Carrington was gaining a reputation as an alarmist, if not a coward. He had been a lawyer with business clients in Columbus, Ohio, before raising the 18th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. A skilled administrator, he had held a series of staff jobs but had never fought with the regiment. After the war, he had continued to pursue a military career. His strengths were design and engineering, ideal for constructing Fort Phil Kearny but not for training soldiers or commanding them in battle. To the dismay of some of his officer corps, Carrington took a defensive position at Fort Phil Kearny, justified in his eyes by the shortage of troops and equipment. Still, his orders were to build two forts along the Bozeman Trail, and that's just what he did. On August 12, 1866, construction began on Fort C.F. Smith, some 90 miles northwest of Fort Phil Kearny, near the Bighorn River in Montana Territory.

"The Fetterman Fight" by J. K. Ralston. Courtesy of FPK/BTA

Carrington's headquarters remained at Fort Phil Kearny, where Indian warriors continued to disrupt the military's daily business outside the stockaded fort. Into this uneasy scene in early November came reinforcements, including Lieutenant Horatio S. Bingham's Company C of the 2nd Cavalry and infantry Captains James Powell and William J. Fetterman. Unlike Carrington, the 31-year-old Fetterman was a born fighter. During the Civil War, in fact, he had proved himself a leader in the 18th Infantry, the regiment raised by Carrington. For his wartime exploits in Georgia, Fetterman had been breveted lieutenant colonel. He believed in himself and in traditional military strategy. The enemy who ran away was a coward, and the commander who took a defensive position was weak.

Fort Phil Kearny newcomers Fetterman and Powell, along with Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, pushed for Carrington to seize the offensive. Fetterman advised the colonel to break the Indians' virtual siege and exterminate them. Fetterman had little respect for the fighting ability of Indians, openly arguing that "a company of regulars could whip a thousand, and a regiment could whip the whole array of hostile tribes." Carrington felt pressure from his own officers and also from his commanding officer. General Cooke not only wanted Carrington to strike the Indians in their camps but also threatened a general court-martial over reports missing due to delayed mail delivery. That there was a strong faction against Carrington is evident in a letter Fetterman wrote to a Dr. Charles Terry on November 26, 1866 (and which was published in 1991 in The Annals of Wyoming, edited by historian John D. McDermott): "We are afflicted with an incompetent commanding officer viz. Carrington, but shall be relieved of him in the re-organization, he going to the 18th and we becoming the 27th Infantry."

With most of Fort Phil Kearny completed by early December, Carrington was at last ready to do something besides build. On the morning of December 6, the wood train was attacked, and the lookouts on Pilot Hill signaled the fort. Carrington sent Captain Fetterman, Lieutenant Bingham and about 30 cavalrymen to relieve the train and drive the Indians north across Big Piney Creek. Carrington, Lieutenant Grummond and about 25 mounted infantrymen also rode out from the fort. They intended to circle around Lodge Trail Ridge and cut off the retreating Indians in the Peno Valley.

Things went well at first. Fetterman took the cavalrymen straight to the wood train, "forced" the attacking Indians to withdraw, and drove the attackers toward Carrington and the mounted infantrymen. But Carrington and Grummond had not yet arrived at Peno Creek. Bingham's cavalrymen became strung out during the pursuit, and then many of them panicked when the Indians turned on them. Bingham galloped off for some reason--either to rally his troops or to chase a few warriors who were actually being used as decoys. In any case, the senior cavalry officer was soon cut off from the other cavalrymen and Fetterman and was then felled by arrows. Carrington became engaged in a separate skirmish north of Lodge Trail Ridge before finally meeting Fetterman on the Bozeman Trail in the Peno Valley. Grummond, like Bingham, had apparently gone his own way during the skirmishing, but he was able to return in one piece after slashing his way through the Indians with his saber. Only Bingham and a sergeant died in the December 6 action; five soldiers were wounded.

The Indians, however, were no doubt encouraged by what happened that day. Years later, some of them indicated that the December 6 skirmish had convinced them that they could overpower and destroy any force sent out from the fort. It may also have convinced them that the decoy tactic--nothing new and not usually effective against experienced soldiers--just might work at Fort Phil Kearny. Colonel Carrington had also learned something from the narrow escape. He sensed that the original foray against the wood train had been a decoy, and to avoid ambushes in the future, he gave orders that his men were not to chase after Indian raiders.

The Indians tried the old decoy trick again on December 19. They attacked the wood train, and when a relief force headed by Captain Powell rode out from the fort, they withdrew, hoping to lure the soldiers into an ambush on the other side of Lodge Trail Ridge. Powell, however, followed orders and did not pursue the attackers beyond the ridge. The warriors shrugged off the failure and tried once more just two days later. A medicine man had made them especially confident. Called upon to foretell the results of the upcoming battle, he had had four visions of increasing numbers of dead soldiers. The fourth vision had satisfied the warriors--100 soldiers would die.

On December 21, 1866, a wood train left the fort at 10 a.m. and was attacked by a decoy party less than an hour later. At first, Carrington again gave Captain Powell command of the relief detail, but when Captain Fetterman claimed seniority (based on his brevet rank), Carrington allowed Fetterman to assume leadership. Fetterman supposedly had once boasted that if given 80 men he "could ride through the Sioux Nation." Well, on this day, the brash captain got his 80 men--49 infantrymen on foot, Lieutenant Grummond and 27 cavalrymen, post quartermaster Captain Frederick H. Brown and two civilians. Two days earlier, Powell had shown restraint and had avoided casualties. But on the 21st, Fetterman was in command and eager to fight, which played right into the hands of the Indians. Grummond still wanted to fight, too, even though he had almost been killed on the 6th and had a bride of a few months in the fort. And nobody wanted to fight more than Brown, who had delayed a transfer East because he wanted to take care of Red Cloud personally.

As many as 2,000 Indians (mostly Sioux, but some Cheyennes and Arapahos as well) were waiting in ambush on the far side of Lodge Trail Ridge, not far from where Fetterman and friends had skirmished with warriors back on December 6. Red Cloud was most likely among the ambush force, but the man behind the plan was said to be High-Back-Bone of the Minneconjou Sioux. Crazy Horse, a young warrior who 10 years later would participate in the Battles of the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn, led a second decoy party. Crazy Horse and his men rode close enough to the fort to draw artillery fire after Fetterman had left with the infantrymen to rescue the wood train. A short time later, Grummond and the cavalrymen rode out to join Fetterman.

Numerous witnesses verified that Carrington had commanded Fetterman not to pursue the Indians across the ridge. His orders were to "support the wood train. Relieve it and report to me. Do not engage or pursue Indians at its expense. Under no circumstances pursue over Lodge Trail Ridge." He apparently had repeated the orders three times. Instead of advancing directly along the wood road to relieve the train, Fetterman led his force behind the Sullivant Hills, perhaps intending to cross over the hills and attack the raiders from the rear. Whether or not that was his intent, it never happened. Indian scouts observed his movements and notified the decoy party that was attacking the train. The raiders then withdrew from the wood train (which would make it back to the fort safely) and went up to Lodge Trail Ridge. Decoys standing along the crest yelled and gestured to the soldiers. Fetterman and the infantrymen headed for the ridge.

Grummond and the cavalrymen caught up with Fetterman, and the whole command followed the Bozeman Trail up Lodge Trail Ridge. Once on the ridge top, the soldiers saw only a handful of Indians below, near Peno Creek. One of them may have been Crazy Horse, on foot and pretending to have a lame horse in an attempt to entice the soldiers down a long, narrow slope (this northern spur of Lodge Trail Ridge would become known as Massacre Ridge) and into the Indians' trap. It was about noon, and the command was some four miles from the fort. Whether Fetterman gave the order or Grummond was acting on his own will never be known, but the cavalrymen charged down the slope ahead of the foot soldiers, who then followed. Carrington's order had been disobeyed, and a heavy price would be paid.

Just as the troopers reached the Peno Valley, an enormous force of Indians rose from the high grass. Arrows flew, along with some bullets, as the ambushers unleashed their wrath. Grummond was probably one of the first to die. He reportedly went down swinging his saber and may have even severed the head of one Indian. The two civilians, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, and a few of the troopers dismounted and formed an effective rear-guard action--for a while. Most of the cavalrymen retreated partway back toward the infantry, then dismounted and made a stand. Fetterman and the foot soldiers, unable to advance or retreat to the fort (there were also Indians behind them), formed a defensive circle farther up the slope. That meant there were three small, separate groups of soldiers trying to hold off a vastly superior force that shot an estimated 40,000 arrows during the fight. Wheatley and Fisher had 16-shot Henry repeating rifles and thus were better armed than the soldiers. The cavalrymen had seven-shot Spencer repeating carbines, but the foot soldiers had to make their "last stand" with obsolete Springfield muzzleloaders.

Captain Ten Eyck, who was sent to the relief of Captain Fetterman.

The soldiers below probably all died first. Most likely in the last stage of the fight, Fetterman and the infantrymen fired from their tight little circle near the top of the slope, where rocks provided some cover, until their ammunition ran out. Indian participants said later that they had moved in so close that some of the arrows they unleashed struck their fellow warriors on the other side of the circle. In the end, the Indians rushed right up to the last soldiers and slashed at them with war clubs, lances and knives. Before that final assault, Fetterman and Brown apparently shot each other in the temple to avoid capture and slower, more painful deaths. Their bodies, according to most accounts, were found lying next to each other with powder burns on their heads. In The Annals of Wyoming, however, John McDermott argues that Fetterman died another way: "The Assistant Surgeon Samuel M. Horton, who examined the bodies before burial, told a special commission that Fetterman's throat had been cut crosswise with a knife....American Horse (a cousin of Red Cloud) later confirmed it, saying he had knocked the officer from his horse with a war club and finished him with a knife." In any case, Fetterman and all 80 men in his command were dead. The Fetterman Fight had lasted about 40 minutes.

The victorious Indians removed their dead from the battlefield, and it is not known exactly how many casualties they suffered, but at least 60 warriors probably died on the battlefield and many others may have died later from their wounds. Fetterman's men killed more Indians on December 21, 1866, according to one Cheyenne warrior's estimate, than Custer's men did a decade later at the Little Bighorn. After the Fetterman Fight, the Indians stuck around for a victory celebration, during which they scalped and mutilated the dead soldiers. Ears, noses, fingers, hands and other body parts were severed. Eyes were gouged out, brains bashed out and entrails torn from the bodies and placed on rocks. The Indians made sure that these enemy soldiers would remain helpless in the spirit world.

John "Portuguese" Phillips arriving at Fort Laramie with news of the Fetterman disaster, 1866. Painting by Phoebe Blair.
Photo courtesy of Fort Laramie Historical Society.

After hearing the gunfire coming from behind Lodge Trail Ridge, Carrington had sent a relief party, headed by Captain Tenodor Ten Eyck, from the fort to assist Fetterman. But by the time Ten Eyck was on the crest of Lodge Trail Ridge, some three miles from the fort, the shooting was over. He saw the Indians in the valley below, and they saw his soldiers. Some of the Indians jeered at the troopers, daring them to come down and fight. But Ten Eyck knew better than to leave his position. He waited until the Indians had gone and then ventured down toward the Peno Valley. The relief party took 49 of the mutilated bodies back to the fort that night.

At Fort Phil Kearny the situation became more tense than ever before. The fighting force had been reduced by one-third, and the Indians would surely strike again. As soon as he heard the news about Fetterman, Carrington sent word to Fort Laramie, some 240 miles away, with civilian John "Portugee" Phillips, who had volunteered to carry the colonel's message. The next day, Carrington wanted to send a detail out to recover the rest of the bodies. Some officers complained. They felt that sending out a small party would not be safe for the men who went, while sending out a large party would leave the fort too vulnerable. "If we cannot rescue our dead, as the Indians always do at whatever risk," Carrington said, "how can you send details out for any purpose?" Carrington led the detail himself. Nothing went wrong, but after the bodies were brought back to the fort, a blizzard struck, and the garrison's fear of attack grew with the snowfall, which piled nearly as high as the stockade.

Portugee Phillips Arrives at Old Bedlam, Fort Laramie December 25, 1866

Despite the blizzard and sub-zero temperatures, Phillips made it to Fort Laramie in four days. He arrived, looking like a huge apparition in layers of clothing and a buffalo overcoat, at 11 o'clock Christmas night during a full-dress garrison ball. The next day, General Cooke got the word in Omaha, Neb., and Cooke put the blame for the military disaster squarely on Carrington's shoulders. He replaced Carrington as commander of Fort Phil Kearny with Fort Reno's Lt. Col. Henry W. Wessels, who headed the relief column. Fort Phil Kearny now received more men, ammunition and other supplies--things Carrington had been asking for all along. General Ulysses S. Grant did see to it that Cooke himself was replaced on January 9, 1867.

Still, Carrington received the bulk of the initial blame. Reassigned to Fort Caspar (present-day site of Casper, Wyo.), he departed Fort Phil Kearny--with the women and children and a 60-soldier escort--on January 25, during another major blizzard. Several people in his party lost fingers and toes from frostbite. The newspapers mainly blamed Carrington for the "Fetterman Massacre" while portraying Fetterman as a victim, and that view helped shape public opinion on the disaster. (Fort Fetterman, built in eastern Wyoming near the intersection of the Bozeman Trail and the Platte Road, was named for the late captain in 1867.) One writer asserted that the fight took place at the gates of the fort, with victims knocking and screaming for help while those inside looked on, afraid to fire or to open the gates. Margaret Carrington complained about newspaper articles written by "actual observers" or "special correspondents" who could not possibly have been on the scene. "As there was no one to contradict, and no one who knew the truth, a large margin was left for the play of the fancy...," she wrote. "The people were of course greatly shocked by the tragedy, and were certain that somebody was terribly to blame. The Indians were supposed to be so quiet and peaceful that nobody asked whether the massacre was one of a series."

Portugee John Phillips
Rode 236 miles during winter blizzard to Ft. Laramie to report the Fetterman Massacre.

Within the War Department, Carrington made a handy scapegoat, while over at Indian Affairs, Commissioner Lewis V. Bogy issued statements absolving the "friendly Indians"; the Indians were rendered desperate by starvation, he insisted. Carrington came out considerably better when a presidentially appointed commission under the direction of the Interior Department made its report on July 8, 1867. The commission confirmed that several times Carrington had repeated his order that Fetterman's relief party not give chase over Lodge Trail Ridge. The report concluded that "the commanding officer of the district was furnished no more troopers or supplies for this state of war than had been provided and furnished him for a state of profound peace." After retiring from the service on December 15, 1870, not quite four years after the Fetterman Fight, Carrington devoted at least some of his time to clearing his tarnished reputation. And he had a lot of time left; he did not die until 1912. Margaret Carrington wrote Absaraka, Home of the Crows in 1868 but died just a few years later. Henry Carrington remarried on April 3, 1871; his second wife was Frances Grummond, the widow of Lieutenant George Washington Grummond.

After the Fetterman Fight, the Sioux and other Indians in the Powder River country continued their harassment and attacks, both at Fort Phil Kearny and at Fort C.F. Smith. The Indians were driven off by soldiers at both the Wagon Box Fight (near Fort Phil Kearny) and the Hayfield Fight (near Fort C.F. Smith) in August 1867, but they were accomplishing their goal--only heavily armed military trains could move on the Bozeman Trail. The next year, Washington officials ordered the three forts guarding the Bozeman Trail to be abandoned. By early August 1868, the last soldiers had left Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C.F. Smith and the Indians had burned them both to the ground. Red Cloud finally signed a peace treaty on November 6 at Fort Laramie.

Soldiers taking up bodies from the Fort Cemetery, including the Fetterman Fight dead, in 1888, for reburial at the Custer Battlefield Cemetery.
FPK/BTA collection. Photographer unknown.

Thus ended the Red Cloud War (or Bozeman Trail War), and Red Cloud would never take to the warpath again (he lived until 1909). In the Fort Laramie Treaty, the government conceded that the Powder River country was an "unceded Indian territory" and that whites could not pass through it without the Indians' consent. Not that such a concession could stem the tide of white men seeking riches in the gold fields or emigrant families desiring to own their own homesteads. Still, for Red Cloud and other defiant chiefs, it was one small victory--one that could be attributed at least in part to their much bloodier victory in the military engagement known to whites as the Fetterman Fight or the Fetterman Massacre but known to the Sioux as the Battle of the Hundred Slain.

Additional Sources:

www.philkearny.vcn.com
www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com
www.pbs.org
gallery.unl.edu
www.csulb.edu/projects
www.scsc.k12.ar.us
www.stringofbeads.com
community.webshots.com
www.wygisc.uwyo.edu
www.americanindian.net
www-cgsc.army.mil
www.smithsonianmag.si.edu
www.philkearny.vcn.com
www.neweraworld.com

'With eighty men, I can ride through the entire Sioux nation'

Captain William Fetterman

Here are the recommended holiday mailing dates for military mail this year:

For military mail addressed TO APO and FPO addresses, the mailing dates are:

Parcel Post - November 13
Space Available - November 27
Parcel Airlift - December 4
Priority Mail, First Class cards and letters - Mailing date is December 11 to all locations
- EXCEPT for locations starting with ZIP 093. For all locations starting with ZIP 093 the mailing date is December 6.
Express Mail - December 20 to locations where Express Mail service is available. Check with your local post office to determine which APO/FPO addresses can receive Express Mail. Note: This service is not available to ships.

------

For military mail FROM APO and FPO addresses, the mailing dates are:

Space Available - November 20
Parcel Airlift - December 4
Priority Mail, First Class cards and letters - December 11
Express Mail - December 18 from APO/FPO addresses where Express Mail can be accepted. Check with your local military post office to determine if they can accept Express Mail. Note: This service is not available from ships.

Thanks for the information StayAtHomeMother

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004

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

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!

Good Wednesday Morning Everyone.

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Fetterman Fight site today

Good Night, Snippy.

Years back I read an account of the Fetterman affair which said that the men in the Fetterman defensive position, the uphill one, pretty much all killed themselves in panic at the thought of being captured. The wounded were all shot, and then the healthy. About thirty men in all, or so. The Indians thought the mass suicide very funny, and cowardly, said the article. The article went on to say that a sizeable quantity of ammunition was captured by the indians, as well as the weapons. This account of the fight was based on Indian interviews in the 1880s.

History can be a slippery affair.

Maybe in one of the magazines?

Days of the Wild West Bump for the Freeper Foxhole.

Work day 3 out of 8 is under way, yippeee

Hi manna

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

Today is Norton update day. Be sure to download them when they arrive.

Good morning..going to rain again here today.

img src="http://www.tropicsunrise.com/coffee1.jpg">

This possible, but I have a lot of problems with the idea of the two officers each shooting each other in the temple. That would take some pretty good timing.

You don't think the Indians were confused and thought they were fighting the Japanese by any chance do you. (Just had to say that).

December 1, 2004

Dead Ducks Don't Flutter

Read: Romans 7:14-25

What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. —Romans 7:15

Bible In One Year: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3

Many years ago, a wealthy man went duck hunting with a hired hand named Sam. They took a horse and carriage, and along the way a rim came off one of the wheels. As Sam hammered it back on, he accidentally hit his finger. Instantly he let go with some bad words. He quickly fell to his knees, asking God's forgiveness. "Lord, it's so difficult at times to live the Christian life," he prayed.

"Sam," said the man, "I know you're a Christian, but tell me why you struggle so. I'm an atheist, and I don't have problems like that."

Sam didn't know what to say. Just then two ducks flew overhead. The man raised his gun and two shots rang out. "Leave the dead one and go after that wounded bird!" he shouted. Sam pointed at the duck that was fluttering desperately to escape and said, "I've got an answer for you now, Boss. You said that my Christianity isn't any good because I have to struggle so. Well, I'm the wounded duck, and I struggle to get away from the devil. But Boss, you're the dead duck!"

That insight fits Paul's description of his Christian experience in Romans 7:14-25. Struggle is one evidence of God's work in our lives. Forgiveness of sin is available, so don't despair. Remember, dead ducks don't flutter. —Dennis De Haan

Struggle, yes, it's part of living,
Nothing's gained on beds of ease;
But when our heart is set on Jesus,
Struggle drives us to our knees. —D. De Haan

If Jesus lives within us, sin need not overwhelm us.

Good morning everyone.

As far as being shot in the temple, this is usually self inflicted, wouldn't you say? A Doc once told me that the temple shot is a bad one, often carries off the eyes and does a severe lobotomy. What fun.

Could be those lads had been together too long swapping blood curdling Indian torture stories. Lots of old "save the last bullet for yourself" stories from those days.

Could be the Indian's version of the story got exaggerated with time, could be they were just enjoying messing with the Anglo writing them down. Sort of like the Tahitian girls feeding Margaret Mead their line of BS, but with real hostility, real cold hatred attached.

One thing for sure, that Fetterman disobeyed direct orders and got his command killed to the last man. Don't know of a worse thing you can say about a man. And what he was doing was like something an excited three year old would do. No thinking for that boy!!

There is a book named "The Last Scalp Dance", after reading it, yes, I would shoot myself instead of being captured by the Indians. They were just as busy killing each other as we were killing them. They were a very cruel culture and the whole thing was just basically a clash of cultures. If they had had superior weapons and a superior military society, things would have gone the other way. It always happens regardless of what is right or wrong.

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

C-46 at Point Magu NAS

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on December 01:
1566 Philip earl of Nassau-Dillenburg, Governor of Fort Gorinchem/Nijmegen
1634 John-Erasmus Quellinus [Quellien] Flemish painter
1671 Francesco Stradivari Italian violin maker/son of Antonius
1671 John Keill mathematician
1726 Eggert Olafsson Icelandic writer
1726 Oliver Wolcott US judge/signer (Declaration of Independence)
1729 Giuseppe Sarti composer
1743 Martin H Klaproth German chemist (uranium)
1779 Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov composer
1823 Ernest Reyer composer
1826 William Mahone Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
1832 Archibald Gracie Jr Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1835 Micah Jenkins Brigadier-General (Led Hoods Division at Chickamauga), died in 1864
1844 Alexandra Danish princess/Queen of Great Britain/Ireland
1850 Peter Erasmus Lange-Muller composer
1873 Charles JM Ruys de Beerenbrouck premier of Netherlands (1918-25, 29-33)
1878 Arthur B Spingarn US NAACP-chairman (1940-65)
1886 Rex Stout mystery writer (Nero Wolf)
1898 Cyril Ritchard Sydney Australia, actor (Peter Pan, Hans Brinker)
1899 Robert Welch found John Birch Society
1902 Morris "Red" Badgro Washington, NFL hall of famer (Yankees, Giants, Dodgers)
1904 W A "Tony" Boyle United Mine Workers president
1905 Charles Finney US, author (Circus of Dr Lao)
1911 Walter Alston baseball manager (Dodgers)
1911 Wim van Nuland [Willem C Möhlmann] Dutch priest/writer (Doorstep)
1912 Minoru Yamasaki architect (World Trade Center, New York)
1912 Terence Beckles pianist/teacher
1913 Mary Martin Weatherford TX, actress (Peter Pan) Larry Hagman's mom
1917 William Tracy Pittsburgh PA, actor (To the Shores of Tripoli)
1918 Kirby Laing English contractor/multi-millionaire
1919 Anne Cox Chambers Dayton OH, US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81)
1919 Ike Isaacs guitarist
1921 Ralph Manza San Francisco CA, actor (Banacek, Mama Malone, Newhart)
1922 Paul Picerni New York NY, actor (Agent Lee Hobson-Untouchables)
1923 Stansfield Turner CIA director
1926 Keith Michell Adelaide Australia, actor (6 Wives of Henry VIII)
1926 Robert Symonds Bristow OK, actor (Robert E Lee-Blue & Gray)
1929 Dick Shawn Buffalo NY, actor (Producers, Maid to Order, Angel)
1932 Robert T Herres Denver CO, USAF/astronaut
1934 Billy Paul Philadelphia PA, singer (Me & Mrs Jones)
1935 Woody Allen [Allen Stuart Konigsberg] Brooklyn (Zelig Annie Hall)
1935 Lou Rawls Chicago IL, vocalist (Dean Martin's Golddigers, Natural Man)
1938 Sandy Nelson Santa Monica CA, 50s rocker (Teen Beat, All Night Long)
1939 Lee [Buck] Trevino Dallas TX, PGA golfer (US Open 1968, 71)
1940 Richard Pryor Illinois, comedian/actor (Lady Sings the Blues, Stir Crazy)
1942 Peter Kalikow Queens NY, real estate developer/publisher (New York Post)
1942 John Crowley US, sci-fi author (Deep, Beasts, Novelty)
1944 John Densmore Los Angeles CA, drummer (Doors-Light My Fire)
1945 Bette Midler Aiea HI, singer (Wind Beneath My Wings, Do You Want to Dance?)/actress (Beaches, First Wives Club)
1946 Gilbert O'Sullivan Ireland, singer (Alone Again Naturally)
1946 Ho-Jun Li Korea People's Republic, rifle (Olympics-gold-1972)
1949 Pablo Escobar Gaviria Colombian drug baron
1950 Richard Keith Lafayette LA, actor (Little Ricky-I Love Lucy)
1951 Alexander Panayotov Aleksandrov Bulgaria, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-5)
1951 Eric Bloom rock vocalist/guitarist (Blue Oyster Cult)
1951 Jaco Pastorius US jazz guitarist (Weather Report-Word of Mouth)
1958 Charlene Tilton San Diego CA, actress (Lucy Ewing-Dallas)
1966 Steve Walsh NFL quarterback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints)
1967 Reggie Sanders Florence SC, outfielder (Cincinnati Reds)
1968 Anders Holmertz Swedendish free style swimmer (world record 400 meter)
1970 Todd Steussie NFL guard/tackle (Minnesota Vikings)
1972 Andre Royal linebacker (Carolina Panthers)
1975 Alya Rohali Miss Universe-Indonesia (1996)
1976 Konerak Sinthasomphone Milwaukee WI, Jeffrey Dahmer's victim

Deaths which occurred on December 01:
0660 Eligius/Eloy French bishop of Tournay-Noyon/saint, dies
1135 Henry I Beauclerc king of England (1st king that could read), dies
1374 Magnus Eriksson king of Norway/Sweden, dies
1417 Walraven I van Brederode viceroy of Holland, dies
1455 Lorenzo Ghiberti Italian sculptor, dies at 77
1515 Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba [el Gran Capitán] Spanish general, dies at 62
1521 Leo X [Giovanni de' Medici] Italian Pope (1513-21), dies at 45
1580 Edmund Campion English jesuit, hanged at 42
1635 Melchior Teschner composer, dies at 51
1797 Oliver Wolcott US judge/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 71
1808 Anton Fischer composer, dies at 30
1825 Aleksandr I P Romanov czar of Russia (1801-25), dies at 47
1842 Philip Spencer 1st US naval officer condemned for mutiny, hanged
1892 Joseph Lippens Belgian lieutenant in Congo, murdered
1893 Eduard Franck composer, dies at 76
1916 Charles E Vicomte de Foucauld French explorer, dies at 58
1934 Sergei M Kirov Josef Stalin's collaborator, assassinated in Leningrad
1935 Bernard Schmidt inventor (Schmidt camera), dies
1947 Aleister Edward S Crowley British occultist, dies at 72
1952 Victor E Orlando Italian premier (1917-19), dies at 92
1971 Arthur B Springarn US NAACP chairman (1940-65), dies at 93
1972 Antonio Segni Italian PM/President (1955-57, 59-60, 62-64), dies at 81
1973 David Ben-Gurion founding father of Israel, dies in Tel Aviv at 87
1974 Lajos Zilahy Hungarian/US author (Angry Angel), dies at 83
1974 Stephen Gill Spottswood US bishop/chairman (NAACP), dies at 77
1980 Sam Levene actor (Purple Heart, Designing Women), dies at 75
1987 Donn Fulton Eisele Colonel USAF/astronaut, dies of a heart attack at 57
1987 James Arthur Baldwin writer (Another Country), dies at 63
1989 Alvin Ailey US choreographer (Blues Suite, Revelations), dies at 58
1991 George Joseph Stigler US economist (Nobel 1982), dies at 80
1994 Lionel Stander actor (Max-Hart to Hart), dies at 86
1996 Barbak Karmal President of Afghanistan , dies at 67
1996 Irving Gordon songwriter, dies at 81
1997 Denis Gerald Barrington artist, dies at 67
1997 Stephane Grappelli French jazz violinist, dies at 89

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 MC CORMICK JOHN V.---BURT MI.
[REMAINS RETURNED 04/06/88]
1965 REITMANN THOMAS EDWARD---RED WING MN.
1966 NICOTERA CARL
[01/73 PRG SAYS DIC 12/05/66]
1969 ROGERS BILLIE LEE---GARY IN.

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

On this day...
0772 Pope Adrian I elected
1167 Northern Italian towns form Lombardi League
1566 Spanish king Philip II names Fernando Alvarez, duke of Alva
1626 Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh tyrannical Governor of Jerusalem, driven out
1640 Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule
1641 Massachusetts becomes 1st colony to give statutory recognition to slavery
1653 An athlete from Croydon is reported to have run 20 miles from St Albans to London in less than 90 minutes
1656 Germany promises Poland aid against Sweden
1742 Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia
1750 1st American school to offer manual training courses opens, Maryland
1783 Charles & M N Roberts ascend 2,000' in a hydrogen balloon
1804 Emperor Napoleon marries Joséphine of Martinique
1821 Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) proclaims independence from Spain
1822 Dom Pedro crowned emperor of Brazil
1822 Franz Liszts (11) debut as pianist Isabella Colbran
1824 House of Representatives begins to end election deadlock between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Harris Crawford & Henry Clay - Adams eventually declared president
1831 Erie Canal closes for entire month due to cold weather
1835 Hans Christian Andersen published his 1st book of fairy tales
1843 1st chartered mutual life insurance company opens
1861 The U.S. gunboat Penguin seizes the Confederate blockade runner Albion carrying supplies worth almost $100,000
1864 Raid at Stoneman: Knoxville TN to Saltville VA
1864 Skirmish at Millen Brutal GA
1868 John D Rockefeller begins anti oil war
1878 1st White House telephone installed
1881 Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp are exonerated in court for their action in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz.
1887 Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print: "A Study In Scarlet"
1887 Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao
1891 James Naismith creates the game of basketball
1896 1st certified public accountants receive certificates (New York)
1900 South African President Paul Kruger visits Flanders
1903 "The Great Train Robbery", the 1st Western film, released
1906 Cinema Omnia Pathe, world's 1st cinema, opens (Paris)
1906 Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt (Captain of Köpenick) sentenced to 4 years
1909 1st Christmas Club payment made, to Carlisle Trust Company, Pennsylvania
1909 1st Israeli kibbutz founded, Deganya Alef
1913 1st drive-up gasoline station opens (Pittsburgh)
1913 Continuous moving assembly line introduced by Ford (car every 2 38)
1917 Boys Town founded by Father Edward Flanagan, west of Omaha NE
1918 Danish parliament passed an act to grant Iceland independence
1918 Serbian-Croatian-Slovic kingdom proclaimed in Belgrade
1919 AA Milne's "Mr Pim Passes By" premieres in Manchester
1919 Lady Nancy Astor sworn-in as 1st female member of British Parliament
1921 1st US helium-filled dirigible makes 1st flight
1921 US Post Office establishes philatelic agency
1922 Polish state chief marshal Jozef Pilsudski, resigns
1924 Calles becomes President of México
1924 George/Ira Gershwin's musical "Lady Be Good" premieres in New York NY
1925 Treaty of Locarno signed
1928 Railroad museum opens in Utrecht Netherlands

1929 Game of BINGO invented by Edwin S Lowe

1930 NHL drops 20 minute slashing-about-the-head penalty
1930 Ruth Nichols becomes 1st woman pilot to cross the continent
1931 Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint
1933 Rudolf Hess & Earnest Röhm become a minister in Hitler government
1935 Austria has world's 1st Day of Postage Stamp
1936 Bell Labs tests coaxial cable for TV use
1936 EW Brundin & FF Lyon obtain patent on soilless culture of plants
1936 2nd Heisman Trophy Award: Larry Kelley, Yale (E)
1937 Japan recognizes Franco government
1938 School bus & train collide in Salt Lake City UT
1939 SS-Führer Himmler begins deportation of Polish Jews
1941 US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes
1941 British cruiser Devonshire sinks German sub Python
1941 Japanese emperor Hirohito signs declaration of war
1941 Last day of first-class cricket in Australia for 4 years
1942 Gasoline rationed in US
1943 FDR, Churchill & Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day)
1944 Béla Bartòk's Concerto for orchestra, premieres
1944 Mail routing resumes in free South Netherlands
1944 Prokofjev's 8th Piano sonata, premieres
1948 Arabic Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan, King of Palestine
1948 Piet Roozenburg becomes world champion checker player
1949 WKTV TV channel 2 in Utica NY (NBC) begins broadcasting
1951 Golden Gate Bridge closes due to high winds
1951 17th Heisman Trophy Award: Dick Kazmaier, Princeton (HB)
1951 Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd" premieres in London
1954 Yankees send Miller, Segrist, Leppert & 2 minors to Orioles for Blayzka, Kryhoski, Johnson, Fridley & Del Guercio (completing 18 player deal)

1955 Rosa Parks (black) arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus

1956 Alain Mimoun wins 13th Olympic marathon (2:25:00.0)
1956 Frank Robinson (National League) & Luis Aparicio (American League) voted Rookie of the Year
1956 Indonesian Vice-President Mohammed Hatta, resigns
1957 Sam Cooke and Buddy Holly and Crickets debut on Ed Sullivan Show
1958 Our Lady of Angels School burns, killing 92 students & 3 nuns (Chicago)
1958 "Flower Drum Song" opens at St James Theater NYC for 602 performances
1959 12 nations sign a treaty for scientific peaceful use of Antarctica
1959 25th Heisman Trophy Award: Billy Cannon, LSU (HB)
1959 The 1st color photograph of Earth received from outer space
1960 Patrice Lumumba caught in the Congo
1964 Houston Colt .45s change name to Astros
1964 Martin Luther King speaks to J Edgar Hoover about his slander campaign
1965 Airlift of refugees from Cuba to US began
1965 South Africa government says children of white fathers are white
1966 Georg Kiesinger elected West German chancellor
1967 Queen Elizabeth inaugurates 98-inch (249-cm) Isaac Newton telescope
1967 Wilt Chamberlain set NBA record of 22 free throws misses
1968 Pirate Radio Modern (259) (England) begins transmitting
1968 Burt Bacharach/Hal David's musical "Promises Promises" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 1281 performances
1968 Gonzalo Barrios elected President of Venezuela
1968 Peggy Wilson wins LPGA Hollywood Lakes Golf Open
1969 US government holds its 1st draft lottery since WWII
1970 Independent People's Republic of South Yemen becomes the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
1970 NHL takes control of the Pittsburgh Penguins
1970 Luis Echeverria Alvarez sworn in as President of México
1971 John & Yoko release "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" in US
1971 Cubs release Ernie Banks & sign him as a coach
1971 Galt MacDermot/John Guare's "2 Gentlemen of Verona" opens at St James Theater NYC for 613 performances
1973 Australia grants self-government to Papua New Guinea
1973 Jack Nicklaus becomes 1st golfer to earn $2 million in a year
1973 Stan Stasiak beats Pedro Morales in Philadelphia, to become WWF champion
1974 Los Angeles Skid Row slasher kills first of 8
1974 Boeing 727 crashes in Upperville VA, 92 die
1974 Jacqueline Hansen runs female world record marathon (2:43:54.5)
1975 US President Gerald Ford visits China People's Republic
1976 Angola admitted to UN
1976 Bangladesh General Ziaur Rahman declares himself president
1976 Sex Pistols using profanity on TV, gets them branded as "rotten punks"
1978 President Carter more than doubles national park system size
1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 US Justice Department sues Yonkers citing racial discrimination
1980 46th Heisman Trophy Award: George Rogers, South Carolina (RB)
1981 Yugoslavic DC-9 crashes into mountain at Corsica, 174 killed
1982 Miguel de la Madrid inaugurated as President of México
1982 Michael Jackson releases "Thriller"
1983 Rita Lavelle, former head of EPA, convicted of perjury
1984 50th Heisman Trophy Award: Doug Flutie, Boston College (QB)
1984 France performs nuclear test
1984 Greg Page KOs Gerrie Coetzee in 8 for WBA heavyweight boxing title
1985 STS 61-C vehicle moves to launch pad
1985 Noraly Beyer becomes Netherlands' 1st black TV newscaster
1987 Digging begins to link England & France under the English Channel
1988 596 dead after cyclone hits Bangladesh, half a million homeless
1988 Benazir Bhutto named 1st female PM of a Moslem country (Pakistan)
1988 NBC bids record $401 million to capture rights to 1992 Barcelona Olympics
1988 New York Islanders greatest shutout loss (8-0) vs St Louis Blues
1989 East Germany drops the communist monopoly from its constitution
1989 Mark Langston signs record $3.2 million per year California Angels contract
1989 USSR President Mikhail S Gorbachev meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
1990 British & French workers meet in English Channel's tunnel (Chunnel)
1990 Iraq accepts Bush's offer for talks
1990 Lithuania, Estonia & Latvia hold their 1st joint session
1990 New York Knicks Patrick Ewing scores 50 points beating Charlotte 113-96
1990 56th Heisman Trophy Award: Ty Detmer, Brigham Young (QB)
1990 Hissene Habré of Chad flees to Cameroon
1991 AIDS awareness day (or keep your pants on day)

1991 Ukranian people vote for independence

1991 US 75th manned space mission "STS 44" Atlantis 10 lands
1991 Colorado party wins Paraguay parliamentary election
1991 Nursultan Nazarbayev sworn in as President of Kazakhstan
1992 2 C-141B Starlifters collide in Montana & crash, 13 die
1992 Amy Fisher sentenced 5-15 years for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco
1994 Ernesto Zedillo innaugrated as President of México
1994 PTL leader Jim Bakker released from jail
1996 Colin Montgomerie of Scotland wins Million Dollar Challenge, the richest first prize in golf - $1 million
1997 GS Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, attacks his coach P J Carlesimo
1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Davenport IA on KORB 93.5 FM

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

Azores, Portugal : Independence Day (1640)
Cape Verde : Restoration Day (1968)
Central African Republic : Republic Day (1958)
Iceland : Independence Day (1918)
Liberia : Matilda Newport Day (1822)
Portuguese Guiana : Mocidale Day/Youth Day
Romania : National Day
US : Nebbish Pride Day
US : Christmas Lights Day
Hi Neighbor Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Eligius, bishop/goldsmith
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Edmund Champion, English Jesuit, martyr
Anglican : Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, deacon

Religious History
1145 Pope Eugene III sent a papal bull to the French King, Louis VII, proclaiming the Second Crusade. Led by Louis and Emperor Conrad III from 1147_49, the crusade failed to accomplish its goal.
1764 The French government abolished the Jesuit order in that country. (The Society of Jesus was completely suppressed by Clement XIV in 1767, but was restored again by Pius VII in 1814.)
1798 Birth of Albert Barnes, American Presbyterian clergyman and Bible commentator. An active supporter of revivalism, Christian education and social reform, Barnes is best remembered today for his "Notes on the Old Testament" and "Notes on the New Testament."
1909 Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Bob Jones College (University), in Panama City, FL. This Protestant Fundamentalist college later relocated its campus to Greenville, SC.
1950 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'Unwillingness to accept God's "way of escape" from temptation frightens me what a rebel yet resides within.'

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

Thought for the day :
"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act."

Signs You've Bought a Cheap Car...
Your tinted windows are also known as Hefty Garbage Bags

Ads gone wrong...
Wanted: 50 girls for stripping machine operators in factory

Dictionary of the Absurd...
quantify
To dress like Twiggy

Man's Answers to Every Question a Woman ever asks
WHY DO MEN SAY "I LOVE YOU' WHEN THEY HARDLY KNOW ME?
Ho, Ho, Ho... Aren't you special? Well, some men think it's a sure fire way to get into your pants. Surprisingly, it actually still works quite well

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