Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“My wife believes that double parking means one on top of another.”
Dave Barry
Here is a short biography of a rich man who became a pirate just to get away from his nagging wife followed by the history lesson.
Stede Bonnet
The Gentlemen Pirate
This is a story of a well heeled Englishman of culture that became a pirate because of a woman. Stede Bonnet was born on Barbados in 1688 the son of a wealthy plantation owner. I do not know what his farm products were but in those days Barbados was famous for sugar and rum. Stede inherited the estate after his father’s death in 1694. In 1709 he married a woman of means named Mary Allamby also of Barbados. After several years of Mary’s bitching and in spite of having three children and also in spite of he not having but the most rudimentary sailing skills, in 1717 Stede decided to take up piracy. Stede bought a 30 ton sloop, named it The Revenge, probably because of his bad experience with his wife and outfitted it with 10 guns and hired a pirate crew of 30 and gave them a salary. This was unheard of in the pirating arena, most other pirates allowed their crewmen to share in whatever booty was captured. Stede headed for the American east coast and is successful in capturing and looting several ships but then he ran across a Spanish man-of-war and a sharp battle ensued and Stede and company are forced to withdraw after suffering several killed and many severely wounded including Stede. Stede ordered his ship to Nassau in the Bahamas, a well known refuge for pirates. It was there that he met two pirates named John Hornigold and Edward Teach, also known as “Blackbeard”. Stede was not getting any better so he turned over command of his ship to Blackbeard and out they went to the American coast looking for prey with Stede as a guest of Blackbeard. As many of y’all have heard the name of Blackbeard’s flagship was Queen Anne’s Revenge. Blackbeard probably named his ship that as a slap at the king of England at the time. Stede had a meeting with the Governor of North Carolina who offered him a pardon if he would go “privateering” against Spanish shipping that was coming back from Mexico and Central America laden to the scuppers with gold captured from the Aztecs, Maya and Inca and give the Governor half of everything he captured. By now Stede has healed well enough to take command of his own ship and he and Blackbeard parted company. Stede wanted to go pirating again but he also did not want to lose his pardon from the North Carolina so he decided to use the alias of “Captain Thomas” and renamed his ship The Royal James and went pirating again. The good Governor offered Blackbeard a similar deal whereby Blackbeard could use Okacroke inlet and Bath, North Carolina in particular as a secure home base but in return he must give the governor half of his booty. Stede’s ship was leaking badly and needed careening. This meant the ship was leaned over to one side and the seams on the bottom were re-packed to stop the leaks. To do this they needed shallow and calm water. Stede chose the shallow and calm estuary of the Cape Fear River North Carolina. In the mean time the Governor of South Carolina had got fed up with Stede and Blackbeard attacking nearly every ship departing Charleston, South Carolina harbor and sent a hired militia led by Colonel Robert Rhett to put a stop to it. Rhett caught Stede in the Cape Fear estuary while still careening. There was a battle for several hours but the pirates were surrounded by a force of superior numbers and ships and were forced to surrender. Stede and company were brought to Charleston and put on trial along with another pirate named Richard Worley and his crew. Somehow Stede escaped but not before promising the South Carolina Governor that he would cut off his arm and legs to prevent him from ever pirating again. The Governor did not buy it and sent a search party out looking for Stede. Stede had hired two slaves that had access to a boat to take him and his sailing master to safety. The four were cornered on Sullivan’s Island (the home of my favorite watering hole, Poe’s Tavern) and the two slaves were killed and Stede and his sailing master were brought back to Charleston to be tried before Judge Nicholas Trott. The Trott family was famous in South Carolina history and was mentioned in my essay on the history of Daniel Island. Anyway, Judge Trott gave no quarter and sentenced Stede and his crew plus Richard Worley and his crew to death by hanging. The whole crowd was indeed hanged at “White’s Point” which is today the southernmost point of the Charleston, South Carolina peninsula, better known as “The Battery”. The whole bunch was “buried” on the southern shore of James Island “at low tide”. We know what this means. They were left for the crabs and sharks to devour. By the way, after Blackbeard made his deal with the Governor of North Carolina, the Governor of Virginia knew that every ship entering or leaving the Chesapeake Bay was at risk so he sent a militia hunting for Blackbeard. They cornered Blackbeard on Okacroke Island, North Carolina and after a savage hand-to-hand fight Blackbeard was eventually killed and beheaded. Thus essentially ended the pirating in the Carolinas but it still flourished elsewhere as long as Spanish ship were hauling all that gold back to Spain via the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, the Bahamas and the American east coast.
This Date in History February 9
1942 In the late 1930’s the grandest ocean liner on the planet was built in France and named the Normandie. The ship had a revolutionary hull shape that made it very speedy and was able to cross the Atlantic in four days and was the first ship of that size to be able to do this. After the United States entered WWII in December of 1941, it became apparent that the American commercial fleet had enough ships to carry cargo but virtually no passenger vessels. In those times the luxury liners were English, Scottish or Dutch. England donated the liner Queen Mary to shuttle American troops worldwide. The French liner Normandie was seized while it was in port in New York and renamed the U.S.S. Lafayette. The ship fitters pulled the ship into dry dock and began transforming this ship from a luxury liner to a troop carrier. On this date a welder accidentally set fire to a large pile of life preservers and the fire spread quickly. The fire crews poured water into the ship at an enormous rate and finally the great ship capsized and burned into a lump of unusable steel. The ship was towed to a New Jersey and cut up for scrap. There was a rumor that President Roosevelt told the trade unions on American docks that a strike would not be tolerated for the duration of the war. Some of the more militant Union organizers ordered the Normandie destroyed as a sign that the trade unions would not be told what they could or could not do. But that is just a rumor.
1909 On this date the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was organized by Carl Fisher. Fisher and his investors hurried to finish the track because a major event was planned for August, 6 months later. The track was indeed finished but the racing surface was sub-par and it cost the lives of several racers. Fisher knew that he would have to put down another surface and chose bricks as being the most durable compound out there. From that day on Indianapolis was known as “The Brickyard” and as the saying goes, the rest is history. By the way, the Indianapolis 500 race is the most watched single day sporting event on the planet.
1960 On this date Adolph Coors is kidnapped while driving to work from his Morrison, Colorado home. Adolph was the grandson of the founder of Coors Brewery and was the chairman of the Golden, Colorado brewery. Almost immediately the police began looking for a man named Joe Corbett. Corbett was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Oregon and was headed for medical school. Then one night in 1951 he got drunk and got into a fight with an Air Force Sergeant, produced a pistol and shot and killed him. He does several years in San Quentin for that indiscretion. He was transferred to a minimum security prison where he escaped. Eight days after the abduction, a car was found on fire in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The forensic specialist took dirt samples from the car and matched them to the Morrison, Colorado area. Not only that, the fire did not destroy the engine numbers and the FBI was able to trace them to Corbett. Corbett’s yellow Mercury was seen near the abduction point for several days before the abduction. Not only that, a ransom note was found that was traced to Corbett’s typewriter. Seven months after the abduction, Adolph’s clothes were found in a dump near Sedalia, Colorado and his corpse was found nearby. The FBI put wanted posters out nationwide and in Canada for Corbett. They got “hits” on Corbett in Toronto and all the way across Canada to Vancouver where he was arrested. Even though Corbett did not testify at his trial he was indeed convicted and went to prison in 1961. He was released in 1978, for reason known only to the Board of Corrections.
1864 Earlier Elizabeth Bacon met a dashing young cavalry officer named Captain George A. Custer at a dance in Monroe, Michigan. Custer was smitten and began a campaign for the hand of Elizabeth. Her father was not happy with his daughter marrying a soldier, but when Custer was promoted to Brevet (temporary) Brigadier General for his fearlessness Elizabeth’s father conceded and Elizabeth and George were married on this date in Monroe, Michigan. After the Civil War Custer’s rank was reduced to and he was assigned duty out on the Great Plains attempting to subdue the Indians. We all know what happened at Little Big Horn in 1878. To this day, that massacre is acknowledged to be the fault of the recklessness of Custer, but Elizabeth defended her husband’s honor to her death.
Born today:
1773 President William Henry Harrison. He said “The Government that is the strongest is the one that is the most free”. He also made his hour and a half inauguration speech in sub-freezing weather with no coat on. He died of pneumonia 30 days later.
1865 Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Irish actress. She said “It doesn’t matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses.” Mrs. Campbell must have known my third ex-wife.
1821 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. He said “Realists do not fear the results of their study.”
1921 Irish writer Brendan Behan. He said “I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman would not make it worse.”
1945 US actress Mia Farrow. She said “I can match bottoms with anyone in Hollywood.” I don’t know about that, Mia, it looks kind of lean to me.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Sometimes I get a feeling that the whole world is against me, but on second thought I suspect some of the smaller countries are neutral.”
Stanley O’Brien
I am going to treat y’all to a small biography about one of the greatest cavalry officers in history.
James Ewell Brown Stuart
(1833-1864)
James Ewell Brown Stuart was born in Patrick County, Virginia on February 6, 1833. He was known as “Jeb” in his younger days and either “Jeb” or “Beauty” as an adult. Jeb was a career cavalry officer for both the United States and the Confederate States of America. Jeb was already a seasoned cavalry officer before the outbreak of the Civil War. He had fought with distinction in the Indian Wars and was present at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia Arsenal when the attempt by abolitionist John Brown to capture this important arsenal was stopped by Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant Jeb Stuart and a platoon of US Marines. It was Stuart that read the “Surrender or else” proclamation to John Brown and his henchmen who were barricaded in the arsenal. They did not surrender so Lee sent in the Marines and Brown was captured and the great majority of his followers were killed which crushed the rebellion.
Stuart excelled at reconnaissance and support of infantry assaults but he was a vain man. After joining the Confederacy he cultivated his image of being a cavalier. He kept his riding boots polished to a high sheen, wore a cape with red lining, a yellow sash, a hat cocked to one side with a peacock plume attached, a red flower in his lapel and often wore cologne into battle. Early on in the beginnings of the Civil War, he shone in his leadership at the Battle of the First Manassas and was instrumental in the rout of the US troops. His star rose to its zenith during US General George McClellan’s so-called ‘Peninsular” campaign. In this action McClellan had landed and enormous army on the James River peninsula southwest of Richmond with the idea of attacking Richmond from an unexpected direction. Jeb Stuart was tasked by General Lee to reconnoiter the flank of this US army. Not only did Stuart reconnoiter the flank, he and his cavalry unit rode completely around the entire army gathering information and destroying supplies as he went. Stuart returned to Lee with invaluable information and after seven days of combat, McClellan packed his troops and equipment back onto the ships that has brought them and got his young ass back to where he came from. Stuart did another “ride around McClellan” at the Battle of Antietam. After Antietam Stuart was tasked with going to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and cutting a railroad bridge that most of the supplies going to the US army passed over. He was unable to take out the bridge because it was made of iron but he gathered up over 2,000 horses and several wagons of supplies and brought them back into Virginia while passing almost within sight of an encamped US Army and passed by undetected. His cavalry unit was involved in the largest cavalry engagement ever seen on the North American continent. It was the Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia. In this engagement there were about 5,000 cavalrymen involved. This fight was considered a draw in spite of the fact that the Confederates held the field after the battle was over. What made this battle significant was that the US cavalry was able to hold its own against the renowned cavalry of the Confederates, something they were unable to do in the past.
Stuart and his cavalry unit were present at nearly every important engagement in the Eastern Theatre in the Civil War. One of these was the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. In this engagement Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson was severely wounded and subsequently died of pneumonia a few days later. Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s Corp but his skills as a cavalry officer was in greater need for the Confederacy and command of the Corp was given to CSA General Richard Ewell and Stuart went back to what he does best. He did perform poorly at the Battle of Gettysburg. He took his cavalry unit on a long range reconnaissance and lost contact with General Lee while the Confederates were engaged in a major battle without Lee knowing what he was up against. This knowledge was the responsibility of Stuart. To this day there has not been a satisfactory explanation of Stuart’s absence in the first days of this pivotal engagement. When he finally did arrive on the scene he was severely admonished by Lee but was given the assignment of taking his cavalry unit to the rear of the US lines on Cemetery Ridge and be prepared to cut off the retreat of the US troops after the Confederates broke through with the infantry action know as Pickett’s Charge. The only problem here was the Confederates hit the US line with everything they had and were unable to break through. Stuart came back to Lee and provided rear cover for the Confederate retreat back into Virginia.
The US Army had realized for a long time how much of a danger Stuart was and finally they assigned US General Phillip Sheridan to go into the Shenandoah Valley to destroy the food source for the Confederates, but his secondary assignment was the destruction of Jeb Stuart. Finally, a cavalry engagement on May 11, 1864 at Yellow Tavern, Virginia (about 6 miles northeast of Richmond) cost the life of CSA General J.E.B. Stuart. Stuart was not killed instantly but was severely wounded and he knew his wounds were mortal. He was taken to Richmond and died the next day but not before designating certain personal belongings to be given to different people. He requested that his golden spurs to be given to Mrs. R.E. Lee who was present to be relayed to her husband. He designated that his sword be given to his young son. Stuart finally said that he knew he had just minutes to live and felt that God’s will had been done and then he died. Jeb was 31 years old.
He is buried in a vault in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. His funeral was attended by CSA President Jefferson Davis among many other CSA luminaries. It is acknowledged that Stuart was one of the greatest cavalry officers in American history.
This date in history February 8
1777 On August 12, 1739 Timothy Bigelow is born in Worchester, Massachusetts. After helping remove some of the dead Patriot soldiers from the field after the battle of Lexington, he joined the Continental Army. He is one of two majors with General Benedict Arnold on that ghastly march from Maine to Quebec, Canada. Many Continental soldiers died of starvation and exposure during this ordeal. The attack on Quebec was not successful and Bigelow was captured and was imprisoned by the British from December 1775 to August 1776 and then released. After returning to the Continental Army he was promoted to the rank of Colonel on this date. Bigelow was a dedicated and very efficient soldier. He was present at some of the most important battles in United States history. He was there at the Battle of Saratoga, a Patriot victory that persuaded France to come to our aid, the Battle of Monmouth, and most of all he was with the Continental Army at the battle of Yorktown where the entire army under British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered. After the war Bigelow went back home to Worchester and resumed his profession as a blacksmith. He fell into financial ruin and was jailed for failure to repay his debts. He died in prison on March 31, 1790. He left a wife and five children. What the hell can you say about this outrage?
1587 In 1542 Mary is six days old when her father James V, the King of Scotland dies making little Mary the ruling Monarch of Scotland. After reaching an appropriate age Mary is sent to be raised in France. She ends up marrying the dauphin (apparent heir to the French throne) and he eventually becomes King Francis II. Francis died the year after becoming King and Mary returns to Scotland to assume her position as the ruling monarch, Mary Queen of Scots. Mary marries her cousin Lord Darnley but has a lover in Lord Bothwell. Lord Darnley is killed in a mysterious explosion and three months later Mary marries Lord Bothwell. Well, the Scottish nobles call bullshit on that action and accuse Mary and Bothwell of assassinating Lord Darnley to get him out of the way and call for Mary to step down. Mary refuses and civil war breaks out with the army that is loyal to Mary against an army raised by the Scottish nobles. Mary’s army has the crap kicked out it and Mary has no choice but to flee the country. She goes to England seeking refuge with her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Mary’s son James becomes the King of Scotland as James VI. Elizabeth welcomes Mary and offers refuge. Later on it was discovered that Mary had conspired with the French to assassinate Elizabeth so Mary can rise to the throne of England. Queen Elizabeth is not pleased and in 1568 sends Mary to Fotheringay Castle for imprisonment. She stays imprisoned for 19 years and on this date, Mary Queen of Scots has a date with the ever present big guy with a big axe and a black hood. Mary went to meet her maker in two pieces. Mary’s son James calmly accepts his mother’s execution and cools his heels waiting for Elizabeth to expire and sure enough, in 1603 Elizabeth passes away and James VI of Scotland becomes the King of Scotland, Ireland and the King of England and is titled James I. This is the first time all three countries were under one rule and the phrase “Great Britain” came into being.
1887 On this date President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act. As incredible as it sounds, Senator Lauren Dawes of Massachusetts formulates a plan to divide the Indian’s reservations into domestic plots with Indian males with families would get 160 acres, single males 80 acres and boys 40 acres. The women were not eligible for any lands at all. After all of this took place, what land that would be left over would be sold to the Anglos. The so called “friends of the Indians” endorsed this project as the best way to assimilate the Indians into the Anglo society in spite of the fact that the Indians lost ownership of 86 million acres or 63 % of their lands. The “friends of the Indians” were the first in line when the excess lands came up for sale. They weren’t “friends” they were just lusting after Indian lands. The Dawes Severalty Act remained in place for 40 years and then in 1934 the Wheeler-Howard Act became law and the Dawes Act was repudiated. The Wheeler-Howard Act stated that the Indian tribes would be allowed to revert back to a central type government that they had been in the past. But much damage had already been done. We honkies are not such hot shit, are we? After all, we were the very first “illegal aliens” to step foot on the Continent to stay (the Vikings were first but they did not stay) and drive the Natives almost into extinction with disease, cheating, betrayal and mass murder. It is estimated that there were 26 million Indians on the lands that became the continental United States when Columbus arrived in the Bahamas. After the last US military engagement with the Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota in the 1880’s, there were 750,000. What is wrong with this picture?
1692 Previously the good Reverend Samuel Parris had purchased two slaves in the Bahamas and brought them back to his home in Salem, Massachusetts. The two teenaged girls living in his house were his niece Abigail Williams and his daughter Betty. The girls were beginning to act a little weird so the Reverend took them to see a doctor. On this date the doctor diagnosed the girls as being under the influence of an “evil spirit.” Well, the Reverend immediately suspected his slaves and being the culprits so he takes his slaves, Tituba and John Indian aside and administers a severe beating to them both trying to get them to confess to being witches/warlocks. Neither one of them confessed. One of the neighbors suggested making a cake with the girls’ urine and fed it to the dog. The logic was if the dog began acting strangely, then the girls were under the influence of a witch. Fortunately for Fido, that idea was scrapped. But the girls kept having what appeared to be fits and convulsions and said that they had seen Tituba in their hallucinations. Then other girls that had visited Abigail and Betty began having fits and convulsions. This set off the well documented panic in the fear of witches in the town of Salem. Soon everyone was pointing fingers at others with which they had a grievance against. On February 29 an arrest warrant was issued for three other women as being witches and the panic was in high gear. In the summer of 1692 the first of the Salem witch trials began with Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes. All were convicted and sentenced to hang on July 23. While these women were on the gallows all but one forgave those that convicted them. The one woman said to the executioner Nicholas Noyes who read them the order of execution for being witches “You are a liar. I am no more a witch that you are a wizard and if you take my life, God will give you blood to drink.” Nicholas Noyes died a few years later bleeding from the mouth. Eventually the credibility of the accusers went away and the good people of Salem came to their senses, but not before hanging 19 and imprisoning over 100 and the Governor stepping in and putting a stop to it. The most important family in Salem was the Proctor family. The powers that be chose to hang John Proctor as a witch but spared his wife because she was pregnant. People are fools at times, in fact, most of the time.
Born today:
1820 US General William Tecumseh Sherman. He said “If I had my choice I would kill all of the reporters but we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.” Believe it or not the US General that laid waste to Georgia and South Carolina became the President of LSU.
1828 French writer Jules Verne. He said “Whatever one man can conceive another man can achieve.” Jules was one of the first authors to write about space travel.
1884 English racer Lord Brabazon. He said “If you cannot say what you want to say in twenty minutes you ought to go home and write a book.” Lord Brabazon was not known for his patience.
1888 US movie director Elbert “King” Vidor. He said “Marriage isn’t a word...it is a sentence.” It is close to life without parole.
1931 US actor James Dean. He said “Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die today.” James was a rising star in the movies when he was killed in a car wreck at the age of 24. He only made three movies, Giant, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, but he is a legend to this day.
1941 US actor Nick Nolte. When speaking about Barbra Streisand he said “She is a ball-buster...protect me from her.” Hey Nick, there are million of them out there… just joking.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Sometimes I get a feeling that the whole world is against me, but on second thought I suspect some of the smaller countries are neutral.”
Stanley O’Brien
I am going to treat y’all to a small biography about one of the greatest cavalry officers in history.
James Ewell Brown Stuart
(1833-1864)
James Ewell Brown Stuart was born in Patrick County, Virginia on February 6, 1833. He was known as “Jeb” in his younger days and either “Jeb” or “Beauty” as an adult. Jeb was a career cavalry officer for both the United States and the Confederate States of America. Jeb was already a seasoned cavalry officer before the outbreak of the Civil War. He had fought with distinction in the Indian Wars and was present at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia Arsenal when the attempt by abolitionist John Brown to capture this important arsenal was stopped by Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant Jeb Stuart and a platoon of US Marines. It was Stuart that read the “Surrender or else” proclamation to John Brown and his henchmen who were barricaded in the arsenal. They did not surrender so Lee sent in the Marines and Brown was captured and the great majority of his followers were killed which crushed the rebellion.
Stuart excelled at reconnaissance and support of infantry assaults but he was a vain man. After joining the Confederacy he cultivated his image of being a cavalier. He kept his riding boots polished to a high sheen, wore a cape with red lining, a yellow sash, a hat cocked to one side with a peacock plume attached, a red flower in his lapel and often wore cologne into battle. Early on in the beginnings of the Civil War, he shone in his leadership at the Battle of the First Manassas and was instrumental in the rout of the US troops. His star rose to its zenith during US General George McClellan’s so-called ‘Peninsular” campaign. In this action McClellan had landed and enormous army on the James River peninsula southwest of Richmond with the idea of attacking Richmond from an unexpected direction. Jeb Stuart was tasked by General Lee to reconnoiter the flank of this US army. Not only did Stuart reconnoiter the flank, he and his cavalry unit rode completely around the entire army gathering information and destroying supplies as he went. Stuart returned to Lee with invaluable information and after seven days of combat, McClellan packed his troops and equipment back onto the ships that has brought them and got his young ass back to where he came from. Stuart did another “ride around McClellan” at the Battle of Antietam. After Antietam Stuart was tasked with going to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and cutting a railroad bridge that most of the supplies going to the US army passed over. He was unable to take out the bridge because it was made of iron but he gathered up over 2,000 horses and several wagons of supplies and brought them back into Virginia while passing almost within sight of an encamped US Army and passed by undetected. His cavalry unit was involved in the largest cavalry engagement ever seen on the North American continent. It was the Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia. In this engagement there were about 5,000 cavalrymen involved. This fight was considered a draw in spite of the fact that the Confederates held the field after the battle was over. What made this battle significant was that the US cavalry was able to hold its own against the renowned cavalry of the Confederates, something they were unable to do in the past.
Stuart and his cavalry unit were present at nearly every important engagement in the Eastern Theatre in the Civil War. One of these was the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. In this engagement Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson was severely wounded and subsequently died of pneumonia a few days later. Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s Corp but his skills as a cavalry officer was in greater need for the Confederacy and command of the Corp was given to CSA General Richard Ewell and Stuart went back to what he does best. He did perform poorly at the Battle of Gettysburg. He took his cavalry unit on a long range reconnaissance and lost contact with General Lee while the Confederates were engaged in a major battle without Lee knowing what he was up against. This knowledge was the responsibility of Stuart. To this day there has not been a satisfactory explanation of Stuart’s absence in the first days of this pivotal engagement. When he finally did arrive on the scene he was severely admonished by Lee but was given the assignment of taking his cavalry unit to the rear of the US lines on Cemetery Ridge and be prepared to cut off the retreat of the US troops after the Confederates broke through with the infantry action know as Pickett’s Charge. The only problem here was the Confederates hit the US line with everything they had and were unable to break through. Stuart came back to Lee and provided rear cover for the Confederate retreat back into Virginia.
The US Army had realized for a long time how much of a danger Stuart was and finally they assigned US General Phillip Sheridan to go into the Shenandoah Valley to destroy the food source for the Confederates, but his secondary assignment was the destruction of Jeb Stuart. Finally, a cavalry engagement on May 11, 1864 at Yellow Tavern, Virginia (about 6 miles northeast of Richmond) cost the life of CSA General J.E.B. Stuart. Stuart was not killed instantly but was severely wounded and he knew his wounds were mortal. He was taken to Richmond and died the next day but not before designating certain personal belongings to be given to different people. He requested that his golden spurs to be given to Mrs. R.E. Lee who was present to be relayed to her husband. He designated that his sword be given to his young son. Stuart finally said that he knew he had just minutes to live and felt that God’s will had been done and then he died. Jeb was 31 years old.
He is buried in a vault in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. His funeral was attended by CSA President Jefferson Davis among many other CSA luminaries. It is acknowledged that Stuart was one of the greatest cavalry officers in American history.
This date in history February 8
1777 On August 12, 1739 Timothy Bigelow is born in Worchester, Massachusetts. After helping remove some of the dead Patriot soldiers from the field after the battle of Lexington, he joined the Continental Army. He is one of two majors with General Benedict Arnold on that ghastly march from Maine to Quebec, Canada. Many Continental soldiers died of starvation and exposure during this ordeal. The attack on Quebec was not successful and Bigelow was captured and was imprisoned by the British from December 1775 to August 1776 and then released. After returning to the Continental Army he was promoted to the rank of Colonel on this date. Bigelow was a dedicated and very efficient soldier. He was present at some of the most important battles in United States history. He was there at the Battle of Saratoga, a Patriot victory that persuaded France to come to our aid, the Battle of Monmouth, and most of all he was with the Continental Army at the battle of Yorktown where the entire army under British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered. After the war Bigelow went back home to Worchester and resumed his profession as a blacksmith. He fell into financial ruin and was jailed for failure to repay his debts. He died in prison on March 31, 1790. He left a wife and five children. What the hell can you say about this outrage?
1587 In 1542 Mary is six days old when her father James V, the King of Scotland dies making little Mary the ruling Monarch of Scotland. After reaching an appropriate age Mary is sent to be raised in France. She ends up marrying the dauphin (apparent heir to the French throne) and he eventually becomes King Francis II. Francis died the year after becoming King and Mary returns to Scotland to assume her position as the ruling monarch, Mary Queen of Scots. Mary marries her cousin Lord Darnley but has a lover in Lord Bothwell. Lord Darnley is killed in a mysterious explosion and three months later Mary marries Lord Bothwell. Well, the Scottish nobles call bullshit on that action and accuse Mary and Bothwell of assassinating Lord Darnley to get him out of the way and call for Mary to step down. Mary refuses and civil war breaks out with the army that is loyal to Mary against an army raised by the Scottish nobles. Mary’s army has the crap kicked out it and Mary has no choice but to flee the country. She goes to England seeking refuge with her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Mary’s son James becomes the King of Scotland as James VI. Elizabeth welcomes Mary and offers refuge. Later on it was discovered that Mary had conspired with the French to assassinate Elizabeth so Mary can rise to the throne of England. Queen Elizabeth is not pleased and in 1568 sends Mary to Fotheringay Castle for imprisonment. She stays imprisoned for 19 years and on this date, Mary Queen of Scots has a date with the ever present big guy with a big axe and a black hood. Mary went to meet her maker in two pieces. Mary’s son James calmly accepts his mother’s execution and cools his heels waiting for Elizabeth to expire and sure enough, in 1603 Elizabeth passes away and James VI of Scotland becomes the King of Scotland, Ireland and the King of England and is titled James I. This is the first time all three countries were under one rule and the phrase “Great Britain” came into being.
1887 On this date President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Severalty Act. As incredible as it sounds, Senator Lauren Dawes of Massachusetts formulates a plan to divide the Indian’s reservations into domestic plots with Indian males with families would get 160 acres, single males 80 acres and boys 40 acres. The women were not eligible for any lands at all. After all of this took place, what land that would be left over would be sold to the Anglos. The so called “friends of the Indians” endorsed this project as the best way to assimilate the Indians into the Anglo society in spite of the fact that the Indians lost ownership of 86 million acres or 63 % of their lands. The “friends of the Indians” were the first in line when the excess lands came up for sale. They weren’t “friends” they were just lusting after Indian lands. The Dawes Severalty Act remained in place for 40 years and then in 1934 the Wheeler-Howard Act became law and the Dawes Act was repudiated. The Wheeler-Howard Act stated that the Indian tribes would be allowed to revert back to a central type government that they had been in the past. But much damage had already been done. We honkies are not such hot shit, are we? After all, we were the very first “illegal aliens” to step foot on the Continent to stay (the Vikings were first but they did not stay) and drive the Natives almost into extinction with disease, cheating, betrayal and mass murder. It is estimated that there were 26 million Indians on the lands that became the continental United States when Columbus arrived in the Bahamas. After the last US military engagement with the Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota in the 1880’s, there were 750,000. What is wrong with this picture?
1692 Previously the good Reverend Samuel Parris had purchased two slaves in the Bahamas and brought them back to his home in Salem, Massachusetts. The two teenaged girls living in his house were his niece Abigail Williams and his daughter Betty. The girls were beginning to act a little weird so the Reverend took them to see a doctor. On this date the doctor diagnosed the girls as being under the influence of an “evil spirit.” Well, the Reverend immediately suspected his slaves and being the culprits so he takes his slaves, Tituba and John Indian aside and administers a severe beating to them both trying to get them to confess to being witches/warlocks. Neither one of them confessed. One of the neighbors suggested making a cake with the girls’ urine and fed it to the dog. The logic was if the dog began acting strangely, then the girls were under the influence of a witch. Fortunately for Fido, that idea was scrapped. But the girls kept having what appeared to be fits and convulsions and said that they had seen Tituba in their hallucinations. Then other girls that had visited Abigail and Betty began having fits and convulsions. This set off the well documented panic in the fear of witches in the town of Salem. Soon everyone was pointing fingers at others with which they had a grievance against. On February 29 an arrest warrant was issued for three other women as being witches and the panic was in high gear. In the summer of 1692 the first of the Salem witch trials began with Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes. All were convicted and sentenced to hang on July 23. While these women were on the gallows all but one forgave those that convicted them. The one woman said to the executioner Nicholas Noyes who read them the order of execution for being witches “You are a liar. I am no more a witch that you are a wizard and if you take my life, God will give you blood to drink.” Nicholas Noyes died a few years later bleeding from the mouth. Eventually the credibility of the accusers went away and the good people of Salem came to their senses, but not before hanging 19 and imprisoning over 100 and the Governor stepping in and putting a stop to it. The most important family in Salem was the Proctor family. The powers that be chose to hang John Proctor as a witch but spared his wife because she was pregnant. People are fools at times, in fact, most of the time.
Born today:
1820 US General William Tecumseh Sherman. He said “If I had my choice I would kill all of the reporters but we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.” Believe it or not the US General that laid waste to Georgia and South Carolina became the President of LSU.
1828 French writer Jules Verne. He said “Whatever one man can conceive another man can achieve.” Jules was one of the first authors to write about space travel.
1884 English racer Lord Brabazon. He said “If you cannot say what you want to say in twenty minutes you ought to go home and write a book.” Lord Brabazon was not known for his patience.
1888 US movie director Elbert “King” Vidor. He said “Marriage isn’t a word...it is a sentence.” It is close to life without parole.
1931 US actor James Dean. He said “Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die today.” James was a rising star in the movies when he was killed in a car wreck at the age of 24. He only made three movies, Giant, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, but he is a legend to this day.
1941 US actor Nick Nolte. When speaking about Barbra Streisand he said “She is a ball-buster...protect me from her.” Hey Nick, there are million of them out there… just joking.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Monday, February 7, 2011
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“A recent poll showed that 14% of all men have received oral sex while driving. Strangely, 14% of all men have an inordinate fear of speed bumps.”
Conan O’Brien
Recently one of my friends asked if I knew where the ritual of engagement and wedding rings came from. I did not know so I looked it up.
It seems that the ritual of rings with a special meaning goes back to about 2,500BC, perhaps further back than that but there is no written language earlier than that explaining the meaning of rings in spite of corpses from previous eras wearing rings. The first ring with a written confirmation of its meaning came from the finger of a mummy that is about 4,000 years old. The ring was made of plant fibers and was a complete circle. A poem on the wall in the mausoleum in hieroglyphics said something on the order that the fibers are made from the earth and in a never ending circle as our lives were intertwined. Evidently the Egyptians were a romantic bunch. This is not the case with the Romans. The Romans put a ring on the fingers of those beings they felt they owned. This included all their slaves, gladiators and wives. The Romans were a pragmatic bunch. I read a story about Hannibal Barca, the famous Carthaginian warrior, where he defeated five Roman legions in three battles and gathered the gold rings off the dead Roman soldiers and took them back to Carthage as a prize of war. All Roman soldiers wore gold rings as a show of being owned by the empire of Rome. According to the number of soldiers killed, Hannibal collected about 350 pounds of gold. Then with the Greeks the ring was simply a token of friendship. It was after the ritual of the rings reached Western Europe (Germans, Spanish, French, English, Scandinavians, etc.) that the rings had a meaning associated with matrimony. It is believed that the ritual was reinforced by the Catholic Church and other religious organizations to discourage polygamy, but that is just a supposition.
Down in the fancy-schmantzy resort of Kiawah Island, South Carolina it is illegal to walk a dog on the beach without a leash. One particular man was caught walking his dog on the beach without a leash three times. He was ticketed three times and the judge got fed up and on the third offense he fined this hardhead $3,600. The man raised so much hell that the fine was eventually reduced to $500. The man still refused to pay saying that he had been walking his dog unfettered on the beach in the off-season before with no penalty. An ordinance was passed last year that all dogs on the beach must be leashed. This was after two people were bitten last year and no mention was made of a “season”. This horse’s ass is suing the Island Authority for discrimination. Going by that logic, it would be a crime carrying a penalty of death for an Amish person to live in Maryland, after all, that is the the way the law used to be in the 17th Century.
A 36 year old mother here in Greenville made a deal with a drug dealer that if the dealer gave her an injection of heroin in the neck, he could have sex with her 16 year old daughter. She is in the joint along with the dealer with no way out in sight; the daughter is staying at DSS. The deal should have been that she gets a shot of “horse” in the neck and has to take on all the Pittsburgh Steelers in a span of 8 hours.
Up in Charlotte a man with heart trouble collapsed after watching his horse being attacked by the same pair of pit bulls for the third time in a week. The man’s son found him passed out and called EMS. The man is alive but no further mention was made of the dogs. If I was the son, I guarantee you those dogs would have crossed the river Styx by now.
This date in history February 7
1968 On this date in Bromley, England Bernie Josephs comes home to find his wife Claire under her bed with her throat cut all the way to the spine with a serrated knife. The police could find no clues. They did not find the knife and the doors showed no sign of forced entry. There were two cups of half finished coffee on the kitchen table indicating that Claire knew who her attacker was. The police started with all of the Joseph’s friend and family and began an investigation of them all. One of them was a recent acquaintance named Roger Payne that had a past record of attacking women. The police zeroed in on Payne. They found scratches on the backs of his hands but Payne said it was from a fight with his wife. The police inspected all of his clothing and on one pair of pants, in spite of they having been dry cleaned, the police found about sixty cerise fibers in the seams and cuffs that matched the dress that Claire was wearing on the day she was killed. The police then went over Payne’s car with a fine tooth comb and found some minute blood spots that matched Claire along with more matching fibers. In spite of never finding the knife, Roger Payne was tried and convicted of the murder of Clair Josephs on forensic evidence alone. This did not happen often in those days. It happens more often now since the advent of DNA evidence Roger Payne was given life in prison. In spite of England’s past history of torturing, beheading, the gallows and drawn and quartering, they do not issue the death penalty at all anymore. What a shame.
1862 A few weeks before US General Ulysses Grant had captured Fort Henry on the Cumberland River opening the way to Nashville, Tennessee. CSA General Albert Sidney Johnston knew that Fort Donelson, also on the Cumberland, would be the next target and sent some 15,000 reinforcements. This was a serious misjudgment for Johnston because Grant did indeed attack Fort Donelson but he completely overwhelmed the Confederates and captured the entire Fort including the re-enforcements and the main objective of Nashville and its rail yards was achieved.
1812 After a series of small quakes and a large earthquake with an estimated strength of 8.8 struck the Arkansas/Missouri border on this date. The quakes began in December of 1811 and did not end with this one. There were several minor quakes after this big one. There were not as many casualties as there could have been because this area was still being explored and most people were sleeping in tents so they were not crushed by falling debris. The quake caused a fluvial tsunami on the Mississippi River, however. The river ran backwards for several hours and exposed many shoals that were normally underwater. After the river returned to its normal flow there were several waterfalls where they had been none before and many boats went over them and those aboard were drowned. Dolly Madison in Washington was a wakened by a bell that she kept by her bed began ringing. The present day Reelfoot Lake was a result of this earthquake. The earthquake was on what is known as the Madrid Fault and the fault is still with us. It is known that over 1,000 people were killed but the census of the Indians was in its infancy so the exact number killed is unknown.
1898 On this date writer Emile Zola is arrested because of an article he wrote in Paris newspaper editorial. The article was titled “I Accuse” and leans heavily upon the French military for the ill treatment of French officer Alfred Dreyfus. Earlier Dreyfus had been accused of espionage and convicted and sent to Devils Island. Later evidence proved that Dreyfus was not guilty but the French military would not back down and rather than admit a mistake they let Dreyfus rot. One of the main reasons that the French military would not back down was that Dreyfus was a Jew. The French military resented Jews and chose this occasion to make a statement. After Zola’s editorial, the French people began raising almighty hell so the French military had Zola arrested on various charges and sentenced to one year in prison. Zola fled France to avoid imprisonment and two years later Dreyfus was exonerated and re-joined the French military. Shortly after this Zola returned to France where he died in 1902. Like I have said in the past, everybody needs someone to hate.
1855 Charles Siringo is born in Matagorda County, Texas. Charlie Siringo is well known in western folk lore as a true cowboy. At the age of 18 he had his own registered cattle brand and had a good start on a cattle ranch by gathering up “mavericks” or unbranded cattle out on the open range. But Charlie made his mark by writing. At the age of thirty he published “A Texas Cowboy, Or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Back of a Spanish Cow Pony.” The book was an instant success primarily because he knew what he was talking about and it showed in his writings. Charlie was on several trail drives and he used these experiences for his books. He also wrote A Cowboy Detective. He wrote this book after he was hired by the Pinkerton agency to track down Butch and Sundance and the Wild Bunch. He chased that crowd all over the west covering approximately 25,000 miles. After Butch and Sundance went to South America, the Pinkertons called Charlie in and cancelled the chase. After this Charlie wrote a book about the illegal operations conducted by the Pinkerton Agency, also a best seller. Charlie retired in California and died at the age of 74. What a wonderful and exciting life. I am very envious.
Quotable quotes:
“It is good that war is so terrible or we would learn to love it”. CSA General Robert E. Lee….Battle of Fredericksburg.
“If you are killing time, are you damaging eternity?” Stephen Wright
“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil” Jerry Garcia
“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but seldom a mistake.” H.L. Mencken
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“A recent poll showed that 14% of all men have received oral sex while driving. Strangely, 14% of all men have an inordinate fear of speed bumps.”
Conan O’Brien
Recently one of my friends asked if I knew where the ritual of engagement and wedding rings came from. I did not know so I looked it up.
It seems that the ritual of rings with a special meaning goes back to about 2,500BC, perhaps further back than that but there is no written language earlier than that explaining the meaning of rings in spite of corpses from previous eras wearing rings. The first ring with a written confirmation of its meaning came from the finger of a mummy that is about 4,000 years old. The ring was made of plant fibers and was a complete circle. A poem on the wall in the mausoleum in hieroglyphics said something on the order that the fibers are made from the earth and in a never ending circle as our lives were intertwined. Evidently the Egyptians were a romantic bunch. This is not the case with the Romans. The Romans put a ring on the fingers of those beings they felt they owned. This included all their slaves, gladiators and wives. The Romans were a pragmatic bunch. I read a story about Hannibal Barca, the famous Carthaginian warrior, where he defeated five Roman legions in three battles and gathered the gold rings off the dead Roman soldiers and took them back to Carthage as a prize of war. All Roman soldiers wore gold rings as a show of being owned by the empire of Rome. According to the number of soldiers killed, Hannibal collected about 350 pounds of gold. Then with the Greeks the ring was simply a token of friendship. It was after the ritual of the rings reached Western Europe (Germans, Spanish, French, English, Scandinavians, etc.) that the rings had a meaning associated with matrimony. It is believed that the ritual was reinforced by the Catholic Church and other religious organizations to discourage polygamy, but that is just a supposition.
Down in the fancy-schmantzy resort of Kiawah Island, South Carolina it is illegal to walk a dog on the beach without a leash. One particular man was caught walking his dog on the beach without a leash three times. He was ticketed three times and the judge got fed up and on the third offense he fined this hardhead $3,600. The man raised so much hell that the fine was eventually reduced to $500. The man still refused to pay saying that he had been walking his dog unfettered on the beach in the off-season before with no penalty. An ordinance was passed last year that all dogs on the beach must be leashed. This was after two people were bitten last year and no mention was made of a “season”. This horse’s ass is suing the Island Authority for discrimination. Going by that logic, it would be a crime carrying a penalty of death for an Amish person to live in Maryland, after all, that is the the way the law used to be in the 17th Century.
A 36 year old mother here in Greenville made a deal with a drug dealer that if the dealer gave her an injection of heroin in the neck, he could have sex with her 16 year old daughter. She is in the joint along with the dealer with no way out in sight; the daughter is staying at DSS. The deal should have been that she gets a shot of “horse” in the neck and has to take on all the Pittsburgh Steelers in a span of 8 hours.
Up in Charlotte a man with heart trouble collapsed after watching his horse being attacked by the same pair of pit bulls for the third time in a week. The man’s son found him passed out and called EMS. The man is alive but no further mention was made of the dogs. If I was the son, I guarantee you those dogs would have crossed the river Styx by now.
This date in history February 7
1968 On this date in Bromley, England Bernie Josephs comes home to find his wife Claire under her bed with her throat cut all the way to the spine with a serrated knife. The police could find no clues. They did not find the knife and the doors showed no sign of forced entry. There were two cups of half finished coffee on the kitchen table indicating that Claire knew who her attacker was. The police started with all of the Joseph’s friend and family and began an investigation of them all. One of them was a recent acquaintance named Roger Payne that had a past record of attacking women. The police zeroed in on Payne. They found scratches on the backs of his hands but Payne said it was from a fight with his wife. The police inspected all of his clothing and on one pair of pants, in spite of they having been dry cleaned, the police found about sixty cerise fibers in the seams and cuffs that matched the dress that Claire was wearing on the day she was killed. The police then went over Payne’s car with a fine tooth comb and found some minute blood spots that matched Claire along with more matching fibers. In spite of never finding the knife, Roger Payne was tried and convicted of the murder of Clair Josephs on forensic evidence alone. This did not happen often in those days. It happens more often now since the advent of DNA evidence Roger Payne was given life in prison. In spite of England’s past history of torturing, beheading, the gallows and drawn and quartering, they do not issue the death penalty at all anymore. What a shame.
1862 A few weeks before US General Ulysses Grant had captured Fort Henry on the Cumberland River opening the way to Nashville, Tennessee. CSA General Albert Sidney Johnston knew that Fort Donelson, also on the Cumberland, would be the next target and sent some 15,000 reinforcements. This was a serious misjudgment for Johnston because Grant did indeed attack Fort Donelson but he completely overwhelmed the Confederates and captured the entire Fort including the re-enforcements and the main objective of Nashville and its rail yards was achieved.
1812 After a series of small quakes and a large earthquake with an estimated strength of 8.8 struck the Arkansas/Missouri border on this date. The quakes began in December of 1811 and did not end with this one. There were several minor quakes after this big one. There were not as many casualties as there could have been because this area was still being explored and most people were sleeping in tents so they were not crushed by falling debris. The quake caused a fluvial tsunami on the Mississippi River, however. The river ran backwards for several hours and exposed many shoals that were normally underwater. After the river returned to its normal flow there were several waterfalls where they had been none before and many boats went over them and those aboard were drowned. Dolly Madison in Washington was a wakened by a bell that she kept by her bed began ringing. The present day Reelfoot Lake was a result of this earthquake. The earthquake was on what is known as the Madrid Fault and the fault is still with us. It is known that over 1,000 people were killed but the census of the Indians was in its infancy so the exact number killed is unknown.
1898 On this date writer Emile Zola is arrested because of an article he wrote in Paris newspaper editorial. The article was titled “I Accuse” and leans heavily upon the French military for the ill treatment of French officer Alfred Dreyfus. Earlier Dreyfus had been accused of espionage and convicted and sent to Devils Island. Later evidence proved that Dreyfus was not guilty but the French military would not back down and rather than admit a mistake they let Dreyfus rot. One of the main reasons that the French military would not back down was that Dreyfus was a Jew. The French military resented Jews and chose this occasion to make a statement. After Zola’s editorial, the French people began raising almighty hell so the French military had Zola arrested on various charges and sentenced to one year in prison. Zola fled France to avoid imprisonment and two years later Dreyfus was exonerated and re-joined the French military. Shortly after this Zola returned to France where he died in 1902. Like I have said in the past, everybody needs someone to hate.
1855 Charles Siringo is born in Matagorda County, Texas. Charlie Siringo is well known in western folk lore as a true cowboy. At the age of 18 he had his own registered cattle brand and had a good start on a cattle ranch by gathering up “mavericks” or unbranded cattle out on the open range. But Charlie made his mark by writing. At the age of thirty he published “A Texas Cowboy, Or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Back of a Spanish Cow Pony.” The book was an instant success primarily because he knew what he was talking about and it showed in his writings. Charlie was on several trail drives and he used these experiences for his books. He also wrote A Cowboy Detective. He wrote this book after he was hired by the Pinkerton agency to track down Butch and Sundance and the Wild Bunch. He chased that crowd all over the west covering approximately 25,000 miles. After Butch and Sundance went to South America, the Pinkertons called Charlie in and cancelled the chase. After this Charlie wrote a book about the illegal operations conducted by the Pinkerton Agency, also a best seller. Charlie retired in California and died at the age of 74. What a wonderful and exciting life. I am very envious.
Quotable quotes:
“It is good that war is so terrible or we would learn to love it”. CSA General Robert E. Lee….Battle of Fredericksburg.
“If you are killing time, are you damaging eternity?” Stephen Wright
“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil” Jerry Garcia
“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but seldom a mistake.” H.L. Mencken
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Friday, February 4, 2011
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“We keep saying that we are through with the past. The problem is that the past is not through with us.”
Educator Bergen Evans
A few days ago I included a biography about Gregg Allman. I said that he lives in Richmond Hill, Georgia near Augusta. I have a friend that is a native Georgian that said that Gregg lives in Richmond Hill alright, but it is not near Augusta, it is very near Savannah, Georgia. I depended on my GoogIe Earth to find Richmond Hill, Georgia and it led me astray. I would rather live in Savannah than in Augusta myself. Savannah is a beautiful antebellum type city, live oaks and flowing Spanish moss included. Thanks Ben.
The Greenville County Sheriff was called about a domestic dispute and shots being fired. The cops arrived and sure enough there was a man in the front yard firing into the air. When the cops got out the man fired off a few shot in their direction and the cops responded with a few shot of their own. The shooter was able to make it back into the house. When he saw his house surrounded, the shooter laid down his weapon and surrendered. I have mixed emotions here. I am glad that there no injuries but when a team of cops fires several times and hits nothing, that bothers me.
A 41 year old man up in Mooresville, NC was arrested Wednesday for sexual abuse on a minor of 12. Additionally, he had been doing this for several years. If he is convicted, there is no need for me to tell y’all what his life will be like in the joint. Even the most hardened criminals in nearly all prisons despise the abusers of children and will make that person’s life not worth living if they can. I certainly hope so.
I guess many of you read about a riot that broke out after church services in rural South Carolina. There were about 75 parishioners involved and it took several car loads of sheriff’s deputies to break it up. What the problem was is a certain group of the flock wanted a vote to get rid of the present pastor and there was another group that wanted to keep the present pastor and they would not allow a vote. Both sides decided to end this impasse the honorable way, they would fight about it. Make no mistake, the Old Testament allows and even encourages wholesale murder. In the book of Exodus, Moses was told by God to instruct Joshua and his army to totally annihilate several tribes on their way to Canaan. The reason being was if they did that they would not have to worry about an attack from the rear by any survivors. It worked. This was a matter of survival for the Children of Israel but fighting to see who was going to be the pastor at least juvenile. All I have to say is “Thou shalt not kill” except under certain conditions as directed.
This date in history February 4
1861 Earlier in November of 1860, the Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The Republican Party was formed in 1850 for the sole purpose of eliminating slavery in America. As early as 1858 the slave-holding states had threatened secession if a Republican was elected President. The Democratic Party was divided and in disarray and there was very little chance that their presidential nominee would win. Almost immediately after the Lincoln election, the State of South Carolina began assembling the paperwork necessary to secede from the Union. On December 20, 1860 the South Carolina legislature issued the “Ordinance of Secession” declaring them as no longer being a member of the United States of America. Soon after various regiments of the South Carolina militia began capturing Union forts and armaments because they knew a war was on the near horizon. On this date, representatives of South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana gathered in Montgomery, Alabama to hammer out a Constitution and establish the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as President. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861, Texas had joined the Confederacy. Very soon after this meeting all of the Union forts and outposts on Confederate soil had been capture by the Confederacy except Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC harbor (been there) and Fort Pickens on the end of the Santa Rosa Island peninsula near Pensacola, Florida (been there, too). The Civil War began in earnest of April 12, 1861 when CSA General P.T G. Beauregard ordered an artillery bombardment of Fort Sumter after the commander of the Fort refused to surrender to the Confederates. Eventually the commander of the fort did indeed surrender because the Confederate artillery forbade any supplies reaching the fort. Fort Sumter is on an island in the middle of the Charleston, SC harbor and supplies can only get there by boat.
1945 On this date American President Franklin Roosevelt, England Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian Premier Josef Stalin meet in the city of Yalta in the Russian Crimea to decide the future of Europe in the post-war era. It was obvious that Germany was just weeks from capitulation especially after their defeat in the Battle of the Bulge. The biggest problem was the greed and avarice of Stalin. He had already established a Soviet controlled government in Poland and expected Roosevelt and Churchill to condone it. Roosevelt and Churchill believed that the Polish government-in-exile living in London should resume control. Stalin also wanted to establish a “Soviet sphere of Influence” in Western Europe. Stalin promised to invade Japan within 90 days of the surrender of Germany in return for him the other two agreeing to his demands. All of this mistrust was the beginning of the so-called Cold War but sure enough, Russia began marshalling their forces in Manchuria across the straights from the northern end of the Japanese islands in late July. The Emperor of Japan knew his country could not fight two armies simultaneously and started leaning toward the demands of the Potsdam Agreement where the Allies demanded an unconditional surrender of Japan or risk a wholesale invasion from the south by the Allies and from the north by the Russians. Then the world came to an end for Japan on August 6, 1945 with the detonation of the world’s first atomic weapon over Hiroshima and three days later over Nagasaki. Three days after that Emperor Hirohito uttered the unimaginable to his people when he broadcast on the radio to all of Japan the word “surrender”. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt died of a stroke exactly two months after the meeting at Yalta and was not around for the formal surrender of Japan.
1789 On this date 69 members of Congress cast their ballots for our first President of the United States. In those days the members of Congress cast a ballot with two names on it, the person who had the most votes at the top of the ballot was President and the other was Vice-President. In this case the President was George Washington and the Vice President was John Adams. The same thing happened four years later.
Born today:
1876 US writer Sarah Cleghorn. She said “The children working in the factories are close enough that they can look out the window and watch the adults playing golf.” Using child labor in America is not that far in our past, ya’ll.
1895 English actor Nigel Bruce. When told the price of tickets to the ballet he said “That is a hell of lot of money to watch people jump.” I concur.
1906 German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a vehement anti-Nazi and had no problem saying so. When asked why he did not join the Nazi party he said “When you board a train going the wrong direction, there is no use in running down the aisle headed the opposite direction.” He was executed by the Nazis by hanging just before the surrender.
1945 US comedian Davis Brenner. He said “A vegetarian is a person that will not eat anything that can have babies.” That’s funny.
Died today:
1978 US educator Bergen Evans. He said “We say that we are through with the past, the truth is that the past is not through with us.” This is why I love history.
1982 English musician Alex Harvey. He said “Do you think Paul McCartney makes records just to aggravate me personally, or does he want to get up every freaking body’s nose with his freaking antics?” Alex and Paul evidently did not get along.
2006 US feminist Betty Freidan. She said “The feminine mystique has buried millions of American women alive.” What the hell is the “feminine mystique.”?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Quote of the day:
“We keep saying that we are through with the past. The problem is that the past is not through with us.”
Educator Bergen Evans
A few days ago I included a biography about Gregg Allman. I said that he lives in Richmond Hill, Georgia near Augusta. I have a friend that is a native Georgian that said that Gregg lives in Richmond Hill alright, but it is not near Augusta, it is very near Savannah, Georgia. I depended on my GoogIe Earth to find Richmond Hill, Georgia and it led me astray. I would rather live in Savannah than in Augusta myself. Savannah is a beautiful antebellum type city, live oaks and flowing Spanish moss included. Thanks Ben.
The Greenville County Sheriff was called about a domestic dispute and shots being fired. The cops arrived and sure enough there was a man in the front yard firing into the air. When the cops got out the man fired off a few shot in their direction and the cops responded with a few shot of their own. The shooter was able to make it back into the house. When he saw his house surrounded, the shooter laid down his weapon and surrendered. I have mixed emotions here. I am glad that there no injuries but when a team of cops fires several times and hits nothing, that bothers me.
A 41 year old man up in Mooresville, NC was arrested Wednesday for sexual abuse on a minor of 12. Additionally, he had been doing this for several years. If he is convicted, there is no need for me to tell y’all what his life will be like in the joint. Even the most hardened criminals in nearly all prisons despise the abusers of children and will make that person’s life not worth living if they can. I certainly hope so.
I guess many of you read about a riot that broke out after church services in rural South Carolina. There were about 75 parishioners involved and it took several car loads of sheriff’s deputies to break it up. What the problem was is a certain group of the flock wanted a vote to get rid of the present pastor and there was another group that wanted to keep the present pastor and they would not allow a vote. Both sides decided to end this impasse the honorable way, they would fight about it. Make no mistake, the Old Testament allows and even encourages wholesale murder. In the book of Exodus, Moses was told by God to instruct Joshua and his army to totally annihilate several tribes on their way to Canaan. The reason being was if they did that they would not have to worry about an attack from the rear by any survivors. It worked. This was a matter of survival for the Children of Israel but fighting to see who was going to be the pastor at least juvenile. All I have to say is “Thou shalt not kill” except under certain conditions as directed.
This date in history February 4
1861 Earlier in November of 1860, the Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The Republican Party was formed in 1850 for the sole purpose of eliminating slavery in America. As early as 1858 the slave-holding states had threatened secession if a Republican was elected President. The Democratic Party was divided and in disarray and there was very little chance that their presidential nominee would win. Almost immediately after the Lincoln election, the State of South Carolina began assembling the paperwork necessary to secede from the Union. On December 20, 1860 the South Carolina legislature issued the “Ordinance of Secession” declaring them as no longer being a member of the United States of America. Soon after various regiments of the South Carolina militia began capturing Union forts and armaments because they knew a war was on the near horizon. On this date, representatives of South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana gathered in Montgomery, Alabama to hammer out a Constitution and establish the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as President. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861, Texas had joined the Confederacy. Very soon after this meeting all of the Union forts and outposts on Confederate soil had been capture by the Confederacy except Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC harbor (been there) and Fort Pickens on the end of the Santa Rosa Island peninsula near Pensacola, Florida (been there, too). The Civil War began in earnest of April 12, 1861 when CSA General P.T G. Beauregard ordered an artillery bombardment of Fort Sumter after the commander of the Fort refused to surrender to the Confederates. Eventually the commander of the fort did indeed surrender because the Confederate artillery forbade any supplies reaching the fort. Fort Sumter is on an island in the middle of the Charleston, SC harbor and supplies can only get there by boat.
1945 On this date American President Franklin Roosevelt, England Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian Premier Josef Stalin meet in the city of Yalta in the Russian Crimea to decide the future of Europe in the post-war era. It was obvious that Germany was just weeks from capitulation especially after their defeat in the Battle of the Bulge. The biggest problem was the greed and avarice of Stalin. He had already established a Soviet controlled government in Poland and expected Roosevelt and Churchill to condone it. Roosevelt and Churchill believed that the Polish government-in-exile living in London should resume control. Stalin also wanted to establish a “Soviet sphere of Influence” in Western Europe. Stalin promised to invade Japan within 90 days of the surrender of Germany in return for him the other two agreeing to his demands. All of this mistrust was the beginning of the so-called Cold War but sure enough, Russia began marshalling their forces in Manchuria across the straights from the northern end of the Japanese islands in late July. The Emperor of Japan knew his country could not fight two armies simultaneously and started leaning toward the demands of the Potsdam Agreement where the Allies demanded an unconditional surrender of Japan or risk a wholesale invasion from the south by the Allies and from the north by the Russians. Then the world came to an end for Japan on August 6, 1945 with the detonation of the world’s first atomic weapon over Hiroshima and three days later over Nagasaki. Three days after that Emperor Hirohito uttered the unimaginable to his people when he broadcast on the radio to all of Japan the word “surrender”. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt died of a stroke exactly two months after the meeting at Yalta and was not around for the formal surrender of Japan.
1789 On this date 69 members of Congress cast their ballots for our first President of the United States. In those days the members of Congress cast a ballot with two names on it, the person who had the most votes at the top of the ballot was President and the other was Vice-President. In this case the President was George Washington and the Vice President was John Adams. The same thing happened four years later.
Born today:
1876 US writer Sarah Cleghorn. She said “The children working in the factories are close enough that they can look out the window and watch the adults playing golf.” Using child labor in America is not that far in our past, ya’ll.
1895 English actor Nigel Bruce. When told the price of tickets to the ballet he said “That is a hell of lot of money to watch people jump.” I concur.
1906 German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a vehement anti-Nazi and had no problem saying so. When asked why he did not join the Nazi party he said “When you board a train going the wrong direction, there is no use in running down the aisle headed the opposite direction.” He was executed by the Nazis by hanging just before the surrender.
1945 US comedian Davis Brenner. He said “A vegetarian is a person that will not eat anything that can have babies.” That’s funny.
Died today:
1978 US educator Bergen Evans. He said “We say that we are through with the past, the truth is that the past is not through with us.” This is why I love history.
1982 English musician Alex Harvey. He said “Do you think Paul McCartney makes records just to aggravate me personally, or does he want to get up every freaking body’s nose with his freaking antics?” Alex and Paul evidently did not get along.
2006 US feminist Betty Freidan. She said “The feminine mystique has buried millions of American women alive.” What the hell is the “feminine mystique.”?
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“You women should not fake orgasms, because we men don’t really care if you have them or not.”
Kenneth Brennan
The unrest in Egypt has degenerated to exchanges of gunfire. That is an automatic loss for the dissidents. There is no dissident group anywhere in the work that can stand up to trained combat infantry supported by T-34 and Abrams tanks and F-16 or F18 air cover. I have yet to figure out what their complaint is other than they want Hosni Mubarak out of office. Mubarak has already promised that he will not run for office in the next election. All of this action has spurred other country leaders in the Middle East to examine the safety of their political office and have chosen to turn tail and run. It looks like the whole Middle East and part of North Africa are coming apart. I do not know if these events are forecasted in the Koran, the teachings of Nostradamus, the teaching of Edgar Cayce, the teachings of Mother Nell, the fortune teller up on Poinsett Highway, or the bible.
Down in Millry, Alabama a young white girl was standing around in the gym talking to guys on the basketball team which were mostly black as you might suspect. The girl’s father found out that his daughter had been doing that and also had been texting them messages. The girl’s father stormed into the gym and walked up to the basketball team and loudly proclaimed to the black guys that if any one of them tried to date his daughter he would come back al kill them all. I wonder if he said anything to his daughter. Yes indeed, prejudice is alive and well in the good ole USA and it is not only in the southern tier states. Talk to some people from New York and ask them about the Howard Beach area. Ask anyone from Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore or nearly any fair sized city and ask if there is Black communities, Italian communities, Polish communities, Asian communities, etc. Also ask if a person of the wrong nationality or skin color walks into these enclaves is he/she asking for an ass-kicking. I am sure you will receive a positive answer. What I don’t understand is why incidents like the one in Millry are broadcast worldwide but the hundreds of similar event that happen in the northern tier of states are not mentioned. By omission the media is painting us as hate mongers and they as a bunch of Mother Teresa’s which we all know is bullshit.
This date in history February 3
1781 Earlier in December of 1780, Patriot General Nathanial Greene had tasked Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciusko with designing a boat that could be used convey troops across the unpredictable Yadkin River regardless of its condition. Kosciusko made an exploratory canoe trip down the Yadkin and the Pee Dee Rivers and came back and designed and helped build boats for that special purpose. If ya’ll remember previous lessons, British General Charles Cornwallis defeated the North Carolina Militia at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford and British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Dragoons had beaten up on the same militia at the Battle of Tarrant’s Tavern, now that militia and other soldiers under the command of Greene join near Salisbury, NC and head for the Dan River in Virginia and safety. The only problem was that the Yadkin River was severely flooded because of a thunderous rainfall on February 1 and British General Cornwallis’ army of 16,000 is perilously close. So on this date Greene orders his army into the boats designed by Kosciusko and successfully cross the Yadkin but then very last remnants of Greene’s army are shelled by Cornwallis’s artillery from the opposite bank. With no boats, Cornwallis must move his army to the city of Shallowford and wait for the water to abate low enough to cross. He did not get across until February 7 and by then Greene and his army was far enough ahead to make it to the Dan River safely.
1959 A musical group was on a “Winter Tour” when their tour bus broke down near Mason City, Iowa. Their next stop was Moorhead, Minnesota so the band leader charters a four place single engine Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and two others on to Moorhead. One this date, the plane crashed soon after takeoff killing all aboard. In addition to the pilot, the passengers were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and John “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Holley and his band The Crickets, had just recorded “That’ll be the Day” a few days before. Valens was riding the crest of his hit “La Bamba” and Richardson had recorded the hit “Chantilly Lace”. Richardson had the flu and had talked another musician out of his seat on the plane. The musician that gave up his seat was Waylon Jennings.
1865 Earlier the journalist Horace Greeley had suggested that a meeting between the Union and Confederacy might bring a truce and the end to the bloodshed and recommended that a member of Lincoln’s advisory committee from Maryland, Francis Blair, should set up the meeting. Blair obtains the permission of Lincoln to prepare the location of the meeting and it becomes Hampton Roads, Virginia. On this date Abraham Lincoln met with the Confederate Secretary of State Alexander Stephens. Stephen asks for concessions and Lincoln says there will be no concessions that all those states in rebellion will rejoin the Union and comply with all of their laws. As you might suspect, since Lincoln knew the Confederacy was just a few days from defeat, he did not have to concede anything. And he was right, two months later the war ended at Appomattox Court House Virginia with the surrender of CSA Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
1780 In 1760 Barnett Davenport was born in rural Connecticut. When he reached an appropriate age he joined the Patriot army and was with George Washington at Valley Forge and fought at Fort Ticonderoga. In the waning days of the Revolutionary War he became a boarder in the home of Caleb Mallory and his family also living in rural Connecticut. On this date, for reasons known only to Davenport, he slaughtered everyone in the Mallory house. He beat Caleb to death, shot his wife and daughter, set the house on fire killing Mallory’s two grandchildren. If this would have happened today, people would be saying is was a post-war syndrome. But in those days criminals were perceived as basically good people that had lost their way. Bur after this outrage, people’s attitude changed to that there were people out there that are basically evil. That attitude is still with us to this day.
1953 On this date French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes his landmark book The Silent World. This book and Cousteau himself had opened our eyes to man’s responsibility for the stewardship our earth’s oceans and the beings therein. He also almost single-handedly created the sport of SCUBA diving. In the early years a free diver was very limited to the depth and length of stay under water. Then in 1943 Cousteau and inventor Emile Gagnan created the Aqua-Lung and the sport and industry of underwater exploration was born. He also helped invent underwater cameras and photography and the discovery and exploration of shipwrecks grew exponentially. In 1963 Cousteau gave us the book The Living Sea which turned out to be another milestone in the science of oceanography. Cousteau himself was a participant in the discovery of many ancient shipwrecks which is as thrilling today for me as it was for Cousteau at the moment of discovery. Cousteau died in 1997 leaving the world with a legacy that probably will never be matched.
1889 This is a story about Myra Belle Shirley that was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1848. Young Myra received a substantial education and be came very proficient on the piano. Her father was an innkeeper in Carthage but his business went to hell with the outbreak of the Civil War so the family moved to Texas. It was here that she met up with and had a relationship with the infamous Cole Younger who was a member of the James-Younger gang. It was soon thereafter she brought into this world a daughter she named Pearl. Most people believe that Cole was the father but it was probably Jim Reed, another member of the gang. She became the common-law wife to Reed and had no problem with his profession and indeed helped him in rustling cows and horses in the Dallas area. In 1874 Reed was killed in a gunfight so she drifted into the Oklahoma Indian territory and organized a gang of rustlers. She could be seen riding around in velvet dressed and plumed hats. She hooked up with a handsome Creek Indian named Sam Starr and she became known as Belle Starr. She stayed with Sam for 10 years but he was killed in a gunfight with a member of his own gang. Very soon after that she took up with another Creek Indian name Jim July, 15 years her junior. They were captured and did five or six months in the slammer but after release began their old tricks again. In 1889 she was summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas to face charges of cattle rustling. So she and her boy friend Jim headed east to Fort Smith but changed their minds and turned around and headed back west. Soon after two shotgun blasts hit Belle in the back and she died instantly. The culprit was never found.
Born today:
1821 English born Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth immigrated to the US and became the first female doctor in history. She said “If society will not admit to women’s free development, then society must be remodeled.” I have a male friend that has a female as his doctor. He told me that she had examined him for hemorrhoids. This is a severe case of over-confidence.
1826 English economist Walter Bagehot. He said “The reason there are so few good books written is that those that write don’t know anything.” Hey Walter, all you have to do these days is write book about a unique diet that will make people lose weight and you are successful.
1830 British Prime Minister Robert Cecil. When describing Edwardian England he said “It was consider virtuous to not be involved in a scandal or get a venereal disease.” Edwardian times must have been a lot of partying.
1918 US comic Joey Bishop. He said “I have a wonderful doctor. In 1955 I could not afford an operation, so he touched up the x-rays.” Joey went to that great stage in the sky in 2007.
1965 Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon. Casey was to attend a fancy sit-down dinner and was told he would be seated beside Ringo Starr. Casey said “Who is she?” Casey, shut up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“You women should not fake orgasms, because we men don’t really care if you have them or not.”
Kenneth Brennan
The unrest in Egypt has degenerated to exchanges of gunfire. That is an automatic loss for the dissidents. There is no dissident group anywhere in the work that can stand up to trained combat infantry supported by T-34 and Abrams tanks and F-16 or F18 air cover. I have yet to figure out what their complaint is other than they want Hosni Mubarak out of office. Mubarak has already promised that he will not run for office in the next election. All of this action has spurred other country leaders in the Middle East to examine the safety of their political office and have chosen to turn tail and run. It looks like the whole Middle East and part of North Africa are coming apart. I do not know if these events are forecasted in the Koran, the teachings of Nostradamus, the teaching of Edgar Cayce, the teachings of Mother Nell, the fortune teller up on Poinsett Highway, or the bible.
Down in Millry, Alabama a young white girl was standing around in the gym talking to guys on the basketball team which were mostly black as you might suspect. The girl’s father found out that his daughter had been doing that and also had been texting them messages. The girl’s father stormed into the gym and walked up to the basketball team and loudly proclaimed to the black guys that if any one of them tried to date his daughter he would come back al kill them all. I wonder if he said anything to his daughter. Yes indeed, prejudice is alive and well in the good ole USA and it is not only in the southern tier states. Talk to some people from New York and ask them about the Howard Beach area. Ask anyone from Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore or nearly any fair sized city and ask if there is Black communities, Italian communities, Polish communities, Asian communities, etc. Also ask if a person of the wrong nationality or skin color walks into these enclaves is he/she asking for an ass-kicking. I am sure you will receive a positive answer. What I don’t understand is why incidents like the one in Millry are broadcast worldwide but the hundreds of similar event that happen in the northern tier of states are not mentioned. By omission the media is painting us as hate mongers and they as a bunch of Mother Teresa’s which we all know is bullshit.
This date in history February 3
1781 Earlier in December of 1780, Patriot General Nathanial Greene had tasked Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciusko with designing a boat that could be used convey troops across the unpredictable Yadkin River regardless of its condition. Kosciusko made an exploratory canoe trip down the Yadkin and the Pee Dee Rivers and came back and designed and helped build boats for that special purpose. If ya’ll remember previous lessons, British General Charles Cornwallis defeated the North Carolina Militia at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford and British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Dragoons had beaten up on the same militia at the Battle of Tarrant’s Tavern, now that militia and other soldiers under the command of Greene join near Salisbury, NC and head for the Dan River in Virginia and safety. The only problem was that the Yadkin River was severely flooded because of a thunderous rainfall on February 1 and British General Cornwallis’ army of 16,000 is perilously close. So on this date Greene orders his army into the boats designed by Kosciusko and successfully cross the Yadkin but then very last remnants of Greene’s army are shelled by Cornwallis’s artillery from the opposite bank. With no boats, Cornwallis must move his army to the city of Shallowford and wait for the water to abate low enough to cross. He did not get across until February 7 and by then Greene and his army was far enough ahead to make it to the Dan River safely.
1959 A musical group was on a “Winter Tour” when their tour bus broke down near Mason City, Iowa. Their next stop was Moorhead, Minnesota so the band leader charters a four place single engine Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and two others on to Moorhead. One this date, the plane crashed soon after takeoff killing all aboard. In addition to the pilot, the passengers were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and John “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Holley and his band The Crickets, had just recorded “That’ll be the Day” a few days before. Valens was riding the crest of his hit “La Bamba” and Richardson had recorded the hit “Chantilly Lace”. Richardson had the flu and had talked another musician out of his seat on the plane. The musician that gave up his seat was Waylon Jennings.
1865 Earlier the journalist Horace Greeley had suggested that a meeting between the Union and Confederacy might bring a truce and the end to the bloodshed and recommended that a member of Lincoln’s advisory committee from Maryland, Francis Blair, should set up the meeting. Blair obtains the permission of Lincoln to prepare the location of the meeting and it becomes Hampton Roads, Virginia. On this date Abraham Lincoln met with the Confederate Secretary of State Alexander Stephens. Stephen asks for concessions and Lincoln says there will be no concessions that all those states in rebellion will rejoin the Union and comply with all of their laws. As you might suspect, since Lincoln knew the Confederacy was just a few days from defeat, he did not have to concede anything. And he was right, two months later the war ended at Appomattox Court House Virginia with the surrender of CSA Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
1780 In 1760 Barnett Davenport was born in rural Connecticut. When he reached an appropriate age he joined the Patriot army and was with George Washington at Valley Forge and fought at Fort Ticonderoga. In the waning days of the Revolutionary War he became a boarder in the home of Caleb Mallory and his family also living in rural Connecticut. On this date, for reasons known only to Davenport, he slaughtered everyone in the Mallory house. He beat Caleb to death, shot his wife and daughter, set the house on fire killing Mallory’s two grandchildren. If this would have happened today, people would be saying is was a post-war syndrome. But in those days criminals were perceived as basically good people that had lost their way. Bur after this outrage, people’s attitude changed to that there were people out there that are basically evil. That attitude is still with us to this day.
1953 On this date French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes his landmark book The Silent World. This book and Cousteau himself had opened our eyes to man’s responsibility for the stewardship our earth’s oceans and the beings therein. He also almost single-handedly created the sport of SCUBA diving. In the early years a free diver was very limited to the depth and length of stay under water. Then in 1943 Cousteau and inventor Emile Gagnan created the Aqua-Lung and the sport and industry of underwater exploration was born. He also helped invent underwater cameras and photography and the discovery and exploration of shipwrecks grew exponentially. In 1963 Cousteau gave us the book The Living Sea which turned out to be another milestone in the science of oceanography. Cousteau himself was a participant in the discovery of many ancient shipwrecks which is as thrilling today for me as it was for Cousteau at the moment of discovery. Cousteau died in 1997 leaving the world with a legacy that probably will never be matched.
1889 This is a story about Myra Belle Shirley that was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1848. Young Myra received a substantial education and be came very proficient on the piano. Her father was an innkeeper in Carthage but his business went to hell with the outbreak of the Civil War so the family moved to Texas. It was here that she met up with and had a relationship with the infamous Cole Younger who was a member of the James-Younger gang. It was soon thereafter she brought into this world a daughter she named Pearl. Most people believe that Cole was the father but it was probably Jim Reed, another member of the gang. She became the common-law wife to Reed and had no problem with his profession and indeed helped him in rustling cows and horses in the Dallas area. In 1874 Reed was killed in a gunfight so she drifted into the Oklahoma Indian territory and organized a gang of rustlers. She could be seen riding around in velvet dressed and plumed hats. She hooked up with a handsome Creek Indian named Sam Starr and she became known as Belle Starr. She stayed with Sam for 10 years but he was killed in a gunfight with a member of his own gang. Very soon after that she took up with another Creek Indian name Jim July, 15 years her junior. They were captured and did five or six months in the slammer but after release began their old tricks again. In 1889 she was summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas to face charges of cattle rustling. So she and her boy friend Jim headed east to Fort Smith but changed their minds and turned around and headed back west. Soon after two shotgun blasts hit Belle in the back and she died instantly. The culprit was never found.
Born today:
1821 English born Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth immigrated to the US and became the first female doctor in history. She said “If society will not admit to women’s free development, then society must be remodeled.” I have a male friend that has a female as his doctor. He told me that she had examined him for hemorrhoids. This is a severe case of over-confidence.
1826 English economist Walter Bagehot. He said “The reason there are so few good books written is that those that write don’t know anything.” Hey Walter, all you have to do these days is write book about a unique diet that will make people lose weight and you are successful.
1830 British Prime Minister Robert Cecil. When describing Edwardian England he said “It was consider virtuous to not be involved in a scandal or get a venereal disease.” Edwardian times must have been a lot of partying.
1918 US comic Joey Bishop. He said “I have a wonderful doctor. In 1955 I could not afford an operation, so he touched up the x-rays.” Joey went to that great stage in the sky in 2007.
1965 Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon. Casey was to attend a fancy sit-down dinner and was told he would be seated beside Ringo Starr. Casey said “Who is she?” Casey, shut up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Daily History
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“I can hardly wait until the Democrats start blaming me for the unrest in Egypt.”
Sarah Palin
A few weeks ago at a road block near Camden, South Carolina the cops stopped a car that was up to scuppers in marijuana. The driver was arrested and he and several others were put into a paddy wagon taken to the Kershaw County Jail. Along the way the driver of the car gave the cop in the front seat a huge ration of shit. He even threatened to murder the cop, his wife and children and his parents. Needless to say, the arrested driver was in handcuffs. After arriving at the jail, the cop that was in the front was waiting at the back door and snatched that man out of the paddy wagon and delivered 26 blows with a metal baton. The man was on the concrete sidewalk curled up into the fetal position yelling his ass off. The cop finally ceased and escorted the now beaten and bruised man to a jail cell. The only problem is that all of this action on the sidewalk was recorded by a security camera. The beaten man filed a civil right violation against this cop especially since he was handcuffed. There are very strict federal laws against using excessive force on restrained persons. I have mixed emotions here. If anyone and I mean anyone, threatened to kill me, my kids and/or my parents I would be hard pressed to restrain myself. But I ain’t a trained law enforcement officer…but I am human. The cop’s defense was that the man refused to go where he was told and he felt the need to use force. All of that is well and good, but if the individual is lying on the sidewalk screaming getting the crap beat out of him, it is unlikely he would be able to go anywhere anyway.
By the way, Kershaw County was named for CSA General Joseph Kershaw who was in command of the 3rd South Carolina Sharpshooters at the intense battle in the “Wheatfield” at Gettysburg in 1863. He was blond haired with pale blue eyes and was well thought of by his superiors, especially James Longstreet.
If y’all can believe this, the United States Democratic Party has chosen to hold their 2012 presidential convention in the Queen City, y’all. That’s right; I am talking Charlotte, North Carolina. Yes, the Charlotte, North Carolina where the NASCAR Hall of Fame is located and is usually very big in Bluegrass conventions. Downtown Charlotte is a great place. I had many a good time there but the streets full of prancing Democrats does not compute. I’ll bet the Charlotte “men in blue” can hardly wait.
This date in history February 2
1943 Earlier on June 22, 1942, in spite of an existing treaty, Adolph Hitler ordered an enormous German army divided into three sections to start an invasion of Russia. Hitler’s military advisors had warned Hitler that if the attack could not begin by the first of May it should not begin at all because of the severe Russian winters. The German army was not ready by the first of May but Hitler ordered the invasion to begin late anyway. The Germans made progress by leaps and bounds primarily because they had control of the air. The slaughter they inflicted on the Russian army and civilians was beyond comprehension. They laid siege to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad and cut off any supplies to those cities and thousands upon thousands starved to death. It was the German 6th Army that had Stalingrad surrounded. Russian premier Josef Stalin was not about to let the city named after him to surrender and ordered the residents and the Russian Army defending the city to resist to the bitter end and resist they did. The Germans bombed the entire city into rubble trying to break their spirit. It did not work and the Russians used the rubble to establish formidable defenses. The Germans had no choice but to send in small squads of 8 or 10 to try and root out the defenders. That did not work either. The Russians proved to be formidable street fighters. In October the worst winter in fifty years arrived as advertised. The drop in temperature caused a break in the attack and gave the Russians defending the city time to reorganize and receive reinforcements. In November the Russians army launched a merciless counter-attack. The Italian and Romanian soldiers surrendered immediately but not the Germans. They held out until they were surrounded by the Russians and all of their supplies had been cut off. The German army that had surrounded Stalingrad in the beginning numbered about 200,000. On this date the remaining German army at Stalingrad numbering only 90,000 surrendered ending the siege of Stalingrad. Of the 90,000 Germans that went to prison camps, only 5,000 lived to see Germany again. I had given some figures about this siege in the past that were inaccurate, these numbers are accurate.
1847 In October of 1846 a group of wagons gathered at South Pass, Wyoming to cross the formidable Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. The assumed leader of this wagon train was George Donner. All they had to navigate by was a crude map out of a magazine. They were warned that it was too late in the year to try to cross the mountains and should wait until spring. They left anyway. They ran into some tough terrain and at one point made only 36 miles in 13 days. As you might suspect the winter snows caught them in a narrow pass and they had to abandon their wagons loaded with tons of meat and flour plus their oxen. I suppose all of ya’ll know the story of the Donner Party but it was on this day that the first person died. The final number was 42 dead and those that survived did so by cannibalism. It was dark days in that mountain pass just a few miles from Lake Tahoe.
1971 On this date Major General Idi Amin, commander of the Ugandan Army and Air Force declares himself President. A week before the government of Ugandan President Daniel Obote had collapsed. Amin immediately began a purge of two different tribes and virtually annihilated them. Next he ordered the Asians out of Uganda and the Indians and Pakistanis fled in swarms. Very soon thereafter the economy of Uganda goes down the toilet because it was the Asians that were the financial base of the country. In 1979 Amin invades Tanzania in order to gain a disputed section of land but the real reason was to take away attention from the bad conditions in Uganda. The army of Tanzania accompanied by a group of people that had been kicked out of Uganda met Amin’s army and kicked the living shit out of them. Amin and a few of his cronies fled the country and landed in Saudi Arabia. And that is where lived until he died in 2003. It is estimated that Idi Amin was responsible for the death of over 300,000 Ugandans. I believe the movie “The Last King of Scotland” is a bio of Amin.
1781 Yesterday I wrote about the Battle of Cowan’s Ford and the death of William Davidson during the Revolutionary War. Today’s lesson is a continuation of that saga. Patriot General Nathanial Greene was waiting at Steele’s Tavern near Salisbury, North Carolina for the militia that was engaged in the Cowan’s Ford attack the day before. Greene was to meet with the militia at the home of David Carr which was six miles south of Steele’s Tavern. The militia did not arrive as agreed because they were attacked by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Dragoons at Tarrant’s Tavern five mile south of David Carr’s house and 10 or 50 Patriots were killed. While waiting at Steele’s Tavern, Greene struck up a conversation with his doctor that was staying there also and mentioned that he was very hungry and was penniless. The owner of the tavern, Elizabeth Maxwell Steele overheard Greene and offered Greene breakfast and gave him two bags of gold coin. Greene was elated because he could now pay his troops. There was a portrait of British King George III hanging in the Tavern. Greene went to the portrait and wrote on the back “O George, hide thy face and mourn” and turned the portrait toward the wall. This portrait and inscription is kept in the Thyatira Presbyterian Church museum near Salisbury to this day. Greene now fed and with cash is further elated upon the discovery of 1,700 muskets and ammo near Salisbury. Greene sacrificed much for the Patriot cause and we should be grateful for his presence during this trying time.
1980 The ABSCAM scandal is exposed to the public. ABSCAM was a program initiated by the FBI to root out corruption in United States federal government officials. The premise was that a representative of an Arab sheik was looking for backing for a project and was willing to pay for it. As you might suspect there were several Senators and Representatives that were on the take. The FBI has filmed all the offers and payoffs and this evidence was presented at the trial of those that took the bribe. All but one resigned to avoid expulsion from their elected office including South Carolina Representative John Jenrette. We need to do more of this. I guess ya’ll read about Vietnam War hero and Navy ace pilot “Duke” Cunningham was convicted of influence peddling and sentenced to a long term in the slammer plus losing everything he and his family had ever owned. The bad part was that Duke had a menu for all to see that had a percentage of how much the person looking for his influence were expected to gain and what his cut of the profits would be. Of all the people in our government Duke would be the last person I would think could do this. Power corrupts, total power corrupts totally.
Born today:
1745 English writer Hannah More. She said: “Going to the opera is like getting drunk, both sins carry their own penalty, and a severe one at that.” Been there, done that.
1754 French politico Charles Francis de Talleyrand. “The French court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.” About forty years after this the French people rose up and began rolling royal heads with a guillotine during the French Revolution and that was the end of the French Monarchs and royalty in France.
1859 English writer Havelock Ellis. He said “The only place where optimism endures is in the lunatic asylum.” Tack on the that “or a singles bar after last call”
1901 Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz. He said “No matter which side of the argument you are on, you always find some one on your side that should be on the other.” Been there, done that, too. Do not have a tee shirt.
1915 Israeli politico Abba Eban. He said “History has proven to us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” Eban was the Israeli representative to the United Nations. I remember watching him speak to the United Nations during one the several wars Israel had with the Arab nations. He was a gifted orator and had a commanding presence.
1923 US writer James Dickey. He said “A poet is a person that stands out in the rain hoping to get struck by lightning.” It was Dickey that gave the immortal novel Deliverance He was also Writer-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina. He has since gone to that great laptop in the sky.
1931 US writer Judith Viorst. She said: “Love is better to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or in a holding pattern over Philadelphia.” Judith, shut up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“I can hardly wait until the Democrats start blaming me for the unrest in Egypt.”
Sarah Palin
A few weeks ago at a road block near Camden, South Carolina the cops stopped a car that was up to scuppers in marijuana. The driver was arrested and he and several others were put into a paddy wagon taken to the Kershaw County Jail. Along the way the driver of the car gave the cop in the front seat a huge ration of shit. He even threatened to murder the cop, his wife and children and his parents. Needless to say, the arrested driver was in handcuffs. After arriving at the jail, the cop that was in the front was waiting at the back door and snatched that man out of the paddy wagon and delivered 26 blows with a metal baton. The man was on the concrete sidewalk curled up into the fetal position yelling his ass off. The cop finally ceased and escorted the now beaten and bruised man to a jail cell. The only problem is that all of this action on the sidewalk was recorded by a security camera. The beaten man filed a civil right violation against this cop especially since he was handcuffed. There are very strict federal laws against using excessive force on restrained persons. I have mixed emotions here. If anyone and I mean anyone, threatened to kill me, my kids and/or my parents I would be hard pressed to restrain myself. But I ain’t a trained law enforcement officer…but I am human. The cop’s defense was that the man refused to go where he was told and he felt the need to use force. All of that is well and good, but if the individual is lying on the sidewalk screaming getting the crap beat out of him, it is unlikely he would be able to go anywhere anyway.
By the way, Kershaw County was named for CSA General Joseph Kershaw who was in command of the 3rd South Carolina Sharpshooters at the intense battle in the “Wheatfield” at Gettysburg in 1863. He was blond haired with pale blue eyes and was well thought of by his superiors, especially James Longstreet.
If y’all can believe this, the United States Democratic Party has chosen to hold their 2012 presidential convention in the Queen City, y’all. That’s right; I am talking Charlotte, North Carolina. Yes, the Charlotte, North Carolina where the NASCAR Hall of Fame is located and is usually very big in Bluegrass conventions. Downtown Charlotte is a great place. I had many a good time there but the streets full of prancing Democrats does not compute. I’ll bet the Charlotte “men in blue” can hardly wait.
This date in history February 2
1943 Earlier on June 22, 1942, in spite of an existing treaty, Adolph Hitler ordered an enormous German army divided into three sections to start an invasion of Russia. Hitler’s military advisors had warned Hitler that if the attack could not begin by the first of May it should not begin at all because of the severe Russian winters. The German army was not ready by the first of May but Hitler ordered the invasion to begin late anyway. The Germans made progress by leaps and bounds primarily because they had control of the air. The slaughter they inflicted on the Russian army and civilians was beyond comprehension. They laid siege to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad and cut off any supplies to those cities and thousands upon thousands starved to death. It was the German 6th Army that had Stalingrad surrounded. Russian premier Josef Stalin was not about to let the city named after him to surrender and ordered the residents and the Russian Army defending the city to resist to the bitter end and resist they did. The Germans bombed the entire city into rubble trying to break their spirit. It did not work and the Russians used the rubble to establish formidable defenses. The Germans had no choice but to send in small squads of 8 or 10 to try and root out the defenders. That did not work either. The Russians proved to be formidable street fighters. In October the worst winter in fifty years arrived as advertised. The drop in temperature caused a break in the attack and gave the Russians defending the city time to reorganize and receive reinforcements. In November the Russians army launched a merciless counter-attack. The Italian and Romanian soldiers surrendered immediately but not the Germans. They held out until they were surrounded by the Russians and all of their supplies had been cut off. The German army that had surrounded Stalingrad in the beginning numbered about 200,000. On this date the remaining German army at Stalingrad numbering only 90,000 surrendered ending the siege of Stalingrad. Of the 90,000 Germans that went to prison camps, only 5,000 lived to see Germany again. I had given some figures about this siege in the past that were inaccurate, these numbers are accurate.
1847 In October of 1846 a group of wagons gathered at South Pass, Wyoming to cross the formidable Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. The assumed leader of this wagon train was George Donner. All they had to navigate by was a crude map out of a magazine. They were warned that it was too late in the year to try to cross the mountains and should wait until spring. They left anyway. They ran into some tough terrain and at one point made only 36 miles in 13 days. As you might suspect the winter snows caught them in a narrow pass and they had to abandon their wagons loaded with tons of meat and flour plus their oxen. I suppose all of ya’ll know the story of the Donner Party but it was on this day that the first person died. The final number was 42 dead and those that survived did so by cannibalism. It was dark days in that mountain pass just a few miles from Lake Tahoe.
1971 On this date Major General Idi Amin, commander of the Ugandan Army and Air Force declares himself President. A week before the government of Ugandan President Daniel Obote had collapsed. Amin immediately began a purge of two different tribes and virtually annihilated them. Next he ordered the Asians out of Uganda and the Indians and Pakistanis fled in swarms. Very soon thereafter the economy of Uganda goes down the toilet because it was the Asians that were the financial base of the country. In 1979 Amin invades Tanzania in order to gain a disputed section of land but the real reason was to take away attention from the bad conditions in Uganda. The army of Tanzania accompanied by a group of people that had been kicked out of Uganda met Amin’s army and kicked the living shit out of them. Amin and a few of his cronies fled the country and landed in Saudi Arabia. And that is where lived until he died in 2003. It is estimated that Idi Amin was responsible for the death of over 300,000 Ugandans. I believe the movie “The Last King of Scotland” is a bio of Amin.
1781 Yesterday I wrote about the Battle of Cowan’s Ford and the death of William Davidson during the Revolutionary War. Today’s lesson is a continuation of that saga. Patriot General Nathanial Greene was waiting at Steele’s Tavern near Salisbury, North Carolina for the militia that was engaged in the Cowan’s Ford attack the day before. Greene was to meet with the militia at the home of David Carr which was six miles south of Steele’s Tavern. The militia did not arrive as agreed because they were attacked by British Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Dragoons at Tarrant’s Tavern five mile south of David Carr’s house and 10 or 50 Patriots were killed. While waiting at Steele’s Tavern, Greene struck up a conversation with his doctor that was staying there also and mentioned that he was very hungry and was penniless. The owner of the tavern, Elizabeth Maxwell Steele overheard Greene and offered Greene breakfast and gave him two bags of gold coin. Greene was elated because he could now pay his troops. There was a portrait of British King George III hanging in the Tavern. Greene went to the portrait and wrote on the back “O George, hide thy face and mourn” and turned the portrait toward the wall. This portrait and inscription is kept in the Thyatira Presbyterian Church museum near Salisbury to this day. Greene now fed and with cash is further elated upon the discovery of 1,700 muskets and ammo near Salisbury. Greene sacrificed much for the Patriot cause and we should be grateful for his presence during this trying time.
1980 The ABSCAM scandal is exposed to the public. ABSCAM was a program initiated by the FBI to root out corruption in United States federal government officials. The premise was that a representative of an Arab sheik was looking for backing for a project and was willing to pay for it. As you might suspect there were several Senators and Representatives that were on the take. The FBI has filmed all the offers and payoffs and this evidence was presented at the trial of those that took the bribe. All but one resigned to avoid expulsion from their elected office including South Carolina Representative John Jenrette. We need to do more of this. I guess ya’ll read about Vietnam War hero and Navy ace pilot “Duke” Cunningham was convicted of influence peddling and sentenced to a long term in the slammer plus losing everything he and his family had ever owned. The bad part was that Duke had a menu for all to see that had a percentage of how much the person looking for his influence were expected to gain and what his cut of the profits would be. Of all the people in our government Duke would be the last person I would think could do this. Power corrupts, total power corrupts totally.
Born today:
1745 English writer Hannah More. She said: “Going to the opera is like getting drunk, both sins carry their own penalty, and a severe one at that.” Been there, done that.
1754 French politico Charles Francis de Talleyrand. “The French court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.” About forty years after this the French people rose up and began rolling royal heads with a guillotine during the French Revolution and that was the end of the French Monarchs and royalty in France.
1859 English writer Havelock Ellis. He said “The only place where optimism endures is in the lunatic asylum.” Tack on the that “or a singles bar after last call”
1901 Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz. He said “No matter which side of the argument you are on, you always find some one on your side that should be on the other.” Been there, done that, too. Do not have a tee shirt.
1915 Israeli politico Abba Eban. He said “History has proven to us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” Eban was the Israeli representative to the United Nations. I remember watching him speak to the United Nations during one the several wars Israel had with the Arab nations. He was a gifted orator and had a commanding presence.
1923 US writer James Dickey. He said “A poet is a person that stands out in the rain hoping to get struck by lightning.” It was Dickey that gave the immortal novel Deliverance He was also Writer-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina. He has since gone to that great laptop in the sky.
1931 US writer Judith Viorst. She said: “Love is better to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or in a holding pattern over Philadelphia.” Judith, shut up.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Daily history
Good morning,
Quote of the day:
“Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”
Madonna
Here is a few instances of how people’s lives change in an instant never to be the same again.
A Marine sergeant on Iwo Jima was assigned the duty as guard of the Company CP (command post) during the first night of that infamous battle. Very shortly after taking his post a Japanese soldier attacked with his bayoneted rifle. The Marine was able to parry the attack and threw the Japanese soldier to the ground. The soldier pulled out a hand grenade and tried to throw it at the Marine. The Marine was able to wrestle the grenade from the Japanese but the pin had already been pulled. The Marine grabbed the soldier and initiated a “bear hug” holding the sputtering grenade against the soldier’s back. The grenade exploded taking the Marines hand and most of his arm with it. The Japanese was literally cut into. The Marine later said that just before the grenade exploded, he and the soldier were so close that they were touching noses and looking at each other’s eyes only inches apart. He said that the look on the soldier’s face stayed with him forever as did the smell of the soldier before and after the explosion along with the texture of his uniform.
In Iraq an American soldier was standing beside his Humvee when he was shot in the back at close range. Fortunately he had on a bullet proof vest and was only stunned but was knocked to the ground. He looked under the Humvee and saw someone coming wearing Arab clothing and he could see the tip of a rifle hanging down. He shot one of the legs of the person approaching who fell to the ground instantly. The attacker with a surprised look stared at the American face to face under the Humvee and hesitated just for a second which cost him his life. The American shot hitting him in the forehead killing him instantly. The American soldier said that he has no idea why the attacker hesitated except maybe he had never seen his victims at such close range (about 10 feet)…or it could be that he finally realized that he was about to kill another human being, but the look on the attackers face will stay with him forever.
In the battle for Fallujah, Iraq a US Marine unit led by a Captain Howell burst into a house known to be occupied by al-Qaeda insurgents. There was no lighting in the building. Captain Howell entered a pitch black room and was struck on the left shoulder by an assassin using a two by four which broke his collar bone. Captain Howell grabbed the assassin with his good arm and finally was able to get his arm around the neck. He could not reach his knife because of the incapacitated left arm so he bit a chunk out of the man’s jugular vein and held on until he bled out. He said the man’s mouth was just a couple of inches from his face and as he struggled to live he started yelling curses at the Captain Howell but at the last he was praying to Allah. Captain Howell also said that the smell, feel of his struggles for life and even the taste of the man’s sweat will stay with him forever.
This date in history February 1
1781 Earlier British General William Cornwallis and his cavalry commander the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarelton were beginning to realize that the war in the Carolinas and Georgia was lost and began moving north to join with the other British troops in New England. Cornwallis had left his encampment in Camden, South Carolina earlier. But he turned around when he found out about the slaughter of the British/Loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain, NC. Finally Cornwallis determined that it was safe enough to move north and the evacuation began. Awaiting him on the north side of the Catawba River at Cowan’s Ford in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (a short distance south of Charlotte) was 600-800 North Carolina militia commanded by Brigadier General William Lee Davidson. Davidson’s father was an Ulster-Scot Presbyterian minister that had immigrated to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. He then moved to what is now Iradell County, North Carolina. Davidson had his troops away from the river a considerable distance in case Tarleton should cross at another location and attack the militia from the rear and pin them against the river. Finally, Cornwallis and his army arrive, supply wagons and all. The noise of the wagons awakens the sleeping guards and they open fire. The noise brings General Davidson running and almost instantly he is killed by a musket ball to the heart. The militia puts up a spirited fight but Cornwallis has his army cross in two columns, infantry/cavalry in one column and the wagons in the other. The crossing is successful and Cornwallis continues north. In 1835 General Davidson’s son, William Lee Davidson II, donates land to the Concord Presbytery in his father’s name. On this land was built the present day Davidson College.
1861 On this date Texas votes to secede from the union against the expressed wished of three term governor Sam Houston. Texas was the last of the first round of states to secede. The other few states waited until hostilities had began in earnest before seceding. Texas seceded pretty much for the same reason as the rest with state’s right as the major issue and slavery being an incidental one. As the pot of secession began to boil, the Texas Legislature petitioned Sam Houston to convene the Legislature for a secession vote. Bowing to the pressure, Houston convened the Legislature and a vote for secession was taken and approved. After the vote Houston said “You are asking for an ignominious defeat.” He was right.
1943 In July of 1942 the Japanese landed on one of the islands in the Solomon island chain named Guadalcanal. They went there to build an airfield to provide air support for their ships invading the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. There were five islands in this particular group. The other four were Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tananbogo. The Americans responded to the Japanese by invading all five of the islands but the heavier force went to Guadalcanal because of the airfield. Fortunately, it was bad weather and the Japanese patrol planes could not get off the ground and the 11,000 Marines assigned to Guadalcanal landed undetected and therefore there was no battle at water’s edge. There was a fierce but short battle at water’s edge for the other four smaller islands. After the outnumbered Japanese on Guadalcanal discovered the Marines had landed they retreated to the west end of the Island but very soon the Japanese landed additional troops and evened the odds. The Marines took the airfield within two days of landing but kicking the rest of the reinforced Japanese off the island became one of the major battles in WWII and is a milestone in the history of the United States Marines and the United States Navy. Throughout the whole time the Marines were on Guadalcanal the US Navy battled the formidable Japanese Navy for control of the seas around the island. There were so many ships of both sides sunk north and east of the island that it became known as “Iron Bottom Sound”. The US Marines had no experience in jungle warfare unlike the Japanese that had been jungle fighters for years. There were several major battles that almost every time resulted in hand-to-hand fighting. The American commanders had never seen anything like it. One of them wrote “I have never seen nor heard of anything like this. These people simply refuse to surrender”. The American Marines became accustom to mass killing on a regular basis. Finally on this date six months after landing the Marines sent out a patrol and did not make contact with the Japanese. They then did a detailed search and found no Japanese anywhere on the island. They had secretly evacuated at the direction of the Emperor. The battle would have lasted much longer but the US Navy was able to put 48 to 90 fighter/bombers on the airfield which provided air support for the ground troops. The main fighting force for the Marines was the 1st and 7th Regiment. After the island was secure a reporter came ashore and approached a ragged Marine and asked where the headquarters of the 1st Marines was. The Marine responded “Mister, there ain’t no more 1st Marines.” Also it was here that the greatest Marine of them all, “Chesty” Puller fighting with the 7th Marines, won one of his five Navy crosses. The final result was the Japanese had lost 25,000 men to 1,600 Marines. But these figures can be misleading. Almost every person that stepped foot on Guadalcanal contracted malaria. They both lost 24 ships. War is hell, indeed.
1974 On this date University of Washington freshman Linda Healy is found dead in her dorm. She had been murdered and it was the first but by no means the last for a monster named Theodore “Ted” Bundy. Bundy killed a few more girls in Washington and then the killings stopped. A few weeks later some dead women began showing up in Salt Lake City. Ted had enrolled in Brigham Young University. Ted was captured and escaped twice before disappearing for an extended period. Then college girls began showing up dead on the campus of Florida Sate University in Tallahassee. Ted eventually tortured and killed an 11 year old girl from Jacksonville, Florida. He was pretty smart but on a particular occasion he was a dumb-ass. He stole a VW beetle and was caught driving it in Pensacola, Florida. After a short foot chase, Ted was in handcuffs. He was tried and convicted of the murder of the 11 year old and sentenced to death. After all is said and done, it was determined that Ted had killed at least 28 women but that was probably a very low estimate. Anyway, on January 24, 1989, to an audience of thousands of cheering people surrounding the fence at the state prison near Raiford, Florida, Ted Bundy was electrocuted and went meet his maker medium rare. I wonder if Ted pled for his life. I certainly hope so. By the way, some of those people surrounding the fence cheering had barbecue grills going “in remembrance of Ted”. That’s funny.
Quotable quotes:
“I was trying to daydream but my mind kept wandering”
Steven Wright
“I know some people are against drunk driving. But sometimes you have no choice; those kids have to get to school.”
Dave Attell
“So what if I am not a good driver. If you don’t like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.”
Joan Rivers
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
Quote of the day:
“Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”
Madonna
Here is a few instances of how people’s lives change in an instant never to be the same again.
A Marine sergeant on Iwo Jima was assigned the duty as guard of the Company CP (command post) during the first night of that infamous battle. Very shortly after taking his post a Japanese soldier attacked with his bayoneted rifle. The Marine was able to parry the attack and threw the Japanese soldier to the ground. The soldier pulled out a hand grenade and tried to throw it at the Marine. The Marine was able to wrestle the grenade from the Japanese but the pin had already been pulled. The Marine grabbed the soldier and initiated a “bear hug” holding the sputtering grenade against the soldier’s back. The grenade exploded taking the Marines hand and most of his arm with it. The Japanese was literally cut into. The Marine later said that just before the grenade exploded, he and the soldier were so close that they were touching noses and looking at each other’s eyes only inches apart. He said that the look on the soldier’s face stayed with him forever as did the smell of the soldier before and after the explosion along with the texture of his uniform.
In Iraq an American soldier was standing beside his Humvee when he was shot in the back at close range. Fortunately he had on a bullet proof vest and was only stunned but was knocked to the ground. He looked under the Humvee and saw someone coming wearing Arab clothing and he could see the tip of a rifle hanging down. He shot one of the legs of the person approaching who fell to the ground instantly. The attacker with a surprised look stared at the American face to face under the Humvee and hesitated just for a second which cost him his life. The American shot hitting him in the forehead killing him instantly. The American soldier said that he has no idea why the attacker hesitated except maybe he had never seen his victims at such close range (about 10 feet)…or it could be that he finally realized that he was about to kill another human being, but the look on the attackers face will stay with him forever.
In the battle for Fallujah, Iraq a US Marine unit led by a Captain Howell burst into a house known to be occupied by al-Qaeda insurgents. There was no lighting in the building. Captain Howell entered a pitch black room and was struck on the left shoulder by an assassin using a two by four which broke his collar bone. Captain Howell grabbed the assassin with his good arm and finally was able to get his arm around the neck. He could not reach his knife because of the incapacitated left arm so he bit a chunk out of the man’s jugular vein and held on until he bled out. He said the man’s mouth was just a couple of inches from his face and as he struggled to live he started yelling curses at the Captain Howell but at the last he was praying to Allah. Captain Howell also said that the smell, feel of his struggles for life and even the taste of the man’s sweat will stay with him forever.
This date in history February 1
1781 Earlier British General William Cornwallis and his cavalry commander the infamous Colonel Banastre Tarelton were beginning to realize that the war in the Carolinas and Georgia was lost and began moving north to join with the other British troops in New England. Cornwallis had left his encampment in Camden, South Carolina earlier. But he turned around when he found out about the slaughter of the British/Loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain, NC. Finally Cornwallis determined that it was safe enough to move north and the evacuation began. Awaiting him on the north side of the Catawba River at Cowan’s Ford in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (a short distance south of Charlotte) was 600-800 North Carolina militia commanded by Brigadier General William Lee Davidson. Davidson’s father was an Ulster-Scot Presbyterian minister that had immigrated to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. He then moved to what is now Iradell County, North Carolina. Davidson had his troops away from the river a considerable distance in case Tarleton should cross at another location and attack the militia from the rear and pin them against the river. Finally, Cornwallis and his army arrive, supply wagons and all. The noise of the wagons awakens the sleeping guards and they open fire. The noise brings General Davidson running and almost instantly he is killed by a musket ball to the heart. The militia puts up a spirited fight but Cornwallis has his army cross in two columns, infantry/cavalry in one column and the wagons in the other. The crossing is successful and Cornwallis continues north. In 1835 General Davidson’s son, William Lee Davidson II, donates land to the Concord Presbytery in his father’s name. On this land was built the present day Davidson College.
1861 On this date Texas votes to secede from the union against the expressed wished of three term governor Sam Houston. Texas was the last of the first round of states to secede. The other few states waited until hostilities had began in earnest before seceding. Texas seceded pretty much for the same reason as the rest with state’s right as the major issue and slavery being an incidental one. As the pot of secession began to boil, the Texas Legislature petitioned Sam Houston to convene the Legislature for a secession vote. Bowing to the pressure, Houston convened the Legislature and a vote for secession was taken and approved. After the vote Houston said “You are asking for an ignominious defeat.” He was right.
1943 In July of 1942 the Japanese landed on one of the islands in the Solomon island chain named Guadalcanal. They went there to build an airfield to provide air support for their ships invading the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. There were five islands in this particular group. The other four were Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tananbogo. The Americans responded to the Japanese by invading all five of the islands but the heavier force went to Guadalcanal because of the airfield. Fortunately, it was bad weather and the Japanese patrol planes could not get off the ground and the 11,000 Marines assigned to Guadalcanal landed undetected and therefore there was no battle at water’s edge. There was a fierce but short battle at water’s edge for the other four smaller islands. After the outnumbered Japanese on Guadalcanal discovered the Marines had landed they retreated to the west end of the Island but very soon the Japanese landed additional troops and evened the odds. The Marines took the airfield within two days of landing but kicking the rest of the reinforced Japanese off the island became one of the major battles in WWII and is a milestone in the history of the United States Marines and the United States Navy. Throughout the whole time the Marines were on Guadalcanal the US Navy battled the formidable Japanese Navy for control of the seas around the island. There were so many ships of both sides sunk north and east of the island that it became known as “Iron Bottom Sound”. The US Marines had no experience in jungle warfare unlike the Japanese that had been jungle fighters for years. There were several major battles that almost every time resulted in hand-to-hand fighting. The American commanders had never seen anything like it. One of them wrote “I have never seen nor heard of anything like this. These people simply refuse to surrender”. The American Marines became accustom to mass killing on a regular basis. Finally on this date six months after landing the Marines sent out a patrol and did not make contact with the Japanese. They then did a detailed search and found no Japanese anywhere on the island. They had secretly evacuated at the direction of the Emperor. The battle would have lasted much longer but the US Navy was able to put 48 to 90 fighter/bombers on the airfield which provided air support for the ground troops. The main fighting force for the Marines was the 1st and 7th Regiment. After the island was secure a reporter came ashore and approached a ragged Marine and asked where the headquarters of the 1st Marines was. The Marine responded “Mister, there ain’t no more 1st Marines.” Also it was here that the greatest Marine of them all, “Chesty” Puller fighting with the 7th Marines, won one of his five Navy crosses. The final result was the Japanese had lost 25,000 men to 1,600 Marines. But these figures can be misleading. Almost every person that stepped foot on Guadalcanal contracted malaria. They both lost 24 ships. War is hell, indeed.
1974 On this date University of Washington freshman Linda Healy is found dead in her dorm. She had been murdered and it was the first but by no means the last for a monster named Theodore “Ted” Bundy. Bundy killed a few more girls in Washington and then the killings stopped. A few weeks later some dead women began showing up in Salt Lake City. Ted had enrolled in Brigham Young University. Ted was captured and escaped twice before disappearing for an extended period. Then college girls began showing up dead on the campus of Florida Sate University in Tallahassee. Ted eventually tortured and killed an 11 year old girl from Jacksonville, Florida. He was pretty smart but on a particular occasion he was a dumb-ass. He stole a VW beetle and was caught driving it in Pensacola, Florida. After a short foot chase, Ted was in handcuffs. He was tried and convicted of the murder of the 11 year old and sentenced to death. After all is said and done, it was determined that Ted had killed at least 28 women but that was probably a very low estimate. Anyway, on January 24, 1989, to an audience of thousands of cheering people surrounding the fence at the state prison near Raiford, Florida, Ted Bundy was electrocuted and went meet his maker medium rare. I wonder if Ted pled for his life. I certainly hope so. By the way, some of those people surrounding the fence cheering had barbecue grills going “in remembrance of Ted”. That’s funny.
Quotable quotes:
“I was trying to daydream but my mind kept wandering”
Steven Wright
“I know some people are against drunk driving. But sometimes you have no choice; those kids have to get to school.”
Dave Attell
“So what if I am not a good driver. If you don’t like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.”
Joan Rivers
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
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