Tuesday

                             Musing and History

Quote of the day:

“Men travel the Earth seeking what they need and eventually return home to find it…their families.”

                                                  George Moore

Trivia question of the day:

What was the longest home run ever measured in MLB? Answer at the end of the blog.

I have finished my self-taught education about pirates in the “Golden Age of Piracy” from about 1680 to 1862. The most successful by far was Bartholomew Roberts. He was a deckhand on a British slave ship that was captured by a pirate named Howell Davis including all the crew. Both Davis and Roberts were Welshmen. Roberts was forced to become a crew member on Davis’ ship because he was a navigator. Davis sailed into a Portuguese port in what is now Ghana flying the flag of a British man-of-war. Soon after they entered the port, Portuguese figured out that Davis and company were indeed pirates. The governor of the port invited Davis ashore for a glass of wine and when Davis and his entourage stepped ashore they were gunned down. The remainder of the pirates began looking for another captain and elected Roberts as their leader because of his navigation skills. Roberts decided it would be better be on a pirate ship rather than a slave ship where he had no chance of promotion and monstrous treatment of the slaves.

                      This Date in History   February 12

1789 On this date the Patriot General Ethan Allen died of a stroke on the banks of the Winooski River in Vermont at the age of 56. In spite of the ongoing struggle between Vermont and New York, Allen was a superb military leader for the fledgling United States. The problem was that New York felt that the lands of Vermont were part of New York and the New Yorkers had no problem selling lands in Vermont and fought against admitting Vermont to join the Union as a separate state. Ethan Allen was even arrested for treason because he got fed up with being refused admission to the Union; he approached England to allow Vermont to be part of Canada. Anyway, Vermont and New York eventually settled their differences and Vermont was admitted. In the meantime Allen teamed up with US General Benedict Arnold and they attacked the British at Montreal. Allen was captured by the British and was kept prisoner for 3 years. After his release he formed a unit called the Green Mountain Boys and joined up again with Benedict Arnold and captured the British bastion of Fort Ticonderoga. It was from this fort that the Patriot General Henry Knox brought the captured cannon to Boston and them to the peak of Dorchester Heights which drove the British out of Boston. Ethan Allen remains an icon in the battle for liberty in these United States.

2002 On this date one of the worst monsters of all time went on trial in The Hague, Netherlands for genocide and crimes against humanity. It was former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic known as the “Butcher of the Balkans”. In 1946 all the Balkan countries fell under the ruler of Yugoslavia Marshal Tito as a communist state. The Balkan countries were Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. After the death of Marshal Tito the communist states collapsed into turmoil that finally ended in civil war. In 1989 Milosevic became president of Serbia. Two years later Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia and all hell breaks loose. Milosevic sends tanks to the Slovenian border and a brief fight erupts but the Slovenians prevail and attain secession, after that fighting broke out in Croatia between the Croats and the ethnic Serbs. The ethnic Serbs rebels received medical supplies and arms from Milosevic led Serbia. The Croatian army clashed with the Serb-led Yugoslavian army joined with the Serb rebels and over 10,000 Croatians and hundreds of homes were destroyed before a cease fire enforced by the United Nations was put into effect in January 1992. Two months later Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence and Milosevic financed a Bosnian-Serb rebellion that cost the lives of over 200,000 civilians. This conflict ended in 1995. Then the worst of Milosevic came to the surface when the Kosovo army collided with the Serbian army and Milosevic ordered the “ethnic cleansing” of any and all native Albanians in Kosovo. Over 300,000 Albanians were killed and in the meantime Milosevic had declared himself as President of Yugoslavia. He was finally faced down by the Serbian army, captured and sent to a world tribunal in The Hague to stand trial for genocide but he died of a heart attack before the trial ended. Too bad. I would have enjoyed seeing him die on the gallows...or other ways of execution that run through my mind for creatures such as Slobodan Milosevic.

1828 Robert Ransom is born in Warren County, North Carolina. He attended West Point and graduated in 1850 18^th in a class of 40. After graduating and instructing at the academy for a while he was sent to the cauldron of Kansas where pro and anti slavery forces were embroiled into what was nothing short of guerilla warfare. Upon the secession of North Carolina, Ransom resigned his commission and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was offered the rank of Captain, the same rank he had in the US army. He was assigned to help protect the coastal defenses of North Carolina. Eventually his talents were recognized and he joined the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee commanding, and was instrumental in the defeat of the United States army at the Battle of the Seven Days. Shortly thereafter he was in command of a brigade at the bloodiest single day battle in United States history, the Battle of Antietam. This battle was considered a draw but it forced Lee to retreat into Virginia to lick his wounds. He was also present at the worst defeat of a United States army up until that date, the battle of Fredericksburg. The Union infantry suffered abysmal losses due to pre-registered Confederate artillery and the lack of military experience and leadership in Lt. General Ambrose Burnsides. But anyway, Ransom was with CSA General James Longstreet when he went to try and save Tennessee and was present at the Battle of Chickamauga and Knoxville. He was assigned to go with CSA General Jubal Early to kick US General Phillip Sheridan and his army out of the Shenandoah Valley. Early was unsuccessful and Ransom was sent to help defend the port of Charleston, S.C. After the war he worked as a civil engineer and farmer in his home state. He died of natural causes in 1892 in New Bern, North Carolina. Robert Ransom was a warrior, y'all.

Born today:

1809 US President Abraham Lincoln. After receiving a message from Union General Joseph Hooker who signed the message “Headquarters in the saddle” Lincoln said “The trouble with Hooker is that he has his headquarters where his hindquarters ought to be.” Hooker had just been routed by CSA Generals R.E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, Virginia in spite of the fact that Hooker had the Confederates outnumbered more than two to one. Before the battle Hooker had said “Now we have Lee where he will have to come out and fight or ingloriously run.” Lee and Jackson did neither; it was Hooker and Yankees that “ingloriously ran”. It cost Hooker his command.

Answer to the trivia question:

It is generally believed that in 1937 Josh Gibson of the Negro leagues hit one totally out of Yankee Stadium that had to have been 580 feet to get out of that stadium. I suppose that in modern times it probably is one hit by Mark McGuire hit one that measured 487 feet...but there have been others close to that.

                 Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow