Musings and History
Quote of the day:
“Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting with you now,
This much let me avow-
You are not wrong who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision or in none,
Is it therefore less gone?
All we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.”
Edgar Allen Poe
Why were wheeled vehicles not used by the Maya and Aztecs? Answer at the end of the blog.
This Date in History June 29
1775 The Continental Congress ratified the Articles of War to be sent to King George III. This was a year before the Declaration of Independence was ratified. The Articles of War begins with the phrase “As his majesty’s most faithful subjects in these colonies”, and it goes on to describe “attempts of the British ministry to carry out the execution, by force of arms, unconstitutional and oppressive acts by British Parliament with taxes on America.” The colonists could not believe that King George III would knowingly allow unfair treatment of his subjects and this was an attempt to notify him of it. This was not a condemnation of King George, but of Parliament. King George not only did not agree with the colonists, he did not even read the Articles of War. With this the Colonists knew they were being raped with the approval and encouragement of King George III. After this, the wrath of the colonists turned from Parliament to King George himself. The Declaration of Independence attacked and accused King George not Parliament. In the span of 12 months the colonists re-focused their venom on the King alone. All of this was stoked into an inferno in January of 1776 when Thomas Paine published Common Sense and it scathingly called King George everything but a white man and listed many unfair things that he had allowed to happen to the colonists. This was a clear act of treason as the British saw it and they began applying even more harsh pressure on the colonists. It did not work then, nor in 1812 and hopefully never.
1862 We are about half way through the so-called Battle of the Seven Days. On this day the Battle of White Oak Swamp occurred. CSA General Robert E. Lee decided that the time has come to apply the coup de grace to the Army of the Potomac that is in full retreat with Lee hounding their every step. Lee gave a plan of attack to his three Corp commanders in which the Army of the Potomac would be attacked from three different directions at once. It was a complicated plan and required precise timing. After the attack began, inexplicably, CSA General “Stonewall” Jackson allowed his attack to stall at the edge of the swamp which allowed the Union troops being under attack by him to reinforce other troops that were being overwhelmed. No one has ever figured out to this day what Jackson was thinking. Anyway, this action also allowed the Army of the Potomac to go to the closet high ground and dig in……Malvern Hill. But that is another story.
1981 Glen Godwin got into an argument with a known drug dealer named Kim LeValley. In his rage Godwin stomped, beat, choked and stabbed him 28 times. He wasn’t done yet. He took the corpse out onto the desert near Palm Springs, California and using a home made explosive, blowed it into confetti. Godwin is caught and sentenced to 25 to life and goes to Soledad Prison. While there he marries Shelly Rose. In 1985 He is transferred from Soledad to Folsom prison. In 1987 he escaped from Folsom through a 300 yard drain pipe that someone had cut the iron bars off the end from the outside. He got on a raft, floats across the American River to freedom. In 1989 the American authorities receive a message from Mexico they have a man in custody named Stewart Carrera that has the same fingerprints as Glen Godwin. Before they could get him extradited, Godwin killed his cellmate and escaped. In 1996 Godwin is put on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and he and Shelly are featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” Someone recognized Shelly on the TV show as living in Dallas and she is arrested. But Shelly had divorced Glen long ago and had remarried. She had no idea where Glen was. And no one else does either because he is still at large to this day.
1878 On this day the 140 ft stern wheeler river boat “Far West” arrived on the Little Big Horn River and begins taking aboard the wounded troopers from the infamous battle. Remember, there were three units of US cavalry at that battle. It was only Custer’s unit that was annihilated. Even though the other two units suffered horrendous casualties, there were survivors. The pilot of the “Far West” was the best at the time in Grant Marsh. The boat only drew 20 inches of water when fully loaded and therefore could navigate a long way up streams and rivers before running out of water. Marsh took the wounded troopers to Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota. There is little doubt that the easy ride on the boat saved many of the wounded. A ride in a wagon to the fort would have been fatal to many of them.
1520 On this day the Aztecs in the capitol of Tenochtitlan led by their king Montezuma II finally get fed up with the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez and his troops and revolt. First of all, Tenochtitlan is an island in the middle of a huge lake with a man made causeway to the mainland. It was located approximately where Mexico City is today. The Aztecs sealed off the causeway making Cortez and company have to fight their way out by boat. Cortez loses many troops when the boats carrying the troops along with an overload of gold booty each, capsize and sink, drowning most of them as they are in armor. Cortez escaped, but Montezuma is killed. No one knows if it was the Spanish or the Aztecs that killed him but the next day Montezuma’s brother assumes the crown. Eventually, Cortez returned and with the help of other tribes retook the city. The other tribes resented the hated Aztecs because they subjugated them and required tribute from them all, even all the way to present day Nicaragua.
Births and deaths:
1918 US singer Lena Horne is born. She said “It is ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how much she wants it. But occasionally we do.” Lena has her finger on the pulse of womanhood.”
Quotable Quotes:
“If there is no hell, a good many preachers are receiving money under false pretenses.”
Billy Sunday
Answer to the trivia question:
Wheeled vehicles were known to the Maya and Aztecs because wheeled toys have been found in tombs but they did not use them in their lives because they had no draft animals. Horses and mules were unknown to Central and North America before the Spanish conquistadors came.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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