USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Canteen Goes West ~ April 8, 2003

April 8, 2003 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

USO CANTEEN GOES WEST

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.

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.

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.
  

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.

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.

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.

For additional information, click the graphic

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

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

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.

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.

For Additional information, click on the graphic

Click graphics for additional information about:

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)

[radu]

Glad you made it home safe and sound, Kathy. No moosies in the middle of the road tonight, I take it?

[LibertyLight]

Howdy...did not click on Previous Threads yet - actually just returned from a trip with the Honolulu Canteen trip! Wow - dancing Betty Boops, Pineapples, fruit and prayers!
God Bless on Troops!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good night and sleep well, fatima. God bless you good for taking such good care of Jim, and for helping to honor our troops.

[LibertyLight]

Hi ... I have been clicking on the 'Previous Threads' sign... nothing happens...is it supposed to take me to previous threads?
Buona Notte...time for LibertyLight to re-energize -
God Bless All and May the Power of God's Love and Light surround and protect our troops as they fight evil and free the enslaved people. GOD BLESS AMERICA

[Kathy in Alaska]

No moosies tonight, thank goodness. The ones at night are too dumb to look for cars. If they want to cross the road, they do. They don't even look both ways.

[radu]

Good night, Liberty Light. Sleep well.

Hmmmm, I don't know why the link didn't work. It worked for me. Just click on the "USO Canteen FR Style" in the left hand column of the FR home page and that will take you to the same page.

See you tomorrow.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good night and sleep well, LibertyLight. God bless you for joining in honoring our troops. See you tomorrow.

Oh, if you click on the "Previous Threads" button that Tonkin linked to, it brings up a list of the daily threads for the last month or so. Then you can click on any you would like to read. Lots of fun stuff there. Enjoy.

[radu]

Glad you didn't run into any moosies. The deer around here are pretty dumb about cars, too, but they aren't nearly as big as a moose. They do plenty of damage if you hit them, though. I can't imagine how much damage a moose will do. Yikes!

[Radix]

A reception desk in a sort of office building.MAN approaches desk.

RECEPTIONIST: Yes, sir?
MAN: I'd like to have an argument please.
REC: Certainly sir, have you been here before?
MAN: No, this is my first time.
REC: I see. Do you want to have the full argument, or were you thinking of taking a course?
MAN: Well, what would be the cost?
REC: Yes, it's one pound for a five-minute argument, but only eight pounds for a course of ten.
MAN: Well, I think it's probably best if I start with the one and see how it goes from there. Ok?
REC: Fine. I'll see who's free at the moment... Mr. Du-Bakey's free, but he's a little bit conciliatory.... Yes, try Mr. barnard- Room 12.
MAN: Thank you.

The MAN walks down the corridor. He opens door 12. There is a man at a desk.

MR.BARNARD: (shouting) What do you want?
MAN: Well I was told outside...
MRB: Don't give me that you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings!
MAN: What!
MRB: Shut your festering gob you tit! Your type makes me puke! You vacuous toffee-nosed malodorous pervert!!
MAN: Look! I came here for an argument.
MRB: (calmly) Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse.
MAN: Oh I see, that explains it.
MRB: No, you want room 12A next door.
MAN: I see- sorry. (exits)
MRB: Not at all. (as he goes) Stupid git.

Outside 12A. The MAN knocks on the door.

MR.VIBRATING: (from within) Come in.

The MAN enters the room. MR.VIBRATING is sitting at a desk.

MAN: Is this the right room for an argument?
MRV: I've told you once.
MAN: No you haven't.
MRV: Yes I have.
MAN: When?
MRV: Just now!
MAN: No you didn't.
MRV: Yes I did!
MAN: Didn't.
MRV: Did.
MAN: Didn't.
MRV: I'm telling you I did!
MAN: You did not!
MRV: I'm sorry, is this the five-minute argument, or the full half-hour?
MAN: Oh... Just the five-minute one.
MRV: Fine (makes note of it; the MAN sits down) thank you. Anyway I did.
MAN: You most certainly did not.
MRV: Now, let's get one thing quite clear. I most definately told you!
MAN: You did not.
MRV: Yes I did.
MAN: You did not.
MRV: Yes I did.
MAN: Didn't.
MRV: Yes I did.
MAN: Didn't.
MRV: Yes I did!!
MAN: Look this isn't an argument.
MRV: Yes it is.
MAN: No it isn't, it's just contradiction.
MRV: No it isn't.
MAN: Yes it is.
MRV: It is not.
MAN: It is. You just contradicted me.
MRV: No I didn't.
MAN: Ooh, you did!
MRV: No, no, no, no, no.
MAN: You did, just then.
MRV: No, nonsense!
MAN: Oh, look this is futile.
MRV: No it isn't.
MAN: I came here for a good argument.
MRV: No you didn't, you came here for an argument.
MAN: Well, an argument's not the same as contradiction.
MRV: It can be.
MAN: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements to establish a proposition.
MRV: No it isn't.
MAN: Yes it is. It isn't just contradiction.
MRV: Look, if I argue with you I must take up a contrary position.
MAN: But it isn't just saying 'No it isn't'.
MRV: Yes it is.
MAN: No it isn't, argument is an intellectual process... contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.
MRV: No it isn't.
MAN: Yes it is.
MRV: Not at all.
MAN: Now look!
MRV: (pressing the bell on his desk) Thank you, good morning.
MAN: What?
MRV: That's it. Good morning.
MAN: But I was just getting interested.
MRV: Sorry the five minutes is up.
MAN: That was never five minutes just now!
MRV: I'm afraid it was.
MAN: No it wasn't.
MRV: I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to argue anymore.
MAN: What!?
MRV: If you want me to go on arguing you'll have to pay for another five minutes.
MAN: But that was never five minutes just now... oh come on! (VIBRATING looks around as though MAN was not there) This is ridiculous.
MRV: I'm very sorry, but I told you I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid.
MAN: Oh. All right. (pays) There you are.
MRV: Thank you.
MAN: Well?
MRV: Well what?
MAN: That was never five minutes just now.
MRV: I told you I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid.
MAN: I've just paid.
MRV: No you didn't.
MAN: I did! I did! I did!
MRV: No you didn't.
MAN: Look I don't want to argue about that.
MRV: Well I'm very sorry but you didn't pay.
MAN: Aha! Well if I didn't pay, why are you arguing... got you!
MRV: No you haven't.
MAN: Yes I have... if you're arguing I must have paid.
MRV: Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time.
MAN: I've had enough of this.
MRV: No you haven't.
MAN: Oh shut up! (he leaves and sees a door marked complaints; he goes in) I want to complain.
COMPLAINT MAN (Eric Idle): You want to complain? Look at these shoes... I've only had them three weeks and the heels are worn right through.
MAN: No, I want to complain about-
COM: If you complain nothing happens. You might jst as well not bother. My back hurts and... (the MAN exits, walks down the corridor and enters a room.)
MAN: I want to complain. (SPREADERS, who is just inside the door hits MAN on the head with a mallet.) Ooh!
SPREADERS (Terry Jones): No, no, no, hold your head like this and then go 'waaagh'! Try it again. (he hits him again.)
MAN: Woh!
SPR: Better, better, but 'waaaagh'! 'Waaaagh'! Hold your hands here...
MAN: No!
SPR: Now. (hits him)
MAN: Waagh!
SPR: That's it! That's it! Good.
MAN: Stop hitting me!
SPR: What?
MAN: Stop hitting me.
SPR: Stop hitting you?
MAN: Yes.
SPR: What did you come in here for then?
MAN: I came here to complain.
SPR: Oh, I'm sorry, that's next door. It's being hit on the head lessons in here.
MAN: What a stupid concept.

DECTECTIVE INSPECTOR FOX enters.

FOX (Graham Chapman): Right. Hold it there.
MAN and SPR: What?
FOX: Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Inspector Fox of the Light Entertainment Police, Comedy Division, Special Flying Squad.
MAN and SPR: Flying Fox of the Yard?
FOX: Shut up! (he hits the MAN with a truncheon.)
MAN: Ooooh!
SPR: No, no, no! 'Waagh'!
FOX: And you! (he hits SPREADERS)
SPR: Waagh!
FOX: He's good! You could learn a thing or two from him. Right, now you two me old beauties, you are nicked.
MAN: What for?
FOX: I'm charging you two under Section 21 of the Strange Sketch Act.
MAN: The what?
FOX: You are hereby charged that you did wilfully take part in a strange sketch, that is, a skit, spoof or humorous vignette of an unconventional nature with intent to cause grievous mental confusion to the Great British Public. (to camera) Evening all.
SPR: It's a fair cop.
FOX: And you tosh. (he hits MAN)
MAN: WAAAGH!
FOX: That's excellent! Right, come on down the Yard.

Another Inspector arrives.

INSPECTOR (Eric Idle): Hold it. Hold it. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Inspector Thompson's Gazelle of the Progarmme Planning Police, Light Entertainment Division, Special Flying Squad.
FOX: Flying Thompson's Gazelle of the Yard?
INS: Shut up! (hits him)
FOX: Waaagh!
SPR: He's good.
INS: Shut up! (hits SPREADERS)
SPR: Oooh!
MAN: Rotton. (he gets hit) WAAGH!
INS: Good! Now, I'm arresting this entire show on three counts: one, acts of self-conscious behavior contrary to the 'Not in front of the children' Act; two, always saying 'It's so and so of the Yard' every time the fuzz arrives; and three, and this is the cruncher, offenses against the 'Getting out of sketches without using a proper punchline' Act; four, namely, simply ending every bleeding sketch by just having a policeman come in and... wait a minute.

Another policeman enters.

POLICEMAN (John Cleese): Hold it. (puts his hand on THOMPSON"S GAZELLE'S shoulder)
INS: It's a fair cop.

A large, hairy hand appears through the door and claps POLICEMAN on the shoulder.

CAPTION...

THE END

[Kathy in Alaska]

Moose have a bad habit of ending up going thru the front window. Their legs are so long and they have barrel bodies that roll right up and over the hood: next stop, the front seat.

[Kathy in Alaska]

I have a headache! LOL!

[radu]

These little beauties have the same bad habit of going through windshields. Being small, they go all the way in.

We have a herd of 10 on the farm now and I have no idea how many babies we'll have this spring. Three were born last year. We don't allow anyone to hunt them but may have to let a few be dealt with soon. They're very destructive to the crops....like BIG rabbits. But they're so beautiful, it's hard to think of letting them be hunted. aaaaaaaaagh! We enjoy watching them mosey around and the cats are fascinated by them.

[LibertyLight]

Thanks....all...
just returned from looking over USO Canteen History and saving some great photos...etc...reading prayers...on and on....it is like the ocean horizon - never ending. YOu guys come up with awesome graphics!!
God BLess OUR TROOPS.....MoonBoat Dreams...

[radu]

MONTY PYTHON RULZ!!!

[radu]

You're welcome!
Don't worry. We'll have you posting graphics yourself in no time! LOL!
Thank you for your support of our troops. Sleep well and we'll see you tomorrow.

[Radix]

Goodnight Troops.

 

I am here to support you.

 

I am a Veteran.

 

My son is a Soldier.

 

I only care about supporting you Troops.

 

Carry on!

 

 

[radu]

OMG!!! The Redneck Vasectomy is too funny...and probably not far from the truth. I know a few folks down here that I wouldn't put it past to try something like this. ROTFLOL!!
This went overseas to the ships.

[radu]

POO! The dreaded "red x". I know it must be good, too. You find some winners.

Good night, Radix. Sleep well. Thank you for your dedication to our troops. Thank you for your service in the past, and to your son who serves now. He's in my prayers daily.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Glad you are enjoying what you see. Our goal every day is to honor our troops; to let them know that they are supported 24/7/365. What happened to our Vietnam vets WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. As far as graphics go, everything I know, I learned here. Somebody will know the answer to any question. And learning to post graphics isn't hard, just trial and error, with help of course. Then all of a sudden the lessons will click and off you go!

[radu]

I gather you haven't been getting any sleep while this 'puter was messed up. *giggle* E-mails from overseas tonight had me distracted and I wasn't watching the clock closely enough, BUT the Canteen Curfew Cop is now on duty!!