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On this Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on March 03:
1500 Reginald Pole English Cardinal/"heretic"
1549 Henric Spieghel Dutch Renaissance poet (Hertspiegel)
1583 Edward Herbert of Cherbury English military/philosopher
1705 Michael Schevenstuhl composer
1747 Kasamir Pulaski US General (Revolutionary War)
1831 George M Pullman inventor (railway sleeping car)
1838 George W Hill US astronomer (Moon orbit)
1841 John Murray Canada oceanographer (Depths of the Ocean)
1845 Georg Cantor German mathematician (discovers transfinite numbers)
1847 Alexander Graham Bell Edinburgh Scotland, inventor (telephone)
1872 Wee Willie Keeler outfielder (Baltimore Orioles); hit .432 in 1897
1873 William Green president of American Federation of Labor (1924-52)
1895 General Matthew Ridgeway US, military leader (WWII/China/Nicaragua/Korea/NATO)
1899 Alfred M Gruenther US, commanding general (NATO, 1953-56)
1909 Harry Hemsley billionaire New York landlord
1911 Jean Harlow [Harlean Carpentier] Kansas City MO, 30s' sex goddess (Dinner at 8)
1918 Arnold Newman photographer (Faces USA)
1918 Arthur Kornberg US biochemist (Nobel 1959)
1920 James Doohan Vancouver British Columbia, actor (Montgomery Scott-Star Trek)
1920 Julius Boros golfer (US Open 1952,63)
1921 Allen Ginsberg beat generation poet (1969 Arts & Letters Award)
1921 Junior Parker Arkansas, blues vocalist/songwriter (Mystery Train)
1925 Richard Vernon Reading Berkshire England, actor (Servant, Gandhi, Hard Days Night)
1927 John McLaughlin commentator (McLaughlin Report)
1928 Dave Dudley singer (Six Days on the Road)
1928 Don Gibson singer/writer (I can't Stop Loving You, Oh Lonesome Me)
1933 Lee Radziwell Ross New York NY, princess (Jackie O's sister)
1935 Zhelyu Zhelev president of Bulgaria (1990- )
1936 Jim Clark Formula 1 racer (1963 Champion)
1938 Lew De Witt singer (Statler Brothers-Flowers on the Wall)
1938 Willie Chambers guitarist/vocalist (Chambers Brothers)
1946 James C Adamson Warsaw NY, Lieutenant Colonel USA/astronaut (STS 28, STS 43)
1949 Bonnie J Dunbar Sunnyside WA, PhD/astronaut (STS 61-A, 32, 50, 71, 89)
1949 James S Voss Cordova AL, Major USA/astronaut (STS 44, 53, 69)
1951 Sergei Aleksandrovich Yemelyanov Russian cosmonaut
1953 Aleksandr Viktorovich Borodin Russia, cosmonaut
1962 Herschel Walker WFL/NFL running back (New Jersey Generals, Dallas Cowboys)
1962 Jackie Joyner-Kersee East St Louis IL, heptathlete (Olympics-gold-88, 92)
1964 Laura Martinez-Herring Sinaloa Mexico, Miss USA-1985 (Texas)/(Carla-General Hospital)
1975 David Faustino California, actor (I Had 3 Wifes, Bud-Married With Children)

Deaths which occurred on March 03:
0561 Pelagius I Italian Pope (547-51, 556-61), dies
1191 Saladin [Salah ad-Din]) Yusuf sultan of Egypt/Syria, dies at 52
1706 Johann Pachelbel organist/composer (Sterbens-Gedancken), dies at 52
1824 Giovanni Battista Viotti Italian violist/composer, dies at 70
1959 Lou Costello comedian (Abbott & Costello), dies at 52
1966 Alice Pearce comedienne (Gladys Kravitz-Bewitched), dies at 52
1966 William Frawley actor (Fred Mertz-I Love Lucy), dies at 89
1983 Arthur Koestler Hungarian/British writer (Dialogue With Death), dies at 77
1987 Danny Kaye comedian (Danny Kaye Show), dies at 74
1991 Arthur Murray dance instructor, dies at 95 of pneumonia
1992 Sandy Dennis actress (Up the Down Staircase), dies of cancer at 54
1993 Carlos Montoya flamenco guitarist, dies at 89
1995 Howard Hunter US leader of Mormon Church (1994-95), dies at 87
1996 John Joseph Krol cardinal, dies at 95
1996 Lyle Talbot [Henderson], actor (Plan 9 From Outer Space), dies at 76

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 RICHARDSON FLOYD W.---ANCHORAGE AK.
[REMAINS RETURNED ID 11/20/89]
1967 ROBY CHARLES D.---IOWA PARK TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED ID 11/20/89]
1968 WELSHAN JOHN T.---OAK RIDGE TN.
1969 SMITH WILLIAM M.---MIDDLEBORO MA.
1971 DUBBELD ORIE J. JR.---COCOA BEACH FL.
1971 DUNCAN JAMES E.---POINT PLEASANT WV.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0078 Origin of Saka Era (India)
0468 St Simplicius elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius
0493 Ostrogoten King Theodorik the Great beats Odoaker
0561 Pelagius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1431 Bishop Gabriele Condulmer elected as Pope Eugene IV
1634 1st tavern in Boston opens (Samuel Cole)
1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Castle of Inverness
1791 1st Internal Revenue Act (taxing distilled spirits & carriages)
1791 Congress establishes US Mint
1794 1st performance of Joseph Haydn's 101st Symphony in D
1794 Richard Allen founded AME Church
1801 1st US Jewish Governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia
1803 1st impeachment trial of a federal judge, John Pickering, begins
1805 Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms
1812 US Congress passes 1st foreign aid bill (aids Venezuela earthquake vicitims)
1813 Office of Surgeon General of the US army is established
1815 US declares war on Algiers for taking US prisoners & demanding tribute
1817 Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi
1820 Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri
1837 Congress increases Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9
1837 US President Andrew Jackson & Congress recognizes Republic of Texas
1842 1st US child labor law regulating working hours passed (Massachusetts)
1843 Congress appropriates $30,000 "to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs" by the US
1845 1st US law overriding a Presidential veto (John Tyler's)
1845 Congress authorizes ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery
1845 Florida becomes 27th state
1847 Post Office Department authorized to issue postage stamps
1849 Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin
1849 Territory of Minnesota is organized
1849 US Department of the Interior established by Congress
1851 Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3¢ piece)
1853 Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by Congress
1855 Congress approves $30,000 to test camels for military use
1861 Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom
1862 General Pope lays siege in front of New Madrid MO
1863 1st US wartime military conscription bill enacted
1863 Abraham Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences
1863 Federal ironclad ships bomb Fort McAllister Georgia
1863 Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired
1863 Gold certificates (currency) authorized by Congress
1863 Idaho Territory forms
1865 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established to help destitute free blacks
1869 University of South Carolina opens to all races
1871 Congress changes Indian tribes status from independent to dependent
1871 Congress establishes the civil service system
1873 US Congress & government raise own salary, retroactively
1875 Congress authorizes 20¢ coin, lasts only 3 years
1875 Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" premieres (Paris France)
1877 Rutherford B Hayes is sworn in as the 19th President
1878 Bulgaria liberated from Turkey (Peace of San Stefano)
1879 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)
1879 US geological survey director authorized in Department of the Interior
1882 New York Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan buildings
1883 Congress authorizes the 1st steel vessels in US navy
1885 American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates
1885 Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government)
1885 US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail
1887 American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton IA
1887 Anne Sullivan begins teaching 6 year old blind-deaf Helen Keller
1891 Congress creates Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Department)
1891 Congress creates US Courts of Appeal
1893 Congress authorizes 1st federal road agency, in Department of Agriculture
1894 1st Greek-language publication in US begins, "New York Atlantis"
1894 4th & last British government of Gladstone resigns
1899 George Dewey becomes 1st in US with rank of Admiral of the Navy
1900 US Steel Corporation organizes
1901 Congress creates National Bureau of Standards, in Department of Commerce
1903 North Carolina becomes 1st state requiring registration of nurses
1911 1st US federal cemetery with Union & Rebel graves opens, Missouri
1913 Ida B Wells-Barnett demonstrates for female suffrage in Washington DC
1915 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA forerunner) created
1917 Congress passes 1st excess profits tax on corporations
1917 Nicholas II, last Russian tsar, abdicates
1918 Russia withdraws from WWI, signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany & Austria
1919 1st international air mail service from US, Seattle WA-Victoria BC
1919 Communist Party in Germany announces a general strike
1921 Toronto's Dr Banting & Dr Best announce discovery of insulin
1922 Italian fascists occupy Fiume & Rijeka
1923 Time magazine publishes 1st issue
1923 US Senate rejects membership in International Court of Justice, The Hague
1924 Sean O'Casey's "Juno & the Paycock" premieres in Dublin
1926 International Greyhound Racing Association formed (Miami FL)
1931 "Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem
1931 Cab Calloway records "Minnie the Moocher" (Jazz's 1st million seller)
1933 German Presidential candidate Earnest Thälmann (KPD) arrested
1933 Mount Rushmore dedicated
1934 John Dillinger breaks out of jail using a wooden pistol
1938 American Bowling Congress' largest tournament (24,765 competitors)
1942 1st combat flight for Canada's Avro Lancaster military plane
1943 Bomb fleeing crowd falls into London shelter; 173 die
1943 US defeats Japan & wins Battle of Bismark Sea
1945 US & Philippine forces recaptures Corregidor
1945 US 7th Army occupies last part of Westwall
1952 Puerto Rico approves their 1st self written constitution
1955 Elvis Presley makes his 1st TV appearance
1956 Morocco gains independence from France (Anniversary of throne)
1958 Nuri ash Said becomes premier of Iraq
1959 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, is launched
1960 9th largest snowfall in NYC history (14.5")
1965 Temptations' "My Girl" reaches #1
1966 James Goldman's "Lion in Winter" premieres in New York NY
1966 Rock group Buffalo Springfield forms (Steven Stills, Neil Young, et al)
1966 Twister hits Jackson MS; 3 minutes after 1st sighting, 57 die
1968 Greece, Portugal & Spain's embassies bombed in the Hague
1969 Apollo 9 launched into 151 Earth orbits (10 days)
1971 South African Broadcasting Corp lifts its ban on the Beatles
1972 Sculpted figures of Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, & Stonewall Jackson are completed at Stone Mountain GA
1974 George Foreman KOs Ken Norton
1974 World's worst air disaster, Turkish DC-10 crashes in Paris France (346 die)
1977 Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms
1978 Charles Chaplin's remains are stolen in Switzerland
1982 Senate begins debate on expulsion of Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ)
1985 "Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis, premieres
1985 National Union of Mine Workers in England end a 51 week strike
1985 Willie Shoemaker becomes 1st jockey to win $100 million
1989 Robert McFarlane gets $20,000 fine, 2 years probation for Iran-Contra
1990 Carole Gist, 20, (Michigan), 1st black crowned 39th Miss USA
1991 Iraqi generals & General Schwarzkopf meet to discuss cease fire
1991 Latvia & Estonia vote to become independent of the USSR
1991 Los Angeles Police severly beat Rodney King, captured on amateur video
1992 President Bush apologizes for raising taxes after pledging not to
1998 Bill Gates testifies at Senate Judiciary Committee

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Arab : Mohammed's Birthday
Bulgaria : Liberation from Ottoman Rule Day (1878)
Florida : Admission Day (1845)
Grenada : Partial Independence Day (1967)
Hawaii : Japanese Girl's Day
Japan : Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival)
Malawi : Martyrs' Day
Morocco : National Day (1961)
Sudan : Unity Day
World : Day of Prayer
US : National Procrastinators Week (Starts Tomorrow)
International Hamburger & Pickle Month

Religious Observances
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Ember Day

Religious History
1547 The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent declared: 'If anyone says that one baptized cannot, even if he wishes, lose grace, however much he may sin, unless he is unwilling to believe, let him be anathema.'
1744 Colonial missionary to the American Indians, David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'In the morning, spent an hour in prayer. Prayer was so sweet an exercise to me that I knew not how to cease, lest I lose the spirit of prayer.'
1931 American linguistic pioneer Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: 'If we only let God have his full chance he will break our hearts with the glory of his revelation. That is the privilege which the preacher can have. It is his business to look into the very face of God until he aches with bliss.'
1950 Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in "Sign of Jonas": 'The Christian life...is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places. And these discoveries are sometimes most profitable when you find him in something you had tended to overlook or even despise.'
1959 By a vote taken in both bodies, the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church, along with their fellowships __ the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged into a single denomination.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them."

You know you're getting old when...
your sweetie says, "Lets go upstairs and make love," and you answer, "Honey, I can't do both!"

New State Slogans...
Arizona: But It's A Dry Heat

Amazing fact #43,876,996,127.4...
In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for marriage for girls - to 12.

1747 Kasamir Pulaski US General (Revolutionary War)

Introduction

Casimir Pulaski belongs to that select group of heroes, including the Marquis de Lafayefte, Thomas Paine, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Pulaski's fellow countryman, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who opposed tyranny not only in their homelands, but wherever they found it. We especially honor Pulaski because he paid the ultimate price, having sustained a mortal wound while fighting for American independence at the battle of Savannah in 1779. Today he remains a symbol of the ideal of valiant resistance to oppression everywhere in the world.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Pulaski was born on March 4,1747, in Winiary, some 40 miles outside of Warsaw. His family belonged to the minor Polish nobility, and his ancestors fought with King Jan Sobieski against the Turks at the siege of Vienna in 1683. His father Jozef successfully built up the family fortune and deeply involved himself in politics. But the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had fallen on hard times. No longer the military power of Sobieski's day, it came increasingly under the domination of its aggressive neighbors, particularly Tsarist Russia. Russia demonstrated its influence over the Commonwealth's affairs when in 1764 Empress Catherine the Great imposed her candidate Stanislaus Poniatowski, as the Commonwealth's next elected monarch. Poniatowski sought to carry out much needed reforms, but aroused the suspicion of the nobility who feared the establishment of a royal despotism. Moreover, the Russian ambassador regularly interfered in the Cornmonwealth's domestic affairs, in 1767, even using Russian troops to coerce its parliament into passing legislation that ended the privileged position of the Catholic Church. In these circumstances, in 1768, Jozef Pulaski joined with others in initiating an insurrection known as the Confederation of Bar, a town in the Ukraine, where it was formed. Under the motto, "For Faith and Freedom," the elder Pulaski assumed the military leadership of the confederation, and Casimir on his 21st birthday took command of a detachment of partisans. For the next 3 1/2 years, in military campaigns against Russian forces that sought to put down the rebellion, the young commander proved his valor and genuine military talent in more than a dozen major action and numerous skirmishes.

Exile

In October 1771, Pulaski undertook one last major expedition as part of a plot to abduct the king. The plot misfired, but it led to the young Casimir being unjustly accused of attempted regicide and later, after he left the country, to a death sentence. When in 1772, Russia, Prussia, and Austria began negotiations to partition the Commonwealth, he and the other confederates saw the futility of continuing the struggle. In the face of the charges against him, he was forced to flee his homeland, never to see it again. Within months of his departure, the Commonwealth's aggressive neighbors agreed to divide over a quarter of its territory among themselves. The effort to defend the Commonwealth had failed, but the heroism of Pulaski and other confederates would inspire future generations of their countrymen. Meanwhile, Pulaski faced a difficult exile. After two years in western Europe, he again joined battle against Russia, this time, on the side of the Turks. Their defeat forced him to return to France where, in the summer of 1776, he learned of America's war for independence and sought permission from the Americans to join their forces. Most American colonists were not yet enthusiastic in the support of the war, and George Washington, a commander-in-chief, needed battle-tested officers like Pulaski. Finally, in May 1777, Pulaski received a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin, the American commissioner in Paris, and left for America, landing near Boston in July. In August, he reported to Washington's headquarters near Philadelphia.

The American Revolutionary War

On Washington's recommendation, the Continental Congress appointed Pulaski general of the cavalry on September 15, 1777. But even before his formal appointment, he demonstrated his value. At the battle of Brandywine Creek, where Washington's forces suffered a defeat, Pulaski led a counterattack that covered the retreat of the Americans and helped prevent a military disaster. Pulaski spent the winter of 1777 training his soldiers at Trenton, not far from Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge. He introduced new battle drills in an effort to transform them into a highly mobile force. But, realizing that the Americans did not share his conception of the cavalry as a separate combat force, Pulaski asked to be relieved of his position and allowed to form a special infantry and cavalry unit capable of more independent action. With Washington's support, Pulaski gained the consent of Congress on March 28, 1778. It took Pulaski, regarded as "the father of the American cavalry," another five months to form his legion at his headquarters in Baltimore, where he recruited Americans, Frenchmen, Poles, Irishmen, and especially Germans; mainly deserters from the Hessian mercenaries employed by the British. But for some time the American command could not find a suitable role for Pulaski's legion, leading him again to request reassignment. Finally, on February 2,1779, he received orders to proceed to South Carolina to reinforce the southern American forces under British attack. Now Pulaski began his most active period of service in the war with the front line combat he sought. At the head of a troop of some 600, Pulaski arrived in Charleston in May 1779, just in time to contribute to its successful defense against a much larger British force, which after occupying Georgia was steadily advancing northward. This victory proved pivotal in the war in the South as it broke the British momentum and boosted American morale. What remained was to win back the territory that the British had occupied. Savannah became the fateful goal. Newly arrived French forces under Admiral Charles Henri d'Estaing together with the Americans planned a risky all out assault on the heavily fortified town. The siege began on October 9. The mission of the Pulaski Legion was to follow in behind the French infantry and break down the enemy's line of defense. But the French got caught in a cross fire, and d'Estaing himself was wounded. Awaiting the proper moment for his cavalry to enter the battle, Pulaski could see the infantry breaking ranks under heavy fire. To try to save the situation, he charged forward into the battle only to be grievously wounded himself. Carried from the battlefield, he was put on a ship to be taken back to Charleston, but never regained consciousness. On October 11, 1779, the 32 year old Polish commander died at sea, where he was buried.

In Honor of Pulaski

Americans have always recognized Pulaski's heroism and the price he paid for their freedom. Shortly after his death a solemn memorial service was held in Charleston, and, before the end of 1779, the Continental Congress resolved that a monument should be erected in his honor, though a statue was not put into place in Washington, D.C., until 1910. Over the years Americans have kept alive his memory naming many countries, towns, streets, parks, and squares after him. Among those of Polish descent, his fame rivals that of Kosciuszko, who, after his service in the American Revolutionary War, returned to his homeland, where, in 1794, he led an insurrection against the same Russian domination that Pulaski had fought before coming to America. In his first letter to Washington, after arriving in America, Pulaski wrote, "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it." He proved true to his word. For this, we honor him as a soldier of Liberty for all.