This Date In History, The Southern Version: 2020

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Wednesday

Musings and History

Here is something for those of you are down and discouraged. It is a poem by William Ernest Henley. It was quoted in the movie Invicta. Morgan Freeman won an Oscar portraying Nelson Mandela. Here it is:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

Back in the 1830's the US Government chose to move many of the Native Americans in the mountains of Appalachia because they wanted their lands. They moved them to the great plains of what is now Kansas and Oklahoma. The major tribe there was the Comanche who welcomed them because they had farming skills and manufactured goods like metal axes woven fabric which the Comanche needed. They also brought about 5,000 slaves with them. That's right y'all. On occasion the Comanche would kidnap some of the slaves and trade them for horses to tribes that had silver mines. Think about all of that and then decide where justice really lies and how righteous we really are.

Recently an inventor died. This man created a device that changed to world forever. It was the Russian Mikhail Kalashnikov. He invented the AK-47 assault rifle.

This is a recap of a couple of years ago:

I saw one person that was in the Milwaukee airport that was jammed to the rafters with others that have been trapped there since Saturday because of a blizzard. This one woman said that she had no change of clothes because she had no clue where here luggage was. She did say that she had a small carry-on bag with her full of cosmetics only. Not only that, her credit cards were in the lost luggage (bad move) and she was out of money to eat on. This is why men carry their stuff in their wallets. The airport appeared to be operating but the departures were so far behind that it will “take until New Years to get caught up”. I also heard about a pregnant woman in New York that had gone into labor and the baby was in trouble. Someone with the woman called EMS and explained what was wrong. The EMS dispatcher said that she would get someone there as soon as possible. 9 hours later and ambulance showed up but it was too late, the baby was dead. You can imagine what kind of turmoil those guys were going through in the early hours of a blizzard.

I saw a program on TV about the ice melting on the polar ice caps. They showed one ice field that had retreated and it exposed an area that had not seen daylight for millions of years. Guess what was there? They found fossils of mussels and clams that will not live in water deeper than 10 feet or in water colder than 50 degrees. There were also fossilized stumps of trees that were of the cedar and cypress family All of this tells us that at one point the Arctic and Antarctic ice fields were in a temperate climate, speaking of global warming.

This Date in History December 30

1916 Earlier Czar Nicholas of Russia and his wife the Czarina Alexandra fell under the spell of a holy man named Rasputin. The Czar and Czarina had a son that was a hemophiliac and had suffered a cut and no one could stop the bleeding. Rasputin was called and somehow he was able to stop the bleeding and saved the boy’s life. From this time on Rasputin was in favor with the royal family. In addition to being a holy man, Rasputin was known to be a heavy drinker and woman chaser. The best possible thing happened for Rasputin. Czar Nicholas was called away to a foreign war. This left the Czarina in control of Russia and Rasputin in charge of her. Eventually the other member of royalty got fed up with Rasputin and decided to cap this heathen. A group of them invited Rasputin to dinner in a fancy mansion. What Rasputin did not know was that his food and drink had been heavily poisoned but he swallowed everything with great relish with no apparent ill effects...so they shot him. Rasputin fell and as the other try to drag him out of the room, Rasputin got up and knocked one of them out and then ran outside trying to escape. He was shot once again and fell face down. The others jumped on top of him, tied his hands and feet and threw him in a near freezing river never to be seen again. The Czarina was heartbroken at the loss of her lover but the Czar was ecstatic.

1853 Earlier the United States Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, Jefferson Davis (later to become the President of the Confederate States of America) sent the Ambassador to Mexico named James Gadsden to visit with the President of Mexico, General Santa Ana. Gadsden’s job was to settle the squabbles the United States had been having with Mexico about the lands in the southwestern area of the present day United States. Gadsden and Santa Ana set down with a map and drew up a new border for northern Mexico and the southwestern United States that formed the area known as the Gadsden Purchase and that map became the present day southern border of Arizona and New Mexico. We offered Santa Ana $12 million that was later lowered to $10 million. The United States felt that this strip of land was vital for the development of a transcontinental railroad. In 1861 the “big four” in railroading, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker got together and decided that a railroad was to be built on the newly acquired land and make it a branch of the Central Pacific Railroad known later as the immortal Southern Pacific Railroad.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Tuesday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“To me the outdoors is what you pass through on the way from your house to a taxi.”
Fran Lebowitz

Trivia question of the day:
What Hall of Fame baseball player was known as "The Georgia Peach"?

I heard it again. A person that was a member of a very large Baptist Church in Taylors, SC and had abandoned the church told me the reason he left. He said that it was brought up before the church to leave the doors unlocked to allow the homeless a place to sleep when it is really cold. The church voted against this proposal with some of the faithful saying “There is no telling what kind of filth and disease they would bring. Jesus was born in an indoor livestock enclosure with the animals present...but I guess Mary and Joseph did not have on clothing from Anne Taylor and Brooks Brothers arriving in an Audi or a Mercedes. Some people go to church to see and be seen and not to seek redemption, to them it is a social event. That is all I have to say about that.

This Date in History December 29

1778 On this date British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell and an army of between 2,500 and 3,600 launched a surprise attack on the city of Savannah, Georgia. Included in the army were the 71^st Highlanders, some New York Loyalists and a group of Hessian mercenaries. Savannah was defended by Patriot Major General Robert Howe and a rag tag army of 650-900 infantrymen. Howe saw that he did not have a chance and ordered the evacuation of the city then he ordered the withdrawal of the Patriot troops. The Georgia Brigade was cut off and nearly annihilated with the killing of 83 and the capture of 483. After the completion of the withdrawal the British had suffered 3 killed and 10 wounded. The British occupied Savannah and left only because they wanted to in July of 1782. The majority of the residents of Savannah were Loyalists anyway making their occupation much easier. The Patriots tried to kick the British out of Savannah once in 1779 when they established a siege but it didn’t work so the Patriots said to hell with it and just sealed off the city so no one came or sent except by sea. What was peculiar was that Savannah was a hotbed of Loyalists (Colonists loyal to the King of England) in fact; the entire state of Georgia was more than 50% Loyalist. That is really peculiar because right next door in South Carolina was full of firebrands for independence from Great Britain. Maybe y'all don’t know the reason why there is a Georgia in the first place. The state of Georgia was formed by England at the behest of the wealthy plantation owners in South Carolina to be a buffer between their plantations and the bloodthirsty Spanish slave traders coming up from Spanish-owned Florida. This meant that the people that settled in Georgia were owing to the British crown for the lands that were given to them. I suppose that is where the Loyalist syndrome came from. It sucked, in any event.

1890 On this date one of the most damnable acts ever committed by the US Army happened. The plains Indians had been vanquished and sent to reservations, especially the fiery Lakota Sioux. The last remnants of this once proud and independent tribe were sent to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Due to the corruptness of the US officials, the Sioux on the reservation were not getting the food that was promised to them and starvation was staring them in the face not to mention the abominable living conditions. The killing of the chief medicine man, Sitting Bull, further inflamed the situation. Before he died, Sitting Bull had told his follower that if they resurrected the ritual of the Ghost Dance, they could regain their strength and power that they had in the past. So the ritual of the Ghost Dance was begun. This ritual would not have made any difference but it did give the Sioux the hope and belief that they could prevail therefore the Ghost Dance was forbidden by the US authorities. On this date, on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek, a group of Sioux were doing the Ghost Dance when a group of US Cavalry shows up to try to put a stop to it. During the confrontation a cavalryman and an Indian get into a scuffle and a shot was fired. No one knows who fired the shot but immediately the cavalrymen opened fire and in a matter of seconds 146 Lakota Sioux were dead more than half were women and children. This Massacre at Wounded Knee is the last armed conflict between the US army and Native Americans. There is a book titled Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee authored by Dee Brown that all should read; I promise you it will give you pause about what we Americans are all about.

1170 Earlier Henry II had seen to it that Thomas Becket was made the Archbishop of Canterbury in the hope that Becket would help him get the church out of state business. But almost as soon as Becket assumed the position, he said that he supported the Church taking part in state business. There were several heated conversations between Henry and Thomas but with no resolution to the problem. In a moment of anger Henry says “What parcel of fools and dastards have I nourished in my house, and not one of them will avenge me of this upstart clerk?” Four of Henry’s knights saw this as Henry wanting Becket dead. On this date, the four knights enter Canterbury Cathedral and killed Thomas. The Christian world is in an uproar that a man of the cloth is killed in the house of God. Henry caught a large ration of shit about this and in 1174 he was forced to do penance at Thomas Becket’s tomb. Not only that, England had to endure the church meddling in state affairs until Henry VIII came along and put a stop to it. The church canonized Thomas Becket meaning he was made a Catholic Saint. In 1220 Becket’s remains was re-buried in Canterbury Cathedral (been there).

1862 Earlier US General Ulysses Grant had planned a two pronged assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi. He assigned one prong of the attack to US General William Sherman and Grant would direct the other one. It was a good plan except for one thing. CSA Generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and Earl Van Dorn and their respective cavalry units were out there roaming the countryside. Forrest and Van Dorn found Grants supply dump and destroyed it. This forced Grant to delay if not scratch the attack but he did not get word to Sherman in time. The Rebs only had 6,000 troops dug in to face Sherman and his army of 37,000. But within just hours of the attack the Rebs received an additional 6,000. On this date, Sherman attacked as planned but his attack was across open country and anticipated. With Grant not attacking and providing a diversion, the dug in Rebs crushed the attack before it had got started. Sherman learned from this experience and never again attacked across open ground and always inflicted more casualties than he received.

1940 Earlier in July the countries of Holland, Belgium, Norway and France had fallen to the onslaught of the German army. In August Hitler put Operation Sea Lion into effect. This was the plan to defeat England and complete his domination of Europe. Hitler was assured by Herman Goering that England could be defeated by air power alone. So the German air force began the bombing of RAF air bases and radar sites. The German’s sent 1,500 bombers over in a single day. Nothing worked except the German air force began losing many, many aircraft to the RAF fighter pilots. The enraged Hitler ordered that to hell with the RAF bases, bomb the hell out of English cities especially London in the hopes of breaking the English morale. That didn’t work either but in this date, the worst air attack yet came. The Germans rained incendiaries on London starting conflagrations that burned for two days and nights. The upside of this was that the RAF bases were spared attack and were able to repair and recover. The result was that on the next air attack, 56 German aircraft went down in a matter of minutes. After this, Hitler said to hell with Operation Seal Lion.

Answer to the trivia question:
It is Ty Cobb from Royston, Georgia. Ty played his career with Detroit. He is arguably the greatest all around baseball played that has yet lived. His records in lifetime batting average (.366) and number of batting titles (11) are still unmatched.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

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Monday

Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“Working with Cher was like being in a blender with an alligator.”
Sam Elliott

Trivia question of the day:
What future English king lead the Christians during the 3^rd Crusade?

I am reading about the history of France in WWII. When the German army was closing in on France with no chance of stopping them, a French politician named Pierre Laval negotiated an armistice. This agreement divided France into two sections. One was German occupied northern France that included Paris and the other was southern France governed by Frenchmen that were totally answerable the Germans and based in the resort town of Vichy. The leader of the Vichy government was Pierre Laval. After the Allies liberated France, Laval was captured, tried for high treason and sentenced to death by firing squad. In late September of 1945 somehow Laval digested some poison and was on the cusp of death but a team of doctors and nurses working feverishly pumped his stomach and saved his life. Two weeks later he was stood before a firing squad and executed. His death was not the issue, the Frenchmen wanted their pound of flesh by killing the rotten bastard themselves.

I was thinking about the Christmas Day that I remembered the most as far back in years as I could. I think it was when I got my first bicycle. Within a couple of months my Dad had got me a paper route to help pay for the bike. We were really poor, y’all. The bike was also my transportation to school at a distance of about 3 miles. It doesn’t sound like much but in a driving rain storm it was no fun, and neither was the paper route. I delivered the evening paper. I had to ride about four miles to pick up my papers and backtracked on my delivery route. It was no fun but that experience plus making me work all summer bagging groceries or work with an air conditioner and heating repair man, went a long way convincing me that I needed to learn how to make a decent living rather than a “slave labor” job. My brother (an architect) wrapped insulation around air conditioning duct work all summer, usually in attics or worked on large construction sites as a “gofer” which usually meant pushing a wheelbarrows full of debris all summer. My brother and I got the message.

