Monday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:

During WW1 an American Marine infantry unit was sent into the fray in Belgium at a spot known as Belleau Wood. Almost as soon as they got there a French officer said that they needed to retreat because the Germans had just launched major offensive in their direction. Marine Captain Lloyd Williams responded with “Retreat Hell, we just got here.” Captain William's Marines dug in and their actions in Belleau Wood went down in history as a benchmark in the courage and tenacity of the United States Marines.

This Date in History April 25

1859 On this date the first shovelful of dirt was turned over beginning the construction of the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal meant that boat traffic could travel from the Mediterranean and Black Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea without going around the continent of Africa. The first construction began near Port Said, Egypt with the designing French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps on hand. There had been attempts at building canals between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea since antiquity. Some were partially successful and others were not. Anyway, on this attempt the first construction was done by hand but eventually steam powered equipment was brought on the scene and things went must much faster. But even at that, it took ten years and when they were finished the canal was only 25 feet deep, 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface and only 75 feet wide at the bottom. This meant that the size and shape of ships able to traverse this canal was very limited and it was going to get worse when ships grew larger and larger. In 1876 a canal enlargement was began and the result went a long way toward today’s marine capacities. Unfortunately, the canal has been included in several battles, both political and otherwise especially if the Israelis are involved. The canal was closed for 10 years because of this crap but finally a man of vision, Egyptian Anwar Sadat opened the canal as a show of peace. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize during his watch as President of Egypt. As you might suspect, he was assassinated.

1781 On this date British General William Cornwallis and his 800 man army of British regulars and Loyalists met up with the 1,174 man army of Patriot General Nathaneal Greene near the Guilford Court House, North Carolina. The ensuing battle results in Cornwallis having his ass handed to him by the Patriots and he beat a hasty retreat to Wilmington, North Carolina and the safety of the cannons of the British warships anchored close by. Unfortunately there was another British General named Lord Rawson with 800 British/Loyalist troops that had been fed information by Loyalists that had been observing Greene and his army they the worst thing happened when one of Greene’s troops deserted and went to Lord Rawson and told him how short Greene was of supplies. Rawson chose to attack immediately before Greene was re-supplied. Rawson’s attack was successful and Greene was forced to retreat but he did not lose any of his few supplies or any of his artillery. Greene was a superb military commander and we were fortunate to have him. My home town, Greenville, South Carolina is name in his honor and there is a life sized statue of him in the steps of city hall as they are in many towns throughout America.

1862 Earlier US Admiral David Farragut had fought his way through attacks by forts on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans and on this date he arrived at that great city and it fell into Union hands. The US military chose to put US General Benjamin Butler in command of the US troops in New Orleans. A bad move y'all. The Creole and Cajun women of The Big Easy were used to genteel talk and treatment. But Butler’s men were typical soldiers and hit hard on these soft talking beauties. The ladies reacted by emptying their “waste” buckets on the heads of the Union soldiers walking the sidewalks below. Butler responded with an order saying that any woman that treated his soldiers with disrespect would be considered as “ladies of the night” or prostitutes. There was so much hell raised about this outrage that Butler was relieved of duty and sent back to the Carolinas. The order was rescinded but the oncoming commander had yet another problem. He could not speak Spanish or French which was the normal languages of the area. It was just one problem after another.

1989 After 21 years of being locked up for a crime he did not commit, James Richardson was released from a Florida prison. Richardson was convicted of killing his seven children. He was a field hand and was out picking fruit at the time of the alleged killing. He had hired a next door neighbor named Betsy Reese to come over and feed his seven children during lunch. A few minutes after eating the kids began foaming at the mouth and all died. The autopsy proved they were poisoned with insecticide. The prosecution decided in advance that the father was the culprit and did not pursue any other leads other than the police found some insecticide behind a barn near the Richardson home. They also pressed home that an insurance agent had visited the Richardson’s a few days before and an insurance policy for the children was discussed. What they did not say was that the insurance agent had shown up at the house unannounced (been there, done that, hated it) and talked about insuring the children but Richardson refused because he could not afford the premiums. The woman that came over to feed the kids for lunch admitted to her nurse at an old folks home that she had killed the children and that ain’t all, she had poisoned at least one of her ex-husbands. The Governor of Florida got wind of all this and soon Richardson was free. But 21 years is a long time in the slammer for doing nothing. It sounds like the prosecutor in the Duke Lacrosse players’ case to me. Some people in law enforcement do not want to be confused with the facts.

Born today:

1917 US Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. She said “The only thing better than singing is more singing.”

1908 US journalist Edward R. Murrow. He said “Just because your voice reaches half way around the world does not mean you are any wiser than reaching the other end of the bar.”

1969 US actress Renee Zellweger. When speaking of Hollywood she said “It opens your eyes in this town. It teaches you what you don’t want to be.”

Died today:

1970 US dancer Gypsy Rose Lee. She said “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

1995 US dancer Ginger Rogers. She said “My mother told me that she knew I was going to be a dancer because she could feel my toes tapping around inside her.”

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow