•                                Musings and History


    Quote of the day:

    When explaining why he sold the rights to the song “My Way” to Frank Sinatra he said “I did not want to wake up with a horse's head in my bed.”

                                                              Paul Anka


    Trivia question of the day:

    Who was the last major league baseball player to bat .400 for a season? Answer at the end of the blog.


    Here is a short history lesson.

    The Revolutionary War lasted 8 bloody years and thousands of Patriots died or were killed to insure the independence of the United States from the heel of Great Britain. 29 years later Great Britain, along with most of Europe, was at war with France and Napoleon. Great Britain tried to blockade French ports to prevent the movement of troops and the re-supplying of the tools of war. The United States was not at war with France and continued to try to trade with them. Not only was American ships stopped from approaching French ports, the English war ship would “impress” sailors from American merchant vessels and force them to serve on British warships. President James Madison and the United States congress declared war on Great Britain. As a result Great Britain sent part of the mightiest navy in the world to fight against this upstart nation. In fact James Madison was the last sitting president to be involved in combat. The British landed near Baltimore and sent a large number of troops toward Washington, DC with the intention of burning to to the ground. This was in retaliation for a United States army unit burning down the British embassy building in Canada. Madison commanded an American artillery battery at the Battle of Bladensburg, Md. which as unsuccessful in stopping the British advance and they did considerable damage to our nations capitol. Before the British troops landed, a naval bombardment was delivered to Fort McHenry which was at the mouth of Baltimore harbor manned by American troops. The bombardment lasted all one night. An American was on board one of the British warships and watched in awe at the ferocity of the attack. But the next morning a gigantic American flag had been raised on Fort McHenry indicating that the fort as still in American hands. The American was Francis Scott Key and he wrote a inspired poem about what he had seen that became our national anthem. What I tearfully think of when I hear this song is the hundreds of thousands of Patriots in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812 that surrendered their lives to make all of this happen. I do not think about some arrogant millionaires that are trying to stress that they don't think they are been treated fairly and I deeply resent them using the heritage of such importance to my devotion to the United States as a sounding board. The 1st Amendment applies to them of course...but it applies to me also.


                                 This Date in History   October 2


    1967 On this date United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren swore in Thurgood Marshall as an associate Supreme Court justice replacing retiring Justice Tom Clark. Marshall was the first black person to be selected the high court. He was born in Baltimore in 1908. When he graduated from high school he applied to go the University of Maryland Law School and was accepted but the acceptance was withdrawn once it was found that he was black. He then applied to and was accepted into the Howard University Law School in Washington, DC and graduated first in his class. He became a lawyer for the NAACP and eventually became Chief Council. In his capacity with the NAACP he argued several cases before the Supreme Court including his most important victory in the Brown vs. The Board Of Education decision which was the first giant step in the elimination of segregation in public facilities in America. He was nominated for the United States Court of Appeals by President John Kennedy but his confirmation was delayed for almost a year by southern Senators. He was then selected by President Lyndon Johnson to be Solicitor General. Finally, it was Lyndon Johnson that nominated him to the Supreme Court. I took some time but he was eventually confirmed. He served on the high court for 24 years, retired in 1991 and died the next year.


    1780 Earlier British officer John Andre had been captured by a group of highwaymen (robbers) that were sympathetic to the Patriot cause. They found a document in Andre’s boot that described a deal with Patriot General Benedict Arnold whereby Arnold would turn over control of the Patriot fortress at West Point, NY to the British for 20,000 pounds Sterling. They then turned Andre over to the Patriot army including the document. Andre was not in uniform making him a spy. Andre was tried as a spy, convicted and was sentenced to death. On this date, Andre was hanged. When Arnold found out about the capture of Andre he and his wife ran like hell to the British warship HMS Vulture and surrendered to them. The British did not waste Arnold’s considerable military talents and made him an officer in the British Army and gave him command of a division of infantry. Arnold did not disappoint. He proved to be a very capable commander against his countrymen. After the war was won by the Patriots, he had no choice but to go to England. He died penniless and unknown in London in 1801.


    1836 After exploring Argentina, Peru and the Galapagos Islands, the HMS Beagle with British naturalist Charles Darwin aboard arrives back in England. Darwin has made many observations in his travels the most important of which was what he called “natural selection” and evidence as he saw it, of homo-sapiens evolving from a lower form. Darwin was embarrassed at what he had found and delayed publishing his findings for several years because he knew what hell would be raised about it. But he finally published The Origin of Species and sure enough, hell was raised and plenty of it and it is still ebbing and flowing to this day. I don’t have a dog in that fight because it eventually gets to the use of the bible as the final authority which requires a leap of faith. As I have said before, you cannot mix science and religion successfully.


    1864 US General Alvan Gillem decided to attack the CSA encampment of Saltville, Virginia to capture the salt and lead mine there. The salt mine was very important to the Confederacy because the salt was used to preserve their food. Gillam wanted US General Burbridge and his small division to join him in a coordinated attack from the south but Burbridge wanted a separate attack from the north so he could get individual credit for the victory. Both armies totaled 4,000 men. The Confederate officers in charge at Saltville were CSA Generals Harry Giltner and John Williams. When they found out what was coming, the hastily rounded up about 1,000 Confederate infantry and prepared a plan of action. You would have thought they would have dug in but they didn’t. They sent Giltner and about 400 troops to delay Gillam coming up from the south and Williams and the rest prepared an ambush of Burbridge’s troops coming down from the north. When the trap was sprung the astonished US troops turned around and ran back to Kentucky. Williams turned his troops around and headed south to join Giltner. It was unnecessary because when Gillam found out about the rout of Burbridge, he turned around and headed back to West “by God” Virginia. However, this brilliant victory was tarnished somewhat when some of the black troops of the US 5th and 6th cavalry were captured and then murdered. War is hell.


    Births and deaths:


    1940 Sports columnist Scott Ostler is born. After watching the 49ers get routed in the 1993 playoffs, he wrote “The 49ers were so badly flattened that they didn’t fly back home, they were faxed.”


    1981 US singer and pianist Hazel Scott dies. She said “I have always respected everyone’s religion; there is only one God but a hell of a lot of confused people.” Here, here.

    Answer to the trivia question:
    The last major league player to hit a .400 average of a season was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox.


              Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow