Friday

 Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“There is a new Sex Museum in New York. Guys get through it in five minutes. Women finish in half hour if they finish at all.”

                                                 Jay Leno

Trivia question of the day:

Where was the largest tsunami ever documented? Answer at the end of the blog.

 By now most of us are berserk from 'Cabin Fever" due to self quarantines because of the virus.  But enough time has passed and the numbers have flattened to allow a certain amount of searching about.  We here in Florida have a governor with a little vision and are not as restricted as others.  I will be glad when this trial and turmoil is over.

                                  This Date in History   May 29

1780 On this date British Colonel Banastre Tarleton led a cavalry charge of mostly Loyalists (American colonists who remained loyal to King George) against an out gunned and out manned Patriot force near the Waxhaws, a village on the South Carolina/North Carolina border south of what is now Charlotte, North Carolina. The Patriots did not have a chance and surrendered but Tarleton ignored the signs of surrender and kept ordering the shooting and bayoneting of the Patriots. The end result was 113 Patriots killed and 203 captured whilst Tarleton’s troops suffered 17 killed or wounded. This event was from then own known as “giving Tarleton Quarter”. Even though it was a rout, word of this atrocity spread like wildfire throughout the Carolinas and lit a fire of revenge under every Patriot that heard it especially a South Carolinian name Thomas Sumter, known to the British as “The Gamecock”. Sumter began a bloody reprisal against the South Carolina Loyalist that could be interpreted as nothing less than a civil war because it meant killing your neighbors if they were loyal to King George and kill them he did. Sumter was originally from Virginia the son of Welch immigrant parents. Through a series of adventures that would warrant another lesson, Sumter ended up in central South Carolina with no money. He eventually married a wealthy widow and opened several successful businesses and an active plantation near the town of Stateburg located about 15 miles west of present day Sumter, South Carolina. Sumter was made Brigadier General of the local militia and was a proven warrior with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was instrumental in driving Tarleton and Cornwallis out of the Carolinas and into the waiting arms of George Washington and the Continental Army at Yorktown. Again he was one of those people that ended up at the right place at the right point in time to allow this melting pot of immigrants to congeal into the great nation we are today. It was no accident.

1953 On this day with a stupendous display of strength and stamina, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tensing Norgay reach the summit of Mount Everest for the first time by anyone. Hillary and Norgay were part of an 11 man climbing team who reached a base camp at the elevation of 27,400 feet and Hillary and Norgay made the assault on 29,030 foot summit alone. Then the hard part began...the descent. The two had traversed near vertical walls on the way up, now they had to negotiate them coming down. But they prevailed and one of the greatest feats of exploration and adventure in history came to an end.

1914 On this date the ocean liner “Empress of Ireland” departed Quebec Harbor, Canada into the Saint Lawrence Seaway headed to Liverpool, England. Since the sinking of the Titanic the shipboard safety devices and procedures had been greatly improved. The Saint Lawrence was very foggy on this spring morning and the Norwegian freighter “Storstad” was nearby but the both the captains of the Empress and the Storstad were aware of each other and indeed had each other in sight. Through a series of miss-interpreted signals the two ships finally engaged in a fatal embrace when the Storstad plunged 15 feet into the starboard side of the Empress. It took the Empress just 14 minutes to find the bottom and took more than 1500 passengers with her. There would have been more but the heroic efforts of the crew of the still floating Storstad resulted in the saving of scores of passengers in the frigid waters.

1864 After a series of running battles that began near the Wilderness and swinging south to the James River, US General Ulysses Grant has been out maneuvered and out guessed by CSA General Robert E, Lee. After leaving the Wilderness Grant headed as quickly as he could for the Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia only to find CSA General James Longstreet and his Corps already there and dug in. A fierce and bloody battle ensued with Grant withdrawing after receiving a severe ass-kicking. Grant’s intention was to get between Lee and Richmond and Lee knew this. It was no mystery and Lee simply guessed where Grant was going to try to make this happen. On this date Grant reached the Topopotomoy Creek only to be greeted by the grinning rebels looking down on his army from the bluffs above. The frustrated Grant slid further south to a small crossroad called Cold Harbor only to find that Lee had indeed out-guessed and outmaneuvered him and had the Confederates dug in and waiting. The exasperated and angry Grant flung his army against the Confederate embrasures only to have his army chopped to pieces by aimed rifles/muskets and artillery. This is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in North America for its duration. Grant had to admit defeat once again and withdrew but he knew that he had almost an unlimited supply of replacements and Lee had none. It was a war of attrition after that.

1843 American explorer John Fremont departed Saint Louis, Missouri on his second expedition of discovery. He had just returned from the first one just a few months before. Fremont was fortunate to have a guide with the skill and knowledge of Kit Carson on the first expedition and he was scheduled to meet with Carson in Wyoming to guide once again. This time they were going to explore the lands in the Wind River mountain Range and then on into Oregon. They ended up on the Pacific coast across from what is now Portland, Oregon. Fremont was to return via the Oregon Trail but decided that that was not adventurous enough and turned south to traverse the Sierra Nevada range. This proved to be a bad move because they almost got trapped in the snows and ended up eating some of their horses and had it not been for Kit Carson they could not have make it to Sutter’s Fort and safety. After restocking and refitting that headed back to Saint Louis via the California Trail. His descriptions of what the saw was instrumental in lighting the flame of adventure for thousands of immigrants that made the journey to Oregon and other lands in the American west.

Born today:

1736 American patriot Patrick Henry. He said “If this be treason, then let’s make the most of it.” Yet another fire breather in the right place at the right time.

1898 Canadian actress Beatrice Lilly. She said “One time Noel Coward and I was staying in London, adjoining rooms, of course. I felt mischievous and knocked on his door. He said “Who is it” and I lowered my voice and said “It is the hotel detective, do you have a gentlemen in your room?” Noel said “Just a minute, I will ask him.”

1917 President John F. Kennedy. He said, “I know nothing for sure except the fact that I know nothing for sure.” Sound wisdom

Answer to the trivia question:

The largest tsunami ever documented was in 1958 when a landslide into Lituya Bay Alaska produced a tsunami 100 feet high.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

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