Tuesday

                               Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“It is an absolute scientific fact the the human body will not absorb cholesterol or calories from food taken from another person's plate.”

Dave Barry

Trivia question of the day:

Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence? Answer at the end of the blog.

                  This Date in History July 3

1863 This, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, sees CSA General Robert E. Lee giving CSA General James Longstreet the battle plan for the day. Lee believes that since the Union flanks were attacked yesterday, the Union will reinforce there leaving the very center of their line weakened. So he orders Longstreet to plan an attack on the center of the Union lines. Longstreet is not thrilled with this operation and tells Lee that he thinks a frontal assault will fail but Lee stands fast and Longstreet begins ironing out the details of the attack. His plan is to gather about 15,000 soldiers, and spread them out in a line about a mile long and attack. And at the last moment, all of the troops would turn and attack one spot. That spot was a clump of trees in the center of the Union lines. Lee picked the clump of trees because they would be visible to all. The attack began about 1:00p with a two hour long artillery barrage by the Confederates which was the most powerful barrage ever fired in North America. The Union leaders were taken by surprise at such a ferocious barrage but they knew what was coming next. After the barrage lifted, the infantry stepped out of McPherson’s Woods and began their march across an open field about a mile across. I have been there and let me tell you, there was no cover anywhere on that field. The lead element of the infantry was CSA General George Pickett’s division. Almost as soon as they cleared the woods, the infantry came under artillery fire from the Union batteries which continued during the entire attack. The Confederates had to cross Emmitsburg Road which was fenced on both sides and the Confederates were slightly delayed tearing down the fences. This allowed the Union artillery to re-aim and the result was devastating to the Confederates. They were broken up into small clumps of men rather than a unified front. By then they were within range of the Union riflemen and the fire cut the Confederates down like wheat. Eventually, the Confederates reached the Union lines and hand to hand combat ensued. The Confederates had lost so many men that they could not break the Union line and had to retreat back across that open field still being hounded by the Union artillery. After the firing ceased, there were over 7,000 Confederates dead on the field. Lee was expecting a counter-attack and told his officers to prepare a defense. When he told George Pickett to “see to your division”. Pickett responded with “General Lee, I have no division.” It was true. Only a handful of Pickett’s men made it back across that field. The Union did not counter-attack as expected and Lee ordered his troops to gather up and prepare to go back to Virginia. The next morning during a deluge, the Army of Northern Virginia began the long trek back across the Potomac and the safety of home.

1989 On this date down in Georgia, Martha Ann Johnson is arrested for the murder of her daughter Jennyann Bowen. That’s right folks, I said her daughter. And that ain’t all, listen to this. An Atlanta newspaper picked up on this and did some research and found out that this monster had a string of dead children going back to 1977. It began in 1977 after she married her third husband Earl Bowen and she was just 21 years old. She had two children by her previous marriages. She and Bowen had a fuss and Earl left. Soon thereafter, she takes her 6 month old son James to the emergency room dead. The attending physician diagnosed it as SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). After this Earl decided to come back to her in her grief. After a while another fuss occurs and Earl takes a hike. You guessed it, the other child shows up dead and again it is diagnosed as SIDS. Again Earl comes back and they reconcile. The have two children together, Jennyann and Earl, Jr. Things rock along for a while until another spat happens and Earl splits. Little Earl, Jr shows up dead and you can guess what the diagnosis was. During a visit with a Social Worker to help little Jennyann get over the loss of Earl, Jr., Jennyann tells the worker that she is afraid of her mother. The worker blows it off and sends her home. The worst possible thing happens, Earl leaves again but this time it is for good. Jennyann was her last victim. After her arrest, Martha Ann readily admitted to killing Earl, Jr and Jennyann but denied killing the other two. She said she wanted Earl to come back and since he did so in the past after a death of her children, he would not come back this time. She said she killed her kids by sitting on them resulting in asphyxiation. This broad weighed more than 275 pounds, y'all. At the trial she recanted her confession but the jury was shown the taped confession and they convicted her of 1^st degree murder. After this, the diagnosis of SIDS was looked at a lot closer in the state of Georgia. Martha Ann was sentenced to death and her appeal to the Georgia State Supreme Court was rejected in 1991. There are many, many punishments I can think of for this animal in killing little children that depended on her to take care of them, protect them and love them. Yes, there are many punishments.

1775 On this date George Washington officially took command of the fledgling Continental Army. George was selected for two reasons. He had experience in military tactics from the French and Indian War. Washington was an officer in that struggle. And secondly he was a Virginian. Congress believed that the southern colonies would more readily follow another southerner and they were right. Washington saw his ragtag army develop into a viable fighting force and defeat that most powerful army in the world. After the war Washington went back to his plantation, Mount Vernon. But he answered his countries call again when in 1789 he was selected to be the first President of these United States. He served for two terms but refused a third and went back to Virginia. He died the next year, 1799.

Births and deaths:

1909 Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz is born. He said of the Pope’s ruling on birth control “He no playa da game, he no makea de rules.” It is obvious Earl wasn’t Catholic.

Quotable quotes:

“A hard man is good to find’. Mae West Her words y'all.

“I don’t at all like knowing what people say about me behind my back, it makes me far to conceited.”

Oscar Wilde

“I chased this woman until I found out that we had the same interest. We liked girls”.

Groucho Marx

Answer to the trivia question:

The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson.

           Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow