The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Nathan Bedford Forrest

Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1865, private of Cavalry in 1861. As Senator Daniel has said, "what genius was in that wonderful man! He felt the field as Blind Tom touches the keys of the piano. 'War means killing," he said, " and the way to kill is to get there first with the most men." He was not taught at West Point, but he gave lessons to West Point. His career was quite as brilliant and devoted in its allegiance to duty in peace as it was in the conflict of arms.

Nathan Bedford Forrest and Mary Ann Montgomery
Hernando, Mississippi – August 1845

His father's family had moved from Virginia, before the Revolution, to North Carolina, where every member able to bear arms at that time fought in the cause of independence. His parents moved thence to Bedford county, Tennessee, where he was born July 13, 1821. In 1834 he moved with his father to Marshall county, Mississippi, where the latter soon died, leaving young Forrest to support the widow and family with no resources other than a small hill farm. He undertook this work with such devotion and energy, that while neglecting his own education he provided liberally for that of his brothers and sisters, and going into business at Memphis became able to purchase a large plantation, and at the outbreak of the war was one of the wealthiest planters in Tennessee.

Ghost Column
Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest
Fort Donelson, Tennessee
February 16, 1862

Soon after entering the Confederate service June 14, 1861, as a private in White's mounted rifles, he obtained authority to raise a regiment of cavalry, the equipment of which he purchased at his private expense at Louisville. With great ingenuity and daring he brought these supplies to Memphis after eluding the Federal authorities and defeating a body of troops with a force of seventy-five Kentucky Confederates he had called to his aid. With his regiment he joined the forces at Fort Donelson, and after distinguishing himself in the conflict with the Federals, led his men through the enemy's lines when surrender was determined upon.

Joining Albert Sidney Johnston, he was in the heat of the fight at Shiloh, and though wounded refused to leave the field until the safety of the army was assured. Subsequently, the Federals having occupied middle Tennessee, Colonel Forrest made a series of brilliant cavalry movements into that territory that made his name famous throughout America.

Fight at Fallen Timbers
Col. N.B. Forrest and Capt. John Hunt Morgan
Shiloh
April 8, 1862

Promoted Brigadier-General July 21, 1862, he hung upon Buell's flank during the movement into Kentucky, protected Bragg's retreat, and while the army was in winter quarters actively covered the Federal front at Nashville, continually doing damage to the enemy.

In 1863, in an effort to break Rosecrans' communications, he entered Tennessee with less than one thousand men, captured McMinnville, and surprised the garrison of 2,000 at Murfreesboro, capturing all the survivors of the fight, including-General Crittenden. General Streight, having started on a cavalry raid to Rome, Ga., was pursued and caught up with, and so impressed by Forrest's demand for surrender, that he turned over his entire command, which was in such disproportion to their captors that Forrest had to press into service all the citizens in reach to assist in forming an adequate guard.

In the great battle of Chickamauga he commanded the cavalry of the right wing, and was distinguished in the fight, but he was so dissatisfied with the incompleteness of this Confederate victory that he tendered his resignation. Instead of its acceptance he was promoted major-general and assigned to the command of all cavalry in north Mississippi and west Tennessee, and the guardianship of the granary of the Confederacy. With a small force he entered west Tennessee and recruited several thousand hardy volunteers, which, with some veteran troops, he welded into the invincible body known as" Forrest's Cavalry."

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest
C.S.A.

In February, 1864, General Smith with seven thousand mounted men was sent against him in co-operation with Sherman, but was utterly routed at Okolona and Prairie Mound. In return Forrest rode through Tennessee to the Ohio river, and captured Fort Pillow, Union City and other posts with their garrisons. In June 8,300 Federals under General Sturgis entered Mississippi. Forrest had only 3,200 men, but at Brice's Cross Roads he struck the straggling Federal column at its head, crushed that, and then in detail routed successive brigades until Sturgis had suffered one of the most humiliating defeats of the war, losing all his trains and a third of his men. Gen. A. J. Smith renewed the invasion with 14,000 men, but retreated after a desperate battle at Harrisburg, near Tupelo. Reorganizing his beaten forces Smith again advanced with reinforcements from Memphis, and Forrest was compelled to foil the enemy by taking half his force and making a sixty-hour ride to Memphis, the daring entry of which compelled Smith's rapid retreat. Then for a time General Forrest made havoc with the Federal transportation, garrisons and depots in Tennessee, exploits crowned by the capture and destruction of six million dollars' worth of the enemy's supplies and a gunboat fleet, at Johnsonville,--"a feat of arms," wrote Sherman, "which I must confess excited my admiration."

After the fall of Atlanta he joined Hood at Florence, and fought at Franklin and Nashville. As commander of the rear guard of the retreating Confederate army, Forrest displayed his most heroic qualities, with hardly a parallel but the famous deeds of Marshal Ney while covering Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.

In February, 1865, he was promoted Lieutenant-General, and given the duty of guarding the frontier from Decatur, Ala., to the Mississippi. With a few hundred hastily gathered men he made his last fight at Selma, and on May 9 he laid down his arms. It is stated that he was 179 times under fire in the four years, and he said, "My provost marshal's books will show that I have taken 31,000 prisoners."

General Nathan Bedford Forrest's victory at the Battle of Johnsonville (3 Nov 1864) is the only time in military history a cavalry unit defeated a naval force.

After the war he was president of the Selma, Marion and Memphis railroad until 1874. He died at Memphis, October 29, 1877. By European authority he is pronounced the most magnificent cavalry officer that America has produced.

"In his first fight, northeast(sic) of Bowling Green, the forty year old Forrest improvised a double envelopment, combined it with a frontal assault-classic maneuvers which he could not identify by name and of which he had most likely never heard..."
Shelby Foote, The Civil War

Uneducated but not illiterate, Nathan Bedford Forrest was a natural tactician who earned the praise of his enemies. Both Grant and Sherman feared this man who entered the Confederate forces a private and left a general. The stories of him are legend.

With Fort Donelson supposedly surrounded he stormed from a meeting where the commanding officers were preparing to surrender and led his cavalry and a number of infantry out of the area without a shot being fired at him.
At Pittsburg Landing(Shiloh) he charged and routed a line of Union skirmishers by himself in defense of the retreating rebel army.
In Murfreesboro, Tennessee he freed a garrison jail of locals imprisoned, according to the Union commander, for attacks on patrols near their farms. Advised to leave after the successful escape the colonel replied, "I did not come here to make half a job of it, I want them all" and proceeded to demand unconditional surrender of the entire garrison. The Union commanders had more men, guns and an entrenched position but surrendered anyway, unaware that Forrest was bluffing.

Generals Nathan Bedford Forrest, Patrick R. Cleburne, Hiram B. Granbury
November 29, 1864

During Bragg's retreat through Tennessee he used Forrest repeatedly as his rear guard. Later, protecting the Confederate right during the battle of Chickamauga he won the accolades of Bragg's staff when his men dismounted and attacked as infantry, pressuring the Federals to retreat from their position near the creek to one more in line with other Union troops at the LaFayette Road.

Immediately after the battle it was Forrest who reported the Federals were in full retreat to Chattanooga and the Army of Tennessee should attack, sound advice that Bragg ignored. This widened a rift between Forrest and his commander. Bragg, who was having problems with most of his subordinates after Chickamauga ordered Forrest to "turn his troops over" and report to Gen. Joseph Wheeler, fully aware that Forrest had vowed never to fight with Wheeler again. An angry Forrest confronted Bragg over the orders, threatening the Commander of the Army of Tennessee with bodily harm. Bragg never reported the incident because he realized that Forrest was too important to the cause to be jailed for insubordination. Forrest was assigned to an area further west.

During the War Between the States, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry made several return visits to Forrest’s Boyhood Home in Chapel Hill, TN, to visit, hold BBQ’s, and recruit. This scene depicts one of those memorable occasions.

His engagement of Federal troops at Brice's Crossroads on June 10, 1864 is considered by many the perfect battle. Union Major General Samuel D. Sturgis, with 8,000 men was marching south into northern Mississippi to block the cavalry from attacking Sherman's supply lines. When Sturgis ran into Forrest's dismounted horsemen he assembled a perimeter around the crossroads. Forrest flanked him on both sides, the same double envelopment that worked so well near Bowling Green. The bluecoats ran. A bridge over the Tishomingo Creek became a roadblock for the retreating army and ever-vigilant for such opportunity, the Confederate general pounced. Sturgis would later write "What was confusion became chaos..." as the rebels pounded the fleeing blues. With less than three thousand men Forrest had destroyed an enemy more than twice the manpower.

Forrest at Shiloh

Assisting Confederate General John B. Hood in the abortive Nashville Campaign, Forrest could see the end was near for the Confederacy.

After the Civil War, Forrest lent his name to a group of enforcers of the Democratic Party known as the Ku Klux Klan. Disenchanted with the activities of the group he ordered it to disband in 1869, which did not happen. The Klan and Forrest went separate ways but the stigma of his days as slave trader, the Fort Pillow incident and his brief association with the Klan would forever raise questions about one of America's greatest tactical minds.

Additional Sources:

ngeorgia.com/people
Confederate Military History, Volume I
www.mortkunstler.com
www.archives.state.al.us
nbforrest.com
www.allenscreations.com
www.tennessee-scv.org
www.pattonsgallery.com
www.fourwindsstudio.com
cavalry.km.ru/ reports
www.generalsandbrevets.com
www.markscollection.com
xroads.virginia.edu
www.militaryprints.com

Forrest's Final Address To His Troops

Confederate Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, Northern And Central Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, And West Florida, From March 16 To June 30, 1865.--#8
O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XLIX/2 [S# 104]

HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY CORPS,
Gainesville, Ala., May 9, 1865.

SOLDIERS: By an agreement made between Lieutenant-General Taylor, commanding the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, and Major-General Canby, commanding U.S. forces, the troops of this department have been surrendered. I do not think it proper or necessary at this time to refer to the causes which have reduced us to this extremity, nor is it now a matter of material consequence to us how such results were brought about. That we are beaten is a self-evident fact, and any further resistance on our part would be justly regarded as the very height of folly and rashness. The armies of Generals Lee and Johnston having surrendered, you are the last of all the troops of the C. S. Army east of the Mississippi River to lay down your arms. The cause for which you have so long and so manfully struggled, and for which you have braved dangers, endured privations and sufferings, and made so many sacrifices, is to-day hopeless. The Government which we sought to establish and perpetuate is at an end. Reason dictates and humanity demands that no more blood be shed. Fully realizing and feeling that such is the case, it is your duty and mine to lay down our arms, submit to the "powers that be," and to aid in restoring peace and establishing law and order throughout the land. The terms upon which you were surrendered are favorable, and should be satisfactory and acceptable to all. They manifest a spirit of magnanimity and liberality on the part of the Federal authorities which should be met on our part by a faithful compliance with all the stipulations and conditions therein expressed. As your commander, I sincerely hope that every officer and soldier of my command will cheerfully obey the orders given and carry out in good faith all the terms of the cartel.

Those who neglect the terms and refuse to be paroled may assuredly expect when arrested to be sent North and imprisoned. Let those who are absent from their commands, from whatever cause, report at once to this place or to Jackson, Miss.; or, if too remote from either, to the nearest U.S. post or garrison for parole. Civil war, such as you have just passed through, naturally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred, and revenge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all such feelings, and so far as in our power to do so to cultivate friendly feelings toward those with whom we have so long contested and heretofore so widely but honestly differed. Neighborhood feuds, personal animosities, and private differences should be blotted out, and when you return home a manly, straightforward course of conduct will secure the respect even of your enemies. Whatever your responsibilities may be to Government, to society, or to individuals, meet them like men. The attempt made to establish a separate and independent confederation has failed, but the consciousness of having done your duty faithfully and to the end will in some measure repay for the hardships you have undergone. In bidding you farewell, rest assured that you carry with you my best wishes for your future welfare and happiness. Without in any way referring to the merits of the cause in which we have been engaged, your courage and determination as exhibited on many hard-fought fields has elicited the respect and admiration of friend and foe. And I now cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the officers and men of my command, whose zeal, fidelity, and unflinching bravery have been the great source of my past success in arms. I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been good soldiers, you can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the Government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and will be magnanimous.

-- N. B. FORREST,
Lieutenant-General

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004

The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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Good Monday Morning Everyone.

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Good Night Snippy.

I am deeply impressed by Nathan Bedford Forrest.

He got the very best out of his men.

His report on the Fort Donelson affair is classic. (Donelson is, rightly, I believe, seen as an affair of great importance by serious scholars. Which I am not!)

His opinion of Bragg is my opinion.

I believe Forrest to be the greatest Anglo fighting man since Robert the Bruce.

Morning Iris7.

He was one of the South's best. One of the truely natural leaders.

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!!!

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Good morning Snippy.

Good morning!

Listen to Our National Anthem- Whitney Houston

Good morning, we had a wonderful time camping this weekend, the weather was perfect. The bitting bugs were the only problem. OFF DOESN'T WORK!

Coffee's on

Amazing - Forrest joined the the fight as a private when he was 40 years old and outfitted his own cavalry.

Some quotes from the wizard of the saddle:

"I did all in my power to break up the government, but I have found it a useless undertaking, and am now resolved to stand by the government as earnestly and as honestly as I fought." - NBF, after the war
"I went into the army worth a million and a half dollars and came out a beggar."-NBF
"I came out of the war pretty well wrecked...completely used up, shot all to pieces, crippled up...a beggar."-NBF
"This is my country. I am hard at work upon my plantation and carefully observing the obligations of my parole. If the Federal government does not regard it they will be sorry. I shall not go away."-Forrest, responding to a suggestion that he should leave the country to avoid being arrested and tried for treason.
"We have already lost all but honor by the last war and I must say, that in order to be men, we must protect our honor at all hazards and we must also protect our homes and families. -Nathan Bedford Forrest
"We were born on the same soil, breathe the same air, live on the same land, and why should we not be brothers and sisters?" - NBF, addressing the African-American community of Memphis at the city fairgrounds, July 5, 1875.
"I want our country quiet once more, amd I want to see our people united and working together harmoniously."-NBF
"Abolish the Loyal League and the Ku Klux Klan; let us come together and stand together."-Nathan Bedford Forrest, calling for and end to civil unrest.

These quotes came from the booklet May I Quote You, General Forrest edited by Randall Bedwell, published by Cumberland House, 1997.

Forrest Monument inscription, unveiled 1905

"Those hoof beats die not upon fame's crimson sod,
But will ring through her song and her story;
He fought like a Titan and struck like a god,
And his dust is our ashes of glory."
(Written by Mrs. Virginia Frazer Boyle)

To put some perspective on General Nathan Bedford Forrest

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38beb39216af.htm

One thing I have desired of the Lord, . . . that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. —Psalm 27:4

The many tasks we face each day
Can burden and oppress,
But spending time with God each day
Can bring relief from stress.

To keep your life in balance, lean on the Lord.

Like all the rebels, Forrest was a traitor.

Walt

I had an great-uncle who explained to me when I was 15 and he was 95 years old, that his parents said they named him Forrest after the Confederate General, but that his grandfather told him he'd been named after a Revolutionary War officer who served under Washington. His grandfather was a Yankee, his parents were Southerners! Uncle Forrest claimed both men as namesakes! LOL

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on May 24:
0015 Julius Caesar Germanicus Roman commandant
1544 William Gilbert Essex England, physicist (researcher into magnetism)
1605 Nikon [Nikita Minin] patriarch of Russian-orthodox church
1650 John Churchill 1st duke of Marlborough, English general strategist
1738 George III king of Great-Britain (1760-1820)
1743 Jean-Paul Marat France, revolutionist
1753 Oliver Cromwell Burlington NJ, black who served with Washington
1794 William Whewell British philosopher (History of Inductive Science)
1803 Charles Bonaparte Corsican/French prince of Canino/Musignano
1810 Abraham Geiger theologian/author/leader of Reform Judaism
1811 Charles Clark Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1877
1816 Emanuel Leutze US, painter (Washington Crossing the Delaware)
1816 Robert Seaman Granger (Union Army Brevet Major General, died in 1894)
1819 Victoria Alexandrine London England, Queen of Great Britain (1837-1901)
1854 Louis Mountbatten Admiral (WWI)
1866 Armando Frid Argentina, live until July 28 1990 (124 years)
1870 Jan Christian Smuts proponent of Commonwealth & League of Nations
1891 William F Albright US old testament scholar/archaeologist
1893 W H Walter Baade German/US astronomer (Andromeda)
1895 Samuel I Newhouse US millionaire publisher (Parade, Vogue, Glamour)
1898 Kathleen Hale British children book writer/illustrator (Orlando)
1905 Mikhail Sholokhov USSR, writer (And Quiet Flows the Don, Nobel 1965)
1909 Wilbur Mills (Representative-D-AR
1910 Margers Zarins composer
1918 Coleman A Young civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit)
1934 Jane Byrne (Mayor-D-Chicago)
1938 Tommy Chong Edmonton, Alberta, comedian/actor (Cheech & Chong)
1941 Bob Dylan [Zimmerman] Duluth MN, singer/songwriter (Rainy Day Women #12 & 35)
1943 Frank Oz Muppeteer (Grover, Yoda)
1943 Gary Burghoff Bristol CT, actor (Radar-MASH)
1944 Patti LaBelle [Holt] Philadelphia PA, singer (LaBelle-Lady Marmalade)
1945 Priscilla Presley Brooklyn NY, actress (Jenna-Dallas, Naked Gun)
1951 Ronald A Parise Warren OH, PhD/astronaut (STS 35, STS 67)
1955 Rosanne Cash Memphis TN, country singer (I Wonder)
1971 Troy Barnett NFL defensive end (New England Patriots)
1982 Baby Boy Samane South Africa, son of Christina, heaviest known viable baby (22 lbs 8 oz/10.2 kg)

Deaths which occurred on May 24:
1153 David I King of Scotland, dies
1543 Nicolas Copernicus astronomer, dies in Poland
1851 Stanko Vraz [Jakob Frass] Slavic poet (Grammatica), dies at 40
1861 Elmer Ellsworth US warrior (Chicago Zouaves), shot to death at 23
1861 James T Jackson US landlord (doodde EE Ellsworth), shot dead)
1879 William Lloyd Garrison abolitionist (Liberator), dies at 73
1941 Lancelot Holland British Vice-Admiral ((WWII/Hood), dies in battle
1959 John Foster Dulles US Secretary of State (1953-59), dies at 71
1963 Elmore James blues guitarist, dies at 45 of a heart attack
1974 Duke Ellington composer/bandleader/pianist, dies of cancer at 75
1981 George Jessel US comedian/America's toastmaster general (Diary of Young Comic), dies from a heart attack at 83
1986 Stephen D Thorne Lieutenant Commander USN/astronaut, dies in a plane crash at 33
1991 Gene Clark folk-rocker (Byrds-Tambourine Man), dies at 49
1993 Milton O Thompson astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15), dies at 66
1994 Yehuda Mor-Mirkovsky Israeli kibbutz-founder, dies at 96
1995 Harold Wilson British PM (1964-70, 74-76), dies of cancer at 79
1995 Mike Pyne jazz Pianist, dies at 54
1996 Alexander Langsdorf physicist, dies at 83
1996 Jack McCarthy kiddie show host (Popeye), dies of cancer at 81
1997 Edward Mulhare actor (Ghost & Mrs Muir), dies of lung cancer at 74

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 RUCKER EMMETT JR.---WICHITA FALLS TX.
1968 SHANKS JAMES LEE---OYSTER POINT NY.
1969 MANSKE CHARLES J.---EL CAMPO TX.
1969 MONTEZ ANASTACIO---PRESIDIO TX.
1972 BEELER CARROLL R.---FRISCO TX.
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1972 HENN JOHN R. JR.---SUTTON MA.

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

On this day...
1086 Abbott Dauferio/Desiderius becomes Pope Victor III
1153 Malcolm IV becomes king of Scotland
1487 Imposter Lambert Simnel ceremony crowned as King Edward VI of Dublin
1626 Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from Indians for trinkets, valued at $24
1658 Battle of Dunes (Spanish-French War) fought
1689 English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants
1726 People's revolt due to increase in gin/brandy tax
1738 Methodist Church is established
1809 Dartmoor Prison opens to house French prisoners of war
1815 George Evans discovers Lachlan River, Australia
1818 General Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola FL
1822 At Battle of Pichincha, Bolívar secures independence of Quito from Spain
1824 Pope Leo XII proclaims a universal jubilee
1829 Pope Pius VIII issues his program for the pontificate
1830 "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is written
1830 1st passenger rail service in US (Baltimore & Elliots Mill, Maryland)
1844 Samual FB Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" (1st telegraph message)
1846 General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey in Mexican War
1854 Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston
1854 Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, 1st Black college in US forms by Prebyts
1856 Pottawatomie Massacre took place in Kansas
1861 Alexandria VA occupied by Federal troops
1861 Major General Benjamin Butler declares slaves "contraband of war"
1862 Westminster Bridge across Thames opens
1866 Berkeley CA named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne)
1883 Brooklyn Bridge opened by President Arthur & Governor Cleveland
1884 Anti-Monopoly party & Greenback Party form People's Party in the US
1890 G. Train & S. Wall circle world in record 67 days, Tacoma-Tacoma
1899 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)
1902 Cleveland's Bill Bradley is 1st American League-er to hit a homerun in 4 consecutive games
1902 Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
1915 Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations
1916 Conscription begins in Britain
1916 French driven out of Fort Douaumont after 500 killed or injured
1916 Last British-Indian contract workers arrive in Suriname
1916 US pilot William Thaw shoots down a German Fokker
1921 1st parliament for Northern Ireland elected
1921 British Legion is formed
1928 Record 12 future Hall of Famers take the field, as Yankees beat A's 9-7
1930 1st woman to fly from England to Australia solo, lands (Amy Johnson)
1930 Babe Ruth homers in both games of a doubleheader, giving him 9 in one week
1931 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad
1936 Dutch bishops forbid membership of Nazi party
1940 Dutch army demobilizes
1940 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio
1940 German tanks reach Atrecht France
1941 Bismarck sinks British battle cruiser HMS Hood, 1,416 die 3 survive
1943 Admiral Dönitz stops U-boat in Atlantic Ocean
1943 U-441 shoots Sunderland seaplane down over Gulf of Biskaje
1944 Enver Hoxha becomes head of Albania anti fascists
1944 Icelandic voters severe all ties with Denmark
1951 Racial segregation in Washington DC restaurants ruled illegal
1951 Willie Mays begins playing for the New York Giants
1953 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Doctor Mellifluus
1954 1st rocket attains 150 mile (241 km) altitude, White Sands NM
1954 Dr Peter Murray Marshall becomes 1st black to head an AMA unit
1954 German airline Lufthansa forms
1954 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour!
1957 Anti American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
1958 President Batista opens offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion
1958 UP & International News Service merge into United Press International
1959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills PA)
1959 Empire Day renamed Commonwealth Day in England
1961 27 Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson MS
1961 Explorer (12) fails to reach Earth orbit
1962 M Scott Carpenter aboard Aurora 7 launched into earth orbit
1963 1st Lockheed A-12 to crash, CIA pilot Ken Collins ejects safely
1964 Longest homerun (471') in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium (Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota)
1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
1967 AFL grants a franchise to the Cincinnati Bengals
1968 Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession
1968 President De Gaulle proposes referendum & students set fire to Paris bourse
1969 Beatles' "Get Back" single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
1974 Dean Martin Show, last airs on NBC-TV
1975 Soyuz 18B carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 4
1976 1st commercial SST flight to North America (Concorde to Washington DC)
1976 Muhammad Ali TKOs Richard Dunn in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1977 USSR President Podgorny resigns
1979 Billy Martin issues a public apology to Reno sportswriter Ray Hagar
1980 Iran rejects a call to the World Court to release US hostages
1981 Bobby Unser wins, loses, & wins a controversial Indianapolis 500
1983 Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students
1984 Detroit Tigers win American League record 17th straight road game
1986 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British PM to visit Israel
1986 Reginald Huffstetler treds water for 985 hours
1987 Al Unser Sr, 47, wins his 4th Indianapolis 500
1988 John Moschitta set record for fast talking: 586 words per minute
1988 Porntip Nakhirunkanok, 19, of Thailand, crowned 37th Miss Universe
1989 "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" premieres
1989 French war criminal Paul Touvier arrested in monastery in Nice
1989 New York Yankee pitcher Lee Gutterman sets record of pitching 30-2/3 innings before giving up his 1st run of the season
1993 Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil war
1993 Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers & 5 citizens in Turkey
1993 The archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, was shot to death at Guadalajara's airport when his car was caught in a shootout between rival drug cartels.
1997 Telstar-5 Proton Launch, Successful
1998 Indianapolis 500 race; Eddie Cheever Jr. wins with an average speed of 145.155 mph
2000 Israeli troops pulled out unilaterally from south Lebanon, ending 18 years of occupation.
2000 The state of Maryland dismissed its wiretapping case against Linda Tripp after a judge disallowed most of Monica Lewinsky's testimony.
2001 Democrats gained control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Vermont Sen.(Jumpin) James Jeffords abandoned the Republican Party and declared himself an independent.

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

ancient Rome : Quando Rex Comitiavit; a. d. ix Kal. Junias
Bahamas, Belize, Gibraltar, Lesotho, Turk & Caicos : Commonwealth Day
Bulgaria : Education Day/Enlightenment & Culture Day
Ecuador : Battle of Pichincha (1822)
England : Victoria Day/Empire Day (1819)
France : La Fete des Saintes Maries
Alchemy Day
Kirtland Warbler Day.
National Strawberry Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, help of Christians
Orthodox : Feast of SS Cyril & Methodius, evangelizers
Lutheran : Commemoration of Copernicus, teacher
Lutheran : Commemoration of Euler, teacher
Anglican : Commemoration of Jackson Kemper, 1st missionary bishop in US
Anglican : Commemoration of 1st Book of Common Prayer
Feast of SS. Donatian and Rogatian, martyrs.

Religious History
1738 English founder of Methodism John Wesley underwent his famous religious conversion at Aldersgate Chapel in London. Later, in his journal, Wesley reflected under this date: 'I felt my heart strangely warmed....'
1752 According to a note inscribed in his Bible, Robert Robinson, 16, was "born again" ("renatus") under the preaching of English revivalist George Whitefield. Robinson later authored the hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing."
1892 Birth of Earl B. Marlatt, American religious educator and hymnologist. In 1926 Marlatt penned the hymn, "`Are Ye Able?' Said the Master," to be sung in a consecration service at Boston University's School of Religion.
1930 Pioneer linguist Frank C. Laubach, while serving as a Congregational missionary, wrote in a letter: 'As one makes new discoveries about his friends by being with them, so one discovers the "individuality" of God if one entertains him continuously.'
1950 In Boston, during its annual gathering, the Northern Baptist Convention formally changed its name to the American Baptist Convention. Twenty-two years later, in 1972, the denomination changed its name once more, and became the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.

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

Thought for the day :
"When all else fails, read the directions."

Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Deer Kill 17,000

Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
B.F. Skinner:
Because the external influences which had pervaded its sensorium from birth had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own free will.

Dumb Laws...
Topeka, Kansas:
Servers are forbidden to serve wine in teacups.

What an employee Really Means...
"I'M EXTREMELY PROFESSIONAL:"
I carry a Day-Timer.