Monday

                              Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

                                       Winston Churchill

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the oldest person to play in the NFL and how old was he?

Answer at the end of the blog.

                  This Date in History April 9

1865 On this date, after several months of misery on both sides in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, the Union and the Confederacy come to terms and the greatest catastrophe that this great country had ever experienced came to an end. Earlier CSA General Robert E. Lee felt he had to leave the trenches of Petersburg and go to ammunition and food stores that were known to be stored at different point west of Richmond. Lee ordered his troops to attack at Union encampment and open a hole for a Confederate breakout. The breakout occurred and Lee and his 34,000 troops head out west with Grant and the Union Army in close pursuit. In fact, Union cavalry officer Phil Sheridan was able to outrun the Confederates and swung around and at a place called Saylor’s Creek he confronted the famished CSA troops and captured 6,000. A couple of days later Sheridan again cut off the retreat and Lee found himself trapped on two sides and outnumbered about 2 to 1. Lee called a truce and sent a messenger to find Grant and asked for terms (meaning surrender terms). A time was set at the house of Wilbur McLean near the Appomattox County Court House on this date. At about 1:00p the meeting finally happened and Grant was very generous with the terms and immediately pardoned all of Lee’s troops and told his troops that there would not be any shouting or the playing of the Union band in celebration. He said that the Rebs were again their brethren and they shared their rations with the starved Confederates. There were minor skirmishes for a few weeks thereafter but essentially the war was over. The final total was about 680,000 Americans dead. There were more Americans killed in this conflict than in all other wars combined. The downside was that there were hard feelings between both sides for years to come. But it was not primarily because of anger between the military troops; it was because of the raping the South took during Reconstruction. A point of interest was the first major battle of the war was at Manassas, Virginia and the majority of the fighting swirled around Wilbur McLean’s house there so Wilbur decided to move away from this danger and moved to a House near the Appomattox County Court House where the fighting ended and his house was used to conduct the surrender ceremony.

1881 After one hour a jury convicts William Bonny of the murder of the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. There was no doubt that “Billy the Kid” did indeed shoot and kill the sheriff but it was as part of the notorious Lincoln County wars. This was simply a war for control of the cattle meant for the Indians on a nearby reservation. Billy the Kid was on the side of cattleman named William Tunstall and the other side was the owners of a mercantile store that had the sheriff of the county on their side. There was a confrontation and the Lincoln County sheriff shot Tunstall down in cold blood. The hot blooded Billy knew that he was not going to let this go and planned the execution of the sheriff. Two days before Billy did indeed cap the sheriff. He was captured and was imprisoned on the second floor of the Lincoln County Jail. Somehow, Billy got his hands on a firearm and disarmed the guard of their shotguns. On his way out of the jail, two other guards came running up and Billy shot and killed them both. He made good his escape but unfortunately for Billy two days later Marshal Pat Garrett showed up. Pat knew every nook and cranny that Billy hung out and Pat also knew his girlfriend who lived at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Billy could have run for a thousand miles but he chose to try and hide out close by so he could see his girlfriend. Pat found out where Billy is staying and laid in wait for Billy in his bedroom at night. Billy finally returns from seeing his girlfriend and Pat put a .44 slug in his sternum and one in his heart. It was the end for the legendary “Billy the Kid”.

1939 On this date black opera singer Marian Anderson who had fought her was up from the slums of Philadelphia to be recognized as one of the finest opera stars in the world was scheduled for an Easter Sunday concert at the Constitutional Hall in Washington, D.C. At the last minute the Daughter of the American Revolution cancelled the concert because Marian Anderson was black. So Marian, followed by 75,000 trudged over to the Lincoln Memorial and gave a free outdoor concert. The First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her post at the DAR for this outrage. Even after this dramatic performance in1939, it was 1955 before she was invited to sing at the New York Metropolitan. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy awarded he United States Medal Of Freedom. She retired to Oregon where she died in 1993 at the age of 96. We are better than we were but there is plenty of racial prejudice out there seething just under the surface.

1942 One of the darkest days in the United States military history happens on this date. After three months of a heroic defense of the Bataan peninsula in the southwest Philippines, a half-starved, malaria-ridden division of America and Filipino soldiers stagger out of the jungle and surrender to the Japanese overwhelming forces. The horror that was coming was going to be even worse and that being the Bataan Death March. The Japanese lined up these troops and began a 110 mile march to a prison camp inland. They were already weak from dehydration and malaria and a large percentage of the fell by the wayside and were bayoneted by the Japanese guards. The overall US commander was General Douglas McArthur but he was ordered out by President Roosevelt to help plan the recovery of the Philippines. McArthur left General Wainwright in command. Two years later when McArthur returned he saw to the release of General Wainwright and openly wept and sobbed at the emaciated condition of Wainwright. Wainwright was a principal in the signing of the instrument of surrender of the Japanese on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Born today:

1821 French writer Charles Baudelaire. He said “I love listening to Wagner; it is like listening to a cat hung by its tail outside your window scratching the pane of glass.”

1894 English heir Tommy Manville. He said of divorcing one of his 13 wives “She cried profusely and the judge wiped her tears with my checkbook.” Sounds familiar.

1461 English playwright Sir Francis Bacon. He said “Imagination is given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor for what he is.”

Answer to the trivia question:

The oldest player in the NFL was George Blanda at the age of 48 with the Oakland Raiders.

            Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow