Thurday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I am not saying that I am fat but when we were selecting a cast for the Christmas play, they wanted me to play the city of Bethlehem.”

                                               Jo Brand

Earlier for the first time in history the state dog of South Carolina was a represented breed in the prestigious Westminster Dog Show. The breed is the Boykin Spaniel. This particular breed does not have a long history. Here is the story: About 1900 a man named John Whitaker came out of church in Spartanburg, SC and there was a stray dog roaming the grounds. It looked like a Cocker but it was a bit larger and solid dark liver colored. He took the dog home as a pet. Whitaker saw some traits in the dog that would be advantageous to a hunter and sent the dog by train to his hunting partner who was also a dog breeder. His partner lived in the small town near Camden, SC named Boykin; in fact the man’s name was “Whit” Boykin. Boykin also recognized the built in skills of the little dog and began a breeding program to take advantage of them. The little male stray dog began a new breed that is recognized today by hunters and dog fanciers alike. Boykin bred him with Chesapeake Bay retrievers and water spaniels until the right mix of speed, stamina and savvy in a hunting blind was achieved. The final product is about 35-40 pounds for a male and slightly smaller for a female but all are bundles of irrepressible energy and enthusiasm when taken afield. They are superb on a dove field as well as a duck blind. They are small enough and their gait is even enough to be used from a small boat. My neighbor when I lived in Taylors, SC many years ago owned a female Boykin. I went with him once when he took “Curlie” out onto an open field to let her “stretch her legs”. When she got out of the car she was urinating in anticipation but held close to the owner until he said “Go”. Off she went in a zigzag pattern very low to the ground running at a blistering pace. Finally she slowed down and began a search running at a gait like a cheetah just before they break into a full run. Her back was low to the ground but it did not move up and down, she moved in a straight, rhythmic pattern…it was poetry in motion. What a beautiful animal. 

This Date in History February 16

1862 US General U.S. Grant completes a brilliant campaign in the western theater with the capture of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee. Just 10 days before he had captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River which severely damaged the Confederate supply routes. The Confederate troops at Fort Donelson were led by General Gideon Pillow. Fort Donelson was well defended by seasoned troops. Grant chose to attack from two directions and was initially successful but General Pillow ordered a counter-attack and drove the US army back making an escape possible, but Pillow got greedy. He thought he would win and continued the attack rather than ordering an escape. Included in those that chose to escape were CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest and 500 cavalrymen that proved to be a thorn in the side of the Union army for the entire war. Eventually Grant was able to flank Pillows troops and they were forced to surrender. When Pillow asked Grant for surrender terms the answer was “nothing but total and unconditional surrender will be accepted”. Grants troops joked around saying that the U.S. in Grant’s name meant “Unconditional Surrender”.

1803 The fledgling United States merchant fleet had been under attack by pirates in North Africa while the ships were in the Mediterranean Sea. President Thomas Jefferson got fed up and sent our Navy there to counteract the pirates. One of the US warships, the Philadelphia, ran aground near Tripoli and was captured. The US Navy felt that they had to prevent the pirates from adding to their fleet with a ship the caliber of the Philadelphia. On this date, Lieutenant Stephan Decatur and 73 sailors and Marines sailed into Tripoli harbor disguised as Maltese fishermen. They boarded the Philadelphia, killed the crew and set fire to the ship and it burned that puppy down to the waterline. Decatur and his crew escaped with no casualties. Decatur became an icon in the history of the United States Navy. There are several towns named for him.

1894 For reasons known only to the Texas Prison System, on this date they pardoned one of the most bloodthirsty gunfighters in the history of the American west, John Wesley Hardin. Hardin killed his first man at the age of 15 and at least 40 more followed. On his 21^st birthday he got into an altercation with another man. The other guy drew and fired first but missed, Hardin didn’t. Even though he shot in self defense, Hardin did not want to be arrested so he hit the road. He was tracked down and captured by the Texas Rangers on a train in Pensacola, Florida. He was brought back and was given a trial, convicted and sentenced to life. While in prison he got an education and became a lawyer. After he was pardoned he began a law practice in Gonzales, Texas but this small town did not have enough excitement so he moved to El Paso. Soon after moving he was standing at a bar when the sheriff walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly. Hardin had been in prison for 17 years but was killed for his past bad acts. Beware; your past will catch up with you.

1968 On January 31 the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army combined with the most coordinated attack of that unfortunate war, it was the beginning of the Tet Offensive. They were successful in capturing seven of the largest South Vietnam cities and 30 provincial capitals. They even sent a squad of shock troops that captured and occupied the US embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Mein city) for six hours. A platoon of US paratrooper was dropped on the roof and the invaders were routed or killed. There were 1,000 Viet Cong guerillas that hid out in Saigon and it took 11,000 American and South Vietnamese troops 10 days to find and kill or capture them. On this date, the US State Department announced that the Tet Offensive resulted in 350,000 refugees in addition to the 800,000 that were there already. What a freaking nightmare.

          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow