Musings and History

Quote of the day:
“Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.”
                                    George Bernard Shaw

Trivia question of the day:
Who played “The Tin Man” in The Wizard Of Oz? Answer at the end of the blog.

                     This Date in History   January 22

1819 On this date the Spanish minister Don Luis Onis and the United States Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Agreement in which Spain cedes Spanish holdings in what is now Florida to the United States. The ownership of Florida has a checkered past that began with the establishment of the Spanish colony of St. Augustine in 1565. The colonists at St. Augustine enjoyed several years of serenity until the Native Americans got fed up and established a consistent routine of attack and withdrawal. Along with that, in the early 17th century the irascible English colonists north of St. Augustine joining with the Indians hoping to drive the Spanish out of Florida. Then Spain made a mistake when it sided with France in the French and Indian War which the French lost and that indiscretion cost Spain its interests in Florida and Great Britain assumed ownership. Great Britain kept control for about 20 years then they lost the American Revolution and part of the treaty ending the War was that Great Britain had to give ownership of Florida back to Spain in 1783. This was Spain’s reward for recognizing (along with France) American independence earlier. There was several border and some time violent confrontations between the American settlers in southern Georgia and the Spanish in Florida, then John Quincy Adams pulled off this coup by gaining ownership of Florida for nearly nothing. All we had to do was assume the debt of about $5 million in suits that had filed against Spain by American interests. The US government appointed Andy “Old Hickory” Jackson as governor of The Florida Territory in 1819. Florida entered the fold of American states in 1845 as a slave state.

1847 On this date the American army numbering 5,000 under the command of General Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor is cornered near Angostura Pass in Mexico by Mexican General Santa Ana and his army of 15,000. Santa Ana sent a messenger to Taylor demanding his surrender. Taylor had been ordered to invade after the United States had declared war on Mexico. The US had annexed disputed lands in what is now Texas and sent in troops commanded by Taylor to protect the border. Santa Ana sent in several raids on the disputed land which prompted the attack on Mexico. Anyway, after receiving the order to surrender Taylor sent the messenger back to Santa Ana telling him to “Go to heel or go to hell”. The next day Santa Ana attacked. Taylor sent the cream of his artillery to protect the right flank (Stonewall Jackson had command of one of these batteries) and he sent Jefferson Davis and his group of sharpshooters to protect the left flank. After daylong attacks and being repulsed, Santa Ana began to withdraw. The engagement was known as the Battle of Buena Vista. That’s right folks, the Jefferson Davis that I am talking about became the Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce in 1853 and the President of the Confederate States of America in 1861

1864 On this date Confederate Cavalry commander General Nathan Bedford Forrest routed a Federal army twice the size of his. Earlier US General William T. Sherman was heading east from Vicksburg intending to destroy the Confederate supply depots. He was successful in the destruction of the Confederate depot in Meridian, Mississippi and was headed toward a known depot in Selma, Alabama. Sherman was suppose to meet US General William Sooy Smith and his cavalry unit coming southeast from Memphis at a point near West Point, Mississippi. Smith’s unit was intercepted north of West Point by CSA Colonel Jeffrey Forrest (Nathan’s younger brother) and a small cavalry unit. Jeffrey’s job was to suck Smith and his cavalrymen into a trap south of West Point where his older brother Nathan and a large CSA cavalry unit awaited. Smith followed Jeffrey south of West Point but smelled the trap in the nick of time and with the combined forces of Nathan and Jeffrey hard on his tail he hauled ass back north and tried to make a stand north of West Point. A sharp battle ensued in which Jeffrey was killed but the Confederates had sealed off Smith’s access to West Point. This meant that he would not make the rendezvous with Sherman and more support so he disengaged and headed back to Memphis. Word was sent to Sherman about this turn of events and he turned around and headed back to Meridian. After the war was over even General William T. Sherman said that Nathan Bedford Forrest was “the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled”. Forrest was not the only superb cavalry officer in the Confederacy, there was Turner Ashby, J.E.B. Stuart, John S. Mosby, Fitzhugh Lee, Wade Hampton III, John Hunt Morgan, Joe Wheeler and many others. The Confederacy could not fight a war of attrition and logistics and that is exactly what happened.

1918 On this date Montana passed a law that was the largest violation of Constitutional rights in American history, they past the “Sedition Act.” Not only that, the Federal Government passed a similar law modeled after the Montana abomination. The United States was at war with Germany in WWII and Montana had a large population of German immigrants. This, and the fact that many of the mine workers unions in Montana were radical and had no problem with raising hell about local, state and federal government operations and were fervently anti-war made the Montanans very nervous and they were afraid of spying and sabotage by their German settlers. The “Sedition Act” forbade anyone from speaking adversely about any government agency in the time of war. It also forbade peaceful assembly in a demonstration of displeasure against any government agency. The even arrested people that spoke badly about the Red Cross. This law was not struck down until the war was over but it got the job done by crushing those radical unions. You would have thought that the United States would have learned from this raping of the people’s rights, but they didn’t. About 20 years later after the attack on Pearl Harbor, we locked up thousands of people of Japanese descent even if some of them were third and forth generation Americans. We did this because the attack on Pearl Harbor was perpetrated by Japan and out federal government was afraid of spying and sabotage by anyone that had yellow skin and almond shaped eyes. Like I have said in the past, I guess we all need someone to hate and the Constitution guarantees us that right.

Born today:

1819 US writer James Russell Lowell. He said “In creating, the only hard thing is the start; it is no harder to create a blade of grass as it is an oak tree.” Jim, you left out creating an amicable relationship with a bitterly divorced woman.

1864 French writer Jules Renard. He said “Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.” That’s right Jules

Answer to the trivia question:
Jack Haley played the “Tin Man” in the Wizard of Oz.

                      Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow