Monday

                          Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you will fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have in mind for you? Not much.”

                                                   John Rohn

Trivia question of the day:

Who played Ashley Wilkes in GWTW? Answer at the end of the blog.

I have a close friend that lives in the Asheville, North Carolina area and she has been there almost all her life. This woman is very talented. She is a kick-ass guitar picker, singer, harmonizer and what I treasure most…a wonderful poetess/songwriter/lyricist. I am going to give y’all a treat…Here is a poem by her.

“Where I Could Be Patsy” by Brenda McAfee

Legs dangling from a limb, salt shaker in my hand

Green apples and imagination, my childhood combination

For flights of fancy

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairyland, where I could be Patsy

Home alone, front porch for a stage

Crazy, Sweet Dreams and Wayward winds would take me away

But I never could stay

Rope on a limb, wood plank for a seat

I'd sing and swing my fantasy complete

Then there I'd be, back to reality

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairy land, where I could be Patsy

         This Date in History August 13

1781 On this date a Patriot force led by Colonel William Harden and Colonel Francis “The Swamp Fox” Marion sent their fastest riders to within sight of British Colonel William Fraser and his force of 450 British and Loyalist troops. The Patriot riders are spotted and Fraser sent his troops in pursuit. As y'all already have figured out, it was a trap designed by Harden and Marion. The riders led the enemy troops to a place 30 mile northwest of Charleston, South Carolina named Parker’s Ferry. Awaiting the Redcoats was an entrenched Patriot army who opened fire when they were within 50 yards and mowed down those jackasses like wheat. But Fraser was not to be outdone and ordered two more charges which would have annihilated Fraser’s troops but the Patriots ran out of ammo. Even Fraser was hit three times but was able to maintain control and withdrew from that bloodbath with what was left of his command. About this time 3,000 Patriot troops boarded ships of the French fleet that had already defeated the British Navy in the Caribbean and was headed for the Chesapeake Bay. For reasons known only to British General Charles Cornwallis, he had chosen Yorktown, Virginia to encamp his 8,000 man army with his back to the Chesapeake Bay. It is assumed that he thought the British Navy would be able to evacuate his army if necessary and provide artillery support. General George Washington, knowing that the French fleet was on the way, saw his chance and encircled Cornwallis’ army on the land side and began a siege. As usual, General Henry Knox was close by and Washington tasked him with the deployment of the artillery with deadly effect. Cornwallis knew he was in deep doodoo and kept looking for the British navy which never showed up but the French fleet did and sealed off the Bay and began bombarding Cornwallis. Soon thereafter Cornwallis raised a white flag and asked Washington for terms. Washington demanded that all of the British and Loyalist troops to stack arms and all of Cornwallis’ officers to surrender their swords indicating unconditional surrender. Cornwallis showed no class when he sent one of his officers instead of himself out with his sword to give to Washington. The Patriot army took 8,000 prisoners and control of hundreds of muskets and artillery pieces. Essentially, after years of blood, sweat, misery and tears, our war for independence was over.

1864 The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee commanding, was entrenched at Petersburg, Virginia and were subject to a siege by the US Army of the Potomac, US General Ulysses Grant commanding. Grant mistakenly believed that Lee had sent a substantial number of troops to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce CSA General Jubal Early. Lee had not sent anybody anywhere. Grant thinking the Confederate lines near a place called Deep Bottom Run had been weakened sent US General Winfield Hancock and a number of troops to break through the Confederate lines at this point. Hancock tried for six days to break the Confederate lines and did so on occasion but he had no re-enforcements and could not hold and was easily forced back by the Confederates. Finally Hancock and Grant said to hell with it and withdrew. The end result was 3,000 Union casualties to 1,500 Confederates and Grant realized that the Confederate lines were intact.

1878 On this date a lady named Kate Biondi, the owner of a restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, died of yellow fever. This was just days after a man escaped from a quarantine barge docked in the Mississippi River and visited Kate’s restaurant. A yellow fever epidemic exploded in Memphis in a matter of days and people began dropping like flies. Within two days 25,000 people evacuate the city leaving the majority of the people left in the city being blacks. For some reason the blacks died at a slower rate that the whites but still there were over 200 people dying every day. There were corpses everywhere and most of the doctors had either left or died. The epidemic tapered off and ended in early October but over 20,000 people had died and 80,000 had sickened but survived. The people of Memphis knew that yellow fever was caused by mosquitoes and they sealed off all the sewers and drained all standing water they could to prevent a recurrence.

1940 On this date the Battle of Britain begins. Earlier the head of the German Air Force, Field Marshall Herman Goering, had persuaded Adolph Hitler that the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) could bring Great Britain to her knees with air power alone. Hitler agreed and on this day the German sent 1,500 aircraft across the English Channel to destroy the English Air Force (RAF) and then Hitler would unleash Operation Sea Lion which would be the amphibious invasion of England. The first thing Goering wanted to do was destroy the English radar system that warned the British Air Force of the arrival of the German aircraft. On the first raid only one of the British radar units was destroyed and only five were damaged. Then for some crazy reason, Hitler and Goering decided that the radar was not important and the wholesale bombing of the major cities in England was more important to break the spirit of the English people. So they sent wave after wave of bombers and bombed the hell out of many of England’s largest cities. The people of England withstood that bombing with bulldog determination whilst their radar units warned the British of the incoming German bombers and they got their Spitfires and Hurricanes airborne and were waiting when the bombers and fighters arrived and blew the hell out of them. On October 31 Hitler and Goering decided that they could not stand the losses the English pilots were inflicting and said to hell with it and the bombing and Operation Sea Lion went down the toilet. The RAF had prevailed in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Winston Churchill said about these pilots “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” Amen, Winston, amen.

Born today:

1422 English linguist William Caxton. He said “Love lastest as long as the money endureth.” Damn, nothing has changed since the 15^th century.

Answer to the trivia question:

In the movie GWTW Leslie Howard played Ashley Wilkes.

           Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow