Friday

                         Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Your job is not to die for your country; it is to make the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country”.

                                      US General George S. Patton

                  This Date in History   June 9

1973 Three years earlier a stallion colt was born on Doswell Farm in Virginia. He was sired by the prolific Bold Ruler, a former Preakness winner, and was foaled by Somethingroyal. Bold Ruler was known for his stamina and so was his foal, Secretariat. Secretariat began racing as a two year old and he did not have a spectacular record. But when he began racing as a three year old, his owners knew they had a horse among many, one in a million. He won seven out of nine races as a three-year old before beginning his try at the Triple Crown. He won the Kentucky Derby after a spirited duel, the Preakness going away and everybody was waiting for the longest race of the three, The Belmont Stakes. The Derby and the Preakness were designed to test a horse’s pure speed but the Belmont was meant to test stamina. The press gave Secretariat the nickname of Big Red. In the Belmont Secretariat left the gate on the far outside and closed to third or fourth before the first turn and by the end of the back stretch he had a small lead but when he completed the last turn he had a two length lead and his jockey Ron Turcotte just let Big Red have his head and he thundered across the finish line 31 lengths ahead of the nearest horse. Big Red ran the Belmont in record time that has not been equaled before or since. Secretariat was the first Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948. He stood over 16 hands high with a blaze face and a chestnut coat making him very handsome. Beyond that he was just mediocre at producing colts. He spent the rest of his days frolicking on Claiborne Farms in Kentucky and providing an occasional stud service. He fell ill in 1989 and was euthanized. An autopsy revealed that he had a heart twice as large as other Thoroughbreds which may have been the reason for his success. Anyway, it has been my pleasure to have seen this athlete run. A few years ago there was a list made of the fifty best athletes of the century, number 35 was Big Red, the only animal on the list. He deserved it.

1863 After the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, CSA General Robert E. Lee decided to head for an invasion of the north and sent CSA General J.E.B. Stuart and his vaunted cavalry to Culpepper to screen the CSA movements. The vain Stuart decided to hold a parade in the meantime. The natives of Culpepper were thrilled at the pomp and circumstance of the parade but observing across the Rappahannock River was US General Alfred Pleasanton and his Yankee cavalry. After the parade General Pleasanton moved his cavalry to intercept Stuart near a small crossroad named Brandy Station. The result was the largest cavalry engagement in American history. There were over 5,000 cavalrymen engaged either by slashing sabers from horseback or dismounted and fighting hand-to-hand, It was absolute chaos The Confederates took the field and after hours of fighting around St. James Church, the Yankees withdrew. But this battle proved that the Yankee cavalry could finally hold its own against the better trained and mounted Confederates.

1856 On this date one of the most arduous and difficult trips ever attempted began at Ames City, Iowa. About 500 Mormons left Ames City headed for Salt Lake City hauling all of their belongings in two wheeled carts across the prairie. The historical sequence I read did not tell me how many people survived this trek but there losses had to be phenomenal. These folks were pulling/pushing an oxcart by hand, folks, by hand. The sheer difficulty of moving a cart by hand not to mention the weather and the hostile Indians that hated us honkies. But they finally arrived at Salt Lake City and were welcomed by Brigham Young. These trips continued for four more years. One girl that made the trip said that her family took about one million steps to get to Salt Lake City. That is determination, y'all.

1772 The New England traders were really pissed off at England for implementing the Townshend Act which deeply restricted the colonies from trading with any other country other than England. It also imposed restrictions on American fishermen from fishing in the rich North Atlantic for Cod which the colonies depended greatly. Now they would have to buy their Cod from the English. On this day an American sloop loaded with fresh Cod swept by an English blockade ship the HMS Gaspee. The Gaspee took off in pursuit following the sloop toward Newport, Rhode Island. The sly skipper of the sloop led the Gaspee over a shoal that was deep enough for the sloop but too shallow for the Gaspee and the British ship ran aground. This night an American trader named John Brown and several other colonists rowed out to the Gaspee, shot the Captain, and captured the crew. They sent the crew ashore and torched the ship burned that puppy down to the waterline. English authorities tried to find the perpetrators in the “Gaspee Affair” but none of the New Englanders would tell who did it. This event was known as the first naval action in the Revolutionary War. The Patriot actions of defiance against the British was so inspiring that an outfit called the “Committee of Correspondence” was formed which told of any act of defiance toward the British anywhere in the colonies to all the other colonies. It was a kind of gossip telegraph but it kept people’s blood hot for independence.

Born today:

1892 US songwriter Cole Porter. When asked “Who wrote ‘Some Enchanted Evening” he said “Rogers and Hammerstein, if you can imagine it taking two men to write one song.” Cole was married but that was just for show, he was a flaming homosexual. He was a brilliant songwriter, though. He gave us “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “You Would Be So Nice To Come Home To,” “Begin the Beguine”, “You do Something to Me”, “What is This Thing Called Love?”, and many, many others that are the recognized standards of American music. Cole died of kidney failure at the age of 73 in Santa Monica, California. He was buried in his home town of Peru, Indiana.

1934 US standup comic Jackie Mason. He said “I have enough money to last the rest of my life, unless I want to buy something.” Me too.

1940 US sportscaster Dick Vitale. He said “12 for 23. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that is less than 50%.” Dick, shut the hell up.

1947 US musician Mitch Mitchell. When speaking of “The Jimi Hendricks Experience” he said “There were three of us in the band so we split everything right down the middle.” Mitch, why don’t you shut the hell up too?

             Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow