Musings
and History
Quote
of the day:
When
explaining why he sold the rights to the song “My Way” to Frank
Sinatra he
said “I did not want to wake up with a horse's head in my bed.”
Paul
Anka
Trivia
question of the day:
Who
was the last major league baseball player to bat .400 for a season?
Answer at the end of the blog.
Here
is a short history lesson.
The
Revolutionary War lasted 8 bloody years and thousands of Patriots
died or were killed to insure the independence of the United States
from the heel of Great Britain. 29 years later Great Britain, along
with most of Europe, was at war with France and Napoleon. Great
Britain tried to blockade French ports to prevent the movement of
troops and the re-supplying of the tools of war. The United States
was not at war with France and continued to try to trade with them.
Not only was American ships stopped from approaching French ports,
the English war ship would “impress” sailors from American
merchant vessels and force them to serve on British warships.
President James Madison and the United States congress declared war
on Great Britain. As a result Great Britain sent part of the
mightiest navy in the world to fight against this upstart nation. In
fact James Madison was the last sitting president to be involved in
combat. The British landed near Baltimore and sent a large number of
troops toward Washington, DC with the intention of burning to to the
ground. This was in retaliation for a United States army unit
burning down the British embassy building in Canada. Madison
commanded an American artillery battery at the Battle of Bladensburg,
Md. which as unsuccessful in stopping the British advance and they
did considerable damage to our nations capitol. Before the British
troops landed, a naval bombardment was delivered to Fort McHenry
which was at the mouth of Baltimore harbor manned by American troops.
The bombardment lasted all one night. An American was on board one
of the British warships and watched in awe at the ferocity of the
attack. But the next morning a gigantic American flag had been
raised on Fort McHenry indicating that the fort as still in American
hands. The American was Francis Scott Key and he wrote a inspired
poem about what he had seen that became our national anthem. What I
tearfully think of when I hear this song is the hundreds of thousands
of Patriots in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812 that
surrendered their lives to make all of this happen. I do not think
about some arrogant millionaires that are trying to stress that they
don't think they are been treated fairly and I deeply resent them
using the heritage of such importance to my devotion to the United
States as a sounding board. The 1st
Amendment applies to them of course...but it applies to me also.
This Date in
History October 2
1967
On this date United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren
swore in Thurgood Marshall as an associate Supreme Court justice
replacing retiring Justice Tom Clark. Marshall was the first black
person to be selected the high court. He was born in Baltimore in
1908. When he graduated from high school he applied to go the
University of Maryland Law School and was accepted but the acceptance
was withdrawn once it was found that he was black. He then applied
to and was accepted into the Howard University Law School in
Washington, DC and graduated first in his class. He became a lawyer
for the NAACP and eventually became Chief Council. In his capacity
with the NAACP he argued several cases before the Supreme Court
including his most important victory in the Brown vs. The Board Of
Education decision which was the first giant step in the elimination
of segregation in public facilities in America. He was nominated for
the United States Court of Appeals by President John Kennedy but his
confirmation was delayed for almost a year by southern Senators. He
was then selected by President Lyndon Johnson to be Solicitor
General. Finally, it was Lyndon Johnson that nominated him to the
Supreme Court. I took some time but he was eventually confirmed. He
served on the high court for 24 years, retired in 1991 and died the
next year.
1780
Earlier British officer John Andre had been captured by a group of
highwaymen (robbers) that were sympathetic to the Patriot cause.
They found a document in Andre’s boot that described a deal with
Patriot General Benedict Arnold whereby Arnold would turn over
control of the Patriot fortress at West Point, NY to the British for
20,000 pounds Sterling. They then turned Andre over to the Patriot
army including the document. Andre was not in uniform making him a
spy. Andre was tried as a spy, convicted and was sentenced to death.
On this date, Andre was hanged. When Arnold found out about the
capture of Andre he and his wife ran like hell to the British warship
HMS Vulture and surrendered to them. The British did not waste
Arnold’s considerable military talents and made him an officer in
the British Army and gave him command of a division of infantry.
Arnold did not disappoint. He proved to be a very capable commander
against his countrymen. After the war was won by the Patriots, he
had no choice but to go to England. He died penniless and unknown in
London in 1801.
1836
After exploring Argentina, Peru and the Galapagos Islands, the HMS
Beagle with British naturalist Charles Darwin aboard arrives back in
England. Darwin has made many observations in his travels the most
important of which was what he called “natural selection” and
evidence as he saw it, of homo-sapiens evolving from a lower form.
Darwin was embarrassed at what he had found and delayed publishing
his findings for several years because he knew what hell would be
raised about it. But he finally published The Origin of Species and
sure enough, hell was raised and plenty of it and it is still ebbing
and flowing to this day. I don’t have a dog in that fight because
it eventually gets to the use of the bible as the final authority
which requires a leap of faith. As I have said before, you cannot
mix science and religion successfully.
1864
US General Alvan Gillem decided to attack the CSA encampment of
Saltville, Virginia to capture the salt and lead mine there. The
salt mine was very important to the Confederacy because the salt was
used to preserve their food. Gillam wanted US General Burbridge and
his small division to join him in a coordinated attack from the south
but Burbridge wanted a separate attack from the north so he could get
individual credit for the victory. Both armies totaled 4,000 men.
The Confederate officers in charge at Saltville were CSA Generals
Harry Giltner and John Williams. When they found out what was
coming, the hastily rounded up about 1,000 Confederate infantry and
prepared a plan of action. You would have thought they would have
dug in but they didn’t. They sent Giltner and about 400 troops to
delay Gillam coming up from the south and Williams and the rest
prepared an ambush of Burbridge’s troops coming down from the
north. When the trap was sprung the astonished US troops turned
around and ran back to Kentucky. Williams turned his troops around
and headed south to join Giltner. It was unnecessary because when
Gillam found out about the rout of Burbridge, he turned around and
headed back to West “by God” Virginia. However, this brilliant
victory was tarnished somewhat when some of the black troops of the
US 5th
and 6th
cavalry
were captured and then murdered. War is hell.
Births and deaths:
1940
Sports columnist Scott Ostler is born. After watching the 49ers
get routed in the 1993 playoffs, he wrote “The 49ers were so badly
flattened that they didn’t fly back home, they were faxed.”
1981
US singer and pianist Hazel Scott dies. She said “I have always
respected everyone’s religion; there is only one God but a hell of
a lot of confused people.” Here, here.
Answer to the trivia question:
The last major league baseball player to hit for a .400 average for the season was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox
Thanks for
listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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