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USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Canteen Goes West ~ April 8, 2003
April 8, 2003
| LaDivaLoca
Posted on 04/08/2003 12:02:46 AM PDT by LaDivaLoca
USO CANTEEN GOES WEST ![](http://members.cox.net/dacky60/Yeha.gif)
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We call it the Wild West. To many it means guns, cattle, horses and gunfights. But it was also homesteading and pioneering. It was a rugged country back then with little amenities and much danger. It represented the growth of our nation from independent states and scattered people to a united country. Read about the colorful west and some of the people who made it.
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TEXAS RANGERS: These were Indian fighting militiamen who were established in a Texas area that was freed of Mexican rule. After Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana overthrew the Constitution of 1824, the Rangers organized themselves into a broader band whose intent was to seek restoration of the Constitution. Thus, "The Texas Rangers" was formally organized into a force of three 56-men companies to be deployed on the Indian frontier to protect the Texas citizenry against Indians and Mexican raiders.
Some of the most prominent rangers included: Ben McCulloch, the Tennessee frontiersman and friend of Davy Crockett's, William A.A. "Big Foot" Wallace, John Coffee "Jack" Hays. It was Hays who helped the Rangers earn their reputation for brutality during the war, men with "uncouth costumes, bearded faces, lean and brawny forms, fierce wild eyes and swaggering manners...fit representatives of the outlaws which make up the population of the Lone Star State", according to Samuel Chamberlain.
After the Mexican War, the Rangers returned to patrol the new state of Texas, trying to end Comanche Indian raids. Captain John S. "Rip" Ford was the famous frontiersman who is credited with killing many Comanches. IN the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, the Rangers continued their pursuit of Indian raiders, outlaws, and cattle rustlers. They tracked the bandit John Wesley Hardin all to the way to Pensacola, Florida . The Texas Rangers were reorganized in 1935 as a branch of the Texas Department of Public Safety and remain active today as the oldest law enforcement agency in America.
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BUFFALO SOLDIERS: This was the name given to the black soldiers of the U.S. army who fought Indians and policed the frontier in the years following the Civil War. The term was derived from the men's hair which the Indians thought resembled the fur of the buffalo. Not all of the recruits were former slaves; most were free blacks of Northern parentage and many had served with distinction during the Civil War.
Fast Facts
- Nearly a third of the cowboys in the building of the American West were Black.
- Black families came west in covered wagons; established self-sufficient all-Black towns, filling every job from barber to teacher, doctor to state legislator.
- African Americans were some of the West's earliest millionaires, owning much of the West's most valuable real estate and many of its prominent businesses.
- One of the first gold discoveries in Idaho Springs, Colo., was made by Henry Parker, a Black mine owner.
- Blacks were also military heroes, taking San Jua Hill with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War. It is a little-known fact that the all-Black 10th Cavalry should really be credited for that victory.
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THE ALAMO: The Alamo was founded in 1718 in San Antonio, Texas as the Mission de San Antonio de Valero and its function was to convert several area Indian tribes. In 1836, however, it was converted into a fortress to protect Texas against Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna who took control of the Mexican government, declared Martial Law and abolished the 1824 constitution. Santa Anna began his siege of the Alamo on February 24, 1836 with a force numbering about 4,000 against the 150 who protected the mission. Some of the principals included Colonel Jim Bowie (famous for the Bowie knife), David Crockett (who brought the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers, Sam Houston (as commander in chief of the Texas Army), William Barret Travis.
The final siege was on March 6, 1836 and most everyone inside was killed, including the sick in the hospital who were slaughtered outright. One man escaped alive overnight by going over the wall. That final battle lasted 90 minutes. When it was over, five defenders had survived long enough to be brought to Santa Anna who promptly executed them and set them afire. "Remember the Alamo" became the rallying cry as the Mexicans were driven from Texas the following April when Sam Houston and 800 men defeated Santa Anna's 3,000-man army and forced the now captured Santa Anna to sign a peace treaty recognizing Texas independence.
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DANIEL BOONE: Frontiersman Daniel Boone was born in 1734 in Pennsylvania. His family to North Carolina in 1750. He went to Kentucky in 1767 and again in 1769. He was hired to blaze a new trail from Cumberland Gap, Virginia to the Kentucky River which he did. He brought his wife and daughter with him and founded Boonesborough. In 1778 he was captured by the Shawnee Indians but escaped five months later. He raced back to Boonesborough to warn of an imminent attack by a joint force of British soldiers and Shawnees. His preservation of the fort (Boonesborough) proved vital to continued westward migration and settlement. During the Revolutionary War, Boone served as a lieutenant colonel of the Fayette County militia; he was also a legislator, county lieutenant and deputy surveyor. He was captured by the British in 1781 but later released. he died in 1820.
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WILLIAM FREDERICK CODY (BUFFALO BILL): He was born in Iowa in 1846 and his family moved to Kansas in 1854. He was a frontiersman, scout and showman. he rode for the Pony Express when he was just 15. He served in the Calvary during the Civil War. Following the war, he served as a scout and soon married Louisa Frederici. He left scouting to run a hotel but this was not the life for him so he left and scouted for Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It is believed he earned his nickname in 1867 while hunting buffalo for the Union Pacific construction crews. Between 1866 and 1872 he fought in a slew of Indian skirmishes. He soon became the legend behind a series of dime store novels. He was awarded the Medal Honor in 1872 for his service in Indian campaigns but it was rescinded in 1917 because he had been a civilian at the time and was not qualified to receive one.
In 1989 the Medal was restored to Cody, 72 years after his death following a new ruling by the Army. In 1882, in North Platte, Nebraska and in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Cody launched his world famous "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show", an extravaganza that included a Pony Express race, a runaway stagecoach, a reenactment of a Custer battle with Indians, sharpshooting, roping and riding exhibitions. The show featured Annie Oakley and in 1885, the Hunkapap Sioux chief Sitting Bull joined them. The show also went to Europe in 1887, 1889 and in 1906 and was a huge success everywhere. He merged his show with another then performed periodically with a circus until a month before his death in January 1917.
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WOMEN OF THE WEST
ANNIE OAKLEY: An expert rifle and shotgun markswoman, Phoebe Anne Moses went on to achieve fame all over the world as a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show - although most people know her as Annie Oakley. Despite her big reputation as being a heroine of the Old West and she did visit, she never really lived any further west than Ohio. Her nickname was "Little Sure Shot" was given to her by Chief Sitting Bull who was so amazed by her skills. She was severely injured in 1901 when the train that carried the Wild West show collided with another and she became partially paralyzed. She performed again but not as the same Annie. She died in 1926, a few years after an auto accident from which she never regained her health
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CALAMITY JANE: She was born Martha Jane Canary; there are numerous tales of how she got her nickname but no one knows for sure. She was a tough cookie and dressed like a man, in buckskins. By the time she was 18, after moving to Salt Lake City with her parents after the Civil War, Jane had been a nurse, a dishwasher, a waitress, a cook and an ox-team driver. She had a reputation for being able to handle a man, shoot like a cowboy, skills that took her into Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show where she performed sharpshooting astride her horse. The love of her life was Wild Bill Hickok. They were secretly married in 1870 but he took off after the birth of their daughter three years later. Jane then remarried as had Hickok and they were reunited briefly, just before Hickok was killed. During the 1870's, Jane was the subject of some dime novels which brought her national fame. She is buried in Deadwood near Wild Bill Hickok
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HELEN HUNT JACKSON: A novelist and a poet, Helen Jackson's remarkable "A Century of Dishonor" stirred public outrage over the U.S. government's mistreatment of Native Americans. Her book centered on seven tribes, among them: Cheyennes, Nez Perce, Sioux, Cherokees and detailed four massacres in particular. At her own expense, she sent a copy of the book to every member of Congress. She was born in Massachusetts in 1830 and became a lifelong friend of poet Emily Dickinson. After her first husband's death (and that of her two young sons in an accident), Jackson moved to Colorado Springs where she married William Sharpless Jackson. It was on a visit to Boston that she learned of the unjust treatment of Indians during a lecture and spent countless years crusading for public awareness. She founded the Boston Indian Citizenship Association. Her crusade lasted until her death in 1885 when even from her deathbed she wrote President Grover Cleveland a letter urging the Indian cause.
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WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE: Before 1917, the only states in the Union that granted the vote to women were in the West. Women were granted the right to vote in Wyoming Territory in 1869; Utah Territory in 1870; Washington Territory in 1883, state of Wyoming in 1890; Colorado in 1893 and in Utah in 1896. As a result: the first woman elected to Congress was Jeannette Rankin of Montana; first elected mayor was Mary Howard of Kanab, Utah; the first elected mayor of a major city was Bertha Landes of Seattle, Washington; the first elected governors were Miriam "Ma" Ferguson of Texas and Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming.
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For Additional information, click on the graphic ![](http://members.cox.net/dacky60/cowgirl3.gif)
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20th Century Warriors: Native American Participation in the United States Military
A Long Tradition Of Participation
American Indians have participated with distinction in United States military actions for more than 200 years. Their courage, determination, and fighting spirit were recognized by American military leaders as early as the 18th century.
I think they [Indians] can be made of excellent use, as scouts and light troops. --Gen. George Washington, 1778
Many tribes were involved in the War of 1812, and Indians fought for both sides as auxiliary troops in the Civil War. Scouting the enemy was recognized as a particular skill of the Native American soldier. In 1866, the U.S. Army established its Indian Scouts to exploit this aptitude. The Scouts were active in the American West in the late 1800s and early 1900s, accompanying Gen. John J. Pershing's expedition to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa in 1916. They were deactivated in 1947 when their last member retired from the Army in ceremonies at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Native Americans from Indian Territory were also recruited by Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and saw action in Cuba in the Spanish-American War in 1898. As the military entered the 20th century, American Indians had already made a substantial contribution through military service and were on the brink of playing an even larger role. (For the rest of the story, click on the graphic) |
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TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Unclassified; Your Opinion/Questions
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Cowboys really did sing cowboy songs to the cattle at night. Singing songs like "Old Dan Tucker," "Nearer My God To Thee," "In the Sweet By and By" or "The Texas Lullaby" soothed jittery cows, which helped reduce the likelihood of stampede. Thunder and lightning were the most common cause of stampede. The Prayer and song below tell of a "free" life entwined in nature and work.
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COWBOYS' PRAYER (Badger Clark, 1906) O Lord, I've never lived where churches grow: I've loved creation better as it stood That day you finished it, so long ago. And looked upon your work and called it good. Just let me live my life as I've begun! And give me work that's open to the sky; Make me a partner to the wind and sun And I won't ask a life that's soft and high. Make me as big and open as the plains; As honest as the horse between my knees; Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains; Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze. Just keep an eye on all that's done and said; Just right me sometime when I turn aside; And guide me on the long, dim tail ahead -- That stretches upward towards the Great Divide. |
O BURY ME From a poem by Edwin H. Chapin originally used as an elegy for burials at sea, adapted for Cowboy burials on the "Sea of Grass" "Oh, bury me not on the Lone Prairie;" These words came sad and mournfully From the pallid lips of a youth who lay On his dying bed at the close of day. "It matters not, so I've been told Where the body lies when the heart grows cold, But grant, oh grant, this wish to me; Bury me not on the Lone Prairie." "Bury me not on the Lone Prairie. Where coyotes howl and the wind blows free, In a narrow grave, six by three; Oh, Bury me not on the Lone Prairie." "Oh, Bury me not..." His voice failed there; We took no heed of his dying prayer. In a narrow grave, six by three, We buried him there on the Lone Prairie. And the Cowboys now, as they roam the Plains, They mark the spot where his bones were lain; Fling a handful of roses o'er his grave With a prayer to God his soul to save. |
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To: 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; Kathy in Alaska; radu; MoJo2001; tomkow6; Ragtime Cowgirl; SK1 Thurman; ..
Good Morning, everyone! I'll see ya all later, tonight!!!Have a wonderful Tuesday!
I want you to close your eyes and picture in your mind the soldier at Valley Forge, as he holds his musket in his bloody hands.
He stands barefoot in the snow, starved from lack of food, wounded from months of battle and emotionally scarred from the eternity away from his family surrounded by nothing but death and carnage of war.
He stands tough, with fire in his eyes and victory on his breath.
He looks at us now in anger and disgust and tells us this...
I gave you a birthright of freedom born in the Constitution and now your children graduate too illiterate to read it.
I fought in the snow barefoot to give you the freedom to vote and you stay at home because it rains.
I left my family destitute to give you the freedom of speech and you remain silent on critical issues, because it might be bad for business.
I orphaned my children to give you a government to serve you and it has stolen democracy from the people.
It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.
It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.
It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.
It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."
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2
posted on
04/08/2003 12:05:16 AM PDT
by
LaDivaLoca
(Hi Mom! Hi Dad!)
To: LaDivaLoca
Good morning all.
3
posted on
04/08/2003 12:32:31 AM PDT
by
Aeronaut
(Love the Lord with all your heart and mind.)
To: LaDivaLoca
To: LaDivaLoca
5
posted on
04/08/2003 1:27:19 AM PDT
by
Radix
(This tag line came rolling home.)
To: LaDivaLoca; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; Kathy in Alaska; tomkow6; JohnHuang2
Mornin', everybody !! Happy Tuesday !
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51 degrees as I post this, goin' for 60. A little cool spell . . .
Have a cup while you FReep ! |
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For those who prefer hot chocolate..... |
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6
posted on
04/08/2003 2:11:51 AM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(Bu-bye Saddam! / Check out my Freeper site !: http://home.attbi.com/~freeper/wsb/index.html)
To: MeeknMing
The good guys always wear a white hat, btw . . .
Rats ! My George W. Bush pic in the white hat won't post correctly right now. :O(
7
posted on
04/08/2003 2:14:20 AM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(Bu-bye Saddam! / Check out my Freeper site !: http://home.attbi.com/~freeper/wsb/index.html)
To: LaDivaLoca
Good Morning Diva, Good morning Troops!Diva, stopping by for a quick morning preview and Wow, this looks great. I shall read bits and pieces throughout the day. Off to work!
To: MeeknMing
Indeed they do Meekie!
To: LaDivaLoca; Kathy in Alaska; LindaSOG; *all
Canteen Blessing for the Troops
May your heart be calm your voice strong steady of foot radiant of smile confident and willing knowing you are safe Blessings upon you...
bentfeather
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To: LaDivaLoca; LindaSOG; radu; Radix; bentfeather; Severa; Bethbg79; southerngrit; snippy_about_it; ...
11
posted on
04/08/2003 4:28:41 AM PDT
by
tomkow6
(......................favorite t.v. programs?.............what's a t.v. anyway?....i have "voices"..)
To: LaDivaLoca; MeeknMing
"No, Daschle is only THIS tall"
12
posted on
04/08/2003 4:29:32 AM PDT
by
TxBec
(Tag! You're it!)
To: LaDivaLoca; LindaSOG; radu; Radix; bentfeather; Severa; Bethbg79; southerngrit; snippy_about_it; ...
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Good morning, Sam! Good morning, Canteen Crew! Good morning, EVERYBODY!
GOOD
MORNING
TROOPS!!
13
posted on
04/08/2003 4:30:14 AM PDT
by
tomkow6
(......................favorite t.v. programs?.............what's a t.v. anyway?....i have "voices"..)
To: LaDivaLoca; LindaSOG; radu; Radix; bentfeather; Severa; Bethbg79; southerngrit; snippy_about_it; ...
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Chicagoland Weather
Current Conditions:
As reported at KORD, O'Hare Arpt.. ..
Last update Mon 8 Apr 2003 4:55 AM CDT.
![](http://banners.wunderground.com/banner/gizmotimetempbig_both/language/www/US/IL/Chicago.gif)
Cloudy![](http://www.attbi.com/global-images/channels/weather/26.gif)
31°F Feels Like: 23°F
UV Index: 0 Minimal
Wind: From the NE at 8 mph
Humidity: 91 %
Visibility: unlimited
Barometer: 30.24 inches and Steady
Today's Forecast Tue 08 Apr 2003 03:46 AM CDT
AM Ice ![](http://www.attbi.com/global-images/channels/weather/10.gif)
Low 26°F
High 35°F
14
posted on
04/08/2003 4:31:39 AM PDT
by
tomkow6
(......................favorite t.v. programs?.............what's a t.v. anyway?....i have "voices"..)
To: LaDivaLoca; LindaSOG; radu; Radix; bentfeather; Severa; Bethbg79; southerngrit; snippy_about_it; ...
Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:
The driver of a tractor trailer lost control of his rig, plowed into an
empty tollbooth and smashed it to pieces. He climbed down from the
wreckage and looked around. Within a matter of minutes, another truck
pulled up and unloaded a crew of workers.
The men picked up each broken piece of the former tollbooth and spread
some kind of creamy substance on it, then they began fitting the pieces
together. In less than a half hour, they had the entire tollbooth
reconstructed and good as new.
"Astonishing!" the truck driver said to the crew chief. "What was that
white stuff you used to get all of the pieces together?"
The crew chief said, "Oh, that was tollgate booth paste."
15
posted on
04/08/2003 4:32:51 AM PDT
by
tomkow6
(......................favorite t.v. programs?.............what's a t.v. anyway?....i have "voices"..)
To: TxBec
LOL. Great caption!
To: LaDivaLoca; Kathy in Alaska; radu; MoJo2001; Ragtime Cowgirl; SK1 Thurman; SevenofNine; zip; ...
To: LaDivaLoca; Kathy in Alaska; radu; tomkow6; SAMWolf; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; Bethbg79; ...
Ah, perfect timing. This is what I just received via email:
Our President... A Cowboy They call my president a Cowboy... It once ticked me off when the Muslim detractors in the Middle East, or the socialist detractors in Europe, Hollywood and other cesspools of America called my President a cowboy, but the more I think about it, the more glad I am that he is. When I was a kid, cowboys were my heroes. Well, I mean the ones in the white hats, not the black hats, who were the bad guys. There was Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Hopalong Cassidy, Red Ryder, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, then later Marshall Matt Dillon, and others. Personally, I think Gene Autry could beat 'em all up, and then sing a song afterward to his girl friend. He was my favorite. What were common attributes of these legendary cowboys? Here are a few: 1. They were never looking for trouble. 2. But when it came, they faced it with courage. 3. They were always on the side of right. 4. They defended good people against bad people. 5. They had high morals. 6. They had good manners. 7. They were honest. 8. They spoke their minds and they spoke the truth, regardless of what people thought or "political correctness," which no one had ever heard of back then. 9. They were a beacon of integrity in the wild, wild West. 10. They were respected. When they walked into a saloon (where they usually drank only sarsaparilla), the place became quiet, and the bad guys kept their distance. 11. If in a gunfight, they could outdraw anyone. If in a fist fight, they could beat up anyone. 12. They always won. They always got their man. In victory, they rode off into the sunset. Those were the days when there was such a thing as right and wrong, something blurred in our modern world, and denied by many. Those were the days when women were respected and treated as ladies, because they acted like ladies. Now as a senior citizen, I still like cowboys. They represent something good -- something pure that America has been missing. Ronald Reagan was a "cowboy", who was brave, positive, and who gave us hope. He wore a "white hat". (Any good fan of the old western movies knows a man in a "white hat" is a "good guy".) To the consternation of his liberal critics, he had the courage to call a spade a spade and call the former Soviet Union what it was -- the evil empire. Liberals hated Ronald Reagan. They also hate President Bush because he distinguishes between good and evil. He calls a spade a spade, and after 9-11 called evil "evil," without mincing any words, to the shock of the liberal establishment. That's what cowboys do, you know. He also told the French to "put their cards on the table" (old West talk), which they did, exposing their cowardice and greed. The Arabs are wrong. In the old West, "might" did not make right. Right made right. Cowboys in white hats were always on the side of right, and that was their might. I am glad my President is a cowboy. He'll get his man. "Cowboys" do, you know... ![](http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/jpg/BushUnderHat.jpg)
18
posted on
04/08/2003 4:57:01 AM PDT
by
beachn4fun
(Hey everyone.....tomkow moved Camp-Rum-A-Muck.......)
To: TxBec
HEY TxBec.
19
posted on
04/08/2003 4:59:25 AM PDT
by
beachn4fun
(Hey everyone.....tomkow moved Camp-Rum-A-Muck.......)
To: tomkow6
Ok, here is my input to Humor Corner today:
Redneck Vasectomy
After having their 11th child, an Alabama couple decided that was enough, and they couldn't afford a larger bed. So the husband went to his veterinarian and told him that he and his cousin didn't want to have any more children. The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but that it was expensive. A less costly alternative, said the doctor, was to go home, get a cherry bomb (fireworks are legal in Alabama), light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to his ear and count to 10. The Alabamian said to the doctor, "I may not be the smartest man in the world, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in a beer can next to my ear is going to help me." "Trust me," said the doctor. So the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count: "1" "2" "3" "4" "5" At which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs, and resumed counting on his other hand. This procedure also works in Kentucky, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
Nah, she ain't my sister, she's my first cousin
20
posted on
04/08/2003 5:04:07 AM PDT
by
beachn4fun
(Nah, sh.......)
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