Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Noise means nothing. Often a hen will lay and egg and cackle like she has laid an asteroid.”

                                          Mark Twain

Up in Marshfield, NC a 23 year old man kicked open a front door of a house and entered wearing a ski mask and waving a gun. There was a woman and her son in the house. One of them dialed 911 and the other retrieved a 12 gauge shotgun. When the intruder turned a corner into a hallway he was met with a blast in the chest from the shotgun and died instantly. Both the mother and the son said that they could not remember who had the shotgun. I guess they were afraid that whoever did the shooting would be in trouble with the law...not so, there will be no charges by law enforcement. When you are under attack and afraid for your life, anything works.

       Date in History   May 29

1780 On this date British Colonel Banastre Tarleton led a cavalry charge of mostly Loyalists (American colonists who remained loyal to King George) against an out gunned and out manned Patriot force near the Waxhaws, a village on the South Carolina/North Carolina border south of what is now Charlotte, North Carolina. The Patriots did not have a chance and surrendered but Tarleton ignored the signs of surrender and kept ordering the shooting and bayoneting of the Patriots. The end result was 113 Patriots killed and 203 captured whilst Tarleton’s troops suffered 17 killed or wounded. This event was from then own known as “giving Tarleton Quarter”. Even though it was a rout, word of this atrocity spread like wildfire throughout the Carolinas and lit a fire of revenge under every Patriot that heard it especially a South Carolinian name Thomas Sumter, known to the British as “The Gamecock”. Sumter began a bloody reprisal against the South Carolina Loyalist that could be interpreted as nothing less than a civil war because it meant killing your neighbors if they were loyal to King George and kill them he did. Sumter was originally from Virginia the son of Welch immigrant parents. Through a series of adventures that would warrant another blog, Sumter ended up in central South Carolina with no money. He eventually married a wealthy widow and opened several successful businesses and an active plantation near the town of Stateburg located about 15 miles west of present day Sumter, South Carolina. Sumter was made Brigadier General of the local militia and was a proven warrior with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was instrumental in driving Tarleton and Cornwallis out of the Carolinas and into the waiting arms of George Washington and the Continental Army at Yorktown. Again he was one of those people that ended up at the right place at the right point in time to allow this melting pot of immigrants to congeal into the great nation we are today. It was no accident.

1953 On this day with a stupendous display of strength and stamina, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tensing Norgay reach the summit of Mount Everest for the first time by anyone. Hillary and Norgay were part of an 11 man climbing team who reached a base camp at the elevation of 27,400 feet and Hillary and Norgay made the assault on 29,030 foot summit alone. Then the hard part began...the descent. The two had traversed near vertical walls on the way up, now they had to negotiate them coming down. But they prevailed and one of the greatest feats of exploration and adventure came to an end.

1914 On the date the ocean liner “Empress of Ireland” departed Quebec Harbor, Canada into the Saint Lawrence Seaway headed to Liverpool, England. Since the sinking of the Titanic the shipboard safety devices and procedures had been greatly improved. The Saint Lawrence was very foggy on this spring morning and the Norwegian freighter “Storstad” was nearby but the both the captains of the Empress and the Storstad were aware of each other and indeed had each other in sight. Through a series of miss-interpreted signals the two ships finally engaged in a fatal embrace when the Storstad plunged 15 feet into the starboard side of the Empress. It took the Empress just 14 minutes to find the bottom and took more than 1500 passengers with her. There would have been more but the heroic efforts of the crew of the still floating Storstad resulted in the saving of scores of passengers from the frigid waters.

1864 After a series of running battles that began near the Wilderness and swinging south to the James River, US General Ulysses Grant had been out maneuvered and out guessed by CSA General Robert E. Lee. After leaving the Wilderness Grant headed as quickly as he could for the Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia only to find CSA General James Longstreet and his Corps already there and dug in. A fierce and bloody battle ensued with Grant withdrawing after receiving a severe ass-kicking. Grant’s intention was to get between Lee and Richmond and Lee knew this. It was no mystery and Lee simply guessed where Grant was going to try to make this happen. On this date Grant reached the Topopotomy Creek only to be greeted by the grinning rebels looking down on his army from the bluffs above. The frustrated Grant slid further south to a small crossroad called Cold Harbor only to find that Lee had indeed out-guessed and outmaneuvered him and had the Confederates dug in and waiting. The exasperated and angry Grant flung his army against the Confederate embrasures only to have his army chopped to pieces by aimed rifles/muskets and artillery. This is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in North America for its duration. Grant had to admit defeat once again and withdrew but he knew that he had almost an unlimited supply of replacements and Lee had none. It was a war of attrition after that.

Born today:

1630 King Charles II of England. He said “It is better to have one king than 500.” He was right there but why have any king at all? His father, King Charles I, was dethroned and be-headed by followers of Oliver Cromwell.

1736 American patriot Patrick Henry. He said “If this be treason, then let’s make the most of it.” Yet another fire breather in the right place at the right time.

1898 Canadian actress Beatrice Lilly. She said “One time Noel Coward and I was staying in a London hotel with adjoining rooms. I felt mischievous and knocked on his door. He said “Who is it” and I lowered my voice and said “It is the hotel detective, do you have a gentlemen in your room?” Noel said “Just a minute, I will ask him.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow