Friday

                             Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“We cannot change the past. We cannot change the way others behave on a given day. We cannot change the inevitable. All we can do is play the one string that we have and that is our attitude. The longer I live I realize that life is 10% events and 90% how I react to them, and so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

                                                    Charles Swindoll

Two of my friends that have been together for at least 15 years revealed that they got married back in December consummating a relationship ordained by God. They are both Yankees, he is from the piney woods of Wisconsin and she is from the mean streets of Philadelphia. They came to their senses years ago and now live in one of the garden spots on the planet, Charleston, SC. Congratulations to Pete and Lana, I am in awe of your dedication to each other.

The employees of Sonny’s Café that gunned down three teenagers that were trying to hold them up will not be prosecuted. Spartanburg County Solicitor Trey Gowdy (now Congressman) stated that it is perfectly legal for people to execute a citizen’s arrest with force even if it is lethal.

          This Date in History   May 12

1937 Earlier in December of 1936 the King of England, Edward VII abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. As incredible as it sounds this man gave up a spot in history reserved for English monarchs for a woman he loved. Wallis Simpson could not be Queen because she was not of noble birth and was a divorcee. So on this date Edward’s brother titled George VI and his consort Lady Elizabeth are crowned King and Queen of England in Westminster Abbey with a ceremony that was a thousand years old. King George VI and Winston Churchill were instrumental in maintaining the British morale during WWII and especially during the so-called Blitz. The Blitz was an air bombardment of England engineered by German General Herman Goering who convinced Adolph Hitler that Germany could break the morale of the English people with air power alone. It didn’t work. Thanks to King George and Winston Churchill who visited every bombed out region of London and other cities in England encouraging the citizenry and the bulldog attitude of the English prevailed. Not only that, King George and Elizabeth continued to live in Buckingham Palace in spite of the bombing as a show of defiance. King George fell ill in 1949 but continued to do his stately duties until his death in 1952. After his death, his eldest daughter was named Queen as Elizabeth II and was crowned in June 11, 1953. She is still with us and has attended the Kentucky Derby. She loves to play the ponies. I recently heard that a reserved box seat at the Derby is $200,000.

1780 On this date the American army suffers its worst defeat in the Revolutionary war when the city of Charleston, South Carolina surrenders unconditionally to the 10,000 man British army led by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton. The Continental Army in Charleston was commanded by Major General Benjamin Lincoln. Clinton chose to surround the city on April 2 and establish a siege. After the surrender, the British captured 3,000 troops and an enormous quantity of equipment and supplies with the loss of only 250. But there was a price to be paid for their victory.

American guerilla leaders, Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter and Nathaneal Greene stepped up their attacks to a blistering pace and eventually the British forces were forced back into Virginia where they were trapped by General George Washington and the French navy at Yorktown, Virginia and were forced to surrender virtually assuring a Continental victory in the war. Washington showed some class at the surrender, he allowed General Benjamin Lincoln to accept British General Cornwallis’s sword as a symbol of surrender. What goes around.....

1864 This began the second day of combat at the Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. It began at the crack of dawn with US General Winfield Scott Hancock attacking the center of the Confederate lines and eventually broke through. They paused for a small celebration but were soon going back to where they came from after a ferocious Confederate counter-attack. The center of the Confederate lines was in the shape of an inverted “U” known later as the “Bloody Angle”. There was close quarters contact and hand-to-hand fighting at the peak of that angle for nearly 20 hours and the eventual result was a standoff. There were bodies five deep on both sides of the “angle” that have to be cleared out to make room for the living. When it became apparent to Grant’s superior, General Henry Halleck that this operation was going to be very costly in lives he asked Grant if he was going to re-deploy and Grant answered with “No sir, I plan to fight along this line if it takes all summer”, and stay he did. The fighting ended just before dawn on May 13. Eventually Lee had to withdraw toward Petersburg, Virginia where a grinding siege began.

1832 On this date William Sublette departed Independence, Missouri with a mule pack train full of supplies headed for a rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole, Idaho. Sublette’s father moved his large family from Kentucky to the Missouri frontier about 1817. His father set up a tavern in what is now Saint Charles, Missouri. William’s father died in 1823 and he joined one of the fur trapping expeditions. He soon found soon that fur trapping was no piece of cake. His expedition was attacked by a band of Arikara Indians where several men were killed and most of their supplies were stolen. The next year he joined with the famous frontiersman Jedediah Smith in another fur trapping expedition. Smith was not anxious to encounter the Indians so he took a little used trail in the Northern Rockies and discovered the famous South Pass. By 1826 Sublette was recognized as a seasoned mountain man and was in demand as a scout and guide. It was Sublette, among others that established the “rendezvous” system whereby the fur trappers and the suppliers met once a year at a specified location and the fur trappers traded their pelts for needed supplies. When Sublette arrived at this year’s rendezvous point of Pierre’s Hole, Idaho he met with his brother Milton whom he had not seen for several years. After taking care of business, Milton headed southwest with a small group. After about seven miles, Milton’s group met with a group of Nez Perce Indians and one of the group foolishly shot and killed one of the Indians and a fight ensued. William and the others heard the gunfire and headed that way. Upon arriving William saw that the trappers had the Indians outnumbered seven to one and so joined into the fight. The fight lasted until dark with the trappers losing 25 of their number. The next morning the Indians were gone. Sublette retired from active fur trapping in 1836 and moved to Saint Louis and became a businessman and gentleman farmer. Sublette contracted tuberculosis and died in Pittsburgh in 1845. He was headed to Cape May, New Jersey to recuperate. I would have thought he would have headed for the southwestern desert. Doc Holiday did but he died anyway come to think of it.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow