Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Who
was the guy that looked at a cow and said ‘I think I will drink
whatever comes out of those things when I squeeze them?”
Bill
Watterson
I
am reading the history of Scottish hero William Wallace who the movie
“Braveheart” was about. The movie took many liberties about what
he was really about. They showed Wallace and company winning the
Battle of Sterling with a pure infantry engagement in an open field.
What I read was it really as the Battle of Sterling Bridge. Sterling
is a town northwest of Edinburgh (the Scots pronounce it
“Edin-burah”) and has the Forth river running through. In the
battle Wallace's forces were on the east side of the river and the
army of Edward II on the west. The English army began crossing the
only bridge within many miles. After a certain amount of the English
army had crossed and Wallace knew he could defeat, he had his men to
set fire to both ends of the bridge trapping the jam packed English
army and cavalry. They could not jump into the river, they were in
armor and would sink like an anvil. They jumped anyway rather than
be burned alive while the horses went wild in their panic. Wallace
then turned his attention to the troops that had made it across and
annihilated them. Now you have the rest of the story.
This
Date in History January 31
1865
Earlier United States President Abraham Lincoln had declared that
the purpose of the Civil War was to preserve the Union. But after
the major ass-kickings the Union army had received during the first
year of the War, the northern public said “To hell with it, let the
Rebs have their own country, stop the bloodbath.” So Abe had to
took another tack to get the country back together so he now changed
horses and said the purpose of the War was to free the slaves. It
had been noticed that when the Union Army infrequently won a battle,
the slaves nearby would join-up with the Yankee soldiers and they
would not give them back to their owners. Then Abe issued the
Emancipation Proclamation which allegedly freed the slaves in those
states in rebellion. Abe’s advisers had in mind that those slaves
in the Confederacy would rise up in rebellion upon hearing of the
Emancipation but they were wrong, it did not happen and Abe stood
there with egg on his face. The Confederacy did not consider
themselves “states in rebellion”. They considered themselves as
a separate and equally sovereign nation. Not only that there were
four states that had slaves but had not seceded. What happened to
those slaves? And finally, the Proclamation was not enforceable. I
don’t know what Abe was thinking but the Emancipation Proclamation
wasn’t worth paper it was written on. It took the 13th
Amendment to the Constitution, that was ratified on this date, to get
the job done and it read in part ...”neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude shall exist in the United States nor any place
subject to their jurisdiction....” Now the law had some teeth.
This amendment passed the Senate and a House vote of 119-65, barely
enough of a majority. The bill was introduced in 1864 but failed to
pass the House vote because of “states rights” issues.
1923
One of my favorite writers is born on this day. Norman Mailer is
born in Long Branch, New Jersey and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
Norman was seen as a gifted child at an early age and was given a
scholarship to Harvard during WWII but delayed his education and
joined the army. After the war he attended the Sorbonne in Paris.
While there he was encouraged to pursue his obvious writing skills
and gave us one of the greatest war novels ever written in The
Naked and the Dead.
It is very unusual for an author to deliver such a blockbuster on
their first try. He wrote a couple of more novels that were not as
successful as his first. Norman joined the peace protest march in
Washington in 1967 and wrote about his experiences in the book Armies
of the Night and
received a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for this one.
Later he gave us another winner in The
Executioners Song.
It is the story of the last few days and months of convicted serial
killer Gary Gilmore before Gary met his maker in front of a firing
squad in Utah. Again, Norman received a Pulitzer Prize and another
National Book Award. Norman is known as a two-fisted drinker/brawler
and avid anti-feminists. He has written about nearly everything and
everyone. He has written about politics, war, religion, etc and
written biographies on people like Marilyn Monroe and Richard Nixon
among many others. He wrote about the Chicago police riot during the
Democratic National convention. His irascible nature and
anti-feminisms has made him one of the most controversial in the
entire literary world. It had been reported that he got into an
argument with actor Rip Torn and the mother of all brawls ensued. He
got into an argument with his wife at a party and chose to stab her
in the arm. But no matter, Norman Mailer is one of the most
versatile and talented writers this country has ever produced.
1945
During the later years of WWII the United States were running out
of soldiers and lowered the draft requirements. Eddie Slovik had
originally been rejected because of a Grand Theft Auto conviction.
Since the lowering of the standards Slovik was re-classified as 1-A,
trained and sent to France to join the 28th
Division as a private. Slovik got lost in the turmoil of battle and
ended up with a Canadian outfit. Slovik was a hater of guns and a
pacifist and refused to fight. The Canadians finally got fed up with
Slovik and turned him over to MP’s of the 28th
Division. Slovik told his commanding officer that he does not want
to fight and ran away to the Canadians again. He is again returned
to the MP’s of the 28th
Division. This time his commander gives him a choice to go
immediately to his combat team or face a firing squad. Slovik
refused and a date is set for his execution. He appealed to General
Dwight Eisenhower but this is a bad time for this because the Battle
of the Bulge was underway and American soldiers were dying by the
hundreds. Eisenhower rejects Slovik’s appeal and on this date at
dawn, a firing squad of twelve riflemen ended the life of Private
Eddie Slovik for cowardice and desertion. He was the first man in
the United States military that was executed since the Civil War. It
was reported that the men in the firing squad never flinched because
they believed he was getting what he deserved. Maybe so, maybe not.
Born
today:
1892
US entertainer Eddie Cantor. He said “Every time I see a Most
Wanted list I have this thought. If they had been wanted in their
youth, would they be wanted now?” I wonder if Atilla the Hun was
wanted as a youth.
1905
US writer John O’Hara. He said “So who is perfect?
Washington had false teeth, Ben Franklin was nearsighted, Mussolini
had syphilis, unpleasant things have been said about Walt Whitman and
Oscar Wilde, Tchaikovsky had his problems too, and Lincoln was
constipated a lot.” That is really ironic that thousands of troops
on both sides in the Civil war died of dysentery.
1921
US actor John Agar. He said “Hell I don’t drink anymore than
John Wayne, Ward Bond, Spencer Tracy, Alan Ladd or Robert Walker but
I got in hell of a lot more trouble.” John, that is because you
got into the acting business only because you were married to Shirley
Temple.
1938
US Secretary of the Interior James Watt. He said “Hell, we
don’t have to protect the environment; the evangelicals say the
Second Coming is at hand.” He is right y'all. If the Second
Coming is at hand, why do we need to worry about the future?
Thanks
for listening I can’t wait until tomorrow
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