I worked with a civil engineer on a job near Paducah, Kentucky that was an ex-Marine and from South Carolina. This man told me that he had a similar experience. After high school he knew his mother had a substantial nest egg set aside for his education. He told his mother that he was not going to school but was going to work and wanted the money help him get started. He mother said that was a good idea and put him to work with her brother. He ran a paving company and put that man behind a truck spreading hot asphalt by hand. After a couple of days of that he told his mother that he had changed his mind and entered the University of South Carolina. Do you see things like that today? I think not.

This Date in History December 28

1781 British troops under the command of Major James Henry Craig occupied John’s Island, South Carolina. Craig and his troops had been kicked out of Wilmington, North Carolina a month before. Patriot General Daniel Morgan ordered the inimitable Lt. Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee and his famous cavalry unit from the Star Fort in the back country of South Carolina near the settlement of Ninety-Six to go kick those redcoats out of there. Just before arriving Lee learned that the Patriot infantry unit led by Major James Hamilton had arrived late and could not ford the Wapoo River so Lee aborted the attack. Because of the flow of the river and variable tidal conditions, the Wapoo River could only be forded once or twice a month and this was not one of those times. It was the relative isolation of some of the coastal island off South Carolina that preserved the Gullah language and traditions. Gullah is a Creole culture that dates back to Elizabethan times and was brought over to America in the slave trade. It was well into the 1950’s that some of these islands could only be reached by water. The Gullah language is exciting to hear because of the accents, rhythm and tempo. However, to the non-Gullah you can understand but very little. There are islands in the Chesapeake Bay, Tangier Island for instance, that was settled by the English and their isolation helped preserve the Old English language to this day.

1793 0n this date American Thomas Paine was arrested in France and charged with treason. That’s right; it is the same Thomas Paine that wrote Common Sense and America in Crisis that inspired out forefathers to not give up in their quest for freedom from the British. At the outset of the French Revolution, Paine had gone to France to see if he could help. Evidently Paine loved revolutions. Paine was a hard core opponent to the death penalty and the French revolutionaries were keeping the guillotine hot chopping off heads of the elitist and backers King Louis. Paine raised so much hell that the revolutionaries arrested him to shut him up. It wasn’t a bad incarceration however. He was locked up in the Luxemburg Prison which used to be a castle. He had a room with two windows, was locked up only at night and had catered meals. None the less, when President James Monroe found out about it, he raised so much hell that the French released Paine after a short while. Paine had been writing a book called Age of Reason which stated that God did not influence the actions of people that it was science and rationality that prevailed over religion and superstition. After the book was published an outcry around the world was heard. Paine was declared as Godless and anti-Christ. Needless to say, his follows and admirers in America vanished. He died penniless in New York City in 1809. That just goes to show you that in those days you just did not suggest an alternative to religion.

1832 On this date, Vice President John C. Calhoun resigned to take a vacant United States Senate seat in his home state of South Carolina. This Yale graduate was the first sitting Vice President to resign but it would not be the last. I will let y'all figure out what other Vice-President(s) have resigned. Calhoun did not get along at all with President Andrew Jackson who kept Calhoun under wraps to decrease his political clout. John C. Calhoun was born near Abbeville, South Carolina in 1782. He served in the state legislature before being elected as Senator. Calhoun was a protector of the agrarian based South against the industrial based North. He also was a hard-core believer in the slave/plantation institution. He called it a “positive good” rather than a ‘necessary evil”. Calhoun spent the majority of his life in high public office including Secretary of War, Vice-President under two different Presidents, US Senator, US Representative. Calhoun died in 1850 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the graveyard of St. Peters church in Charleston, South Carolina (been there).

Answer to the trivia question:
The future king that was the leader of the Christians in the 3^rd Crusade was Richard the Lionhearted. On the way home Richard was captured in Germany and held for ransom. The Vatican negotiated his release for an enormous donation from his very wealthy mother Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

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