•     Musing and History

                         Happy Thanksgiving, y'all

    Quote of the day:

    “Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

                                                            Mark Twain


    Trivia question of the day:
    What was the bloodiest single day in American history? Answer at the end of the blog.


                                 This Date in History November 26


    1922   Earlier archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered an unopened tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh name Tutankhamen but waited to enter the tomb until his financier English Lord Caernarvon arrived to be there for the opening. Carter knew then name of the pharaoh because of the hieroglyphs on the portal. On this date Carter and Caernarvon standing shoulder to shoulder cut a small hole in the doorway to take a look. Carter stuck his arm through the hole while holding a candle and peeked inside. Lord Caernarvon asked Carter what he saw and Carter answered “Things, wonderful things.” After the opened a hole large enough to crawl inside they uncovered one of the most dazzling and important archeological discoveries ever found. Carter was a veteran explorer and in the past had found the tombs of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose IV. Both were important discoveries but nowhere the equal of King Tut. What a thrill it had have been to have been the first human being to lay eyes on that tomb in 2,500 years. I am sure that we all have seen the gold funeral mask of King Tut. What a beautiful work of art it is as with many other pieces found there.


    1863   After the disastrous Confederate loss at Gettysburg, The Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding, escapes back into the friendly confines of Virginia pursued by the Army of the Potomac commanded by US General George Meade. The were several encounters with no clear victor all the while US President A. Lincoln is on Meade’s ass to bring Lee to bear and finish off the Army of Northern Virginia. Even though Meade had the Confederates outnumbered nearly two to one, he was unable to corner the elusive Lee. After spending several weeks of Lee and Meade warily eyeing each other across the Rappahannock River with Lincoln raising hell with Meade to do something, Meade orders extensive reconnoitering and cannot find a weakness in Lee’s lines. But to placate Lincoln on this date he orders US General William French and three corps (about 33,000 men) to attempt an attack on Lee’s right flank. French and his troops set out and promptly get lost and make their position and intentions known to the Rebs. Lee sends CSA General Edward Johnson and his corps to cut French off. The two armies finally meet in a small valley named Mine Run and the battle is joined. After about four hours of little progress being made by either side, they both withdraw. French’s troops had suffered 940 casualties to 540 for the Confederates. Meade, in spite of the bitching of Lincoln, decides it is time to go into winter quarters and this battle is the last of 1863.


    1933   Earlier 22 year old San Jose, California resident Brooke Hart shows up missing. Hart was the popular son of a San Jose store owner. The parents of young Brooke receive a ransom note for $40,000 a few days after his disappearance. The police retraced Hart’s steps to a ship near San Mateo and arrested two crewman named James Thurmond and John Holmes as the kidnappers. Eventually Hart’s corpse is found. He had been tortured before being beaten to death. Both Holmes and Thurmond blame each other for the slaying and are jailed in San Jose. On this day, the fine citizens of San Jose storm the jail and take Thurmond and Holmes outside and suspend them by the neck from the nearest light pole. They are not done yet. They cut the ropes used in the hanging and sell the pieces and give the money to charity. They also allow pictures of the fine citizenry of San Jose to have picture of themselves with the corpses…for a price. That money goes to charity also. The people of San Jose are praised by everyone in the state of California including the good Governor who stated “We need to turn over all the kidnappers in San Quentin to the good people of San Jose.” I believe in justice but I do not believe in vigilantism. That inevitably leads to anarchy.


    1898   One of the worst blizzards to ever strike the northeastern United States begins on this date. Previously the winds had been blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean for two days then in a matter of minutes the wind began blowing form the northwest meaning a cold front called an Alberta Clipper had arrived and interacted with the moisture laden air already in place. It snowed for 36 hours at a ferocious pace to the tune that there were snow drifts even with the second story windows in places. As you might suspect, all communication were stopped. After all was said and done, there were over 450 dead but the real total may never be known because of the unsophisticated communications in those days.


    1872   On this date one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of the United States begins. Two men named Phillip Arnold and John Slack walk into a San Francisco bank and try to deposit some raw diamonds. The bank president named William Ralston tried to get more information from the two but they behave very secretively and refuse Ralston’s questioning. Finally Ralston gets the two to admit that they found the diamonds in a mine. Ralston finally persuades the two to take him to the mine and they blindfold Ralston and take him to a mine where they had “salted” diamonds and rubies, meaning that they threw some diamonds and rubies about like they were extracted from the mine. Well Ralston about peed his pants and came back to San Francisco and organized a $20 million investment group. They offered Arnold and Slack $600,000 for the rights to the mine which they took. Soon afterward the San Francisco newspaper hires a geologist to inspect the mine and he returns and says that the mine is just a hole in the ground and is totally worthless. Ralston begins giving back the money to the investors but is unable to retrieve the money he gave to Arnold and Slack. The smoothies lived the rest of their lives in luxury thanks to the greed of man.


    1941   On this date the combined Japanese fleet departs the Japanese Inland Sea heading east-southeast. They are headed for the United States military installations in the Hawaiian Islands. As we all know they arrive of December 7 and all but destroy America’s ability to wage war in the Pacific. For reasons known only to the Japanese, they did not occupy any part of the Hawaiian Islands nor sail on eastward to the United States unopposed. For whatever reason they did not do either and we were able to recover and prevail in the bloodiest war ever fought.


    Birth and deaths:


    1792 US Suffragist Sarah Grimke is born. She said “I ask nothing for my sex. All I ask is that my brethren get their feet off our necks.” That’s a real peculiar position for sex, Sarah.


    Answer to the trivia question:

    The bloodiest single day in American history was the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War. On the average there was a American killed or wounded every 2 seconds for 10 hours. War is hell.


                     Thanks for listening   I can hardly wait until tomorrow