Musing and History

Quote of the day:
“In real life Diane Keaton believes in God. She also believes that a radio works because it has tiny people inside.”
                                                                Woody Allen

Trivia question of the day:
Who was the scientist in charge of developing the first nuclear bomb for the United States? Answer at the end of the blog. 

                  This Date in History   December 18

1620 Earlier in August of 1606 a group religious reformists in England decided that they were not happy with The Church of England which they felt was too close to the Catholic Church with homage being paid to the King (whomever that may be) rather than the pope. In those days that was treason so they moved to Holland. They languished there for over twelve years and finally decided to go to the New World and establish their own religious organization. 102 souls boarded the ship Speedwell in Holland and sailed for Southampton harbor in England to meet with the ship Mayflower and the two would sail for the mouth of the James River to establish a new colony. The rendezvous occurred and the two ships sailed out into English Channel. Soon thereafter a bad leak was discovered on the Speedwell and the two tiny ships diverted into Dartmouth. After several weeks the leak on the Speedwell determined to be repaired and off they went again. After they had sailed about 300 miles west of England the Speedwell began leaking again and the two returned to Plymouth Harbor. It was determined that the Speedwell was not seaworthy so some of the pilgrims on the Speedwell transferred to the Mayflower and off they went again. It was an easy crossing for a while. About half way across the weather turned stormy and the tiny Mayflower was tossed including a broken mast. On December 16 land was sighted that turned out to be Cape Cod. The storms had pushed them about 500 miles north of the mouth of the James River so they turned south to try and find the James. They ran across dangerous shoals and decided to turn around and enter the harbor at Cape Cod. They got just inside the harbor and sent out search parties onto what is now Providence Town to find an appropriate building site. After a few days the search party recommended a building site that had been cleared by the Native Americans earlier on the west side of the harbor. This site is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. On this date the Pilgrims came ashore, said a prayer for their relatively safe crossing and began chopping trees. An interesting fact is that the first Governor was William Bradford who oversaw the writing of the Mayflower Compact which was essentially a statement that all laws and rules of the colony had to be approved by the majority, which turned out to be the bedrock of this great republic. The military leader of this tiny group was Miles Standish. No one knows how big he was but it is known that he had to cut 6 inches off the end of his sword to keep it from dragging the ground. I figure he was about 5’-3” but his fiery demeanor more than made up for his lack of stature. What an adventure that must have been!

1865 On this date the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the United States Congress. This amendment forbade and involuntary servitude (slavery) in neither the United States nor its possessions. In 1850 Abraham Lincoln and several others assembled and formed the Republican Party whose sole purpose was to prevent slavery from expanding into any new states or territories of the United States. The concept was not acceptable to the southern states or any other slave holding states such as Delaware and Maryland. It would upset the balance in the House and Senate. Therefore when Lincoln was elected in 1860, almost immediately seven southern states seceded from the Union because they knew there would eventually be an imbalance in the Legislative Branch and their influence would be neutralized. There were four states that were “slave states” that did not secede. They were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. Abe had to dance carefully around these states because if he made one false move, those states would have seceded and joined the Confederacy.

1862 Previously Confederate General Braxton Bragg had ordered Confederate General Nathan Forrest to cut the supply line to the Union Army in Tennessee and Mississippi. Forrest left Columbia, Tennessee on December 11 and began crossing the Tennessee River on December 13. Forrest’s presence was detected and US General Jeremiah Sullivan dispatched Colonel Robert Ingersoll and 200 troops from Jackson to Lexington, Tennessee where they would pick up an additional 470 troops and then they were to intercept and neutralize Forrest and his battle seasoned 2,500 mounted troopers. Most of Ingersoll’s troops were green and inexperienced. Y'all see what is coming already. On December 17 Ingersoll’s troops detected the approach of Forrest’s cavalry toward Lexington. There was only two ways to approach this town and that was by the Old Stage Road and the Lower Road. Ingersoll ordered a bridge on the Lower Road destroyed and then arrayed the majority of his troops on Old Stage Road. Forrest did not order an attack until the 18th and brought his troops down Lower Road because Ingersoll’s troops had failed to destroy the bridge. When Ingersoll figured out what had happened he swung his troops around to meet Forrest on the Lower Road but it was too late. Forrest’s troops charged and sent those Yankees scattering across the countryside and captured 147 of them including Ingersoll, 70 horses, several artillery pieces and many rifles. Forrest went on to Jackson, Tennessee and found it too well defended and went on into Kentucky and destroyed an ocean of Yankee supplies headed for US General Ulysses Grant and his army in Mississippi.

1888 Earlier Rancher Richard Wetherill had been approached by a Ute Indian who pointed out a deep canyon and said that there were many stone houses that were built by the ”ancient ones” in the back of the canyon. Wetherill was too busy with his cattle to pursue it. But on this date, he and his brother-in-law Charles Mason were searching for stray cattle on top of a Mesa near the rear of the canyon mentioned by the Ute. It began to snow and Wetherill and Mason were afraid they would fall off the mesa edge and dismounted and began walking. The eventually came to the edge of the mesa and just above them partially obscured by the snow was an entire village built of stone (it was actually adobe). They quit looking for strays and clambered up into the village and found it abandoned. They had found what is known today as Mesa Verde, a major archeological find in North America. It was determined that the village was built in the 13th century by the “Anasazi” or an ancient tribe that has since disappeared probably because of a five year drought that began in about 1275. The cliff dwellings were labeled the Cliff Palace by archaeologists. Wetherill and Mason gathered many artifacts that they donated to museums but other assholes came by and stole artifacts and sold them on the open market. It became so bad that the US congress designated the area Mesa Verde National Park in 1906.

Born today:

1886 Immortal US baseball player Ty Cobb. He said “When I started playing baseball it was about as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch.” Ty ended up a very wealthy may because he invested heavily in Coca-Cola when it was in its infancy. He is arguable recognized as the greatest overall baseball player who ever lived.

Answer to the trivia question:
The scientist in charge of the creation of the atomic bomb for the United States or the “Manhattan Project” was J. Robert Oppenheimer.

                 Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow