Musing
and History
Quote
of the day:
“Men
travel the Earth seeking what they need and eventually return home to
find it…their families.”
George
Moore
Trivia
question of the day:
What
was the longest home run ever measured in MLB? Answer at the end of
the blog.
I
have finished my self-taught education about pirates in the “Golden
Age of Piracy” from about 1680 to 1862. The most successful by far
was Bartholomew Roberts. He was a deckhand on a British slave ship
that was captured by a pirate named Howell Davis including all the
crew. Both Davis and Roberts were Welshmen. Roberts was forced to
become a crew member on Davis’ ship because he was a navigator.
Davis sailed into a Portuguese port in what is now Ghana flying the
flag of a British man-of-war. Soon after they entered the port,
Portuguese figured out that Davis and company were indeed pirates.
The governor of the port invited Davis ashore for a glass of wine and
when Davis and his entourage stepped ashore they were gunned
down. The remainder of the pirates began looking for another captain
and elected Roberts as their leader because of his navigation skills.
Roberts decided it would be better be on a pirate ship rather than a
slave ship where he had no chance of promotion and monstrous
treatment of the slaves.
This Date in
History February 12
1789 On this date
the Patriot General Ethan Allen died of a stroke on the banks of the
Winooski River in Vermont at the age of 56. In spite of the ongoing
struggle between Vermont and New York, Allen was a superb military
leader for the fledgling United States. The problem was that New York
felt that the lands of Vermont were part of New York and the New
Yorkers had no problem selling lands in Vermont and fought against
admitting Vermont to join the Union as a separate state. Ethan Allen
was even arrested for treason because he got fed up with being
refused admission to the Union; he approached England to allow
Vermont to be part of Canada. Anyway, Vermont and New York
eventually settled their differences and Vermont was admitted. In the
meantime Allen teamed up with US General Benedict Arnold and they
attacked the British at Montreal. Allen was captured by the British
and was kept prisoner for 3 years. After his release he formed a
unit called the Green Mountain Boys and joined up again with Benedict
Arnold and captured the British bastion of Fort Ticonderoga. It was
from this fort that the Patriot General Henry Knox brought the
captured cannon to Boston and them to the peak of Dorchester Heights
which drove the British out of Boston. Ethan Allen remains an icon
in the battle for liberty in these United States.
2002 On this date
one of the worst monsters of all time went on trial in The Hague,
Netherlands for genocide and crimes against humanity. It was former
Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic known as the “Butcher of
the Balkans”. In 1946 all the Balkan countries fell under the ruler
of Yugoslavia Marshal Tito as a communist state. The Balkan
countries were Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. After the death of Marshal Tito
the communist states collapsed into turmoil that finally ended in
civil war. In 1989 Milosevic became president of Serbia. Two years
later Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from
Yugoslavia and all hell breaks loose. Milosevic sends tanks to the
Slovenian border and a brief fight erupts but the Slovenians prevail
and attain secession, after that fighting broke out in Croatia
between the Croats and the ethnic Serbs. The ethnic Serbs rebels
received medical supplies and arms from Milosevic led Serbia. The
Croatian army clashed with the Serb-led Yugoslavian army joined with
the Serb rebels and over 10,000 Croatians and hundreds of homes were
destroyed before a cease fire enforced by the United Nations was put
into effect in January 1992. Two months later Bosnia-Herzegovina
declared its independence and Milosevic financed a Bosnian-Serb
rebellion that cost the lives of over 200,000 civilians. This
conflict ended in 1995. Then the worst of Milosevic came to the
surface when the Kosovo army collided with the Serbian army and
Milosevic ordered the “ethnic cleansing” of any and all native
Albanians in Kosovo. Over 300,000 Albanians were killed and in the
meantime Milosevic had declared himself as President of Yugoslavia.
He was finally faced down by the Serbian army, captured and sent to a
world tribunal in The Hague to stand trial for genocide but he died
of a heart attack before the trial ended. Too bad. I would have
enjoyed seeing him die on the gallows...or other ways of execution
that run through my mind for creatures such as Slobodan Milosevic.
1828 Robert Ransom
is born in Warren County, North Carolina. He attended West Point and
graduated in 1850 18th
in a class of 40. After graduating and instructing at the academy
for a while he was sent to the cauldron of Kansas where pro and anti
slavery forces were embroiled into what was nothing short of guerilla
warfare. Upon the secession of North Carolina, Ransom resigned his
commission and offered his services to the Confederacy. He was
offered the rank of Captain, the same rank he had in the US army. He
was assigned to help protect the coastal defenses of North Carolina.
Eventually his talents were recognized and he joined the Army of
Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee commanding, and was instrumental in
the defeat of the United States army at the Battle of the Seven Days.
Shortly thereafter he was in command of a brigade at the bloodiest
single day battle in United States history, the Battle of Antietam.
This battle was considered a draw but it forced Lee to retreat into
Virginia to lick his wounds. He was also present at the worst defeat
of a United States army up until that date, the battle of
Fredericksburg. The Union infantry suffered abysmal losses due to
pre-registered Confederate artillery and the lack of military
experience and leadership in Lt. General Ambrose Burnsides. But
anyway, Ransom was with CSA General James Longstreet when he went to
try and save Tennessee and was present at the Battle of Chickamauga
and Knoxville. He was assigned to go with CSA General Jubal Early to
kick US General Phillip Sheridan and his army out of the Shenandoah
Valley. Early was unsuccessful and Ransom was sent to help defend
the port of Charleston, S.C. After the war he worked as a civil
engineer and farmer in his home state. He died of natural causes in
1892 in New Bern, North Carolina. Robert Ransom was a warrior,
y'all.
Born
today:
1809 US President
Abraham Lincoln. After receiving a message from Union General Joseph
Hooker who signed the message “Headquarters in the saddle”
Lincoln said “The trouble with Hooker is that he has his
headquarters where his hindquarters ought to be.” Hooker had just
been routed by CSA Generals R.E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson at
Chancellorsville, Virginia in spite of the fact that Hooker had the
Confederates outnumbered more than two to one. Before the battle
Hooker had said “Now we have Lee where he will have to come out and
fight or ingloriously run.” Lee and Jackson did neither;
it was Hooker and Yankees that “ingloriously ran”. It cost
Hooker his command.
Answer
to the trivia question:
It
is generally believed that in 1937 Josh Gibson of the Negro leagues
hit one totally out of Yankee Stadium that had to have been 580 feet
to get out of that stadium. I suppose that in modern times it
probably is one hit by Mark McGuire hit one that measured 487
feet...but there have been others close to that.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
