because Moscone had not conferred with him before hiring Milk, and he expected Moscone to try and get him to come back to his supervisor job but Moscone did not do it and hired Milk. The funny thing about all of this was that White’s defense was that he was hyped up from eating too much junk food. It was the first of the so called “Twinkie” defenses. The astounding part about this is that the jury bought it and White got ten years for manslaughter. After White was paroled he had a hard time adjusting and eventually blew his own brains out. I guess he got back on the Twinkies.

1868 A year before, US Calvary officer Colonel George A. Custer had been disciplined for the mistreatment of his troops and was demoted and removed from active service for a year. While he was out of service, US General Phillip Sheridan’s troopers had been getting their asses handed to them by the Cheyenne in Kansas and Oklahoma. Sheridan relented and after 10 months he brings Custer back to active duty to see if he can contain the fierce Cheyenne. On this date, Custer launches a surprise attack on a peaceful Cheyenne village led by Chief Black Kettle near the present day town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma. As was common with Custer, he did no scouting or reconnoitering before attacking. If he had, he would have determined that this village was peaceful and was indeed on a reservation. It did not seem to bother Custer that the village was essentially unarmed and they killed 105 men, women and children in cold blood. Custer was not interested in punishing the Indians as much as he was in making a name for himself and getting back into a good light with his superiors no matter how many lives it took. It was his recklessness and lack of scouting that cost him 227 of his troopers being slaughtered and cut to pieces at Little Big Horn. In my personal opinion he may have been the worst officer the United States ever had. He was a good fighter but his ego came first before anything else, a very dangerous combination.

Births and deaths:

8BC Roman writer Horace is born. He said “Whatever your advice, make it brief.” The only advice I remember receiving was “Go slower”, and it was brief.

1874 US historian Charles Beard is born. He said “Whom the Gods choose to destroy, make mad with power.”

1909 US writer/critic James Agee is born. After reviewing the play “You Were Meant for Me” he wrote “That’s what you think”.

1937 US writer Gail Sheehy is born. She said “Creativity consists of letting go of certainties.”

1940 Legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee is born. He said “I am not in this world to fulfill your expectations of me and you are not here to fulfill mine.” Here, Here.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.